Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have become EGOT award winners.
The duo won an Emmy on Sunday for “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” their original song co-written with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for “Only Murders in the Building” at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Pasek and Paul are the 20th and 21st people to achieve EGOT status. Both are 39 years old and are tied with fellow songwriter Robert Lopez as the youngest to receive the EGOT award. They are also the first creative team to receive the EGOT award simultaneously, winning all four awards together.
Their EGOT journey began when they won an Oscar in 2017 for their original song “City of Stars,” which appears in the film “La La Land.” Later that year, they won the Tony Award for the original score of “Dear Evan Hansen” and won the Grammy Award for best musical theater album for the cast recording of the musical in 2018.
The pair met as freshmen at the University of Michigan and also wrote the songs for “A Christmas Story,” “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 slated for release in 2025.
In addition to Lopez, Pasek and Paul are in good company with other EGOT composers, lyricists and authors: Richard Rodgers, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, Alan Menken and, most recently, Elton John.
“Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” was masterfully performed by Steve Martin as part of a fictional Broadway musical in the third season of the Hulu series. The joke-filled song about three babies who are suspected of their mother’s murder was a source of narrative tension, as Martin’s character was extremely nervous about performing it in its entirety.
“The more alliteration or the more plosives there are, the more twists and turns there are in the song, the greater the benefit to the audience,” Paul told The Times earlier this year. “You wonder: ‘Can he really do it?’”
The score won the Emmy for original music and lyrics for the “Girls5eva” song “The Medium Time” by Sara Bareilles; the “True Detective: Night Country” number “No Use” by John Hawkes; the “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” number “Love Will Survive” by Kara Talve, Hans Zimmer, Walter Afanasieff and Charlie Midnight; and the “Saturday Night Live” song “Maya Rudolph Mother's Day Monologue” by Eli Brueggemann, Maya Rudolph, Auguste White, Mike DiCenzo and Jake Nordwind.
“Only Murders in the Building” has 21 nominations, including best comedy series and performances by Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd.
An edited version of the two-night Creative Arts Emmys ceremonies will air together on FXX at 8 p.m. on September 14.
The Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be held at LA Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, will air on ABC at 8 p.m. on Sept. 15. The ceremony will be hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy, making them the first father-son duo to do so.
