It was another historic night for comedy and Amazon Prime Video at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday as the streaming network took home best comedy series for the second year in a row, this time for the critical hit “Fleabag.”
Along with that win, “Fleabag” captured three other awards, including lead actress in a comedy series and writing in a comedy series for star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She’s the second person in Emmy’s history to win those two awards in the same year and the first since Tina Fey did it for “30 Rock” in 2008.
Late show hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel roasted the event at one point for going without a host. And in a nod to Amazon, they were even upstaged by the tech giant’s voice assistant Alexa, who read the list of nominees and called out Waller-Bridge as the winner in the comedy actress category.
In the comedy series category, “Fleabag” beat out “Barry” (HBO), “The Good Place” (NBC), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “Russian Doll” (Netflix), “Schitt’s Creek” (Pop), and “Veep” (HBO).
Harry Bradbeer also won for “Fleabag” for directing in a comedy series. Ben Whishaw won for supporting actor in a limited series or movie for his role in Amazon’s “A Very English Scandal.”
Writing and acting can be hard and painful, but that's why we all kneel to Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Congrats on your two #Emmys wins! ? #Fleabag pic.twitter.com/5rYAjG2gTf
— Fleabag (@fleabag) September 23, 2019
Bring out the champagne. ? Help us congratulate the #Fleabag team for winning the #Emmys Award for Outstanding Comedy Series! pic.twitter.com/cBB40L7AaA
— Fleabag (@fleabag) September 23, 2019
"I'd like to say just honestly, from the bottom of my heart, that the reason that I do it is this." #Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge jokingly explains why she really writes while accepting her award for writing for a comedy series https://t.co/WmT1Fmyol4 #Emmys pic.twitter.com/Z1tuoJbm15
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 23, 2019
Pop open a canned gin and tonic, @fleabag won BEST! COMEDY! SERIES! pic.twitter.com/OkjWdhSvtP
— Amazon Prime Video US (@PrimeVideo) September 23, 2019
“For a director, something like Fleabag only comes along once in your life… I have to thank Phoebe, thank you for coming into my life like some kind of glorious grenade.” –Harry Bradbeer, Directing for a Comedy Series #Emmys
— Amazon Prime Video US (@PrimeVideo) September 23, 2019
Phoebe Waller-Bridge on winning three #Emmys for #Fleabag's last season: "This just feels like the most beautiful, beautiful way to say goodbye" https://t.co/IukKlkPxG2 pic.twitter.com/oFE8esnW2R
— Variety (@Variety) September 23, 2019
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was paying attention to the Prime Video nominees. He tweeted well wishes to some of them and even engaged via text with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star Alex Borstein, who shared a screen grab showing that she asked Bezos for help returning an order of dog food from Amazon. Bezos later posed for a selfie at the Microsoft Theater with Farrah Abraham, the former “Teen Mom” reality TV personality.
Good luck to @RachelBros, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the @MaiselTV and @Fleabag teams, and all @PrimeVideo shows up for #Emmys tonight! pic.twitter.com/mTTj82hfeK
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) September 22, 2019
Can we make a deal for my biopic ? Lovin primetime on @PrimeVideo @JeffBezos @FOXTV @TelevisionAcad #Emmys2019 #amazon pic.twitter.com/5mpbYAxqdg
— FARRAH ABRAHAM (@F1abraham) September 23, 2019
“Mrs. Maisel” was last year’s big comedy winner for Amazon, and it garnered a couple more wins Sunday night, with Tony Shalhoub and Borstein winning in the comedy supporting actor and actress categories.
Including the Creative Arts Emmys which were presented prior to Sunday, Amazon captured 15 total wins. HBO was the big network winner with 34 total wins, and Netflix had 27.
HBO took the top honor of the night with a best drama series win for the final season of the fantasy series “Game of Thrones.”
A record year of #Emmy wins for @PrimeVideo – fantastic work. Huge congrats to the winners and teams behind @Fleabag, @MaiselTV, and A Very English Scandal! pic.twitter.com/KS2NLZpY88
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) September 24, 2019
