When CBS execs made the call in 2025 to cancel The Late Show after 11 seasons, it’s unclear if anyone involved expected host Stephen Colbert to spend much of the following year earning a steady outpouring of industry support and awards recognition that had previously passed him by. The latest honor bestowed upon him, which follows a Producers Guild win in February, was the Writer’s Guild of America’s Walter Bernstein Award. As one can imagine, his acceptance speech was as awards-worthy as anything.
To be sure, Colbert didn’t use the entirety of his time on the Edison Ballroom stage to take aim at his to-be-former employers, and wasn’t nearly as deliberate with his potshots as he gets on his talk show. But it was a 15-minute speech, so there was time to tap into all manner of commentary on the matter, including addressing what will be the hardest thing for him to say farewell to when The Late Show closes its doors for good.
