Macaulay Culkin choked up while honoring Catherine O’Hara at the Emmy Awards on Monday night.
Culkin, 46, took the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles alongside Dan Levy, 43, and Annie Murphy, 39, for a tribute that opened the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment. The trio spoke about the comedic icon, who died at 71 after suffering a pulmonary embolism resulting from underlying rectal cancer.
Levy, who co-created Schitt’s Creek and played O’Hara’s on-screen son David Rose, drew both laughter and tears from the audience as he described her creative process. He spoke about the radical instincts that defined her approach to the eccentric Moira Rose.
“Say yes to her instincts, all of them, as radical as they may sometimes seem, she is miles ahead of you and you will learn to catch up,” Levy said. “Say yes to helping her build a TV character over the age of 60 that wears leather miniskirts and eight-inch heels and speaks in a strange, sometimes unintelligible transatlantic accent, and know that she will not scare an audience away.”
Levy continued with specific memories of her demands on set.
“Say yes to that rewrite she sends you, sometimes the night before. ‘Dear Dan: some thoughts.’ It will always improve the story,” he recalled. “Say yes to the concept of a wig wall. Say yes to her asking to wear a wig as a hat. Say yes to her naming that wig. Say yes to giving her space to experiment and create. It will amaze you on a daily basis and it will change your life.”
He closed his portion with a personal reflection on what mattered most.
“Say yes to her dinner invites and her stories and her wisdom and her generosity,” Levy added. “Those are the things you will hold on to the tightest. Always say yes to any opportunity to revel in the presence of greatness.”
Murphy, who starred alongside O’Hara through all six seasons of Schitt’s Creek, remembered her co-star’s infectious enthusiasm.
“Catherine’s laugh was a perpetual ‘yes and,’ ” Murphy shared. “It challenged anyone who heard it to join in and be as delighted as she was, and she spread that delight everywhere.”
Culkin, who played Kevin McCallister opposite O’Hara’s Kate McCallister in the Home Alone films, struggled with emotion as he addressed the crowd. He referenced the running gag of her character forgetting her son in the holiday classics.
“We remember her as the forgetful mother, right? But I will never forget about her,” Culkin told the audience.
He expanded on their bond beyond the screen.
“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine. She was encouraging, she was warm, she was funny. But the word I think of is ‘mama.’ She wasn’t just a wife and mother to Bo and Matthew and Luke, she was my mom,” Culkin said. “And by extension, she’s all of our mama. By the way, call your mother tonight. For real. Give it up for the moms.”
He returned to the Home Alone connection one last time.
“Like a good mom, she always showed up when I asked her to. Because that was Catherine. That’s what she did,” Culkin added. “She showed up, and this is the best that we can do for her tonight. We’re showing up for her. She may have forgotten me — twice — but we will always remember her.”
The tribute preceded a live performance of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Noah Kahan, which accompanied the full In Memoriam segment honoring O’Hara and other industry figures lost over the past year.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony took place at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.