Catherine O’Hara values loyalty over securing a spot on Saturday Night Live.
In the latest report, O’Hara reflects on her brief stint on the sixth season of SNL in the early 1980s, quitting after just a week. Dismissing rumors of fear, O’Hara, 69, clarifies that her decision was unrelated.
Before SNL, she had experience on the Canadian comedy sketch show SCTV, although the work was not steady.
Explaining the challenges, O’Hara notes, “Our producer would secure a network deal, and we’d have a show for a season or two. After the deal ended, there’d be a break before resuming.”
Amidst one break, she was offered a spot on Saturday Night Live, an opportunity she embraced. However, upon learning that SCTV was picked up again, she left SNL without filming an episode, stating, “Sorry, I gotta go be with my [comedy] family.”
Looking back, O’Hara acknowledges her impatience, admitting she was “stupid” for not waiting to confirm SCTV’s status.
She reflects, “Yeah, not cool to take a job and leave it. You know what I mean?” Ultimately, O’Hara’s best friend from high school, Robin Duke, stepped into her SNL slot, and she believes, “It all worked out the way it was supposed to.”
SCTV, running from 1976 to 1984, emerged as an offshoot of Toronto’s renowned Second City comedy troupe, the starting point for the late comedian Gilda Radner.
O’Hara’s SCTV co-stars featured notable names such as John Candy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, and Eugene Levy. O’Hara and Levy later collaborated multiple times in Christopher Guest’s films, including the acclaimed “Best in Show.”
They continued their partnership on the Pop comedy series “Schitt’s Creek” from 2015 to 2020, portraying Johnny and Moira Rose. The characters depict a wealthy couple who lose everything and find themselves residing in the run-down motel of the small town they own, their sole remaining asset.
Levy, alongside his son Daniel Levy (who played the high-maintenance son David), co-created the Emmy-winning series. O’Hara expresses lasting gratitude, stating, “I’ll be forever grateful to Eugene and Daniel for giving me that opportunity to develop the role with them and to collaborate.”
“It’s such a gift to work with people with whom you can collaborate. And they wrote such great scripts, and it was just so fun and so lovely,” she adds.
Originally airing on Pop, “Schitt’s Creek” gained widespread popularity when it became available on Netflix, a move O’Hara attributes to the show’s beloved status. Reflecting on this, she notes, “We lucked out.”