Emmy nominee profile: Luke Kirby (‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’) seeks goodbye hug for playing Lenny Bruce

Nick Bisa
·5 min read
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Amy Sherman-Palladino’s highly anticipated return to original television,”The Marvelous Mrs Maisel,” first premiered back in the spring of 2017 to bubbly, joyous acclaim. The Amazon Prime Video series chronicled the fictitious rise of recently separated Jewish-American housewife Miriam “Midge” Masiel (Rachel Brosnahan), as she pursued an unlikely career change to standup comedy. For its fifth and final season, the show nabbed 14 Emmy nominations including Luke Kirby as real-life comic Lenny Bruce in Best Comedy Guest Actor for the series finale, “Four Minutes.”

Having set the piece in late 1950s New York, Sherman-Palladino didn’t shy away from drawing her character inspirations from real-life figures of the time. Midge, for one, was largely based on trailblazing female comic and legend, Joan Rivers. From her upper-class jewish upbringing to her no-holds-barred style of comedy, the character of Mrs. Maisel was very much indebted to history. So too were other characters in the series such as Jane Lynch’s Sophie Lennon (inspired by Phyllis Diller) and Alex Borstein’s Susie Meyerson (striking resemblance to Sue Mengers). Further, there were even a few real-life characters which appeared in the series. Main culprit was the elusive yet charismatic comedy icon Lenny Bruce, played by Kirby.

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Despite featuring in only 16 of 43 episodes, Kirby’s presence was everlasting in “Maisel.” Lenny’s influence on Midge made his breath eternal, even in absence. But, in the times we were treated to his grace on the screen, it was a singular, incomparable magic to witness. It was like an entire lifetime had at once flashed before your eyes in a soft, warm, enchanting breeze. And yet, the effortlessness of it all made it feel as if the great Lenny was, but an old friend. Needless to say, Kirby’s appearances were memorable.

The television academy clearly agreed. The 45-year old American-Canadian was nominated in the Comedy Guest Actor category in 2019 for his two episode stint on the second season. He went on to win here, but it was to the surprise of thousands. From 1,200 votes in our combined odds, Kirby sat resoundingly in 4th place. Twelve of our 13 experts bet against Kirby, but, from what seemed like against all odds, Kirby had the last laugh. A rather fitting outcome, no?

Two Emmy nominations later and back to the present, Luke is now a three-time nominee in this category for his embodiment of the late great New York comic. It must be said too, he’s only been eligible here on these very three occasions. His emissions for the show actually only occurred last year when he wasn’t eligible (he featured in over 50% of episodes in Season 4) and for the first season in 2018 where he was indeed eligible, but surprisingly wasn’t submitted by Amazon. With this in mind, Kirby’s Lenny actually has a perfect record here in the eyes of Emmy; that shouldn’t be undervalued.

SEE 2023 Emmys: Complete list of nominees

Currently sitting at third place in our odds, Kirby is up against some heavy hitters in Nathan Lane (“Only Murders in the Building”) and Jon Bernthal (“The Bear”); they sit 1st and 2nd place, respectively. Lane won this category last year, yes. But can he really do it again? He would have to become the first to do it this century. Yes, “The Bear” is the talk of the town right now in the Comedy sphere and Bernthal could benefit from that greatly here. But could his larger-than-life co-star and fellow nominee Oliver Platt (currently 6th) take a bite too far into his vote count? Vote-splitting between nominees from the same program is a notoriously thorny bush for actors to pass by at the Emmys and has led to many unanticipated outcomes over the years. Of note, Katt Williams (“Atlanta”) won here in 2018 from last place in our odds. It’s no coincidence that there were two sets of double nominees from “Saturday Night Live” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” crowding the category that year.

But unlike Williams, and more importantly, unlike any of his fellow nominees this year, Kirby has built a strong, lengthy and familial rapport with television academy voters these past seven years. He’s three-for-three in this category and already a winner. And given the nature of his episode submission (series finale, “Four Minutes”), in which Susie and Midge fail to save his Lenny from an inevitable fall from comedy grace and widely known subsequent passing from drug overdose; it would be a fitting and poignant farewell to a heart-wrenchingly tender performance many won’t near forget.

This article is part of Gold Derby’s “Emmy nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2023 acting contenders.

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