Emmy Awards: Stephen Colbert wins despite show cancellation

Stephen Colbert urged Hollywood to hire his staff as he accepted his Outstanding Variety Series award at the Emmys on Monday (14.09.26).

The 62-year-old presenter - who said goodbye to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in May after it was cancelled by CBS - praised the talent of his writing team, who had won the show's first Emmy for Variety Series Writing last weekend, and noted how the nightly talk shows are a great launch pad for new faces.

Standing amongst those who worked on the show, he said on stage at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater: "If you liked the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it.

"Thank you so much on behalf of the over 200 people who threw themselves at this show for 11 years.

“The thing about these late shows is that, besides bringing a really good, steady job, is that they require so many people that they’re a fantastic incubator for young people to come in to 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.”

Stephen then grew more serious as he thanked his guests over the years, as well as his audience, and paid tribute to his beloved wife Evelyn McGee.

Over the last 21 years, I’ve interviewed at least a thousand of you. Thank you for coming on to talk to this idiot, I want you to know that you were the perfect guest. The 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, Evie McGee. Thank you, darling.

“I want to say to the audience thank you so much for watching. 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.”

The Outstanding Variety Series category merged Outstanding Talk Series and Outstanding Scripted Vareity categories, and also had The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Saturday Night Live on the short list.