Emmy Predictions 2020 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series?

From July 2 to July 13, 2020, voting took place for The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. As such, it's fun to look at which actors and shows have the best chances of actually being nominated this year. So, these are my predictions for who will be nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

2019 Nominees:

        Matt Damon for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Robert De Niro for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Luke Kirby for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (WINNER)
        Peter MacNicol for HBO's Veep
        John Mulaney for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Adam Sandler for NBC's Saturday Night Live
        Rufus Sewell for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Saturday Night Live, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Curb Your Enthusiasm have proven themselves on numerous occasions to get multiple nominees in the guest categories. These are some of the fields were those shows excel the most. Both Saturday Night Live and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel have won for guest actor and actress in the same year before. As such, any prediction has to start with the best nominees from those specific shows. Eddie Murphy made his grand return to SNL this year. That makes him a no brainer. The other SNL nominees could cover any of the hosts or special guest appearances for the political satire. Luke Kirby should return to defend the crown and could welcome Jason Alexander and Zachary Levi with him. These three shows could dominate this entire race. If another comedy has a surge in the other comedy fields, that doesn't guarantee they will also break through here. If Schitt's Creek has overwhelming support amongst the voters, Dustin Milligan could get into the race. That may be more of a longshot though. It may be more reliable to assume the big names on the ballot will get checked off. That hasn't been as true in recent years as it has been in the past. And yet, that is still the basis for an exciting guest appearance. One that can stand out and grab attention. That's why Jon Hamm may be a nominee for Curb Your Enthusiasm. That's why Mark Hamill could earn a major nomination for What We Do in the Shadows. Many possibilities exist in this race. It's just unclear if it has the space to guarantee spreading the wealth around instead of consolidating it around a few shows that will already get plenty of nominations.

For the 2020 awards ceremony, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences decided to tie the number of nominations to the number of submissions in each category. For Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, 150 actors were eligible on the ballot. That will translate to six nominees in this category.

Actors most likely to be nominated:

1. Eddie Murphy for NBC's Saturday Night Live
2. Luke Kirby for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. John Mulaney for NBC's Saturday Night Live
4. Jon Hamm for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
5. Jason Alexander for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
6. Dustin Milligan for Pop's Schitt's Creek

Serious threats that could break through:

1. Zachary Levi for Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
2. Larry David, Brad Pitt, Will Ferrell, RuPaul, Adam Driver and Harry Styles for NBC's Saturday Night Live
3. Fred Willard, Benjamin Bratt and Josh Gad for ABC's Modern Family
4. Mark Hamill for FX's What We Do In the Shadows
5. Andy Garcia, Dev Patel, John Slattery and Brandon Kyle Goodman for Amazon's Modern Love
6. Fred Willard and Noah Emmerich for Netflix's Space Force
7. Clive Owen, Vince Vaughn, Fred Armisen and Nick Kroll for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
8. Timothy Olyphant and Mike O'Malley for NBC's The Good Place
9. Jake Johnson for AppleTV+'s Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet
10. Dylan McDermott and Bob Balaban for Netflix's The Politician
11. Victor Garber, Saul Rubinek and John Hemphill for Pop's Schitt's Creek
12. Pete Buttigieg and Fred Willard for ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Some considerable long-shots:

1. J.K. Simmons, Bradley Whitford, Marc Evan Jackson, Craig Robinson and Jason Mantzoukas for NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine
2. Matt Bomer, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Matt Letscher, Chris Parnell and Joel McHale for NBC's Will & Grace
3. Bob Odenkirk and Haley Joel Osment for Netflix's The Kominsky Method
4. Toby Huss for Netflix's GLOW
5. Steve Way and Omar Metwally for Hulu's Ramy
6. John Mulaney and Wiz Khalifa for AppleTV+'s Dickinson
7. Kevin Pollak, Randy Rainbow and Diedrich Bader for FX's Better Things
8. Conphidance, John Ortiz, Zachary Quinto, Haaz Sleiman and Adam Ali for AppleTV+'s Little America
9. Neil Brown Jr. for HBO's Insecure
10. Noel Fisher for ABC's The Conners
11. Scoot McNairy and Jin Ha for HBO Max's Love Life
12. Jaboukie Young-White, Roy Wood Jr., Lewis Black, Ronny Chieng and Michael Kosta for Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:

1. Paul Giamatti for AMC's Lodge 49
2. Ray Romano for Pop's One Day at a Time
3. Tyrel Jackson Williams for IFC's Brockmire
4. Garrett Morris for Netflix's Family Reunion
5. Harry Styles and Niall Horan for CBS' The Late Late Show with James Corden
6. Macaulay Culkin for Hulu's Dollface
7. Eric McCormack for Netflix's Atypical
8. John Legend and Marlon Wayans for IFC's Sherman's Showcase
9. Diallo Riddle for Comedy Central's South Side
10. David Paymer for FXX's Dave
11. Weird Al Yankovic for Showtime's Work in Progress

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