This is a shocker. 2025 was one of the most successful years of her life. She was in every episode of The Studio, and earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her supporting performance. She was also nominated for a second Emmy for her performance in The Last of Us.
The original cast of SCTV is now at less than half-strength. There were seven original members of the SCTV troupe, and the only ones left are Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin. No longer with us are John Candy (died in 1994), Harold Ramis (2014), Joe Flaherty (2024) and Catherine O’Hara (2026).
A brilliant’y funny woman – the world definitely has a little less laughter in it with her passing.
Rick Moranis is still with us as well. Though he was not part of the original cast, I very much consider him to be core to SCTV.
I lived and breathed SCTV in my teenage years and my appreciation very much extended to Catherine O’Hara – how could it not? I have seen pretty much everything she has been in since SCTV. So many great roles. My post-SCTV favourites were probably her portrayals in Best in Show and A Mighty Wind and, of course, Schitt’s Creek. I have been watching The Studio over the past week.
I feel that part of my life has died today. Thanks to Catherine for all the laughs, in good times and bad.
Yup. Moranis got there quickly, as Ramis moved on to other projects. Ramis was never good at impersonations, and didn’t create memorable characters, while Moranis was brilliant as Dick Cavett and Woody Allen, so that was a major upgrade.
I also consider Martin Short an SCTV guy, even though he came some years later. I suppose he is the SCTV alum who is most visible today. Martin and Levy are still performing as well. I don’t know what Dave Thomas is up to these days.
It all started with the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. A substantial portion of the modern history of comedy in North America began there. Interestingly, Catherine O’Hara was not actually in that production, though so many others who went on to big comedy careers were. Catherine auditioned, but the part went to…Gilda Radner.
Yup. That cast was legendary. (Plus Paul Schaffer on the keyboard and as musical director.) I went to Toronto many times in 1972, and it kills me that I didn’t know about this at the time. (I suppose I would not have gone anyway, since they were unknowns at the time, and I don’t really like that musical.)
I want to watch You Had to Be There, but I don’t know where to find it.
Do you know?
I saw You Had to Be There at TIFF this past September, but I don’t know where or if it is available for viewing right now. It was interesting and enjoyable as a history and homage to what happened in Toronto at the time, but somewhat limited by, among other issues, the almost complete absence of footage of the actual 1972 production or footage of anything that happened in and around the production. It is mostly a ‘talking heads’ documentary, with the former cast members now recalling their experiences.
I love how Moranis often added lines like, “Groucho once told me…” or “I was having lunch with Lauren Bacall and she said…” to mock Cavett’s name-dropping. Cavett had a lot of insecurity and compensated by making sure his more famous guests believed that he was close with luminaries such as Bette Davis & Hitchcock. Moranis cleverly picked up on that and rammed it up Cavett’s ass in his impression.
One of my favorite lines from SCTV was when they had Cavett & Levy’s Cosell hosting the Battle of the Network Stars, and when Cavett starts to go off on one of his ponderous, introspective monologues about his college days, Cosell witheringly cuts him off with, “A very witty quip, Dick, but let’s not waste any more time.”
I think Cavett was in Beetlejuice with Catherine, but I dunno how he got in there. Maybe one of his great pals like John Huston recommended him for the part.
For me it was “The Days of the Week.” She played multiple characters in that – the target of Joe Flaherty’s killer character, and the girlfriend of Moranis’ gum-chomping, cancer-stricken guy, among others – and was always great. It’s hard to parody a soap opera and make it actually funny. She & Andrea Martin were a powerful duo on that show, even though they later said that they very unfairly made much less than the male actors. She was an amazing person.
For anyone who doesn’t know, SNL once tried to lure her over from SCTV, or maybe this was after she left that show. She visited, took a look around at the mess the show was at that time, and split. “And that was the unceremonious end of the idea of Catherine on SNL”, as Lorne put it.
SCTV hilariously skewered the excesses and self-indulgence of U.S. media of the time, while also wonderfully parodying the inherent and utter lameness of Canadian TV. I always wondered how much of the latter aspect was followed by U.S. audiences, but I have to think those from the northern States who could pick up Canadian channels would have understood. Certainly SCTV eventually found a U.S. audience – it surprised me over the years to learn just how many American devotees there are of it, including of the shows from the earlier years which were broadcast in Canada only.
As a special treat, here is a link to a great SCTV clip (including Catherine O’Hara) parodying an aspect of the sexism of the media landscape in the 1970s.
Maybe the most talented member of the most talented comedy ensemble ever.