Arnett, Poehler keep Emmy rehearsals casual

The Associated Press, Saturday, September 17, 2011, 11:59am (PDT)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Emmy Awards were still a day away, but the Nokia Theatre was already abuzz Saturday as celebrities popped in to rehearse their lines for Sunday's ceremony.

TV stars such as Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Zooey Deschanel practiced presenting awards on the swooping Emmy stage inside the mostly empty theater.

Seat-saving placards sat where real stars will be Sunday. Laura Linney, nominated for her lead role on "The Big C," and multiple nominee (and repeat winner) Jon Stewart both have aisle seats for easy stage access.

Poehler, a double nominee for producing and starring in "Parks and Recreation," went makeup free for Saturday's rehearsal. Dressed casually in jeans, a button-down blouse, nude pumps and a ponytail, the actress jokingly presented an Emmy to Barack Obama, "for this rehearsal only."

When producers asked her to practice accepting an award for an absent winner, Poehler playfully admonished the fake winner: "(He) thought he was too special to come tonight," she said. "Bad move."

Poehler's husband Arnett, a fellow Emmy nominee for his guest-starring role on "30 Rock," carried a coffee cup on stage before running through his lines with co-presenter Deschanel. He wore jeans, a T-shirt and a black jacket; she rocked a red sweater with a horse on it over skinny jeans and pumps. Together they retooled their presentation of the comedy series writing award.

"I was on a plane switching stuff around," she told him.

Once they got their lines down, Deschanel was afraid to open the winner's envelope.

"It says it. Can we say it?" she asked an off-stage director. She got the OK, presented a fake trophy to fake winners, and she, Arnett and two stand-ins disappeared beneath the stage.

Also rehearsing Saturday were the Tenors, who will perform during the show's "In Memoriam" segment.

The Emmy Awards will be broadcast on Fox.

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Online:

www.emmys.tv