The Comeback‘s Lisa Kudrow and Hacks‘s Jean Smart are set to face off in one the most hotly contested Emmys races in years, as their titanic comedy series both draw to a close.
Dan Bucatinsky—an Emmy winner himself for the ABC drama Scandal—appears in both shows and knows in his heart which actress deserves to take home the award.
“Lisa Kudrow,” Bucatinsky, 60, hastily told Obsessed: The Podcast. “Should I pretend to think about it for a little while?”
With both acclaimed series concurrently streaming their final seasons on HBO Max, the industry is divided over whether the award should go to Kudrow, 62, who was nominated for each of The Comeback’s first two seasons, or Smart, 74, who could become the first actor ever to win an Emmy for every season of a TV show in Hacks. (Kudrow does have one Emmy on her shelf for playing Phoebe Buffay on Friends.)
“Jean is spectacular. And I love her in the show, and I love her off the show, and I love her as a human being,” Bucatinsky explained. “She has been awarded that Emmy for being an outstanding comedic actress four times. She’s been acknowledged for her talent in that role.”
“Lisa’s been nominated both times in both seasons, 20 years apart,” he continued. “I find Lisa to be remarkable, obviously—others agree—and she has never been acknowledged necessarily for that performance in that role. And this is our finale as well."
“So not to sound like I’m in kindergarten, but like she already got hers!” Bucatinsky exclaimed, chuckling. “So to some degree, Jean knows that the community is acknowledging that talent for that part. Why it’s such a debate is shocking to me.”
Bucatinsky believes it would’ve been a “real battle” if both actresses had never “been acknowledged” for their roles, but considering Smart has won four times, he finds it difficult to give her a fifth over Kudrow.
“It’s hard to be objective. I’m inside, so of course I want Lisa to win,” he conceded, adding, “Even as an outsider, it makes sense to me that this is Lisa’s time. This is Lisa’s turn.”
Hacks co-creator Jan Statsky is equally aware of the “brewing” rivalry, with Emmy nominations to be announced in early July.
“This is gonna be the topic of the 2026 Emmys,” Statsky, 40, told Obsessed: The Podcast in May. “I think we just lean into the gratitude that we’re alive in a time where we got to see both Jean Smart and Lisa Kudrow perform these characters. It’s a joy. It’s incredible.”
While awards are often seen as frivolous, they play an outsized role in how an actor is remembered. Even in The Comeback, Kudrow’s character, Valerie Cherish, clutches at her decades-old People’s Choice award as a talisman of her value as an actress.
“Because it’s from ‘the people,’” Bucatinsky joked, acknowledging how Cherish references her trophy. “The awards and the trophies and the hardware are something that we talk about a lot in the show.”
In the last scene of The Comeback’s third and final season, a postscript appears on-screen indicating that the fictional Valerie Cherish has more Emmy love in her future—something the character desperately covets throughout the series.
“It’s sad. This is the reality of our business,” Bucatinsky acknowledged. “We do the work that we’re proud of. There’s no one who can take that away from us: We made a show that people loved... But for some reason, the marker of either ratings that you get a certain number of people to actually have eyes on your show and keep it alive, or hardware, becomes the only arbiters.”
The Comeback and Hacks are available to stream on HBO Max.
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