2024 Emmy Predictions: Best Comedy Actor
With Critics Choice, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards under his belt, “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White predictably finished first in the 2023 Best Comedy Actor Emmy race, which involved two-time winners Bill Hader (“Barry”) and Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”). Since he is now the only former acting champion in the same category’s 2024 lineup and has once again achieved the same three precursor wins, he should have even less trouble clinching a second TV academy prize.
As White looks to become the 13th recipient of back-to-back Best Comedy Actor Emmys, he faces just one past challenger: Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”). Filling out the remaining slots are two former nominees who were overlooked when they were last eligible and two general first-timers who have broken through after playing their characters for multiple seasons each.
In order to determine the true likelihood of White retaining his crown, let’s take a closer look at each nominee. Be sure to make your predictions in this and 24 other Primetime Emmy categories by September 15.
Matt Berry as Laszlo Cravensworth (“What We Do in the Shadows”)
Episode: “Pride Parade”
After Ted Bessell (“That Girl,” 1971) and Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek,” 2019), Berry is only the third actor to ever land his first bid in this category for a fifth season performance. In “Pride Parade,” his character – a centuries-old vampire living in modern day New York – helps his public office-seeking neighbor host an event designed to boost his popularity among LGBTQ+ voters.
Larry David as himself (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
Episode: “Vertical Drop, Horizontal Tug”
David’s seventh acting notice for this series (and first since 2018) makes him one of this lineup’s record three septuagenarian members. In his chosen installment of his show’s 12th and final season, he plays a version of himself who, while awaiting his Georgia election interference trial, embroils himself in several awkward situations back home in Los Angeles.
Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage (“Only Murders in the Building”)
Episode: “Sitzprobe”
The 79-year-old subject of the presently nominated special “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces” has broken his own record for oldest contender in the history of this category. Having effectively bounced back after being left out of the 2023 lineup, he has submitted a third season episode in which he performs a show-stopping rendition of Best Music and Lyrics nominee “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?”.
Martin Short as Oliver Putnam (“Only Murders in the Building”)
Episode: “Ah, Love!”
On his third consecutive nomination for this series, Short has asked voters to consider his work in an episode largely focused on his theatre director character’s budding relationship with mysterious actress Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep). Although he has yet to bag an acting Emmy despite being recognized across five categories, he does have single writing and producing wins to his name for “SCTV” and Mel Brooks’s AFI Life Achievement special.
Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto (“The Bear”)
Episode: “The Bear”
As was the case last year, White is nominated for his performance in his show’s latest season finale. As skilled chef Carmy and his team power through the hectic soft opening of their revamped restaurant, he causes even more chaos by accidentally locking himself in the walk-in refrigerator and subsequently ranting to anyone within earshot about his perceived failures.
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill (“Reservation Dogs”)
Episode: “Maximus”
Woon-A-Tai’s first Emmy nomination comes for this third and final season episode in which his character – an Oklahoma teenager stranded in California – bonds with an elderly recluse before resolving to make his way back home. At just 22, he follows Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years”) and Frankie Muniz (“Malcolm in the Middle”) as this category’s third youngest nominee ever and could usurp Michael J. Fox (25, “Family Ties,” 1986) as its youngest winner.
So, who will win the 2024 Emmy for Best Comedy Actor? Simply put, this is the most straightforward acting Emmy race of the year, as reflected by the fact that 91% of the Gold Derby users predicting it have thrown their support behind White. Indeed, it would only make sense for him to extend his perfect record rather than lose to any candidate who has already been passed over here at least twice.
Given that “The Bear” experienced the complete opposite of a sophomore slump by setting a new comedy series record for most same-year Emmy nominations, there is a solid chance of it improving upon its unprecedented first season win total of 10. Even if it fails to merit another double digit haul, however, White at least has this category in the bag.
PREDICT the 2024 Emmy winners through September 15
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