There are actors who win Emmys, and then there's Jean Smart. The Hacks star just snagged her fifth consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Yes, you read that right: fifth straight. Meaning she's won every single season the show has been on the air.
Before Smart, only one other actor had ever pulled off that particular magic trick: Bill Cosby for I Spy back in the 1960s. So, yeah, she's in some pretty exclusive company, and frankly, she's making it look easy.
Smart, ever the comedian, accepted her latest statuette with a dry observation about the glamour of awards season. "You’re in your Spanx, and your corset, and your tape, and your shoes that are cutting your toes off, and you’re going, ‘Oh my God, she’s not that good. We just stood up because she’s old,'" she quipped. Because apparently, that's what we're all thinking.
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Start Your News DetoxThe Role That Keeps Giving
For the uninitiated, Hacks on HBO Max follows Deborah Vance, a legendary (and legendarily difficult) Las Vegas comedian played by Smart. The show masterfully navigates the sometimes-unfunny realities of the comedy world, especially how show business treats women as they dare to age.
Smart dedicated her win to the show's creators and showrunners, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs, acknowledging that "It all begins and ends with them." It's the kind of role actors dream of, and Smart is clearly making the absolute most of it.
Fans, naturally, were ecstatic. The internet lit up with cheers, with one fan declaring, "History has been made tonight! Jean Smart with an outstanding standing ovation and Emmy win for Hacks!" Another X (formerly Twitter) user offered a slightly more... pointed take: "Sydney Sweeney lowkey set women back to the beginning of time, so Jean Smart had to become the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of a show, I don’t make the rules." Let that sink in.
This historic run also brings Smart's overall Emmy tally to eight, tying her with comedy titans Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most Emmy wins ever. Which, if you think about it, is both impressive and slightly terrifying for anyone else in her category.
