Politics centre stage as 'Handmaid's Tale' sweeps Emmys

Television's glittering Emmys placed politics front and centre on Sunday, lavishing The Handmaid's Tale with awards for its bleak portrait of an authoritarian America.

The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles — the first under the administration of President Donald Trump — was widely expected to have a strongly political flavour, and host Stephen Colbert set the tone in his opening monologue.

"However you feel about the president, and you do feel about the president, you can't deny that every show was influenced by Donald Trump in some way," he said.

"All the late night shows, obviously, House of Cards, the new season of American Horror Story.
Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and HBO miniseries "Big Little Lies" were the big winners, with five statuettes each.

Big Little Lies cast members Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard all took home Emmys, along with director Jean-Marc Vallee. It also won outstanding limited series.

The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu's acclaimed series based on the 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, won awards for writing and directing as well as the biggest prize of the night — outstanding drama series.

Ann Dowd, picking up her first Emmy at age 61 for her portrayal of brutal instructor Aunt Lydia, spoke of how her award was "a dream" while outstanding lead actress Elisabeth Moss turned the air blue with an expletive strewn acceptance speech.

Hulu will have the most to celebrate as the post-show parties get started, stealing a march on rival streaming platform Netflix, which won just four statuettes all evening.

On a night that rewarded ethnic diversity, Sterling K. Brown picked up lead actor in a drama for This is Us while Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, Riz Ahmed and Donald Glover also made it to the podium.

But politics was always going to be the story of the awards from the moment John Lithgow picked up the first one: best supporting actor in a drama for his acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in Netflix's British royal drama The Crown.

"In these crazy times his life even as an old man reminds us what leadership and courage in government really looks like," the US actor said.
NBC's long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" went into Emmys week with 22 nominations — the joint-highest total alongside

Westworld — after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief.

Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose Unhinged Spicey take on Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration.

The former White House press secretary, whose full-throated defence of Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at the opening of the show.

'GREATEST HONOUR'

SNL took four statuettes, with Kate McKinnon tearfully accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton.

She told reporters backstage that the role had been "the greatest honour of my life" and talked of the "special kind of electricity" on set every week.
Alec Baldwin was tapped as best supporting actor in a comedy for his Trump impersonation.

"I suppose I should say at long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy," he joked, in a dig at Trump's oft-stated annoyance at never having won a statuette for NBC reality show "The Apprentice" or its celebrity spin-off.

The show also picked up the award for best variety sketch show and outstanding directing.

Elsewhere in the comedy stakes, the 33-year-old Glover took home a brace of statuettes for directing and starring in the FX comedy series Atlanta.

The award caps a huge year for Glover, who already has two Golden Globes for the show, focused on the Georgia capital's rap scene.

Glover got a loud cheer when he took to the stage and thanked Trump for "making black people number one on the most oppressed list."
British funnyman Charlie Brooker also picked up two Emmys for writing and producing San Junipero, a feature-length episode of the dark comedy series Black Mirror.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in one of the least surprising announcements of the night, won her sixth consecutive Emmy for playing hapless ex-president Selena Meyer in HBO's Veep, which also won best comedy series.

MOCKED PRESS SECRETARY, WINS LAUGHS AT EMMYS

Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary whose full-throated defence of Donald Trump earned him derision on television, delighted his former tormentors in a surprise appearance at Sunday's Emmys.

Spicer, who resigned in July in one of the many shake-ups of Trump's White House, was the highlight of Stephen Colbert's opening monologue which took a heavily political tone.

When Colbert asked how many people were watching television's award gala, Spicer slid onto the Los Angeles stage behind a White House-style podium and declared, "This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world."

The remarks were a reference to Spicer's jaw-dropping assertion at the very start of his tenure that Trump's inauguration was the most attended ever, pressing the president's claims despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

Spicer's appearance was all the more startling as both he and Trump had criticized Saturday Night Live, complaining that the popular NBC show was out of line for its persistent satire of the administration.

Baldwin, speaking to reporters backstage after winning his award, praised Spicer for having the good grace to turn up before the liberal-skewing Hollywood crowd.

"I've done some jobs or things that you shouldn't admire or respect," Baldwin said. "He and I have that in common."

Show host Colbert, known for his left-leaning comedy, kept his wit on Trump during his monologue. He recalled the future president's past complaints that the Emmys were rigged for not honouring his reality show "Celebrity Apprentice."

The comedian quipped that the crowd at the Emmys bore responsibility for Trump as he may not have sought the White House had he won an award.

"But he didn't. Because unlike the presidency, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote," he said, touching another sore point for Trump.

Colbert acknowledged his humour was in front of a friendly audience, asking: "Where do I find the courage to tell that joke in this room?"