Deborah Vance got the last laugh after all.

On Monday night, Jean Smart won her fifth Emmy for her brilliantly funny turn as the incomparable comedian on HBO Max’s “Hacks.” After five seasons of the hit comedy, Smart has officially made Emmys history as the first woman to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for every season of her show.

The “Hacks” star kept her remarks brief during her acceptance speech, but made sure to thank series creators Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky.

“It all begins and ends with them,” she said onstage. “I love you guys so much.”

Smart’s latest victory brings her career total to eight Emmys, tying Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting Emmys won by a female performer.

The latter came closest to matching Smart’s perfect record with “Veep,” taking home six Emmys during the political satire’s seven-season run. Still, Smart downplayed her own Emmys achievement when asked about it on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in August.

“In terms of that record, being nominated — er, winning for every year your show is on, I still kind of think that’s a technicality,” she said, giving a nod to Louis-Dreyfus for her impressive run, though Smart mistakenly said the actor won seven times for “Veep” over eight years.

“So, I mean, if my show had only run four years, and I’d won every time, that wouldn’t have been — you know what I mean? It’s a technicality,” Smart added.

“Hacks,” which aired its series finale in May, reached its own Emmys milestone this year with a record 24 nominations for its fifth and final season. The haul not only made it the most-nominated last season of a comedy in Emmys history, but also the most-nominated season of a comedy ever.

The record was previously shared by FX’s “The Bear” and Apple TV’s “The Studio,” which earned 23 nominations for its debut season just last year.

Smart has “Hacks” to thank for the “Jeanaissance” that has made her an Emmy favorite over the past five years. While the 74-year-old actor has worked steadily in Hollywood for decades, HBO Max’s breakout comedy gave her career a new spotlight, turning her into one of the industry’s most celebrated comedy stars.

Looking back on her show’s legacy with co-star and fellow Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder, Smart told NPR in April that she hopes “Hacks” will be known for being just as heartfelt as it was funny.

“I hope that people will remember it as a show that was able to move people and go to some kind of darker places,” she said, “but also be really, really, really, really funny ― that we were able to sort of realistically do all of that in the same world.”

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