Emmys: The Bear Breaks Its Own Record for Most Wins by a Comedy

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read
5

The Emmys continue to be a Bear market.

With series creator Christopher Storer’s win for directing (the episode “Fishes”), the FX-produced Hulu comedy on Sunday night broke the record for most wins by a comedy at the Primetime Emmy Awards, by grabbing gold 11 times (…and counting, with Outstanding Comedy Series yet to be announced).

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The previous holder of the record for most Emmy wins by a comedy in a single season was… The Bear, which in this January’s strikes-delayed 2023 ceremony collected 10 statuettes.

The odds for another sumptuous showing by The Bear were ever in the series’ favor, given that Season 2 had garnered 23 Emmy nominations, the most ever for a comedy series (surpassing the record of 22 that had been held by NBC’s 30 Rock since 2009).

Also, heading into the big show on Sunday night, The Bear already had picked up seven wins at last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremonies — including for guest actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Jon Bernthal. Meaning, anything close to a sweep on Sunday night would have at least tied, if not built on, the record set last time around.

Of course, whether The Bear should be competing as a comedy has been grist for the mill since at least Season 2. In the press room at the January Emmys, executive producer Josh Senior said, “I think the show is true to life, and sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s real.

“The show is roughly a half-hour long and that fits in the box of a comedy,” he added, “but we what we want to do is tell the truth and make people feel things. And if they’re laughing or crying … we can’t control what happens after that. We can just do the best job and tell the best story.”

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays “Cousin” Richie, in turn noted in January, “Between Succession and BEEF and our show, I feel like these ideas about comedy and drama are a little bit outdated. We got bunched in, we got into comedy because we’re half-hour,” but, “We’re all just trying to sort of reflect the mess of being human, which is deeply hilarious and and we’re all suffering.”

TVLine readers gave The Bear Season 2 (which released June 2023) a rare average grade of “A+,” while Season 3 (which dropped June 26) scored a “C+.”

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