Inside the Late-Night Shows nominated

For seven years, if your name wasn’t John Oliver, you were just happy to be nominated in the talk show category at the Emmys.

Between 2016 and 2022, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” dominated the category, a run surpassed only by Oliver’s former employer, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” which won several talk series awards throughout the decade from 2003 to 2012. remains the longest winning streak for any primetime series in Emmy history.

But the category has been no stranger to change in recent years. Until 2015, late-night talk shows competed against the likes of “Saturday Night Live” in the variety series category. The Television Academy then split that category into variety talk series and variety sketch series. It was revised again for the 2023 Emmys when “Last Week Tonight” was moved to the new scripted variety series category, where it now faces “Saturday Night Live.” (If you’re lost, you’re not alone.)

Now that talk series have their own category, the door is open for traditional late-night talk shows to once again compete for an award that hasn’t been won by a television series since 2002’s “Late Show With David Letterman.”

At the late 75th Emmys in January, Trevor Noah’s final season at the helm of “The Daily Show” won its first talk series Emmy. Come September, it will have to fend off the same contenders again: “The Daily Show,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The only thing missing this time around is Apple TV+’s “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” which was canceled in October.

As late-night shows establish themselves in a category unto themselves, this is the case to be made for any nominee who wins the Emmy:

The Daily Show

After a win, Comedy Central’s long-running political satire has the momentum to re-enter the category. Working in his favor — and certainly the biggest hurdle other nominees will have to overcome — is the return of Stewart, who has signed on to lead the Monday edition each week through the 2024 presidential election in November. The other shows are anchored weekly by a rotating team of correspondents. If nothing else, the Academy has plenty of practice honoring Stewart and this sharply written show, and that nostalgia play may be too hard to resist.

The late show with  Stephen Colbert

Speaking of “The Daily Show,” the only reason its ten-year run ended in 2013 was because one of its former correspondents, Stephen Colbert, launched his series “The Colbert Report.” That series gained momentum and eventually “The Daily Show” was eliminated as an Emmy winner for two years before Colbert replaced Letterman on “The Late Show.” “Late Show” remains the highest-rated late-night series and has been nominated since 2017, but has never won the award.

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers has become one of the most beloved names on television, and his show has done what many simply cannot: it has gone viral. For example, his “Day Drinking” segments with celebrities like Kristen Stewart and Dua Lipa have racked up millions of views on YouTube this season. It was a long journey for Meyers and his team to get the Academy’s attention, as he wasn’t nominated until 2022, but he’s been a consistently celebrated contender since then.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The longest-running current late night talk show host has been a consistent presence on ABC for more than two decades. In addition to hosting the series, he has broadened his audience by hosting the Academy Awards four times and the Emmy Awards three times. But now that Kimmel has completed his 21st year as host, there’s never been a better time to reward the man Hollywood is calling on to reward itself.