67th Emmy Awards: Curtains come down!
03:15 GMT - That's a wrap - The curtains have come down on the 67th Emmy awards, so AFP is closing its Live Report. The night was made for ending droughts, with Jon Hamm finally winning after eight nominations, "Game of Thrones," bringing home a statuette after five snubs and Viola Davis making history for African-American actresses.
HBO's political comedy "Veep" was also a big winner.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Veep" collected major awards for outstanding comedy, lead actress in a comedy (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and supporting actor in a comedy (Tony Hale).
Fantasy series "Game of Thrones," based a book series with a cult following by George RR Martin, took home awards for both outstanding drama series and writing in a drama series. Additionally, the ever popular Peter Dinklage snagged the award for best supporting actor in a drama for his role as Tyrion Lannister.
In a fitting finale, Hamm of "Mad Men" fame, finally got on the Emmy's scoreboard, snagging a win for best lead actor in a drama series after his eighth nomination.
Viola Davis made history when she became the first African-American woman to win the award for lead actress in a drama for her role in the legal thriller "How to Get Away with Murder." In her compelling acceptance speech, she quoted abolitionist Harriet Tubman and brought a teary-eyed crowd to its feet.
Not to be missed was Tracy Morgan, who made a moving guest appearance to present the final award of the evening, in a big comeback after his 2014 traumatic brain injury.
02:56 GMT - Believing in dragons - Blood-spattered fantasy epic "Game of Thrones," which received 24 Emmy nominations this year, takes the award for best drama. The HBO series has been nominated for the award five times and is the first fantasy series to win best drama.
In his speech, co-creator of the series David Benioff salutes the crew members of the show who are working in Belfast, Northern Ireland before moving on to thank both the network and the people on stage with him.
"Thank you to HBO, who in their wisdom, paired a couple of novice producers with people of great experience.
"We want to thank them, standing behind us -- Bernie Caulfield, Chris Newman, Frank Folger, Carolyn Strauss -- you know you're the reason we're up here. And finally, just thanks again HBO, for believing in dragons."
Earlier in the evening, "Game of Thrones" won for best drama series writing for the episode "Mother's Mercy."
02:54 GMT - Like myself - Brash comedian Tracy Morgan, who appeared for years on the Emmy-winning show "30 Rock," comes to the stage to present the final award of the evening, best drama. Morgan suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2014 after a car accident that left him in a coma for eight days.
The much-loved actor endured a long road to recovery, and the crowd stands to applaud at the site of Morgan.
"Thank you guys so much. I miss you so much," he says. "Last year, Jimmy Kimmel sat on this stage and said, 'We will see you back here next year, Tracy Morgan.' Well, Jimmy, thanks to my amazing doctors and the support of my family and my beautiful new wife, I'm here, standing on my own two feet."
He went on to say he was starting to "feel like myself again."
"Which means a whole lot of y'all women are gonna get pregnant at the after party. It's going down," he says.
02:52 GMT - Selfies on stage - "Veep," a political satire about a female vice president (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who surprisingly becomes head of state, snags the Emmy for best comedy series and dethrones "Modern Family," after a five-year reign.
As the cast and crew assemble on stage, a giddy Julia Louis-Dreyfus snaps selfies with the group.
Writer Armando Iannucci accepts the award in a heartfelt but playful tone, '"Veep" is about one thing. It's about hope. The hope that anyone in America -- no matter what their background, their race, their creed -- anyone, if you work hard, you can just miss out on getting the top job...or get it if your boss is mentally incapacitated or killed."
02:51 GMT - History is made - Viola Davis wins the award for lead actress in a drama series for her role in legal thriller "How to get Away with Murder."
Davis is the first African-American woman to win in this category, ending a long drought for women of color. All of the other major Emmy acting awards have been won by African-Americans in other years.
Quoting escaped slave and actist, Harriet Tubman, she powerfully speaks about the importance of this milestone.
"In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful, white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can't seem to get there no how. I can't seem to get over that line," she says.
"And let me tell you something, the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an emmy for roles that are simply not there."
02:38 GMT - Lucky number eight - After leaving empty handed for years, Jon Hamm finally wins the award for outstanding actor in a drama series for his role as Don Draper on AMC's "Mad Men." It was his eighth nomination and his last chance for Draper to bring him the coveted trophy.
With great applause from the audience, he playfully climbs onto the stage instead of taking the stairs, but looks relieved when he finally steps up to the mic.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. There has been a terrible mistake. Clearly. Thank you for that," he says.
"It's impossible to be standing here, up here. It's impossible to have done this show with this incredible cast, these incredible people, incredible writers, incredible crew. It's incredible and impossible for me personally to be standing here. So want to thank the people to whom i owe an incredible debt, people who, in my life, have gotten me here, families who have chosen for some reason to take me in and be nice to me along this strange, strange road."
02:32 GMT - Politics - In the press room where winners take reporters' questions and pose with their new statues, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is asked about the real-life political drama surrounding gay marriage in the United States. Like her character, Louis-Dreyfus artfully declines to answer a query about Kim Davis, the state official who went to jail rather than issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
“I think President Meyer would find a very effective way to not express an opinion,” she says.
02:27 GMT - Thank you a million times - Uzo Aduba of "Orange is the New Black" graciously accepts the award for best supporting actress in a drama series.
She becomes more and more emotional in her speech, first thanking the creator of the show, Jenji Kohan.
"If I could say thank you a thousand times, it would not be enough to cover the amount of thanks I feel for you, Jenji Kohan. I love you so much. I thank you for putting belief back in my heart."
Visibly crying, she concludes, "finally, I really just want to say thank you to my family who have stood beside me my entire life. My sister, chi chi, you are my very best friend. I am humbled to call myself your sister. I love you so much."
02:22 GMT - Somber tribute - A video tribute provides pause to the jam-packed awards ceremony. Somber music fills the air as the faces of many who were lost this year play across the screen, including B.B. King, Wes Craven, James Best, Joan Rivers and Leonard Nimoy.
As the video ends, the crowd applauds with an emotional tone.
02:20 GMT - I wasn't prepared! - The Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series goes to Peter Dinklage of "Game of Thrones."
In his speech, he hails the actors he was competing against, "I wasn't prepared at all. I was even chewing gum. I wasn't prepared because of the other actors in my category. I'm still sort of awed by all of their performances."
02:16 GMT - Mother's Mercy - The team from "Game of Thrones" takes the statuette for drama series writing for the episode "Mother's Mercy." This was the ninth award of the year for the fan-favorite fantasy show, which won eight awards in technical categories that were handed out before the main ceremony.
Emotional, writer David Nutter thanks the team and his family. "I'm shaking, yes, I'm shaking, that's the deal. But most importantly, I wouldn't be up here tonight without this lady right here," he says, jesturing to his wife Birgit.
"Let me introduce you to my wife. Without her, I wouldn't be anywere. She supported me and held me up forever," he says.
02:00 GMT - Edgy and unapologetically feminist - A visibly emotional Amy Schumer accepted the award for outstanding variety sketch for "Inside Amy Schumer."
"I am so proud of this show. It fights for what we believe in," she said, stumbling over her thoughts as she got word she was going too long.
"I know I should have written something down," she stammered. Characteritically turning to humor, she thanked "everybody who has helped me -- the girl who gave me sort of the smoky eye -- I really love it."
01:55 GMT - The Daily Show - Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" wins the award for best writing for a variety series, the 18th Emmy win for the long-running fake news show. Jon Stewart's last episode as host aired in August 2015, and after a brief hiatus, comedian Trevor Noah will take the reins. The show has earned 30 nominations over the years.
Stewart took the chance to jokingly lament his departure from the public stage.
"To everybody on television, I just want to tell you, 'Cling to it!' As long as you can, like death, like in 'The Titanic,' cling to it. I have been off of television for six weeks, seven weeks, whatever it is. This is the first applause I've heard. It is a barren wasteland out there," he said.
01:41 GMT - We'll meet again... - The awards pause for a video montage of the characters and shows that ended this year, highlighting clips from some of the most memorable moments on television in 2015 -- both happy and sad -- including Mad Men, Lettermen, the Daily Show and Glee.
01:30 GMT - Short and sweet - Francis McDormand of HBO's "Olive Kitteridge," accepts the award for lead actress in a limited series or movie with a short and to the point speech, by praising, "the power of a story well told," before quickly exiting the stage.
00:59 GMT - Stunned acceptance - "Empire's" power couple, Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, hand over the statuette for supporting actress in a limited series to a stunned Regina King for her role as Aliyah Shadeed on "American Crime."
00:49 GMT - Leading lady of comedy - "Veep" is cleaning up, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus claims the award for lead actress in a comedy series. It is the sixth win in her long career after 20 nominations. Louis-Dreyfus took the chance to mock the US presidential campaign and Republican front-runner Donald Trump specifically.
"I think it would be appropriate at this moment to -- to quote our political satire, 'Veep.' 'What a great honor it must be for you to honor me tonight.' Oh, wait, oh, god, oh, no, no, I'm so sorry. Donald Trump said that," she said, earning big laughs from the audience. "Yeah, it's getting trickier and trickier to satarize this stuff."
00:45 GMT - Transparent - The comedy tackling the story of an older trans woman's coming out, also won a writing award for its creator, Jill Soloway. She dedicated her award to her transgender father, who she called "Mapa," praising her courage.
"And it's dedicated to you, my trans parent, my "Mapa," if you're watching at home right now," she said. "I want to thank you for coming out because in doing so you made a break for freedom, you told your truth, you taught me how to tell my truth and make this show, and maybe we'll be able to teach the world something about authenticity and truth and love."
00:41 GMT - Tambor takes it - Despite eating the ballot, Jimmy Kimmel presents Jeffrey Tambor with the award for lead actor in a comedy series for his role on Amazon's "Transparent." It is his first time being nominated for lead actor.
00:25 GMT - Veep, again - Ricky Gervais presents the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series, joking that he'd like to keep the statuette for himself. He eventually hands it off to Tony Hale, who wins for his role as Gary Walsh on HBO's "Veep."
In his acceptance speech, Hale praises the writers from the show, who won moments before.
00:21 GMT - Veep - The team responsible for political comedy "Veep" wins the award for script writing.
00:15 GMT - The first award goes to... - In a glittering gown, Allison Janney takes the first award of the evening for her role in "Mom," singing part of her acceptance speech for supporting actress in a comedy series. This is Janney's seventh career Emmy, the first four were for her role on "The West Wing."
00:05 GMT - Amy and Amy - Amy Poehler and Amy Schumer start us off by presenting the first award of the night for best supporting actress in a comedy series.
00:01 GMT - The awards show is on - Host Andy Samberg starts us off with a musical number playing on the new Netflix series, "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and featuring many of the stars who are favorites this evening.
23:56 GMT - Jon Hamm, finally? - Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper on AMC's "Mad Men" is nominated for best actor in a drama series, but this isn't the first time. This is his eighth nomination for an award and many predict it is his year to win.
The wildly popular AMC series about the sex- and booze-fueled world of 1960s Madison Avenue wrapped up this year after its seventh season.
23:30 GMT - Streaming services - This could be the first year streaming companies win an Emmy for best series. Amazon's "Transparent," about a transgender woman and her family, was nominated for best comedy alongside Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
In the drama category, "House of Cards" and "Orange Is The New Black", both from Netflix, are in contention.
23:23 GMT - Heating up - As the Los Angeles sun beats down on the red carpet, Empire's Taraji P. Henson -- nominated for her performance as hip-hop matriarch Cookie Lyon -- smolders in an edgy black Alexander Wang gown with a revealing lace skirt and bad-girl chain-link straps.
Temperatures soared past 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), prompting the stars to mop their brows, touch up their make-up and talk about their top tips for staying cool.
22:58 GMT - Live from the Emmys - WELCOME to AFP's Live Report of the 67th Emmy Awards, a star-studded ceremony celebrating the hightest honors in television.
The evening begins outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, as the stars of the small screen arrive on the red carpet to sign autographs, pose for photographs and chat with reporters.
Ahead of the official awards presentations, which begin at 8:00pm (0000 GMT), actors and viewers alike are wondering, will Jon Hamm finally take home the statuette for lead actor in a drama series for his role on the final season of "Mad Men" as Don Draper?
Will Tatiana Maslany of "Orphan Black" be the first actress to win an Emmy for playing multiple characters on the same show?
Will Netflix or Amazon be the first streaming service to claim best comedy or drama?
Finally, will we see Viola Davis of "How to get away with murder" or Taraji P. Henson of "Empire" become the first African American woman to claim best actress?
Andy Samberg of FOX's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" plays host as television's veterans and newcomers battle for glory in the 2015 awards show.
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