Emmy award winning producer Ballard C. Boyd ‘04, was one of the few to witness the minute backstage before an excited Stephen Colbert made his grand entrance onto late-night television as host of “The Late Show,” in 2015. Now, as he enters the show’s last season after more than 10 years of production, Boyd remembers that moment well.

“It was cool to be there right in the beginning, because nobody really knew what the show was gonna be,” Boyd said. “I feel like I got really lucky in my life to get a front row seat of certain parts of history. This was one of them.”

Boyd is a veteran in comedic storytelling. On “The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert,” he has directed and produced over 200 segments, receiving prestigious accolades for his work—most recently, his Emmy for “Outstanding Talk Series.”

After premiering in 2015, the show quickly became an American staple, lauded for its clever fusion of hard topical politics, and fearless humor. Boyd joined Colbert’s team on “The Late Show’s” first season, originally as its digital producer to make web content. 

Two years later, it became the most-watched show in late night. It has held on to that spot ever since. 

So, the television world was shocked when, in July, CBS announced—without warning—that it was canceling Colbert’s show after it wraps its eleventh season next May. In the announcement, CBS executives stressed that the decision was “purely financial” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.” 

But many, including Mass. Senator Elizabeth Warren called out the network for what they felt was a politically motivated act. Just three days before the cancellation was announced, Colbert

called a $16 million settlement by CBS’s parent company, Paramount, of a lawsuit by President Trump against CBS’s 60 Minutes, a “big fat bribe.” 

“America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons,” Warren wrote in a press release. 

This will mark the first time in 30 years, since David Letterman founded “The Late Show” in 1993, that the network will not continue its late-night tradition, leaving a hole of uncertainty in the future of America’s age-old comedy tradition.

But Boyd is not concerned about the future of comedy, because it’s what makes us innately human, he said.

“We are hardwired for narrative,” Boyd said. “The world is not fair…there’s a lot of chaos in just simply existing. But I think both narrative and humor is how we make sense of some of that. That will always exist.”

On the show and other projects, Boyd chooses to approach hard topics through the lens of comedy.

While on the surface, his short film “Night Session” is a hilarious situational comedy about a man confiding in his home’s burglar about his recent split from his wife. Underneath the absurdity and clever exchanges lie deeply human themes of loss, regret, and our need for connection. 

“You can get those messages deeper if you sneak them past people,” Boyd said. 

Boyd is currently in production on his first feature film, “Jackrabbit,” a mystery-comedy. A quasi-comedic siren, Boyd said he plans to lure the viewers in with the promise of entertainment and open their emotional receptors up by making them laugh. 

“Then they have their guard down,” Boyd explained. “They’re also more open to certain ideas when they’re laughing.”

After studying film at Emerson and graduating at the dawn of the digital age, Boyd found his start on the internet, directing YouTube videos for sketch comedy troupes. Soon, he found success in commercial work while doing creative projects on the side. Identifying as a completionist rather than a perfectionist, saying yes to as many projects as possible became Boyd’s lifestyle. He said this mindset has served him well at his job on Colbert’s show.

“On the show, we always say we don’t finish the script because it’s perfect,” Boyd said. “We finish the script because it’s 5:30 and it’s showtime.”

Boyd’s favorite part of being a part of the apparatus of “The Late Show” is just that—working alongside the 200 people that make up the show’s team and under a leader like Colbert, who Boyd said is not just an incredible performer, but also a good person.

“There is something really wonderful about making a piece of comedy with people that are all working towards the same goal,” Boyd said. “When you make a thing and the joke works and everybody comes together in a piece, it’s amazing.” 

Boyd said getting to witness the audience reactions to his work at live tapings has been an especially tremendous experience. 

“There’s a little bit of a nook where we stand at the edge of the stage, where we can kind of be hidden from the audience. We have a little monitor back there,” Boyd said. “I can see the monitor while I can also see the audience and see Stephen at the desk watching how it’s playing.”

Sometimes Boyd catches the show on television, just hours after the live taping. “[That’s when] you’re like ‘Oh yeah, everybody’s watching,” he said. “This is TV.”

On the night of the Emmys, Boyd was on stage as Colbert, on behalf of his team, accepted the Emmy for “Outstanding Talk Series” to a standing ovation.

“I have to thank these people up here,” Colbert said in his speech. “The 200 incredible professionals. You are the pros, and I’m so proud to be one of you.”

Colbert’s show may be coming to a close, but ever the optimist, Boyd is certain of the power of comedy—and its future.

“There’s something great about comedy,” Boyd says, echoing the words of his boss, Colbert. “When you’re laughing, you can’t also be scared.”