Amy Poehler has won her first Emmy after 17 previous nominations

Amy Poehler (right) won for outstanding guest comedy actress with Tina Fey for co-hosting the Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live. Photo / AP

It took her 18 tries, but Amy Poehler has finally won an Emmy.

Despite a stellar television career - marquee roles on Saturday Night Live, starring in her own prime-time network comedy series, getting rave reviews for co-hosting the Golden Globes - the comedic actress has never received one of those gold Emmy statues. The streak ended at Saturday night's Creative Arts Emmys, when Poehler won for outstanding guest comedy actress.

The award, which Poehler shared with Tina Fey for co-hosting the Christmas episode of SNL, was historic in another way: It's the first time a duo has been nominated for the guest performer category, according to the Television Academy. (The win was Fey's ninth.)

So many nominations with no wins feels like familiar terrain for the Emmys. Angela Lansbury, nominated 17 times, never won. And perhaps the most notable snub was that of Susan Lucci, the daytime soap opera star nominated 19 times before finally winning in 1999.

Poehler has written about how terrible awards shows can be the nerves and ego. "Getting nominated for an award is very exciting. Anyone who says it is not is either lying or on a very strong beta blocker," she wrote in her 2014 book, Yes Please.

"The worst part of being nominated for any award is that despite your best efforts, you start to want the pudding," she wrote. "To combat this, I decided to distract myself in that awkward and vulnerable moment the 'winner' was announced. I decided to focus my attention on something I could control. Bits! Bits! Bits!"

Those award show bits, which have involved everything from sitting on George Clooney's lap to donning a fake moustache, began with her first Emmy nomination in 2008.

But if you were expecting Poehler to deliver an emotional acceptance speech like Lucci's (she made just about everyone in the room cry), too bad. Poehler and Fey weren't at Saturday night's Emmy event, the Associated Press reported. Bob Newhart accepted the award on their behalf.

The win shared by Poehler and Fey came for an SNL episode in which they reprised their Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin impersonations, and anchored a hilarious, biting sketch, Meet Your Second Wife.