The 2026 Emmys honored entertainment figures who died in the last year on Monday night with a touching in memoriam tribute.
For the segment, New England native and Grammy-nominated singer Noah Kahan took the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles to perform Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Prior to the musical tribute, “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin and “Schitt’s Creek” actors Annie Murphy and Dan Levy appeared on stage to honor their late costar Catherine O’Hara, with Culkin in particular offering a poignant reflection about his onscreen mother.
“She was encouraging. She was warm. She was funny. But the word that I think of is ‘mama,’” Culkin said, later telling the audience, “By the way, call your mother tonight, for real.”
Following the tribute to O’Hara, Kahan, dressed in a white suit, strummed his guitar while playing during the in memoriam segment honoring all of the stars and TV titans the industry has recently lost. Among the names featured during the broadcast were James Van Der Beek, Kiki Shepard, Ted Turner, Demond Wilson, Robert Duvall, Hayden Panettiere, Tim Curry, Diane Ladd, and Dolly Parton, who also received a tribute earlier in the show, with Reba McEntire performing “Appalachian Memories.”
Following Kahan’s performance during the in memoriam segment, Jamie Lee Curtis appeared on stage to honor both James Burrows and Rob Reiner. Curtis praised Burrows for setting a gold standard for comedy directors across his work on thousands of episodes of television. The actress got a bit emotional while remembering a fellow “cherished legend” in Reiner, jokingly calling him a “beloved meathead.”
Curtis went on to note Reiner’s posthumous Emmy win this year for his work on “The Bear,” revealing a surprising stat accompanying the award victory.
“He now holds the record of 48 years for the longest gap between acting Emmys, which was previously held by his father, Carl Reiner, at 37 years,” Curtis told the Emmys audience.
Watch the full in memoriam segment below.
Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.