Ricky makes best actor shortlist

Ricky Gervais has been nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Derek.

In the category for best lead actor in a comedy, he is up against Matt LeBlanc for Episodes; Don Cheadle for House Of Lies; Louis CK for Louie, William H. Macy in the US remake of Shameless and Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory.

Gervais said: 'I am absolutely blown away. Derek is probably my favourite character I've ever created and I have never been more excited about a nomination.'

He or his shows have were nominated for a primetime every year since 2005 – for co-writing the Office with Stephen Merchant – to 2012, for presenting the Golden Globes. He previously won the acting gong for Extras in 2005.

Up for best comedy actress are Lena Dunham for Girls, Melissa McCarthy for Mike & Molly, Edie Falco for Nurse Jackie, Taylor Schilling for Orange Is The New Black, Amy Poehler for Parks And Recreation and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Veep.

Louie, Modern Family, Orange Is The New Black,Silicon Valley, The Big Bang Theory and Veep are up for best comedy And the comedy writing shortlist is almost identical, but Episodes is shortlisted and Modern Family isn't.

Supporting comedy actress nominees are: Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family; Allison Janney as Bonnie in Mom; Kate Mulgrew as Galina 'Red' Reznikov in Orange Is The New Black; Kate McKinnon for various characters in Saturday Night Live; Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory; and Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer in Veep.

And for supporting actor: Andre Braugher as Captain Ray Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Adam Driver as Adam Sackler in Girls; Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy in Modern Family; Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett in Modern Family; Fred Armisen as various characters in Portlandia and Tony Hale as Gary Walsh in Veep.

In total, Veep attracted june nominations, causing creator Armando Iannucci to tweet: 'This is embarrassing. I feel like I'm playing for Germany.... Hurrah to everyone on the show. I've cracked open a walnut in celebration.'

The Emmy winners will be announced on August 25.

Published: 10 Jul 2014