‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ Wins Emmy for 2026 Outstanding Variety Series

The Variety Series in 2026 was an "area award" able to recognize multiple nominees that received at least 90 percent of the vote.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” won the 2026 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series, upsetting the long-time winner of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” It’s the first year in which multiple nominees could take home the prize under new rules classifying the Variety Series category as an “area award.”

Instead of vote for a single show, voters answered a Yes/No question as to whether this nominee merited an Emmy, and any nominee that received 90 percent of the vote would be able to win. Additionally, the Television Academy combined the Scripted Variety Series category with the Outstanding Talk Series category this year due to a lack of submissions and eligible nominees the last few years.

Colbert’s “Late Show” ended this year amid the leadership change at Paramount and what many felt was pressure from the Trump administration to remove Colbert. “The Late Show” ended in May after 11 years of Colbert behind the desk, having taken over for David Letterman. Paramount in cancelling the show — and giving it a 10 month runway to his final episode on air — said it was purely a financial decision and had nothing to do with its performance (it was No. 1 in ratings for some time) or its content. But to many that claim fell on deaf ears, including to Colbert himself, who was a frequent critic of President Trump and often earned the President’s ire on his Truth Social.

Colbert won last year for Outstanding Talk Series, but his final episode of “The Late Show” was a particularly strong send off that vaulted it to Emmy glory, including him bringing out his old boss Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” to guide him into a worm hole, hosting a conversation with his fellow late night hosts as part of the podcast “Strike Force Five,” and bantering with musical guest Paul McCartney in a nod to his iconic Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan Theater stage.

More to come…