The entire late-night TV world celebrated when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. It ensures Stephen Colbert goes out on top with just eight months left on the air. However, John Oliver admitted part of him wanted to hear Jimmy Kimmel's name called instead.
The Late Show took home the award over fellow nominees Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show. It was the first victory for the CBS late-night show after eight nominations in the category, which began in 2015. Meanwhile, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won its third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series.
Appearing Monday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Oliver shared that he cut an interview short in order to watch Colbert's name called in his category. But the Last Week Tonight host also admitted he hoped to hear Jimmy Kimmel called to the stage.
"I will say this," Oliver shared. "I know we wanted [Colbert] to win. The right thing to happen was for him to win. The funniest thing to happen would have been if you had won," he said to Kimmel. "Most of me wanted him to win. A part of me, the part of me that I like more, just wanted to see your face go, 'Oh, no. Not like this.'
Jimmy Kimmel Live! has not won an Emmy in the category. So like The Late Show, it would have been a cause for celebration if the ABC show took home the statue.
But it's probably safe to say that had Kimmel been awarded the Emmy, he would not have accepted. He's made it very clear that he wanted Colbert to win on Sunday night, going as far as putting up a billboard encouraging voters to choose Colbert and using an interview about his accomplishments to pump up The Late Show.
We've seen it happen in past award shows where a winner wants to share the honor with a fellow nominee or even goes so far as to hand over the trophy. If Kimmel was already that far into campaigning for Colbert to win, it's easy to see him calling up the Late Show staff to at least share the spotlight.
The good news for Kimmel and his team is that there's always next year. It's bittersweet that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won't be able to defend its title in the Outstanding Talk Series category. But perhaps Colbert will return the favor and advocate for Jimmy Kimmel Live! to finally take home an Emmy.