Donald Glover’s Whiteface Character Teddy Perkins Sat in the Emmys Front Row

While Emmy hosts want to project an air of anarchic glee, an “anything can happen” vibe i.e. making fun of celebs to their face, award shows are tightly controlled affairs. Speeches are timed, all those jokes are pre-written, and most of the speeches are too. That’s why real moments of surprise, real moments of WTF-ness, pop.

If you want an example of WTF-ness, just look at Donald Glover’s Atlanta character, the terrifying Teddy Perkins, just casually sitting in the front row of tonight’s Emmys.

Yep, that’s the other character Donald Glover played in the acclaimed Atlanta episode! It’s not Glover, though, as you can spot him sitting elsewhere in the audience not in extensive makeup.

You know what? Glover and Atlanta can do whatever they want, because the show was nominated for a ton of awards tonight–and the “Teddy Perkins” episode of Atlanta lost the Outstanding Directing Emmy it was up for. You ain’t letting Teddy Perkins on stage? Then Teddy Perkins is gonna haunt the front row all night.

Where to stream Atlanta