No Emmy, no speech. Martin Short hilariously shreds his note after Matthew Rhys wins

Only Murders in the Building actor Martin Short may have lost the Emmy to actor Matthew Rhys, but he certainly won the night’s comedy award in spirit. As Rhys took the stage to collect Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2026 Emmys, cameras caught Short hilariously tearing up the acceptance speech he had apparently prepared for his own win.

The 76-year-old actor was nominated for his role in Only Murders in the Building, but it was Rhys who walked away with the trophy for Widow’s Bay. And Short’s reaction was far more entertaining than any sore-loser moment could have been.

As Rhys made his way to the stage at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on September 14, Short pretended to be furious about the result. He dramatically ripped up his speech, leaving behind a shredded piece of paper that later became a joke of its own.

Watch the clip here:

Steve Martin, Short’s Only Murders in the Building co-star, even shared a glimpse of the remains on Instagram during the ceremony.

The torn note showed that Short had included thank-yous to Martin and someone he described as being “kind enough to hire me”. He had also planned to acknowledge a “brilliant” friend and “so many” others.

Here's the photo:

Short was competing against Rhys, Steve Carell for Rooster, Jason Segel for Shrinking and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for Wonder Man.

While Short had fun with his loss, Rhys had a historic night. His win marked his second lead acting Emmy of the evening, after he also picked up Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for The Beast in Me.

That made Rhys the first man to win two lead acting Emmys in a single night. He had previously won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2018 for The Americans, meaning he has now won acting Emmys across drama, comedy and limited series.

Interestingly, Rhys admitted that he had barely prepared for his big night.

“I didn’t really prepare anything,” he told E! News backstage, joking that this was why he “vomited that speech”. For Rhys, the bizarre nature of awards shows was best handled with a sense of humour - something Short clearly brought in abundance too.