Emmys: Watch Billy Crystal's tribute to Robin Williams

If NBC's 66th telecast of the Primetime Emmys do in fact manage to have become a major ratings success, some if not most credit is due this tribute to Robin Williams, which millions were anticipating Monday night -- and which NBC even promoted in advance, with an on-screen bumper promising the "In Memoriam" within 16 minutes, than 10 minutes and so on. 

Yes, very unusual. And Bill Crystal's tribute did not disappoint.

Moving, emotional and deeply personal, it turned a lighthearted broadcast into a somber tribute to a beloved actor who changed culture, and television.

"He made us laugh, every time you saw him on TV, movies, nightclubs, arenas, hospitals, homeless shelters," Crystal said of a friend he made nearly 40 years ago, working comedy clubs on both coasts.

He spoke of the "many happy hours" spent with Williams.

"He was the greatest friend you could ever imagine. 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 the brightest star in the comedy galaxy."

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