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    • ‘The Bear’ is up for comedy at the Emmys. Laraine Newman is done with it.
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    ‘The Bear’ is up for comedy at the Emmys. Laraine Newman is done with it.

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    Laraine Newman knows about comedy and thinks it’s very special that “The Bear” is competing at the Emmys.

    “Every time I think about The Bear being up for the Emmys in the comedy category, I feel an ulcer forming,” the original “Saturday Night Live” cast member wrote on X on Sunday, the day of the awards show.

    At the Emmys, the hit FX series received a whopping 23 nominations, but Max’s showbiz series “Hacks,” starring Newman’s daughter Hannah Einbinder, ultimately beat out “The Bear” for best comedy of the night.

    Eindbinder lost in the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category to Liza Colón-Zayas of “The Bear.”

    Newman isn’t the only one wondering why “The Bear” is competing as a comedy film in the prestigious awards ceremony.

    Social media users did the same, and Eugene Levy, who co-hosted this year’s awards ceremony with his father Joseph, even joked about it during the broadcast.

    “‘The Bear’ is nominated for 23 Emmys tonight, which makes it the most nominated comedy in history,” Eugene said. “Now, I love the show, I love the show, and I know some of you are expecting us to make a joke about whether or not ‘The Bear’ is really a comedy. But in the true spirit of ‘The Bear,’ we will not make jokes.”

    So why is “The Bear” considered a comedy? USA TODAY’s TV critic Kelly Lawler previously explained:

    Why is ‘The Bear’ considered a comedy by the Emmys?

    The series is about a family-owned Chicago business that sells Italian beef sandwiches that is transformed into a fancy restaurant by chef Carmy Berzatto, played by Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White. The series is not often hilarious.

    The heavily dramatic plot involves the protagonist’s brother committing suicide, and inherited family trauma is a major plot point. Additionally, the curse is frequent and derogatory.

    “The Bear” is far from the only dramatic TV series to ever compete as a comedy for a better shot at Emmy glory. There have been many cases of what awards watchers like to call “category fraud.”

    It’s the age-old tale of the Hollywood awards race.

    Whether it’s actors competing in supporting roles instead of leads, dramas competing as comedies, or recurring series sneaking into the limited series category, there’s always some campaign flirtation going on.

    When Season 1 of “The Bear” premiered, before all the hype and nominations, White had his own ideas about whether the series could be called a comedy.

    “I guess I would describe it as a dramedy if you had to do it,” he told USA TODAY in 2022. “It’s definitely funny at times. I don’t think Carmy is necessarily funny, but I think the situations he’s put himself in can be. I think it’s interesting and funny to see this young man who doesn’t communicate very well and tries to communicate what he wants and what his feelings are to a group of people who can’t hear him very well either. So I think there’s comedy in that. I don’t know if it’s funny to slap your knee. I think it can be funny at times. It’s real, or we try to make it real, like real life. Sad things can be funny. Funny things can make you sad.”

    Contributions by: Kelly Lawler, Erin Jensen and Patrick Ryan

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