Widow’s Bay sets comedy Emmy record with 14 wins

The Apple TV show “Widow’s Bay” set a single-season record for a comedy with 14 Emmy wins on Monday night, including best comedy series. Star Matthew Rhys personally took home three trophies, including best actor in a comedy, as every other comedy category also went to the show.

“The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,” Rhys said backstage while holding two of his Emmys.

“Widow’s Bay” broke the comedy series record set last year by “The Studio” when it won 13.

Along with best actor in a comedy, 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. He also receives one of the best comedy series trophies as an executive producer.

The first-season series created by Katie Dippold tells the story of a New England island community, with Rhys as its mayor, reckoning with a centuries-old curse.

“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.”

Hiro Murai won for directing, and Dippold won for writing. Dippold, a first-time Emmy winner, was previously best known for a decade-old viral tweet showing her awkwardly dressed as “The Babadook.”

“When I was sitting there in that costume,” Dippold said backstage, “I did not think that this moment would happen.”

Stephen Root won best supporting actor in a comedy series, and Kate O’Flynn won best supporting actress. It was the first Emmy for both.

O’Flynn, 40, plays Patricia Moyer, a city worker and social outcast dealing with a demonic darkness.

“This is the role of a lifetime,” O’Flynn said. “This is for all the Patricias out there.”

Root, 74, beat out Harrison Ford, who many thought would get his first major competitive Hollywood award for his role on “Shrinking.”

“Thank you, sir, for all your many years of great, great, great acting,” Root said to Ford during his acceptance.

“The Pitt” won best drama series for the second straight year, and star Noah Wyle repeated as best actor in a drama. The HBO Max emergency room drama won no other Emmys Monday night.

“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and this is the only club I’ve ever wanted to join,” Wyle said.

Rhea Seehorn won best actress in a drama for “Pluribus.” Seehorn, 54, had been nominated twice without winning for her breakthrough role on “Better Call Saul.”

Vince Gilligan, creator of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” won his fifth career Emmy for writing on “Pluribus.”

Jean Smart won her fifth best actress in a comedy award for the fifth and final season of “Hacks.” No actor had won an Emmy every year for a series that lasted more than three seasons until Smart did it Monday.

“What a ride this has been,” an emotional Smart said after getting a standing ovation.

Smart, 75, has won eight Emmys overall. “Hacks” was the top comedy nominee with 24, but Smart’s was its only win Monday night.

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. It won seven Emmys overall, with stars David Harbour and Linda Cardellini both winning 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.

Sally Field, 79, became the oldest woman to win best actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie for “Remarkably Bright Creatures.”

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” taken off the air by CBS, won best variety series. It’s one of six Emmys the show has won this year.

“If you like the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it,” Colbert said.

Mariska Hargitay hosted the NBC telecast at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Michael J. Fox, a nominee for his work with Ford on “Shrinking,” received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.

Field paid tribute to her “Steel Magnolias” co-star Dolly Parton, who died last month. There were also emotional tributes to Catherine O’Hara, who died in March, and Rob Reiner, who was killed along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in their home in December.

Reiner, who won a posthumous Emmy at an earlier ceremony for best guest actor in a comedy series for “The Bear,” was honored by his friend and co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.

“He was generous, kind and funny as hell, and a friend to all,” Curtis said. “And we all miss Rob and Michele and all those we lost this year.”