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EGOTs In The Building? Emmy-Nominated Songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Go For The Crown
By Greg Evans,
30 days ago
UPDATE, with statement: A lot was riding on Steve Martin’s near-superhuman ability to spit out an error-free tongue-twisting patter song at crucial moments of the Broadway-themed season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building . Martin did it flawlessly, but the stakes aren’t over yet: The song, “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?,” has just been Emmy nominated for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics — and a win finally would crown songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul with the EGOT laurel.
You can watch Martin perform the song in the Season 3 episode below .
A second pair of songwriters credited on the song, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, have plenty of Tonys and Grammys but not the necessary Oscar that would put them into Emmy’s EGOT race.
In a joint statement, songwriters Pasek, Paul, Shaiman & Wittman said, “After getting to write for a legend like Steve Martin, for a production as joyous as Only Murders In The Building , it feels downright absurd–almost as absurd as our song about three triplet infants accused of murder–to receive this nomination for ‘Which Of The Pickwick Triplets Did It?’”’ We’d like to thank John Hoffman and the entire team for inviting us to write this wacky little musical within their brilliant show, with extra thanks to Steve for such a glorious rendition of our song.
“Special mention too to Sidd, Bruce and Lauren from the Only Murders music department on their deserved nods. We look forward to getting the gang back together in September, and thank Steve, Marty, Selena, Meryl, Paul and the entire cast for the passion they poured into the music of Death Rattle Dazzle.”
The Pasek-Paul award count thus far:
The duo won an Oscar for “City of Stars” from 2017’s La La Land ;
In 2017, they won a Tony Award for their original score for Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen ;
A year later, their Dear Evan Hansen cast album took a Grammy;
And just to gild the lily, the songwriting duo won another Tony for 2022’s A Strange Loop .
The duo also are among the 2019 Grammy winning team for The Greatest Showman for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. So all that’s left is the E of EGOT (their 2020 Olivier for Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t really figure into this competition). If they win the Emmy, they’ll have EGOT cred from five separate projects.
Last month, Pasek and Paul told Deadline that they were amazed at Martin’s ability to perform the rapid-fire song. In the storyline, Martin’s actor character Charles-Haden Savage struggles with “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It” throughout the series until episode 8, when he shocks his castmates with a perfect rendering.
“He’s an incredible musician so it sort of tracks,” Paul said during a conversation at Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television live-music event, where Pasek and Paul performed the patter song from the hit Hulu series’ fictional musical Death Rattle Dazzle .
“It is pretty difficult to sing a patter song,” Pasek said. “We have tried to do it and failed many times.”
Also in this year’s Emmy contention for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics are:
Girls5eva New York / Song Title: The Medium Time • Netflix • Universal Television for Netflix Sara Bareilles, Music & Lyrics
Saturday Night Live Host: Maya Rudolph / Song Title: Maya Rudolph Mother’s Day Monologue • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video Eli Brueggemann, Music Maya Rudolph, Lyrics Auguste White, Lyrics Mike DiCenzo, Lyrics Jake Nordwind, Lyrics
The Tattooist Of Auschwitz Episode 6 / Song Title: Love Will Survive • Peacock • Synchronicity Films, Peacock, SKY Studios Kara Talve, Music Hans Zimmer, Music Walter Afanasieff, Music Charlie Midnight, Lyrics
True Detective: Night Country Part 5 / Song Title: No Use • HBO | Max • HBO in association with Peligrosa, Neon Black, Anonymous Content, Parliament of Owls and Passenger John Hawkes, Music & Lyrics
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