Never count out Deborah Vance. In a stunning upset, the Max original comedy Hacks beat out heavy favorite and reigning champion The Bear to win the outstanding-comedy trophy at the Emmys 2024.
“I have no thoughts in my brain,” said Hacks cocreator Paul W. Downs when accepting the award. The visibly shocked Downs went on to thank his cast and crew before shouting out the importance of having elder representation onscreen. “About 20% of our population is over 60…and they’re only 3% of our characters on television,” he said. “I’m a great young supporting actor, [but] I really want to be a good old lead.”
With The Bear coming off six Primetime Emmy wins for its first season, including outstanding comedy series; lead actor for Jeremy Allen White; supporting actor for Ebon Moss-Bachrach; and supporting actress for Ayo Edebiri, season two of the show seemed almost insurmountable heading into Sunday’s Emmys. However, soft reviews for The Bear’s third season—which came out less than two months before the Television Academy began final voting for The Bear’s second installment—coupled with raves for Hacks’ third season—which found Jean Smart’s aging comedian, Deborah Vance, recommitting to her dream of hosting a late-night television program—proved to be too much for The Bear to handle.
This was the first time Hacks and The Bear faced off at the Emmys, and the showdown initially seemed to be a blowout, with White and Moss-Bachrach repeating wins in the lead-actor and supporting-actor comedy categories. The Bear seemed even more unstoppable when Liza Colón-Zayas took home her first Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, beating out stiff competition from acting legends like Meryl Streep, Carol Burnett, and Hacks’ own Hannah Einbinder.
But when Smart won her third Emmy for lead actress, besting The Bear’s Edebiri—who made the move from supporting actress to lead actress between seasons one and two—it was clear that the race was still on. An outstanding-writing-for-a comedy-series win for Hacks star and cocreator Downs and his wife, cocreator Lucia Aniello, plus an outstanding-directing win for Bear creator Christopher Storer—honored for his work on the seminal Christmas episode “Fishes”—made clear that it was a coin toss as to who would prevail in the biggest comedy race of the night.
In the end, the dishes Carmy and Sydney served up were no match for the comedic stylings of Vance and Ava. While accepting the best-comedy trophy, Aniello highlighted the importance of comedy and teased that a fourth season of Hacks was imminent. “It can bridge divides. When you laugh with someone, you have something in common with them…. It speaks truth to power. It really does. So support your local comedian,” said Aniello. “We have to go, because we start shooting the next season in five days.”