EMMYS 2015: Women in Comedy

The Emmys got off to a bang this year, particularly when it comes to women in comedy.

Comedies with female protagonists were all the rage this season. And already at the beginning of the ceremony, women were winning big. Veep and Transparent won big this year, and we’re especially thrilled that Allison Janney won for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Mom (a history-making win, as she’s now got the most performance Emmys at 7), Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for.  Best Actress for Veep, and Jeffrey Tambor won for Best Actor for Transparent (of course, for playing a trans woman).

Meanwhile, Joan Cusack won Best Guest Actress for Shameless, which doesn’t have a female protagonist, but yay women in comedy! The writers of Veep, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche won for Best Writing on a Comedy Series.

The winner for Best Writing for a Variety Series went to The Daily Show, which wasn’t really a surprise, since it’s Jon Stewart’s last season. However, the award for Best Variety Sketch Series went to Inside Amy Schumer, which is not only a female-fronted show, but has a female head writer! (Sadly, Schumer didn’t win for co-directing the episode “12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer,” which was brilliant if you haven’t seen it – but again, the directing nod went to a director on The Daily Show, which wasn’t surprising. It also won Best Talk Variety Series.)

But the most important win in comedy was, of course, Jill Soloway, who won Best Director for a Comedy for Transparent. As we know, too few women are given the opportunity to direct, and when they are, they are rarely recognized. Congratulations, Ms. Soloway. Thank you for bringing the story of your moppa to the world. And thank you (as well as Jeffrey Tambor) for using your platform and your speeches to shine a spotlight on trans issues and remembering the community that your show is really meant to serve.

(Image via Getty Images)

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