A ‘heck of a year’ for ‘Ted Lasso’
Jason Sudeikis celebrates big wins, including lead actor and comedy series, for Apple’s hit about a gentle American soccer coach.
WHILE IT wasn’t quite a “Schitt’s Creek”size sweep, the Emmys showered “Ted Lasso” with biscuits on Sunday, including wins for comedy series, leading man Jason Sudeikis, supporting actress Hannah Waddingham and supporting actor Brett Goldstein.
“Heck of a year,” Sudeikis said on accepting his prize for comedy actor, thanking his family, his mentors and teachers, and his teammates. “Look, I’m only as good as you guys make me look. So really, it means the world to me to be up here and just be a mirror of what you guys give to me and then we reflect back and forth on each other.”
The gentle Apple TV+ hit about a goodhearted Yankee coaching soccer in England earned 20 nominations for its first season, winning three Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony last week. Sunday’s trophies brought the series’ total wins to seven.
Any other result for comedy series and lead actor would have been a huge upset. “Lasso” was the heavy favorite in both categories, according to The Times’ BuzzMeter.
“The thing that’s charming about you, all of you, is that you don’t realize how wonderful you are,” Waddingham said onstage of all her collaborators on the series. “I just don’t think people realize what you bring to the room when we’re all quiet together. I’m so grateful to even be in your gaggle.”
Although the show never had a chance to match “Schitt’s Creek’s” unprecedented feat of sweeping all seven prime-time categories — “Lasso” didn’t have a nominated lead actress, a category won by “Hacks’” Jean Smart — the series did make Emmy history, besting “Glee” for the most nominations for a first-year show.
“Truthfully, I don’t think any of us thought anyone would watch it, let alone like it, let alone all this,” said Goldstein on the series’ success in the press room. “But I do think it speaks to how starved people were to see people trying to be better and kinder. It felt so unusual. It was like, ‘Oh, we needed this. It says more about what was going on than necessarily what we were doing.’ ”