2014 Emmys: Louis CK, Ben Schwartz, Chris Meloni, and other CarterMatt – Guest Actor picks
As we said earlier this month when we chronicled the Guest Actor in a Drama field for our CarterMatt Emmy series, this is an extremely tough category to discuss. Almost all of it comes down to personal favorites, and while we suppose that there are some people more likely to get votes than others, it’s so difficult to choose from a field of hundreds for just six nominees.
We’ve done our best here in coming up with our favorite guest performances in a comedy series throughout the year, with the biggest criteria we have being that these are the six actors and characters we enjoyed enough to want to see every week, even if it doesn’t make sense to the show or their character.
Louis CK, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) – There were probably better overall episodes of “SNL” this past season, but CK was one of the best hosts. His opening monologue was incredibly dark (but also hilarious), and he surprised often throughout the night with the variety of characters he took on. His performance is especially funny in the context of that season 1 episode of “Louie” where he bemoans his acting ability while taking on the role of a cop.
Gary Cole, “Veep” (HBO) – How is Gary not a regular for this show yet? We don’t blame him for where he is classified, but we love him on this show. Gary is like the world’s greatest guest star, given that he can jump between one show and another like nobody’s business and shift genres on a dime.
Chris Meloni, “Veep” (HBO) – The biggest compliment that we can give Meloni as trainer Ray is that we went through the entirety of his first appearance on the show without having a clue that it was him underneath that ski cap. This was just a hilarious role, and a great departure from his past work. Ever since “Law & Order: SVU,” he has done a tremendous job of mixing it up and taking on a variety of challenges.
Mike O’Malley, “Glee” (Fox) – “Glee” may not be anywhere near the show it was during the first season, but O’Malley remains the unsung hero for his funny, warm, and inspiring take on Burt Hummel. He’s basically the father figure for not just most of the characters on the show at this point, but also the fan base. We imagine that this is the dad so many out there wish they could have.
Andrew Rannells, “Girls” (HBO) – Rannells will be a regular on “Girls” season 4, but for this past season he was just in a handful of episodes as Elijah, all of them weird and wacky and fun. We feel like Rannells is the sort of actor who could have easily gone and taken another big job on a sitcom somewhere after “The New Normal,” but he was careful and patient about it. This pays off, and it earned him a spot on this list.
Ben Schwartz, “Parks and Recreation” (NBC) – Ben is just great as Jean-Ralphio. We look forward to every single one of these appearances, mostly because we know that it’s going to be insane, that he is going to get some of the best lines on the show, and he is going to freak us out in some way by the time that it is over. It’s almost a cartoon character on a live-action show that could have very easily gotten old over time if played by anyone else.
This is where you chime in. Vote in our poll below, and if you have a nominee or a potential winner that is not included in it, let us know in the comments. You can see the rest of our Emmy series here, and be sure to sign up today for more TV updates now via our CarterMatt Newsletter.
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