by Nathaniel R
Can Kline win two big showbiz prizes in one year? (Tony for Present Laughter / Emmy for Bob's Burgers)
Voice acting has only been a regular competitive category since 2009 at the Emmys so we don't quite have a ten year history to work from. Before then the prize was juried with a winner announced. The newish category split into two categories in 2014 to have a separate award for voiceover narration as opposed to voice acting (in short, the Emmys have way too many categories). Nevertheless despite this very very specific craft having two categories all to itself the voting body still make super weird choices. Consider that Archer, which has one of the all time best voice casts, and could well fill up the entire category each year, has only been nominated for this category once for H Jon Benjamin, who voices Archer himself.
This year's nominees for voice work include two newbies, two previous winners, and one Kevin Kline who could triple crown if he wins this since he already has an Oscar and three Tonys...
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
- Dee Bradley Baker as "Klaus" in American Dad "Fight or Flight" (S2e2)
- Kevin Kline as "Mr Fischoeder" in Bob's Burgers "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" (S737)
Second Emmy nomination. The first was for Lead Actor in a Miniseries for Great Performances: Cyrano de Bergerac (2009). Incredibly this is only the second nomination for this great animated series in voiceover. John Roberts was nominated for his genius work as Linda Belcher two seasons ago. If Kline wins this he Triple Crowns and will just be missing the G in the EGOT. - Kristen Schaal as "Sarah Lynn" in Bojack Horseman "That's Too Much Man" (S3e11)
First Emmy nod. Can you believe that? - Mo Collins (multiple characters) in F is For Family "Pray Away" (S2e9)
- Seth MacFarlane (multiple characters) in Family Guy "Boys in the Band" (S15e1)
Seventh noms and two wins in this particular category. - Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson in The Simpsons "Looking for Mr Goodbart" (s28e20)
The Simpsons as a show is a regular nominee for voice acting but incredibly this is only her second time at bat. She won an Emmy in 1992 (with the rest of the voice cast) when the category was a special juried prize.
Who will win? Who knows!
History of the Emmys suggests that Cartwright or MacFarlane will prevail since they love their repeat winners (sigh). But if they're going by career heat at the very moment this could well be a toss-up between Schaal (also hilarious on Last Man on Earth and in her other voice role on Bob's Burgers) and Kevin Kline, who took home his third Tony earlier this summer and is among the nation's most prestigious thespians. After all their competitors are either brand new competition or previous winners on very long-in-the-tooth shows. One thing that would make Kline's Triple Crown extra cool is that all of those wins are for comedic roles, even normally comedy-averse Oscar!
Kline's episode was an ingenious Christmas episode when we learned of an absurd contest in Mr Fischoeder's home which mashes up the quaintness of gingerbread houses with macho shoout-out violence. Schaal's episode features Sarah Lynn, her former child star turned bad girl, and Bojack on an epic bender.
Who would you vote for in this lineup ... or is it not even a contest with that comic Triple Crown possibility on the table?