louie-andersonIt was a gay ol’ time at the Emmy Awards last night, especially in the comedy and limited series categories. Indeed, the show got off to a very gay bang. Among the first winners were best supporting actor in a comedy series for Louie Anderson, pictured, playing Zach Galifiankis’ mama in Baskets; that was quickly followed by best supporting actress in a comedy for lesbian Kate McKinnon, mostly for her take on Hillary Clinton as part of the Saturday Night Live cast. Although the variety series has fared well at the Emmys with its guest hosts, McKinnon becomes the first regular cast member since Gilda Radner in 1978 to win an Emmy for the show. And Jeffrey Tambor repeated as best actor in a comedy playing a trans woman in the Amazon series Transparent. He made a plaintive call for producers and casting agents to give trans talent a chance. Also honored were recently out Transparent creator Jill Soloway for repeating as best director of a comedy. Best actress went, for the fifth consecutive time, to Julia Louie-Dreyfuss for Veep, which also won best comedy series.
Under limited series or movie, the big winner was the Ryan Murphy produced The People vs. O.J. Simpson, which took home trophies for outstanding limited series, writing, directing, supporting actor (Sterling K. Brown), leading actor (Courtney B. Vance) and leading actress Sarah Paulson, who thanked her girlfriend, Holland Taylor. Supporting actress went to Regina King for American Crime, which this season dealt with a gay teens.
Best actress in a drama went to Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black, in which she plays clones, including a queer one. Otherwise, the drama category was dominated by Game of Thrones, which won best drama series, directing and writing. Best actor was Rami Malek for Mr. Robot and supporting actress went to Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey. The biggest surprise of the evening was Ben Mendelsohn winning best supporting actor for the Netflix series Bloodline.