So… The Emmy nominations came out this morning. I was not nominated.
The joke that I used this morning to tell people on snapchat, was that yet again I was thwarted by Beyonce…
It’s kind of been a running joke since college that even though I am literally never ever actually against Beyonce for anything – ever – I act as though she’s my competition. And like I’m so jealous of her.
(Because I am jealous totally. Who wouldn’t be. That part’s kinda real.)
Anyway… it’s funny because it always used to seem so far-fetched that I’d be competing against her for anything. But legitimately, the person who editied Lemonade got nominated in my category. So, for the first actual time in my life, I’ve been up against something Beyonce’s done and lost out on it… which I find funny a little bit, but I might be the only one. I dunno…
Enough about Beyonce.
The point is… I didn’t super think I was gonna get nominated for an Emmy. After all, this was only my first year as an editor. And there are a lot of great Late Night shows out there (a lot).
BUT this was the first year I got to wake up on Emmy nomination morning with the possibility that I would be nominated. How cool is that?!
I was on the ballot. (Tomorrow I’ll talk all about that process of getting on the ballot and how it works and everything.) But for today, let’s talk about the process after getting on the ballot.
There were somewhere around 70 or so choices up for my editing category. And on Emmy nomination morning, they’d pick a handful to be actually officially in real life nominated.
(I will say one thing that was a little weird was that in California, it felt like the nominations happened so early in the morning! I remember being on the bus to work when I was checking out the full list the day the people I went with got nominated. So, it was suuuuper weird to like get up, have breakfast, hang out… Oh.. Oh. We’re uh, finally ready? Cool. Yeah. Tell me what’s up!)
One thing that I thought was so cute about the whole thing was that I just so happened to be hanging out with some writers for Last Week Tonight on a night close to the nominations. And we stayed up late talking about all the possibilities for all the categories our shows were up for.
It was awesome because it felt like high school all over again – talking out all the various scenarios of the season lists. And I just thought, “I loved it back then. And I love that my life has not changed at all. We still want it like high-schoolers do. We still care as much, and have our ideas and theories… This never changes. And I hope it never does.”
Of course, they did get nominated for writing. [Edited to add: They won!] Their show also got nominated for editing. [Edited to add: Won that too. In fact, I think their show basically just won everything ever, partially because they are doing the freaking lord’s work over there. That show is SO. good.]
What was slightly weird about nomination morning was that we (The Nightly Show) didn’t get nominated in any category. (Sorry, my work loves.)
I expected that when I got to work I’d be congratulating someone somewhere. But no. Nothing.
So, that was a bit of a bummer. But there wasn’t a sadness around the office. I think practically everyone wanted it (of course; who wouldn’t?). But that no one really expected it. So, when it didn’t happen, people were like, “All righty then. Uh, we just keep working.” And we did.
Last little note to say though, that someone I view as kind of a mentor-ish person to me who’s been exceptionally nice to me (and is an Emmy-winner themself!) wrote me on nomination morning telling me they were bummed I didn’t get nominated but there was always next time. That kind of totally made my day that that person remembered and cared and believed that maybe we’ll get ’em next time!