Original “Saturday Night Live” cast member Laraine Newman railed against “The Bear” on Emmys night, where the FX series set a new record for most comedy wins in a single year with 11 trophies for its second season. The previous record holder was the first season of “The Bear” with 10 wins. Newman, who was on “SNL” for five years (and who is also the mother of “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder), called out the show for supposed category fraud.
“Every time I think about ‘The Bear’ being in the comedy category for the Emmys I can feel an ulcer developing,” Newman posted on X (formerly Twitter) shortly before the awards ceremony kicked off.
She posted later in the night: “I think ‘The Bear ‘is a great show but [in my honest opinion] it’s not a comedy – not even a dark comedy.”
Hannah Einbinder lost the Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series to “The Bear’s” Liza Colón-Zayas. It was Einbinder’s third nomination for “Hacks,” which ended up prevailing over “The Bear” to win outstanding comedy series in what many pundits believed to be the biggest upset of the Emmys. “Hacks” leading lady Jean Smart also took home the lead actress prize over “The Bear’s” Ayo Edebiri, while “The Bear” stars Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach won their own acting Emmys for lead actor and supporting actor, respectively.
The debate over whether “The Bear” is a comedy or a drama intensified after the show’s second season dominated the Emmy nominations. The season earned acclaim largely for its dramatic episodes, including an intense family flashback episode (“Fishes”) that won Jamie Lee Curtis an Emmy for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for playing a mother with bipolar disorder.
Emmy hosts Dan and Eugene Levy even made fun of the ongoing debate about “The Bear” during their monologue, saying: “‘The Bear’ is nominated for 23 Emmys tonight, making it the most-nominated comedy in history,. Now, I love the show, and I know some of you will be expecting us to make a joke about whether ‘The Bear’ is really a comedy — but in the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not be making any jokes.”