Watch Billy Crystal offer a touching personal tribute to Robin Williams at the Emmys

(Image credit: YouTube.com/ZP ROPHET)

last updated 8 January 2015

Hollywood is still reeling from the loss of Robin Williams, and during the Emmy Awards Billy Crystal gave a heartfelt tribute to his friend.

"His brilliance was outstanding, his relentless energy thrilling," he said. "I used to think if I could just put a saddle on him and stay on for eight seconds, I was gonna do OK."

Before a video of Williams on talk shows and in comedy clubs was played, Crystal shared memories of family dinners with Williams and their time performing together. "He was the greatest friend you could ever imagine," he said. "Supportive, protective, loving. It's very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives, for almost 40 years. He was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy, but while some of the brightest of our celestial bodies are actually extinct now, their energy long since cooled, miraculously because they float in the heavens so far away from us now their beautiful light will continue to shine on us forever and the glow will be so bright it will warm your heart, make your eyes glisten, and think to yourselves, 'Robin Williams, what a concept.'"

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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