2008 EMMY COVERAGE – Zeitgeist: Early Morning After Edition.

OK – I missed it. Slept right through it. I tried to stay up, but it’s already 2 in the morning over here before it even starts!

But how nice to wake up early on Monday morning and go straight to NFZ’s Fan-tastic EMMY COVERAGE and read that The Colbert Report is finally taking home an Emmy! Congratulations to Stephen and all the writers on their long overdue Emmy.

Also, congrats to Jon and the team at The Daily Show for their win. And a plague of locusts for Don Rickles for his. I predict Stephen’s going to win next year as outstanding performer in “A Colbert Christmas.”

Here is our 2nd annual Early Morning After the Emmy zeitgeist – a sampling of what the media is saying about Stephen and the Emmys this morning. Funny enough, Stephen seems to generate more press when he loses.

In no particular order:

• Colbert Wins Emmy For Outstanding Writing – Associated Press [Via Huffington Post]: “Later, Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose The Colbert Report won a writing trophy, teamed to present an award — and exchange banter in which they used a package of prunes as a metaphor for the upcoming presidential election.”
  [Editor's Note: Mad props to our friends at HuffPo for running this AP article with this headline - everyone else went with the generic "Mad Men and 30 Rock Win Top Emmys"]
• Emmy Show Needs More Than a Dose of Reality: Let Gervais Host – TV Week: “Of course, New Yorkers Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert also felt the urge to weigh in with one of the best bits of the night. As Mr. Colbert ate a bunch of prunes, Mr. Stewart asked him if that was a good idea, prompting Mr. Colbert to extol the virtues of shriveled old prunes over shiny new plums who lack experience. It wasn’t hard to figure out who was who in the analogy.”
• Ceremony Minded Its Own Business, Not the World’s – New York Times: “The funniest stars there — Stephen Colbert, Ricky Gervais and Steve Martin — were very funny but didn’t make any jokes about the looming financial crisis. Even Alec Baldwin, not known for restraint, held back. … Mr. Colbert and Jon Stewart made a more coy reference to the presidential contest. While Mr. Stewart spoke, Mr. Colbert munched on prunes, and deadpanned “Right now America needs a prune.” Lest anyone miss the metaphor for Senator John McCain he added, “This dried-up old prune has the experience we need.” “
• Review: The 60th Emmy Telecast – Zap2It: “Smothers made an impassioned (albeit typically halting) speech about peace, Stephen Colbert advocated in favor of a prune and John Adams scribe Kirk Ellis was cut off in the middle of a lamentation about the lack of articulate politicians in our current climate.”
• TV Review: Emmycast tries to get real, and flops – MercuryNews.com: “Politics, and the presidential race, was in evidence in the exchange between Jon Stewart and his co-presenter, Stephen Colbert. While Stewart tried to list the best miniseries nominees, Colbert began munching from a bagful of prunes.
  It was necessary, said Colbert, slipping into character as right-wing buffoon, then added, “Right now, America needs a prune … This dried-up old fruit has the experience we need.”
  Stewart looked doubtful. “You know, after eight years of prunes, you would think —”
  “Never enough!” Colbert snapped, then ate another. “What could possibly go wrong?” “
• From Your Couch: The 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards – Variety: “Regardless of how kudocast producers approach the challenges of reinvigorating the flagging format in this age of saturation celebrity coverage, the accepted wisdom is that awards shows need a charismatic anchor, preferably one who is funny, irreverent and capable of spontaneity. There’s no shortage of untried candidates who might bring freshness and edge to the job of hosting TV’s big night — Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Craig Ferguson — so the route ABC chose to go with this year’s Emmys was a head-scratcher.”
• The Impossibility of Avoiding Politics at the Emmys – courant.com: “Stephen Colbert says ABC asked him not to do any political stuff when he went up to present with Jon Stewart at the Emmys Sunday.
  It was a tough request.
  First he plays a political commentator on “The Colbert Report,” whose writing staff won the comedy variety category.
  And we’re deep in an intense election year.”
  …
  Colbert, for his part, didn’t do anything more than eat prunes, saying it was reliable despite being wrinkly, a kind of distant McCain metaphor.
• Emmys: Primed with nostalgia and plenty of politics – The USA Today: “”We’ve been specifically asked by ABC not to make any political statements,” Stephen Colbert, whose show won for variety writing but whose Colbert Report lost to friend Jon Stewart’s Daily Show for variety or comedy series, said before the ceremony. “And of course, (Jon) and I will abide by that. The last thing anybody wants us to do is talk about politics.”
  Colbert wasn’t being entirely serious. He and Stewart, among other Emmy winners and presenters, managed to work in political references — some veiled, some less so.”
• Emmys Break Mad For AMC – Multichannel: “Writers from both The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report, not surprisingly, were asked political questions backstage. Who would they cast in sketches about Barack Obama and John McCain and their running mates, they were asked.
  Colbert quipped he’d have Don Rickles play McCain, and Colbert would play Sarah Palin because he, too, has no business being vice president.”
• Emmy backstage trophy table is Celebrity Central – examiner.com: “The Emmy that each winner carries off stage is just a prop. Winners give it back and head to the table in the parking garage adjacent to the Nokia Theatre to collect the real one.
  They are allowed to pick out the one they want.
  “Can I pick any one? Are you serious?” asked Paul Giamatti, winner for actor in a miniseries or movie. “It’s bizarre that you get to pick your own.”
  Stephen Colbert, who won a writing award for a variety, music or comedy program, said he knew just which Emmy to take home. It had appeared to him in a dream the night before.”
• Emmy winner reactions – Variety: “Now that “The Colbert Report” has won an Emmy, the host said he didn’t have to suck up to friend and “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart anymore.
  “I’ve been gunning for him for years,” Colbert said. “Even when I worked for him, I never wished him well.” “
• Emmys 2008: The Backstage Report – EW.com: “And the winner of the Stewart/Colbert Funny-Off is…
  …Stephen Colbert, hands down. Best Variety, Music, or Comedy Series winner Jon Stewart was, frankly, surprisingly unfunny, greeting questions like Why are politics and comedy synonymous? with a slight scowl and no humor. (Well, okay, he did crack a smile at one point, muttering, ”It’s been a long f—ing night, hasn’t it people?”) Colbert, by contrast, joked that he wasn’t happy with The Daily Show taking the series award (while his show took the writing Emmy): ”Even when I worked for [Stewart], I did not wish him well.” Colbert went on to explain that of course he was happy for Stewart, since they see their two shows as ”two flavors of the same DNA.” A reporter piped up: ”Like Entertainment Tonight and The Insider!” Colbert grinned. ”It’s exactly like ET and Insider. We talk about that all the time.” And whereas Stewart punted by answering that Tina Fey, hot off her send up of Sarah Palin, should also play Barack Obama, Colbert had some novel suggestions for who should play the Republican ticket. ”Don Rickles would play McCain,” Colbert said. ”[And] maybe me for Sarah Palin, because I also have absolutely no business being Vice President.””
• “Truth” and Emmy – Cultural Learnings: “For that reason, Stephen Colbert’s presence at these awards is all the more apt: his word, truthiness, defines the nature by which awards shows are decided. And there is no greater example of the dangers of truth that, while his writers were rewarded for coining the turn of phrase, he himself was not honoured for saying it out loud for that first time. And while there are greater injustices of truth around the world, let us for one night recognize the subjectivity of truth and the mixed up world of the Primetime Emmy Awards with some Headlines, of sorts.
  …
  Three straight for Piven. Six straight for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Six straight for The Amazing Race. Three Straight for aging performers who defeat Stephen Colbert for Individual Variety Performance. They’re trends that Emmy won’t let die…”

A personal request: Will someone PLEASE get the writers’ montage and the TCR writers’ acceptance up on Youtube for us expatriates?

And, finally, Variety has the complete list of nominees and winners.

CATCH ALL THE EMMY COVERAGE HERE!

[To DB: Thanks for keeping my account active so I could come out of work retirement for this!]

• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – September 27, 2009
• Gift from ‘The Colbert Report’ to ‘The Daily Show’ on its Emmy win
• VIDEO: Writers’ montages from Emmy nominees 2009
• Ex-’Singled Out’ host writes open letter to Stephen Colbert