"Listen, Ethel! I think we're fighting a losing game!" Who can forget Lucille Ball's iconic stint at the chocolate factory in "I Love Lucy"? Not the Emmys, apparently. Natasha Lyonne and Tracee Ellis Ross re-created the gut-busting scene onstage at the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15.
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Five-time Emmy nominee Natasha Lyonne ("Poker Face") and six-time nominee Tracee Ellis Ross ("American Fiction") joined comedic forces onstage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles to announce the 2023 Emmy Award nominees for Best Comedy Series. And they chose a masterful TV episode to spoof in the process: The "I Love Lucy" Season 2 premiere, "Job Switching," which originally aired in 1952.
In the classic episode, Lucy and Ethel (Vivian Vance) go to work in a candy factory while their hubbies take over the housework. When they're put on a high-speed assembly line, the two women gobble up a countless number of chocolates in order to clear the conveyor belt. (Lucille Ball memorably stuffed the morsels into her dress and hat.)
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Fans of the beloved sitcom got an inspired re-creation from Lyonne (who played Ethel) and a wig-wearing Ross (who took on Lucy). The pair donned vintage-style work uniforms on a miniature recreation of the "I Love Lucy" factory set, complete with a speeding conveyor belt. They piled the moving morsels into their mouths and dresses in a spot-on homage.
Over the course of its six-season run from 1951 to 1975, "I Love Lucy" scored a whopping 20 Emmy nominations and four wins. Lucille Ball won Best Actress in 1956, and Vivian Vance won Best Supporting Actress in a Series in 1954.
Watch the iconic chocolate factory scene from "I Love Lucy" below:
