Bryan Cranston takes early lead in Best Comedy Guest Actor odds over his fellow A-listers on ‘The Studio'
The Studio is overflowing with A-list guest stars, most of whom play versions of themselves, but it's someone who isn't doing that who's out in front for Emmy gold.
Bryan Cranston is in first place in Gold Derby's early Best Comedy Guest Actor odds. The six-time Emmy winner plays Continental CEO Griffin Mill and is one of The Studio's few guest stars to portray fictional characters. After appearing in the pilot, Griffin returns with a vengeance in the final two episodes of the first season, taking so many shrooms that he goes MIA and puts the studio's CinemaCon presentation in jeopardy.
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If he prevails, this would be Cranston's fifth Emmy for acting — he has four Best Drama Actor trophies for Breaking Bad and two for producing the two-time Best Drama Series champ — putting him one step closer to the all-time acting record of eight wins, held by Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
SEE The Studio's acting Emmy submissions revealed — including guest stars Martin Scorsese, Sarah Polley, and Bryan Cranston
Cranston will have to fend off the defending champ, The Bear's Jon Bernthal, who is in second place and is seeking his third straight nomination in the category. Though it won 11 Emmys for Season 2, The Bear has been on a downward swing of momentum since losing Best Comedy Series to Hacks, but Bernthal ought to be safe for a nom. He's aiming to be just the second person to win the category in back-to-back years after Jay Thomas (Murphy Brown) did it in 1990 and '91.
In third place is someone many had penciled in for the win after The Studio's pilot: Martin Scorsese. The icon plays himself in the episode, pitching a Jonestown film to Matt (Seth Rogen) only for it to be killed later. A three-time Emmy winner, Scorsese has (unsurprisingly) never been nominated for acting before, but could playing himself actually hurt him for the win? The same question applies to Ron Howard, who also plays himself on The Studio and is in fourth place. No one who has played themselves has won this category before. The most recent one to be nominated was Morgan Freeman in 2021 for The Kominsky Method.
Rounding out the top six are two former nominees in the category, Christopher McDonald, who returns in the Season 4 finale of Hacks, and Martin Short for Saturday Night Live. But there's another SNL host who might be under-predicted: Dave Chappelle, who's in ninth place behind past nominee Will Poulter (The Bear) and Giancarlo Esposito (Poker Face).
The controversial comedian, who won his third straight Best Comedy Album Grammy earlier this year, is a five-time Emmy winner, with two of those wins coming in this category for SNL, in 2017 and 2021. SNL has won the category a record seven times since it was allowed to compete there in 2009. The sketch series hasn't triumphed since Chappelle's second victory, and Chappelle was snubbed two years ago for his third SNL hosting stint. Was that just a blip or have voters moved on? If he cracks the lineup, don't be surprised if he prevails, especially if The Studio's high-profile guests vote-split and The Bear really is on the outs.
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