The Highs, Lows and Wildest Moments From the Emmy Awards
Didn't the Emmys just happen? Yes. Yes they did. In January, the year's first Primetime Emmy Awards of the year were doled out, but those were actually the awards meant to be presented in 2023. Due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the 2023 Emmys were bumped from their September 2023 date to January 2024. The awards, however, were voted on back last summer and honored TV that aired between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023.
Now we're back for the ACTUAL 2024 Emmy Awards, which will be honoring TV that aired between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024. While the Emmys are always slightly confusing (this ceremony will be honoring Season 2 of The Bear from last summer and not the season that just aired), they are at least back to their usual date and time.
All that aside, the evening, hosted by Eugene Levy and his son Dan Levy, both of Schitt's Creek fame, included impassioned winner speeches, entertaining jokes and jaw-dropping red carpet looks. Of course, there were also plenty of weird, wild and unexpected things that happened as well.
Here's a rundown of all the evening's biggest, most memorable moments:
The highs, lows and wildest moments that happened at the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards
High: Eugene and Dan Levy roast The Bear, the Television Academy and Walter O'Keefe
Without an opening musical sequence or skit, hosts Dan and Eugene Levy launched right into their opening monologue. While it started a bit slow, a well-executed joke about The Bear not being a true comedy got the audience laughing. Follow up zingers about the Television Academy failing to recognize Reservation Dogs and the original Emmys host Walter O'Keefe were also entertaining.
High: Billy Crudup praises Naomi Watts
Upon winning the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for The Morning Show, Billy Crudup spent most of his speech praising his wife Naomi Watts in an incredibly cute and endearing way.
Wildest: Extremely short speeches
Dan and Eugene Levy informed the audience that the winners' speeches needed to be short. Throughout the evening, the cutoff music came fast and fierce, cutting off a number of winners after fairly short speeches. The 2024 Emmy producers were not messing around.
Related: Emmy Awards Red Carpet 2024: See the Fierce Fashion Worn by Your Favorite TV Stars
High: The Traitors beats RuPaul's Drag Race for Outstanding Reality Competition Series
After five wins in the category, RuPaul's Drag Race was finally unseated this year for Outstanding Reality Competition Series by The Traitors. The second season of the Scottish mystery series was a massive viral hit earlier this year, and already scooped up Creative Arts Emmys, including one for host Alan Cumming.
High: Saturday Night Live cast members make fun of Lorne Michaels
If you ever need a solid awards show presenter, you can always count on Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph to deliver. They were joined by Seth Myers and Bowen Yang for a tribute to SNL's 50th anniversary and roasted the show's creator Lorne Michaels in the process.
High: Alex Edelman wins an Emmy for his Broadway show
In a tribute to the wonkiness of the Emmys and their approximately 900 categories, comedian Alex Edelman won an Emmy for the televised version of his Broadway standup special Just For Us in the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special category. He beat out standup comedians Jacqueline Novak, Mike Birbiglia and John Early and the writers of this year's Oscars.
Wildest: Hacks beats The Bear in Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
After The Bear scooped up three awards early in the evening, Hacks took home a surprise win in the Outstanding Writing category. After The Bear took home the same award earlier this year for Season 1, it seemed inevitable that it would win it yet again.
Related: See the Glamorous Red-Carpet Fashions from the 2024 Primetime Emmys
Low: Repeat winners in the same category twice in the same year
While not necessarily undeserving, several winners at this Emmy ceremony were just up on stage delivering speeches at the other Emmy ceremony back in January. Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bacharach had both won for the exact same role while The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had both won in the same category.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
High: Henry Winkler and Ron Howard reunited!
Richie and Fonzie back together again!
High: John Leguizamo and Greg Berlanti urge for more representation on TV
In the lead up to presenting the Governors Award to Greg Berlanti for his pioneering work in LGBTQ+ representation on television, actor John Leguizamo saluted the Latinx Emmy nominees this year. Both men celebrated the record-breaking diversity of this year's Emmy nominees while also urging Hollywood to continue to make more diverse projects and not rest on their laurels.
High: Jelly Roll sings the year's in memoriam
In a particularly great in memoriam segment, country star Jelly Roll crooned his hit "I Am Not Okay" while the faces of industry giants who passed away in the last year played behind him.
High: Jodie Foster wins her first Emmy
While the actress already has two Oscars on her mantel, Jodie Foster picked up her first Emmy for True Detective: Night Country in the Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series category. She'd been nominated three times before, but had never won. The icon received one of the night's standing ovations.
High: Hacks surprises again!
While Hacks did win Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Writing, their winning Outstanding Comedy Series still came as a welcome shock after The Bear has won so many awards over the last few years.
