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TORONTO – It seems the Canadian Screen Awards has a new nickname: the Candy.
Show host Norm Macdonald suggested it during his monologue at Sunday’s bash as a tribute to late comic John Candy — and many presenters and winners embraced it.
Former “SCTV” comics Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, who were both on hand to accept comic acting prizes for their roles on CBC-TV’s “Schitt’s Creek,” gave their blessing backstage.
“The fact is, I think it is a good name for this award, getting a Candy. It seemed to sit well tonight — it was mentioned a few times,” Levy said following the gala.
“It may have started out as a bit of a joke but by the end of the show it just seemed, ‘Well, that’s the name of the award. It’s called the Candy.’”
O’Hara agreed, finding it especially nice to see best film actor Jacob Tremblay — the nine-year-old star of “Room” — thank voters for the “wonderful Candy.”
“It was especially sweet seeing a little boy say, ‘Thank you for the Candy,’” said O’Hara.
“I’m with Eugene, I think it’s set now. I think they can’t turn back. I love John. And John, everyone who met him was just fulfilled. Because he would be exactly as you dreamed he would be.”
The chairman of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which administers the annual bash, said the nickname certainly resonated with him.
“It sort of encompasses the word Canada, in a way, and it reflects and represents the great legacy in both film and television that John Candy left for us,” said Martin Katz, one of several industry players to tweet #TheCandy following the bash.
“To honour him in that way, particularly I have to say on a night when Martin Short and Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy happened to be on the stage at the same time, I think would be a wonderful and fitting tribute.”
An academy spokeswoman said “the Candy” nickname can actually be traced back to 2013, when the previous Genie and Gemini awards first merged to create the Canadian Screen Awards.
Organizers bandied about a list of unofficial nicknames that also included “the Pickford,” for silent film star Mary Pickford, and “the Martys,” for Martin Short.
Internally, it was often shortened to the “CSAs,” while some media outlets dubbed it “the Screenies.” But Katz said he was never a fan of either option.
“I think there’s something quite beautiful about being able to recognize a giant of our industry who left us too early but whose impact we feel still.”
The “Uncle Buck” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” star died of a heart attack in 1994.
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