Beating the odds, Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso“) won his second Emmy on Monday night in the Best Comedy Actor category. He was predicted to be bested by his old “Saturday Night Live” co-star Bill Hader (“Barry”), but managed to pull off the win. This is Sudeikis’ second consecutive acting trophy for playing the titular football coach on the Apple TV Plus hit comedy. Besides Hader, Sudeikis also beat out Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”), Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”), Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) and Nicholas Hoult (“The Great”).
His episode submission this year was “No Weddings and a Funeral,” the 10th episode of the season. As the coaching crew of AFC Richmond learns of the passing of Rebecca’s (Hannah Waddingham) father, Ted says that he hopes wherever he is in death, he hopes that he’s happy. As he gets ready for the funeral (while dancing to “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey), Ted has another panic attack and calls Dr. Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) and asks her to come over to his place.
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When Dr. Fieldstone arrives, she finds the apartment is a mess and Ted with his head in his hands. Ted explains that he didn’t go to the funeral of his father, who took his own life, because he believes he quit on his family and he hates him for that. He recounts the day it happened, how he heard the gunshot, discovered his body and then had to call his mom to tell her to come home from work.
Dr. Fieldstone then asks Ted to recall something good about his dad. He remembers how, when he was in fifth grade, he had neglected to do the assigned reading of “Johnny Tremain” and was going to have a test on it. When he broke down and admitted to his dad he hadn’t read it, his father told him to go to bed. The next morning his dad drove him to school while explaining the entire book to him and Ted aced the test. Ted reflects that he was a good dad and he didn’t think he knew it. He says that he “was never going to let anybody get by without understanding they might be hurting inside.” He asks Dr. Fieldstone for a hug and asks if he’ll be charged for the house call.
Ted arrives late to the funeral right as Rebecca starts giving her eulogy. When she gets choked up reciting the lyrics to “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Ted helps bring the entire church into the song. At the reception, he apologizes to Rebecca for being late and admires her father for still knowing the “Make ‘Em Laugh” routine from “Singin’ in the Rain.”
This episode was about as perfect a submission as you could possibly make. Sudeikis gets to show incredible range but, most importantly, he gets to show Ted at the most vulnerable we’ve ever seen him. Watching him go from anger about his dad’s suicide to happily remembering the “Johnny Tremain” event feels like you’re actually watching someone make a breakthrough in therapy.
Gold Derby’s Charles Bright contributed to this story.
