2024 Emmy Predictions: Best Comedy Guest Actress
Until the 2024 Emmy nominations were announced, the last time an Oscar-winning actress had earned TV academy recognition for a guest appearance on a comedy series was 2019, when Emma Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”) battled eventual victor Jane Lynch (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”). Among those in the running for the next Best Comedy Guest Actress trophy are Academy Award recipients Olivia Colman (“The Bear”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“The Bear”), and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“Only Murders in the Building”), all of whom further stand out from their remaining three competitors in that they are new to the category.
Said three Oscar winners are faced with the daunting challenge of defeating Emmy darling Maya Rudolph, who is seeking her third guest victory for “Saturday Night Live” following triumphs in 2020 and 2021. Also in the mix are veteran nominees Kaitlin Olson (“Hacks”) and Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live”), the latter of whom lost to Rudolph three years ago.
In order to make sense of this complex contest, let’s take a closer look at each nominee. Be sure to make your predictions in this and 30 other Creative Arts Emmy categories by September 7.
Olivia Colman as Terry (“The Bear”)
Episode: “Forks”
While this is Colman’s first primetime nomination for a guest performance, she enters this race as a 2022 Children’s and Family Emmy winner for her non-regular work on “Heartstopper.” The lead Oscar (“The Favourite”) and Emmy (“The Crown”) champion appears in the closing scene of “Forks” as Terry, a detail-oriented restaurant owner who imparts some much-needed wisdom on supporting character Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as he nears the end of his stint as her temporary trainee.
Jamie Lee Curtis as Donna Berzatto (“The Bear”)
Episode: “Fishes”
Curtis’s first episode of “The Bear” aired last June, less than four months after she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The former lead Emmy nominee for 1998’s “Nicolas’ Gift” shows up in the FX comedy’s first and only hour-long installment as the alcoholic mother of lead character Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who finds himself forced to muddle through one of her elaborate family Christmas dinners.
Kaitlin Olson as D.J. Vance (“Hacks”)
Episode: “The Roast of Deborah Vance”
Olson, who memorably served as a 75th Emmys presenter alongside her “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” cast mates, first caught the TV academy’s attention in 2020 as the star of Quibi’s “Flipped.” Her second “Hacks” notice comes for her first of three third season appearances as main character Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) recovering addict daughter, who, shortly after revealing her first pregnancy, agrees to perform at a roast in her mother’s honor.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Donna Williams (“Only Murders in the Building”)
Episode: “Sitzprobe”
“The Holdovers” Oscar winner Randolph has earned her first Emmy nomination three seasons into her occasional portrayal of NYC Detective Williams. In her eighth episode overall and only one this season, her character conducts interviews with the entire cast and crew of the new musical “Death Rattle” after discerning that one of them killed its star on opening night.
Maya Rudolph as herself and various sketch characters (“Saturday Night Live”)
Episode: “Host: Maya Rudolph”
Rudolph has now been nominated for 14 performance Emmys including two others this year for “Loot” (comedy lead) and “Big Mouth” (character voice-over). The former “SNL” cast member’s third hosting gig involves her performing a musical Mother’s Day-themed monologue (which she is nominated for co-writing) before taking on such roles as “Hot Ones” interviewee Beyoncé, a British cavewoman, and a Lauren Bacall-esque coffee spokesperson.
Kristen Wiig as herself and various sketch characters (“Saturday Night Live”)
Episode: “Host: Kristen Wiig”
Wiig, whose regular “SNL” tenure overlapped with Rudolph’s from 2005-2007, now belongs to the show’s group of frequent hosts known as the Five-Timers Club. The concurrent comedy lead and producing nominee for “Palm Royale” was supported by nine uncredited celebrity guests as she portrayed over half a dozen characters, including a wildly incompetent law secretary, a disco-era French dancer, and classic Weekend Update commentator Aunt Linda.
So, who will win the 2024 Emmy for Best Comedy Guest Actress? It’s no secret that “The Bear” fans have been clamoring for Curtis’s victory ever since “Fishes” premiered well over a year ago, and that is reflected in her Gold Derby odds, which are better than those of this year’s other guest frontrunners. Her fellow Oscar winners don’t pose much of a threat to her, especially since Randolph will likely incur the fate of 10 previous Best Supporting Actress champs who lost on their same-year Emmy bids.
There usually being at least one annual case of someone succeeding on one of their multiple acting Emmy nominations benefits Rudolph and Wiig, but the former may be hindered by the fact that no one has ever won this particular award more than twice for one show. Factoring in the very real possibility of “The Bear” sweeping all six of this year’s comedy acting categories, Curtis is the safest bet by far.
PREDICT the Creative Arts Emmy winners through September 7
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