2024 Emmy Experts predict Best Comedy Guest Actor: Jon Bernthal (‘The Bear’) way out front

Having trouble predicting who will win Best Comedy Guest Actor at the upcoming Emmy Awards? Let’s consult Gold Derby’s 2024 Emmy Experts! These savvy pundits from major media outlets have chimed in with their predictions, and the majority of them believe the trophy will go to Jon Bernthal (“The Bear”). The other potential nominees, per the Experts’ current racetrack odds, are Ryan Gosling (“Saturday Night Live”), Bob Odenkirk (“The Bear”), Christopher McDonald (“Hacks”) and John Mulaney (“The Bear”).

As of this writing, nine out of our 13 Emmy Experts predict a victory for Bernthal: Ben Travers (Indiewire), Christopher Rosen (Gold Derby), Clayton Davis (Variety), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Peter Travers (ABC), Ray Richmond (Gold Derby), Shawn Edwards (WDAF-TV Fox) and Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby). He plays Michael “Mikey” Berzatto on “The Bear” Season 2, the late brother of Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White). Bernthal received his first career Emmy nomination last year for this same role, so he’s now hoping to take home the trophy.

The remainig four Emmyologists — Dave Nemetz (TV Line), Eric Deggans (NPR), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine) and Susan King (Gold Derby) — instead believe Gosling will prevail for “Saturday Night Live.” Many of his sketches went viral for his “SNL” hosting gig in April, including “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Close Encounter Cold Open,” “Doctor” and “Erin Brockovich.” While this would be Gosling’s first Emmy bid, he has three Oscar notices to his name for “Half Nelson” (2006), “La La Land” (2016) and “Barbie” (2023).

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Our pundits collectively have Odenkirk in third place for “The Bear” Season 2. He takes on the role of “Uncle” Lee Lane, the smarmy boyfriend of Donna “Dee Dee” Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis), who antagonizes Mikey at Christmastime. Odenkirk has already amassed 20 Emmy noms throughout his career for his work on “Better Call Saul,” “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” “The Ben Stiller Show” and “Saturday Night Live,” winning for writing the latter two.

Also looking strong in our Experts’ rankings is McDonald for “Hacks” Season 3. He plays the recurring character of Marty Ghilain, the CEO of the Palmetto Casino in Las Vegas, who has a crush on Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). Last year McDonald earned his first-ever Emmy nomination for this same role, so can he now make it two-for-two?

Some of the most recent Emmy winners in the Best Comedy Guest Actor category include Sam Richardson (“Ted Lasso”) in 2023, Nathan Lane (“Only Murders in the Building”) in 2022, Dave Chappelle (“Saturday Night Live”) in 2021, Eddie Murphy (“Saturday Night Live”) in 2020 and Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) in 2019. Find out who will be in the running to join this esteemed list when the Primetime Emmy nominations are announced on July 17, 2024.

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