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emmys 2018
Jimmy Tatro’s performance as high-school delinquent Dylan Maxwell on Netflix’s miraculously pitch-perfect American Vandal would have been remarkable all on its own. The specific blend of cockiness, bullshit, and lethargic idiocy that add up to the perfectly true-to-life Dylan were just so impressive. That they came from an actor who came up through the ranks of YouTube, that vast sea of teenage content producers serving up cinnamon challenges and branded banalities, is even more impressive. If there’s any justice — or, more accurately, any sense of adventure — in this years Emmy voters, they’ll see the opportunity in front of them to nominate the actor who gave the most clever, fun performance on TV’s most clever, fun show.
American Vandal is up to so much more than it initially seems. It weaponizes the stupidity of its concept — a high-school mystery over who among them spray-painted penises on 27 cars in the school parking lot — in order to deliver a note-perfect genre parody of true-crime programming like Serial and Making a Murderer, while at the same time crafting a realistic and intelligent story about high-school classmates. But it’s Tatro’s Dylan that is the show’s centerpiece. He’s not just playing a thick-necked dummy (though he is, to perfection); Dylan has dozens of little quirks and affectations that make him feel not archetypal but fully recognizable. The way he dramatically slouches in his seat when a teacher brings up his past bad behavior; the way he earnestly discusses his dick-drawing style. Whether Tatro’s acting style is intuitive or far more studied than we even know, the result is TV’s most delightfully watchable performance.
Tatro made a name for himself in the self-contained celebrity bubble of YouTube, where his Life According to Jimmy channel currently sits at just under 3 million subscribers. His videos ranged from parodies to sketches to recurring conversations with his comedy partner Christian A. Pierce. These videos suggested a gift for the kind of youth-culture idiocy that Tatro would bring to Dylan. Notably, his videos were absent a lot of the manic obnoxiousness that characterize many YouTube concepts. Tatro never begs for a laugh, nor does he look overly impressed by his outrageousness. In American Vandal‘s first episode, we see clips of YouTube-style videos made by Dylan and his friends (the Wayback Boys), farting on children and pantsing random people at the park. Tatro’s default web persona may be pretty stupid, but he knows the difference between stupid content made by stupid people and stupid content made by smart people. If the YouTube generation threatens to suck American entertainment down into a formless void of antic “content,” Tatro makes a great case for YouTube as a place for a talented comedic talent to hone his strengths.
Because American Vandal will be creating a brand new story with new characters in season 2, it’s been entered into the Limited Series categories at the Emmys. Which means instead of competing with the best comedic actors on TV, Tatro is fighting for a nomination among some of the top dramatic actors in Hollywood. In fact, if Tatro’s long-shot hopes at an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series, he’s going to have to beat out:
- Al Pacino in Paterno
- Jeff Daniels in The Looming Tower
- Darren Criss in American Crime Story: Versace
- Kyle McLachlan in Twin Peaks: The Return
- Benedict Cumberbatch in Patrick Melrose
- Antonio Banderas in Genius: Picasso
That’s not to mention the likes of Jared Harris (The Terror), Michael Shannon (Waco), Daniel Bruhl (The Alienist), and Michael B. Jordan (Fahrenheit 451). It’s a long uphill trip for Tatro, and it would be a huge get for Netflix if it happened. But mostly, it would be a justice in an entertainment landscape that isn’t always so righteous.
