Topline
Stephen Colbert’s canceled Late Show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Series, prompting the former late-night host to deliver an impassioned plea to the industry to hire his former staffers and crew members.
Stephen Colbert cancelled Late Show won the Emmy for Oustanding Variety Series.
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Key Facts
This is the second consecutive year Colbert’s show won the top award in its category, beating out rivals like “The Daily Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Colbert’s show also won the “Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series,” while his accompanying online show “Colbert Before Air” won the prize for “Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series.”
The former late-night host was joined on stage by his former staffers as he delivered his acceptance speech, which praised both his staff and late-night talk shows in general.
Colbert said that besides being “a really good steady job,” these late-night shows serve as incubators for young people to come in and learn “to work professionally on a deadline.”
The comedian then urged people at the Emmys to hire his former staffers, saying they will “make your show better and your day easier.”
Tangent
The Outstanding Variety Series is a combined category brought back this year for the first time since 2015. In the past ten years, the Emmys had split the category into “Outstanding Talk Series” for talk shows and “Outstanding Scripted Variety Series” primarily for sketch shows. Colbert’s Late Show won the “Talk Series” prize last year for the first time.
key background
After a nearly 11-year run on CBS, Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show aired its final episode in May of this year. Colbert had taken over as host of The Late Show franchise from David Letterman, who hosted the show for nearly 23 years. CBS first announced the decision to cancel the late-night show and end the three-decade-old franchise last year, prompting controversy and backlash. The network and its parent company Paramount said the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and added, “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.” However, the timing of the decision prompted several Democratic lawmakers and others to question if the move was undertaken to appease President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked late-night hosts. Colbert had also sharply criticized Paramount’s $16 million settlement with the president in a case involving a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The cancellation also coincided with Paramount’s take over by the David Ellison led Skydance.
further reading
Colbert Says His Job Was To ‘Feel The News With You’ In Late Show Finale (Forbes)
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