The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program debuted in 1957, and has been annually awarded most years since 1964. It has had many slight name changes, mostly involving the addition or subtraction of the word comedy. Generally, the category has recognized the writers of variety and sketch comedy shows. However, in 1957, 1964 and 1979, it was the main category for writers of situation comedies, which have otherwise been recognized in a wholly separate category.
For most of the 1970s, the category was effectively split into two branches. From 1971 to 1978, one-off specials were awarded separately from ongoing series. Since then, the writers of one-off variety specials have competed against series writers, and have very occasionally won, as in 1991 and 2000. This has led to some anomalies, such as when a special edition of Late Night with David Letterman beat out regular editions of The Tracey Ullman Show and Saturday Night Live in 1987 — despite the fact that typical episodes of Late Night were not nominated that year.
The category eventually found greater stability with its name in 1982, when it settled on Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program for almost two decades. In 2000, it added the word comedy, thus allowing for the current form of the name. Of all the writing Emmy categories, it has recently become the one most dominated by cable networks. Since 1996 it has been won by a major terrestrial broadcaster only twice, with the overwhelming majority of winners coming from HBO and Comedy Central.
List of Winners
The following list of winners in this category is organized both by year and the name being used by the category in that year.
Best Comedy Writing -Variety or Situation Comedy
- 1957 The Phil Silvers Show - Billy Friedberg, Nat Hiken, Coleman Jacoby, Arnold Rosen, Leonard Stern, Tony Webster
- 1958 no award
- 1959 no award
- 1960 no award
- 1961 no award
- 1962 no award
- 1963 no award
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy or Variety
- 1964 The Dick Van Dyke Show - Sam Denoff, Bill Persky, Carl Reiner
- 1965 no award
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety
- 1966 An Evening with Carol Channing - Hal Goldman, Al Gordon, Sheldon Keller
- 1967 The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard - Mel Brooks, Sam Denoff, Bill Persky, Carl Reiner, Mel Tolkin
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Music or Variety
- 1968 Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - Chris Bearde, Phil Hahn, Jack Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson, Paul Keyes, Marc London, Allan Manings, David Panich, Hugh Wedlock, Digby Wolfe
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety
- 1969 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - Allan Blye, Bob Einstein, Carl Gottlieb, Cy Howard, Steve Martin, Jerry Music, Murray Roman, Cecil Tuck, Paul Wayne, Mason Williams
- 1970 Annie, The Women in the Life of a Man - Gary Belkin, Peter Bellwood, Thomas Meehan, Herb Sargent, Judith Viorst
Specials and series awarded separately
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Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety or Music
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Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music Special
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Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Comedy-Variety or Music Series
Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
- 1980 Shirley MacLaine..."Every Little Movement" - Buz Kohan
Outstanding Writing in a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
- 1982 SCTV Network - Jeffrey Barron, Dick Blasucci, John Candy, Chris Cluess, Bob Dolman, Joe Flaherty, Paul Flaherty, Stuart Kreisman, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, John McAndrew, Brian McConnachie, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Mert Rich, Michael Short, Doug Steckler, Dave Thomas
- 1983 SCTV Network - Dick Blasucci, John Candy, Bob Dolman, Joe Flaherty, Paul Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, John McAndrew, Martin Short, Michael Short, Doug Steckler, Mary Charlotte Wilcox
- 1984 Late Night with David Letterman - Christopher Elliott, Sanford Frank, Ted Greenberg, David Letterman, Merrill Markoe, Jeff Martin, Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell, Joseph E. Toplyn, Matt Wickline, David Yazbek
- 1985 Late Night with David Letterman - Randy Cohen, Kevin Curran, Chris Elliott, Sandy Frank, Eddie Gorodetsky, Fred Graver, Larry Jacobson, David Letterman, Merrill Markoe, Jeff Martin, Gerard Mulligan, Joe Toplyn, Matt Wickline
- 1986 Late Night with David Letterman (Fourth Anniversary Special) - Randy Cohen, Kevin Curran, Chris Elliott, Sandy Frank, Fred Graver, Larry Jacobson, David Letterman, Merrill Markoe, Jeff Martin, Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell, Joe Toplyn, Matt Wickline
- 1987 Late Night with David Letterman (Fifth Anniversary) - Randy Cohen, Kevin Curran, Chris Elliott, Sandy Frank, Fred Graver, Larry Jacobson, David Letterman, Jeff Martin, Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell, Adam Resnick, Joe Toplyn, Matt Wickline
- 1988 Jackie Mason on Broadway - Jackie Mason
- 1989 Saturday Night Live - John Bowman, A. Whitney Brown, Greg Daniels, Tom Davis, James Downey, Al Franken, Shannon Gaughan, Jack Handey, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Mike Myers, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Christine Zander
- 1990 Billy Crystal: Midnight Train To Moscow - Billy Crystal (tie)
- 1990 The Tracey Ullman Show - Jerry Belson, James L. Brooks, Marc Flanagan, Dinah Kirgo, Jay Kogen, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Heide Perlman, Ian Praiser, Sam Simon, Tracey Ullman, Wallace Wolodarsky
- 1991 The 63rd Annual Academy Awards - Billy Crystal, Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, David Steinberg, Bruce Vilanch, Robert Wuhl
- 1992 no award
- 1993 The Ben Stiller Show - Judd Apatow, Robert Cohen, David Cross, Brent Forrester, Jeff Kahn, Bruce Kirschbaum, Bob Odenkirk, Sultan Pepper, Dino Stamatopoulos, Ben Stiller
- 1994 no award
- 1995 no award
- 1996 - Dennis Miller Live - David Feldman, Eddie Feldmann, Mike Gandolfi, Tom Hertz, Leah Krinsky, Dennis Miller, Rick Overton
- 1997 Chris Rock: Bring the Pain - Chris Rock
- 1998 Dennis Miller Live - Jose Arroyo, David Feldman, Eddie Feldmann, Jim Hanna, Leah Krinsky, Dennis Miller, David Weiss
- 1999 The Chris Rock Show - Tom Agna, Vernon Chatman, Louis CK, Lance Crouther, Gregory Greenberg, Ali LeRoi, Steve O'Donnell, Chris Rock, Frank Sebastiano, Chuck Sklar, Jeff Stilson, Wanda Sykes-Hall, Mike Upchurch
Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program
- 2000 Dress to Kill - Eddie Izzard
- 2001 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - Eric Drysdale, Jim Earl, Dan Goor, Charlie Grandy, JR Havlan, Tom Johnson, Kent Jones, Paul Mercurio, Chris Regan, Allison Silverman, Jon Stewart
- 2002 Saturday Night Live - Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Max Brooks, James Downey, Tina Fey, Hugh Fink, Charlie Grandy, Jack Handey, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Dennis McNicholas, Lorne Michaels, Matt Murray, Paula Pell, Matt Piedmont, Ken Scarborough, Michael Schur, Frank Sebastiano, T. Sean Shannon, Robert Smigel, Emily Spivey, Andrew Steele, Scott Wainio
- 2003 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Eric Drysdale, J.R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Tom Johnson, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross, Jon Stewart
- 2004 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J.R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross, Jon Stewart
- 2005 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J.R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross, Jon Stewart
- 2006 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart - Rich Blomquist, Steve Bodow, Rachel Axler, Kevin Bleyer, Tim Carvell, Stephen Colbert, Eric Drysdale, J.R. Havlan, Scott Jacobson, David Javerbaum, Ben Karlin, Rob Kutner, Sam Means, Chris Regan, Jason Reich, Jason Ross, Jon Stewart
- 2007 Late Night With Conan O'Brien - Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Dan Cronin, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Berkley Johnson, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Tim Harrod, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg
- 2008 The Colbert Report - Tom Purcell, Stephen Colbert, Allison Silverman, Richard Dahm, Michael Brumm, Rob Dubbin, Eric Drysdale, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Laura Krafft, Frank Lesser, Glenn Eichler, Peter Grosz, Bryan Adams, Barry Julien, Meredith Scardino
- 2009 The Daily Show - Steve Bodow, Jon Stewart, David Javerbaum, Josh Lieb, Rory Albanese, Kevin Bleyer, Jason Ross, Tim Carvell, John Oliver, Sam Means, Rob Kutner, J.R. Havlan, Rich Blomquist, Wyatt Cenac, Elliott Kalan, Rachel Axler
References
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