‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Breaks Own Record For Most Comedy Series Emmy Nominations Without A Win After Final-Season Shutout

Nellie Andreeva
·3 min read

Larry David probably already had curbed his enthusiasm about a final-season Emmy breakthrough for his veteran HBO series as he was a no-show at the Sunday ceremony which made it official: David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm ended its run as the show with the most Outstanding Comedy Series nominations, 11, without a win.

Curb was nominated for four Emmys this year including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for David, missing out on all to wrap its 12-season run with a total of 55 Emmy nominations and two wins, for Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series in 2012 and for Directing in 2003.

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While skipping the ceremony, David made the Emmy party circuit earlier this weekend and was also holding court at the HBO I Max after-party Sunday night. Another HBO | Max series, Hacks, won the Comedy Series Prize tonight, while Jeremy Allen White repeated as the Lead Actor in a Comedy winner for FX’s The Bear.

David declined to speak with Deadline after the Emmys but Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, addressed the long-running snub.

“In terms of comedy, what Larry and the cast, Jeff [Schaffer] and Larry and the whole team have done; it’s pretty extraordinary to do 12 seasons,” Bloys said..”I’ve said before, Emmys aren’t everything, the work stands on its own, but I’d say, along the 12 seasons, maybe we missed as an industry acknowledging Curb.”

Over the past 24 years, Curb Your Enthusiasm has been a consistent Emmy performer. Its 11 Outstanding Comedy Series nominations are a record high, shared with such classics as Cheers and M*A*S*H*. It has been in the second phase of Emmy voting where Curb repeatedly came up short. For comparison, Cheers won the top comedy series award four times, M*A*S*H* took it home once.

Curb has held the record for most Comedy Series Emmy nominations without a win for years. Fittingly, the previous record holder it eclipsed is HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show, the first cable entrant into the top comedy series category after non-broadcast fare was allowed into the Emmy races in 1988. The Larry Sanders Show, which has influenced a number of comedies including Curb, received six Outstanding Comedy Series nominations, not able to convert any of them.

So, with its winless streak, Curb is in good company. Add to that AMC’s Better Call Saul, which last year ended its acclaimed six-season run with 53 Emmy nominations, including seven for Outstanding Drama Series, without a single win.

Both Curb Your Enthusiasm and Better Call Saul share DNA with awards juggernauts that had better luck in the Emmy winners circle. Better Call Saul is a prequel to Breaking Bad, which received 58 nominations, winning 16 Emmys, including for Outstanding Drama Series.

Meanwhile, Curb is a spiritual successor to Seinfeld, which David co-created, with the NBC sitcom often referenced on the show including in the series finale, which played off Seinfeld‘s infamous closer. Seinfeld won 10 Emmys, including for Outstanding Comedy Series, out of 68 nominations.

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