Emmy voters love a multi-hyphenate. From Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Ricky Gervais to Larry David and Dan and Eugene Levy; when a performer turns their hand to off-screen work and helps tell vital stories as a director, writer, producer, creator, or any combination of the above, voters pay attention.
Waller-Bridge won three Emmys for “Fleabag” in 2019 — for Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Actress, and Best Comedy Writing. Meanwhile, Dan Levy won four Emmys in 2020 for “Schitt’s Creek,” taking home awards for Best Comedy Supporting Actor, Best Comedy Writing, Best Comedy Directing (shared with Andrew Cividino), and Best Comedy Series. He shared the latter win with his father, Eugene, who also won Best Comedy Actor. It’s a trusted tale that, time and time again, Emmy voters love. But which creatives could reap the rewards of that love this year?
Below, we’ve put together a select list of five multi-hyphenates who have great chances of earning nominations for their work. All five of these performers ticked off at least three boxes, so we didn’t count performers like Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who starred in and produced “Beef.” We’re only looking at certain players who had hand their hand in at least three creative pies. Here’s the rundown.
Quinta Brunson — “Abbott Elementary” — Actress, creator, writer, producer
First up is Quinta Brunson, who checks off four boxes for “Abbott Elementary,” which follows a group of teachers who work at one of the worst public schools in the USA and are documented by a camera crew in a mockumentary format, a la “The Office.” Brunson stars in the lead role of Janine Teagues while she also created the show, produces it, and is a writer, too. We think that Brunson will not only be nominated for Best Comedy Actress but that she’ll win. We’re predicting that she’ll be nominated alongside Elle Fanning (“The Great”), Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”), Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”), and Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”).
Brunson already has a great Emmys track record. Last year, she was nominated for Best Comedy Writing, Best Comedy Actress, and Best Comedy Series for the first season of “Abbott Elementary.” She won for her writing. We expect season two will do just as well this year, particularly as it has been even better reviewed than the first season — it has a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, Brunson could also be nominated for Best Comedy Guest Actress for her stint on “Saturday Night Live.” We think she’ll be nominated there alongside Harriet Walter (“Ted Lasso”), Cherry Jones (“Poker Face”), Judith Light (“Poker Face”), Shirley MacLaine (“Only Murders in the Building”), and Taraji P. Henson (“Abbott Elementary”).
Jason Sudeikis — “Ted Lasso” — Actor, co-creator, writer, producer
Next up is Jason Sudeikis, who co-created Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” with Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. This series follows Sudeikis as the titular, hapless American soccer coach who struggles to become a success as the manager of ailing English Premier League team AFC Richmond. Sudeikis also produces the show as well as writes several episodes. Sudeikis has had a lot of success with this show at the Emmys. He won the Best Comedy Actor and Best Comedy Series double in both 2021 and 2022, while he’s also been nominated twice for his writing. We think that success will continue this year with the show’s third season and predict that Sudeikis will be nominated for Best Comedy Actor alongside Martin Short and Steve Martin (both “Only Murders in the Building”), Bill Hader (“Barry), and Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”). White is slightly ahead of Sudeikis in this race but Sudeikis could go three for three here.
Bill Hader — “Barry” — Actor, co-creator, writer, director, producer
As mentioned above, Hader is one of those names we predict will be nominated for Best Comedy Actor for his role as the titular Barry in the show’s fourth and final season. The show follows Hader as a hitman who moves from the Midwest to Los Angeles and becomes caught up with the theatre scene while trying to escape his violent past. Hader co-created the show with Alec Berg while he also writes and directs plenty of episodes. In fact, he directed every single episode in the fourth season. We think Hader will again be nominated for Best Comedy Actor alongside those aforementioned names — and why wouldn’t we? He’s received a heck of a lot of love for his work here. In 2018, he was nominated for Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Writing, and Best Comedy Directing while he won for Best Comedy Actor. He repeated that exact pattern in 2019 with another four nominations and Best Comedy Actor win while, in 2022, he was nominated for all four categories once more. Expect Emmy voters to give Hader a fond farewell with this fourth and final season.
Donald Glover — “Atlanta” — Actor, creator, director, writer, producer
Speaking of final seasons, Donald Glover is in the mix for the last time for “Atlanta.” Glover is actually even more of a multi-hyphenate than anyone on this list as he raps and sings, too (he’s a five-time Grammy winner!), but, for now, let’s focus on “Atlanta,” a show that he created. The series follows Glover as Earn Marks, a Princeton University dropout who struggles to make a living in Atlanta as the music manager for his rapper cousin, Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry). The show explores themes of class, race, society, and wealth via the unique prism of Glover’s idiosyncratic brand of humor. It’s brought some nice rewards from the Emmys so far, too. He won Best Comedy Directing and Best Comedy Actor in 2017, while he was also nominated for Best Comedy Writing and Best Comedy Series that year. He earned nominations in the same four categories again in 2018 while, in 2022, he garnered just one bid — for Best Comedy Actor.
That may suggest that support for this show has waned slightly but season four was a return to form after a dip in season three — it scored 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, the same score as the first two seasons after season three dropped slightly to 96%. However, we think that Glover may struggle to make it four for four and land another Best Comedy Actor bid this year. Currently, he’s outside of our predicted nominees in that category, while we also think that Jason Segel (“Shrinking”) is slightly ahead of him. The fact that this category is limited to only five slots doesn’t help his case, but Glover has been nominated here for every season of “Atlanta” so far. Don’t be surprised if that continues again.
Brett Goldstein — “Ted Lasso” — Actor, writer, producer
Lastly, we have another “Ted Lasso” player. Brett Goldstein started off work as a writer and producer on the Apple TV+ series but was soon cast as Roy Kent after nailing the audition. At the start of the show, Roy, based on the real-life former footballer Roy Keane, is a hot-headed veteran footballer who captains AFC Richmond. Roy later retires, though, and becomes a coach for AFC Richmond as he struggles with his new position and aging status in the world of football. Goldstein is one of the funniest aspects of “Ted Lasso” with his brutal one-liners and no-nonsense attitude often undercutting the candy-floss sweetness of Sudeikis’ titular Ted. It’s no surprise, then, that Goldstein has proven popular with Emmy voters. He has been Emmy-nominated twice in his career so far and won on both occasions — for Best Supporting Comedy Actor. We think he has a great chance of making it three of three and expect him to be nominated in this category again this year alongside co-star Nick Mohammed, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”), Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Harrison Ford (“Shrinking”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”), Henry Winkler (“Barry”), and Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”). It’ll be a fierce fight for the win between Goldstein and Williams but, first, he has to secure that third nomination. We think he’ll do that no problem.
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