Tracy Morgan makes surprise Emmys appearance

30 Rock star Tracy Morgan made a surprise appearance on stage at the Emmy awards last night.

The comic received a rapturous reception from the stars at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles when he took to the podium to announce the winner of the drama category.

It was his highest profile public appearance since a traumatic car crash in June 2014 killed fellow comic James McNair and left Morgan with serious injuries.

The emotion was palpable as he told the audience: ‘Thank you, thank you so much. I miss you guys so much.

‘Last year Jimmy Kimmel said on the stage, we’ll see you back here next year. Well, Jimmy, thanks to my amazing doctors and the support of my family and my beautiful new wife, I’m here, standing on my own two feet and God bless all of you for your love, your prayers and the thoughts over the past 15 months.

‘It’s been a long road back. suffered a traumatic brain injury that put me in a coma for eight days.’

And he also cracked a couple of jokes about his owe reputation,saying: ‘When I finally regained consciousness, I was just ecstatic to learn that I wasn’t the one who messed up.’

‘Only recently have I started to feel like myself again, which means a whole lot of y’all women gonna get pregnant at the after-party.’

Here are his comments:

Morgan, who married Megan Wollover last month, made his first public appearance since the crash in June, when he told the Today programme: ‘The case is settled, but the pain is always going to be there.’ He received undisclosed damages from Walmart, whose truck crashed into the comedian’s limousine-bus on the New Jersey turnpike. The sleep-deprived driver had been speeding.

Backstage, last night Morganposed for a photo with Jon Hamm, who won an Emmy for his role in Mad Men, and who had previously appeared on 30 Rock, and tweeted: ‘Man it feels good to be back!!! Love you all!’

Veep was a big winner on the night, scooping four awards: outstanding comedy, outstanding lead actress for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, outstanding writing, and outstanding supporting actor, for Tony Hale in his role as sycophantic aide Gary Walsh. British writers Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche wrote the script that was honoured.

Collecting the award, Iannucci said: 'If Veep is about one thing it's about hope, hope that anyone in America, no matter their background, their race, their creed, can just miss out on getting the top job. Or they can get it if their boss is mentally incapacitated or killed. So with that air of positivity, America has been so welcoming to the Brits on this show, thank you.'

Indeed the group that collected the prize included many Brits, including stand-up Chris Addison, an executive producer on the show, and writers David Quantick, Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, who are supervising producers.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart took home three Emmys, for best writing for a variety series, outstanding variety talk series and an award for direction

Jeffrey Tambor took home the Emmy for best lead actor in a comedy series for Transparent, the Amazon Prime transgender comedy that was also honoured for its direction and best guest actor, for Bradley Whitford.

Inside Amy Schumer was named outstanding variety sketch series; while former West Wing star Allison Janney won outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Mom; and Joan Cusack won for best guest actress, for her appearance in Shameless.

Published: 21 Sep 2015