Emmy Voters, Hannah Einbinder Should Win Your Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Vote And It’s Not Even Close

On this, the last full day of voting for the 77th Emmy Awards, I am pleading with voters to make the right choice and finally give Hannah Einbinder the Emmy for her undeniable work in Hacks.

I shouldn’t have to make an argument for this, honestly. In a perfect world, Television Academy voters would watch all of the shows submitted and nominated in any given year and be able to note the most impressive and award-worthy performances for themselves. That rarely happens, however, and if you need proof, look no further than Heléne Yorke’s zero nominations for The Other Two.

In fact, on the film side of things — which I could and should make an argument is much easier to be on — it’s become so ubiquitous that some members of the Academy of Motion Pictures do not watch all of the films, that Kirsten Dunst once broke the internet by simply saying, “I saw everything because I’m a member of the Academy.”

I digress. Take it from someone who has actually watched all of the comedy shows nominated at the Emmys this year, there are few greater performances than Einbinder’s as Ava Daniels in Hacks. Year after year, Einbinder has been nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series alongside some of the greatest names in not only comedy, but in the industry as a whole (looking at you, Meryl Streep in Only Murders in the Building). And year after year, she has fallen short — presumably narrowly — to names like Hannah Waddingham for Ted Lasso and Sheryl Lee Ralph for Abbott Elementary. But now, it’s her time.

While Einbinder has been half of the funniest duo on television in recent years — her on-screen partner, Jean Smart, is three for three in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category — her performance in Season 4 is nothing short of miraculous. After ending Season 3 on rocky ground with Deborah (Smart), Ava not only has to assert her dominance in order to not get pushed around by Deborah, she also has to focus all of her energy on making their new late-night show No. 1, which seems like an impossible task at the outset.

The tumultuous relationship and the pressure of getting the Late Night with Deborah Vance plane off the ground combined give Einbinder more than enough raw, dramatic material to maximize her grounded and tense scenes. There’s one moment in the Season 4 opener where Ava is confronted by Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) about her choice to blackmail Deborah into getting the head writer job, and rather than back down, Ava shows her teeth and stands her ground, delivering lines like “the spice don’t stick to the chicken” that are equal parts daunting and hilarious, something that only emphasizes the actress’ comedic prowess.

Eventually, as the tension between Ava and Deborah builds, so does the pressure of turning Late Night with Deborah Vance into a hit, causing Ava to have a meltdown of truly epic proportions. After discovering that her writers have a group chat behind her back and that they have been charging expensive food items to her personal card every day for lunch, Einbinder’s character fully snaps and goes off on one of the greatest comedic monologues of the Emmy season

“I have been subsidizing lobster rolls for Mrs. Table, a not-real person? A not real person is getting $48 branzino? This is so disrespectful. I am working so hard. I get here every morning at 5:30 on the dot. One time I walked in on the janitor jerking off because he didn’t think anyone else was here and I didn’t report it ’cause he probably doesn’t get paid a living wage. And by the way, branzino doesn’t travel well, you should never order it to go,” she screams as she throws the branzino at the window and storms out, declaring that she quits.