Successfully disproving the long-held misconception that Canadians are too nice, Eugene and Dan Levy's roast of The Bear in their opening monologue for last night's (September 15) 76th annual Emmy Awards actually foreshadowed the most shocking snub of the night.
"I know some of you might be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is really a comedy," the eldest Levy said about five minutes into the opening monologue, "but in the true spirit of The Bear, we will not be making any jokes." It even earned a thumbs up from the Christopher Storer series' Ayo Edebiri.
The first season of The Bear won six awards at the 75th Emmys, including the coveted Outstanding Comedy Series prize. At that point, it was kind of fine with everyone; each new instalment of the show has premiered in June, just after the previous Emmy eligibility window closes and the next one begins, so the incredible Season 2 was still fresh in people's minds.
However, when the series garnered a whopping 23 nominations this year for the second season, shattering the comedy series record previously held by 30 Rock, the resounding sentiment was that the show's classification as a comedy is dubious at best. (Plus, Season 3 wasn't nearly as good.) It's great to have shows that make us reassess what a comedy can be — and The Bear certainly has many funny moments and stars many actors with brilliant comedic chops — but submitting it in the comedy category seems more like a move on behalf of FX so it wouldn't have to compete with the network's other drama nominee, Shōgun.
However, in a twist of fate — the Levy Prophecy, if you will — The Bear did not continue its reign as Outstanding Comedy Series. Despite Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeating their acting wins and Storer reprising his directorial accolade (as well as Liza Colón-Zayas taking home the Outstanding Supporting Actress trophy), this year's award went, instead, to Hacks, co-created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky.
Hacks star Jean Smart also beat out Edebiri in the Outstanding Lead Actress award (notably her fifth overall and third for her portrayal of comedian Deborah Vance), while its creators likewise bested Storer for their writing. Only time will tell if this marks the beginning of a reckoning for the Emmys' category confusion; for now, watch the father-son team's opening monologue below and find the full list of 76th Emmys winners here.