Benjy Pasek and Justin Paul are the EGOT winners.
The duo won an Emmy on Sunday at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for their original song “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” from “Only Murders in the Building,” which they co-wrote with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
Pasek and Paul are the 20th and 21st people to achieve EGOT status. At 39, they are tied with fellow songwriter Robert Lopez as the youngest winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. They are also the first creative team to win all four awards at the same time.
Their EGOT journey began in 2017 when they won an Oscar for their original song “City of Stars” from the film “La La Land.” Later that year, they won a Tony Award for their original score for “Dear Evan Hansen” and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for their cast recording of a stage musical in 2018.
The pair met as freshmen at the University of Michigan and have written songs for “A Christmas Story, The Musical,” “The Greatest Showman” and “Spirited.” They are also contributing songs to Disney’s upcoming live-action film “Snow White” and Pharrell Williams’ semi-autobiographical drama “Atlantis,” both of which are scheduled for release in 2025.
Lopez, Pasek and Paul maintain good relationships with EGOT songwriters, lyricists and composers Richard Rogers, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, Alan Menken and, most recently, Elton John.
In the third season of the Hulu series, Steve Martin gave a brilliant performance of “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” as part of a fictional Broadway musical. The joke-filled patter song about three toddlers who are suspects in their mother’s murder was a source of narrative tension as Martin’s character was extremely nervous about singing the entire song.
“The more plosives there are, the more twists and turns or speeds there are, the more rewarding it is for you as an audience member,” Paul told The Times earlier this year. “You wonder, ‘Can he actually do it?’”
The production won Emmy Awards for Original Music and Lyrics for Sara Bareilles’ track “The Medium Time” from “Girls5eva,” John Hawkes’ number “No Use” from “True Detective: Night Country,” Kara Talbe, Hans Zimmer, Walter Afanasiev and Charlie Midnight’s song “Love Will Survive” from “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and Ellie Brueggemann, Maya Rudolph, Auguste White, Mike DeCenzo and Jake Nordwind’s “Saturday Night Live” song “Maya Rudolph Mother’s Day Monologue.”
“Murder in the Building” was nominated for 21 awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and for performances by Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd.
An edited version of the two-day Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony will air concurrently on FXX on September 14 at 8 p.m. ET.
The Primetime Emmy Awards, held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, air on ABC on September 15 at 8 p.m. The show will be hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy, marking the first time a father and son have hosted the show together.
