When the TV Academy changed the rule about who could compete for Emmy guest acting categories, Saturday Night Live — which has won more statuettes than any show in the history of the awards — added to its record haul.
Starting with the 2009 Primetime Emmys, hosts and guest performers on SNL became eligible to submit as guest actor or actress in a comedy series. The change paid immediate dividends when Justin Timberlake and Tina Fey swept the comedy guest acting awards at that year’s Creative Arts ceremony.
Fey — who had previously nabbed a writing Emmy with SNL — won for playing Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in the run-up to the 2008 election, popularizing the line “I can see Russia from my house!” in her sendup of the former Alaska governor. Fey was a dual winner at the 2009 Emmys, as her NBC comedy 30 Rock won its third straight best comedy series trophy.
Timberlake won his guest acting Emmy for hosting an SNL episode that included a musical number in the opening monologue, a “Barry Gibb Talk Show” sketch with Jimmy Fallon and the digital short “Motherlover,” in which he and Andy Samberg reprised their “Dick in a Box” characters.
Since 2009, SNL has won 14 guest acting Emmys (including a repeat for Timberlake in 2011) — more than 10 percent of the show’s total over its 50-year lifespan.
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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