My Picks For This Years Emmy Nods: Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy

The good news is, with Veep absent, Tony Hale and Matt Walsh will not take up space. (Though maybe Hale will get a nod anyway.)  The bad news is this category will very likely see the return of Sean Hayes.  But even given the level of talent, there are a lot of good possibilities for this category. Here are my choices.

Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live

Or rather, Baldwin's portrayal of Donald Trump. I'm still not wild about a nomination going to an actor who plays one character for five minutes in a cold open. Then again, that is closer to the definition of a Supporting Actor then many of the other SNL nominees, and I've been loosening up my definition since other great sketch comedy series have started turning up,. Regardless of your personal opinion of the man, the imitation still makes me laugh, which is a lot more than you can say for many of the other so called comedians.

Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

There's just something about watching one of the most versatile actors in television history play deadpan so well to the point that technological devices can't tell whether or not he's a human being. But Chief Holt has always been one of the most winning characters on this criminally under-recognized series (which I'm so glad was saved by NBC!) Besides, considering that in one episode Braugher was willing to satirize the interrogation technique his other alter ego Frank Pembleton mastered prove just how hysterically funny he still is. Another nomination would be nice.

Walon Goggins, Vice Principals

I realize trying to push for a nominee just because the Broadcast Critics chose to recognize them is far from a guarantee that they'll be even acknowledged by the Emmys. But considering how deeply the Emmys has owed this incredibly versatile actor (at least since The Shield), it would be nice to acknowledge him once. Add to this the fact that watching Boyd after ascending to the rank of principal ending up watching everything else in his life implode to the point that a tiger nearly killed him in the series finale demonstrates the astonishing gift for comedy I frankly didn't think he had in him. He deserves some recognition, even though I have no doubt he'll soon appear in another brilliant series the Emmys will snub him for.

Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta

Watching Paperboy try to deal with his sudden fame in surprising ways led to some truly sublime moments throughout Season 2. From trying to get the right kind of weed to ending up taking a surreal walk in the woods to trying to decide whether his cousin was the right time of man to deal with his burgeoning fame, Henry continued to demonstrate that he is perhaps the most underutilized comic talent on the show. He was deservedly recognized with a nomination for his work on This is Us last season.  A comedy nomination would be more than justified.

Marc Maron, GLOW

Without a doubt, the odds on favorite in this category. As the creator of the women's wrestling league/B-Movie Producer/cocaine addict Sam, Maron was the most consistently funny performers on this series. That's not a huge shock considering he's had a nearly quarter-century career as a stand-up comic. But considering that almost all of the work he has done in the medium has involved playing a variation of himself, to see him not only seize on this meaty character but manage to make it his own was one of the more remarkable accomplishment of this incredible series.  He deserves to win the top prize.

Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

There have been few limits that this exceptional actor has managed to master in well over twenty years in television. But watching him play Miriam's beleaguered father who seems determined to be fixed in an old world while a revolution is coming led him to levels that, frankly, I really didn't expect from Adrian Monk. As he tries to find some semblance of order in this chaos of this world, one finds him endearing even when he asks like a bastard. I never thought he should have gotten any of his Emmys for Monk. For this show, however, he more than deserves a seat at the table.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Neil Flynn, The Middle

If there is a series that has been utterly robbed by the Emmys, it is this brilliant ABC comedy. And if there is an actor who is long overdue Emmy recognition, it is Flynn. From the decade he spent as the Janitor on Scrubs, he immediately went into the role of the often muddle but still steadfast father of the keeping-their-head-above water Heck clan. All of the cast members -Patricia Heaton and Eden Sher in particular - deserve some kind of recognition. But as another brilliant undervalued comedy disappears from the airwaves, this improv giant deserves like Heck some nomination.