Celebs react to Emmy news; Game of Thrones leads with 24 nominations

Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke had to keep it down in the doctor's office, while Transparent's Jeffrey Tambor planned to hug everyone he saw.

Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones. Courtesy HBO via AP Photo

Celebrities reacted with predictable glee to the news that they had received nominations for the 67th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

The star of HBO's fantasy saga Game of Thrones, which received the highest number of nods — 24 — was in the doctor's office when her phone rang with the news.

“I started to be really excited and I started to get glaring looks while I was in the waiting room, which was very quiet,” said Emilia Clarke.

Downton Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt heard the news by email, but had to wait 45 minutes to confirm she was nominated after her mobile phone battery died just before she boarded a train in London.

Jane Krakowski, recognised for her role in the Netflix comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, found out during a family outing in the Hamptons.

“After I hung up the phone, I ran to tell my son, who’s 4, and he was like: ‘What does that mean, mummy?’ He didn’t know anything,” Krakowski said. “He looked at me like: ‘Can you play now?’”

Jeffrey Tambor, nominated for his role in Amazon Prime's drama Transparent, said he planned to "make a spectacle of myself in hugging anyone".

Actress Uzo Aduba didn't just announce the top Emmy nominations on Thursday morning, she found out live onstage that both she and her show Orange Is the New Black are vying for awards. Aduba high-fived nominations show co-host Cat Deely and briefly covered her face in surprise during the ceremony.

Emmy-nominee Julia ­Louis-Dreyfus issued a statement joking about her nomination for the HBO comedy Veep, which earned a total of nine nods.

“As president, my staff and I are too busy doing the people’s business to watch television,” it said.

The Empire creator Lee Daniels became a trending topic after posting an expletive-filled video alongside actor Jussie Smollett with the hashtags #timetoberealagain and #emmyniceguyoverwith. The new hit series earned three Emmy bids — Lead Actress for Taraji P Henson and two for costume design — but failed to nab a Best Drama nomination. Daniels posted another video explaining the prank. "Some of these people got nothing else better to do than hate on me for having fun. I was having fun."

The 67th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented September 20 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by Andy Samberg and broadcast live on Fox.