Such were the overtures made at last night's Creative Arts Emmy Awards, where Silverman won her first-career statuette for her, um, emphatic Jimmy Kimmel Live contribution, "I'm F--king Matt Damon," and Griffin scored her second straight win for My Life on the D-List.

The victorious Silverman thanked her cowriters and her A-list costar, enough though Damon, she said, "had very little to do this being being popular."

Silverman also paid tribute to Kimmel, with whom she uncoupled in July.

"I'd like thank Jimmy Kimmel, who broke my heart…" she said, before reversing course for punchline purposes, and restating, "who will always have a place in my heart."

"Matt Damon" scored Kimmel's late-night ABC show a second Emmy for editing, a victory that came at the expense of the Kimmel-sung companion composition, "I'm F--king Ben Affleck."

Griffin, meanwhile, celebrated her latest win in the Outstanding Reality Program race in somewhat restrained fashion.

"I'm not going to tell anyone to suck it," the Bravo star said, referencing the controversial, and ultimately censored directive to Jesus at last year's show.

Griffin's latest acceptance speech won't make it to commercial air in its unaltered form, either, as the comic proved liberal with her use of a word well-known to the lyricists of "I'm F--king Matt Damon."

Still, the backstage Griffin said she tried to keep a lid on her act, if not her mouth, so as to not jeopardize a presenting gig at next weekend's Primetime Emmys.

Elsewhere, Cynthia Nixon won her first post-Sex and the City Emmy, and the second of her career, for a guest-starring role on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Robin Williams failed to Emmy for his own SVU stint when Glynn Turman took the Guest Actor in a Drama Series category for his stop on HBO's therapy drama, In Treatment.

Veteran TV star Tim Conway won his first Emmy since 1996 for playing a veteran TV star on NBC's 30 Rock. In doing so, Conway pulled rank on Will Arnett and two other fellow 30 Rock players in the Comedy Series Guest Actor race.

Kathryn Joosten took her second Emmy for mixing it up on ABC's Desperate Housewives. (She previously won in 2005.) Joosten's victory in the Guest Actress in a Comedy Series race denied Silverman a shot at an acting win for a Monk appearance.

The Don Rickles HBO special, Mr. Warmth, denied the late George Carlin an Emmy for the latter's final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya! The Rickles win, in the Variety, Music or Comedy Special category, also prevented Griffin from notching a second Emmy of the night for her nominated Bravo special, Kathy Griffin: Straight to Hell.

Fox's The Simpsons pulled in its 10th all-time Emmy as Outstanding Animated Program (Less Than One Hour), while Comedy Central's South Park, which won last year in The Simpsons' category, pulled in its first Emmy, and third overall, as Outstanding Animated Program (More Than One Hour), for its saga known as "Imaginationland."

In all, awards were presented in more than 70 categories, most of them honoring behind-the-scenes types such as makeup artists and special-effects whizzes.

The HBO miniseries John Adams dominated this first leg of the Emmy marathon with eight wins. AMC's Mad Men followed, with four.

Both shows will be front and center at the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, set for Sept. 21 at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre, which also hosted last night's show.

The 2008 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be aired as a two-hour special Sept. 20 on E!

Here's a recap of the some of Saturday's key winners:

• Reality Program: Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
• Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Glynn Turman, In Treatment
• Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Cynthia Nixon, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Kathryn Joosten, Desperate Housewives
• Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Tim Conway, 30 Rock
• Animated Program (One Hour or More): South Park
• Animated Program (Less Than One Hour): The Simpsons
• Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
• Original Music and Lyrics: "I'm F---ing Matt Damon," Jimmy Kimmel Live
  
• Commercial: "Swear Jar," Bud Light

Kathy Griffin really wants to be friends with Clay Aiken, but it doesn't sound like the American Idol warbler wants anything to do with her.

The loudmouth comedian says she tried to make good with Aiken-whom she pegged "Gayken" in her standup act long before he came out of the closet-backstage during Rosie O'Donnell's Thanksgiving variety show.

Read on for the not-so-pleasant details.

"I held up one of those ghetto blasters playing one of Clay's songs, and I begged him to take me back and he said no," Griffin said at last night's Grammy nomination concert in downtown L.A. "And then I walked out of the room and Gloria Estefan said to me, 'I told ya-you shouldn't have gone in there alone.' "

Griffin said she was, at the very least, hoping for some sort of thank-you or acknowledgement for her role in helping him come out. "There were no words of thanks or even really any words at all, for that matter," Griffin said. "I would have to say he was not very nice."

Oh, Clay! You should have been nicer, 'cause you know Griffin's Gayken schtick is now going to get nastier than ever.