Exclusive! Totally Crashing the Emmy Stage
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What exactly goes on in the wings backstage at the Emmy Awards? I got a firsthand peek, and this is what I saw:
First of all, it is a crowded space. Very crowded.
The five cohosts were jammed into one corner watching the show on a small flat screen. Last-minute touch-ups happen on the spot, like Ryan Seacrest getting his tie straightened by one of the many minions buzzing about. There's a makeup and hair station for anyone who needs some fixin'.
Presenters get to practice their lines just before going onstage with a miniature teleprompter shoved into another corner. I spotted Kate Walsh doin' a read-through after chatting with Wayne Brady.
And what else? Well...
All the way in the back—and way off limits—are the classic Seinfeld diner and Mary Tyler Moore newsroom sets used in the night's show.
And even actors suffer a little stage fright now and then. "I just don't want to trip," Jennifer Love Hewitt worried to her copresenter Hayden Panettiere inside the Architectural Digest green room.
"Walk slowly," Panettiere advised. "Just...walk...slowly."
Just getting to the stage can prove tricky. It's dark and there are so many people with clipboards and headsets all over the place. Security detail will politely ask you to move if you're blocking their view of the celebs.
Also jammed in there is a table with what looks like five official Emmy posters. Every celeb who passes through signs each one. Eva Longoria Parker was the first Housewife to sign away before being joined by Marcia Cross.
A wrangler is on hand to grab swag-happy celebs and lead them down a back staircase to the AEG Ehrlich Presenters Lounge a couple of floors below. I saw Lily Tomlin (still in her Laugh-In costume), Laurence Fishburne, William Petersen and Craig Ferguson browsing the freebies.
Tom Smothers freed up his hands for some shopping by actually stuffing his Emmy into his LeSportsac swag bag.
Alec Baldwin also hit the lounge, but he didn't mean to. "I said the green room," he said to one of his handlers. "But do they have coffee in here?" Of course there was, courtesy of Nespresso.
Oh and get this, Oprah Winfrey was gone within minutes after she opened the show. She changed into some casual clothes and oversize sunglasses and hightailed it to her car. "Thank you, thank you," she repeated as she made her way through the hallway.
I'm told Ms. O said she wanted to enjoy the show at home.
