Stephen Colbert Reflects on Final Emmy Win for ‘The Late Show'

Sunday's Emmy awards celebrated the very best of television, and one popular late night show walked away with a defiant victory. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series, its first victory in that category after multiple nominations.

The win is a triumphant one for Colbert and the rest of the show's team, but it's also bittersweet. The show will end in May after 10 seasons on the air, and CBS cited budgetary reasons for the decision to cancel.

The entertainment industry and many fans have supported Colbert after the news of the show's imminent end, and the host says that he wants to pay that support back in his own way.

Stephen Colbert Reacts to Emmy Triumph

After "The Late Show" won on Sunday night, Colbert talked about the next few months and what they're going to look like as the show comes to an end.

"I love what we do, and I want to go to work on Tuesday and for the next nine months with these people and work hard to have fun," Colbert said.

"We do the show with each other, we do the show for each other every day. And I have the privilege and responsibility of that day to share with the audience what we did. And I love it."

Colbert then said that he understood the reality of the situation - the show is ending in May after the most notable recognition of its time on air - but that he wanted to "savor" those final moments.

 "I want to land this plane. Absolutely beautiful. And I got nothing else on my mind."

Colbert first appeared on the broadcast as a presenter, and received a standing ovation from the audience after his show won the award.

Colbert said that he was "grateful" for the response. "It was really nice," he said.

"I'll tell you this: I came out here a lot when I was a young man looking for work. Uh, winning one of these and having the audience stand up is way better than coming up for pilot season."

The Future of Late-Night Television

The traditional late-night format seems to be on its way out. Colbert's show is ending despite its popularity and acclaim, and other shows have lower ratings and less fan support. As customers change to more on-demand options and move away from live television, late night shows could be a casualty of the switch to streaming.

Colbert's show and others like it may be relics of a bygone era, but the host says that the history is another benefit to the job.

"There aren't shows like this elsewhere in the world. There are chat shows, but nothing like a late-night show like this," he said.

"It makes me incredibly proud to be able to look back and say, in some small way, we're connected all the way through, you know... [David Letterman] to Johnny [Carson], to Jack [Paar] to Steve Allen. Not to, you know, run the game, but through the Tonight Show."

Colbert said that he was "incredibly proud" to be a part of late-night television history, and that the win is a "great testament" to everyone's work on the show.