Pasek & Paul Would Set These Records If They Become EGOT Winners at Next Month’s Emmys

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are nominated for a Primetime Emmy for outstanding music and lyrics for a song they co-wrote for Only Murders in the Building. If they win on Sept. 8, the second night of the Creative Arts Emmys, they will become the 20th and 21st individuals to EGOT – to win at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony in competition.

They would set a new record for the fastest climb to an EGOT – a little less than seven years and seven months from the date of their first EGOT win. The existing record is held by Robert Lopez, who took nine years and eight months from the time he collected his first EGOT award in June 2004 to the time he completed the journey in March 2014.

Moreover, Pasek and Paul would be the second pair to achieve the EGOT as a team. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice won each of the four awards as a team – a Tony for best original score for Evita, a Grammy for best cast show album for Evita, an Oscar for best original song for “You Must Love Me” from Evita and an Emmy for outstanding variety special (live) for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.

In addition, Pasek, who will be 39 years and three months old on Emmy night, would become the second-youngest EGOT winner ever, trailing only Lopez, who was 39 and one week old when he achieved the feat in March 2014. Paul, who will be 39 years, eight months and five days old that night, would become the third-youngest EGOT ever. John Legend, who was 39 years, eight months and 12 days old when he achieved the feat in September 2018, would fall from his current runner-up status to fourth place.

Pasek would be the fourth individual who is publicly LGBTQ to achieve the EGOT, following actor Sir John Gielgud (1991), producer Scott Rudin (2012) and Sir Elton John (2024).

Pasek and Paul won their first EGOT-qualifying award, an Oscar for best original song, in February 2017 for co-writing “City of Stars” from La La Land with composer Justin Hurwitz. They won a Tony for best original score that June for Dear Evan Hansen and won a second Tony in June 2022 for being among the platoon of producers of A Strange Loop, which was voted best musical. They won their first Grammy, best musical theater album, in January 2018 for Dear Evan Hansen and their second, best compilation soundtrack for visual media, in February 2019 for The Greatest Showman.

They are nominated for a Primetime Emmy for co-writing the song “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” for Only Murders in the Building with another songwriting team, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Series star Steve Martin, who is nominated for a Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, performed the tongue-twisting song.

But Pasek and Paul haven’t won the award yet. The competition is strong. Eli Brueggemann, who won in this category six years ago for co-writing “Come Back Barack” for Saturday Night Live, is nominated again this year for another SNL song, “Maya Rudolph Mother’s Day Monologue,” which he co-wrote with Rudolph, Mike DiCenzo, Jake Nordwind and Auguste White.  

Other nominees in the category are Sara Bareilles for writing “The Medium Time” from Girls5eva; John Hawkes, for writing “No Use” from True Detective: Night Country; and Walter Afanasieff, Kara Talve, Hans Zimmer and Charlie Midnight for cowriting “Love Will Survive” from The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Barbra Streisand recorded the latter song. She also recorded “Ordinary Miracles” from Barbra Streisand: The Concert, a Marvin Hamlisch/Alan & Marilyn Bergman song which won in the category 29 years ago.

This is the second Primetime Emmy nod for Pasek and Paul. They were nominated in the same category six years ago for writing a song from A Christmas Story Live!

Sir Elton John was the most recent person to complete the EGOT. He did so when he won a Primetime Emmy for Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium at the ceremony in January (which was delayed for four months by union strikes).

If Pasek and Paul achieve the feat, this would be the fourth time that two or more people became EGOTs in the same calendar year. Helen Hayes and Rita Moreno both became EGOTs in 1977. Mel Brooks and Mike Nichols both scored in 2001. Webber, Rice and Legend all completed their EGOT journeys in 2018.

Here’s a look at this year’s Primetime Emmy nominations in all seven music categories.