Nothing is a guarantee during awards season, but more often than not, one or two Saturday Night Live hosts get nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor or Actress at the Emmys for their work on the show. Predicting who among the twenty-something hosts will get selected by the voters can be challenging, but one particular fanbase is convinced their favorite is about to be chosen.
The presumptive nominee is Connor Storrie, the breakout star of Heated Rivalry. He hosted back in February and got a very positive response from fans who were impressed by his wide variety of accents, as well as his willingness to just go with a bunch of ridiculous characters, including an injured stripper heroically fighting through the pain. At the time, he seemed like one of several possible hosts who could wind up getting pushed, but over the last week or two, he’s really separated himself from the pack.
First, the show officially submitted him for consideration, which is a bigger hurdle than you might think, as only around half make the cut. Second, his fans started being loud on social media about wanting to see him nominated, which matters as voters sometimes need to be pointed in the right direction. Third, he started showing up in prediction lists, most prominently over at Gold Derby, which has him at or near the top of the list from both the site’s editors and users.
There’s also the Heated Rivalry of it all. The breakout hit, which has been renewed for season two, was one of the buzzier TV shows of the last year, but because it’s a Canadian production, it’s not actually eligible for the traditional Emmys. It instead has to compete in the International Emmys, which get a lot less fanfare. An SNL nomination for Storrie would give voters a chance to honor the show and him. That might sound weird if you’re not someone who follows awards shows closely, but those of us who do understand that narratives and make-up awards are most definitely part of the game.
If Storrie gets his nomination, he’ll be in great company. SNL has gotten its hosts dozens of nominations over the years and quite a few wins. Maya Rudolph, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Tiffany Haddish, Justin Timberlake and more have taken home the trophy, and a ton more have at least been recognized over the years. Voters clearly like rewarding the unique skill set Saturday Night Live can bring out of a performer.
You can watch an example of that from Storrie in this wild sketch about ice skating from his episode…
The nominations officially come out on July 8th with the ceremony following on September 14th. If I had to guess, I’d say there’s about a sixty percent chance Storrie actually gets nominated. That means Heated Rivalry fans are free to get their hopes up, but I wouldn’t start betting large amounts of money on it. With Rob Reiner’s turn in The Bear widely expected to get nominated and several big names the popular Shrinking in the mix, the competition is very tight.
