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Welshman Matthew Rhys has set a new standard at the Emmy Awards by winning top honours in three categories as Widow’s Bay swept the night taking a single-season record for comedy with 14 wins.
Along with best actor in a comedy for Widow’s Bay, Rhys won best actor in a limited series for The Beast in Me, becoming the first man to win two leading actor categories in the same year.
Rhys also took home a trophy as an executive producer for Widow’s Bay.
“The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,” Rhys said backstage while holding two of his Emmys.
The first-season series created by Katie Dippold leans hard into both comedy and horror as it tells the story of a New England island community, with Rhys as its mayor, reckoning with a centuries-old curse.
Weird and wonderful
Widow’s Bay also won for directing for Hiro Murai and for writing for its creator Katie Dippold, a first-time Emmy winner and first-time nominee who was previously best known for a decade-old viral tweet showing her awkwardly dressed as The Babadook.
The haul represents a major victory for Apple TV, cementing its status as the king of Emmy comedy categories.
Between Widow’s Bay, The Studio – which collected a record 13 comedy awards last year – and Ted Lasso, Apple has won best comedy series four times in six seasons.
“Thank you, Apple, for letting us take this crazy, creative swing,” Dippold said as she accepted the best comedy award. “They truly just let us do this weird show.”
Widow’s Bay had won eight Emmys in a previous ceremony before sweeping all six of its categories Monday night. Stephen Root won best supporting actor in a comedy series and Kate O’Flynn won best supporting actress.
Doctor drama and Smart moves
The Pitt won best drama series for the second straight year, and its star and executive producer Noah Wyle repeated as best actor in a drama, but the HBO Max emergency room drama won no other Emmys and underperformed its expectations.
The Pitt was the top drama nominee with 25 and Hacks was the top comedy nominee with 24, but neither made much of a splash when it came time to claim trophies.
However Jean Smart won her fifth best actress in a comedy award for the fifth and final season of the show. No actor had won an Emmy every year for a series that lasted more than three seasons until Smart did it Monday.
Rhea Seehorn won her first Emmy for playing the lone central character on Apple TV’s Pluribus.
She had twice been nominated before without winning for her breakthrough role on Better Call Saul, a show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, who collected his fifth career Emmy for his writing on the show.
Allison Janney won best supporting actress in a drama for The Diplomat, and Tom Pelphrey won supporting actor in a drama for Task, both beating several nominees from The Pitt.
DTF St. Louis won best limited series. Two of its stars David Harbour and Linda Cardellini both won for supporting acting at a previous ceremony on Sept. 6 as the Television Academy moved several categories off the main telecast to shorten the show. Overall, DTF St. Louis won seven Emmys overall.