The winners’ table: SAG Award winners congregate off-camera at the trophy table

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A view from the winners’ table at the SAG Awards

LOS ANGELES — Inside the Shrine Exposition Center, banquet tables filled with A-listers sit side by side as stars of TV and film honor their peers at Saturday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards.

But the real winners’ table is off camera, in a hallway just outside the ceremony, where the night’s winners come to claim their Actor statuettes. Here’s a running view from the trophy table at the SAG Awards:

Winners Drew Barrymore and Mo’Nique ran into each other in the hallway near the trophy table. “Keep doing your thing, baby,” Mo’Nique told Barrymore. “God bless us.” A still trembling Barrymore made her way to claim her trophy. “Thank you so much. Do I grab it?” She asked after signing her name. “Whoa, it’s heavy. It’s beautiful… It takes two hands. I’m holding it like a guitar. ”

The 19 singing, dancing members of the cast of “Glee” filled the backstage trophy area with ecstatic cheers for their best comedy series win. “Holy cow,” said Jayma Mays, who plays buttoned-up school counselor Emma Pillsbury. “Do we take it?” ”I want this one,” Matthew Morrison, who plays teacher Will Schuester, said, fixing his eyes on one of the statuettes. “You can’t. You have to sign for it,” Mays said. “This is awesome,” Morrison said, claiming — and kissing — his Actor statuette. “I’ve never kissed a guy before, but there it is.” Then Jane Lynch, who plays cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, shouted, “we’re going to do a cast shot everybody!” And the whole cast followed her into the hallway.

Tina Fey excitedly signed for her trophy for best actress in a comedy series — and was instantly shocked at its heft. “SAG is the heaviest of any award,” she said. “It weighs 100 pounds!” Fey added that she was completely surprised by her win. “I really, really expected to lose,” she confessed.

Michael C. Hall, who has been nominated repeatedly for his work on “Dexter,” said, “It’s nice to get all the way up on stage,” after finally winning a SAG Award. Hall ran into Juliana Margulies, who won for her role in “The Good Wife,” at the trophy table. They hugged and air-kissed, congratulating each other.

The cast of “Mad Men,” which won for best ensemble in a drama, filled the backstage trophy area, where Actor statuettes stood, waiting to be claimed. “It’s like an Easter egg hunt!” Christina Hendricks exclaimed as she searched for her statuette. Robert Morse complained that he couldn’t read the small type that said which award was his. “This is my 400th award,” he said. “I’ve got a mantle full of them.” After winning cast honors two years in a row, he said he hoped to be back again next year, “and I hope the trophy will be lighter!”

“I keep them next to each other,” said Christoph Waltz, who picked up his third award for his work in “inglourious Basterds.”

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter. Follow her at twitter.com/APSandy.