Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nomination predictions: Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Audiences rely on the comedy actors to deliver jokes at precisely the right time in the exact right tone – otherwise, jokes could fall flat. Comedy actors over the past few years have been delivering more nuanced performances than ever before, truly pushing the boundaries of comedy.  The Screen Actors Guild nominations are coming up, so it’s time to look at what could happen with this year’s nominees for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series.

This year’s nominees will mostly look different than last year’s, as 3/5 of those nominees were from shows that have either finished their run or haven’t come back on (Daniel and Eugene Levy for Schitt’s Creek, Ramy Youssef for Ramy). The other two of last year’s five will most likely get repeat nominations this year. One of them is 2021’s winner for the award, Jason Sudeikis for Ted Lasso. While the reception to season two was slightly more mixed than the first season’s rave reviews, Sudeikis’ performance holds strong. Giving one of the best performances on television right now, Sudeikis should be considered a lock for receiving a nomination this year.

Perhaps not as surely as Sudeikis, Nicholas Hoult is poised to receive his second SAG nomination for his work in The Great. The series will likely grab an Ensemble nomination for its cast, and it would make sense to bring Hoult along for the ride again.

The next two spots will likely come from the same series (as we’ve seen SAG do before as recently as last year with Daniel and Eugene Levy). Steve Martin and Martin Short from comedy-murder mystery Only Murders in the Building. With the series being extremely competitive in the Ensemble category and neither man having ever been nominated for a SAG Award before, it seems likely that this will be their time.

All this considered, it seems that the fifth slot has a couple of contenders. First up is Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso. It’s important to remember that SAG categories do not separate lead and supporting performances, rather having them combined into one category. Will that be Goldstein’s downfall in a category filled with lead performances? He won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series this past year, but wasn’t nominated for an individual SAG for the first season of Ted Lasso – will season two be able to get him there? Right beside him in the race is Michael Douglas from The Kominsky Method, which finished its run with a third and final season in the middle of 2021. Douglas has been nominated by SAG-AFTRA for both previous seasons, so he’s someone to look out for in this category.

Kayvan Novak, who plays Nandor in FX’s What We Do in the Shadows, could be a major spoiler in this category. If the show gets into the Ensemble category, that could push his chances high enough for him to take a nomination from someone. It could be a long shot, but its still in the realm of possibility, as Novak gives one of the funniest performances on current television.

Here are my predictions for the nominations of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2022 SAG Awards:

1. Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
2. Nicholas Hoult, The Great
3. Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building
4. Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
5. Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

Spoilers: Kayvan Novak, What We Do in the Shadows; Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu