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I would’ve guessed Beef, but HBO’s DTF St Louis, barely heard from this evening, has already won seven Emmys this season – just most of them, including acting awards for stars David Harbour and Linda Cardinelli, were handed out before the telecast.

The dark comedy’s creator, Steven Conrad, makes quick work of the acceptance speech, thanking all 175 people who worked on the show – “we are all grateful and we each send our appreciation, thank you” – just as the whole cast made it onto the stage.

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Oh man, cue the tissues – we’re headed into the in memoriam segment of the evening, first with Dolly Parton. “If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one,” says her Steel Magnolias costar Sally Field, who “adored her from day one – how could you not?

Dolly, she adds, was “blisteringly funny,” with a bawdy sense of humor that would send “any rude guy-looking for a place to hide.” But she also was a “real giant” – not just as an entertainer, but “as a human.” And if that didn’t have you crying, Reba McEntire enters with a stirring, appropriately smoky rendition of Parton’s nostalgic tribute to her hometown, Appalachian Memories.

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The celebrated creator of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and now Pluirbus quite charmingly opens his speech by shouting out fellow nominee Valerie Chu, a former writer’s room assistant on Better Call Saul now nominated for her work on The Pitt.

And he still quite charmingly manages to address the political moment, of sorts, by jokingly scoffing at Pluribus’s world “in which everybody gets along – that’s so sci-fi. But think about it: there’s nothing weirder than our current reality.”

“we will never agree on everything, but we can treat each other with respect,” he adds as two cents, and “we can stop listening to a relative few who think that is for suckers.”

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In perhaps the sweetest moment of the night so far, Julianna Margulies presents the Bob Hope humanitarian award to Michael J Fox, the beloved actor and advocate for people with Parkinson’s, for his tireless philanthropic work to eradicate the disease.

The love in the room for the 80s star is quite evident, especially as Fox thanks viewers for “this amazing and humbling honor” and his peers for not dropping him upon his diagnosis with the degenerative disease in his late 20s. He stayed in Hollywood “because you stood up for me, and I appreciate it”.

“Accepting Parkinson’s didn’t mean I had to surrender to it,” he continues, noting he’s “proud of the progress we’ve made” toward a cure for the disease and, most importantly, in patients’ lives. A very deserved standing ovation.

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There’s just no stopping Widow’s Bay tonight – Hiro Murai, who directed much of the Apple TV show’s first season, is rightfully celebrated for his work making the show at once hilarious and deeply unsettling.

“I always say my job isn’t to make the show, it’s just to let the right people in the room,” the former director of Atlanta says, keeping it short and sweet. The cast and crew of Widow’s Bay, he adds, are “the kindest, most gifted people”.

Well, it probably couldn’t have been any other way. The Emmys honor the final season of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, which was cancelled by CBS amid the network’s acquisition by Paramount Skydance (owned, of course, by Trump ally David Ellison).

“I just want to point out that if you like the comedy tonight, my writers wrote it,” says a visibly jubilant Colbert, speaking on behalf of “the over 200 people” who put their best into the decade-plus late-show program.

Of that crew, so many of whom stood behind him on stage. He adds:

I’ve got some great news. They are all tech avail. Hire them. They will make your day better and your lives easier.

After thanking his wife (and Covid producer) Evie – Colbert is forever a wife guy – the longtime host signs off by addressing his audience:

Thank you so much for watching. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a great time doing it for you. That’s it!

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A bit of a surprise win for Slow Horses! (I, once again, assumed The Pitt would sweep). Director Saul Metzstein, who has directed much of the show’s third and fourth seasons, keeps it brief and British:

Everyone gets up here and says they have the best crew ever. Simply not true, because we have the best crew ever.

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It’s shaping up to be a Widow’s Bay sweep for the comedy awards, with show creator and “twisted mind” – so says Matthew Rhys – taking the stage. Though Katie Dippold claims to have always planned to play it cool, she assures the audience: “No one will ever step foot in my home without seeing this thing.” In fact, she will build a system of mirrors “so that no matter where you stand in my home, this will be in your direct eyeline”. No notes.

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Emmys history! Matthew Rhys becomes the first actor to win two awards in one night for different series, for The Beast in Me and now for Widow’s Bay, the magnetic horror-comedy that exists “because of the depraved and twisted mind of Katie Dippold”

Speaking to a very, very warm room on their feet, the ever-delightful Welshman thanks “the crew of all crews [that] carry us,” his parents “who kicked me on to stage at a very early age”, his sister and “the great and good people of Wales”, the “small but mighty nation” that raised him. And with that triumph, he signs off in Welsh (to the cheers of a very happy Keri Russell).

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Another surprise! I don’t think many people saw Sally Field walking away tonight with her fourth all-time Emmy win, and she looks as delighted as everyone else to witness it.

She speeds through many, many thanks, correctly noting that “the story of an old woman, a young man and an octopus doesn’t come around too much” before ending up, somehow, with Canada? “Blessed Canada, our neighbors, our friends!” and a nod to her many, many years in the arts – “62 years, or something,” she laughs:

We can’t let those voices be silenced, or compromised, or merged.

​The Pitt came into this year’s Emmys with 25 nominations, up from 13 last year – but with such a talented cast, many of those nominees were in competition with each other in the supporting acting categories. It appears such dominance may have split the vote, with the supporting actor nominees (Patrick Ball, Shawn Hatosy and Gerran Howell) and supporting actress nominees (Sepideh Moafi, Fiona Dourif and Katherine LaNasa) all missing out.

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Well, we got a brief reprieve from the onslaught of awards via another one of those “cool, pretaped segments in support of the host” – so says noted Law & Order: SVU fan Taylor Swift, pitching in at SVU headquarters to help Detective Olivia Benson (the character) solve the pressing question of “will Taylor Swift show up to the Emmys?” alongside Detective Olivia Benson (the cat).

The answer is no, alas, but the very conspiratorial way of getting there serves as a nice, if polite, send-up of Swiftie Easter-egging.

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Another dramatic supporting actor surprise! It’s looking like the many Pitt nominees have split the vote but I’m happy for underdog Tom Pelphrey of Task. “I thank God for my life and my sobriety,” the first-time winner says, looking slightly overwhelmed, before shouting out his costal, “the beautiful Mark Ruffalo” and very pregnant (and sobbing) partner Kaley Cuoco.

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First of all, we’ll be returning to John Mulaney’s presenting, which was easily the best bit of the evening so far. But this win is about Noah Wyle, now back-to-back best actor on what is looking like another big night for The Pitt.

The former ER star first thanks his fellow nominee Gary Oldman – “I don’t know if there’s an actor my age who didn’t look at your work in Sid and Nancy and think that’s the benchmark I want to hit in my career” – before turning to the cast and crew of PTMC.

We’re going to be back there hittin’ it hard tomorrow morning!

And finally, this self-described “Hollywood kid” addresses the whole room:

This is all I’ve ever wanted to do and this is the only club I’ve wanted to join. Thank you for accepting me.