Gold Derby
Best Comedy Guest Actress: Make your picks in our 2020 Emmy predictions center
By Riley Chow
May 29, 2020
Bette Midler in The Politician – Vote Best Comedy Guest Actress
You can now predict the 2020 Emmy Award nominations for the guest categories in the Gold Derby predictions center. Best Comedy Guest Actress reigning champion Jane Lynch is back to defend her crown, but with a couple of caveats. Her winning role in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was upgraded to the main cast this season, so she contends now in Best Comedy Supporting Actress for that performance, but she can still win in this category through her recurring part on the new “Space Force.” That sitcom is also campaigning co-star Kaitlin Olson, who is also being campaigned for her spot on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and is thus aiming to be the first to be nominated against him or herself in a guest category.
She is one of many actresses this year in contention for multiple comedy guest spots, opposite the likes of Laverne Cox (“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Dear White People”), Marla Gibbs (“The Last O.G.” and “One Day at a Time”), Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place” and “SNL”) Molly Shannon (“Better Things” and “Will and Grace”), Wanda Sykes (“black-ish” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Run” and “SNL”). Vanessa Kirby could get three nominations if she is submitted for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Shrill” and “Will and Grace.”
NBC has not confirmed “Saturday Night Live” submissions, but that sketch show is a staple of this race. Hosts this season included Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Kristen Stewart, with Kristen Wiig hosting “At Home” for a special edition that served as the season finale. Also contending for a variety performance is Angela Bassett on the first season of “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” Other debut runs in contention include “#blackAF” (Lena Waithe), “Dollface” (Margot Robbie), “Love Life” (Hope Davis), “Modern Love” (Tina Fey), “The Politician” (Judith Light and Bette Midler) and “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (Bernadette Peters).
Oscar-winner Allison Janney contends for her cameo as herself in the second season finale of “The Kominsky Method.” Having won Best Drama Actress and Best Drama Supporting Actress for “The West Wing,” Best Drama Guest Actress for “Masters of Sex” and Best Comedy Supporting Actress for “Mom,” for which she has also been nominated in Best Comedy Actress, this category is her final frontier in the continuing series categories for actresses. Janney might have crossed Best Comedy Guest Actress off her bucket list for “Veep” in 2013 if she had submitted for consideration. She actually stands to run the gamut this year, contending for “Troop Zero” in Best Movie/Limited Actress, “Bad Education” in Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress, and “Expedition Amelia” in Best Narrator.
I’ve been following Gold Derby since you posted this, and it looks like Bette has a very good chance at getting an Emmy nomination for The Politician. Now that the series has been out for a few days, I see that Bette is polling anywhere between #2 and #6 in the Gold Derby rankings, with Judith Light similarly ranked (perhaps slightly ahead of Bette, but I would have to do the math–it’s very close).
Emmy recently announced that the drama and comedy categories would have a total of 8 spots per category, but I’m not sure if that includes the Guest Comedy Actress category. If it does, it pretty much looks like a shoo-in, with about one month left to go before announcements, for both Bette and Judith to receive nominations.
Having watched the seven episodes, and I’m trying my best to be neutral/open-minded on this (very difficult to do, as I so strongly favor Bette), I do think Bette gave significantly more of a “comedy” performance than Judith; however Bette may be a bit hampered by her performances being a bit too over the top in some scenes. She had some really great lines/scenes, but it seemed like everything was a “reaction” to what was being said and going on around her–I found the times when she wasn’t shouting to actually be the most convincing–but definitely, not as fun. Nonetheless, her electricity is the dynamic the season needed. Judith Light is also a terrific actress, but I just didn’t find anything she said or did to be that funny–but her screen presence was compelling and delightful. They played off each other almost like an Abbott and Costello–a genius pairing. [Side note: Jackie Hoffman as the receptionist seemed Emmy-worthy as well, if only her role was bigger]
The two (Bette and Judith) had great chemistry together, and I have sneaky feeling that if both are nominated for Emmys, they may (sadly) cancel each other out. However, it does look very promising that both will receive Emmy noms, from what I’m seeing so far. Also, I’m glad that Ryan Murphy opened the door for both of them to reprise their roles in Season 3–if it goes forward. The stakes keep getting bigger, as will their roles.
Yeah I agree with a lot of what you say, but I’m looking at reviews and they seem to be saying THANK GOD FOR BETTE AND JUDITH, but it seems they’re leaning more in the giving extra points to Bette. And I agree with you about the quiet vs loud scenes, but she seems to do big parts so far apart I think people just forget what a presence she is on screen that she’s like an old lost friend that all are so happy to see.