Alex Edelman wins Emmy for “Just For Us,” his HBO comedy special about anti-Semitism and Jewish identity

Alex Edelman won an Emmy for “Just For Us,” his comedy special about attending a white supremacist gathering that spotlighted contemporary anti-Semitism and the status of Jews in the United States.

Edelman received the Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety special on Sunday, the latest award since “Just For Us” opened on Broadway last year after an off-Broadway run. The Emmy was for the show's move to HBO and Max, where it premiered as a comedy special in April.

The show centers on Edelman's experiences at a white nationalist gathering in Queens, New York, and weaves together autobiography and Edelman's reflections on Jewish identity, assimilation, and whiteness in the United States. Edelman first performed the show in 2018, and it has found increasingly larger platforms as anti-Semitism has continued to rise in the United States and elsewhere, coupled with a broader reckoning within the Jewish community following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

With his win on Sunday, Edelman beat out nominees that included Mike Birbiglia, the stand-up comedian who produced “Just For Us”; Jacqueline Novak, another Jewish comedian; and the writing team behind the Oscars. The Emmy follows a special Tony Edelman won for the show in June.

In his acceptance speech, a breathless Edelman paid tribute to his close friend and collaborator on the show, Adam Brace, who died shortly before “Just For Us” opened on Broadway. (Last month, Edelman wrote in an essay in The New York Times that performing the show after Brace’s death was “painful but appropriate, like saying the Kaddish, the Jewish daily prayer of mourning.”)

“Look, this is really, really nice, and I really miss Adam,” he said in his acceptance speech. “This is the end of a seven-year journey with the show, but I got to do something really fun with my friend.”