September's Emmy Comedy Winners, From Widow's Bay to Colbert, and Where to Stream Them
The 78th Emmys handed out comedy prizes on Sept. 14. Here's what won, where it streams, and which winner had already been canceled.
By the Heckle Desk · · 2 min read
The Emmys came and went on Sept. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and like most award shows it was three hours long, of which about eleven minutes were for comedy. Those eleven minutes were good, though. A horror comedy about a cursed island swept the board, Jean Smart won again, as is the law, and a late-night show that CBS had already shut down won the top prize in its category, which is the television equivalent of a man getting a promotion at his own funeral.
If you missed the ceremony, you didn't miss much. If you missed the shows, here's where to find them. I've left out the dramas, because this is a comedy magazine and because I'm still recovering from them.
An award, in the end, is just a committee's way of saying it noticed you after everyone else did. Here's what the committee noticed.
- 01
Widow's Bay (Apple TV)
Matthew Rhys plays the mayor of a cursed New England island trying to turn it into a tourist spot, and the show, created by Katie Dippold, won outstanding comedy series plus lead actor, both supporting prizes (Stephen Root and Kate O'Flynn), writing and Hiro Murai's directing. Rhys also won lead actor in a limited series the same night, for The Beast in Me, becoming the first actor to win two lead Emmys in one evening. Ten episodes, all streaming; the tourism board of every real island is taking notes.
- 02
Hacks (HBO Max)
Jean Smart won lead actress in a comedy again, her eighth career Emmy and fifth for playing the Las Vegas comic Deborah Vance. At this point the category is less a competition than a tribute act with a guest list. Watch it for the writing about stand-up, which is as good as TV gets on the subject.
- 03
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS; clips on YouTube)
Colbert's show ended in May after 11 years, then beat The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, SNL and Last Week Tonight for outstanding variety series in a newly merged category. He used the speech to ask the industry to hire his crew. The network that ended it got to watch it win, which is the best revenge in show business, short of outliving the network president.