LOS ANGELES — “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” won the Emmy for talk series for the first time, marking a victory for the canceled show.

In his moving acceptance speech, host Stephen Colbert reflected on the start of his version of “The Late Show,” saying he told producer Spike Jonze 10 years ago, “I don’t know how you could do it, but I’d kind of like to do a late night comedy show that was about love.”

“I don’t know if I ever figured that out, but at a certain point, and you can guess what that point was, I realized that in some ways, we were doing a late night comedy show about loss. And that’s related to love, because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it,” Colbert continued.

“And 10 years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately,” he said. “God bless America. Stay strong. Be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.”

“The Late Show” was up against “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and defending champ “The Daily Show” in the category. The win comes just months after CBS announced it was canceling the long-running late-night show at the end of its current season in May, citing financial reasons. CBS Chief Executive George Cheeks and other top executives said in a joint statement at the time of the announcement that the decision was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Those other matters included the pending sale of Paramount to David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which was waiting for federal approval at the time of the announcement, and the company’s decision to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over edits to a segment on “60 Minutes” for $16 million.

Days before the news of cancellation hit, Colbert had skewered the company over the decision on his show during the monologue, characterizing it as a “big fat bribe”: “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”

Colbert has long been a vocal critic of the president, attracting a loyal audience with his signature humor and sharp takes on political and cultural hot-button issues. In recent years, advertising revenue had shrunk but viewership remained strong. Colbert’s show has ranked No. 1 among broadcasters in late night for nine consecutive seasons.

The dramatic decision to end a franchise that has helped shaped pop culture was stunning to some. CBS launched its late-night block in 1993 with David Letterman after he defected from NBC. Colbert has hosted the show for 10 years, taking over from Letterman after hosting Comedy Central’s news satire “The Colbert Report” for nine years, where he played a caricature of a political pundit.

Despite its popularity, the “Late Show” has never won an Emmy for talk series, though it has been nominated nine times. Before the Creative Arts Emmy Awards held earlier this month, the series had been nominated for more than 30 Emmys but had won none. The show claimed its first prize for directing for a variety series last Sunday.

Colbert had already gotten a rousing standing ovation Sunday when he presented the first award of the evening. He started off by asking if anyone was hiring before whipping out a dated headshot and handing it off to Harrison Ford, asking the actor to pass it along to Steven Spielberg.

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