Californians react to the 2015 Emmy Awards

Ending his eight years of quest, Jon Hamm finally won the outstanding actor in a drama series honour at the 2015 Emmy Awards for his portrayal of troubled ad man Don Draper in “Mad Men“.

“Mad Men’s” Elisabeth Moss is nominated for best actress in a drama series, along with Claire Danes for “Homeland“, Viola Davis for “How to Get Away with Murder“, Taraji P. Henson for “Empire“, Tatiana Maslany for “Orphan Black” and Robin Wright for “House of Cards“.

Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Acad Jon Hamm won his first acting Emmy in 12 tries at the 2015 Emmys.

It was Hamm’s eighth nomination for Mad Men, and his 16th overall nomination.

Best Drama and Best Comedy. Will critical darling Veep win the big prize for the first time ever? Whether we won or not, I was so glad to be here.

After literally crawling on stage to accept his award from longtime friend Tina Fey, Hamm caught up with ET’s Nancy O’Dell immediately backstage to reflect on the win and how he really felt when his name was called.

Gender-identity issues, brought increasingly to the fore by Caitlyn Jenner and others, will be part of the night courtesy of freshman “Transparent“, which stars Jeffrey Tambor and is up for best comedy, lead actor, writing, and other trophies. During his speech Hamm was gracious thanking “families who have chosen, for some reason, to take me in and be nice to me along this odd , unusual road”. Mendelsohn, the 46-year-old Melbourne-born actor who had his breakout role in 1987 Australian movie The Year My Voice Broke, was nominated for supporting actor in a drama for U.S. series Bloodline.

Hamm this year submitted the series finale episode, “Person To Person”, in which he suffers existential crisis and has a creative epiphany at a spiritual retreat.

In addition to top comedy series honors, “Veep” – the misadventures of a female U.S. vice president who rises to the presidency – saw its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus win for the fourth time in a row. “Inside Amy Schumer” won for best variety sketch series.

HBO’s Game of Thrones swept most of the drama categories.

Samberg kicked off the ceremony with a video in which he made elaborate fun of the overload of TV programs available.

The Emmys would like to see the devotion being accorded TV – binge-viewing, anyone? – converted into ratings.

At long, long last, Jon Hamm is an Emmy victor .