Stephen Colbert dethroned former boss Jon Stewart at the 2013 Emmys as The Colbert Report ended The Daily Show's decade-long streak of winning best Variety Series.
Colbert's show has won two writing Emmys, in 2008 and 2010, but this was the show's first win in the category of Outstanding Variety Series, where it's been nominated 8 times, including this year.
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The Daily Show has won Outstanding Variety Series 10 years in a row, including in 2012, when the show's streak seemed to be getting a bit old. During that year's speech, Stewart memorably closed by saying, "Years from now, when the earth is just a burning husk and aliens visit, they will find a box of these, and they will know, just how predictable these f---ing things can be."
Earlier in that year's show, presenter Ricky Gervais quipped, "not again" before announcing that The Daily Show had won, and Colbert and Jimmy Fallon, whose late-night show was also nominated that year, tackled him on his way to the stage.
Colbert was far more low-key this year, when he finally overtook Stewart.
When he took the stage to accept the award, the show's second of the night after winning Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, Colbert said, "They say it's an honor just to be nominated, but it's also a lie. Winning is way better."
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Colbert then thanked Stewart, "who suggested that we do a show together where I play a professional idiot."
Marveling at the Emmy he was holding, Colbert added, "But he didn't tell me how good this feels."
Backstage though, Colbert praised Stewart and was quick to note that, since Stewart is an executive producer on The Colbert Report, his "streak is not broken...he won for an 11th time."
"Winning best show is a lot of fun but second to none in my mind is the belief that Jon deserved all those wins," Colbert said.
But he did say it might have helped that Stewart took this summer off to direct his first movie, "I’m grateful Jon took the summer off during the voting period, not that John Oliver didn't do the greatest job ever, but maybe that helped. I don't know."
Earlier onstage, Colbert, who thanked his wife in his Best Writing acceptance speech, this time paid tribute to his late mother, who passed away in June, leading the comedian to suspend production of his late-night show for a week.
"I want to thank my mom for not worrying about me and believing that I'd be OK," he said.
Colbert has previously reveled in his Emmy wins (and bemoaned his losses) on The Colbert Report, so we're eager to see how he addresses this year's turn of events.
Additional Reporting by Kimberly Nordyke
