Stephen Colbert earned his second standing ovation of the night — this time, after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series Sunday.
After chants of “Stephen, Stephen” from the crowd, Colbert took the stage alongside the crew behind the CBS late-night show, which is scheduled to end next May.
“Thank you for this honor. I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition, which I hope continues long after we’re no longer doing this show,” Colbert said. “I gotta thank these people, the 200 incredible professionals. You are the pros, and I’m so proud to be one of you. We gotta thank the people who supported us the last 20 years.”
After thanking his family and honoring Amy Cole, Colbert’s assistant for 16 years who died last March, Colbert shared a metaphor about love and loss, mentioning the state of the United States today.
Stephen Colbert Accepts Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Series at 77th Emmy Awards pic.twitter.com/5ZWqvBAhE0
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) September 15, 2025
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
“In September of 2015, Spike Jonze stopped by my office and said, ‘Hey, what do you want this show to be about?’ And I said, ‘Spike, I don’t know how you could do it, but I kind of like to do a late-night comedy show that was about love,’” Colbert said onstage. “I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point, and you can guess what that point was, I realized that in some ways, we were doing a late-night comedy show about loss.”
He continued: “And that’s related to love, because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it.”
He then ended his speech by adding, “And 10 years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong. Be brave. And if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.”
Earlier in the night, Colbert opened the show by presenting the first award of the evening, and joking, “While I have your attention… Is anyone hiring?”
CBS announced in July that the late-night talk show would end in May 2026, amid financial issues at the network. Though at the time, many suggested political pressure was a factor: Paramount was trying to merge with Skydance Media, with both companies awaiting approval from the FCC (it was eventually approved). Paramount also settled a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, who claimed 60 Minutes engaged in election interference by editing an interview with Kamala Harris.
Trump is, of course, a frequent target of Colbert, and the decision to cancel The Late Show came not long after Colbert criticized Paramount’s decision to settle the 60 Minutes lawsuit with Trump for $16 million.
Since the announcement of the late-night show’s cancellation, much of Hollywood has stood up in support of Colbert, including Jimmy Kimmel, who used his Emmys FYC ad to declare, “I’m voting for Stephen.” Colbert is nominated this year for Outstanding Talk Series against Kimmel’s show and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
From Rolling Stone US
