These days, Michael Urie spends most nights scribbling his name on Playbills after performances of “Oh, Mary!,” Cole Escola’s bawdy comedy about First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln in which Urie plays her teacher. And every now and then, in the bustle of signing and posing for fan selfies, he says, someone will chirp “Good luck at the Emmys!” and it feels like a whiplash reminder of his other major career achievement this year.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, yeah! That’s right, I have to go do that, don’t I?” he says, still very much processing his first Emmy nomination.
The 45-year-old is nominated for supporting actor in a comedy series for his turn in Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” as Brian, an estate lawyer whose friendship with his widowed therapist bestie Jimmy (Jason Segel) is on the mend after an estrangement. The actor is best known for his comedic flare in TV series such as “Ugly Betty” and stage productions such as “Once Upon a Mattress” or “Buyer & Cellar,” but the second season of “Shrinking” provided Urie an opportunity to blend humor with heart. Urie’s Brian is working through his insecurities about becoming a parent while also inadvertently bringing the drunk driver responsible for Jimmy’s wife’s death — a character named Louis played by co-creator Brett Goldstein — back into their lives.
“I was like, how on earth are they going to bring this character into this world?” Urie recalls thinking. “Turns out, it was my character that brings him in. And yet, it’s sort of inevitable. [Brian] runs into him in a moment where [he] needs to learn how to help somebody, and he [Louis] needs help. I think [Brian’s] walking a dog that he almost killed when I run into him. Here’s a grown man who is busted and broken and needs somebody and I’m there for him. This guy needs forgiveness in a big way and because I’m able to fold him into the group — in a very messy way — he gets that.”
Read more: In a pinch, the writers of ‘Shrinking’ turn to their acting ‘assassin’: Michael Urie
Urie is nominated in the category alongside his co-star Harrison Ford, who plays Paul, a curmudgeon therapist with a soft spot who finds love again while navigating Parkinson’s disease. (Urie says he received a text from Ford that morning that read: “You too? And Jessica. And Big Head.”) Co-created by Segel, Goldstein and Bill Lawrence, the series received a total of seven nominations, including for comedy series and acting nods for Segel and Jessica Williams.
Urie’s first and only Emmys until now was in 2007, the year the awards show leaned into host Ryan Seacrest’s gig on “American Idol.” Attendees surrounded a rotating theater-in-the-round stage, an experiment that was widely criticized and never repeated. Urie was there as part of the cast of “Ugly Betty,” when the then-freshman ABC series received 11 nominations; that night, the show’s star America Ferrera took home the prize for lead actress in a comedy.
“At one point, I went to the bathroom and my friend texted me, ‘Where are you?’ I guess I missed an opportunity to be on camera,” Urie says of the unusual setup. “I remember America winning and that being really, really exciting.”
Now, he gets to celebrate his achievement with a new group of co-stars: “There’s so many cool people that are going to be there and our whole cast gets to be there. I’m so excited for what the night will bring.”
One concern heading into the big night? Perspiration. He made a crucial request to his stylist: an outfit that won’t give him “swamp ass,” as he describes it, after hours of sitting. How’s that for thorough planning?
Urie invited The Times along exclusively as he prepares for and experiences the Emmy Awards as a first-time nominee. Follow our live updates below.
“I was at more parties last night than I’ve been to all year,” Michael Urie says. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
12:56 p.m.: The night before the Emmys is like a high-intensity sprint of party-hopping as Hollywood toasts the year’s top TV nominees. Urie was fresh off a flight from New York to Los Angeles Saturday as he made his spin through pre-ceremony fêtes put on by BAFTA, Warner Bros. and Apple TV+, as well as the annual “Evening Before the Emmys” soirée hosted by the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
“I was at more parties last night than I’ve been to all year,” Urie says. “It was four parties in five hours. I got to see [fellow category nominee] Ike Barinholtz at the Apple party. He was so nice. And I saw Bowen [Yang], Jeff [Hiller] and Colman [Domingo], who I know from the gang mafia.”
We’re in a suite at the West Hollywood Edition hotel and he’s stationed by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Los Angeles, eye patches soothing any tiredness away as he gets his hair styled by his groomer, Jenna Nelson. His partner, actor Ryan Spahn, is seated nearby, describing their party run-ins as Whitney Houston’s discography plays in the background. They were up by 9 a.m. to begin getting ready.
The texts of well wishes have already been flooding in, he says. And we couldn’t help but ask if his “Ugly Betty” co-stars were among them. Uh, duh.
“I got a video from Vanessa [Williams],” he says. “She’s in London. She was like, “So proud of you!”
He was exchanging texts with Becki Newton. And he saw America Ferrera a few days ago while they were both taping segments on “The View.”
Michael Urie’s tuxedo for the Emmy Awards. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
1:36 p.m.: With Urie busy with “Oh, Mary!” through the end of September, and then preparing to play the title role of a reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Richard II” off-Broadway this fall, the actor has little time to watch TV.
“Except …! ” Spahn quickly interjects, “‘The Gilded Age.’”
“But we’re behind, so don’t spoil anything,” Urie says. “I just love it because it’s full of all these New York actors and you never know who you’ll meet in real life.”
I ask what kind of role he could see himself playing if he had his way. But others weigh in with some good ideas.
“I could see you as an equestrian,” Nelson says.
“I could see you running for city council,” Spahn says.
Michael Urie on his attire: “I want to be taken seriously, but I want to be queer and I want to be comfortable. I want it to be a lewk.” Urie partially dressed in his tuxedo for the night. Urie, right, with his partner Ryan Spahn at the West Hollywood EDITION hotel. Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times
2:03 p.m.: As the clock ticks closer to showtime, Urie changes out of black shorts and a tank into a structured mulberry tuxedo with black flourishes — most strikingly, a whispy, feathered lapel — by British menswear brand Denzil Patrick. It was a last-minute switch up from another ensemble he was originally considering.
Urie says discussions with his stylist Michael “Mikey” Fusco began almost immediately after news of the nomination. The actor wanted his attire to evoke multiple things: “I want to be taken seriously, but I want to be queer and I want to be comfortable. I want it to be a lewk.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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