'Widow's Bay' sweeps Emmys with record 14 comedy wins

"Widow's Bay" dominated the Emmy Awards on Monday night, with the Apple TV series setting a single-season record for a comedy with 14 wins, including best comedy series.

Matthew Rhys, the show's star, personally collected three trophies. Along with best actor in a comedy, he won best actor in a limited series for "The Beast in Me," making him the first man to win two leading actor categories in the same year. He also shares in the best comedy series award as an executive producer.

Backstage, Rhys said the scale of the night had not yet registered. "I'm slightly giddy and a little bit dizzy, and I genuinely can't believe it," he said, adding that he hoped to reflect on it the following day. Asked about celebrating, he said: "The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild."

He also spoke about his Welsh roots, saying he was glad to see his country "put our flag in the map and say we punch higher than our weight sometimes in Wales."

On the subject of his partner Keri, who was nominated but did not win, Rhys joked that any competition between them was far from light-hearted. "It's not playful. It's all serious," he said, describing her as "always the class act" and predicting she might win next year.

Created by Katie Dippold, the first-season series blends comedy and horror in its story of a New England island community, with Rhys playing its mayor as it reckons with a centuries-old curse. The show also won for directing, for Hiro Murai, and for writing, for Dippold, a first-time Emmy winner and first-time nominee.

Dippold used her backstage remarks to thank those who championed the show early. "There are so many people that spread the word early on. Like, all the people online talking about it, whether it's reviewers or people just tweeting about it," she said. "Truly, that really got the word spread and we're so grateful to them." Rhys interjected that those supporters were "predominantly our parents," to which Dippold added, "And some burner accounts."

Reflecting on the production, Dippold recalled a particularly hectic day shooting the eighth episode, when one unit filmed a character walking fearfully through a hallway while, at the same time, other cast members shot a massive storm sequence outside. "I was like, this is madness," she said.