Adam Driver - "Adam Sackler", Girls
Donald Glover - "Troy Barnes", Community
Max Greenfield - "Schmidt", New Girl
Bill Hader - "Various roles", Saturday Night Live
Danny Pudi - "Abed Nadir", Community
Reid Scott - "Dan", Veep
As much as Lena Dunham obviously shapes the tone of Girls, Driver represented an important aspect of the show in bringing so much oddball energy to bear as a romantic lead truly unlike any other on television. Troy and Abed's relationship formed such a significant through-line for this season of Community that I might venture to say that they functioned more as leads than Jeff did, but not so much so that it seems like category fraud. Both Glover and Pudi grounded Community's wide-ranging universe in real-world emotions in showing Troy grappling with the way he wants and needs to change in growing older, and in recognizing at the same time that there are aspects of Abed's personality that resist that same kind of change. (Also, Troy's reaction to the troll doll when he returns to the apartment in the relevant timeline in "Remedial Chaos Theory" may be my favorite scene of the whole year. I kept that episode on my DVR for months just so I could watch it if I was in a bad mood.) It's repetitive and reductive, but also true to call Greenfield a scene-stealer. I'll also say that he benefitted the most from the New Girl writers shaping the characters as they got to know their actors better, revealing a sweet, somewhat fussy heart underneath Schmidt's player facade. It says "various roles," but in terms of more-or-less single-handedly keeping his show from teetering off the edge into cultural insignificance it might as well say "Stefon" next to Hader's name. Not only funny, but consistently funny on a show that tends to run recurring characters into the ground. It always seems easier to say someone's a charming asshole than to authentically represent one in the flesh, but Scott was more than up to the task of making it clear why Dan is indispensable to the people he works for, as well as why they hate themselves a bit for relying on his particular mode of doing business.
Honorable Mentions: Mark Deklin, GCB; Josh Hopkins, Cougar Town; Jake Johnson, New Girl; Luka Jones, Best Friends Forever; Taran Killam, Saturday Night Live; Bobby Moynihan, Saturday Night Live; Jim Rash, Community; Jeffrey Tambor, Bent; James Van Der Beek, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23; Brian Van Holt, Cougar Town; Mike White, Enlightened; Luke Wilson, Enlightened
Particular props to the ensembles of: Happy Endings (Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr.); Parks and Recreation (Jim O'Heir, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt); Veep (Tony Hale, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh)
I wouldn't be surprised to see: Fred Armisen, Saturday Night Live; Ty Burrell, Modern Family; Chris Colfer, Glee; Kevin Dillon, Entourage; Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family; Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock; Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock; Ed O'Neill, Modern Family; Jeremy Piven, Entourage; Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live; James Spader, The Office; Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family; Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live; Rainn Wilson, The Office
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