“Widow’s Bay” guest star Betty Gilpin accepted her Emmy win for outstanding guest actress in a comedy by reading a poem she had written in jest — and very much in the unique style of the show. But it was one line that especially got the TV Academy audience at the Peacock Theatre to cheer: “Let’s all lean toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman.”
Gilpin won for playing Sarah Westcott Warren, the long-suffering wife of town founder Richard Warren in the “Widow’s Bay” flashback episode “Our History.”
Here’s her acceptance speech, in poem:
“If by some fluke you win, a poem might give it a less boring spin. If you lose, whisper it drunk to your date, Allie Brie, whose toned shoulders we stand on for her work in TV. / Thank you, ‘Widows Bay’ residents, [Katie] Dippold, [Hiro] Murai, to Hamish and Apple, our director Ti [West] / To my reps Sean, Jenny, Andrea, Dara and Tony. Is it weird I say love you when we hang up the phony? (Sorry) /
“Rhymings of vulnerability cloak. What we do means so much to me. That part’s not a joke / Look, my family has nurses, a priest and a teacher. I’m a spray-tanned, narcissistic society leecher. / But I want to thank all of the actors I’ve met — old ladies in dressing rooms, hot guys on sets. What a privilege to spend this life laughing at crafty, watching Shakespeare in theaters, half full and drafty. /
“Our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb. From Martindale to Milioti, my dad and my mom, to be cringe and elitist, which you’re free to find fault in. Let’s all lean toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman. /
“Thank you, Cosmo. My family, my daughters, friends — too many to name — my brothers Sam, Harry and my long dead dog Babe. Thank you.”
Where did the idea for the poem come from? Gilpin credited her episodic co-star Hamish Linklater, who also earned a guest actor in a comedy Emmy nomination for playing Richard Warren.
“I was on the same flight over as my co-nominee Hamish Linklater, and he came over to my row and was like, ‘Have you written a speech?’ And I was like, ‘Oh no, no, no! I’m not going to win,’” she said. “He’s like, ‘Well, you need to do that because it’s a scientific possibility, and don’t be stupid. Just prepare something.’ So he scared the shit out of me, and I wrote a quick manic poem, as you know, women have done for centuries. And I love my dog Babe. I named my first daughter after him. I’m almost ready for a dog, decade away.”
“Widow’s Bay” ended Night 2 of the 78th Emmys with eight wins — the most of any program so far. Gilpin called the recognition “incredible.”
“The episode that Hamish and I did, it’s like we did this strange little period indie movie at the end of the actual filming of contemporary ‘Widow’s Bay.’ So it felt like, honestly an island within an island. The crew and writers had filmed all nine episodes before us, and so to encounter all these people who were clearly brilliant and tired and had just taken a big risk, and then to watch that risk pay off immensely — it’s just so satisfying. A point for brilliant, weird, creative people, I’d say.”
In her episode, Sarah appears to perish as she attempts to leave the island. Is there any chance she might return in another flashback? “I feel like by her genius demented ‘Widow’s Bay’ lore math, it doesn’t make sense for her to come back,” Gilpin said. “But like, come on, just find it so I can come back. I would love to do that. I loved working on the show so much. Katie Dippold’s brain and work and the fact that Apple made her show a reality gives me renewed faith in our industry. Honestly, something so original and niche and strange and human having success in the mainstream — it gives me hope, honestly, that we’re not totally lost in our industry.”