Emmy nominees hope to be pleased with thank-yous

TV writers need specific talents to practice their craft — timing, rhythm and a general way with words (the Writer’s Guild of America’s stamp of approval helps too). Normally, that works out fine for actors, who can then focus on interpreting those words.

But every year when the Emmy nominations are announced, a handful of non-scribes are suddenly called on to think like writers — because there’s a good chance that on Emmy night they’ll have to stand before several million people and summon original, funny, heartfelt words of their own.

No wonder so few actors admit paying any attention whatsoever ahead of time to the daunting Emmy speech.

“I definitely wing it,” says three-time “Sopranos” winner Edie Falco, nominated this year for her freshman series “Nurse Jackie.” “When I think about the idea of standing in front of all those people and talking, it’s insane. But in reality, I don’t get that nervous.”

Sharon Gless (who has two Emmys for “Cagney & Lacey” and another nomination this year for “Burn Notice”) also admits she’s never committed anything to paper. “I always felt that writing it down would be presumptuous. As if, ‘I knew you’d give it to me and here’s my speech.’ If I can’t remember the names of the people who were good enough to me all the way through, I shouldn’t get up there.”

Being seen as having expected to win isn’t the only concern that holds actors back from committing pen to paper. A superstitious lot already, actors don’t like to think too hard about winning for fear of jinxing their chances.

But former political speechwriter Dan Gerstein, who is now president and founder of the speechwriting and ghostwriting firm Gotham Ghostwriters, says that preparation on some level is crucial. “There’s a difference between being prepared and being presumptuous. If you’re one of a few nominees for a major award, you’re definitely not being presumptuous. Someone already thinks you’re good enough to win.”

As he explains, “Actors have an advantage — they’re performers used to memorizing lines. But even for them a backup is beneficial. In the moment, they could go off on a wild tangent or say something that reflects poorly.”

While Gless never had a complete disaster onstage accepting an award, she does remember that for her second win in 1987 she thanked so many people that the next night, Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” monologue referenced her speech: “His opening line was, ‘Is there anyone here who Sharon Gless didn’t thank?’”

“Psych’s” Dulé Hill was nominated in 2002 for his “West Wing” appearance and didn’t take home the prize. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t at least thinking about what would happen if his name was called.

“I had a stream of thought in my head, and I knew as long as I thanked Aaron Sorkin and Warner Bros. and Mama, Daddy, my wife and Jesus, I’d be good to go. Not necessarily in that order,” he says. “My recommendation is to have an idea of where you want to go — just in case you’re one of the lucky few.”

Newcomers are seemingly the most open to the idea of preparing a speech. “Friday Night Lights” nominee Connie Britton says she’d like to please the 12-year-old girl in herself by preparing one. “I have zero anticipation that I will actually win, but this is fair and square — I got nominated, so I could write one just for kicks.”

Whether a speech gets written or just considered, however, Gerstein does have a few tips: Be funny, avoid sounding smarmy and do a dry run-through with a loved one — something that sounds brilliant in your head could go over like a lead balloon. And most important, be yourself. “The rule of thumb in a high-profile setting is first, do no harm. There’s too much risk and potential downside not to be prepared for your moment.”

Ray Romano, who has a 2002 Emmy for “Everybody Loves Raymond,” tries to keep speech prep in perspective, but as a comedian, that’s hard to do. “You have no idea how much any comedian stresses over their acceptance speech. It’s a little stressful when you’re the comedian at the Emmys and you have to have a funny acceptance speech in case you win. And then, three minutes later — nobody’s talking about it anyway.”

That is, if it’s done right.

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