Jeffrey Tambor dedicates 'Transparent' Emmy to transgender community; 'Veep' wins Best Comedy

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Veep was the big winner in the comedy categories at the 2015 Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles Sunday night.

The HBO series was declared Best Comedy and its co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale won for Lead Actress and Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

"I think it would be appropriate at this moment to quote our political satire Veep: 'What a great honor it must be for you to honor me tonight.' Oh, no, no no. Donald Trump said that. Yeah, it's getting trickier and trickier to satirize this stuff," Louis-Dreyfus quipped, summing up her win as "mind-blowing."

Hale's former Arrested Development castmate Jeffrey Tambor won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy for his portrayal of a transgender woman in the Amazon series Transparent.

"I am so, so honored," Tambor said upon collecting his trophy. "I had a teacher who used to say, 'When you act, you have to act as though your life depends on it.' And now I've been given the opportunity to act because people's lives depend on it. I'd like to thank Jill Soloway for giving me the privilege and the responsibility of Maura Pfefferman from the Pacific Palisades. I would like to thank this gorgeous cast. Every time and every where you rest your eye, there is genius. I would like to thank my teachers."

He went on to express his gratitude to his wife, Kasia, his agents, his manager and the publicity team at Amazon.

"Not to repeat myself, but to specifically repeat myself, I'd like to dedicate my performance and this award to the transgender community," Tambor said. "Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for letting us be part of the change. God bless you."

Allison Janney took home the statuette for Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her performance in CBS' Mom, while Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer earned the accolade for Variety/Sketch Series. The final season of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won the Emmys for Variety/Talk Show, Writing for a Variety/Talk Show and Directing for a Variety/Talk Show.

Emmys host Andy Samberg kicked off the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater with a musical number about the perils of binge-watching too many TV shows.