The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had an unexpectedly good night at the first evening of the Emmy awards.
The canceled series came away with two big upsets at the event formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys.
Colbert Before Air won the Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama Or Variety Series and and The Late Show won Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series.
The latter is a particular surprise given that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has won that award for ten years in a row, starting in 2016. Also in that category was Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Tom Purcell, executive producer of The Late Show, picked up the award. “I’d like to thank all who those who keep late-night going, [John] Oliver, [Jimmy] Kimmel, super important institution in this country, keep the flame burning, guys,” he said on stage.
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The Colbert Before Air win was also surprising. The digital series, as best one can tell, has only aired ten episodes in the last year, mostly around 2-4 minutes in length.
The CBS show also picked up a picture editing win.
It bodes well for Colbert’s chances to win the main late-night Emmy on September 14, where he is up against Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight and Saturday Night Live.
The show was up against last year’s winner The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains, Tom Segura’s Netflix comedy Bad Thoughts, The Randy Rainbow Show and SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma.
The latter has particularly campaigned this season and has built huge buzz with the format, which sees celebrities and civilians give hot takes on the New York subway.
The Daily Show didn’t go away empty handed, though. Jordan Klepper Fingers The Pulse: Give The Man A Prize won Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program, beating PBS’ The American Revolution and Apple’s The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy.
Desi Lydic also won the Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. The Daily Show host beat Randy Rainbow and Big Law’s Kim Estes and it is her second consecutive win in the category, having also won last year.
Lydic joked on stage at the Peacock Theater about what winning these awards could mean for her. “I’m so afraid if I keep [winning] these, the White House will nominate me to be their press secretary,” she said.
Lydic also joked about her conservative parents. “My dad, who told me if I brought this home tonight, he would quit watching Fox News,” she added.