You heard the speeches as stars accepted their trophies at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday (including the short but sweet "Thank you ... I gotta go, bye!" from "Nurse Jackie" star Merritt Wever), but we didn't want you to miss out on the gems we heard the winners share backstage:
Merritt Wever, outstanding supporting actress in a drama for 'Nurse Jackie'
On getting her acceptance speech cut very short: "I wanted to thank a lot of people. ... I wanted to thank everybody at Showtime. I wanted to thank, most of all, Edie Falco. ... I wanted to thank Edie Falco very badly. It’s very hard to do those. (Sigh) Sorry."
On what the Emmy means to her: "I don’t know yet. I’m scared, honestly. I’m scared because it was unexpected so I don’t know how to feel yet. I mean, I have therapy next week.”
Tony Hale, outstanding supporting actor in a comedy for 'Veep'
On his first Emmy win: "This is nuts. I completely left my body. It’s so surreal. I’m so thrilled to be working, and to have this, it’s completely mind-blowing. ... My wife has an Emmy for makeup so I’m just catching up to her."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, outstanding lead actress in a comedy for 'Veep'
On what she's going to do with her latest Emmy: "I'm going to sleep with it."
On what a fourth win means to her: "It means a ton because, you know, because I’ve lost many, many more times than I’ve won. I’ve lost 10 times, as a matter of fact, so it’s delicious to win."
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2013 Emmy Awards show
Jim Parsons, outstanding lead actor in a comedy for 'The Big Bang Theory'
On how he'll celebrate: "The truest joy of having the show nominated is the size of the celebration changes dramatically. There are all those after parties. But I’m not much of an after party. I’m much more of an afterthought. I prefer to read in bed, but that’s because I’m 100. I might go home and say hello to the dogs and that might feel like a hell of a celebration, I don’t know."
On how it feels to hear his name announced: "The closest I can compare it to is that feeling when you narrowly miss getting into a car accident. That adrenaline you feel, that moment leading up to it because you might have to get up and talk in front of people ... I know, it’s so unromantic, isn’t it?”
Bryan Cranston of "Breaking Bad," which won best drama series
On seeing the show, rather than himself, take top drama honors: “This is the answer to a wish and a prayer of mine. I’ve been blessed in the past, and this show has been nominated in the past. What I really wanted was what we got to celebrate: the entire writing crew and cast. This is for the crew that’s worked for us for six years. It’s the culmination of everything. This is one hell of a party. What a way to go out!”
On the writing for the final season of "Breaking Bad": "These scripts were like unwrapping a present. ... The writers deserve the lion’s share of the appreciation and success. ... We are their mouthpieces. This is what makes me so proud this happened tonight.”
Anna Gunn, outstanding lead actress in a drama for 'Breaking Bad'
On whether this is revenge against her character's haters: "It just feels tremendous. It’s been the most remarkable ride to be on this show. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I‘m more overwhelmed. But yes, I’m glad there are people out there who enjoy Skyler as well. What the Skyler haters do, they do. It doesn’t really have anything to do with me."
On last Sunday's knife fight with Walter (Bryan Cranston) on "Breaking Bad": "It was very exciting because the boys do the stunts all the time, so I was extremely excited to do the stunt. We did a lot of takes of that. I got a little sore. It felt it was the culmination of what she had to endure. She finally drew a line in the sand, 'You will not hurt another member of my family.' There was a release and it was cathartic."
Bobby Cannavale, outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for 'Boardwalk Empire'
On how he'll be celebrating: "I will go that HBO party. Then I’ll go to Fallon’s party. And then Hamm’s having a party, like a losers party, so I’ll go to that. But if you win and go to losers party, you have to give him $1,000. So I will.”
Jeff Daniels, outstanding lead actor in a drama for 'The Newsroom'
On the fact that he rarely wins: "My dad said a long time ago, ‘I think you’re going to grow into your face.' But he was right. I grew into my face."
On how he'll celebrate: "We’re going to party til dawn, and then I’m going to get on a plane and go to Atlanta and start shooting ‘Dumb and Dumber 2.' "
Stephen Colbert, outstanding variety series and writing for a variety series on 'The Colbert Report'
On finally beating "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" for best variety show: "I’m really proud of the show, but no one’s a bigger fan of Jon Stewart than I am. Winning best show is a lot of fun. I’m second to none in my admiration and belief that Jon deserved all those wins."
On what the awards mean: "We get to be a shadow of the news we’re mocking. We get a boost from just how stupid the real news is."
— Additional writing by Anna Chan.