The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wins Its Final Emmy

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is no more, but it went out with a bang: The CBS late-night show won the award for Outstanding Variety Series at the 2026 Emmys , capping off a final season that came way before it should have .

After receiving a stand ovation from the audience, Colbert used his acceptance speech to note his head writer Ariel Dumas was the head writer for this year’s Emmys ceremony (which has had a very high good joke ratio so far), and then thanked his crew, who he pointed out to the audience were currently “tech avail” for hire. He also thanked those in the audience who had at one point been a guest on his show: “I’ve interviewed at least a thousand of you. I want you to know that you were the perfect guest. This segment went great, and I’m sorry I forgot to play your clip.” He then thanked his wife, and those at home for watching.

At the Creative Arts Emmys the previous weekend, the series won five awards for its final season, including Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series and Outstanding Directing. These weren’t its first big wins: In 2025, The Late Show also won the Outstanding Talk Show award (as the category was known then).

Stephen Colbert wasn’t the only host to have a tumultuous 2025-2026 season, as ABC took the also-nominated Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air for several days last fall due to political pressure . During the lead-up to the Emmys, Colbert and Kimmel actively campaigned for each others’ series , and Colbert will make his return to late night on Kimmel’s show Tuesday, September 15th .

Check out the full Emmys 2026 winners list , and revisit our review of the Late Show series finale as well.