Yidio Emmy Spotlight: Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
by Andy Neuenschwander
In the Yidio Emmys Spotlight, we take a look at the key races at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards. Today we look at the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy category, which includes pretty much the entire cast of "Modern Family."
Past Winners
Sitcoms have a long history of supporting male characters, the "sidekick" or "best friend" who's there to take all the prime punchlines and can generally get away with a broader character. For example: Michael Richards aka Kramer of "Seinfeld" with three wins, or David Hyde Pierce aka Niles from "Frasier" with four wins. Don Knotts holds a record five wins in this category for "The Andy Griffith Show."
More recently, we've seen two of this year's nominees win the award, and last year featured almost the same set of nominees (this year, alas, no Neil Patrick Harris). That could make this race a done deal, or even more tough to call, depending on how you look at it.
The Nominees
Jon Cryer - Alan Harper - "Two and a Half Men"
Chris Colfer - Kurt Hummel - "Glee"
Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Mitchell Pritchett - "Modern Family"
Ed O'Neill - Jay Pritchett - "Modern Family"
Eric Stonestreet - Cameron Tucker - "Modern Family"
Ty Burrell - Phil Dunphy - "Modern Family"
The Prospects
Two years ago, Jon Cryer won...but that was against a very different talent pool. "Two and a Half Men" has fallen out of the critics' favor as of late now that a new breed of sitcom has arison in "Modern Family." Don't bet on Cryer to win again.
Just last year, Eric Stonestreet won against an almost identical talent pool: Burrell, Cryer, Ferguson and Colfer, with Neil Patrick Harris thrown in. Stonestreet could therefore be considered the favorite, and anyone who has seen "Modern Family" won't argue the idea: Stonestreet is a genius, especially with physical comedy.
But this year there's a wild card, and his name is Ed O'Neill. O'Neill is a veteran of the sitcom, what with his time spent on "Married...with Children," and garners some respect for that. Interestingly, he and Burrell were nominated at last year's SAG awards, while Stonestreet and Ferguson were not. That's something to consider.
If you asked me who deserves it most, I would tell you Burrell, hands down. The nuances of Phil Dunphy are pretty amazing, and I can't remember the last time a TV character has made me laugh so much. Burrell has gone winless so far, but this past season he was absolutely on fire, and the episode he submitted ("Good Cop, Bad Dog") featured a new side of Phil that was uproariously funny.
Predictions
With four very funny actors from the same show nominated, it's an extremely tough call. You can probably safely count out Cryer and Colfer (if he didn't win for his season one performance, he's not likely to win this year), and Ferguson will be lost among the army of "Modern Family" nominees. That leaves the choice between Burrell, O'Neill and Stonestreet. I'll have my fingers crossed for Burrell, but my money would be on Stonestreet, but O'Neill as a possible upset.
A side note, and we've said this before, but it's an absolute outrage that Nick Offerman of "Parks & Recreation" wasn't given a nomination over Cryer, Colfer or Ferguson. Perhaps if the Emmy voters watched more than two shows, we wouldn't have four nominees from the same show, eh?