Sean Spicer Shocks Emmys Crowd

Stephen Colbert had more than just a song and a few jokes about President Trump up his sleeve for his opening monologue Sunday night at the Emmy Awards: He brought former White House press secretary Sean Spicer onstage to, as Entertainment Weekly puts it, "trump up" the size of the Emmys audience in a joking reference to his comments about the size of President Trump's inauguration crowd. "Sean Spicer just wheeled out a White House lectern on the #Emmys stage. The audience of celebs looks shocked," tweeted USA Today.

As the celebrities in the crowd gaped, Spicer joked, "This is the largest audience to witness the Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world." Colbert jokingly thanked Melissa McCarthy as Spicer left the stage, but McCarthy—who won an Emmy for her portrayal of Spicer on Saturday Night Live—was one of the surprised audience members looking on at the time. Reaction on Twitter was mixed, with some giving Spicer "kudos" for poking fun at himself while others criticized the fact that his 15 minutes of fame are continuing when "he openly lied for the president daily." After Spicer left the stage, he wasn't immune from Colbert's jokes; the host later said Wizard of Lies, for which Robert De Niro was nominated for an Emmy, must be "the Sean Spicer story." (Click to keep up with the night's winners.)