It’s her seemingly infinite number of roles as the sardonic second fiddle that gives me that impression: She’s played everyone’s tough yet sympathetic best friend. Garofalo is the perennial outsider. Her humor is based on her being just left of the center of attention. This is a woman who named her production company I Hate Myself Productions. We can identify with her.

Garofalo is the perfect antithesis to every sleek, self-absorbed actor around. By that I don’t mean she’s ugly or disheveled, as Joan Rivers and her toadies implied at the 1996 Emmy Awards — stinging criticism that later made Garofalo cry — but rather that Garofalo is less of a superstar than she is a regular-person-star; and this persona is so powerful it literally affects the way we see her. Garofalo, a beautiful woman by most standards, is routinely cast as the “ugly duckling ” to the point that her “ugliness” has become part of her act and we’ve bought into it while not really buying it.

So can she successfully shift into the direct spotlight without losing the qualities we’ve come to love about her? Garofalo has always played a supporting role, it seems, even when cast in the lead. “The Truth About Cats and Dogs” and “The Matchmaker” aside, most of the 30 or so films she’s been in feature her in what the academy deems “supporting” roles. And still she usually manages to steal the show.

And just as in her off-screen life — she’s done everything from co-authoring a book with Ben Stiller to performing stand-up comedy — her roles are diverse. Consider some of her TV performances: She was the grown-up daughter of the Buchmans on the final episode of “Mad About You”; she played Jerry Seinfeld’s perfect opposite-sex match Jeannie Steinman on an episode of “Seinfeld”; she was a correspondent on Michael Moore’s “TV Nation”; and she appeared on the ultimate ensemble show for comedians, “Saturday Night Live,” for less than a year (leaving because of what she called its sexist culture). Currently she appears as Felicity’s unseen confidant, Sally, who communicates with Felicity via tape recorder.

Garofalo got her start on TV (“The Larry Sanders Show” and the now defunct “The Ben Stiller Show”), and her film roles have not deviated much from the persona she perfected there. When I saw “Dogma,” I was thrilled but not surprised to see Garofalo in a small cameo role as an abortion clinic worker who snipes at protesters on the clinic’s lawn. In “Mystery Men,” an otherwise bland film, she yanks attention from the ensemble cast with her inspired ad-libbed conversations with her father’s bowling ball-encased skull. The same holds true for her work in the wonderfully dark “Clay Pigeons,” where she plays a jaded, wisecracking FBI agent reminiscent of Frances McDormand’s character in “Fargo.” It’s in these roles, opposite other strong actors, that she shows off her wit and ability.

The premise of the HBO show still remains undetermined, and as the powers that be piece it together, maybe they’ll craft the perfect role for Garofalo: one that accentuates her biting wit and wry personality but that keeps her from being the redwood in a forest of shrubs. The best way to do that would be to surround her with other highly talented actors; it’s clear she thrives on the challenge.

Although Garofalo never appears on screen in “Felicity,” it doesn’t change the fact that her role on the show is also representative of the persona she’s crafted for herself. We’ve yet to actually meet Sally, Felicity’s high school French tutor, so we only know her voice as she shares her experiences with Felicity and gives her subtle yet pointed advice about life. This is the kind of role Janeane Garofalo is known for, a too-perfect metaphor for her 10-year career. Without ever appearing on screen, Garofalo is the lead character’s Jiminy Cricket, supporting Felicity but helping the often lost college student find her way.

Garofalo isn’t even listed in the credits, despite the central nature of her character: Most episodes begin with Felicity narrating recent events to Sally (via her ubiquitous tape recorder) and end with Sally’s reply. The first episode opens with Felicity moving across the country on a whim to attend college. It ends with Garofalo’s Sally affirming Felicity’s decision to remain in New York: “I just want you to know, I think you’ve made a really great choice,” Sally says. “And I can’t wait to hear what happens.”

Ditto for Garofalo and her new series.

As part of a pretaped satirical bit that was to air during the opening of the show, Emmy-winner Alec Baldwin played a fictional network president talking on the phone — and worked in a zinger about Rupert Murdoch listening in. But Fox, which broadcast the show this year, apparently did not find the gag about its parent company amusing. On Thursday, Baldwin tweeted that “I did a short Emmy pretape a few days ago. Now they tell me News Corp may cut the funniest line. #NewsCorphumorlessaswellascorrupt”

That might have had something to do with the Murdoch empire’s exhaustive and continuing phone hacking scandal in the U.K. – a stunning breach of privacy by News Corp that affected not just gossip-page celebrities but the families of soldiers and murder victims.

The joke — and subsequently, the whole bit — were scrubbed, and instead of a little phone-tapping humor to kick off the evening, viewers instead were treated to Leonard Nimoy giving a pep talk to host Jane Lynch. Baldwin confirmed Sunday via Twitter that “Fox did kill my News Corp hacking joke. Which sucks bc I think it would have made them look better. A little.” He also bowed out of attending the show, though he says it wasn’t an act of petulance. Instead, he opted to attend a New York gala for Tony Bennett’s 85th birthday. “I skipped the Emmys… because I wanted to be here,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

Fox, meanwhile, insists that it received no directive from the mothership to ax the joke. Instead, a rep says they cut it because it might be viewed as insensitive to the victims.

That may be so, but it should be noted that other arms of the Murdoch organization have made it abundantly clear that they don’t really see the big deal over a little criminal activity — and don’t take kindly to any sassing back on the subject. Back in July, a “Fox and Friends” segment audaciously declared the criminal scandal a case of “piling on” and noted, with remarkable disregard for the distinction between being a victim and a perpetrator, that “Citicorp has been hacked into. Bank of America has been hacked into. American Express has been hacked into.” The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, used the indignation over News Corp’s abuse of power as an excuse for an editorial on how all the criticism could “perhaps injure press freedom in general.”

Maybe a light joke about Murdoch eavesdropping would seem in poor taste when so many people have been grievously hurt by the actions of those within his company. Then again, when you’re under the Murdoch umbrella, you’ve already got a longstanding reputation as the entity most likely to take offense at satire and criticism aimed at Murdoch. Or, as Baldwin wrote Sunday on Twitter, “If I were enmeshed in a scandal where I hacked phones of families of innocent crime victims purely 4 profit, I’d want that 2 go away 2.”

The “Modern Family” steamroller (best comedy series, writing, direction, supporting actress Julie Bowen, and supporting actor Ty Burrell) would have been tedious and depressing if the show weren’t so good. Its run was broken by awards for “Big Bang Theory” (repeat winner Jim Parsons) and “Mike and Molly” (Melissa McCarthy). Parsons beat outgoing “The Office” star Steve Carell, who hadn’t won an Emmy yet and should have been a shoo-in. In an awkward but charming show of solidarity, the six best actress nominees went up onstage together, and the winner was handed a tiara and a bouquet of roses along with her statuette.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna talk about in therapy next week now,” said Bowen, accepting Emmy as best supporting actress in a comedy while rocking a dress slit nearly to the navel. Burrell reflected on his relationship with his father, who died before he had a chance to see his son perform: “If he were here tonight, I think he would say, ‘But why the makeup?’” 

Lynch made light of the sitcom’s sweep late in the program, telling viewers, “Welcome back to the ‘Modern Family’ awards. We’ve decided to throw them into the drama category to see what happens.”

“Mad Men” and “Mildred Pierce,” the big dogs of the drama and movie/miniseries categories, came perilously close to going home empty-handed.

As the evening wore on, it became clear that Matthew Weiner’s AMC series about a swank 1960s advertising agency was not going to sweep the awards as some had predicted. Instead, the just-concluded “Friday Nights Lights” got a bit of love, taking home Emmys for best writing in a dramatic series (by showrunner Jason Katims) and best lead actor (for Kyle Chandler, beating out Jon Hamm, who has now gone win-less for four straight seasons). Accepting his award, Katims quoted the series’ slogan “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” The show’s only previous Emmy was for casting, in 2007. 

Margo Martindale won a deserved Emmy as best supporting actress in a drama for her performance as Mags Bennett, the redneck Mama Corleone on FX’s crime drama “Justified.” Martin Scorsese won an Emmy for dramatic series directing, for helming the opening episode of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” the most expensive pilot in the cable channel’s history. Julianna Marguilies won best actress in a drama for CBS’ “The Good Wife” — her first Emmy win since 1995, when she took home a best supporting actress statuette for playing nurse Carol Hathaway on NBC’s “ER.”

HBO’s miniseries “Mildred Pierce” went into the ceremony seeming a likely candidate for a sweep; even though the series got mixed reviews from critics, it was a ratings success, and the pay cable network has had a near-lock on the miniseries and movie category for the last 15 years. Instead, the PBS and BBC production “Downton Abbey” snuck in for several major upsets, including best miniseries/movie, best writing, best directing, and best actress (no-show Maggie Smith, whose award was accepted, somewhat surreally, by the cast of “Entourage”). Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce won best actress and supporting actor, respectively. It was a measure of the evening’s genial volatility that by by the time “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner got up onstage with his co-producers and cast to accept the best drama award, it seemed like an underdog-makes-good moment.

 The coolest winner by far was Peter Dinklage, who is often cast in comic roles but projects a George Clooney-like, nothing-to-prove glamour in person. The “Game of Thrones” star thanked his wife and his dogsitter and exclaimed, “Wow, I followed Martin Scorsese!” It was the only major award for “Game of Thrones,” a critical and popular success that already seems doomed — like “Star Trek,” ”Battlestar Galactica,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and other great fantasy and sci-fi series before it — to be dismissed by its own industry as “Not bad for a genre show.” (Only ABC’s “Lost” managed to break this curse.)

Still, it was hard to argue that any of the awards were completely undeserved. It was an altogether strong crop of winners. And the ceremony itself was briskly paced, blessedly free of the saggy midsection that usually drags down televised awards shows. The musical components (provided mostly by the “Emmytones” — Wilmer Valderrama, Jane Lynch, Joel McHale, Kate Flannery and Taraji P. Henson) were creatively iffy but mostly enjoyable, and there was one brilliant musical number two-thirds of the way through (a medley of songs from “Saturday Night Live,” featuring Lonely Island, Michael Bolton and Akon) that felt like a Dada-esque spoof of every musical number on any awards show since the beginning of time. Co-presenters Rob Lowe and “Modern Family” costar Sofía Vergara — who plays the trophy wife of  Ed O’Neill — were the show’s most unnervingly handsome couple. (“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, whose program won two Emmys, joked, “If the world does need to repopulate at some point, the announcing team of Sofia Vergara and Rob Lowe would make nice children.”)

Lynch was a capable and appealing host. She even managed to survive a clever but overlong videotaped musical opening that found her careening through rooms in an apartment building that was supposed to represent TV itself. Various series stars took part in confessions modeled on NBC’s “The Office,” and Leonard Nimoy played a sort of uber-network president — a last-minute replacement for “30 Rock” star Alec Baldwin, who quit after the Fox network cut a joke about its owner, Rupert Murdoch, and the British tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

Kudos to “Modern Family” creator Steve Levitan, who somehow managed to make the sitcom’s 4,328th win (for best comedy) charming even though it came at the end of a long night that it had completely owned.  Levitan even managed to acknowledge one of the show’s groundbreaking aspects — its refreshingly laid-back, Big Tent affection toward interracial and same-sex couples — without coming off as self-serving.

Levitan said that during shooting, gay couples would approach him and say, “You’re not just making people laugh, you’re making them more tolerant.” Then Levitan added, “We are showing the world that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a loving, committed relationship between an old man and a hot young woman. And looking around this room tonight, I see many of you agree!”

2. The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series all take the stage — and winner Melissa McCarthy makes a charming acceptance speech (“I’m from Plainville, Ill., and I’m standing here, and it’s kind of amazing … Holy smokes!”)

3. The Lonely Island and Michael Bolton collaborate for an over-the-top musical performance:

4. A thoroughly thrilled-looking Margo Martindale wins the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (“Sometimes, things just take time — but with time comes great appreciation”):

5. Ricky Gervais makes a guest appearance from afar :

– Writing, Drama Series: Jason Katims, “Friday Night Lights,” NBC.

– Directing, Drama Series: Martin Scorsese, “Boardwalk Empire,” HBO.

– Comedy Series: “Modern Family,” ABC.

– Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS.

– Actress, Comedy Series: Melissa McCarthy, “Mike & Molly,” CBS.

– Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Julie Bowen, “Modern Family,” ABC.

– Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Ty Burrell, “Modern Family,” ABC.

– Writing, Comedy Series: Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, “Modern Family,” ABC.

– Directing, Comedy Series: Michael Spiller, “Modern Family,” ABC.

– Miniseries or Movie: “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece),” PBS.

– Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Kate Winslet, “Mildred Pierce,” HBO.

– Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Barry Pepper, “The Kennedys,” ReelzChannel.

– Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece),” PBS.

– Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Guy Pearce, “Mildred Pierce,” HBO.

– Directing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Brian Percival, “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece),” PBS.

– Writing, Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Julian Fellowes, “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece),” PBS.

– Reality-Competition Program: “The Amazing Race,” CBS.

– Variety, Music or Comedy Series: “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Comedy Central.

– Directing, Variety, Music or Comedy Series: Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live,” NBC.

– Writing, Variety, Music or Comedy Series: “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” Comedy Central.

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Online:

For a complete list of winners: http://www.emmys.tv/