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2011 Primetime Emmy Awards: Jane Lynch Q&A, Governors Ball Fun Facts & Emmy Nominees

Mike Vicic - September 16, 2011

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Jane Lynch hosts the 63RD PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS, airing live from the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 18, 2011 on FOX at 8pm ET live/5pm PT live. To help you get ready for TV's big event, get the scoop from Jane Lynch about the awards show, read 30 outrageous fun facts about the Governors Ball, and pick your winners from a list of nominees.



Presenters for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards include: Will Arnett, Julianna Margulies, Amy Poehler, Sofia Vergara, Zooey Deschanel, Ashton Kutcher, Melissa McCarthy, Don Cheadle, Kaley Cuoco, Rob Lowe, Lea Michele, Ian Somerhalder, Loretta Devine, Paul McCrane, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jimmy Fallon, Hugh Laurie, Drew Barrymore, Maria Bello, David Boreanaz, Katie Holmes, Annie Ilonzeh, Minka Kelly, William H. Macy, Anna Paquin, David Spade, Rachael Taylor, and Anna Torv.

 

Q&A with Emmy Award Host Jane Lynch

Two weeks ago, TV Tango participated in a conference call with Jane Lynch, where she took some time to discuss the Emmy Awards with the press. Get the scoop on being a great host, her wardrobe and her childhood dreams.
 
 

Question: Do you have input on any jokes or dancing or numbers that you might be a part of?


Jane Lynch: Oh yes, absolutely. Yes, I've been a part of every aspect of it, and though I'm not putting pen to paper, I'm very much collaborating with everybody. We're having a great time. It's a great group of people. We work very well together. [Note: In the picture to the left, Jane Lynch (center), poses with the cast of MTV's JERSEY SHORE after taping a segment for the Emmy Awards show. Photo by Frank Micelotta/TVA/PictureGroup.]
 
 

Question: If Sue Sylvester were giving you tips on hosting the gig, what would Sue's tips be?


Jane Lynch: Well, "Somehow find a way to give all of the awards to yourself," I think, would probably be her advice.
 
 

Question: Can you tell me who's helping you with your material for the telecast?


Jane Lynch: Yes, Jill Soloway, who's a good old friend. We worked together on "Real Live Brady Bunch," and lived in the basement of her house for several years when I was younger. I've known Jill and her sister Faith for a long time. In fact, Faith is a wonderful songwriter and will probably be adding something. So Faith and Jill are kind of my touchstones and Jill's directing the thing we're doing today [Aug 30], and she's written it. And it's just great to be working with her.  I'm in good hands.
 
 

Question: Is there any aspect of hosting the show that particularly concerns you?


Jane Lynch: What I'm concerned about is I do well and don't make a fool of myself. I trust my writers, and everybody working on the show knows what they're doing. I've worked with this crew on the Emmys last year, the Do Something Awards. Every time I've done an awards show, it's the exact same crew. They know what they're doing so I really feel like I'm good hands.

 

I want it to be interesting and funny and also serve the purpose of the show, which is to honor television and people in it, and make sure we keep the eye on that.  But the little bits that we get to do something fun and funny, I feel responsible for those that those need to be entertaining.
 
 

Question: Do you think being nominated is going to affect your nerves on the night?


Jane Lynch: I think my nerves will mostly be focused towards doing the show. It's almost a relief not to have to think about having been nominated. I'm although very, very honored to be nominated and especially honored to be in the group that I'm in. I think they're just amazing actresses and there's such good television. And the network has some really good television too. It's not just HBO and Showtime, the shows that I usually watch, but I'm watching the network television a lot these days.
 
 

Question: What do you think makes for a good host?


Jane Lynch: It's about the awards and the people who are getting the awards, and it's about entertaining in between but remembering that it's a night of celebration of this industry. That's what we remind ourselves before every meeting that we have. You know that's what we're here for, and my job as the hostess to move it along and just that kind of that background energy of “isn't this wonderful? Look what we're celebrating.”
 
 

Question: Will you have a multitude of wardrobe changes throughout the ceremony?


Jane Lynch: You know, when people asked me when I first got the gig if I'd be changing my dress every time I came out, I was like, “Absolutely not.”  But I will be changing my dress every time I come out.
 
 

Question: When you were a kid, did you watch things like the Oscars, and Emmys, and Grammys?


Jane Lynch: I did watch it, and it filled me with anxiety. I had this kind of empathetic response, actually it was probably projection, but I was embarrassed for people. I feared when someone gets up there and doesn't know what to say or isn't articulate or something. I would just suffer for them. Sometimes there would be such horrible musical numbers. I remember one year just a terrible music number with Snow White and I was hiding under my couch. I was so embarrassed.
 
 

Question: Has your attitude towards these awards shows changed at all?


Jane Lynch: Yes. They're easier to bear when you're there.  They really are. They're easier to deal with because it's just a bunch of people sitting around, usually at a table; in the Emmys it's like in a theater, but when you watch it on the television box it seems like this huge, glamorous thing. And it is that huge, glamorous thing, but there's something about the TV lights that make it just this amazingly enchanted thing. But when you're there, just kind of sitting in the middle of it, it doesn't have that feeling. It doesn't have that buzz. It's just kind of, “Oh, you're here doing this.” I mean you're excited because you're getting to see all these stars, maybe you're nominated, but it's easier for me to bear to be in it.
 
 

Question: As a child, did you dream that you would be this famous and hosting the Emmys?


Jane Lynch: I had always hoped that I would become as famous and work all the time, but they were just childhood dreams. And then when I started working in the business, it became all about the love of doing what I love to do, which is acting. So this is all just icing on the cake, and if and when all this hoopla goes away, I will still be acting.  Whether I have to do a little play like in Palmdale or something, I'll still be doing it. But when it comes right down to it, no, I did not expect it.
 
 

Question: Could you give us one good reason why Sue Sylvester would be a better Emmys host than Jane Lynch, and then one good reason why Jane Lynch would be a better Emmys host than Sue Sylvester?


Jane Lynch: I'll say Jane Lynch will be nicer than Sue Sylvester. Sue Sylvester would make the show explosive. You would walk away with a show you would never forget if it were Sue Sylvester, but it might be kind of war-like and angry and violent. But I think a show with Jane Lynch would be a lot nicer and easier to digest.
 

 

Fun Facts About the 63rd Primetime Emmy® Awards Governors Ball

 
  • 3,500 Guests & Place Settings
  • 10,000 Pieces of China
  • 2,500 Champagne Flutes
  • 1,200 Staff On-Site
  • 200 Technicians
  • 180 Cooks in the Kitchen
  • 18 Executive Restaurant Chefs on-site in the Kitchen
  • 85 Managers
  • 45 Bartenders
  • 2 Grey Goose Ice Bars
  • 4416 Bottles of Beaulieu Vineyard® Wine
  • 360 Bottles of Beaulieu Vineyard® Dessert Wine Beaulieu Vineyard Wine Bar featured in the center of the ballroom
  • 16th year Patina has prepared the food for the Emmys
  • 1,750 California Avocadoes
  • 1,000 Pounds Heirloom Tomatoes
  • 1,200 Pounds of Filet Mignon
  • 600 Pounds of Potatoes
  • 11,000 Rainbow Baby Carrots
  • 300 Pounds of Cipollini Onions
  • 200 Pounds of Brentwood Corn
  • 10,000 Pieces of Asparagus Grilled Over 300 Pounds Cherrywood
  • An assortment of 10,000 Duncan Hines® cake pops in keepsake recipe boxes
  • The basic prep takes place at the Patina Central Catering Kitchen over a 5-day period by a crew of 50 people per day
  • Most of the proteins and basic components are cooked at the event site, immediately before service
  • 42 Performers and Living Artists for the Guests Entertainment
  • The Ballroom is the length of one football field and double the width
  • Audio uses green power amplifiers
  • 85% of the audio is connected via CAT5 cable
  • 50,000 Square Feet of Drapery
  • 10,500 Strands of Beads
  • 12,000 White Calla Lilies
  • 3,780 Labor Hours in creating the floral centerpieces

2011 Primetime Emmy® Award Nominees

 

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR MOVIE


OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM

 

 


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE

  • Edgar Ramirez as Carlos in CARLOS
  • Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy in THE KENNEDYS
  • Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy in THE KENNEDYS
  • Idris Elba as John Luther in LUTHER
  • Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall in THURGOOD
  • William Hurt as Henry 'Hank' Paulson in TOO BIG TO FAIL


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE


OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

  • EPISODES "Episode 107": David Crane; Jeffrey Klarik
  • LOUIE "Poker/Divorce": Louis C.K.
  • MODERN FAMILY "Caught In The Act": Steve Levitan; Jeffrey Richman
  • THE OFFICE "Good-Bye Michael": Greg Daniels
  • 30 ROCK "Reaganing": Matt Hubbard


OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL


OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES


OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES


OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A MINISERIES, MOVIE OR A DRAMATIC SPECIAL


OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES