C.J.: Sheletta's extremely funny, but her husband wasn't laughing

The husband joke that Sheletta Brundidge told at Graves 601 on Saturday while accepting her Emmy absolutely killed, as comedians say.

So did the look on her husband's face.

The KSTP-TV assignment editor, host of Channel 45's "CrossRoads" and self-proclaimed "Funniest Woman in the Twin Cities," won an Upper Midwest Emmy for her independent blog.

"I want to thank my family over at Hubbard Broadcasting for employing me even though I'm not living up to my résumé. Thank you, Mr. Hubbard. I want to thank my webmasters Justin and Susan Piehowski for having the idea to do sheletta.com.

"I want to say thank you to my husband, who's here, who allowed me to tell all our business on the blog. I can't believe that I won with all the competition - Flak Radio, HealthEast. You know they're doing surgeries online," she said, "I did remove my husband's spine when we got married. The video is on my website at sheletta.com."

Laughter rolled.

"Girl, I looked out into the audience and everybody was laughing but him. He was wearing that look that said, Hey, that wasn't all that funny. Seeing that expression on his face I thought, 'I'm going to need a ride home.'"

Asked what he thought of the joke, Shawn Brundidge said: "I told her about that. I told her I didn't like it. But it's cool."

When KSTP's turn to handle the regional Emmys rolls around, Sheletta should host and KSTP-TV reporter Bob McNaney should not be allowed on stage unless he's winning another award.

Boo-worthy behavior

After McNaney's turn at the mike as a presenter, along with unfortunate colleague Beth Jett, he had a couple of new nicknames. One was McNasty, which could very easily be spelled with an extra "s"; another was McLamey.

Without name-calling, Teresa Vickery, exec director of this Emmys chapter, called out McNaney on Monday: "I guess I would have to say I was less than pleased with some of his off-the-cuff remarks."

McNaney, who did not return my call Monday, must think he's funny.

"He can't hold a candle to Sheletta, who's just absolutely the cutest thing ever," said Vickery. "I was talking to the darling Jason Matheson [of Fox 9], who I thought did a terrific job [as host]; he was very upset. [McNaney's] colleagues in the industry didn't find the comments appropriate. And in front of the guy who owns the company? Stanley and Karen Hubbard were there to honor Harold [Crump, a Hubbard exec, who received a Gold Circle Award]. I guess I would have played it a little straighter in front of my boss."

Where to begin with the idiocy from Mr. McNaney ...

Taking a bite out of the chocolate dessert, he averred: "Let's thank the servers, not the chef."

There were boos from the audience, because the dessert was great.

"I had the banquet staff down at the fabulous Graves asking me, after the fact, if everything had been OK," said Vickery. "They heard the comment as well. I have to say it's very difficult to prepare and serve a meal for 380 people, all at once. I could not say enough nice things about Graves."

McNaney also took a shot at the woman running the TelePrompTer. "I would call it an inappropriate shot," said Vickery. "I can tell you at the end of the evening when I was helping her pack up, she was very upset about it.

"You know, being a presenter is invitation only. You don't call me up and say 'I want to be a presenter.' We ask people to," said Vickery, who finished that sentence with a soft laugh.

Busting loose

If there had been an Emmy for breast-baring gowns, there would have been a tie between Fox 9ers Beth McDonough and Jacqueline McLean.

A woman, who was not a newsie, asked if I had noticed that McDonough's gown needed a few more stitches in the Mounds View region? I hadn't, but then I was shooting some video I plan to post at www.startribune.com/cj.

Guess those girls don't get out that often.

Anchor's aweigh

WCCO-TV's Jeanette Trompeter came over to give me a more gentle greeting than she did last time our paths crossed.

We shared a dainty handshake, instead of a block, until Trompeter got on stage, at which time the WCCO anchor was less gentle.

Love for the boss

KARE11's Trisha Volpe and Allen Costantini couldn't decide whether to treat their news director, Tom Lindner, like royalty or a pontiff.

Volpe curtsied to Lindner, while Costantini genuflected, stressing that it's a contract year.

While accepting an award, Lindner told the audience that this is how Costantini normally behaves at work, to which Allen added: "Yes, but this time I got to get up off my knees."

That caused one of those Halloween wooooows to cascade across the audience. "Those [Emmy awards programs] are usually a little ribald," Costantini explained Monday, quickly moving on to this. "I thought Jason Matheson did a great job."

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.