Anderson & D'Borgia

Sep 18 2011 -- 11:04 PM EDT

'Jersey Shore' Crashes The Emmys

Host Jane Lynch plays Donatella Alberghetti Mangiana D'Borgia, a Jersey TV exec who 'discovered' the MTV reality stars.

By Kara Warner

Although we can generally expect the unexpected during awards shows, it's safe to say that it was especially surprising to see the cast of "Jersey Shore" make an appearance at the 63rd annual Emmy Awards on Sunday night (September 18).

Our favorite Seaside Heights crew popped up in a mock "state of TV news" story by Anderson Cooper. He introduced the segment, a spotlight on "prominent TV executive" Donatella Alberghetti Mangiana D'Borgia (Jane Lynch), as if it were a part of his show "Anderson Cooper 360," and we learned the real story about how "Jersey Shore" came to be.

"Thanks to me, now 50 percent of all television is set in Jersey," Lynch as D'Borgia said, complete with a thick Jersey accent, with Cooper adding in voice-over that D'Borgia is responsible for 114 different shows, one of them being "Jersey Shore," for which she plucked "eight at-risk youths from obscurity and made them stars."

Get More: Music News

"I was already a DJ when I met her," Pauly said. "At NPR."

"I found Vinny living in a walk-in freezer in a pizzeria," D'Borgia revealed.

"Now we get paid to drink!" Vinny chimed in with a smile.

"Before I met Donatella, I was just Nicole, a Harvard undergrad," Snooki revealed. "And now, I'm Snooki."

"She's threatened to kill us numerous times," Mike "The Situation" added over shots of Lynch's character threatening the castmembers with violence.

"She's like a mother to me," Pauly said. "Because she killed my mother."

The segment ended with footage of the crew play-fighting and D'Borgia expressing her undying love for her moneymakers.

"Why do I do what I do?" Lynch as D'Borgia said to camera. "Because watching these kids is like Cirque Du Soleil. Freakin' beautiful, just like Jersey."

Cooper finished off the piece with a stoic sign-off, calling D'Borgia and the "Jersey Shore" kiddos a "sobering look at the future of television."

Don't miss "Jersey Shore" every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.