SAG Awards: Good Night for the Underdogs; and After-Partyin' with L.A. Politicos

It was the Screen Actors Guild's turn Sunday night to hand out trophies, as the winter awards season marches on. I was there at the Shrine Auditorium, clapping hard at several well-deserved wins ("Ugly Betty's" America Ferrara; the ensemble cast of "The Office") and wondering whether "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo should have rehearsed her speech (the answer: yeah, she should have) when the show won.

It was a good night for thesps who didn't represent the stereotypical Hollywood ideal. In her surprise win, "Grey's Anatomy" star Chandra Wilson touched on it: "Just to be able to take this thing home to my girls, in particular, and hold it in front of them and say, 'Look, with this skin and this nose, and this height, and these arms,' you know, 'I’m here!'"

It was a good night for the Brits too -- something Eddie Murphy alluded to, kicking off his acceptance speech with a British accent. ("It’s just when the British people come and get the awards, it’s so smooth with their stuff," he said. "And I feel goofy up here ‘cause I don’t be winning stuff.")

The SAG show is pretty no-frills: No host, no entertainment, no montages (other than the obits), and few memorable moments. A ballyhooed "Mary Tyler Moore Show" reunion lasted all of three minutes, as cast members did little more than present the award for this year's best comedic ensemble.

At the after party, saw "The Office" exec producer Greg Daniels, and proceeded to gush about certain episodes.

Also spotted: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (hovering by the dessert table), City Council chair Eric Garcetti and council president pro tempore Wendy Greuel.

Garcetti told me it was his first-ever SAG awards as well; he earlier ran into "The Closer" star Kyra Sedgwick, who works with Garcetti's ex-D.A. dad Gil (who's a consulting producer on the show).

I also asked the very personable Garcetti about his stint in the Navy reserve. He still has at least another year of training, but after that could easily be called into active duty -- much of his unit has already been sent overseas. Originally, he would have been termed out of the City Council in 2009 -- but with the passage of Prop R, Garcetti can now run for a third term.

Garcetti was a firm supporter of Prop R -- so it would be ironic if he couldn't take advantage of the relaxation of term limits himself; being called up for active duty would complicate things, obviously. (But that's still at least a year down the road.) Nice to finally meet Garcetti in person -- his CD-13 blog has linked to Franklin Avenue in the past, and we emailed last year over L.A.'s plans (or, ultimately, lack of plans) for its 225th birthday.