The annual Primetime Emmy Awards has lowered its curtain. And it was a night of surprises and sharp political jabs as “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” dominate the drama and comedy categories respectively.

“Game of Thrones” conquered television land yet again, as it was awarded as top drama for the second consecutive year and became the most honored prime-time TV series ever.

“Veep” repeated its best comedy series win, and its star, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, won a record-breaking sixth Emmy as best comedy actress.

Jeffrey Tambor captured his second consecutive best comedy actor trophy for “Transparent,” in which he plays a transgender character.

But the top drama acting trophies were far from predictable: Rami Malek of “Mr. Robot” and Tatiana Maslany of “Orphan Black” were first-time winners, both overcoming top competition.

“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” had the second-highest number of nominations, and converted five of them to wins. The dramatic retelling of the football star’s murder trial was honored as best limited series and writing, and earned awards for stars Courtney B. Vance, Sterling K. Brown and Sarah Paulson.

Maggie Smith was honored as best supporting actress in a drama series for the final season of “Downton Abbey.” This was her third win as the formidable dowager. Ben Mendelsohn of “Bloodline” won as best supporting drama actor.

The Emmys this year proved more adroit than the Oscars at recognizing and honoring diversity in Hollywood’s top ranks, with trophies going to minority actors and behind-the-scenes artists, including writers Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang of comedy series “Master of None.”