Bill Hader (It: Chapter Two, Saturday Night Live) wins an Emmy for Lead Actor in Comedy Series, this afternoon at the 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. The actor-writer-director won the Emmy for his role in the dark comedic series Barry, that he co-created with Alec Berg (Seinfeld, The Dictator). This is Hader’s third win and 20th nomination, according to People.
Hader plays Barry Berkman, “a hit man from the Midwest, who moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city’s theatre arts scene,” according to IMDb.
The other nominees in the category include Anthony Anderson for black-ish, Don Cheadle for Black Monday, Ted Danson for The Good Place, Michael Douglas for The Kominsky Method and Eugene Levy for Schitt’s Creek.
The series has been nominated in the Outstanding Comedy Series category this evening, along with Stephen Root (Office Space), Anthony Carrigan (Gotham), Henry Winkler (Happy Days) and Sarah Goldberg (The Dark Knight Rises), who were nominated for their roles as supporting actors and actress, respectively. Despite the numerous nominations, the Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actress and Actor in Comedy were awarded to Alex Borstein and Tony Shalhoub for their work in the Amazon comedy series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Carrigan, who plays the Chechen mobster – NoHo Hank, in the HBO series, also shared his struggle with alopecia on the red carpet, before the awards ceremony. He expressed that he had doubted his acting capabilities in the past due to his lack of hair caused by the autoimmune skin disease, but that he later gained self confidence.
The eight-episode season one of the show was very well-received and gathered an impressive 11 Emmy nominations in 2018. Last year, Hader took home an Emmy for the same category as this year, with Winkler, who plays the role of Barry’s acting coach Gene Cousineau, winning an award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Season 2 of the show is nominated for a total of 13 Emmy nominations this year. Barry won two awards at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend for the show’s skillful sound editing and sound mixing.
HBO has ordered a third season of the critically acclaimed show, which is expected to be available to watch by March 2020.