What To Know
- The Late Show With Stephen Colbert received a record-breaking nine Emmy nominations for its final season, the highest during Colbert’s tenure.
- The show was canceled by CBS in May despite strong ratings, with the network citing financial reasons unrelated to performance or content.
- Among its nominations, The Late Show is up for Outstanding Variety Series alongside competitors like Saturday Night Live, which earned 11 nominations.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert achieved a major awards milestone less than two months after the series came to an end.
Last summer, CBS made the surprising decision to cancel the long-running late-night talk show, which Stephen Colbert began hosting in 2015. Despite the show’s high ratings, the network said at the time that the decision was purely financial and unrelated to “the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Many viewers, however, interpreted the cancellation as the network trying to appease the Trump administration and the FCC as Paramount finalized its merger with Skydance Media. Colbert frequently criticized the president during his nearly 11-year-long run on the show. The Late Show aired its final episode on May 21.
Despite the show’s end, the series scored big with the announcement of the 2026 Emmys nominations on Wednesday, July 8. The Late Show earned the highest number of nominations for a single season during Colbert’s tenure, with a total of nine. (Check out the full list here.)
The series scored nods in categories such as Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, Outstanding Production Design for a Variety or Reality Series, Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Series, Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special, Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (Segment), and Outstanding Music Direction.
Scott Kowalchyk / CBS
Perhaps the show’s biggest nomination of the year is in the Outstanding Variety Series category, which also includes fellow nominees The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live.
Among the shows in the Outstanding Variety Series category, SNL received the most nominations, with 11, followed by The Late Show with nine, Jimmy Kimmel Live! with six, and The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight tied with three each.
During The Late Show‘s final episode, Colbert used his opening monologue to thank the show’s fans. “I just want to let all y’all know, in here and out there, how important you’ve been to what we have done. The energy that you’ve given us, we sincerely need that to have done the best possible for you for the last seven years,” he gushed. “We love doing the show for you, but what we really love is doing the show with you… Now, I’ll say to you what I’ve said to every audience for the last 11 years, and I have meant it every time: ‘Have a good show. Thanks for being here, and let’s do it, y’all.’”
The episode celebrated the show’s legacy with a fun lineup of celebrity guests, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro, Ryan Reynolds, Sir Paul McCartney, and more.