From The Red Skelton Show and I Love Lucy to Get Smart and All in the Family through Taxi, Cheers and Murphy Brown to Frasier, Seinfeld and 30 Rock to Modern Family, Veep and Ted Lasso, the Emmy Awards have been laughing at TV best comedies for more than 70 years. Here is a gallery of all the shows to win the golden statuette since 1952; click on the image above to launch it.
The category itself has gone by various names, starting with Best Comedy Show and rolling through Best Comedy Series, Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor, Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Comedy to the current Outstanding Comedy Series. But the yuks have remained constant, whether it’s Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance trying to keep up with the conveyor belt at the chocolate factory or Jason Sudeikis Yank-coaching an English football club.
Our gallery lists all of the winners, including the two series tied for the all-time most Comedy Series Emmys with five each: Frasier (1994-98) and Modern Family (2010-14), both of which made their hauls over consecutive years. All in the Family (1971-73, 1978) and Cheers (1981-82, 1989, 1991) took four trophies apiece, nonconsecutively. A half-dozen others — The Phil Silvers Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, 30 Rock and Veep — all managed three career wins.
Note that some years had multiple winners — rewarding hourlong and half-hour series, for example.
So put down your remote, pop some corn, and dig into Deadline’s photo gallery of the Emmy-winning comedies of the past 71 years. Did your all-time favorites ever make the cut?
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