Barack Obama is currently undefeated at the Emmys for narrating Our Great National Parks (2022), Working: What We Do All Day (2023), and Our Oceans (2025). Next year, he could receive his first nomination for acting.
The 44th POTUS was a surprise guest star in the final episode of Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness alongside co-creator and co-writer Larry David. In the sketch, which takes place in the Oval Office in 2014, David plays a fictionalized version of himself as one of Obama’s trusted aides. After he accidentally spills a mango tango smoothie on the president’s suit, David convinces Obama to wear his infamous and much-mocked tan suit instead. Obama seems hesitant, but David convinces him it’s a pretty, pretty, pretty good look. (Watch below.)
Per the Television Academy rules, guest stars who appear in at least 5% of an episode are eligible to compete at the Emmys. Gold Derby timed Obama’s entire appearance (including the final tag where he and David close out the season) and it clocked in at approximately nine minutes. Since the episode runs 32 minutes, Obama is Emmy-eligible as he appears in roughly 28%.
Eligibility is just step one. Next, Obama will have to be officially submitted for consideration at the 2027 Emmys. That decision initially lies with HBO, but if (for some wild reason) the network chooses not to enter him, Obama will have the option of self-submitting. That happens all the time at the Emmys; in fact, The Pitt guest stars Brittany Allen and Jeff Kober self-submitted this year and both received nominations.
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama through their Higher Ground production company. Higher Ground executive producer Ethan Lewis told Variety it was his idea to relive the tan suit debacle. “From the very beginning, my dream was to close the book on the tan suit once and for all,” Lewis said.
Director and co-creator Jeff Schaffer revealed to Variety that directing Obama was “one of the coolest things” he had done in his career. “You feel smarter and better, somehow, by just being in the area,” Schaffer explained. “He had some great improv stuff. His comic timing was impeccable. He was a good actor, not just as a former president, but, like, as an actor.”
The sketch series is chock-full of guest stars who could flood the acting ballots next year — presuming they’re all in at least 5% of their episodes. In addition to Obama, memorable guests include the late Rob Reiner as George Washington, Jurnee Smollett as Rosa Parks, Henry Winkler as John Hancock, Jerry Seinfeld as William Clark, Bill Hader as Abraham Lincoln, Kathryn Hahn as Mary Todd Lincoln, Susie Essman as Susan B. Anthony, Keegan-Michael Key as Davy Crockett, and Vince Vaughn as Jacob Donner.
Samuel L. Jackson is also likely eligible in the Best Narrator category for providing the voice of the series — that’s the same category Obama won three times.
