Emmy Predictions 2020 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series?

From July 2 to July 13, 2020, voting is taking place for The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. As such, it's fun to look at which actors and shows have the best chances of actually being nominated this year. So, these are my predictions for who will be nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

2019 Nominees:

        Anthony Anderson for ABC's Black-ish
        Don Cheadle for Showtime's Black Monday
        Ted Danson for NBC's The Good Place
        Bill Hader for HBO's Barry (WINNER)
        Michael Douglas for Netflix's The Kominsky Method
        Eugene Levy for Pop's Schitt's Creek

HBO's Barry didn't produce any new episodes in the last year. So, the two-time reigning champion Bill Hader will not be nominated this year. The rest of the field could actually stay pretty stable. There aren't many buzzy shows that could surprise with a show of force in this category. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if the nominees were exactly the same but replace Hader with Larry David, who has already been nominated six times for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. That seems completely possible. If any shakeups were to occur, Anthony Anderson and Don Cheadle are probably the most vulnerable. ABC's Black-ish has started to fade while Showtime's Black Monday didn't make much of an impact beyond Cheadle for the voters a year ago. Their replacements could be Steve Carell who was once a longtime favorite for The Office or Ramy Youssef for the second season of his autobiographic series on Hulu. Youssef probably has more momentum largely because of the universal praise that surrounds his show. Meanwhile, Carell's Space Force was decidedly mixed. That was enough to prevent Jim Carrey from getting a nod last year. It may also stand in the way of Hugh Laurie, Paul Rudd and Ben Platt as other potential surprises. A race this stable may not be all that exciting. Something could happen. It's unlikely though especially since Eugene Levy already broke through a year ago. He and Ted Danson will probably be fighting it out for the actual trophy.

For the 2020 awards ceremony, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences decided to tie the number of nominations to the number of submissions in each category. For Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, 88 actors were eligible on the ballot. That will translate to six nominees in this category.

Actors most likely to be nominated:

1. Eugene Levy for Pop's Schitt's Creek
2. Ted Danson for NBC's The Good Place
3. Larry David for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm
4. Michael Douglas for Netflix's The Kominsky Method
5. Ramy Youssef for Hulu's Ramy
6. Anthony Anderson for ABC's Black-ish

Serious threats that could break through:

1. Don Cheadle for Showtime's Black Monday
2. Steve Carell for Netflix's Space Force
3. William H. Macy for Showtime's Shameless
4. Ricky Gervais for Netflix's After Life
5. Thomas Middleditch for HBO's Silicon Valley
6. Hugh Laurie for HBO's Avenue 5
7. Paul Rudd for Netflix's Living With Yourself
8. Jim Carrey for Showtime's Kidding
9. Zach Galifianakis for FX's Baskets
10. Ben Platt for Netflix's The Politician
11. Dave Burd for FXX's Dave
12. Rob McElhenney for AppleTV+'s Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet
13. Martin Freeman for FX's Breeders

Some considerable long-shots:

1. John Goodman for ABC's The Conners
2. Eric McCormack for NBC's Will & Grace
3. Kenya Barris for Netflix's #BlackAF
4. Domhnell Gleeson for HBO's Run
5. Danny McBride for HBO's The Righteous Gemstones
6. Kayvan Novak and Matt Berry for FX's What We Do In the Shadows
7. Asa Butterfield for Netflix's Sex Education
8. Robbie Amell for Amazon's Upload
9. Hank Azaria for IFC's Brockmire
10. Alex Lawther for Netflix's The End of the F***ing World
11. Josh Thomas for Freeform's Everything's Gonna Be Okay
12. Paul Reiser for Spectrum's Mad About You
13. RuPaul Charles for Netflix's AJ and the Queen
14. Bashir Salahuddin for IFC's Sherman's Showcase

Colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:

1. Wyatt Russell and Brent Jennings for AMC's Lodge 49
2. Walton Goggins for CBS' The Unicorn
3. Billy Gardell for CBS' Bob Hearts Abishola
4. Julio Torres and Bernardo Velasco for HBO's Los Espookys
5. Andy Samberg for NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine
6. Keir Gilchrist and Michael Rapaport for Netflix's Atypical
7. DeRon Horton for Netflix's Dear White People
8. Tracy Morgan for TBS' The Last O.G.
9. Gabriel Iglesias for Netflix's Mr. Iglesias
10. Bashir Salahuddin and Sultan Salahuddin for Comedy Central's South Side
11. Matt Berry for IFC's Year of the Rabbit
12. Jack Davenport, Reid Scott and Sam Jaeger for CBS All Access' Why Women Kill

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Let me know in the comments below!