LOS ANGELES ? Call it luck, coincidence or careful planning, but we ended up interviewing the two winners in the lead actress categories of the Emmy Awards the morning after the awards show.

For someone who just made Emmy history as the first woman to have won the top awards for both drama and comedy series, Edie Falco arrived very early for her 10 a.m. interview with us at the Montage Hotel. So she who bagged Best Actress in a Comedy Series for ?Nurse Jackie? (and previously won three Best Actress in a Drama Series trophies for ?Sopranos?) had time to sit at the breakfast table before we began our chat. Kyra Sedgwick, who won her first Emmy for her role as a deputy police chief in the drama series ?The Closer,? came next to Edie.

We asked Edie, who won for her portrayal of a pill-popping nurse, what she recalled about that night. In a major upset, she beat such comedy queens as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. ?With ?Sopranos? and stuff, I?ve done some of these award shows,? she said. ?They?ve become more enjoyable because I become more relaxed about them. Last night, in particular, I have never been surer that I wasn?t going to win. So I actually thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Even as they read my name as one of the nominees, I was ready to be excited because I?m a huge fan of these other women. The last thing I expected was my name to be called.?

Edie laughed as she narrated, ?I was so shocked that I didn?t know what to do. I thought, so now, okay, I get up. I saw a picture of myself when I first heard my name. I literally was like a deer in the headlights. It was shocking. Apparently, I went up there and said something. I don?t remember anything about it.?

Comic actresses

?I have so much respect for these comic actresses,? the native New Yorker said of the nominees she beat. ?I have worked with some of them, like Tina Fey in ?30 Rock.? My mouth drops at what these women are capable of doing. The kind of comedy that they can do is really like a whole other angle. I never thought of myself as traveling in that realm. It?s such a tremendous honor to think that people are responding to our show.?

Asked why she declared ?I?m not funny? in her acceptance speech, Edie explained, ?Maybe I?m afraid that if I start to think of myself as funny, I won?t be funny anymore. Maybe I?m trying to convince everybody else that I?m not funny. Therefore, nobody expects me to be.?

Congratulated on making Emmy history, the actress said, ?I found out last night. When I was walking around, people were saying that among the guys, Carroll O?Connor (?All in the Family,? ?In the Heat of the Night?) had done it. It?s hard to even think in those terms because Carroll is so iconic. I grew up watching him. It?s kind of fancy. I?m pleased.? For the record, Robert Young shares the honors with Carroll for ?Father Knows Best? and ?Marcus Welby, M.D.?

Edie?s credits include memorable performances on stage and film, including an acclaimed turn as a waitress in director John Sayles? ?Sunshine State.? ?He is a dear friend,? the thespian said of John. We told her about the film John shot in the Philippines. She asked what the movie?s title is (it?s now ?Amigo?; it used to be ?Baryo?).

No money for indie

She decried the bleak financial atmosphere for indie films. ?I have a lot of friends who are filmmakers,? she said. ?It?s an impossible situation right now to try make an independent film because they say there?s no money. People like John Sayles have to go door to door to get money to make movies. I?m heartbroken about people like Eric Mendelsohn who made a movie, ?Judy Berlin,? that I was in years ago and just made this movie, ?3 Backyards,? that?s traveling around festivals. I?ll spare you the details about what he had to do to get enough money to make this happen. It wasn?t pretty.?

We asked Edie how she celebrated her precedent-setting win. ?I?m not a partier but when I won last night, I was like, oh, I?m a little bit excited. So I went to the Governor?s Ball with my cast mates. I spent some time hugging and kissing them, saying hello to people on other shows whom I have known for a while, and then I went home. I was watching TV at home by 9:30. No joke. It?s really pathetic.?

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Kyra, on the other hand, partied late into the evening. We saw the actress, clutching her trophy, cuddle up to her husband Kevin Bacon at AMC?s hot ticket Emmy bash for ?Mad Men? at the exclusive Soho House in West Hollywood. She was radiant in her burgundy gown by Filipino-American designer, Monique Lhuillier. The party, which drew most of the Emmy big names (including Tina Fey, lovely even as she slumped, exhausted, after a long night, on a sofa) was one of the bashes the acting couple attended.

We also asked Kyra her recollection of the previous night. ?The day before the Emmy Awards, I dropped off my last child at college,? she began, referring to her daughter (she and Kevin have two kids). ?When I won the Golden Globe (in 2007), I also dropped my son at college the night before. I cried a lot. This time, I wept a little bit too but I knew that if I cried for a couple of hours straight, my eyes would be puffy in the morning. So I pulled myself together.?

Clueless winner

?When I arrived (at the Nokia Theater), I honestly didn?t think I?d win,? Kyra claimed. She won over Glenn Close, Julianna Margulies, Mariska Hargitay and Connie Britton. ?I don?t read what people say but I think I was the underdog. After five years, you sort of expect, oh well, it?s just not going to happen. I won?t ever get an Emmy for this show, which is okay. Martin Sheen never won for ?The West Wing.? So I thought, what the heck.?

?At the show, everyone knew his speech,? Kyra added. ?No winner was taking out a piece of paper and reading his speech. I said to Kev, ?I know I won?t win. But if I did, I?m going to have to take out this piece of paper and put my glasses on.? I?m going to look like such a schmuck. Every winner was so articulate and fabulous. I gave my husband a kiss and pulled my dress up so I didn?t fall on my face.?

Kyra described it as almost like ?an out of body experience.? ?I walked up those steps,? she recalled. ?You really don?t know how you?re going to be. You just hope that you do the right thing. I thought the microphones were low. Obviously, that was not an issue. I took out my glasses and opened up my soggy piece of paper. It was just a great night.?

Fashion plate

A fashion plate, Kyra offered what she hoped won?t be repeated by the Emmy organizers next year. ?Before the show started, when we were sitting in the audience, they had the commentary about the red carpet fashion feeding into the theater,? she said. ?Please don?t do that, too, at the Golden Globes. Because a lot of women felt really bad. Happily, I wasn?t listening. I don?t know what they said about me. But how awful was that? I thought that was tacky.?

Kyra became emotional when the topic returned to her two kids both now in college and out of their home. Choking, she said, ?When our first son graduated from high school, I leaned over to Kev. I said, ?Oh, we forgot to have more children.? I started to cry. Now that we?ve put the second one in college, too, I mentioned last night in my speech, they are flying away. I love being a mother. I will miss them a lot.?

Always a charming interviewee, we wondered if she ever gets angry. ?Haven?t you heard G.W. Bailey, the guy who plays Provenza, gray haired, older and who?s been around the block?? she answered, referring to her co-actor in ?The Closer.? ?He says, ?Kyra is like Cruella De Vil meets Mary Poppins. If you know your lines and you?re prepared, she?s sugar and spice and everything nice. If you don?t know your lines, she?ll skin you and make a coat out of you.? It?s horrible but true. I think to myself, you guys, come on. We?re so lucky to have this job. We should be prepared. So I can get cranky. I used to have more of an anger problem when I was younger. I got really angry as a kid. I just learned to take five deep breaths. But I definitely get angry.?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.