Brett Goldstein Beats Out Three Other ‘Ted Lasso’ Nominees For Best Supporting Actor Comedy Emmy; Jokes He “Was Not Allowed To Swear” In Speech

Jill Goldsmith
·2 min read
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An elated Brett Goldstein said he “was very, very specifically told I am not allowed to swear,” if he won, which he did Sunday, nabbing the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Ted Lasso. Working on the show, he said, “has been one of the biggest honors and privileges… and pleasures of my life.”

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The British actor plays potty-mouthed soccer ace turned commentator turned coach Roy Kent in Ted Lasso, the AppleTV+ phenomenon that’s become the nascent streamer’s new calling card, has nabbed it for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

His cantankerous character with hidden depths was an Emmy favorite competing in a field of eight contenders where half were from Ted Lasso.

Nods for Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard), Nick Mohammed (Nathan) and Jeremy Swift (Higgins) might well have resulted in vote splitting, which makes it hard for one actor to emerge from the pack victorious. The other thought was that a freshman comedy series with an unprecedented 20 Emmy nods would be able to plow through even a traffic jam like that and Goldstein did.

Both a writer and actor on the show, he plays the curmudgeonly Kent, an ageing player and captain of the AFC Richmond soccer team unhappily forced to retired from the sport between the first and second seasons. He ultimately agrees to coach (although he just screams the word “whistle” instead of using one. “I’ve told you. My lips are sensitive to impure metals, and whistles give me mouth hives” he says – Episode 7, Season 2).

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Who is Brett Goldstein? The actor and comedian attended the University of Warwick, after which he briefly relocated to Marbella, Spain to work at a strip club his father bought during a midlife crisis, later turning the move into a stand-up show for the Edinburgh Fringe festival. He broke out as Tom in Ricky Geravis’ 2013 TV show Derek. In 2015, he wrote and starred in British film SuperBob and in 2016 he won the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Brendon in the film Adult Life Skills.

He co-created sci-fi show Soulmate with Black Mirror writer Will Bridges, and hosts a podcast called Films To Be Buried With, With Brett Goldstein. During Covid, he wrote and directed a 12-episode Love Island parody, Lone Island.

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