2023 Emmys: How much screen time does each Best Comedy Guest Actress nominee have?

Since most Emmy prognosticators expected the 2022 comedy guest acting awards to both be won by “Only Murders in the Building” cast members (Nathan Lane and Jane Lynch), Laurie Metcalf’s victory in the female category for “Hacks” came as one of the biggest surprises of the year. Looking back, however, it makes perfect sense that the veteran actress finally achieved her first guest win on her sixth bid for as many series, especially since her screen time total in her submitted episode was sizable enough at seven minutes. Now that she’s out of the running, her crown will be passed to one of six new nominees, almost all of whom have higher amounts of screen time than she did.

The current Best Comedy Guest Actress contenders have asked Emmy voters to consider episodes in which they appear for an average of 10 minutes and 41 seconds, or 21.57%. This data was compiled using a basic definition of stand-alone screen time, which is essentially any time a particular actor can be seen on screen or heard off screen. Contiguous moments involving the performer silently and non-visibly remaining in scenes were not factored in.

At the low end of this screen time catalog is Sarah Niles, who is recognized for just 54 seconds of work in the third season premiere installment of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.” The actress, whose “Smells Like Mean Spirit” performance takes up 1.95% of the episode and halfway consists of off-screen voice work, briefly shows up in three of the latest “Ted Lasso” entries after having earned a notice as a full-fledged supporting cast member in 2022. After Kathryn Joosten (“Desperate Housewives”), she is the second comedic performer to receive both types of nominations for playing a single, non-sketch character.

The only one in this lineup who was bested by Metcalf last year is Harriet Walter, whose second “Ted Lasso” mention comes for her two-minute and 35-second performance in the third season closer, “So Long, Farewell” (which amounts to 3.30% of the episode). She is concurrently nominated for her dramatic guest turn in an episode of “Succession,” which is significantly larger at five minutes and 27 seconds (or 7.45%).

The rest of this category’s current nominees differ from Niles and Walter in that they are seeking the honor for performances that last for multiple scenes. It also happens that, unlike said “Ted Lasso” ladies, the remaining four actresses have each only made a single appearance on their respective series. In the middle of this screen time ranking are Taraji P. Henson and Becky Ann Baker, who play the mothers of lead nominees Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) and Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”). In terms of actual screen time, the former’s eight-minute and 10-second performance in “Mom” is shorter than the latter’s 13-minute and five-second one in “Mom City,” but the opposite is true when comparing their percentages (37.87 and 18.16).

Next comes Brunson herself, whose second lead bid for her self-created ABC series is coupled with a guest hosting one for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” She appears in 18 minutes and 43 seconds (or 27.29%) of her episode, with the largest chunk of her performance (15%) being attributed to a live sketch entitled “Midwife.” In the last slot is Judith Light, whose nomination for Peacock’s “Poker Face” is her second in this category following her 2007 bid for “Ugly Betty.” With 20 minutes and 36 seconds (or 40.86%) of screen time in “Time of the Monkey,” she outpaces 70% of the other 2023 guest nominees, as well as all but one of the comedy supporting contenders and even four of the 10 lead ones.

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