The show, which Colbert has hosted since 2015, beat out “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC.
Sept. 14, 2025, 10:40 p.m. ET
CBS shocked the television world in July when it announced, without warning, that it was canceling its marquee late-night program, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” in what it called a financial decision.
Make that Emmy-winning late-night program.
Accepting the award, Colbert thanked the network “for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition which I hope continues long after we are no longer doing this show.” He ended his speech with a nod to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!”
Colbert, who has hosted “The Late Show” since 2015, took home the award for best talk series for the first time. It received its first Emmy at last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremony, with Jim Hoskinson winning best directing in a variety show. Under Colbert, the show has been nominated 33 times.
It beat out the two-time defending champion, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which is hosted on Mondays by Jon Stewart, Colbert’s longtime friend and former boss who is also an executive producer on “The Late Show.” The other nominee in the category was “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC.
In a sign of late night’s declining cultural power, there were only three nominations in the category this year because of a lack of submissions. There were five as recently as last year.
The show’s win was the 11th Emmy overall for Colbert, 61, who won best variety series for his Comedy Central satire program “The Colbert Report” in 2013 and 2014. His most recent win was for his special, “Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020.”
He may have been aided by Kimmel, his cross-coast rival, who rented a billboard in West Hollywood to tell people to vote for Colbert after his show was canceled.
Colbert will have one more chance to add to his Emmys haul: “The Late Show” is slated to end in May, so it will be eligible for next year’s awards.
Sarah Bahr writes about culture and style for The Times.
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