The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series on Monday, honouring the cancelled late night talk show for the final time. Accepting the award, host Stephen Colbert took the opportunity to try securing his staff new jobs.
“If you like the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it tonight,” said Colbert. “Ariel Dumas, my head writer, is the head writer of tonight’s Emmys.”
CBS cancelled The Late Show earlier this year, abruptly ending it after over three decades on air. The unexpected decision forced hundreds of people who worked on the show back onto the job market, with The Late Show‘s final episode airing in May.
“The thing about these late shows is that — besides being 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,” Colbert said in his Emmys acceptance speech.
“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.”
Colbert also thanked The Late Show‘s audience and the many guests he’s interviewed over the years, then in a sweet moment singled out his “favourite guest:” his wife Evie.
“Thank you for being my only crew and my only guest during COVID, my only audience and the only audience I really care about,” said Colbert. “Yours is the laugh that I want for the rest of my life. I love you.”
At the time of The Late Show‘s cancellation, CBS executives stated that it was “purely a financial decision” and was “not related in any way to… other matters happening at [parent company] Paramount.” Days earlier, Colbert had accused Paramount of paying a “big fat bribe” to President Donald Trump, noting that it needed the administration to approve its merger with Skydance Media. Trump reacted to The Late Show‘s cancellation with glee, having been vocal about wanting talk show hosts who criticise him to be taken off air.
Topics
Emmys
Stephen Colbert
