An eventful Emmys evening
The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards was hosted by delightful and hilarious father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy and featured a number of Jewish winners.
The Emmys is always a sparkling night with stars dazzling on the red carpet before being acknowledged for all their hard work on television – shows, miniseries and made-for-tv movies. And 2024 was no exception.
The night was hosted by delightful and hilarious father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy – described by Lior Zaltzman from Kveller as “two cute bespectacled Jewish men”. They had the audience in stitches throughout the evening and were so heartwarming that some are already calling for the team to host every award show.
In their banter, the two focused more on their Canadian identity than their Jewish heritage — saying how hard it is for them, as polite Canadians, to cut people off – but they did give the crowd a bit of a lesson on how to pronounce their very classic Jewish last name.
“We are not stand-up comedians,” Eugene told the crowd in their opening remarks.
“No, in fact, I wouldn’t even call us hosts. We’re more like actors acting like hosts,” Dan continued, adding that “if it goes well for us tonight, my name is pronounced LEH-vee, not LEE-VEE,” touting the classic Hebrew pronunciation of the name. Eugene then joked that if it all went badly, his name is pronounced “Martin Short” — he plays a movie version of the comedian’s character in the latest season of Only Murders in the Building.
The rest of the opening monologue last night was brilliant, full of their dry wit and humour, what they call their “bicker-banter,” and a lot of it felt so familiar to many Jewish families, from Dan sharing text messages from his dad, full of delightful typos and embarrassing musings that a lot of us have probably endearingly gotten from our parents, to all the terrible health and medical trauma that has or could befall Eugene if people stressed him out and didn’t adhere to the allotted time for their acceptance speech.
“I don’t want to be alarmist but having to cut you off could kill this man,” Dan said, like your average stereotypically hypochondriac Jew.
Throughout the evening, there were a number of surprise upsets juxtaposed with expected wins. For example, The Bear took home 11 Emmys, but shockingly did not win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series — that went to Hacks. Breakout show of the season Baby Reindeer won four Emmys, as creator and star Richard Gadd reminded the world in an acceptance speech that TV should take risks. And The Daily Show, which has Jewish comedian Jon Stewart back at its helm, won yet another Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series.
The 2024 Creative Arts Emmys Awards took place the weekend before and also boasted a number of Jewish nominees and winners.
So, without further ado, here are the Jewish winners at the 2024 Primetime Emmys and the 2024 Creative Arts Emmys:
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Maya Rudolph, Big Mouth
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jon Bernthal, The Bear
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Jamie Lee Curtis, The Bear
Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Eric André, The Eric Andre Show
Writing for a Variety Special
Alex Edelman, Just for Us
Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics
Benj Pasek (and his non-Jewish composing partner Justin Paul), Only Murders in the Building
For his win, Alex Edelman beat out nominees including Mike Birbiglia, the standup comedian who produced Just For Us; Jacqueline Novak, another Jewish comedian; and the writing team behind The Oscars.
In his acceptance speech, a breathless Edelman paid tribute to his close friend and collaborator on the show, Adam Brace, who died shortly before Just For Us opened on Broadway. Last month, Edelman wrote in an essay in The New York Times that performing the show after Brace’s death “felt painful but appropriate, like reciting Kaddish, the Jewish daily mourning prayer.”
“Look, this is really, really beautiful, and I really miss Adam,” he said in his acceptance speech. “This is the end of a seven-year journey with the show, but I got to make something really funny with my friend.”
Throughout the evening there was an understated presence of the war in Gaza with a few stars, including breakout star from Netflix’s most recent season of Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan, wearing the red Artists4Ceasefire pin that has made the red carpet rounds.
The ceremony’s attendees were also met by a small group of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters who marched and chanted near the Peacock Theatre where the Emmys were held. One protester carried a sign reading “No justifying the murder of children.”
The protest was small, however, and did not ultimately disrupt the show or the guests’ arrivals.
This was contrasted against Israeli actor Ido Cohen, who stars in World War II drama We Were the Lucky Ones, who wore a yellow pin on his suit in honour of the hostages.
When interviewed by Variety on the red carpet, Cohen said that Hollywood could help “humanise everyone and not dehumanise people, and just show that nobody deserves to suffer, especially being held captive in underground tunnels … we can end it all, and I wish we can end it all,” he said. “It’s hard to be here at a happy occasion, and knowing your people are suffering but that’s the least I can do to, just bring a little bit of awareness.”
With Times of Israel, JTA, Kveller and Hey Alma!
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