The 2023 Emmy nominees were announced in a virtual ceremony hosted by Emmy Award-nominated actress Yvette Nicole Brown and Television Academy Chair Frank Scherma — and there’s a lot of familiar faces from “The Jennifer Hudson Show” nominated for TV’s biggest award!

Here are some of the 2023 Emmy Award nominees speaking to Jennifer Hudson on the show about their Emmy-nominated roles!

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Quinta Brunson, the star, producer, writer, and creator of the hit ABC series “Abbott Elementary,” won an Emmy last year for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for writing the pilot episode. This year, she is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for playing Janine Teagues. (She picked up a second nomination for guest-hosting “Saturday Night Live.”)

“I’m so excited to have another season,” she told JHud of “Abbott” getting picked up for a third season. “I love my show.”

Melanie Lynskey, who is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for “The Last of Us,” told JHud she only agreed to appear on the HBO show because her husband, actor Jason Ritter, is a huge fan of the video game on which it’s based.

“I’m always tired, so every time a job comes up, I’m like “Mmm… do I want to? And he was like, ‘It’s ‘The Last of Us!’’ It’s his favorite video game of all time,” she said. “He loves it. And then I read the script, and it was so good.”

Melanie earned double nominations this year, as she’s also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her Showtime series “Yellowjackets.”

“To have a moment where it feels like everything is kind of coming together… is kind of too good to be true. It’s amazing,” she told JHud of the unexpected success of “Yellowjackets.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph is nominated once again for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on “Abbott Elementary.” She appeared on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” to discuss her iconic Emmy speech in 2022, which had her belting out Dianne Reeves’ “Endangered Species.”

“Like many of you, I have had a speech prepared since I was 5 years old,” she told JHud. “I was ready, you know. Ever since Tinker Bell came out of that steeple and was starting to make dreams come true, I’ve been practicing the speech.”

However, when they called her name, Sheryl said her prepared speech “went out of my head — I could remember absolutely nothing,” she admitted.

When JHud asked Emmy nominee Janelle James the best part of working with an ensemble, she joked, “You work less!”

Her character Ava flirts quite a bit with Tyler James Williams’ character Gregory on the show, and that detail may have been inspired by real life. “I am a flirt, and maybe, you know, the writers put some of that [in there],” she told Jennifer.

“Tyler’s my homie on the show, and our birthdays are close together. We’re both Libras, and I don’t know if you know about Libras — we be flirtin’!” said Janelle.

Jessica Williams shared how “surreal” it felt to drive Harrison Ford as the two sang Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” while filming their Apple TV+ series “Shrinking,” for which she earned a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

“He knew every word. He learned it,” she said of Ford. “What I was most nervous about was driving with him next to me… I was very stressed about driving with him.”

As for the show, Jessica sums it up pretty well for JHud: “I think it’s a show about leaning on each other and friendships and lines being blurred, and grieving in your own way.”

Hannah Waddingham, who won in this category in 2021, calls “Ted Lasso” “a beautiful, precious, timely jewel” that she’ll miss, as the show ended its third (and possibly final) season.

“I would happily play [my character Rebecca] until her teeth fall out,” she told JHud.

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Henry Winkler won the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Gene Cousineau on HBO’s “Barry,” and he’s nominated yet again for the show’s third and final season.

“Every season is its own living, undulating beast, and this year is — wow,” he said of the final season. “I am very lucky that I am on the show.”

Because his character usually has separate storylines from the other characters, he often has no idea how each episode will turn out. “I watch it on Sunday nights so I can see what is going on!”

Tyler James Williams was nominated in this category in 2022 for playing teacher Gregory Eddie on the hit ABC series “Abbott Elementary.” He won the 2023 Golden Globe for the role — maybe this is his year to finally take the Emmy?

“Not always do you get a chance to make something that directly resonates with the people whose stories you’re telling and they feel so seen by it,” he told JHud of working on “Abbott.” “I think teachers’ response to the show has been incredible.”

Storm Reid earned her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for playing Riley Abel on HBO’s “The Last of Us.”

Though she’s having enormous success as an actor, she told JHud why she decided to enroll in college.

“I was feeling very fulfilled as a young person who works, but I just wanted to go to the football games and further my education and go to the parties and be a regular teenager,” she said.

“I’m just so grateful that I’m blessed enough to do both,” she added. “It is challenging, but it is so fun.”

Kumail Nanjiani chatted with JHud about playing Somen "Steve" Banerjee, the real-life “bad guy” in the Hulu miniseries “Welcome to Chippendales.”

“I love to play bad guys,” he said. “It’s a little scary, but it’s also kind of freeing” to play the villain. “I usually get to play comedic roles, but to play something like this, like a really dark, intense guy… The way he solves problems are illegal and amoral, and that’s fun to pretend to do.”

Kumail said he wanted to look different from the rest of the cast made up of muscular dancers, so he went in the other direction. “I wanted to look like I don’t belong in this world,” he explained.

“Everyone else on the show was eating carrots and fruits, and I was eating multiple doughnuts for every meal.” He adds, “It was great!”

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Mayim Bialik was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series five times for her work on “The Big Bang Theory,” and now she’s earned her very first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host for co-hosting “Jeopardy!”

“‘Jeopardy!’ is this iconic thing, and when I first started hosting, I was just so excited to hear people get so many things right, and I had to be told, ‘You need to tone it down. Everyone knows these are smart people,’” she told JHud. “But every time they got something right, I was like, ‘Yes, that’s amazing! You know so many things!’”

Nicole Byer earned her fifth Emmy nomination for hosting the Netflix baking competition series “Nailed It!” The comedian and actress was previously nominated in the same category three times, and also picked up an Emmy nom in 2022 for her Netflix comedy special “Nicole Byer: BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo).”

During her appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” JHud was captivated by Nicole’s glamorous red-carpet fashion.

“That’s three hours of hair and makeup,” she told JHud. “I love the transformation. Truly, the before and after is outstanding. I’m bald-headed… I put on a padded bra, and it’s like, ‘Who! Is! She!’”

Tan France picked up yet another Emmy nom for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program with his “Queer Eye” co-hosts. The fashion expert stopped by “The Jennifer Hudson Show” in April to give his hot takes on fashion trends (sheer fabrics: yes! Overwashing your jeans: Don’t do it!) and share his most regrettable fashion purchase.

“I was such an idiot,” Tan said, laughing. “I wanted this pair of shoes so badly,” he said of a pair of Nicole Farhi shoes that cost him $900 (and this was in the 1990s!) when he was 17 years old and working at a call center.

“You know my mum was not happy. I wore them twice because they were so painful and I never wore them again. I don’t know where they are now. I could have done much better things with that money.”

Bobby Berk is nominated with his “Queer Eye” co-hosts for Outstanding Host for a Competition Program for Season 7 of the makeover series.

Bobby told JHud that Season 7 included “a lot of sweat, since we filmed in the middle of New Orleans in summer.”

“New Orleans is so unique,” he continued. “it’s unlike any other city in the world. The food, the culture, the music. It was like we were in another country, and it was amazing.”

Brendan Hunt was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Coach Beard in 2021. This year, he’s nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode “So Long, Farewell.”

“This show really means a lot to people in a way we could have never predicted,” he told JHud.

“People have been asking since the day Season 3 came out, ‘Where’s Season 4?’” he said. “We don’t really know… We’re going to take a break from seeing each other’s faces, and then we’ll decide.”

As for a “Ted Lasso” movie, Brendan is on board. “I ain’t saying no. Can he be a superhero? We’ll fit it into the Marvel Universe somehow.”

Derek Hough has earned three Emmys and 13 nominations overall for his work as a choreographer on various TV specials and series, most notably for “Dancing with the Stars.”

The dancer, actor, and choreographer appeared on the show to look back on fond memories working with JHud on “Hairspray Live!” and on an episode of “Dancing with the Stars.” Derek then taught JHud how to do some ballroom moves!

James Corden earned yet another Emmy nomination for executive producing “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” on Apple TV+.

During his appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” James recalled Jennifer’s segment of “Carpool Karaoke” back in 2015 and how he “couldn’t believe” she said yes to appearing on the segment.

“I drove home, [singing,] ‘I don’t like living under your spotlight,” James said, referencing Jennifer’s song “Spotlight.”

While James said, “Everybody hears Jennifer’s voice and how extraordinary that voice is,” he said hearing it next to him in a car was a whole different experience.

“I’ll never forget it.”

Adam Blackstone is nominated for an Emmy twice this year for Outstanding Music Direction — for Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show, as well as for the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

“People haven’t seen [Rihanna] perform in a while,” he told JHud during his appearance on the show. “I really wanted to know, her being a new mom, her being… a mogul. What story did she want to tell?

“She said she wanted people to see and hear something they never saw before,” he continued. “And I think she accomplished that.”

The 2023 Emmys air September 18 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. See the full list of nominees at emmys.com.

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