“Saturday Night Live” original cast member Laraine Newman took aim at “The Bear” on Emmy night, where the FX series set a new record for the most comedy awards in a single year with 11 for its second season. The previous record was held by the first season of “The Bear,” which won 10. Newman, who worked on “Saturday Night Live” for five years and is also the mother of “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, criticized the show for rigging the ratings.
“Every time I think about The Bear being nominated for comedy at the Emmys, I feel an ulcer developing,” Newman wrote on X (formerly Twitter) shortly before the awards show began.
She posted later in the night: “I think The Bear is a great show but [in my honest opinion] “It's not a comedy — not even a black comedy.”
Hannah Einbinder lost the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series to Lisa Colon-Zayas of The Bear. This was Einbinder’s third nomination for Hacks, which ended up beating The Bear for Outstanding Comedy Series in what many experts considered the biggest upset of the Emmys. Hacks star Jean Smart also won the award for Outstanding Lead Actress, beating Ayo Edebiri of The Bear, while The Bear stars Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach won Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actor, respectively.
The debate over whether “The Bear” is a comedy or a drama intensified after the show's second season dominated Emmy nominations. The season was widely praised for its dramatic episodes, including an intense family flashback (“Fish”) that won Jamie Lee Curtis an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of a mother with bipolar disorder. Nothing in the intense performance was for comedy.
Even hosts Amy Dunn and Eugene Levy poked fun at the “Bear” controversy during their monologue, saying, “‘Bear’ is nominated for 23 Emmys tonight, making it the most nominated comedy in history. Now, I love the show, and I know some of you are expecting us to joke about whether ‘Bear’ is really a comedy — but in the true spirit of ‘Bear,’ we won’t joke.”
