Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series


The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an annual award given to the best television comedy series of the year. From 1960 to 1964, this category was combined with the Comedy Specials category so that both type of programs competed for the same award during those years. The award goes to the producers of the series.

Milestones

The Flintstones and Family Guy are the only animated sitcoms to be nominated for the award. As of 2020, Fleabag and Schitt's Creek are the only shows from outside the United States to win this award.
Up to the end of the twentieth century, the Big Three networks had dominated the category. Only eight other networks have won the award: HBO four times, Apple TV+ three times, Fox twice, and Amazon Prime Video, the BBC, Pop TV, Max, and FX once.

Winners and nominations

The following tables, divided by decade, show the winners listed first in colored row, followed by the other nominees of the "Comedy Series" award, according to the Primetime Emmy Awards database:

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Programs with multiple wins

;5 wins
  • Frasier
  • Modern Family
;4 wins
;3 wins
;2 wins
  • Everybody Loves Raymond
  • Get Smart
  • The Golden Girls
  • I Love Lucy
  • The Jack Benny Show
  • Murphy Brown
  • ''Ted Lasso''

    Programs with multiple nominations

;11 nominations
  • Cheers
  • Curb Your Enthusiasm
  • M*A*S*H
;9 nominations
  • All in the Family
;8 nominations
  • Frasier
  • Modern Family
;7 nominations
  • 30 Rock
  • Barney Miller
  • Everybody Loves Raymond
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Seinfeld
  • Veep
;6 nominations
;5 nominations
  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
  • Murphy Brown
  • Silicon Valley
  • Taxi
;4 nominations
;3 nominations
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • Arrested Development
  • The Bear
  • The Bob Cummings Show
  • Caesar's Hour
  • The Cosby Show
  • Designing Women
  • Entourage
  • Hogan's Heroes
  • Home Improvement
  • Kate & Allie
  • Louie
  • Mister Peepers
  • Night Court
  • The Odd Couple
  • Our Miss Brooks
  • Soap
  • Ted Lasso
  • Two and a Half Men
  • WKRP in Cincinnati
;2 nominations
  • 3rd Rock from the Sun
  • Ally McBeal
  • Atlanta
  • Buffalo Bill
  • Family Affair
  • Girls
  • Glee
  • The Good Place
  • The Kominsky Method
  • Love, American Style
  • Master of None
  • McHale's Navy
  • Newhart
  • Parks and Recreation
  • Sanford and Son
  • Schitt's Creek
  • Scrubs
  • ''Transparent''

    Total awards by network

  • NBC – 26
  • CBS – 22
  • ABC – 11
  • HBO/HBO Max – 5
  • Apple TV+ – 3
  • Fox – 2
  • Prime Video – 2
  • FX – 1
  • Pop TV – 1