Dish Of Salt: Live From The Emmys (August 27, 2006)

by Laura Saltman

During Emmy day, check back here for our Access TV guru Laura Saltman’s take,from the Emmy red carpet to the after parties! (All times are PST).

1:26 a.m. — The crowd has thinned out. My feet hurt and it’s time to go home. I walk out to valet and Sir Ben Kingsley is waiting with two women for their car. He had been waiting a long time for his car. The ladies snap photos of Ben and his gift bag. A paparazzi comes over and asks Ben to smile for him. Ben tells him he will smile when his car arrives. My car arrives before his. Such ends my Emmy night.

12:48 a.m. — Debra Messing looking a bit worn out leaves after watching the band perform. Denton and company are still rocking out and the crowd is loving it. Matthew Perry leaves a few minutes later.

12:34 a.m. — Ryan and Simon are holding court in the corner with a group that includes American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe. Ryan leaves most likely going home to catch some sleep before he has to wake up and do his morning L.A. radio show. A few minutes later Zach Braff leaves.

12:10 a.m. — Band from TV starts playing. Zach Braff hangs along the side standing on a booth listening. Sophia Bush nearly knocks me over to get to the dance floor.

11:59 p.m. — Just as I’m getting ready to leave and wrap things up Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest stroll in.

11:09 p.m. — Matthew Perry shows up and takes a photo with a fan who later tells me she will be posting it on her myspace page.

11:39 p.m. — Jaime Pressly arrives sporting a different dress than the red carpet. Its a sexy little sequined mini. She is the last to arrive and the crews start to wrap up.

11:15 p.m. — Shout out to Michael Ealy. From the brilliant Sleeper Cell on Showtime who told me he stayed up all night watching the coverage of the recent terror arrests in London. He told me its good to know their really are Darwins out there. I’m too tired to explain what that means to anyone who has never seen the show so just take my advice and download it off iTunes or buy the DVD.

10:50 p.m. — Inside Pink starts to perform. The crowd is so thick you can’t even hear her. Leah Remini tells me that over at the People Magazine party Prince performed and she couldn’t hear him either. She kept having to ask her tall friend Jenna Elfman what was happening.

10:42 p.m.– The cast of Grey’s Anatomy arrives and offer their congrats to 24 for beating them out and winning Best Drama. At the same time, Hugh Laurie is frantically looking for his wife and ducks behind the photographers to find her. 10 minutes later he is still alone standing by the entrance to the party.

10:29 p.m. — The party feels like its winding down but then Debra Messing arrives still wearing her same gown but now carrying a wrap because the temperature has dropped since the heat fest of the Emmy red carpet. Debra tellls Nancy she cried when Megan Mullally won. She tells Nancy she wants her to fly to Australia to interview her on the set of the movie she is shooting for USA Network called “The Starter Wife.”

9:56 p.m. — Pink arrives with her husband Carey Hart. She’s looking glam in a white v-neck dress. Her head has been freshly shaved by her husband. She laughs and tells producer Bryant “That’s what you get when you mix tequila and Mexico.”

9:52 p.m. — I catch Jennifer Love Hewitt and her boyfriend Ross McCall sneaking out of the party fifteen minutes after they arrived.

9:29 p.m. — Paula Abdul stumbles up to our platform nearly tripping on her train. She tells Shaun about returning to the American Idol auditions and how Simon is already giving her a headache. They have seen some good talent so far but no one that has blown them away yet. Apparently there is a guy that is claiming to be William Hung’s cousin at the auditions. I’m sure he’ll make it on the show come January.

9:15 p.m. — I interview Tia Carrere who offers this advice to the new crop of “Dancing with the Stars” crew, “Dance every single second that you can.”

9:03 p.m. — Greg Grunberg informs us that ABC has made them change the name of his band that is performing tonight, Battle of the Network Stars, because it was too similar to their old show. It’s a band compiled of TV stars that include “Desperate Housewives’” James Denton on guitar, Greg from the new NBC show “Heroes” on drums, Hugh Laurie from “House” on keyboards and Bob the Bachelor on vocals. The new name is hysterical. Band from TV.

8:59 p.m. — I interview Jeremy Piven’s costar Rex Lee aka Lloyd who is already celebrating his “bosses” win and can’t wait to see him and congratulate him.

8:15 p.m. — Lauren Holly is the first celeb to arrive at the red carpet for the TV Guide Access Hollywood party. Producer Bryant inteviews Joan Rivers who in the middle of his interview notices a woman had fallen on the red carpet right behind her. She jokingly yells “Don’t get up. Don’t get up. You can own this red carpet!”

5:20 p.m. — Wentworth Miller shows up, who was also stuck in traffic. He arrives with a mystery date. I later find out he nearly missed rehearsal yesterday when his limo dropped him off on the wrong side of the Shrine. Our producer Adam spotted him and pointed him in the right direction.

5:05 p.m. — Eva Longoria shows up after crews have left. We do grab an interview with her where she tells us she was held up in traffic. Producer Bryant thinks she seemed pretty bummed to have missed it all.

5:00p.m. — The carpet is closed as crews begin breaking down.

4:55p.m. — Jason Lee is rushed in as is James Gandolfini who avoids the media by walking on the opposite side of the ropes. Paula Abdul does, however, stop and talk.

4:53 p.m. — Evangeline Lilly is rushed by us in an amazing purple Versace dress. She only stops because she sees our producer Bryant who has been to the set of Lost many times. She tells Shaun her boyfriend, Dominic Monaghan is at home tonight. She’s the only cast member invited.

4:52 p.m. — Shaun goes running after Sean Hayes as he rushes in. They do the interview running together.

4:50 p.m. — Announcement is made that celebs must be in the seats or they will not get in for twenty minutes after live broadcast. The stars start rushing by us but this does not deter us from grabbing them as they run by. Debra Messing is beaming in an Alberta Ferretti gown talking about how bittersweet it is that she is nominated for her last year of ?Will & Grace?. She reveals that she is booked already as a guest on Megan Mullally?s talk show.

4:49 p.m. — I get a nice big smooch on the lips from my pal Randy Jackson who will have to head off to the ?American Idol? auditions in San Antonio this week.

4:48 p.m. — Lisa Rinna puts me on Harry Hamlin watch. She is almost done with interviews and is concerned that he won’t get back in time. Five minutes later he is found.

4:46 p.m. — Announcement is made that they want everyone in their seats. Stars begin to rush by us. Kiefer Sutherland is whisked by me by his publicist but Kiefer himself promises me he will come back. He does. He must know I’m a 24 fan.

4:45 p.m. — Normally at events a publicist will come up and ask if you would like to interview them. Tonight a first happens to me when Jon Voight, father of Angelina Jolie, comes straight to me and asks me if we would like to interview him. I, of course, say yes.

4:44 p.m. — Ellen Pompeo meets Mariska Hargitay for the first time on our platform.

4:31 p.m. —It’s becoming clear that purple is the color of the night.

4:26 p.m. —Patrick Dempsey gets rushed right up to the platform as other stars are waiting in front of him. Today he is the biggest name of the red carpet with “Grey’s” leading the nominations.

4:22 p.m. — Relative chaos out here as stars are coming up left and right. Virginia Madsen waits while we interview Portia De Rossi and remarks to her publicist how beautiful her dress is. The very kind Victor Garber waits for almost five minutes while we interview Heidi Klum who we were being told wanted to go in because she was getting too hot being that she is pregnant. Victor remarks how incredibly beautiful she is.

3:55 p.m. — Hugh Laurie and Jon Cryer meet for the first time on our platform.

3:38 p.m. — Jennifer Love Hewitt looks beautiful in a gray Collette Dinnigan dress. Her boyfriend patiently waits for her to finish the interview. Daniel, our wardrobe stylist fashion expert thought it was a boring dress. The carpet is now a sea of celebs.

3:22 p.m. — Sandra Oh is the first big name and nominee to come up to our platform. She looks hot in a lavender Vera Wang gown. Our wardrobe team thinks it was hot and loved the vintage jewels.

3:12 p.m. — Tony Potts does his first interview of the day with the “The Dead Zone’s” Anthony Michael Hall who looks nothing like he did back in his “Sixteen Candles” days. Shaun and Lisa do their first interview with some “West Wing” star no one has ever heard of.

2:45 p.m. — The red carpet is officially open and right now entertainment reporters from all the big shows are taking their stroll in front of the photographers. No jockeying for space or cat fights have ensued, even though they are on competing shows the ladies all get along very well. There are a lot of “who is your dress by” and “you look beautiful” comments flying around. BTW it’s so hot I literally have sweat dripping down the back of my legs.

2:05 p.m. — Lisa Rinna is the first celebrity to hit the red carpet. She’s not trying to be fashionably early, she is here before everyone because she will be a special correspondent for Access. My job today involves standing out on the carpet and stopping celebrities to have them come up and be interviewed by Lisa and Shaun Robinson. It sounds easy but it’s a tough balancing act because you are competing with live shows and publicists are always passing you up in favor of a live interview because then they know their client will be seen and not left on the cutting room floor.

12:05 p.m. — I just arrived at the Emmy red carpet where I was promptly frisked by security. There is no special treatment here even the celebrities will have to pass through the metal detectors. It’s about 89 degrees out here but on the red carpet it feels like about 100. There are going to be a lot of sweaty people out here.

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