Winnipeg sitcom "Less Than Kind," starring the late Maury Chaykin, was crowned the king of comedy at Saturday night's 25th annual Gemini Awards, honouring the best in Canadian TV.
The HBO Canada series won three trophies at the televised gala, including best comedy, best writing in a comedy (Marvin Kaye, Chris Sheasgreen) and best individual comedy performance (Benjamin Arthur).
Mr. Chaykin, who died in Toronto in July at age 61, played the patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the series, produced by Mark McKinney of "The Kids in the Hall."
CBC's Henry VIII hit "The Tudors" was declared best drama at Saturday's show, hosted by Calgary-born "Glee" star Cory Monteith from Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre.
It beat out five other series including CTV's slick cop series "Flashpoint," which landed a trophy for best direction in a drama (David Frazee) at the gala.
A total of 19 awards were handed out during the broadcast on Global and Showcase.
Presenters at the show included Grace Park from "Hawaii Five-0" and the cast of "Rookie Blue," and a tribute to "Degrassi" drew in series alumni including Nina Dobrev and Adamo Ruggiero.
Coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics by a broadcast consortium led by CTV was a big Gemini winner overall after racking up seven trophies at industry bashes earlier this month and landing another on Saturday.
The eighth award went to 2010 Games broadcaster Brian Williams in the category best sports host or interviewer.
CBC's "The Summit," starring Christopher Plummer as the president of the U.S., won for best dramatic miniseries Saturday while the W Network program "The Cupcake Girls" was honoured as best reality program.
Other programs netting hardware Saturday included the CBC sketch comedy series "This Hour has 22 Minutes" for best ensemble performance in a comedy, and the "2009 MuchMusic Video Awards" for best music, variety program.
Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, who was set to perform at the Gemini gala with musicians including Feist and Ron Sexsmith, took home the award for best talk series for CTV's "Spectacle: Elvis Costello With..."
Crooner Michael Buble also won a trophy, for best performance or host in a variety program with the special "Michael Buble at the Concert Hall," which aired on Bravo.
Acting trophies went to Robert Carlyle of Space's sci-fi series "SGU Stargate Universe," Caroline Cave of the Showcase insurance drama "Cra$h & Burn" and Jared Keeso of the CBC biopic "Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story."
Other actors winning awards included Cle Bennett of "The Line," Catherine Disher of "The Border" and Sun Li of "Iron Road."
The Donald Brittain Award for best social/political documentary program went to "Broke."
The Geminis were held in Calgary last year.