Stephen Colbert and John Oliver Launch an Awards Fight On 2019 Emmys Red Carpet

It’s a battle of former Daily Show correspondents at the 2019 Emmys. 

Sure, sure, there are other people sharing the category of Outstanding Variety Talk Series at tonight’s ceremony, but John Oliver and Stephen Colbert are neck and neck in terms of Emmys, as they both realized when Colbert accidentally on purpose crashed Oliver’s interview with E!’s Jason Kennedy on the red carpet. 

Apparently, John Oliver has nine Emmys, including one he got for The Daily Show. Colbert also has nine Emmys, including one for The Daily Show. 

“It is a cage match, and the stakes could not be lower,” Oliver says. 

But how many Peabody awards does Oliver have, Colbert wonders. Oliver holds up two fingers…Colbert’s got four. Colbert also has two Grammys, but as he says, Oliver is “doing fine.” 

The two hosts and their shows, Last Week Tonight and The Late Show, are nominated alongside Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, and The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Oliver says he’s not bored at all despite having been here, nominated for an Emmy, three years in a row. 

“It feels as strange every year, so if we win again, it will feel again like an aberration,” Oliver said. 

His wife Kate, for the record, is feeling very warm but very excited to be here to celebrate her husband and to root for the Ravens.