Stephen Colbert gets Emmys standing Ovation after CBS cancels 'Late Show'

Stephen Colbert made a powerful return to the Emmy Awards stage on Sunday night receiving a warm and emotional welcome from the audience.

The moment was especially meaningful as his long-running program, The Late Show was unexpectedly cancelled by CBS earlier this year.

As soon as Stephen walked out to present the award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and the crowd immediately rose to its feet and began chanting, “Stephen! Stephen! Stephen!”

The late-night host smiled and quickly turned the moment into comedy. “While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” he joked, pulling out a resume complete with an old head shot and he handed it to Harrison Ford, quipping that Ford could pass it along to Steven Spielberg.

Later in the night, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series, giving Stephen the chance to deliver a heartfelt and memorable acceptance speech.

Taking the stage with his team, Stephen first thanked CBS 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 confirmed that he will host his final episode in May 2026.

Reflecting on his journey, the American comedian shared a personal story about the show’s beginnings and “Ten years ago in September of 2015, Spike Jonze stopped by my office and said, ‘What do you want this show to be about?’ I said, ‘I don’t know how you could do it, but I’d like to do a late-night comedy show about love.”

The 61-year-old recalled, “I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point and you can guess what that point was, I realised that in some ways we were doing a late night comedy show about loss. 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.”

Stephen closed with a powerful message, “Ten 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!” He then raised his first Primetime Emmy in the air, shouting a triumphant “Woo!”

The Late Show also won its first Creative Arts Emmy last week for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series. These wins came just two months after CBS announced its cancellation.

For the unversed, Stephen Colbert has been nominated for 44 Primetime Emmys in his career and has previously won 10, along with two Grammys, five Peabody Awards, seven Producers Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild Awards.