Stephen Colbert Wins Variety Emmy for Final Late Show Season After CBS Cancellation

Stephen Colbert has closed his run on late-night television with an Emmy win.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won outstanding variety series, meaning the award for talk, sketch and comedy series, at Monday night's Emmy Awards on 14 September. The win came for its final season, which ended in May after CBS announced the cancellation, according to Variety.

Colbert kept his acceptance speech short. "Free speech is alive and well," he said from the stage.

He also spoke up for the format. Late-night television is just as funny and just as vital as it ever has been, he said.

The win puts a full stop on a long contest. The other nominees were The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live.

The award is voted on by peers. The Primetime Emmy is a symbol of peer recognition from nearly 24,000 Television Academy members, with each member casting a ballot in their own field of expertise.

Colbert had hosted The Late Show since 2015, taking over a network slot with a nightly mix of interviews, comedy sketches and music. The show ran for 11 seasons before its May finish, according to Variety.

CBS said the decision to end the show came down to financial considerations, as reported by Variety. That is the network's stated reason for the cancellation. No pilot was ordered and no replacement series was commissioned in the same slot.

The final week in May included Jon Stewart among the guests. After Colbert's departure, CBS leased its late-night slot to Byron Allen, whose company programmes the hour, according to Variety.

What makes this stand out is the timing. A cancelled show rarely leaves on a win. For viewers, this was the last entry in the listings. For the crew of more than 200 people who make a nightly show, it was the end of steady work and the end of a story they got to finish on stage.