On Saturday, September 9, the Emmys held their Creative Arts ceremony ahead of the Primetime Emmys on September 17 and Trevor Noah and Common were amongst the night’s winners.
Trevor Noah’s YouTube comedy special, The Daily Show: Between the Scenes, took home the Emmy for Best Short Form Variety Series, beating out Epic Rap Battles of History, Behind the Voice, Honest Trailers and The Star Wars Show. This serves as Trevor Noah’s very first Emmy win.
Common, Robert Glasper, and Karriem Riggins won the award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Letter to the Free,” their song on Ava Duvernay’s 13th documentary. “Letter to the Free” beat out Chance The Rapper’s “Last Christmas” sketch on SNL, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special,” and the “Lemonade” parody from “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Common now has to win a Tony Award to reach EGOT status, a rare feat where an entertainer wins an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award.
Common has already expressed interest in performing on Broadway, admitting in an interview, “Yes, it’s on my mind. [EGOT’s] not the sole reason. I wanted to go to Broadway before I won any awards. I would love to do theater.”