The Comedy Awards are a thing, and this year, they’re handing out their second annual awards in late April on Comedy Central. If you’re not familiar, the Comedy Awards are chosen by a Board of Directors that assembles solely for the purpose of nominating and awarding Comedy Awards. There are, however, quite a few people of extraordinary taste among the Board of Directors, so it’s not empty recognition by a bunch of old white men. That board includes: Adam McKay, Carol Burnett, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Jay Roach, Joan Rivers, Jon Stewart, Lily Tomlin, Ray Romano, Stephen Colbert, and Steve Levine. Some of these people actually know what they’re talking about, which is why the likes of Donald Glover, “Childrens Hospital,” “Louie,” and “Happy Endings” got nominated. Some (one) of them created “Modern Family,” which is why the nominations for “Modern Family” are over-represented (but poor Conan; on the board, but still can’t get his show nominated). Still, not a bad slate of nominations. Not bad at all:
COMEDY SERIES
“30 Rock”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Happy Endings”
“Modern Family”
“Parks and Recreation”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR—TV
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
Steve Carell, “The Office”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
COMEDY DIRECTING—TV
“30 Rock”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Louie”
“Modern Family”
“The Office”
ANIMATED COMEDY SERIES
“Archer”
“Family Guy”
“The Life & Times of Tim”
“The Simpsons”
“South Park”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS—TV
Zooey Deschanel, “New Girl”
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”
Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”
COMEDY WRITING—TV
“30 Rock”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Louie”
“Modern Family”
“Parks and Recreation”
“Saturday Night Live”
LATE NIGHT COMEDY SERIES
“The Colbert Report”
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
“Late Show with David Letterman”
“Real Time with Bill Maher”
BREAKOUT PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Zooey Deschanel
Josh Gad
Donald Glover
Melissa McCarthy
Jason Sudeikis
SKETCH / ALTERNATIVE COMEDY SERIES
“Childrens Hospital”
“Louie”
“Portlandia”
“Saturday Night Live”
“Tosh.0”
(Source: Comedy Awards)
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I’m amused by the idea of an “Alternative” sitcom, which I guess includes “Louie.” What does that even mean? Also: outside of the “breakout” category, where’s Community?
“Community” is going to be one of those shows like “The Wire” where it wins no awards, but will work its way into the mainstream and will get its due once its off the air. This is why we can’t have nice things, America!!
SKETCH / ALTERNATIVE COMEDY SERIES: “Saturday Night Live”
So I’m guessing they ran out of nominees in this category.
Whitney and Chelsea were robbed!!
That sounds like great news. How much did the robbers get?
modern family gets a boat load and Always Sunny, once again, gets jacked.
Charlie deserves an award for the scene where he sees the ocean for the first time, and i don’t see the level of commitment that it takes to bring us “Fat Mac” out of any of those other actors.
another bullshit awards list. give all the stupid awards to stupid modern stupid family.
Modern Family is almost unwatchable at this point for me. Not only are all teh characters cartoons, but the sappy bullshit they tack on now reminds me of Full House. And my god no one wants that.
Yeah, I was gonna say, even in the GOOD awards, Sunny gets jobbed. Ridiculous.
Is Zooey Deschanel technically an actress? I thought cameras just followed and filmed her being aloof.
And the winners of the 2011 Comedy Awards were… pretty much all the same shows and people that typically win Emmys and Golden Globes. [tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com]
I could nitpick here, but overall, the nominees are streets ahead of your usual comedy awards picks. At least there’s no Big Bang Theory.
Also, Josh Gad is pretty damn great in Book of Mormon, so I’m glad he got in there.
AWKWARDDDDDDDD
Pretty “Community”-Lite.
Isn’t Curb largely improvised or is that an urban legend?
Louie was the best actor but I’m not sure he was the best comedy actor… odd to say that.
Mellisa McCarthy–breakout performer… are they begging for a joke here?
I think it’s mostly improvised. There’s a script and a story, obviously, but the individual scenes with the performers are mostly on the fly. As for Melisa McCarthy, even if this wasn’t what you were referring to: her being a “Breakout Performer” is like a band getting a Best New Artist nomination nine years after they released their first album. McCarthy was the third- or fourth-billed character on an absolutely beloved show, Gilmore Girls, for like seven years. I don’t understand life.
Dustin, did you accidentally print the nominations from 2011? Cause this list would make a lot more sense if it were one or even two years old.
SKETCH / ALTERNATIVE COMEDY SERIES
“Saturday Night Live”
So,….. this category means you watch this when there is absolutely no alternative….?
I wonder if an hour long super-show titled “Community Town” could go anywhere, or get any recognition.
There are places to nitpick, but other than Letterman I see no CBS so it’s all good with me (although New Girl – as irresistibly quirky and cute as it is – feels veeeery CBSish to me).
Also, go Don Glover (or Dong Lover, as his twitter handle may be interpreted).
Am I the only person who still doesn’t get “Happy Endings?”
The entire show just feels like it’s trying way too damn hard to be intelligent, cute, and funny
Better than all the other shows that don’t seem to try at all.
Granted it’s better than the schlock on CBS, but that doesn’t say much.
You’re not the only one. It’s a tryhard-succeedlittle “comedy”. I’m still convinced ABC pays WG to schlob its knob a little every week.
WTF no recognition for Mr. Ron Swanson? “Awards are stupid, but they’re less stupid when they go to the right people.”
I agree with the lack of Always Sunny nods. Kaitlin Olsen deserves a
Best Actress nomination at the very least. For her to be basically the sole woman on that show and hold her own – and steal entire scenes – is impressive. Sweet Dee is the shizzle.
Big oversight in not nominating Michelle Williams. She was hilarious as Marilyn Monroe.
Always Sunny is coming up on it’s 8th season, and zero nods? That’s just silly. They’ve managed to stay fresh and hilarious
Jesus christ, you got my hopes up for this?? In some ways this shit pisses me off even more than normal award slights because these people should know what the hell they’re talking about. The nominees feel like a hj you get out of obligation, not because there’s any interest in the climax.
Sofia Vergara getting nominated for anything outside of having great tits or the most annoying voice on sitcom is outrageous.
I’m sorry, I stopped reading after Sofia Vergara and tits.
Good choice, BL. After all, the rest is an argument that Fran Drescher doesn’t have the most horrible voice ever put on this planet.
Bob’s Burgers should have gotten nominated over South Park, Simpson’s, and Family Guy. But they’re clearly afraid of HJB causing the universe to fold in upon itself.
Let’s pretend I didn’t just use an apostrophe to make a plural. Good god man.
Children’s Hospital….getting some love. Awesome