Despite appearances, quadruple-nominee Bill Hader denies having a secret plan to nab long-overdue Emmy nominations for beloved TV stars. But he admits there’s a trend. On Tuesday, Hader was nominated three times for Barry, which received 17 nominations for its second season overall. Two of the nods were for TV legends: Henry Winkler—who won his first-ever Emmy for the first season of Hader’s violent dark comedy—and Stephen Root, receiving his own first Emmy nomination Tuesday.

“He did that. He did the work,” Hader said, adding that Root, one of his favorite actors, is “one of the hardest-working guys” in show business.

Hader himself was nominated both for writing and directing the ambitious episode “ronny/lily,” a surreal half hour that unfolds like a weird dream. “That episode was like, Well, huh, this feels right, hope everyone else agrees,” Hader said, laughing. He recently found the notebook he kept for season two of Barry, and his notes for the episode read: “Rite Aid fight. Spider monkey girl?”

Eventually, Hader developed the idea for the episode on his own. Around 10 months before they shot it, Hader brought in the show’s stunt coordinator, Wade Allen, anticipating how difficult its centerpiece fight sequences would be. Hader recalled telling Allen—who was also nominated for an Emmy yesterday—”Find me people who can do this stuff.”

The slew of nominations is another seal of approval for the second season of Barry, which some approached skeptically after the show’s bravura first season. With the four nominations given to Documentary Now! as well, Hader’s involved in 21 Emmy nominations overall this year.

“Getting Emmy recognition—or like, WGA and DGA awards and stuff—it’s kind of mind-boggling. That’s all very, beyond gratifying,” he said. At the same time, he added, being from Oklahoma, he can’t take the Hollywood circus too seriously.

Barry cocreator Alec Berg, he continued, is “the same way. That’s probably why we get along so well. I called him this morning and said, Hey, we got 17 nominations, and he went, Wow, look at us! And that was about it. And then we talked about something else.”

You seem grounded, I suggested to Hader.

“I guess,” he laughed. “Or we’re depressed. Grounded, or fucking mentally disturbed.”

It helps that Hader feels little rivalry with his fellow nominees, including his fellow HBO comedy, Veep. “Competition with other people—I don’t know, I find it kind of silly, unless you’re playing sports,” he said.

“This sounds like a line some people say about themselves, but I do think it’s true—I get more competitive with whatever my last thing was. I watch the pilot of Barry, and then I go into directing ‘ronny/lily’ and I’m like, It has to be better than that.”

Anyway, Hader added: “I’m not going to get, like, competitive with Eugene Levy. Like, he’s the best guy in the world!” Hader was as excited as anyone when the Schitt’s Creek star was nominated as a lead actor this year for the first time: “I see Eugene Levy gets nominated, and I’m like [he squeals], Yes, Eugene Levy!”

“He’s the nicest guy—both him and Catherine O’Hara are two of my heroes,” Hader continued. “I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if they didn’t exist. To be in a category with him and Ted Danson and all these people I like and admire—it’s really amazing.”

With so much Emmys love—and a third season on the way—I asked Hader if he’s excited to return to the inside of Barry’s mind. “No! No. Who wants to be inside his mind?” Hader replied with a laugh. “Especially now—he’s totally fucked up!”