The biggest Emmys talking points, from Richard Gadd’s speech to Shogun shattering records

It was a night of high emotion and historic firsts

Emotions were running high at the 76th Emmy Awards on Sunday night (15 September), whether it was moving speeches from Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd or tears from the cast of Shōgun.

Father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy hosted the ceremony in Los Angeles, where Shōgun led the nominations with 25 nods, followed by The Bear, Only Murders in the Building, and True Detective: Night Country.

Here are the biggest talking points from the evening. Find the full list of winners here.

Shōgun shattered records

Shōgun won 18 Emmys across the Creative Arts ceremony and the main event, smashing the record for the most awards won for a single season of television. The previous record-holder was HBO’s 2008 miniseries John Adams, which won 13 awards.

Thanking Hulu and FX, a shocked Shōgun team marvelled at their incredible triumph at the ceremony, with showrunner Justin Marks saying: “You guys greenlit a very expensive sub-titled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition… thank you.”

There were big acting prizes for Hiroyuki Sanada and Emma Sawai, and it beat The Crown, Fallout, The Gilded Age, The Morning Show, Mr & Mrs Smith, Slow Horses and 3 Body Problem to the Best Drama gong.

Many, many tears followed.

JD Vance was the villain

Trump’s running mate might not have physically been at the awards, but he still made a stink. Numerous women took aim at him for his comments about “childless cat ladies”, from Selena Gomez to Candice Bergen.

Bergen said: “For 11 years, I had the tremendous privilege of playing the lead in a comedy series called Murphy Brown. I was surrounded by brilliant and funny actors. Had the best scripts to work with. And in one classic moment, my character was attacked by Vice President Dan Quayle when Murphy became pregnant and decided to raise the baby as a single mother. Oh, how far we’ve come.

“Today, a Republican candidate for vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So as they say, My work here is done. Meow.”

Baby Reindeer rose above scandal

Despite the controversies around Netflix mega-hit Baby Reindeer, the show and its host Richard Gadd were among the biggest winners of the night.

Gadd’s multiple wins – for acting, writing and Best Limited Series – made for the most rousing speeches of the evening. Accepting the writing prize, he said: “This is the stuff of dreams… 10 years ago, I was down and out. I never ever thought I’d get my life together. I never ever thought I’d be able to rectify myself for what had happened to me and get myself back on my feet again.

Richard Gadd at the Emmys (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

“And then here I am just over a decade later picking up one of the biggest writing awards on television. I don’t mean that to sound arrogant. I mean it as encouragement for anyone who’s going through a difficult time right now to persevere.”

He continued: “I don’t know much about this life. I don’t know why we’re here. None of that, but I do know that nothing lasts forever and no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better. So if you’re struggling, keep going, keep going and I promise you things will be OK.”

Later, in his speech for Best Limited Series, he added a plea for the industry: “Take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable, dare to fail in order to achieve.”

The Bear broke its own record

High-octane chef drama The Bear beat its own record for the most Emmys won by a comedy series in a single year. The FX series scored 11 trophies during the ceremony, an improvement on last year’s 10 prizes.

That said, there were the usual jokes made (this time by the Levys) about whether The Bear actually counts as a comedy because it’s more anxiety-inducing than laugh-out-loud funny.

But the stars went home laughing anyway, with big wins for Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jeremy Allen White and first-time nominee and winner Liza Colón-Zaya.