2018 Emmy nominations predictions: Best comedy supporting actor contenders

As the nominations period comes to an end, EW’s team of experts and critics have compiled a list of the top contenders for the 2018 Emmy Awards.

For more TV talk, check out EW critic Kristen Baldwin, editor at large Lynette Rice, and editor in chief Henry Goldblatt’s witty new podcast about the Emmy Awards, Chasing Emmy. (Subscribe now via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.)

Whether you're a fan of President Trump or not, it's probably fair to say that many Americans are sick of hearing about politics. But Baldwin's hilarious impersonation of the commander in chief makes it worth staying up on current events, no matter your political leanings.

Tituss Burgess couldn’t win for “Peeno Noir.” He couldn’t win for “Boobs in California.” He couldn’t even win for that all-timer “Lemonade” parody. Now, Kimmy Schmidt is reaching its end, and there are only a few chances left to reward its hilariously haughty scene-stealer (including for the show’s most recent run of episodes, in which Burgess again shined). To not do so would be a tremendous oversight.

Sean Hayes was ready to let go of his effervescent Will & Grace character, Jack McFarland, when the NBC sitcom went off the air in 2006 after eight seasons. "It felt healthy to leave," he says. But when a 2016 get-out-the-vote video reuniting him with his former costars Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, and Megan Mullally went viral, NBC began eyeing a revival. And just like that, the band was back together — quippier and jazz-handier than ever. "Every week they write us gifts," says Hayes, 47, who's already signed on for two more seasons of the revival. "It's been beyond anybody's expectations."

Brian Tyree Henry was the MVP of the FX comedy's excellent second season, which was built around the idea of Robbin’ Season. Through his layered yet never showy performance as rising rapper Alfred "Paper Boi” Miles, this deadpan master helped just how dynamic that theme was. Not only was Alfred’s money at stake, but so was his time and identity. And Alfred’s struggles with his rising profile helped tie the purposefully meandering season together. Watch Henry in “Barbershop,” “Woods,” and “North of the Border,” and tell us this man doesn’t deserve some awards love.

The podcaster's giving a revelatory performance as Sam Sylvia, fading B-movie director banished to basic cable obscurity. Part inspirational coach, part horrible boss, part poetic soul outracing decades of regret, Sam's the perfectly complicated man for GLOW's company of brilliant woman, and Maron finds the wounded charm behind his macho cynicism.

It’s not easy for math professor Abe Weissman, what with his daughter dealing with a divorce and multiple arrests, and moving into his apartment with all her furniture and kids in tow. Still, through all his exasperation and fatherly frustration, Shalhoub sells Abe as a lovingly tolerant and endearing dad and husband — and unintentionally hilarious to boot. Mazel tov, Tony.