Stephen Colbert used the start of his monologue to give an extended acceptance speech for his team’s first Emmy on Tuesday night and to wrap it up, he made sure to point out a certain someone who does not have an Emmy — a person who celebrated and very nearly took credit for canceling the show.
To kick things off, Colbert welcomed everyone to “The Late Show” as usual, before correcting himself. Grabbing his Emmy from a crew member off-screen, Colbert amended his greeting to welcome everyone to “the Emmy-winning ‘Late Show.’” From there, he went on to thank absolutely everyone involved in making the daily episodes.
Eventually, though, the host had to transition into the rest of the monologue, and he did so by saying, “Speaking of Emmys, Donald Trump doesn’t have one!”
Indeed, Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” never won an Emmy, and it’s something he’s complained about regularly. According to the president, those were rigged against him, too.
Trump vocally celebrated Colbert’s cancellation earlier this year — which only fueled speculation that the move was politically motivated, rather than economically, as the network maintains — and at the start of the bit on Tuesday, Colbert somewhat agreed with him.
“Man, I’m telling you, we should have gotten canceled years ago,” the comedian joked after pointing out that the Emmy was the show’s first.
But, speaking more seriously, Colbert ran down an extensive list of people to truly thank for the award.
“This award belongs to all 200 of the incredibly hardworking people who make this show,” he said. “First and foremost, the writers of this show, who
every day, they take down everything I say during the show, just so that there’s a script at the end of the night as a souvenir for everybody. It’s incredible. They do it every day! But they don’t do it alone.”
“The stage crew, production staff, talent, segment editors, the band, hold, field, control room, props, graphics, research, footage, digital, accounting, legal, wardrobe, makeup, security, maintenance, assistants and interns, and of course, the audience department, who let in all of you gorgeous people every night,” Colbert continued.
The CBS host then noted that the Emmy also belongs to the audience, who make the show possible at all — but that he’d be keeping it himself.
You can watch Stephen Colbert’s full extended acceptance in the video above.
