So I went to L.A. and WE WON AN EMMY!
It’s wild and it came as a bit as a surprise, but I’m now an Emmy Award-winner for Outstanding Variety Talk Special (Live) for our Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand Building Back America Great Again Better 2020 (Yes, that’s the real title and also yes, it is the longest title in Emmy winning history. Double win!)
As a show, we were nominated that night for three awards, the first two of which we lost (again) to the fine people over at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (seriously, they’re lovely). So, even though there was one more award to announce for us for Outstanding Variety Live Special, by the third hour of the ceremony, we weren’t really expecting anything.
Which just made the reveal of Stephen’s name being read out loud that much more amazing!
I think on-stage and then even backstage receiving the actual statues, some of us were in shock, but maaaaan, what a fabulously nice shock.
We beat out The Grammys, The Oscars, The Super Bowl Halftime Show, and Biden’s Inaugural Night Celebration of America broadcast. Not a bad field there to beat. Pretty cool.
The whole trip was incredibly special and it was absolutely wonderful that Stephen made sure everyone from our team who was there that night, regardless of whether they were nominated for that particular award (or worked for our show – ahem, Conan O’Brien…) came up on stage and were part of all of the backstage press and it was just a big ol’ celebration for all of us.
I’m supremely honored that, out of the limited number of attendees from our show, I got to be one of them and join my co-producers and writers in person at the event in L.A. And to get to be part of a room that was 100% fellow nominees and peers.
And to be seated at a table, not only with several of my co-workers, but also shared with Conan O’Brien and his producers, so we all just did bits for three hours and watched Conan get drunk. He yelled at me a bunch about trying to steal his look with my hair and it was magic. Almost as good as winning an Emmy. (Please don’t let my Emmy know that I said that, OK?)
(Here’s some red-headed Irish guy who tried to say he won my Emmy. What a jerk.)
It was great. The whole thing. It meant a lot and it’s something that I will be really grateful for for a long time.