Outstanding Lead
Actor in A Comedy
Almost since the 21st century began
we've had a lot of back to back winners in this category. Tony Shalhoub in Monk
won 3 times in the 2000s. Alec Baldwin went back to back for 30 Rock in
2008 and 2009. Jim Parsons won four times won back to back in 2010 and 2011 and
then again in 2013 and 2014. Jeffrey Tambor, 2015 and 2016. Bill Hader in 2018
and 2019.
So far in the 2020s, there has been little difference:
Jason Sudeikis went back to back for Ted Lasso and Jeremy Allan White twice
in 2024. But for the first time going into the Emmys there is no clear
frontrunner the way there was in the awards leading up to the Emmys. Indeed
there's no consensus at all leading up to the nominations which means the race
is wide-open in a way in hasn't been in
a long time.
Supposedly there are only five slots available
but that was true last year as well and we ended up with six. I will make the same
assumptions this time around. Here we go.
Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This
Ever since he debuted as the 'hot rabbi' back in
October Adam Brody has been at the center of pop culture in a way he hasn't
been in nearly two decades. And from the moment he appears on screen as Noah,
it's obvious why.
It might be an overstatement to say that this is
the best work Brody has done in his long career but it is clearly his most endearing
character. This is a man who wants to be a good Jew, a good son and a good
rabbi and all of those are thrown into question the minute he meets Joanne. ("Are
you sure there's no Jewish blood in you anywhere?" he asks on their first
meeting.) This is the only real reaction any red-blooded person can see when
they meet Kristen Bell and its clear Noah will follow her anywhere – even into
a sex shop to get a dildo for her podcast. Naturally they fall head over heels in
love, naturally their relationship is not taken seriously by anyone, and
naturally Noah can only become more devoted to her anyway that by the end of
the season, he almost seems willing to renounce his religion for her.
Brody took the Critics Choice Award for Best
Actor in a Comedy and was an early front runner to prevail for the Emmy at the
start of the year. A lot has changed since then and the competition has gotten
fiercer so the question is, will the Emmys give to the hot rabbi what they
wouldn't to the hot priest?
Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building
Was it shocking that Steve Martin was ignored by
the Emmys for a nomination two years ago? I imagine he's just say to Charles
Hayden-Savage "Welcome to my world." They made up for it last year of
course but one could just as easily see it happen once more because that seems
to be the world of both Martin and the characters he plays. Such is true of
Charles, who now has to deal with the fact that his long time body double is
the most recent victim.
That Charles is now back in Hollywood getting the
stardom he never quite had even in his prime is another sense of art imitating
life: I can imagine there may be another generation of viewers who only know
Martin because of his work on Only Murders. But that is, as always, more
than enough. As always Martin brings his conventional set of humor to Charles
in every situation, part with slapstick, part with pathos, always feeling
put-upon. Even now as Eugene Levy gets to play him onscreen he has to deal with
another actor choosing to say he's not playing himself right.
Martin is one of the few actors in this category
who hasn't won an award of some type so far this year which might lead to him
being counted out. But don't ever do that to Steve Martin.
Seth Rogen, The Studio
Ever since it debuted this past March Seth Rogen
has been rising in the Emmys odd like a rocket. This is hardly surprising for a
man who has been gifted in not one but two failed Judd Apatow series (though
he's not the only likely nominee in this category who is, see below) who has
become one of the great comic stars of so many films over the years and who has
been making his way back to television during the last few years. He showed his
range in Pam & Tommy a few years back but The Studio is where
Rogen lives in every way.
Rogen has written and directed many of the
episodes in this Apple Series in which he plays the lead character. Nothing new
for comedians in this era of Peak TV and its worked out for Bill Hader and
Donald Glover. Like them his new studio head Matt Remick surrounds himself with
the best and the brightest, both onscreen and in the writers room: frequent
collaborator Evan Goldberg has cowritten and directed many of the episodes he
has with him. And like so many characters he has played Matt is very much a
Seth Rogen archetype: so nebbish he feels awkward giving correct to legends
such as Ron Howard even though he's his boss, always awkward among so many
celebrities who simply play themselves (and who Rogen himself has known for
years)
Rogen prevailed at the Astras in Best Lead Actor
in A Comedy earlier this month ahead of competition he will no doubt be facing
down the road. He's been nominated before and it would be a way to honor the
great show Freaks & Geeks except for…
Jason Segel, Shrinking
Yep, it's the other Judd Apatow alum from two
comedies and several of his films who's also one of the writers and producers
of an Apple TV comedy that's going to contend for Emmys this year. Segel has
been nominated in this category for his work for Shrinking – which was
to be clear his first Emmy nomination. Segel of course has a hit comedy
in his back pocket already and spent much of the remainder of the 2010s doing
comedies. He came back to TV to appear in the undervalued HBO series Winning
Time and in his free time helped
executive produce and star in the first season of Shrinking as Jimmy.
Segel's work is as dark and layered as Jeremy
Allan White's work in The Bear but unlike Carmy Jimmy has both support
around him, a family and a system to help him through his trauma. He spent most
of Season 1 rebuilding his life to have it come back to bite him at the end of
the season and he's spent Season 2 often making things worse (with FWB Gaby at
the start of the season) his relationship with his next door neighbors and most
critically when he learned the secret that his daughter was keeping from him
for much of the season. This led to him reliving the trauma again in the
brilliant flashback episode 'Last Thanksgiving' and we've watched him rebuild
since.
Segel has been one of the great performers in TV
for more than a quarter of a century and he deserves to repeat in the
nominations as much as anyone else in this category. I hope they find room for
both Apatow veterans here.
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
It was a pleasant surprise when Martin Short
managed to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for his exceptional work in Only
Murders this past February. He has won a few prizes for his work over the
series run – an Astra here or there – but he has been shutout by the Emmys to
this point. And not just for this show but throughout his career: while he has
won for writing and producing he has never won once for acting.
It's an exaggeration to say Oliver is the best
work he's done on television giving that he's been part of the medium since his
years on SCTV. It's even an exaggeration that it's the role he shows the
most range. But it's clearly the most honest work he's done and his character
has been growing for a long time. As we see him continue the sweet relationship
he started with that failed actress from last season (will we see Meryl Streep
back in the Emmy hunt) as he goes Hollywood and has Zack Gallifankis play him
onscreen and as he works to try and solve yet another murder, he's not only
always hysterical funny in every scene but often brutally honest about his
character's flaws.
Currently Short is the frontrunner by a hair in
this category though that will almost certain change after the nominations. But
I would love to see him up there.
Jeremy Allan White, The Bear
When Jeremy Allan White won his second
consecutive Emmy completing his second straight sweep of every major lead actor
award, it seemed like he was going to dominate this category forever. However
by that time the third season of The Bear had dropped and the response
was not nearly as favorable. Indeed many began to wonder if White himself was
becoming part of the problem, particularly after the opening episode, which was
both brilliant and baffling to many of the show's biggest fans.
When White managed to win his third consecutive
last January it seemed like critics might have overcome it. But that was not
only the only Golden Globe The Bear won that year, it was essentially
skunked for awards for the rest of the end-of-year awards shows. The show will
no doubt do well at the Emmy nominations this year and White will certainly be
nominated again, but it will be due to the Emmys laziness more than the overall
quality of his work.
There are patches when we see much of the brilliance
of White in Carmy this season but at this point his combination of unrelenting
drive in the pursuit of perfection mixed with trauma is becoming tiresome even
to the characters around him. White will be nominated to be sure but I find it
highly unlikely he will three-peat.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
David Allan Grier, St. Denis Medical
I considered making a case for Brian Jordan Alvarez
and The English Teacher in this category but by this point I think the raves
have been overshadowed by the allegations against Alvarez himself. There are
better reasons to honor Grier for his marvelous work in this brilliant comedy.
For one thing Grier has never been recognized by
the Emmys at all, though he has won other awards from other groups. For
another, he has received nominations from the Critics Choice awards and the
Astra this past few months. And for another, his work as the curmudgeonly but
honestly good hearted Ron is kind of revelatory because it shows a humanity he
hasn't gotten much of a chance to play on television or indeed his career. It
helps that every line he says and even the delivery is a comic high point.
Hell, we’ve got two legendary sketch comedy veterans
competing in this category. If we got room for SNL and SCTV, why
not one of the original gangstas from In Living Color?
Tomorrow I move on to Outstanding Lead Actress in
a Comedy where we all know who'll win – or do we?
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