Jewish Emmy nominees include Larry David and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ in a last hurrah

(JTA) — TV’s most Jewish comedy has one more chance to grab some statues on its way out the door.

The 12th and final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David’s long-running HBO sitcom, was nominated for four Emmy awards Wednesday, including best comedy and best actor for David. 

Since premiering in 2000 the show has received a total of 55 Emmy nominations, but only two competitive wins (for directing and editing). David finally wrapped “Curb” in April with an appearance from his buddy Jerry Seinfeld (whose Netflix movie “Unfrosted” was also nominated, in the television movie category). But “Curb” will have an uphill battle against the comedy category’s current favorite programs, “The Bear” and “Abbott Elementary.”

An unusually small crop of shows were nominated this year, after dual Hollywood strikes dried up the TV pipeline — and few others were Jewish, even as the Israel-Hamas war loomed over the entertainment industry. Besides David, a handful of other acting nominees had Jewish connections.

Other Jewish actors who have been nominated

Maya Rudolph was nominated for lead actress in a comedy series for the Apple TV+ series “Loot,” and received three other nominations too — two for guest-hosting “Saturday Night Live” and one for her voiceover work in Netflix’s “Big Mouth.” Hannah Einbinder received a supporting actress in a comedy series nomination for HBO’s “Hacks.” 

Tom Hollander, who was nominated for lead actor in a TV anthology or movie for FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” has an unusual Jewish background: His father’s side of the family were Czech Jews who escaped the Nazis, and his father converted to Catholicism in the United Kingdom. Earlier this year Hollander’s sister, an opera director, cited their family’s Jewish history when she canceled a planned talk with a Chabad-Lubavitch center, saying she felt uncomfortable addressing an audience of Jews when she felt “extremely troubled” by Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach (FX’s “The Bear”) and Paul Rudd (Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”) were both nominated for supporting actor in a comedy series.

Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis, who both have Jewish ancestry, were also nominated for their guest work on “The Bear,” while Matthew Broderick was nominated in the guest actor in a comedy category for playing himself on “Only Murders in the Building.” 

The nominations list included a few other Jewish comics, including Eric André for his Adult Swim series “The Eric André Show,” Albert Brooks for his HBO documentary “Defending My Life” (directed by Jewish filmmaker Rob Reiner), Eugene Levy for his Apple TV+ travel show “The Reluctant Traveler” and Trevor Noah for his Netflix stand-up comedy special “Trevor Noah: Where Was I.” (His South African mother was a Jew by choice.) Jon Stewart’s return to “The Daily Show” also scored some nominations, including for outstanding talk series.

And HBO’s “The Jinx-Part Two,” continuing the story of Jewish convicted murderer Robert Durst, was nominated for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series. Durst died in 2022.