Jason Segel not ‘Shrinking’ in Emmy odds, ascends into Best Comedy Actor Top 6

For the first time this awards season, Jason Segel (“Shrinking”) has cracked into the Top 6 of Gold Derby’s Emmy odds for Best Comedy Actor. That means our Experts, Editors and Users collectively think he’ll receive a nomination alongside reigning two-time Emmy defender Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”), winter awards season champ Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), former two-time Emmy winner Bill Hader (“Barry”), plus both Steve Martin and Martin Short from “Only Murders in the Building.”

Segel plays Jimmy Laird on the Apple TV Plus hit, a recently widowed therapist who tries to connect with his patients through slightly controversial means. He lives at home with his estranged teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), who is often looked after by their friendly neighbor Liz (Christa Miller). At work, Jimmy’s boss is Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), an aging man who struggles with Parkinson’s disease.

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TV critics can’t get enough of the uplifting comedy series, with John Nugent (Empire Magazine) praising it as “sweetly funny,” adding, “It’s worth watching for a goofily poignant Jason Segel — and a gloriously grouchy Harrison Ford.” Michael Starr (New York Post) writes, “The cast meshes well and, early on, each of the ‘Shrinking’ characters has their shining moment in scenes both funny and poignant.” And Keith Phipps (TV Guide) raves that Segel is “innately likable” and “his performance doesn’t coast on his familiar charm, either.”

Segel is at his comedic best in “Shrinking” when he’s arguing with his fellow actors, particularly Ford or Miller. In one of the show’s funniest scenes, Jimmy hits rock bottom at an engagement party and projectile vomits all over the piano he’s playing during his best friend Brian’s (Michael Urie) proposal. Later, after gargling mouthwash, he abruptly kisses his hilarious coworker Gaby (Jessica Williams).

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Currently at Gold Derby, one of our Emmy Experts — Jazz Tangcay (Variety) — thinks Segel will win. It would be his first TV award, as Segel has mostly stuck to feature films throughout his career. His most notable nomination was at the Independent Spirit Awards in Best Male Lead for “The End of the Tour” (2015). Also note that his version of “The Muppets” (2011) won the Oscar for Best Song (“Man or Muppet”), though Segel didn’t partake in that victory as the music and lyrics were credited to Bret McKenzie.

“Shrinking” is co-created by Segel and the pairing of Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein of “Ted Lasso” fame. It has been renewed for a second season by Apple TV Plus.

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