Ray Richmond: Why are ‘The Bear,’ ‘Barry’ and ‘Atlanta’ entered and nominated at the Emmys as comedies? Well, it’s complicated

Whenever people find out what I do for a living lately, it’s the first thing out of their mouth. And I never have a good answer for them.

“Why are shows like ‘The Bear,” “Barry” and “Atlanta” contending at the Emmys in comedy series?

It’s a perfectly good question that has no single accurate response. But it isn’t for lack of trying. It’s the same conundrum that I had when “The Bear” in particular was nominated for a bunch of Golden Globes last January. I’ve watched both seasons of the show closely over the past several weeks, checking to see if maybe there was just something I’d been missing. I found a couple of moments that were worth a modest chuckle – such as the time Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) had only a vague notion of what UPS was until reminded by Sydney (Ayo Edebiri). But in the main, no, this show is about as funny as a heart attack.

When White was winning his Golden Globe, Critics Choice and SAG Awards as lead actor in a comedy series earlier this year, it wasn’t due to his comedy chops. It’s because he’s a brilliant dramatic actor with yearning, soulful eyes. Though she has a solid comedy and improv background, Edebiri didn’t win her Independent Spirit Award this year because her performance is so uproarious. And while there are dramatic elements to nearly every comedy acting performance nominated this year, in the case of White, Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (also nominated this year in supporting) it’s pretty much straight up drama that they’re being recognized for.

The question, then, becomes if the Emmy categorization (or really any awards categorization) has become less meaningful, or if the comedy label itself has ceased to be synonymous with amusing – or if it’s all just about the format. In this case, anything that’s a half-hour or thereabouts gets lumped in with comedy no matter how much or little it may have in common with the traditional meaning of the term. Hybrid is surely now the name of this game.

You may (or may not) recall that the TV academy in late 2021 announced it would no longer take into consideration a show’s running time when categorizing it as a comedy or drama. Historically – at least since 2015, anyway – the Emmys had lumped any show that clocked in at or under 30 minutes into the comedy category, and longer than that in drama. Yet darker and more serious half-hour shows like “Barry,” “Atlanta” and now “The Bear” still would seem to defy their obvious genre when it comes to the Emmys, the Globes, the SAGs, the WGAs, the DGAs and the Critics Choices.

Any perceived mislabeling certainly doesn’t seem to have discouraged Gold Derby voters away from “The Bear” in its first year of eligibility. In the combined odds, the show ranks a close second to “Ted Lasso” in comedy series, while White leads his lead comedy actor race over two-time defending champ Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso,” as does Edebiri in supporting comedy actress, while Moss-Bachrach is tied with Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”) in supporting actor. “The Bear” is also in the lead in comedy writing and directing.

It used to be that comedy had to make us laugh to be labeled as comedy – an antiquated notion I realize. This applied to Emmy history as well. If you look back to the early days of TV in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, the winners were shows like “I Love Lucy” (twice), “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (four times), “Get Smart” (twice), “All in the Family” (four times), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Taxi” (three times apiece). Later came “The Golden Girls” and “M*A*S*H” and “Murphy Brown” and “Frasier” and “30 Rock” and “Modern Family” and “Veep.” All of the latter shows won for Best Comedy Series, many more than once, and most had their serious moments intermingled. But their bread-and-butter was still generating laughter.

The closest that comedy series Emmy winners have come to being something other than comedy were hybrids like “The Wonder Years” (1988), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (2018) and “Fleabag” (2019) in terms of category winners. David E. Kelley’s “Ally McBeal,” too, was an hour-long blend of comedic and dramatic elements when it won the top comedy prize in 1999. Other hourlong series hybrids that seemed to skirt the line between funny and dramatic in the Emmy races were “Desperate Housewives” (nominated for top comedy series in 2005 and a six-time Emmy winner that same year in comedy categories) and “Shameless,” which entered as a drama series in its first three years of Emmy eligibility but switched to comedy beginning in 2014. The shift landed William H. Macy five comedy lead acting nominations but no wins, and three wins for Eddie Perez in stunt coordination.

“Moonlighting” was an hourlong hybrid that went the other direction, submitting for the Emmys as a comedy in its first year of eligibility (1985) before switching to drama thereafter. It led to Bruce Willis winning lead drama actor in 1987 for a role that was arguably far more comedic than dramatic. Meanwhile, “Boston Legal” started out at the SAG Awards competing as a comedy in 2006 but switched the following year to drama consideration and remained there.

SEE Ebon Moss-Bachrach (‘The Bear’): ‘I like to push behavior and flirt with absurdism, but I want to stay truthful’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“Nurse Jackie” was, like “The Bear,” a half-hour with few laughs that was cast as a dark comedy, featuring Edie Falco portraying a drug-addicted emergency room nurse. It landed a Best Comedy Series nom for its first season (2010) and earned Falco six consecutive comedy lead actress nominations. After winning her lone Emmy for the role in ’10, if you look at Falco in the audience, as soon as her name is announced, she flashes a flustered, bewildered look before trudging up to the stage. “Oh this is just the most ridiculous thing that has ever ever happened in the history of this lovely (deep sigh) awards show,” she begins her speech. “Thank you so much. I’m not funny!”

Then there was the case of Uzo Aduba on the early Netflix women-in-prison streaming series “Orange is the New Black.” She won for the same role on the same show in back-to-back years in different genres, earning the trophies for guest actress in a comedy in 2014 and then supporting actress in a drama in 2015.

But in truth, “The Bear” takes the idea of comedy classification to another level with its focus on the chaos, intensity, drama and personality clashes inside a Chicago Italian beef sandwich shop in Season 1. Whatever comedy emerges inside it is incidental to its heightened dramatic arc. Of the other comedies nominated in the series category this year, only “Barry” come close to matching the dramatic tone and chops of “The Bear.” Not “Ted Lasso.” Not “Wednesday.” Not “Jury Duty.” “Not “Mrs. Maisel.” Certainly not “Only Murders in the Building” or “Abbott Elementary.”

None of this should be taken as a dig at “The Bear” in any way, shape or form. In point of fact, it’s my favorite series currently on the air. Its immense quality is beyond dispute. It’s a superb piece of television whose artistry ramped up still further in its second season. But sorry, it’s not a comedy, at least in any traditional sense.

What’s the answer here? That’s just it: it’s hard to know. The TV academy would have to do something it’s faced for a few decades and never seriously considered: institute a hybrid “dramedy” category/series of categories that take shows like “The Bear” and “Barry” and and “Atlanta” and maybe a dozen or 15 others and make them contenders in an entirely different competitive genre. I get why the show doesn’t want to try to compete as a drama. Who in their right mind would prefer to go up against “Succession” and “The White Lotus”? It’s a whole other level of impossible. At the same time, as the categories are currently configured, that’s where it belongs.

The other thing is, I fully expect “The Bear” and its nominated performers and producer-writer-director Chris Storer to do extremely well at both the Primetime Emmys and Creative Arts Emmys, in part because it deserves to but also because dramatic presentation often makes a greater impression than a comedic one when submitted side by side. In an apples-vs.-oranges competition, I’d expected drama to get the nod. That’s certainly been the case with “Barry,” which has earned a whopping 54 Emmy bids throughout its run and won nine so far – including two for star Bill Hader and one for Henry Winkler in support.

The fact “The Bear” broke from the gate with 13 nominations on its first year bodes well for its winning prospects no matter what label it’s wearing.