Emmy Predictions 2018 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series?

From June 11 to June 25, 2018, voting is taking place for The 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. To add to the excitement of the past year in television, I'm providing analysis on which shows and performers are likely to get nominated this year. Next up is Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

2017 Nominees:

        Riz Ahmed for HBO's Girls
        Dave Chappelle for NBC's Saturday Night Live (WINNER)
        Tom Hanks for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Hugh Laurie for HBO's Veep
        Lin-Manuel Miranda for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Matthew Rhys for HBO's Girls

As has become common over the last decade, the hosts of Saturday Night Live have dominated the guest acting categories for comedies. As such, one has to expect multiple nominees to once again come from that show. But there's also a fascinating new competition this year with the returns of Will & Grace and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Both of those shows have landed multiple nominees in this category before. In fact, Will & Grace has already won three times in this field - with two of those winners being eligible again this year. Meanwhile, Curb Your Enthusiasm has yet to pull off a win. And yet, it also has a couple of huge names on the ballot this year that could easily sail through to a nomination because of their history with Emmy voters. All of this means that those three shows may have a stronghold on the race for Guest Actor this year. It would be most surprising if one of the nominees came from elsewhere - though it would be very welcoming as well.

So now, here's my thoughts on the actors most likely to be nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series:

1. Bill Hader for NBC's Saturday Night Live
2. Donald Glover for NBC's Saturday Night Live
3. Bryan Cranston for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
4. Lin-Manuel Miranda for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
5. Bobby Cannavale for NBC's Will & Grace
6. Bob Newhart for CBS' The Big Bang Theory

And now, for some serious threats that could break into the list:

1. Robert De Niro, Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart and John Mulaney for NBC's Saturday Night Live
2. Alec Baldwin, Leslie Jordan, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Klein and Nick Offerman for NBC's Will & Grace
3. Katt Williams for FX's Atlanta
4. Jon Hamm, Greg Kinnear and Bobby Moynihan for Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
5. Sterling K. Brown and Bradley Whitford for FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine
6. Wallace Shawn for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
7. Mark Hamill, Peter MacNicol and Jerry O'Connell for CBS' The Big Bang Theory
8. Jason Mantzoukas and Dax Shepard for NBC's The Good Place
9. Daveed Diggs, Beau Bridges and Cedric the Entertainer for ABC's Black-ish
10. Nathan Lane, Fred Savage, Fred Willard and Chris Geere for ABC's Modern Family
11. F. Murray Abraham and Steven Weber for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
12. Robert Michael Morris, Diedrich Bader, Henry Thomas and Rade Šerbedžija for FX's Better Things
13. Chris Diamantopoulos for HBO's Silicon Valley
14. Johnny Galecki and Christopher Lloyd for ABC's Roseanne
15. Jason Alexander, Wallace Shawn and Richard Kind for CBS' Young Sheldon
16. Rance Howard for Netflix's Arrested Development
17. David Hyde Pierce and Paul Scheer for Netflix's Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later
18. Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum, John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, John Corbett, Terry Crews and Kumail Nanjiani for IFC's Portlandia

Some considerable long-shots:

1. Chadwick Boseman and Chance the Rapper for NBC's Saturday Night Live
2. Barry Bostwick, Ben Platt, Andrew Rannells, Max Greenfield, Dan Bucatinsky, Cheyenne Jackson and Michael Angarano for NBC's Will & Grace
3. Ed Asner for YouTube Premium's Cobra Kai
4. Jason Sudeikis for FOX's The Last Man on Earth
5. Anthony Anderson for Freeform's Grown-ish
6. Derek Klena and Mike Carlsen for Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
7. Marc Evan Jackson, Tim Meadows, Craig Robinson and Danny Trejo for FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine
8. RuPaul Charles for Comedy Central's Broad City
9. Philip Baker Hall and James Van Der Beek for HBO's Room 104
10. Ed Quinn for Netflix's One Day at a Time
11. Peter Gallagher for Netflix's Grace and Frankie
12. David Alan Grier, Aasif Mandvi and Roger Bart for Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events
13. Dermot Mulroney and Alan Rosenberg for Showtime's Shameless
14. Fred Armisen, Ed Begley Jr. and Andy Samberg for Netflix's Lady Dynamite
15. Chris Bauer, Isaiah Washington, Neal McDonough and Ernie Hudson for Starz's Survivor's Remorse

And now, just some colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:

1. Bob Odenkirk for CBS All Access' No Activity
2. Raymond J. Barry for FXX's You're the Worst
3. Haley Joel Osment for Hulu's Future Man
4. Seth Rogen for Netflix's Friends From College
5. Fisher Stevens for HBO's Vice Principals
6. Steven Weber for CBS' Mom
7. Josh Groban for The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
8. Adam Pally for Hulu's The Mindy Project
9. Martin Mull for TruTV's I'm Sorry
10. Lee Majors for Starz's Ash vs. Evil Dead

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Let me know in the comments below!