“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver popped by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to discuss the recent Emmy Awards, including the win of their fellow late-night host, Stephen Colbert. The day after the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, Oliver appeared as the first guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Oliver himself won two Emmy Awards the night before, one for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series, and the other for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.
Kimmel’s show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show, but he lost to Colbert’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” was also nominated for that category.
Luckily, Kimmel didn’t see at all upset to have lost the coveted statuette to another show in his same time slot. He and Oliver spent much of the interview talking about and celebrating Colbert’s win. Although it won the Emmy Award, CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Stephen Colbert Got a Standing Ovation at the Emmys
Colbert was the first presenter at the 2025 Emmy Awards, and he got a standing ovation the moment he walked onto the stage. The CBS host was full of jokes during his first Emmys appearance of the night, asking if anyone in the crowd was hiring and bringing his headshot, albeit a picture from many years ago. Colbert wasn’t just asking for a job for himself; he was asking for the 200 people who work on his show.
Later in the night, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” won the yearly award, and the crowd went wild, likely to support the show amidst its cancelation. After all, Hollywood stars had rallied behind Colbert after first hearing the bad news.
Since first airing in 2015, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has only won two Emmys, both of which were awarded in 2025. The first was a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, given to Jim Hoskinson.
Jimmy Kimmel & John Oliver Supported Stephen Colbert
It may have been easy for Oliver to support Colbert’s win, given the fact that they were nominated in different categories, but Kimmel also seemed pleased with how the night’s events unfolded. That being said, the two comedians continued to make jokes in between moments of sincerity.
Specifically, Oliver told Kimmel the following: “I know we wanted him to win. The right thing to happen was for him to win. The funniest thing to happen would have been if you had won.” Kimmel agreed that would have been a funny situation, and Oliver continued: “Most of me wanted him to win. A part of me, the part of me I like more, just wanted to see your face go, ‘Oh no. Not like this.'”
Prior to the Emmy Awards, Kimmel told Variety that he hoped Colbert would win the award, despite being nominated himself. “It seems like voting for Stephen is the least we could do at this point, and I think it will be a nice statement if he does win,” Kimmel said during the interview. “I fully expect Stephen to win the Emmy as I think people are very, very upset about what happened to him and his show.”
