LOS ANGELES -- The highlights of the Emmy Awards, which were presented Sunday in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater (all times local):

8:01 p.m.

"The Handmaid's Tale" is the winner of the best television drama series Emmy Award.

The Hulu series stars Elisabeth Moss as one of the few fertile women left in a world ruled by a totalitarian regime that treats women as property.

The show is based on Margaret Atwood's bestselling novel of the same name. The win Sunday is a major coup for Hulu -- the show is the streaming service's first Emmy-nominated drama series.

Moss won the best drama actress Emmy moments before the show award was announced.

The cast and producers were joined onstage by Atwood, who received loud applause when she appeared on stage.

7:57 p.m.

Sterling K. Brown is the winner of Emmy Award for best actor in a drama series for his role in "This Is Us." Elisabeth Moss is the winner of Emmy Award for best actress in a drama series for her role in "The Handmaid's Tale."

Brown plays a man adopted into a white family and finds his comfortable lifestyle as a successful father and husband rocked when he discovers his birth father and the lies his adopted mother told him.

It is Brown's second Emmy win -- he won last year for his portrayal of O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden in the FX series "The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story."

Brown nodded as the crowd gave him extra applause. He told the audience that before he was an actor, he was a fan. He also thanked his "This Is Us" co-stars, saying they are the best white adopted family a black actor could hope for.

Moss plays one of the few fertile women left in a world ruled by a totalitarian regime. Women are considered property, but Moss attempts to keep her identity and humanity in the Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood's bestselling novel.

Moss delivered her thank you in rapid-fire, and at one point her speech needed to be bleeped.

7:40 p.m.

"Big Little Lies" has won the Emmy Award for best limited TV series.

The series follows a group of mothers in Northern California who each have their own secrets threatening to crash down on them.

Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley and Lara Dern were all nominated for their roles on the HBO series.

Kidman won best actress in a limited series moments earlier.

Dern won for best supporting actress in a limited series.

Witherspoon accepted the honour for the series win before handing the microphone over to Kidman.

Witherspoon says, "It's been an incredible year for women in television."

Kidman implored the industry to "create more great roles for women, please."

7:37 p.m.

The best actress in a limited series Emmy has been awarded to Nicole Kidman.

Kidman won for her role in the HBO series "Big Little Lies," and she thanked co-star Reese Witherspoon saying she would not have won if not for her.

Moments earlier, Riz Ahmed won the Emmy Award for best actor in a limited series for his role on "The Night Of."

Both actors used their speech to support personal causes.

Kidman says of the series, "We shone a light on domestic abuse. It is a complicated, insidious disease."

7:21 p.m.

Donald Glover is the winner of the Emmy Award for best comedy actor for his role in "Atlanta," while Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won -- again -- for her role on "Veep."

Glover created and stars in the series about a young man trying to make his way in Atlanta, proving himself worthy to his parents by becoming successful by promoting his cousin in the city's rap scene.

It is Glover's second Emmy win of the evening. He previously won for a directing honour for the series, and he thanked his parents and the city of Atlanta in his speech.

It's the sixth consecutive win for Louis-Dreyfus, who has won the category the last five years for her role as politician Selina Meyer in the HBO comedy.

With her win Sunday night, Louis-Dreyfus now is tied with Cloris Leachman for most Emmy wins. She previously won comedy acting awards for "Seinfeld" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" before dominating the category with her work on "Veep."

7:10 p.m.

John Oliver is the winner of the Emmy Award for outstanding talk series.

Oliver won for his role on the series "Last Night Tonight."

It is the second win of the night for Oliver, who also won an Emmy for writing on the HBO show.

7:02 p.m.

The Emmys' remembrance of actors and television luminaries who have died in the past year did not include Harry Dean Stanton.

The veteran character actor who appeared on shows such as "Big Love" and "Twin Peaks" died Friday at age 91.

The tribute included Adam West, Mary Tyler Moore, Carrie Fisher, Roger Ailes, Alan Thicke and Florence Henderson and numerous others.

The segment included television executive Don Ohlmeyer, who died a week ago.

6:53 p.m.

Alec Baldwin says the average person is likely grateful that Sean Spicer has a sense of humour about himself.

Speaking backstage at the Emmy Awards Sunday following his win for best supporting actor in a comedy, Baldwin addressed the surprise appearance by the former White House press secretary as a part of a comedy bit that opened the show.

The appearance has garnered mixed reactions on social media, many of which were critical.

Baldwin says Spicer was "compelled to do certain things that we might not have respected ... in order to do his job." He adds that he's also done jobs that "you shouldn't admire or respect me for either so he and I have that in common."

6:43 p.m.

It's a three-peat for "The Voice," which has won the best reality competition Emmy Award again.

The NBC singing competition show pairs would-be stars with some of the top talents in the music industry, including judges Blake Shelton and Adam Levine.

6:20 p.m.

Alec Baldwin may have spoken loudly when accepting his Emmy Award for best comedy supporting actor, but he was quieter when collecting his actual award backstage.

He signed his name and thoughtfully examined the statuette closely at the trophy table backstage Sunday. The actor asked if the engraved nameplate would be mailed to him and a television academy worker told him he could have it attached at the Governors Ball after the show.

Baldwin practically whispered his thanks before disappearing down the hall.

6 p.m.

Alec Baldwin is the winner of the Emmy Award for comedy supporting actor for his role on "Saturday Night Live."

Baldwin started out his acceptance speech night by ribbing Donald Trump, saying the president finally has his Emmy.

The actor's impersonations of Trump have propelled "SNL" to its best season in years, bringing in viewers and also Emmy glory. Baldwin's win is the third win for "Saturday Night Live" during Sunday's show.

5:52 p.m.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer's surprise Emmys appearance nearly upstaged host Stephen Colbert.

Spicer rolled onto the stage Sunday night to declare Sunday's Emmy telecast the most watched ever.

A raucous Emmy audience inside the Microsoft Theater laughed loudly and often as Colbert, not surprisingly, made President Donald Trump the butt of one joke after another. But the audience gasped with genuine surprise when Colbert called out Spicer to ask how big a crowd was watching the Emmys and he responded that it was the largest ever in a statement similar to his widely mocked claim that Trump's inauguration drew the largest crowd ever.

No one in the audience looked more stunned than Melissa McCarthy who repeatedly mocked Spicer's performance as press secretary on "Saturday Night Live" and won an Emmy Award for her cameos last week.

5:48 p.m.

The outstanding variety sketch series Emmy Award has been awarded to "Saturday Night Live."

The show has already won two honours Sunday night, with comedian Kate McKinnon winning the best supporting actress in a comedy series earlier in the evening.

The NBC series was nominated for 22 Emmy nominations this year, and has seen ratings success with its pointed political humour featuring McKinnon as Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump.

5:45 p.m.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer made a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards during host Stephen Colbert's monologue.

Colbert set it up by saying he had no idea how many people would be watching the Emmys, then Spicer wheeled a podium out on stage -- a reference to Melissa McCarthy's memorable impersonation of President Trump's ex-spokesman on "Saturday Night Live."

"This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period, in person and around the world," Spicer said.

That, of course, recalled Spicer's Trump-ordered claims about the bigness of Trump's Inauguration Day crowd.

"Wow," Colbert replied. "That really soothes my fragile ego."

5:36 p.m.

Laura Dern has won the Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a limited series. Dern won for her role in the HBO series "Big Little Lies."

It is the actress' first Emmy win.

She began her speech by saying that in her career, which began when she was 11, she felt like she's never worked with as many women on screen.

She also thanked her co-stars Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley.

5:31 p.m.

The supporting comedy actress Emmy has been awarded to Kate McKinnon.

McKinnon won for her role in the NBC series "Saturday Night Live."

The actress played presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the most recent season, and thanked Clinton during her acceptance speech.

She teared up as she gave her thanks Sunday night.

5:25 p.m.

John Lithgow is the winner of the Emmy Award for best drama series supporting actor. Lithgow won for his role on the Netflix series "The Crown."

The actor calls the win the latest gift from the series, in which he played Winston Churchill as he advises the newly installed Queen Elizabeth II.

Lithgow thanked Churchill in his acceptance speech Sunday night.

It's Lithgow's sixth career Emmy.

5:15 p.m.

Emmy Awards host Stephen Colbert has taken a jab at President Donald Trump in his opening monologue.

Colbert thanked the president for tuning in Sunday, joking that Trump is the only one who has enough time to keep current on all that's going on in television nowadays.

Colbert adds he's "looking forward to the tweets."

The CBS late-night host had promised a political show, and his opening number did include jabs at negative news headlines.

Colbert also went on a lengthy riff on Trump, blaming Emmy voters for not giving the president an Emmy. Colbert told the crowd, "This is all your fault."

The host also played a clip of Trump commenting during a presidential debate that he should have been awarded an Emmy before joking that Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote.

The host wasn't all serious: He took time to thank first responders to hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and urged people to donate to disaster recovery.

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5:10 p.m.

Stephen Colbert has started the 2017 Emmy Awards with a musical number.

The musical bit included cameos from the "This Is Us" cast, a nod to "Stranger Things" and "A Handmaid's Tale" as well as an appearance from Chance the Rapper.

It also included a couple jabs at politics and negative headlines.

The number was met with thunderous applause.

Colbert promised the ceremony honouring the best actors and shows on television would be political in the days before Sunday's ceremony broadcasting live from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.