The

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Writing for Variety Special is awarded to one television special each year. In the 1960s and between 1979 and 2008, specials competed alongside nominees for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which are listed in alphabetical order. The years given are those in which the ceremonies took place: __TOC__

Winners and nominations

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Individuals with multiple awards

Totals include individuals wins for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. ;3 wins * Louis C.K. (2 consecutive) *

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...

;2 wins * Dave Boone (consecutive) *

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...

Individuals with multiple nominations

Totals are for individuals nominated since 2009. ;10 nominations * Dave Boone ;7 nominations * Jon Macks *

Seth Meyers Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NB ...

;6 nominations * Louis C.K. *

John Mulaney John Edmund Mulaney (born August 26, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He first rose to prominence for his work as a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous ...

;4 nominations * Alex Baze *

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

* Paul Greenberg * Robert Smigel ;3 nominations * Barry Adelman *

Robert Carlock Robert Morgan Carlock (born September 21, 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has worked as a writer for several NBC television comedies, and as a showrunner for ''30 Rock'', which was created by his recurring collaborator, comedia ...

* R.J. Fried *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom '' The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...

* Craig Rowin * Marc Shaiman * Michael Shoemaker ;2 nominations * James Anderson *

Samantha Bee Samantha Anne Bee (born October 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host. Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', where she became th ...

Ashley Nicole Black Ashley Nicole Black (born June 15, 1985) is an American comedian, actress, writer and producer. She was a writer and correspondent for ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' (2016–2019), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...

* Michael Brumm * Pat Cassels *

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

* Aaron Cohen *

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey''. In the ...

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

* Devin Delliquanti *

Paul Dinello Paul E. Dinello (born November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, and writer, best known for his collaborations with Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris. He portrayed Geoffrey Jellineck on Comedy Central's ''Strangers with Candy'', and later ...

Eric Drysdale Eric Drysdale (born March 20, 1969) is a writer for '' The Colbert Report,'' ''The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee''. He has been nominated for twenty-one Emmys and won ten. In addition to TV w ...

* Ariel Dumas *

Glenn Eichler Glenn Eichler (born ) is an American comedy writer. He started out as an editor for '' National Lampoon'' magazine. He then worked as story editor for the MTV television shows ''Beavis and Butt-head'' and ''The Maxx''. He was later responsible f ...

* Mathan Erhardt * David Feldman * Lewis Friedman *

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress. She began her career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, her show '' Nanette'' on Netflix won ...

* Django Gold * Gabe Gronli * Joe Grossman *

Steve Higgins Steve Higgins (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, producer, announcer, actor, and comedian. He currently serves as the announcer of ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' and as a writer and producer of ''Saturday Night Live''. Prio ...

* Barry Julien * Miles Kahn * Jay Katsir * Chris Kelly * Erik Kenward * Rob Klein * Matt Lappin *

Carol Leifer Carol Leifer ( ; born July 27, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actress whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when she was in college. She has written many television scripts including ''The Larry Sanders ...

* Sara Lukinson *

Sam Means Sam Means is an American comedy writer. He won three Emmy awards for his work on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', and wrote for both ''30 Rock'' and ''Parks and Recreation'' on NBC as well as all four seasons of ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.'' ...

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

Zhubin Parang Zhubin Parang is an American comedian and television writer. He is currently a producer and writer on the political satire series ''The Daily Show''. Early life Parang was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 4, 1981, to Iranian parents. His fat ...

Paula Pell Paula Pell (born April 15, 1963) is an American comedy writer, producer, and actress, best known for her work writing for the sketch series ''Saturday Night Live,'' being recognized with a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety ...

* Tom Purcell * Sarah Schneider *

Amy Schumer Amy Beth Schumer (born June 1, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She ventured into comedy in the early 2000s before appearing as a contestant on the fifth season of the NBC reality competition series ''Last Comic Standing'' ...

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He has guest starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' and Clyde Oberholt on the Showtime series '' House of Lies''; voiced Rand ...

* Kate Sidley *

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

* Eric Slovin * John Solomon *

Emily Spivey Emily Spivey (born September 29, 1971) is an American television writer, producer, actress, and creator of the series '' Up All Night'' and '' Bless the Harts''. She previously worked as a staff writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2001 to 2010 ...

* Brian Stack * Mason Steinberg * George Stevens Jr. * Michael Stevens * Kent Sublette *

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on '' The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertai ...

* Melinda Taub * John Thibodeaux *

Bruce Vilanch Bruce Gerald Vilanch (born November 23, 1948) is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on ''Hollywood Squares'', as a celebrity participan ...

* Colleen Werthmann

Notes

References

{{Primetime Emmy Award categories Writing for a Variety Special Screenwriting awards for television