'Everyone except Eugene -- who is still, as far as I know, MIA -- is pretty over the moon.'
Moira Rose would be pleased. Schitt's Creek, the little Pop TV comedy that could, racked up 15 Emmy nominations on Tuesday, including Outstanding Comedy Series and recognition for each of the Roses in their respective acting categories.
"I just got off the phone with her, actually, and she is tickled," Annie Murphy says of the Rose family matriarch, played by Catherine O'Hara. While O'Hara is now a two-time nominee for her work on the series, the Emmys got a little bit Alexis this year and Murphy earned her first-ever nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Shortly after the nominations were announced, Murphy phoned ET to talk Emmys, how playing the vocal-fried socialite with a heart of gold changed her life and why Eugene Levy is MIA amid all the celebrating.
15 nominations! What had you honestly been expecting this morning?
Annie Murphy: Eugene and Catherine kind of goes without saying. I think Dan went without saying. I was certainly holding my breath for myself, because you never want to be the person that's like, "Can't wait for my Emmy nom!" But the fact that it wasn't just the actors recognized. There are so many insanely talented people that worked on the show over the last six years, so having writing and hair and makeup and costume design and directing and editing -- like, all across the board -- these are all people that are so wonderful that I love so much and so it means so much to be nominated with all of them.
Your nomination wasn't announced on the nominations livestream. How did you find out you'd been nominated?
I was actually watching the livestream with the show's publicist at her place, but then she got all sidetracked and went to the website. And I was eating pancakes, I was very distracted by these pancakes and the bacon situation happening. And then I just kind of got yelled at. It was like a shriek followed by a yell and then my name and then some, like, garbled English, and I pieced it all together and realized that I'd been nominated.
I talked with you ahead of the Emmy nominations and you spoke about how much it means to see the show recognized. But what does your recognition and being a Best Supporting Actress nominee mean to you?
All of the clichés are true right now, unfortunately, but it just means so much. This is a character that really changed my life. This show changed my life entirely, and it's been the best six years of my life, so that would've been enough. [Laughs] That would've been absolutely enough, and this is the icing on the cake to be recognized for a job that I would've paid to do.
You said you just got off the phone with Catherine. Is there a Schitt's Creek call tree or a text thread that's blowing up this morning?
Catherine and I have been chitchatting. I've been texting with Sarah [Levy], I've been texting with Dustin [Milligan]. I actually FaceTimed with Sarah this morning and I was like, "I'm so excited for your dad. Are you going to Zoom with him, or what's going on?" And she was like, "No. He's out for a walk right now. I don't know if he knows that this is happening today or what." [Laughs] Eugene was just out for a long, leisurely walk, blissfully oblivious with all of this chaos happening. So, we've all been in touch today, and needless to say everyone -- I mean, everyone except Eugene, who is still, as far as I know, MIA -- everyone else is pretty over the moon.
Catherine must have been so excited for you. What did she have to say when you were chitchatting with her?
She was so full of the most sincere and loving congratulations, and I think, like me, she was just so happy to be in the company of all of these people that we love so much. One thing I love about Catherine is that this stuff hasn't got old. She's still finds the excitement and the anticipation in everything and the joy in all of it, and it's kind of infectious. And just the fact that I can say to you, "Oh yeah, I just got off the phone with Catherine O'Hara." That's still really f**king cool. [Laughs] I feel like a truly lucky, lucky girl to be able to say that.
Have you touched base with Dan yet? Not only getting nominated for the show, but Best Supporting Actor, directing, writing. I mean!
The man is not going to be able to fit his head through the doorway after all this. I mean, he has worked so, so hard on this show, and it certainly would not be anywhere close to what it is without him, so he deserves every single nomination and hopefully award that's coming at him.
Ending this final season on such a high note -- between the reviews and the fan reaction and now the Emmys -- does that make you guys more likely to revisit Schitt's Creek in the future? Or do you leave well-enough alone?
If it was up to me, I would do 25 more seasons. I have been bribing Dan on a daily basis to write another season slash do a movie slash something. But if that doesn't come to pass, we were so, so, so lucky to be able to go out on a high note. Knowing that it was going to be six seasons, the writers were able to wrap up all of the stories just the way they wanted. And people weren't like, "OK, we get it. Please stop with this show." So, even though it's a bittersweet goodbye, we were so lucky that it ended the way it did.
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