00:00Hi everyone, I'm Michael Schneider.
00:09And I'm Emily Longoretta.
00:10Welcome to Variety's Awards Circuit, where we're looking at some of the key television
00:14categories in this year's Primetime Emmy race.
00:17This time we're looking at the performers in the comedy field.
00:19Why don't we start with actresses.
00:21Of course, we've got the incumbent winner from last year, Quinta Brunson from Abbott
00:24Elementary.
00:25I didn't get in this position by shying away from bold choices.
00:29You went down for the Waldorf salad.
00:31Extra grapes.
00:32Damn it, Janine.
00:34You've done it again.
00:35Among the other frontrunners, we've got Jean Smart from Hacks, who of course is a previous
00:39winner.
00:40Ayo Edebiri from The Bear, who has won at the Globes, and she also won at SAG, so she's
00:45a definite contender.
00:46Of course, you've got Kristen Wiig from Palme Royale.
00:49Kristen Wiig.
00:50Everyone loves Kristen Wiig.
00:51Selena Gomez, who has not been nominated yet for Only Murders in the Building, but I feel
00:55like maybe this is the year they finally rectify that.
00:57There are a lot of other great names out there as well.
01:00One that I do want to highlight just because who doesn't love Maya Rudolph?
01:03I don't have a partner.
01:08Place your hand on each other's hearts.
01:11Oh boy.
01:13TV show called Loot that I don't think as many people have seen on Apple TV+, but Maya
01:17Rudolph kind of transcends titles.
01:19Yeah, 100%.
01:20I hope that Selena Gomez gets in this.
01:22I have to say, obviously like you said, she's never been nominated before, but it would
01:25be really nice to see her at least get a nomination.
01:27I can just girl talk.
01:28Can you?
01:29Yeah.
01:30You guys okay out here?
01:31Hey, mama.
01:32Yeah, we're like, yes, at work and slay over here.
01:38This is an interesting category because, of course, Jean Smart has won constantly for
01:42the first two seasons of Hacks, but there's a little more competition now in a little
01:46show called The Bear.
01:48And this is a big deal for Ayo Edibiri because she was in the supporting actress category.
01:54She's upgrading now to lead actress, but that immediately makes her a huge contender.
01:58That also puts her up against Quinta Brunson, of course, for Abbott Elementary, who won
02:02last year and had an incredible season.
02:03So this is a really, really tough category.
02:06A lot of winners in this category, so that's one to keep an eye on.
02:09But then the actor category is also a little interesting.
02:12It's a heavy one.
02:13Of course, Jeremy Ellen White for The Bear, who basically won everything last year for
02:17season one.
02:18Right.
02:19Emmys, Globes, SAG, the triple threat.
02:22Exactly.
02:24And then last year for Only Murders of the Building, it's Martin Short.
02:26Steve Martin, also Only Murders, wasn't nominated last year.
02:29Not nominated last year, so does he make a return appearance this year?
02:32Right.
02:33It's Steve Martin.
02:34And, of course, Larry David for the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
02:37Have you noticed that when you take a picture, you don't look nearly as good as you do when
02:41you look in the mirror?
02:42Because the mirror is how you see yourself and the photo is how you're seen.
02:47It's the last season and it's Larry David.
02:49Kelsey Grammer for Frasier, he could be sneaking back into the conversation.
02:53He was once an Emmy person that we were talking about all the time.
02:56Emmy voters, they loved Frasier back in the day and they could very much love it again.
03:00Absolutely.
03:01And the last one I want to mention is Jharrel Jerome for I'm a Virgo, because what a performance.
03:05And that's a show that a lot of people maybe haven't watched a ton of, but he's really
03:09great.
03:10So, again, this is such an incredible category and it's hard to think of Jeremy Ellen White
03:14being beat out here.
03:15Still, I love the name.
03:16You don't remember the name?
03:19Of course I remember the name.
03:20We didn't even tell anybody the name.
03:21You 100% told me the name.
03:23How could you remember the name?
03:24There's a lot of strong contenders.
03:26Let's head into another unstoppable race.
03:28Supporting actress.
03:29Now, I mentioned that Ayo Edebiri was previously in the supporting category.
03:32She's now moving to lead.
03:34She won last year.
03:35So that means that this category is wide open for a new winner.
03:38Now we've got heavy hitters like Meryl Streep from Only Murders in the Building.
03:42Please, please don't give up on me.
03:44I'm not good at table reads.
03:46Storm's coming.
03:47Don't test the dot for the rubble and the rocks.
03:52Meryl Streep is Meryl Streep.
03:53It's undoubted that she'll at least be nominated.
03:56But again, these are shows with a lot of great supporting talent.
03:59You've got Hannah Einbinder from Hacks, who wasn't eligible last year but who's now back
04:03in the running.
04:04Arguably for her best season.
04:05And then you've got the Abbott Elementary cast and they're all killer.
04:10Janelle James was nominated last year.
04:12I expect her to be back.
04:13Shirley Ralph, previous winner in this category, I expect her to be back.
04:17Now, someone who hasn't been nominated from Abbott but who is incredible and deserves
04:21to be nominated alongside her co-stars is Lisa Ann Walter.
04:24Would love to see her in the mix.
04:26Now, I'm going to tell you about someone named Carol Burnett.
04:28I've heard a few things about her.
04:31Robert, shake me another martini and then let's play doctor.
04:35She's in Palme Royale and she's a superstar and I would not be surprised to see her nominated.
04:41But that's also a killer category because Allison Chaney is also in Palme Royale and
04:45she's another person who Emmy voters have loved through the years.
04:48Maybe the most A-listers, you just listed some huge heavy hitters, could be all nominated
04:52for the same category.
04:53I mean, that is quite the race and that's not even the end of it.
04:56Because we talk about the bear, just how the bear is steamrolling through everything.
05:00And there's a good chance that the bear could just kill it this year with nominations.
05:03And if that's the fact, then maybe some of their supporting actors and actresses may
05:07also be nominated.
05:08That includes Abby Elliott, Liza Colon-Zayas from The Bear.
05:12We'll see.
05:13Now, the last name that I do want to mention because it is, again, Curb's final season,
05:17Susie Essman, who has never been nominated, but who really is the secret weapon behind
05:23Curb Your Enthusiasm.
05:24She kills it every time she's in every scene screaming at Larry David and would love to
05:28see her nominated one last time.
05:30Honestly, most of the Curb cast I would love to see nominated and I assume we're going
05:33to kind of get into that with this next one because supporting actor, also quite a stacked
05:39race.
05:40And, of course, we have to start with The Bear's Eben Moss-Bacharach because he won
05:42last year.
05:43And, again, The Bear is Abbey Catnip at this moment, as you would say.
05:47The shirt says original birth.
05:48It's a printing mistake.
05:49Collector's item.
05:50But there's also a lot of people from Abbott Elementary.
05:53I mean, we have Tyler James Williams and Chris Perfetti who could really both get nominated.
05:58Tyler was nominated last year.
06:00Chris hasn't been yet, but I do think it's time to show some love for him as well because
06:04he's been standout on that.
06:05Definitely.
06:06And then there's also, of course, the rest of the supporting cast of The Bear.
06:10Oliver Platt, Lionel Boyce, Matty Matheson.
06:12The list goes on and on.
06:14There's no bad performances on The Bear, so really you could nominate any of them.
06:17And then, of course, a few others we need to mention.
06:19Paul Rudd.
06:20He's Paul Rudd in Only Murders in the Building.
06:23And Paul W. Downs, who's also co-creator of Hacks, has a bigger role this year.
06:27Debra's here.
06:28You're here?
06:29She hired new writers?
06:30You know what?
06:32She hired two, which is actually a compliment, isn't it?
06:35She had to replace you with two people.
06:36Wow.
06:37He could definitely be nominated, as could Carl Clemens Hopkins.
06:40These are shows that are at the top of their game, and we could definitely see many, many
06:44more nominations.
06:45Yeah.
06:46And that's it for now.
06:47Join us again, please, next time for another edition of Awards Circuit.
06:49Thanks for watching.
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