Macaulay Culkin joined Annie Murphy and Dan Levy onstage to honour the late Catherine O’Hara, bringing together two eras of her comedy career. Culkin, Murphy and Levy represented her best-known screen families, paying tribute before the broadcast moved to musician Noah Kahan. Kahan followed with a musical performance as the ceremony remembered television industry figures lost over the preceding year.
For the In Memoriam segment, Kahan performed Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as tribute portraits appeared on screen behind him. The memorial took place during the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and was broadcast live on NBC and Peacock. Mariska Hargitay hosted the telecast, which placed Kahan’s stripped-back performance at the center of the ceremony’s remembrance.
The three presenters connected decades of popular television and film. Culkin played Kevin McCallister opposite O’Hara in the first two “Home Alone” films, portraying the son she famously scrambled to reach. Decades later, Murphy and Levy starred as Alexis and David Rose, the adult children of O’Hara’s matriarch Moira Rose across six seasons of “Schitt’s Creek.” Together, the actors represented two generations of O’Hara’s fictional family.
O’Hara, who died January 30, 2026, at age 71, had a five-decade career that began with Toronto’s Second City and the sketch comedy series “SCTV.” She went on to appear in “Beetlejuice” and several of Christopher Guest’s ensemble comedies, alongside her work in the “Home Alone” franchise and “Schitt’s Creek.” A two-time Emmy winner, she earned late-career nominations for her appearances in “The Last of Us” and “The Studio.” Watch the full speech before Noah’s emotional performance below.
As Kahan sang, the telecast honored dozens of television figures who died over the past year. The montage included James Van Der Beek, Ted Turner, Eric Dane, Diane Ladd, Dolly Parton, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Hayden Panettiere and costume designer Bob Mackie. The AP reported that Mackie was included despite dying earlier on the day of the ceremony.
Parton was also honored with a separate tribute elsewhere in the telecast, featuring Reba McEntire performing “Appalachian Memories.” According to the Television Academy, the memorial sequence concluded with Jamie Lee Curtis remembering director James Burrows alongside writer, director, producer and performer Rob Reiner.