The 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards are right around the corner, and will air on Monday night at 9pm EST on NBC. Known as the biggest night for TV, the awards show was established in 1949.
Here are 8 interesting facts about the show that you might not have known until now.
1. Emmy comes from the word “Immy” which was the name of the video cameras that the early TV shows were recorded on.
2. Last year, Kerry Washington became the 5th African American woman to be nominated for the category “Lead Actress in a Drama,” for her role as Olivia Pope in “Scandal.” If she wins this year she will be the first African American to win in the category.
3. In 1966, Bill Cosby became the first African American to win an Emmy for 1960s action comedy “I Spy.”
4. Before 2013, Lucile Ball held the record of 13 Emmy nominations for an actress in a comedy. Just last year, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was nominated for the 14th time and and won. The actress is nominated again this year.
5. Betty White is the oldest Emmy award winner in history. In 2010, she won for guest-hosting Saturday Night Live at 88 years old, and also broke the show’s record for oldest host.
6. The show with the most Emmy awards is Saturday Night Live, which raked in 40 awards to date. SNL also wins for having the most nominations with 156 so far.
7. Cloris Leachman has won the most Emmys of anyone in history, coming in at 8, and has been nominated for 22 already.
8. The biggest Emmy looser in history goes to Bob Newhart, whole TV show “Newhart” was nominated 25 times in 8 seasons but never won a statue.
