As Emmy hosts, Eugene and Dan Levy want to make the show a ‘light and bright’ night

In 2020, the sixth and final season of “Schitt’s Creek,” which had finally made its way into popular consciousness after Netflix picked it up from Pop, its basic-cable home, swept the Emmys. This unprecedented and likely never-to-be-repeated sitcom shutout saw acting wins for Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy, writing and directing awards for Dan and a best comedy award for the series itself, co-created by the father and son Levys.

Now, in a sort of sequel, or a belated victory lap, Dan and Eugene return not exactly to the scene of their former glory — 2020 was the COVID year, and the “Schitt’s” cast accepted their honors from a tent in Canada — as hosts of the 76th Emmy Awards. This is as exciting to me, as a fan from first to last — before that, even, if we want to add “SCTV,” where O’Hara and Eugene Levy first made their mark on television — as anything else that might conceivably, or inconceivably, happen during the ceremony, which will be broadcast Sunday on ABC from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

I spoke to the Levys by Zoom, for a look back and a look forward. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Take me back to 2020.

Eugene: Well, that’s a good starting place, 2020. It’s kind of burned into our memory. That was a pretty exceptionally outstanding night, the kind of night you don’t have too many times in your life. It was a fun night, considering COVID had taken over the world. It was odd and wonderful.

Dan: It’s a night that literally nobody had had before. It was incredible. I remember walking to the tent we had rigged to house us all, walking with Annie and sort of glancing over at her and having a flash to our first day on set. I told her that I was picturing our first day and how strange and wonderful our path was. We had broken through at that point, and that was the big deal for us, simply having the nominations, and the fact that we were all nominated as actors for the first time. We had a little moment before walking into the tent of just how wonderful it all was, expecting nothing. Then the night unfolded the way that it did. I don’t think any of us genuinely saw that coming.

Eugene: And how about the fact that they lumped all the comedy categories together right off the top of the show? I don’t think I’d ever seen that before. So it was a Gatling gun of wins, just one after another. It’s the kind of thing you dream about — “What if we just take every category?” You don’t even think that. It doesn’t even register. To be honest, I thought Catherine O’Hara, if she doesn’t win, then there’s something wrong. To me that was the only sure win. And then the second win, and then I won, and then Daniel won.

Dan: The last award of our section was Annie’s award. Everyone else had won at that point, and I looked over at Annie and she gave me a face like, “I’m sorry if I f— this up, I’m sorry if I stand in the way of this streak.” Then she won, and I think I lost my mind more than she did. Mainly because of the conversation we had had earlier that day and the process of finding this actress in a haystack of auditions and instantly knowing her potential and then seeing her recognized and rewarded at the highest level of television — it was one of the most exciting moments for me certainly of that night. Very little of my excitement that night actually had to do with myself. It was looking at all the people we had essentially built this show with, with no expectations, ’cause no one was watching for the entire run of our show. So it did catch up to you in that moment — this strange thing of, “What is happening now?” We’d gone four seasons with nothing, fifth season with a couple of nominations, and by the time our sixth season was recognized, we had come to terms with the fact that the show would always be this kind of niche cult thing that people loved but wasn’t mainstream.

Eugene: It’s an odd thing to say but COVID kind of came into play, because nobody was going out. I think there was a big discovery of our show with people looking for something somewhat uplifting they could be watching. The whole night was so surreal because we’re all masked up and half the people we invited we had to disinvite because the Ontario government came down with a new law the night before the Emmys where the number of people for an outdoor event, which was at 50, was cut down to 25. It was a very bizarre night but just crazy, crazy exciting.

When you were still mostly based in Canada, did the Emmys loom large in your imagination?

Eugene: Yeah, the Emmys were the Emmys — it’s like the Oscars are the Oscars. That’s the top of the heap. We had certainly experienced our share of Canadian awards at Canadian award shows, but the Emmys, my God, they’re still unbelievable. I remember “SCTV,” when we were nominated for writing back in the early ’80s, incredibly exciting, not only to be nominated but to be there and to be nominated. That doesn’t go away.

So you went to the awards?

Eugene: Yeah, we were at the awards that night, the writers. It was the ’82 Emmys, and when our show came up, the clip they showed was a piece I had written called “Perry Como: Still Alive,” and it went over so well in the theater, got huge laughs. And then when they announced the winner, we didn’t win, there was an audible groan from the crowd.

The cast of “Schitt’s Creek” attended the Emmys remotely from Canada in 2020 because of pandemic lockdowns.

(Invision/AP)

How did the invitation to host come your way?

Dan: We were asked before and it didn’t feel like the right time for whatever reason. Then we were asked again this year, and I think ran out of reasons not to do it. It seemed like a fun little challenge — not little, quite huge actually.

Eugene: We were both obviously kind of nervous, because it’s kind of a tough thing to do — you’re letting yourself out there and whatever, whatever, is it worth it ? We could coast into the fall quite easily without doing this and have a fun time watching it on TV. But I guess something was drawing us into it — like, we could do it, it could be fun. We opened the SAG Awards a few years ago, and we had a ball doing it, and also it turned out really well; it seemed to work, and we got a taste of what that’s like. So we jumped in and said yes. And what can happen, really?

Have you done other things together since the end of “Schitt’s Creek”?

Eugene: Well, we did some presenting. I know we presented at the SAG Awards two years ago.

Dan: You and Catherine did that, no?

Eugene: No, as a cast. You, me, Annie and Catherine. It was when the teleprompter wasn’t on, and we had that thing —

Dan: That was the Emmys.

Eugene: That was the Emmys.

Dan: You said the SAG Awards.

Eugene: No, I said the Emmys. I think. But working together, not since the show.

Was there any feeling of deflation after you wrapped “Schitt’s Creek” and thought, “We’re not coming back next year to do this again.”

Dan: None of us wanted to end the show. It just had to end because that’s when the story ended. We got a fifth season pickup after the fourth season, and that felt like, “OK, I can finish the story in two seasons.” Any more and we would risk being one of those shows that stayed a little too long. All the shows I return to, to rewatch and rewatch and rewatch, are shows that left at just the right time. They left me wanting more. It was important for all of us, I think, to leave the audiences we respected so much — they are the reason that we got to this point, [the] people finding it on Netflix and sharing it and sharing the memes and sharing the gifs and all the sort of virality of it. It’s a show that succeeded outwardly by way of the fans, so it was important to not get them to where they thought, “Eh.” We wanted every season to beat the last one. I think that our last episode is one of the best we’d ever done. How lucky.

The stars of “Schitt’s Creek,” from left: Annie Murphy as Alexis, Dan Levy as David, Catherine O’Hara as Moira and Eugene Levy as Johnny.

(Steve Wilkie / Pop TV)

The 2020 Emmys were kind of like a bonus episode.

Dan: Yeah, the irony of Moira Rose never having an Emmy win and then all of us getting it felt like a really nice maraschino on top of everything. But listen, I fall asleep at least once every couple of weeks thinking, wishing, praying that an idea comes that would bring us all back together. It just hasn’t happened yet. Despite what the media — every time you say, “Well, maybe,” it’s a whole headline thing — reunion! But it’s not for a lack of love, that’s for sure.

But “deflation” like the last day of high school?

Eugene: Oh my God, yes.

Dan: I cried for 24 straight hours.

Eugene: The tears were going through the entire last week of the shoot. Every time you reached a final something — final scene in our motel room, final scene with the family — it was just heart-wrenching. Because it was ending, and nobody really wanted it emotionally to end. By the time we shot the wedding sequence, my God, there wasn’t enough Kleenex in the studio.

How have you been preparing for this upcoming job?

Dan: A lot of writing, that’s for sure. We have a very tiny team of writers who are working with us. It really comes down to wanting it to feel celebratory, not wanting it to be too hard but still wanting a bit of an edge. People, from what I’ve been told, are kind of excited that we’re not hard-edged comics, that there will be a kind of warmth to the room. It’s trying to marry all of those things without being boring, ultimately. But we’re getting there.

Eugene: And [it’s] also just paying tribute to television, certainly the nominees, but to the medium that gave us both our starts. It’s always hit me in a funny way when jokes are done at the expense of people who are nominated — they’ve put in the work, and it’s their night, really, and you have to have enough respect for the awards show itself. Otherwise, why are we here? You want it to be funny, but it’s maybe a kinder, gentler approach. It’s true, we’re not comedians, but we’re kind of funny working together. It’s a relationship that was forged on “Schitt’s Creek,” and it seems to continue. It really works for both of us, and I guess for whoever said, “Come on and do it.”

So you’ll be doing a version of David and Johnny or Dan and Eugene?

Dan: I think in certain ways they’re sort of interwoven; one is an extension of the other. So yeah, there’s a nice little rhythm. We’re going to keep it light and bright, there’s still two weeks left, anything can happen, but that’s the goal.

How does the pressure of being nominated compare to the pressure of running this three-hour ship?

Dan: Ultimately you just want to get through the monologue, and everything else will be an easier walk.

Eugene: You’re setting a tone, and it’s our tone. It is what it is. It’s kind of tricky when you’re in the weeds, but ultimately we have to be ourselves and go with what we think is funny. We’re working with some really good people and we’re actually having fun in the process. Listen, it’s a first, and it is a big show; I think the key is just don’t think about that, ’cause that could take you down. So, get in, get out, dodge the bullets, say goodnight and God bless.