A year after Jimmy Kimmel endorsed his late-night competitor for an Emmy, Stephen Colbert is repaying the favor.
The now-former Late Show host resurfaced Tuesday in a new Emmy FYC video, proclaiming his choice for late-night’s highest annual honor, the Outstanding Variety Series trophy.
Perched on a hillside fit to serve as a setting for his upcoming Lord of the Rings movie, Colbert could have fired a missive at the network that axed him and endorsed his own show for an Emmy, but instead he opted to fall on his sword for another beleaguered host: Jimmy Kimmel.
“There’s 24 hours left in Emmy voting, and if you’re anything like me, you haven’t even started yet,” a bearded Colbert says in the video.
“I think we can all agree that Jimmy Kimmel deserves an Emmy. I don’t care if you’ve never even seen his show. You know he deserves an Emmy,” Colbert declares before displaying a headshot of his friend and fellow host. “Besides, look how cute he is!”
“Please consider thinking that Jimmy deserves an Emmy,” Colbert reiterated. “I do.”
Colbert tagged Kimmel, JKL, and Kimmel’s wife and co-head writer/executive producer Molly McNearney in the post.
The choice is a meaningful one. Last August, just weeks after CBS controversially cancelled Colbert’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! put up a billboard in Hollywood touting its Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Talk Series, but emblazoned with the message “I’m voting for Stephen.”
Both shows had been nominated in the category, alongside The Daily Show. (The nomination came just two days before Colbert announced his cancellation.) Amid a groundswell of support, Colbert’s Late Show took home the gold. But just three days later, Kimmel became the new late-night host to rally around after JKL was suspended by ABC.
While Kimmel was reinstated the following week, the host hasn’t fully escaped the crosshairs of the Trump administration and continues to be seen as a figure of free speech to many. It would appear Colbert agrees, despite the Late Show host having every reason to endorse his own show.
Although The Late Show is off the air, it’s very much in the running for the same award, which covers shows that ran between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026. The Late Show ended its run on May 21, making this its final year of eligibility.
As valiant as Colbert’s stand is, the stakes are considerably lower than last year. (“Kind of a weird voting system this year,” Colbert notes in the video.)
Following a complex re-merging of the Outstanding Talk Series and Scripted Variety Series categories, five shows are nominated this year for “Outstanding Variety Series”: The Late Show, JKL, The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live. Rather than competing against each other, each show will be considered individually, with voters marking a simple “yes” or “no” for each show on the ballot. Any show receiving at least 90% yeses will win an Emmy, meaning it’s entirely possible for both Colbert and Kimmel to win — if not a five-way tie.
