Larry David, Alex Edelman, Maya Rudolph Among This Year’s Jewish Emmy Nominees

Shiryn Ghermezian

---

Richard Lewis and Larry David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Photo: HBO.

Nominations for the 76th Emmy Awards were announced on Wednesday, and they include several Jewish nominees in a variety of categories.

The 12th and final season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” starring Larry David, was nominated for four Emmy awards, including best comedy series and best lead actor in a comedy series for the “Seinfeld” co-creator himself. The show has received a total of 55 Emmy nominations since premiering in 2000 but only two wins, for directing and editing.

Stand-up comic Alex Edelman received an Emmy nomination for writing for a variety special for his HBO comedy special “Just For Us,” which is a filmed version of his one-man show about covertly attending a white supremacist meeting in Queens, New York, as a way to understand antisemitic threats he’s faced online.

Jon Stewart and his old late night program “The Daily Show,” which he returned to in February to host once a week, garnered Emmy nominations for outstanding directing for a variety series and outstanding talk series. First-time Emmy nominee Tom Hollander, who is of Jewish origin on his father’s side, was nominated for lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie for his role in FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.”

The British actor talked in 2019 about how his grandfather managed to escape Nazi persecution in the Czech Republic. He said his grandfather, who was a music critic, was given a “passport to freedom” when he was invited to talk about the composer Leos Janacek on the BBC by one of the network’s sound engineers. Hollander’s grandfather escaped Prague by train with his wife and three-year-old son on the same day that Hitler’s troops invaded the Czech Republic on March 15, 1939.

Maya Rudolph, who has Lithuanian Jewish roots on her father’s side of the family, was nominated for lead actress in a comedy series for the Apple TV+ show “Loot.” She also received four additional nominations — for performance, music and lyrics, and guest actress in a comedy series for her guest-hosting of “Saturday Night Live,” and one for her character voice-over work in Netflix’s “Big Mouth.” Alex Borstein was nominated for her character voice-over performance in Fox’s “Family Guy.”

Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis, who is the daughter of late Jewish actor Tony Curtis, were nominated for their guest appearances on “The Bear,” and Matthew Broderick was nominated for guest actor in a comedy series for playing himself on “Only Murders in the Building.”

Ebon Moss-Bachrach and first-time Emmy nominee Paul Rudd were both nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for their roles in FX’s “The Bear” and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” respectively. Rudd was also nominated for narrating National Geographic’s “Secrets of the Octopus.”

“The Bear” set a new record for nominations in a single year in the comedy category with 23, a record previously held by “30 Rock” with 22 nominations in 2009.

Albert Brooks’ HBO documentary “Defending My Life,” which was directed by Jewish filmmaker Rob Reiner, received a nomination for directing for a documentary/non-fiction program, picture editing for a non-fiction program, and music composition for a documentary series or special (original dramatic score). Hannah Einbinder received a nomination for supporting actress in a comedy series for HBO’s “Hacks.”

Eugene Levy garnered a nomination for his Apple TV+ travel show “The Reluctant Traveler,” first-time Emmy nominee Eric André was nominated for his Adult Swim series “The Eric André Show,” and Trevor Noah, whose mother converted to Judaism, was nominated for his Netflix stand-up comedy special “Trevor Noah: Where Was I.” The Netflix special was also nominated for directing for a variety special.

The HBO documentary “The Jinx-Part Two,” which is about the late Jewish convicted murderer Robert Durst, was nominated for picture editing and best documentary/non-fiction series. “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” a limited series on Peacock that is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, was nominated for original music and lyrics as well as music composition (original dramatic score) for its compositions by renowned German Jewish composer Hans Zimmer.

The Netflix limited series “All The Light We Cannot See,” which is set in Nazi-occupied France and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, was also nominated for music composition (original dramatic score).”Unfrosted,” a film co-produced by Jerry Seinfeld about the creation of Pop-Tarts, was nominated for outstanding television movie.

The 76th Emmy Awards will broadcast live on Sept. 15 at 8 pm ET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and will stream the following day on Hulu.

---

---