With Emmy Show Only Days Away, Anxious 1st-time Host Jane Lynch Says She Can Finally Sleep

Jane Lynch is no longer losing sleep over her Emmy hosting duties.

“I’m OK,” the “Glee” star affirmed with a smile on Wednesday morning after rolling out the red carpet in front of the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. “I actually slept OK last night for the first time in about a week. I’ve been having some anxiety issues.”

Lynch has been hard at work backstage on the show with longtime pals Jill and Faith Soloway from Chicago. The trio previously worked together on Annoyance Theatre’s “The Real Live Brady Bunch” in the 1990s. (Lynch played matriarch Carol Brady.)

The first-time host promised that the Chi-Town ladies would bring “kind of a Chicago feel” to Sunday’s 63rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

“Jane is certainly going to be central to our experience,” said Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chairman John Shaffner. “I think the host of a program like this is the best friend who sits on the sofa and tells you great stories as the evening goes on and comments on the work. She’s here to keep us engaged in that way as a best friend.”

Lynch has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance as Sue Sylvester on “Glee” and is up for another Emmy this year. She was the first choice of executive producer Mark Burnett to host this year’s show.

“The Apprentice” and “Survivor” mastermind said he voted for the 50-year-old actress to lead the show even before clearing it with his alliance.

“My only choice I wanted was Jane Lynch,” said Burnett. “I had not yet gotten permission to ask her from the Academy or Fox. I ran into Jane on a plane. We were both coming back from the upfronts in New York. I just went over to her and said, ‘I have no permission right now, but if I can get permission, would you host the Emmys for me?’”