The Real Emmys Punchline Wasn’t a Joke—It Was Who Won Best Director
Five women, one man, and a win that had the Emmys audience laughing—and cringing—at just how on-the-nose awards season can get.
Living under patriarchy is rarely funny. But every so often, a moment pops up that is so on-the-nose it practically writes its own punchline. The 77th Emmys had one of those. And no, it did not come from the monologue. Sorry, Nate.
The setup
Elizabeth Banks walked out to present Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and pointed out a genuinely great stat: five of the six nominees were women. If you know awards history, you know how rare that is. Across the Emmys, Oscars, and Golden Globes, women winning directing prizes is so uncommon you could sum up the Emmys version in a short blog post. Progress in the lineup felt real.
The nominees
- Philip Barantini, Adolescence
- Shannon Murphy, Dying for Sex
- Helen Shaver, The Penguin
- Jennifer Getzinger, The Penguin
- Nicole Kassell, Sirens
- Lesli Linka Glatter, Zero Day
The punchline
Then the envelope opened and the only man in the category, Philip Barantini, won. Five-to-one odds that a woman would take it, and somehow we still landed on the one guy. I actually laughed. Not because it is uplifting — it is not — but because the irony is undeniable.
Why this stings (and why it is weirdly perfect)
To be clear, this is not a shot at Barantini. Adolescence is a strong, gut-twisting series about a 13-year-old boy pulled into incel ideology who goes on to murder a classmate. It is sharp, tough, and unfortunately more relevant by the day. Which is exactly what makes the outcome feel so pointed: five women lose a directing award while a man is celebrated for a story about misogyny radicalizing boys.
'Sexism. We see it, we hear it, we award the stories told about it as long as they're directed by men.'
Banks set up the joke. The Academy delivered the rimshot.