Tricks shocked runaway favorite The Bear for Best Comedy at Sunday night’s 2024 Emmys, injecting a last-minute dose of drama into a dull race.

Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart’s tale of two dysfunctional comedians came out of nowhere to beat FX’s Chicago-set dramedy to an awards season and a night of The bear Victory seemed as inevitable as the next “Yes, Chief” greeting.

Meanwhile, FX’s Shogun and Netflix’s Baby reindeer won the top prize in the drama and miniseries categories respectively.

While The Bear was considered a borderline comedy, which led to some snickering in some television circles over its categorization. The show topped most expert lists and won almost every major award it could win during the three-hour charity service on Sunday.

With 23 nominations, the film also received more nominations than any other comedy in history.

But Tricksby Max, had the final say in this category, as the series by Paul Downs, Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello about growing up, ambitions and insecurity in show business took home the top prize for its third season.

“We really believe that (comedy) can bridge gaps,” Aniello said upon accepting the top prize. “If you laugh with someone, you have something in common with them.” Downs seized the moment to call for more representation for older actors.

Smart previously won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, her sixth overall, for her role as the cutting comedian Deborah Vance, delivering a warm speech that contrasted with what her character would have said. Tricks also won an award for Outstanding Script for a Comedy Series, with Downs thanking everyone who “had seen the show or been seen by the show,” and noting what a strange comedy guy he and Statsky and Aniello (sort of) were.

Few spectators expected the trio to return to the stage at the end of the evening.

The surprising twist finally came in the wake of The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bachrach accepted the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy to kick off the 2024 Emmys. Moments later, two more Bear wins when Jeremy Allen White won for Best Actor in a Comedy and Liza Colón-Zayas won for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, becoming the first Latina to do so in the category. And creator Christopher Storer would later win for Directing a Comedy Series.

“I’m so grateful for this show and to work with these wonderful people,” said Moss-Bachrach, who plays the talkative Richie on the critically acclaimed show, and keeps it simple. White took the stage and offered a poignant moment that “this show (The Bear) has changed my life; it has given me the belief that change is possible… you are never really alone.”

Experts will try to Bear‘s is faltering at the biggest possible time, with theories likely including the fact that FX dropped the show’s third season in June. The polarizing episodes, which have not yet been decided by members of the TV Academy, could still have swayed them about the well-received second season when they voted this summer.

The comedy rating may have hurt, too. At the start of the 2024 Emmys telecast, co-host Eugene Levy took a dig at the unconventional choice of the best comedy nomination winner in Emmys history. “I think the show is great,” he said. “And some of you might be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is actually a comedy. But in the true spirit of The Bear “We’re not going to make any jokes.”

Shogunmeanwhile, stormed through to the 2024 Emmys after dropping out early, while Baby reindeer won four Emmys, including Best Miniseries.

“You have greenlit a very expensive subtitled Japanese costume drama whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition,” Shogun co-creator Justin Marks said of Disney and FX/Hulu, “I have no idea why you did it.” Shogun won a record-breaking 14 Creative Arts Emmys and was nominated for an equally record-breaking 25 Emmys in total.

ReindeerThe creator of ‘ took the opportunity to make a similar point to Marks about business risk.

“I know the industry is in a slump right now,” actor-creator Richard Gadd said as he accepted the award for best limited series for his Netflix show. “(But) no slump is ever broken without a willingness to take risks,” he said, criticizing “IP” and other more corporate ways of greenlighting shows. He added that “there’s no set formula for this.” Gadd was a relative unknown before he made his big breakthrough with his stalking, pursuing and abuse drama.

Shogun won both leading roles in a drama category after coming up empty-handed in previous categories. Hiroyuki Sanada, a legend in his native Japan, won best actor for his role as the cunning strategist Lord Yoshii Toranaga, while Anna Sawai won best actress for her complex performance as Mariko in the FX period epic.

Shoguns Frederick EO Toye also won for Best Director in a Drama. Toye thanked influences like Kurosawa for “making me steal from them every day.” Earlier, two actors from Billy Crudup’s Shogun lost out for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role as the layered Cory on The morning show.

Colón-Zayas said she didn’t write a speech because she couldn’t imagine doing it in front of nominees like Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett. She closed her speech with a call to action. “To all the Latinas watching me, keep the faith and vote. Vote for your rights.”

John Leguizamo also made an impassioned plea about race in Hollywood during the ceremony, referencing an ad he saw in the New York Times in June, urging Emmy voters to recognize more people of color.

The actor on the Emmys stage Sunday night said he was “almost thrilled and certainly less angry, because tonight we have one of the most diverse groups of nominees in Emmy history.” He noted that it was a “DEI” appointment: “Diligence, excellence and imagination.” (Leguizamo got a joke in about The Bear as “the charming story of white people obsessed with Michelin stars and making kale taste good.”)

Host Candice Bergen had an equally political moment when she noted the anger caused by Dan Quayle towards her Murphy Brown the character’s decision to have a child on the show as a single mother more than three decades ago. “Nowadays, a Republican candidate would never attack a woman for having children. So my work here is done,” she said, taking a swipe at vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance over his derogatory comments about women who didn’t have children. She added a “meow” for maximum feline effect.

Within the theme of motherhood there was a tribute to TV moms, featuring Connie Britton, in which she pointed to a bygone era “when couples would sleep in separate beds, which led to the question, ‘How did she become a mother in the first place?’”

Alan Cumming, accepting the reality competition series award for his spirited human chess game The traitors, also took a brazen approach to the state of society. After saying that there was “something in the water in Holland” where many reality formats begin, he joked, “So let’s find it, let’s drink it, and all of America’s problems will be solved.”

Speaking of politics, Last week tonight with John Oliver won the Emmy for scripted variety series. But the HBO series host kept it apolitical and focused on his beloved dog who recently passed away. He dedicated the show to “to all the dogs… you all deserve a treat,” and survived the playoff music to do so. Sly comedian Alex Edelman, who won best script for a special for the broadcast of his live show Only for usalso spoke heartbreakingly about the death of his good friend and director Adam Brace, shortly before their show opened on Broadway.

Oliver’s previous series The daily show won late night’s other top prize, for best talk show. Longtime frontman Jon Stewart — who returned to the Comedy Central broadcasts earlier this year to host one night a week — stepped to the mic at the 2024 Emmys after the win to make some self-deprecating quips about how hard that one day of work really was.

In the monologue, co-host and son of Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, also made a cheeky comment about another critically beloved nominee, Reservation Dogswhich won many Emmys in its final season (just like their Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek). “The Television Academy found a program that had been creatively flourishing for years and said, ‘Hey, look what we discovered.’”

Also on Sunday, Elizabeth Debicki took on a supporting role in a drama for her role as Princess Diana in the final season of The Crown.

Netflix- Baby reindeer defied a number of historical trends that conflicted with controversial real-life stories.

Jessica Gunning won for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role as the chilling Martha on the show, while Gadd also won for Writing in a Limited Series and Best Actor in a Limited Series. “I never thought I would get my life together,” he said after winning the first award. “And here I am, more than a decade later, winning one of the biggest writing awards. If you’re struggling, keep going. Keep going.”

In a very 2024 moment, Fargo Supporting Actress in a Limited Series winner Lamorne Morris realized his time was up and said, “I’m going to do one more thing on my podcast and thank the rest of the people I forgot to thank.”

The line of the night halfway through the show came from Slow horses creator Will Smith, who, upon taking the stage to win a writing Emmy, dryly said, “Despite my name, I come in peace.”

However, when it was all over, it was Tricks who came to kill.

Check out all the red carpet looks.