“We’re waiting for the billboard.”
So said an insider at a (non-ABC) late night nominee to me when I asked what to make of the scrum in the variety series category — referring, of course, to Jimmy Kimmel’s habit of taking out Emmys-season billboards.
Last year, Kimmel threw his weight behind the recently canceled Stephen Colbert in a bid to get The Late Show With Stephen Colbert its first-ever top late night Emmy. (It worked.) This year, Kimmel could do the same for his recently departed (from the airwaves) friend.
Then again, he could do something on behalf of himself. Or John Oliver. Or Jon Stewart. They’re all pals. And all have a strong claim to the variety Emmy, which this season rolls all the hot late night shows together, putting perennial winner Oliver as well as SNL back with everyone else for one seriously supercharged group of nominees.
But variety is more than just a hot category because of the quality of the shows. It’s a hot category because the top late night Emmy has become a vehicle — perhaps the vehicle — for Hollywood to register its opposition to President Trump. And the voters’ pick will tell us a lot about whom they favor to lead that opposition for the remaining two years of his term. (Hopefully they survive it.)
The commingling of late night and overtly liberal politics has been a narrative for a decade now, ever since Colbert’s ratings skyrocketed (for engaging in them) and Jimmy Fallon’s tanked (for not) in the president’s first term. It can be hard to remember a time when Jay Leno made Monica Lewinsky jokes (or Stewart made Obama jokes) and we all laughed no matter our party affiliation, but it happened in our lifetimes. I think.
Yet since Trump’s return to power, late night’s role as a domain of protest has been stronger than ever. Its Emmy is basically the anti-Trump award — Hollywood’s place to anoint its chosen resistance figure for the year.
If you have any doubt about this, let it be dispelled by the following fact: Real Time With Bill Maher, whose host is by far the Trump-friendliest of the bunch, was often nominated for the top late night Emmy in a pre-Trump era — every year but one from 2005 to 2017. He’s not been nominated since.
So, who wins the 2026 anti-Trump award?
In 2025, voters went with Colbert, with the host having gotten canceled just a month before phase two voting started.
But this year, every show has a claim to the mantle. Colbert again, as he recently wrapped his last season and feting him would be one more dunk on the president en route to the locker room.
Oliver and Stewart each have an argument, too. They regularly skewer Trump, going deep on not just his foibles but policy hypocrisies. Plus, they’re both caught up in the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which, given David Ellison’s ties to the president, many Emmys voters blame Trump for.
Saturday Night Live via James Austin Johnson/Lorne Michaels has been merciless in cold open after cold open, plus the Michael Che “What’s the worst that could happen?” assassination joke in April that sparked a White House clapback.
And then there’s Kimmel, Target No. 1 of the administration, which got him suspended for five days in September for a joke after the Charlie Kirk assassination — then tried again after a pretty clear old-age joke in April. “Normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” Trump fulminated on Truth Social. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired.”
In theory, this should be Kimmel’s turn, given how he’s embraced the anti-Trump role. (When I asked him what will ensure the future of late night, he said that “a different president would be a good start.”)
Though he has four Emmys for other work, Kimmel has never won for Jimmy Kimmel Live! in all 24 seasons of its airing. Then again, the TV Academy could show its appreciation by just handing him the game show host prize, as it did last year.
All of this isn’t just Hollywood patting itself on the back, by the way, a self-congratulation that doesn’t make a peep outside the echo chamber/Peacock Theater. Whoever wins could be emboldened to lean in even more to anti-Trump resistance — especially key as the midterms are coming during this TV season. For all the GOP dismissals of the idea, American voters do watch late night and understand current affairs through its lens. The show that wins could gain more confidence to pursue MAGA — which could have a tangible impact on the elections (and, yes, drive Trump even crazier).
There’s a final twist. Because of a rule change, more than one show could win outstanding variety series. Two could win. Three could win. In fact, all five could win.
That’s because Emmy voters aren’t being asked to vote for one show over another — they’re being asked whether each given nominee deserves an Emmy. Any show that hits 90 percent wins. (If none do, the highest wins.)
Now, 90 percent is a high bar. But it could mean that all five of late night’s key personalities — Colbert, Kimmel, Michaels, Stewart and Oliver — walk away from Emmy night as winners.
Truth Social might just melt down.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
