Best Comedy Directing Emmy odds: Will Christopher Storer (‘The Bear’) win back-to-back?

Last year, FX’s “The Bear” took home the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Directing for Christopher Storer for a rather flashy episode called “Review,” and he could do it all over again this year for the fan-fave “Fishes.” For this 2024 lineup, he faces almost an entirely new slate of competition, including an additional director from his own show. The other four nominees hail from “Hacks,” “Abbott Elementary,” “The Gentlemen” and “The Ms. Pat Show.” Will Storer be able to pull off a second consecutive victory and join six other directors to achieve that rare feat in this category?

Here are Gold Derby’s current Best Comedy Directing Emmy 2024 racetrack odds:

1. “The Bear” (“Fishes” by Christopher Storer) — 82/25 odds
2. “Hacks” (“Bulletproof” by Lucia Aniello) — 4/1 odds
3. “The Bear” (“Honeydew” by Ramy Youssef) — 5/1 odds
4. “Abbott Elementary” (“Party” by Randall Einhorn) — 11/2 odds
5. “The Gentlemen” (“Refined Aggression” by Guy Ritchie) — 13/2 odds
6. “The Ms. Pat Show” (“I’m the Pappy” by Mary Lou Belli) — 15/2 odds

SEE 2024 Creative Arts Emmys: Complete list of winners

Just like the comedy writing category, it is “The Bear” and “Hacks” battling it out for the prize for the same exact episodes. However, per the combined odds, there is a bigger gap between them given “Fishes” is more of a directorial achievement and similar to the episode Storer won for last year. In the 66-minute “Fishes,” there is attention to fast cuts, explosive and loud scenes, and unrestrained and volatile intensity as it analyzes the Berzatto family dynamics during a Christmas dinner set five years ago. Storer would be the seventh director to win two consecutive times, joining Gene Reynolds (“M*A*S*H”), James Burrows (“Taxi”), Jay Sandrich (“The Cosby Show”), Todd Holland (“Malcolm in the Middle”), Gail Mancuso (“Modern Family”) and Joey Soloway (“Transparent”).

But “Hacks” is also a previous winner of this category for Aniello back in 2021 for its pilot. The Season 3 finale stakes could not be higher as Deborah (Jean Smart) tries to reduce Ava’s (Hannah Einbinder) job position after she gets the show of her career, only for Ava to flip it back to her and beat Deborah at her own game. A standout scene is the lengthy argument between the two characters that highlight their generational beliefs and differences in their relationship while putting each other in their place. Aniello became the fourth woman to win this Best Comedy Directing category and would join Mancuso as the second woman to prevail twice.

Something that may shake things up for “The Bear” is that it has a second episode in contention with “Honeydew.” It’s a character examination of Marcus (Lionel Boyce) as he travels to Copenhagen and bonds with a pastry chef Luca (Will Poulter), while learning to master Luca’s disciplinary methods to perfect dessert dishes and understanding his own happiness in the midst of taking care of his sick mother. While it sits comfortably in third place behind “Hacks” and seems like it will not impact “Fishes” with the potential of vote-splitting, it is more of a quiet study than the other and ends on a heartfelt, successful note. Youssef gets his second directing nomination and third overall after being recognized twice for his series “Ramy” in 2020.

After three seasons, “Abbott Elementary” finally gets its first recognition in this category and the first directing nomination for Einhorn after three previous noms as a producer on the show and two cinematography bids for the early years of “Survivor.” Another Season 3 finale, this one is more lighthearted as Jeanine (Quinta Brunson) throws an end-of-the-year teacher party on the last day of school with comic mayhem and she and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) finally succumb to their feelings for each other and share a kiss.

We now finally get to our first pilot in “The Gentlemen,” a television remake of Ritchie’s 2019 action gangster movie. The 67-minute premiere introduces Eddie Horniman (Theo James) as he inherits a new, changing lifestyle after his dad’s passing, and deals with his unstable addict brother who owes a debt to a drug dealer in a notorious crime family. After much negotiation that involves his brother humiliating himself on camera, things take a dramatic turn ending the episode on a cliffhanger. The series only received three Emmy nominations for its debut season, putting it in fifth place in our odds below “Abbott Elementary.”

Finally, per the Emmy rule to include one multi-camera slot in this category, we have “The Ms. Pat Show,” with perennial nominee Belli on her third consecutive citation. The Season 4 premiere features a snowstorm that leaves the family trapped inside along with someone from the matriarch’s daughter’s past, leading to inevitable turmoil.

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