‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ scooped Best Variety Talk Show Series for the fourth year in a row at the Emmy Awards on Sunday (22.09.19).
The HBO show – which also won for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series – beat off competition from ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’, ‘Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’, ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ and ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ but the host joked it wasn’t as popular as it may seem.
He told the audience at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theatre: "Thank you to the staff, these shows are a real grind and they are constantly diligent, they built a 6,000lb cake to p**s off the leader of Turkmenistan and I was so proud of them.
"Thank you to ‘Game of Thrones’ for the lead in over the years, it’s been amazing, it’s been really great working out how to lose your audience every week."
Lorne Michaels gave a poignant speech as ‘Saturday Night Live’ – which has scored over 250 Emmy nominations over the years – scooped Best Variety Sketch Series.
He noted how they had submitted an episode hosted by former cast member Adam Sandler, during which he paid tribute to his late friend and co-star Chris Farley, recalling how it had made "the crew and the cast and everyone who was in that studio" emotional.
He added: "It’s rare that you see a cameraman tear up or a boom crew crying, but it was a very, very chilling moment and very powerful.
"And it’s those kinds of moments, which is why we’re going into our 45th season, and that sort of thing is what keeps us there. That, and the politics."
The long-running sketch show also saw Don Roy King triumph in the Best Directing for a Variety Series category.
John Oliver wins Emmy for fourth year
