Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
January 17, 1996
LOS ANGELES – NBC and 20th Century Fox led the field in the annual Am erican Comedy Awards nominations as Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Janeane Garofalo all picked up multiple m entions. NBC received 14 nom inations, due in large part to “Friends” and “Seinfeld,” which had four m entions each. Fox movies – notably “French Kiss” and “Nine Months picked up five mentions. Meanwhile, MGM’s “Get Shorty” is the most-nominated movie, with mentions going to John Travolta, Bette Midler, Dennis Farina and Gene Hackman. The nom inations are derived from a survey of approxim ately 1,500 working comedians and performers, who will also vote to determ ine the w inners, producer George Schlatter explained.
“The show is a celebration of comedy,” Schlatter said. “It’s the one night that solidifies the comedy community and gives comedians the recognition they deserve.” NBC dom inated the m ale TV perform er categories with nine nominations – including a clean sweep in the supporting male performer category – but didn’t do as well in the fem ale categ o ries, where the bulk of its five nominations came from ensemble shows “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” HBO collected half its eight nominations in the category of female TV performer in a television special, with m entions going to Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, Rosie O’Donnell and Tracey unman. CBS is third in thfe total nominations by network with six nominations, including Candice Bergen and Fran Drescher in the leading female in a TV series category and David Letterman in the c o rre  sponding m ale category.
Ellen DeGeneres and Roseanne picked up one nomination each for their work on ABC. Fox Broadcasting Co. received a nomination for Alexander’s hosting of the “47th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.”
On the movie front, Disney, Sony and W arner Bros, each collected three nominations, although Sony also received a joint mention with Castle Rock for “The American President.” Param ount Pictures, Miramax and Orion Classics each garnered one nomination. The awards show also includes categories for best male and female stand-up comic, to be determined by an audience phone-in poll on Comedy Central, and lifetime achievement awards in comedy. The aw ards will be p resen ted Feb. l l at Los A ngeles’ Shrine Auditorium. The show will be televised on ABC at a date to be announced.
