[IMG:R]Before the designer gowns are fitted, tuxes are rented, and the acceptance speeches are drafted, Hollywood.com catches up with more nominees from the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
Alec Baldwin – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
The veteran film actor returned to television (yep, returned – remember Knots Landing?) with a comedic vengeance on 30 Rock, earning an Emmy nod as the uber-confident but still nutty network executive Jack Donaghy.
Hollywood.com: What was your reaction to your Emmy nomination?
Baldwin: I’m shocked. I really am.
HW: How did you find out and where were you?
AB: I was – where was I? I don’t know where I was. I was at the gym or something in New York. Then I found out because someone called me – my sister called me.
HW: Then the phone rang all day?
AB: Yeah. I had a lot of people calling me to congratulate me. I think it’s great because the writing is just – you can’t have a funny comedy without the writing. Even if you’re funny as a person it’s not going to work unless the writing is funny. Tina [Fey] and Robert Carlock, the other head writer, they have done just a great job.
HW: What do you think it means for you and the show?
AB: I think that it’s going to help us in the fall, hopefully. The show really has everything going for it now and we just need the ratings to pick up a little.
[IMG:L]Masi Oka
HW: How did you feel when you heard?
Masi Oka: Oh, I was ecstatic. How else could I feel in this, it’s all just amazing. I called my mom and I was crying and she was crying. I promised not to cry but she started crying and I did too.
HW: Where were you when you heard? Were you up or did someone wake you?
MO: I was actually over at Zach Quinto’s house. I was over at his place. We were actually trying to stay awake the whole time. At 3am we were like “Ah, let’s go to sleep.” We both did.
HW: What do you think about your performance or that particular episode that was submitted? Do you know which one was submitted for you?
MO: Yeah, ‘Five Years Gone’. I know the academy didn’t know how they felt about sci-fi. If it’s too sci-fi it might turn people off.
HW: What do you think this will mean to you in your career? The nomination and if you win?
MO: The nomination is big. Just being on the show I think helped my career. It opened up so many opportunities so this is just the icing on the cake. All I know is that on my grave it will say “Golden Globe nominated…” “Emmy Nominated…” I can always take that to my grave.
[IMG:R]Andy Samberg – Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
After 37 years, Saturday Night Live’s still delivering pop cultural watercooler moments, and few built more buzz than the Digital Shot music video “Dick in a Box,” in which Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake’s 80s pop duo delivered festively packaged, er, packages, which got a rise out of the Emmy voters.
HW: When did you find out? Did you get up early for the announcement?
Andy Samberg: No, I’ve been on the road doing press for Hot Rod. All of a sudden I woke up and there were like 20 texts from people like, “Yeah, nominated for an Emmy!” And obviously we didn’t even realize that was a possibility, so it was cool. “You mean, for a song about putting your dick in a box?” It’s pretty cool. It’s very ridiculous.
HW: When it became a phenomenon, you never thought this was a possibility?
AS: Not really. I mean, you know that SNL is up for stuff and there’s the chance there. I think maybe Mike Shoemaker who’s one of our producers had mentioned it to us once or twice, like, “There’s a category for song.” We did “Lazy Sunday” the year before and nothing happened with that so we figured it was just not.
HW: Will you perform it at the Emmys?
AS: If they ask us to. Dude, call the Emmys, I’m game! I would love to go do that. I did it at Madison Square with Justin. That was pretty sick. I’d love to redeem myself, though, and not be out of tune so much.
HW: Why do you think that – ahem – rose to such a level?
AS: I mean, you gotta think it’s because Timberlake sang on it and he’s a hit maker. That guy just doesn’t make a bad song, really. I don’t know – I guess the world was really in a place where they wanted to hear a song about putting your dick in a box.
[IMG:L]Holland Taylor – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
The charismatic character actress scored with Emmy voters for her acerbic turn as Evelyn Harper, the anti-maternal, un-nurturing mother of the Harper boys on Two and a Half Men.
HW: Where were you when you found out you’d been nominated?
Holland Taylor: I was in bed. Where else would I be at six in the morning? What kind of a girl do you think I am? The press rep for the show warned me that he might call, but I forgot. So when the phone rang alarmingly early, I woke up wondering, “Oh my God, what crisis? Who’s croaked? What’s happened?” But it was good news.
HW: What episode did you submit for your performance?
HT: I think it was “The Lips.” I think it was the one where I got the false lips put on. But the fact is that I like that episode because it has a wonderful restaurant scene. I love doing restaurant scenes with both the boys because one is on one side and the other is on the other side. It’s usually very fun to play them one off the other, toy with one, mess with the other.
HW: Among your competitors, who would you root for?
HT: From Weeds, Elizabeth Perkins. I just love her as an actress generally, and as a person, so I would be happy to lose to her. I’d be happy to lose to Chatti [Conchata Ferrell]. In fact Chatti and I are going to mud wrestle for it. If either one of us wins, the other one’s going to mud wrestle her for it, take it away from her.
[IMG:R]Matt Groening & James L, Brooks – Outstanding Animated Program
Springfield’s founding fathers have collected their fair share of Emmys, but they admit that if The Simpsons hadn’t been nominated this year, they’d be the ones shouting “D’Oh!”
HW: How do you feel about Emmy nominations after all these years?
Matt Groening: It’s so much fun. Any time we get recognized for the hard work, it’s great and it means so much to everybody who works on the show. It’s an indicator that we’re not on our way down yet.
James L Brooks: As a matter of fact, Matt was all upset because nobody called him and told him, so he said, “Oh man, we didn’t get nominated.” Then he found out, “Oh great, we did.” No, no, not old hat.
HW: As a fan of animation, who are your favorites of the competitors?
MG: I love ’em all. I love Robot Chicken. Robot Chicken is fantastic. South Park of course is beyond belief.
JLB: South Park is an amazing achievement. They do something impossible every week. The fact that they turn it around that fast, they do all the voices, they write it in six [days]. It’s crazy.
[IMG:L]Lorne Michaels – 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live
Even as Saturday Night Live’s three Emmy nominations brought the classic late-night comedy show’s total nods to 95, the creator and executive producer’s youngest offspring, 30 Rock, followed in its footsteps in its freshman year with 10 nominations – and he never stops being a proud papa.
HW: After all these years, is it still a thrill to get nominated?
Lorne Michaels: Yeah. The surprising thing about this, I’ve been successful at it, but every single time you’re there at the Emmys, no matter what you were thinking in the sense of “I have a piece” and “I’ve won before,” whatever defenses you come in with, the moment they read your category, you’re sweating. You want it when you’re there.
–Reporting by Fred Topel and Gerri Miller
