Emmys: The Supporting Actresses: Comedy Series

A couple of really funny ladies (unless they’re in jail).

You heard my spiel in the video I posted, and it’s true: once the nominees are set and they (and their “people” and/or the network) pick the one episode for Emmy voters to judge their past year’s performance on, I watch all of them. Yes, ALL. (Nerd alert!)

I figure, if you’re going to be an armchair awards prognosticator, you need to do your homework. Thank goodness for summer travel and all its trains, planes and subways, because that, my friends, is a lot of TV.

So, after watching over four hours of great performances, here are some musings from the Pop gallery:

  • Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”: Blossom—er, Bialik—is back in the race this year for “The Indecision Amalgamation,” where she out-funny’s just about everyone else on the screen as Amy deals with Sheldon’s obsession with a new gaming console. The highlight of her reel is one great scene at the end where Sheldon can’t stop talking about his new toy during their date night dinner. Her exaggerated yet controlled delivery of Amy’s feigned excitement is hysterical, getting the biggest guffaw when she blurts out, “Please pass the butter!”.
  • Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”: With two Emmys on her shelf for her portrayal of wacky every-mom Claire, Bowen brings it once again in “The Feud,” giving the most “haha”-type funny performance of the group. Though she lacks in overall screen time and doesn’t have much to work with in the way of range, the hilarious scene in the office when she realizes she has lice is one of those classic moments that will for sure sway a contingent of the Academy’s voters.
  • Anna Chlumsky, “VEEP”: My girl (sorry, had to) Chlumsky is another repeat nominee, this time around submitting “Detriot,” where her Amy is tasked with juggling crises between both Selina and the Finnish Prime Minister, and Catherine and a punched-out protester. She’s good and reliably funny in these lengthy early scenes, injecting a very amusing dry humor that makes her a standout. She gets lost, however, in the second half of the episode where the great ensemble really takes center stage, which could work against her.
  • Allison Janney, “Mom”: An Emmy winner already this year for her beautiful work on “Masters of Sex,” Janney is really making a run for going two-for-two with “Estrogen and a Hearty Breakfast,” where her Bonnie battles a menopause-enduced mid-life crisis. There isn’t a moment she’s on the screen where she doesn’t convey something memorable, be it laugh-out-loud funny—such as when she bellows in mourning, “My vagina is dead!”—or quietly touching.
  • Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”: By far one of the best parts of an otherwise so-so season of “Saturday Night Live,” McKinnon shines brightest when she impersonates Chancellor of Germany Andrea Merkel on Weekend Update in the Anna Kendrick-hosted outing. Her bit in the “Dong” music video is cute too, though a bit one-note, and she suffers from the usual variety series actor issue of being up against five other ladies who play single characters with reel-long story arcs.
  • Kate Mulgrew, “Orange Is The New Black”: “Tit Punch,” Mulgrew’s submission, is a tour du force for the actress as Red and her backstory take center stage. She’s powerful in every sequence, from pushing and mocking Piper post-tampon sandwich incident, to her “there are the people who serve the bread, and the people who eat the bread” flashback breakdown. As intensely spectacular as she is, though, “funny” isn’t a word I’d use to describe her performance, and this is a comedy category.

The Breakdown: Bowen is a credible threat, but this appears to be a two-pony race between Janney and Mulgrew. It’s really going to come down to whether voters are more likely to follow the funny when judging them against each other.

Do you think laugh count really matters, or is the Academy likely to honor more dramatic turns with a different kind of impact? Next up: The Lead Actors: Drama Series

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