The Big Moments & Big Wins At The 2016 Emmys

Sunday night the Emmy Awards were back, and Game of Thrones, Veep and The People Vs. O.J. Simpson were the big winners. You can see the full list here, and below some of the more notable moments:

THE GREAT KATE MCKINNON WINS
For the first time ever, a regular performer for Saturday Night Live won an acting Emmy, and it was the extremely deserving Kate McKinnon. In a show often criticized for no longer being funny, her contributions are always the highlight:

Sarah Paulson's win for Marcia Clark
In what was widely agreed to be one of the best performances in all of TV (possibly ever?), Sarah Paulson won Best Actress in a Limited Series for the heart and nuance in her portrayal of Marcia Clark in The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. She paid tribute to the former prosecutor, who was her guest to the show, and declared her love for her girlfriend, Holland Taylor.

Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang make their 'Parents' proud
We've been watching Aziz Ansari for a long, long time, so it's been exciting to see him reach new heights with the wonderful Netflix series, Master of None. Ansari and his co-creator Alan Yang won Best Writing in a Comedy Series for their episode, "Parents," which beautifully examined the differences between immigrants parents and their American-raised children. Yang spoke first, noting how this was a small victory of showing the real America:

Ansari was played off before he could speak, but he made up for it later:

Jill Soloway wants you to "Topple the Patriarchy!"
The creator of Transparent won for Best Direction in a Comedy, for “Men on the Land,” Episode 9 of Season 2. In her speech, she thanked Jeff Bezos, and declared: "I get to make my dreams come true. It's a privilege, and creates privilege, when you take people of color, women, trans people, queer people, as the subjects of stories, you change the world, we found out. So I want to thank you, my sweet Jeff Bezos, because you changed the world, and invited me to do this thing that these people call television, but I call a revolution. I've always wanted to be part of a movement. This TV show allows me to take my dreams about unlikable Jewish people, queer folk, trans folk, and make them heroes. Thank you to the trans community. Topple the patriarchy!"

Julia Louis-Dreyfus wins (again)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus motherfucking knocks it out of the park in every episode of Veep, and this was her fifth Best Actress in a Comedy win for playing Selina Meyer. Variety's Maureen Ryan wrote, "I think she’s incredibly talented. But I’m just going to say it: I really, really hope this category has a new winner next year. There are just so many women doing sensational work in half-hour shows, and the Emmy voters do have a tendency to reward certain actors year after year after year."

Louis-Dreyfus gave a hilarious speech ("Our show started out as political satire by now it feels more like a sobering documentary"), and ended on an emotional note, mentioning how her father died on Friday:

Jeffrey Tambor's call for more transgender representation in acting
Jeffrey Tambor won his second Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy as Maura Pfefferman in Transparent, and addressed one big issue, "I just hope there are more opportunities for transgender talent. I would very much like to be the last cisgender male playing a transgender female. I think we are there now."

Mr. Robot disrupts a major category
Rami Malek won for Best Actor in a Drama as Elliott, the enigmatic hacker in USA Network's breakout hit, and, stunned, asked the audience, "Please tell me you're seeing this too."

Courtney B. Vance and the woman who rocks his chain
The Yale Drama School-trained, Law & Order: Criminal Intent veteran won Best Actor in a Limited Series as Johnnie Cochran in The People Vs. O.J. Simpson. He closed his speech by paying tribute to his wife, "To the woman who rocks my chain. Angela Evelyn Bassett, this one is for you girl!" and then added, "Obama out—Hillary in!"

Tatiana Maslany and her clones win
Tatiana Maslany's worked overtime for playing multiple clones in Orphan Black, which has now earned her the Best Actress in a Drama Emmy in the show's fourth season.

Patton Oswalt's bittersweet moment
The comedian won for Best Writing in a Variety Special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping, and gave a loving mention to his wife Michelle McNamara, who died earlier this year at age 46. I want to share this with two people: One of them is my daughter, Alice, waiting at home. The other one is waiting somewhere else — I hope," he said.

Oswalt later told reporters, "Every bit of growth that I’ve had in my career especially in my writing and my performing came because I met Michelle McNamara. Because I met and married this woman who just was so much wiser and self-actualized and aware of life than I was. I had convinced myself that I was aware and self-actualized and mature but then I met the real deal...to have that ripped out of my life the way that it has this year — I’m not trying to say that this is meaningless, but everything seems like the lights have been turned down 50% on everything since she’s gone. It just going to be a long, long time before I can be the kind of person she made me again."

Matt Damon taunts Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel pretended (?) to be a sore loser after Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won for Best Variety Talk Series, and his ol' enemy Matt Damon came out to pour salt into the wounds:

"Dr. Bill Cosby" at the Emmys
Kimmel had this Bill Cosby "joke" which didn't sit that well with Tina Fey, or anyone else:

Game of Thrones gets its glory, thanks to some Bastards
None of the actors in GoT were honored, but writing and directing for the "Battle of the Bastards" won Emmys, and the show also got Best Drama Series. Why is George R.R. Martin attending awards shows when he could be writing the rest of the series?!?!

The Fonz pays tribute to the late Garry Marshall Henry Winkler (forever The Fonz) paid tribute to the late Garry Marshall, director and creator of Happy Days. "He was loyal. He had generosity of spirit and knowledge. I should know. He gave me my career," said Winkler.