Overview
- The Late Show won six Emmys at the first pre-telecast ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 6, including Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series which ended Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s ten-year run in that category.
- Colbert Before Air took the Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series while the Late Show also won directing, technical direction and camerawork, lighting design, and picture editing awards for its finale and other segments.
- Those six trophies quadrupled The Late Show’s lifetime Emmy total and leave the program among five nominees for Outstanding Variety Series at the Primetime Emmys on Sept. 14.
- The wins follow CBS’s earlier cancellation of the show and a low-key campaign that prompted Colbert’s writers to mount their own Emmy push and the program to receive industry honors in August, which have bolstered the staff’s public recognition.
- Observers should watch the Sept. 14 ceremony because recent Television Academy rule changes could allow more than one winner in the Variety Series area and late campaigning may influence the final outcome.