Over the course of 11 defining seasons that wrapped up in May 2026, The Late Show survived a shifting media landscape by mastering a rare alchemy: pairing razor-sharp political satire with profound, unarmored sincerity, which has resulted in 7 shining Emmy statuettes. When late-night television is at its best, it acts as a mirror to the cultural zeitgeist, but few hosts mastered the dual mandate quite like Stephen Colbert.

In doing so, Colbert did not just entertain an exhausted audience; he gave them a nightly sanctuary to laugh, grieve, and breathe together.

That amazing journey beautifully translated into the Emmy wins for the late-night talk show, making it a fitting farewell to a pop culture titan.

Less than four months after the last episode of Stephen Colbert's CBS program aired, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert received five awards at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Night 1 of the Creative Arts Emmys took place in the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 5, where the late-night show became the highlight of the event. 

For its final season, The Late Show received nine nominations and won five of them, including:

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series

Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Series

Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (Segment)

Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Series

Colbert Before Air, an online digital series, also took home the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama, or Variety Series, bringing the total for The Late Show to six on Night 1. It is worth mentioning that the show also won an Emmy in 2025 for Outstanding Talk Series.

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There still exists potential for winning another Emmy this season, with another category coming up.

Stephen Colbert and his The Late Show can win yet another Emmy this year, with the Outstanding Variety Series still left to be announced. The category that will be up for contention on September 14 also features Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a rival that was also competing with The Late Show last year, but lost. That is actually an interesting story.

Last year, when both the hosts were campaigning for their respective shows for the Emmy category, Jimmy Kimmel pulled a very surprising stunt. Instead of campaigning for himself, he campaigned for Stephen Colbert, arguing that he deserved to win, and that is exactly what happened.

However, this year, Stephen Colbert returned the favor and urged everyone through an Instagram post to vote for Jimmy Kimmel this year. It remains to be seen now if people heed his request and make Kimmel the winner this year. Otherwise, Colbert will add one more trophy to his cabinet on September 14.     

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Do you agree with all of The Late Show’s Emmy wins? Do let us know in the comments.