To explain how Zooey Deschanel felt Thursday morning about her first Emmy nomination for "New Girl" requires a little setup.
"I have a nephew, Henry, who is 9 months old and he gets excited about everything," Deschanel explained. "But the most exciting thing you can do is give him a wooden spoon. He loves it. I feel like a baby with a wooden spoon."
The actress shares her category with fellow first-time nominee Lena Dunham, who made waves with the first season of her HBO comedy "Girls."
PHOTOS: Emmys 2012 nominee reactions
"I’m so happy for her," Deschanel said. "She's a friend of mine. We were emailing this morning. She's really killing it. Big time."
Deschanel, however, rejects the notion that these hit female-centric comedies are part of a "year of the girl."
She said: "Tina Fey said in her book something that I always think about. You don’t want it to be a female thing. You want it to get to a point where it’s just about comedy. That’s the truth."
So with the full day ahead of her, will Deschanel find a wooden spoon to hold onto today?
"No," she said. "That's for Henry. I need to find something else."
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