2024 Emmys co-host Eugene Levy lower proper to it in his opening monologue. “I do know a few of you may be anticipating us to make a joke about whether or not The Bear is known as a comedy,” Levy stated. “However within the true spirit of The Bear … we won’t be making any jokes.”
In as a lot as there’s been any narrative round this yr’s Emmys, it’s been this one: Why is The Bear—a present a few tormented Chicago chef working by the trauma of his brother’s suicide whereas making an attempt to run a high-stress restaurant, staffed with folks all coping with their very own hardships—competing within the comedy class? Everybody appears to agree: The Bear is nice tv and may win a number of Emmy awards. (Properly, virtually everybody.) Everybody additionally appears to agree: It’s bizarre that The Bear is classed as a comedy.
And on the 2024 Emmys, monologue joke or no, The Bear kind of swept the comedy class. Not solely that—it broke its personal Emmys report for many wins by a comedy in a single season.
The Emmy for Excellent Comedy Sequence did finally go to Hacks. However, in any other case tonight: Christopher Storer received Excellent Directing of a Comedy Sequence. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who performs acerbic Cousin Richie, took house Excellent Supporting Actor in a Comedy Sequence. Liza Colón-Zayas received for Excellent Supporting Actress in a Comedy Sequence—which is apt, since Tina saying “sure Jeff” as an alternative of “chef” is the funniest, and maybe solely, joke on the present. Jeremy Allen White, he of the perpetual hangdog look, took house Excellent Lead Actor in a Comedy Sequence, beating out each Steve Martin and Martin Brief in Solely Murders within the Constructing and Larry David for the ultimate season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is humorous in that it’s mainly one thing that may occur to TV Larry. (Ayo Edebiri was beat out within the Excellent Lead Actress in a Comedy Sequence class by Jean Sensible for Hacks, who proceeded to present a really Deborah Vance thank-you speech; whereas Greatest Author in a Comedy Sequence additionally went to Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky for Hacks.)
Within the non-televised portion of this yr’s awards, The Bear additionally took house awards for Jamie Lee Curtis as Excellent Visitor Actress in a Comedy Sequence; Jon Bernthal as Excellent Visitor Actor in a Comedy Sequence; Excellent Sound Enhancing; Excellent Image Enhancing For a Single-Digicam Comedy Sequence; Excellent Cinematography For a Single-Digicam Sequence (Half-Hour); Excellent Sound Mixing For a Comedy or Drama Sequence (Half-Hour) and Animation; and Excellent Casting for a Comedy Sequence.
The perceived comedy miscategorization may really feel further acute as a result of tonight’s present is the second time the Emmys have aired in a single yr—the 2023 ceremony was pushed till this January because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. So that is the second time in a calendar yr that The Bear has swept the comedy class, for seasons one and two. Once you evaluate the heavy tenor of the present to the latest earlier comedy winners—Ted Lasso, Fleabag, Veep, Trendy Household—it’s a marked change in tone.
So why is The Bear labeled as a comedy? It’s easy: FX determined to submit it as a comedy, and there’s nothing stopping that. Again in 2015, confronted with dramedy domination, the Emmys tried to separate up the classes by time. Something half-hour or underneath was robotically a comedy, whereas something longer needed to be thought-about a drama. This affected exhibits like Orange Is the New Black, which ended up being pressured to compete as a drama as an alternative of a comedy, however that imperfect rule was thrown within the rubbish in 2021.
The third season of The Bear, which aired this previous June, diverges even additional tonally from something you would name comedy—right here at GQ, we even referred to it as a “restaurant-life horror story.” With no guidelines or guardrails, may The Bear rethink their head-scratching categorization? Or will they proceed to attempt to persuade the world that they’re a comedy? [Mournfully] Please, no, chef.
