Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s emotional (and fifth) win for Veep wasn’t the only Emmy Award garnered by the hilarious HBO series. Armando Iannucci’s brilliant political satire also scored its second consecutive win, and fifth consecutive nomination, for the Outstanding Comedy Series category on Sunday. What’s more, Veep‘s victory comes on the heels of Iannucci’s departure from the program after the fourth season, which left Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm alum David Mandel in charge of the show. (It’s appropriate, then, that Larry David presented the statuette to Mandel and his team.)
“I have a 9:30 a.m. library shift at my son’s school tomorrow morning,” Mandel quipped. “If anyone is willing to trade with me or at home, you can just email me.”
All joking aside, the history of television is rife with examples of leadership turnover on shows that doesn’t always end well. Yet Mandel’s brilliant comedic handling of the series as not only lived up to the standard set by Iannucci, it’s in many ways improved upon it.
Meanwhile, Timothy Simons — the many behind Jonah Ryan’s incredibly punchable face — lined the Veep producers up backstage for a trophy-wielding photo. Amazingly, none of the individuals pictured had mistakenly tried to attack Ryan Simons with their statuettes yet.
