Stephen Colbert Wins Emmy After ‘Late Show’ Canceled by CBS and Tells Industry to Hire His Crew: ‘They Will Make Your Show Better!’

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” is the sole Emmy winner of this year’s outstanding variety series category, via the canceled CBS late-night series’ final season, which ended in May.

“I want to thank so many people in this room,” he said. “Over the last 21 years, I’ve interviewed at least a thousand of you. Thank you for coming on to talk to this idiot, I want you to know that you were the perfect guest. The segment went great, and I’m sorry I forgot to play your clip. But of course, there can only be one favorite guest, and that is my wife, Evie McGee. Thank you, darling.

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“I want to say to the audience thank you so much for watching. watching. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a great time doing it for you. That’s it. Thank you. We’ll catch you all on the flip.”

Colbert noted that his writing team (which won the show’s first Emmy for variety series writing last weekend) were tasked with writing Monday night’s Emmy jokes.

“The thing about these late shows is that, besides bringing a really good, steady job, is that they require so many people that they’re a fantastic incubator for young people to come in to learn to work professionally on a deadline in cooperation in collaboration, and that is the future of our business that we have to look after. I want you to know I got some great news: They are all tech avail. Hire them; they will make your show better, and they will make your day easier.”

“The Late Show” beat out “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central), “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC), “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO Max), “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS) and “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) in the newly remerged variety series competition, which brought together the previously separated outstanding talk series and outstanding scripted variety categories.

As part of this rule change, the Academy decreed that the outstanding variety series category would now be an “area” award. Nominees in “area” award categories aren’t actually competing against each other — they’re all independently trying to get at least 90% of Emmy voters to say “yes” when asked, “Does this nominee merit an Emmy?” Any nominated show will win an Emmy if 90% of voters agree.

That means the category could have had as many as five winners. And the Emmy producers were ready for that possibility. What if multiple, or all, of the variety series nominees had won? “Local news is going to be late,” exec producer Jesse Collins said during Thursday’s Emmys press day. “That’s what’s going to happen. If multiple people win, each would get up to give their speech and it’ll be a TV moment.”

But 90% is a high threshold, which is why the TV Academy decided that if no series surpassed a 90% “yes” vote, the show with the highest “yes” vote would be the sole winner. And ultimately, that may have been the case, as “The Late Show” was the only winner.

During the first weekend of the Emmys, “The Late Show” already won four prizes: Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series, Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series, Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork For A Series, Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Series and Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming (Segment).

“The Late Show” has won nine Emmys over the course of its run; last year it landed the kudos for outstanding talk series and directing for a variety series. Those were the show’s first two wins — which now means that all of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Emmy victories came after CBS announced that it had canceled the show (despite its status at the time as the No. 1 talker in late night).