Dream Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

This category is filled with a lot of new faces this year, mainly because many of the potential returners shows lost me.  There is no Tina Fey, Laura Linney, or Edie Falco, but this is the strongest I have seen this category in years.  These six women are some of the funniest/wittiest women on television today.


Laura Dern as Amy Jellicoe in Enlightened-I have to start with the statement, I hate this show!  The show made me me honestly cringe, and feel as though I never connected to the plot or the characters.  With that said Dern is fantastic in this role, and I would not want to begrudge the great work she did as a woman who has a breakdown only to come back spiritually enlightened.  The problem with individual spiritual enlightenment is that when you return to your real life the people around you have not had the same experiences.  Watch Amy navigate this experience, and also try and be more self assured is hilarious but also sad, great performance.

Zooey Deschanel as Jess in New Girl-Jess is is the perfect quirky girl; she started out the first episode breaking up with her boyfriend and moving in with three "bros" the plot sounds formulaic, and to an extent it is, but Deschanel is one of the cutest/funniest actresses on television today.  Watching Jess pretend to be Nick's girlfriend at a wedding so they could make his ex jealous was one of my favorite moments of the season.  Nick wants Jess to be normal, but there is no fighting the quirk and the changing the chemistry between these two.

Julia Louis Dreyfuss as Vice President Selena Meyer in Veep-Watching the Vice President have a pregnancy scare, mock an elected Asian official, and try and get legislation passed that the President kills are only three of the reasons this new show has hit it out of the park.  Veep is one of the funniest new shows of the season, and thanks largely to comedic timing of Julia Louis Dreyfuss.  Dreyfuss is one of the funniest women in television from Seinfeld to this; she has created fun new roles that make you want laugh so hard you pee your pants.  This is the role of a lifetime, and they picked the right person.

Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in Girls-Like or hate this show Dunham is one of young rising stars on television today, and her television series explores a new generation of young women today.  Dunham wrote and directed the entire first half of this first season.  Writing is her strength, but I am particularly wowed by the way she puts it all out there when she acts.  There is a natural ability she has to be frank with her character Hannah, and this allows her writing to shine, and for us to think she may be a little selfish and spoiled too.  Hannah is hilarious, and watching her debate with her parents why they should give her money and support her is one classic scene. 

Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation-Another great season for Poehler!  Leslie Knope ran for office without the help of an official team (and won).  In the middle she tried to win over an average joe voter, started dating broke up with, and started dating Ben again, she tried to get on her feet, and all in all this was one of the most fun rides for a strong comedic female character.  Knope was initially looking to be a rip off of Michael Scott, but they went in a new direction, and gave her character a beautiful heart.  Poehler is a comedic genius, and watching her navigate every step of the election was so much fun, mainly because she is one of the funniest ladies working.

Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance in Raising Hope-Martha Plimpton is one talented lady, she plays this role so well, and I love her as an actress.  My favorite episode entitled "Poking Holes in the Story was one of her funniest moments of the season where she takes a job as a live in house and child sitter when she realizes all of Hope's toys have been recalled.  Plimpton is a riot, and she continues to be one the the many reasons to continue watching this show.

Dream Emmy Ballot: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

This group of six men is incredibly unique, two of the men are playing themselves, three of the men were or still are comedians, and Alec Baldwin and Steve Carell are gone from this list.  This year's leading men are a bunch of off the wall oddball, atypical leading men.  This is one of my favorite categories this year, and is one of the strongest line-ups I have seen in years.

Larry David as Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm-After a brief hiatus the Curb team returned for for another great season, one of their best.  Larry used an excuse to get out of doing something, and ventured to New York City.  Before Larry went to the East Coast and scuffled with Michael J. Fox and Rosie he dealt with a mini-dilemma, whether or not to eat from a Palestinian chicken restaurant with amazing chicken.  The episode entitled Palestinian Chicken is one of the funniest half an hours of television I have ever seen!  David is spot on, and I never laughed harder then when the Palestinian waitress is sleeping with him and insulting him calling him a "dirty Jew"...he takes it because she is beautiful.  David was great all season, and he could finally win this year.

Garett Dillahunt as Burt Chance in Raising Hope-One half of one of the funniest duos of television today.  Burt Chance is not the sharpest, but even with his lower intellect he is one of the funniest leading men on television today.  Of these six men Burt is one of the most real characters; he is a great father, husband, and granddad.  From the first time you meet this guy pushing a guy into thorns while he pees you can see that he he remains a man child, but throughout the second season he has become more hilarious, and the character is even better than in the first.

Louis C.K. as Louis C. K. in Louie-Louis C. K. is one of the funniest men on television today.  I love watching his facial expressions; he is incredibly straight faced, but also looks appalled by many of the crazy situations he has gotten into.  I think my favorite moment was his interaction with Joan Rivers this season, these two had this great chemistry, and as she is trying to mentor him he goes for a kiss.  Awkward, she hits him, and begrudgingly accepts.  Louis C.K. reminds me of Seinfeld but funnier than Jerry himself. He uses the situational crazy antics of New York, his daughters, and his broken marriage to find the hilarity in life, and makes it work so well.

Joel McHale as Jeff Winger in Community-Winger zingers are the best.  From day one Jeff Winger has fought hard against being considered part of this study group, but as he feels more at home he has developed into an even better character.  In "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" we get explore the more vulnerable side of Jeff's younger years where we find out Shirley bullied him when the were younger.  McHale has great chemistry with Yvette Nicole Brown and they make an brilliant comedic duo.  McHale is great in this show, and his "cool" ways as Jeff Winger always add a little fun to the group especially when he is getting kicked out of biology class or helping investigate the death of a yam.

Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt in Parks and Recreation-Too many people have been ignoring this man.  While this was the year of Leslie Knope and her campaign, I was more enamored with her campaign manager Ben Wyatt (that could be mainly because I think he's cuter), but more because he is one of the funniest people on the show.  Ben had a lot of great moments from defending Leslie at a bowling alley, to being an out of work calzone maker, to Leslie's campaign manager, but my personal favorite Ben moment was watching him try to "Treat Yourself" and buy and dress up in a Batman outfit, one of the funniest moments of the season.  The real question "Is Batman Crying?"

Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory-Knock "Penny" Knock "Penny" Knock "Penny" Knock "Penny" Knock "Penny"...Parsons is one of the funniest men in television today.  Sheldon Cooper is emotionally vacant mainly he has no use for sarcasm only straight forward dialogue that furthers what he needs and wants.  In the "The Friendship Contraction" Sheldon keeps Leonard up all night with emergency preparedness, and then Leonard refuses to take him so some appointments, which causes the two to hilariously revisit their roommate agreement.  In the fifth season Sheldon finally admits Amy is his girlfriend, and this took his character to a whole new level.