David Hyde Pierce had lots of support within the press room, judging by the enthusiastic reaction to his entrance. How surprised was he? "I was completely surprised. Not only did I not expect to win, I expected to be more together than I was [on stage]. I've been to the Emmys many times, but this meant more to me than I realized because it's the theater."
Still he said, "What took the pressure off is that this is not an acting award. It's an award for the writing, choreography and for who I'm working with. I'm not being modest because I love me," he added, to laughter, "but it's like going surfing and the wave shows up." Told that Debra Monk cried at his win, he said, "I've been an emotional mess this whole week. We all have. We've been doing interviews, performing on talk shows…" Hyde Pierce stopped himself and added, "I completely forgot to mention Rob Ashford and his assistant in my speech, and I should have; he's one of the most important people." Asked about playing the lead in a Broadway show, he said, "I've always been a character actor, and now I appreciate what the supporting actors do. I feel like the flag at Iwo Jima—I have all these people holding me up and all I have to do is wave."