Emmys 2023: Guest Actor In A Comedy Series — Our Dream Nominees!

By TVLine Staff June 23, 2023 9:00 am EST

Graphic by Nina Boesch for TVLine

Saturday Night Live's stranglehold on Emmy's Guest categories has been loosening in recent years. To wit: In 2022, the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category included just one SNL hosting nod (for Jerrod Carmichael). By comparison, the 2021 contest featured four nominees from the NBC sketch-fest.

Will the SNL lite trend continue this year? And, more importantly, did any of SNL's Season 48 headliners make our Emmy short list?

Scroll through the list below to review all of our Dream Nominees (remember, these aren't predictions; they're wish lists) and then tell us if our picks warrant a "Hell, yes!," "Um, no" or "How could you leave off so-and-so?!"

For the record, 2023 Emmy nominations will be voted on from June 15-26, and unveiled on July 12. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is scheduled to air on Monday, Sept. 18 on Fox.

Scroll down for links to our previous Dream Emmy categories:

7. Adrien Brody, Poker Face

Courtesy of Peacock

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: The Oscar winner set the perfect film noir tone right away in the series premiere of Peacock's retro mystery with his smooth-talking, hard-boiled turn as casino boss Sterling Frost Jr. He had an air of quiet menace in his scenes with Natasha Lyonne's Charlie, but he also gave us a glimpse of Sterling's raw desperation to be taken seriously by his domineering father. Unfortunately, Brody's time on the show was brief, but he made what little time he had vividly memorable.

6. Charlie Cox, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Courtesy of Disney+

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: The Netflix iteration of Cox's Matt Murdock was daring. On Disney+'s She-Hulk, he also had a bit of the devil in him. Whether playfully poking at Tatiana Maslany's Jennifer Walters in court, or trading flirty banter in the course of double-teaming a bad guy, Cox clearly embraced this lighter take on the Man Without Fear, right down to his highly meme-able, semi-costumed walk of shame.

5. Travis Kelce, Saturday Night Live

Courtesy of NBC

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: Because the two-time Super Bowl champ was a natural in his March hosting debut. Athletes don't always make the best SNL hosts, but the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end demonstrated surprising versatility — whether he was tasked with playing an American Girl doll enthusiast, a self-defense trainer or Bowen Yang's straight male friend — that resulted in one of the strongest episodes of Season 48.

4. Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Courtesy of Prime Video

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: Kirby's Lenny Bruce was used sparingly in the Amazon comedy's fifth and final season, but the actor made the most of his limited screen time. Of particular note was his work in the finale, which briefly chronicled Lenny's fall from grace via a disastrous comedy set that, in Kirby's hands, felt all too heartbreakingly real. And during the failed intervention that followed backstage, Kirby subtly telegraphed his troubled alter ego's tragic fate.

3. Nick Nolte, Poker Face

Courtesy of Peacock

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: The veteran actor put his grizzled, grumpy persona to great use as reclusive special effects whiz Arthur. Living in a remote farmhouse surrounded by his creepy creations, Arthur seemed like an easy bet to be the killer of the week, but Nolte revealed a tender side to the old coot in a heart-to-heart conversation about love and loss with Natasha Lyonne's Charlie. Arthur turned out to be the unlikely hero — and Nolte's tough-as-leather gravitas turned out to be the only special effect this episode needed.

2. Maximilian Osinski, Ted Lasso

Courtesy of Apple TV+

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: Jamie Tartt might've hated having Zava on the team, but we certainly didn't. Osinski brought just the right amount of swagger to the role — enough to make us believe that Ted & Co. were in the presence of one of the GOATs, but not enough to make him insufferable. Osinski toed the line perfectly, finding humor in Zava's God complex and leaving an indelible mark on the Emmy-winning series' third and (who are we kidding?) final season.

1. Brad Pitt, Dave

Hulu screenshot

WHY HE DESERVES A NOD: Once we got over the shock of Brad freakin' Pitt appearing on FXX's underrated comedy — and for much more than a fleeting cameo — we were able to thoroughly appreciate the funny, surreal work he did as a heightened version of himself in the Season 3 finale. As Brad and Dave spent hours at the mercy of Dave's dangerous stalker, Pitt's weirdly tranquil approach to the hostage situation was a perfect counter to Dave Burd's wide-eyed, fidgety panic. Later, when Brad distracted the stalker by singing an Auto-Tuned song in Dave's studio, Pitt tapped into a different, manic kind of intensity, bringing the finale to its bizarre (yet believable!) climactic end.