Will The Supporting Comedy Races Get Political or Go For Laughs?

Jalal Haddad looks at 2017 Emmy supporting comedy races and the potential for Emmy voters to make a political statement with their ballots.

In recent years, Emmy® voters relied on the supporting comedy races to celebrate comedic actors overdue for recognition. Fred Armisen. Niecy Nash. Keegan-Michael Key. Last year’s winner Louie Anderson. Voters still find the word “comedy” important. Some of the biggest surprises in these races simply link to being a funny person all-around. Still, without any overwhelming buzz behind any new show, Emmy voters risk resorting to their worst tendencies and recycling past nominees.

Some of the major contenders in the supporting comedy races are difficult to sort between viable options and dream nominees. This year, they seem to all blend together. Well liked names like Jenifer Lewis (black-ish) and Carol Kane (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) have gone unrecognized for three seasons now, but as their comedic performances continue to be popular, their chances might increase. Voters also have the opportunity to elevate plenty of lesser known names including Sam Richardson of Veep, Yvonne Orj of Insecure, and Zazie Beetz or Bryan Tyree Henry of Atlanta.

Notable Casts

Veep Last year with six acting nominees, Veep was a clear favorite among the actors in the Television Academy. When it appeared that the show was heading into its final season, dominance in terms of total nominations seemed certain. After HBO announced the show will return for a seventh season and the current season proved to be lackluster in many ways, it isn’t as clear just how well voters will respond. Emmy favorites like Tony Hale and Anna Chlumsky will return, but a second nomination for Matt Walsh seems less likely especially since he faded into the background this season against costars like Timothy Simons and especially Sam Richardson who in a perfect world would be winning the Emmy this year.

Saturday Night Live After years of fading out of popular culture, Saturday Night Live finally regained its footing throughout the political season. First, Kate McKinnon’s Emmy-winning performance as Hillary Clinton (among dozens of other characters) led the charge, and second, Alec Baldwin’s season-long residency as Donald Trump sealed the deal. Both McKinnon and Baldwin enter the supporting races as front-runners in their respected categories, particularly because voting for them would be the easiest way for Hollywood to send a giant “fuck you” to the current administration, especially with a win for Baldwin. With such a high profile season, it’s possible (although unlikely) that another member of the cast surprises like Kenan Thompson or Leslie Jones or if there were any justice in the world Aidy Bryant.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt The actors branch sends a lot of mixed signals regarding the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt cast lately. The show suffered a sophomore slump at last year’s Emmys only to turn around and receive SAG nominations for both Kemper and Burgess. The third season makes it abundantly clear that Titus Andromedon is the MVP of the show. He is likely the only sure bet of the supporting cast and, with the popular vote system, might be the dark horse to win.

The supporting actress race is a little more up in the air. Voters left out Jane Krakowski for Season 2 after initially bringing her into the race for the first season. Yet, with five nominations, she clearly lands on voters’ radars. However, her tired story line risks losing steam to costar Carol Kane who besides Tituss is the most consistently hilarious. As voters catch up with the series, there is a good chance they might recognize the two-time Emmy winner with her first nomination in 20 years.

Transparent Emmy voters embraced the Pfefferman clan with open arms for the past two years, but as the dramedy takes even more dramatic turns, the question needs to be asked if there is a growing resistance against the show for competing in the comedy races. SAG voters chose not to include the cast in the comedy ensemble race this year, and the overall buzz around the show seems to be diminishing. Gabby Hoffman (who has already been nominated twice for her work as Ali) is likely on her way out at the Emmys. Judith Light, who has her strongest material to date, might be the only supporting comedy player to survive. If the entire supporting cast is left out come nominations morning, it might be due to the fact that seven worthy actresses are all competing in the supporting comedy race and could potentially split the vote.

Modern Family The 5-time Outstanding Comedy Series champion steadily dropped in total nominations over the past few years. Last year, Ty Burrell was the only member of the ensemble left in the race. Without any major competition, Burrell will continue receiving nominations since Emmy voters have a soft spot for goofy naïve characters (which explains why Betty White outlasted her Golden Girls costars at the Emmys). In a weaker year, someone like Julie Bowen might be able to sneak back in, but as voters move on from the once-beloved sitcom, it seems less and less unlikely.

Girls  Small clues indicated that the acting branch still pays attention to Girls from repeat nominations for Adam Driver to last year’s shocking Peter Scolari win. The final season proved to be one of the show’s strongest, and voters might finally choose to honor some of the supporting cast like Andrew Rannells and Allison Williams who both gave their best performances in the history of the show. On top of that, Allison Williams might be entering the race with her highest profile to date fresh off of her performance in Get Out which is still the most acclaimed movie of 2017.

Atlanta Donald Glover dominated the Emmy conversation in multiple categories (series, actor, writing, directing), so it’s hard to tell if the admiration for Atlanta extends to the supporting cast in terms of potential nominations. Bryan Tyree Henry and Zazie Beetz deserve to have their names thrown into consideration, and their surprise nominations would be huge indicators that Atlanta might be gearing up for a surprise Outstanding Comedy Series win. In categories with much more well-known actors, it might take a few seasons for either of them to be recognized.

Standout Performances

Louie Anderson (Baskets) Louie Anderson’s surprise win last year is clear proof that the new popular vote system at the Emmys has the ability to celebrate and award smaller performances with passionate supporters. This year, Anderson’s role on Baskets grew even more to the point where he could have even considered going lead. The Emmy winner has a good chance of returning this year even if Baskets has struggled to be noticed by voters aside from his performance.

Jennifer Lewis (black-ish) There is no comedic performance more overdue for an Emmy nomination than Jenifer Lewis on black-ish. Now that the show is the new favorite sitcom of Emmy voters this might finally be her year. No other member of the cast delivers as consistently as Lewis, and all ABC has to do is make sure every voting member has a copy of the Halloween episode “The Purge” to ensure she gets nominated. On top of that Emmy voters love to embrace overdue character actors in the supporting race. With a new popular vote system, she could easily win if she just gets over the hurdle of receiving her first nomination.

Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time) The EGOT winner literally appears to audiences through the opening of a curtain to uproarious applause. The 85-year-old legend’s return to television excited fans and immediately spurred Emmy talk. One Day at a Time might be a hard sell to Emmy voters who are constantly sticking up their nose at traditional multi-cam sitcoms, but if voters get through the first cringe-worthy 10 minutes, many of them can easily be won over.  In the end, a huge amount of peer respect for Moreno mixed with the fact that Netflix put a lot of effort into sending voters both physical and digital copies of the entire season makes her a serious contender.

Molly Shannon (Divorce) Molly Shannon’s name automatically associates with comedy. So much so that she could sneak into the supporting actress race solely because Emmy voters know how funny she can be. Her character on Divorce is easily the most broadly comedic, and she snuck in for an HBO dramedy before (her guest performance on Enlightened). Still, there probably isn’t enough excitement around Divorce to get voters interested.

T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) Over the years, the acting branch has been the one major holdout in terms of major Emmy nominations for Silicon Valley. Before last year’s surprise nomination for Thomas Middleditch, the ensemble largely received no love from their peers both at the Emmys and at the SAG awards. T.J. Miller is the loudest of the supporting actors. Because of that, he remains the most likely to breakthrough if one ever does. With the recent announcement that this will be Miller’s final season, he might have an extra boost of publicity heading into voting to finally be nominated.

 Supporting Actress