Henry Winkler, 72, Wins His First Emmy and Recites Speech He 'Wrote 43 Years Ago': 'Daddy Won!'
Congratulations are in order for Henry Winkler!
On Monday, the actor took home the 2018 Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. Winkler won his first-ever Primetime Emmy — following three acting nominations in the ’70s for his breakout in Happy Days, among other nods — for his role as master acting teacher Gene Cousineau on HBO’s Barry.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” Winkler, 72, repeated several times as he took the stage.
Winkler, who won two Golden Globe Awards in addition to his nominations for his role as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on Happy Days and previously earned two Daytime Emmys, joked that he wrote his speech “43 years ago.”
He says he was once told that if you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you.
“Tonight I got to clear the table,” he said.
Winkler closed with a shout-out to his son, Max, and daughter Zoe — yelling triumphantly: “You can go to bed now, daddy won!”
Check out all of PEOPLE’s 2018 Emmys coverage here
This year’s category, which was presented by The Crown‘s Claire Foy and Matt Smith, turned out to be a competitive one, with seven actors from six different shows up for a nomination.
For the second consecutive year, Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live), Louie Anderson (Baskets), and Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) all received a nod for their work. Joining the category returners were Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live), Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), Winkler and Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
It was a big year for SNL, which earned two nominations in the category. Baldwin took home the supporting actor Emmy for his portrayal of Donald Trump in 2017. This year marks the third time the actor has been nominated in this category.
As for Baldwin’s SNL castmate Thompson, this year marked his first-ever Emmy nomination. The long-overdue recognition came after Thompson earned the title of the longest running SNL cast member with 15 seasons under his belt.
Also new to the 2018 category were Shalhoub — though the actor is no stranger to the Emmys, with three outstanding lead actor wins under his belt — and Winkler. The latter two were also both previously nominated in other categories.
For the first time in years, HBO’s Veep and ABC’s Modern Family did not have anyone up for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. Previously, Tony Hale (Veep), Matt Walsh (Veep), and Ty Burrell (Modern Family) were consistently nominated for their roles on the series.
RELATED VIDEO: The 2018 Emmy Nominations Have Been Announced! Which TV Shows and Stars Wowed the Industry?
Veep, the reigning outstanding comedy series winner since 2015, did not receive any nominations this year due to the timing of its latest episodes. However, the show, helmed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, will likely return to the race in 2019 for its final season.
With 16 nominations, Atlanta earned the most nods out of any comedy this year.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Michael Che and Colin Jost, are airing live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on NBC.
