The 2024 Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held September 8, and among the wins was a very special statuette for the songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
Winning the Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics category for their musical earworm "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” from season three of Only Murders in the Building, the duo officially achieved EGOT status. Pasek and Paul share this Emmy win with the song’s co-writers, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
EGOT is an acronym that stands for four award ceremonies: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. In order to join the EGOT club, an individual has to win all four of these awards, which span across disciplines, from recorded music to film to live theatre. The designation is considered the "grand slam" of the American entertainment world, with 19 previously achieving the designation through competitive awards, and 6 others doing so with at least one honorary award (such as Liza Minnelli, who received an honorary Grammy in 1990 denoting her as a legend).
Prior to the September 8 ceremony, Pasek and Paul were Emmy nominated for their song "In The Market For a Miracle" from A Christmas Story Live. Their Grammy, Oscar, and Tony wins include a Tony and Grammy for Dear Evan Hansen (the former for their score and the latter for the cast recording), and an Oscar for La La Land’s “City of Stars.” Additionally, they won a second Tony in 2022 as producers for the Broadway run of A Strange Loop.
Other competitive EGOT winners include composers Richard Rodgers, Marvin Hamlisch, Elton John, Alan Menken, and Robert Lopez; actors Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Hudson, and Viola Davis; orchestrator Jonathan Tunick; writer and director Mel Brooks; director Mike Nichols; producer Scott Rudin; singer John Legend; and lyricist Tim Rice. Lopez is the only individual to complete a double EGOT, having won every award designation twice.