WATCH: Colbert’s Acceptance Speech After Canceled Late Night Show Wins an Emmy

(Photo by Lisa O’Connor/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Content Services)

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won the Emmy on Monday night in this year’s outstanding variety series category, despite CBS cancelling the show in May.

Stephen Colbert accepted the award on behalf of his show and made no political statements in his speech. Colbert’s cancellation was widely seen as a win for President Donald Trump, who had long called for it to happen, and had successfully settled unrelated lawsuits with CBS’s parent company Paramount Global. Colbert famously called the settlement a “big fat bribe” as Paramount was looking for government approval of a merger at the time.

“I just want to point out that if you liked the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it. Tonight, Ariel Dumas, my head writer, is the head writer of tonight’s Emmys. Thank you so much on behalf of the over 200 people who threw themselves at this show for 11 years to try to do the best show they possibly could for you,” Colbert said after taking the stage with his cast and crew behind him. He continued:

The thing about these late shows — besides being a really good, steady job — is that they require so many people, so they’re a fantastic incubator for young people to come in and 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. I want you to know 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.

I want to thank so many people in this room over the last 21 years. I’ve interviewed at least 1,000 of you. Thank you for coming on to talk to this idiot. 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. But of course, there can only be one favorite guest, and that is my wife, Evy McGee. Thank you, darling. Thank you for being my only crew, my only guest during COVID, my only audience, and the only audience I really care about. Yours is the laugh that I want for the rest of my life. I love you.

And I want to say to the audience: thank you so much for watching. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a great time doing it for you. That’s it. Thank you. We’ll catch you all on the flip.

Watch the clip above.

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