Industry-renowned actress, writer, and comedian Catherine O’Hara enthralled USC community members at the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre on Saturday – graciously accepting this year’s Oakie Comedy Award.
Headlining the 2023 USC Comedy Festival, O’Hara joined John Michael Higgins – a frequent co-star of O’Hara’s in projects like “Best in Show,” and “For Your Consideration” – in conversation as a part of The Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Masters of Comedy Lecture Series.
The event opened with an introduction from Barnet Kellman, Co-Director of USC Comedy, who emphasized the vital role the Jack and Victoria Horne Oakie Charitable Foundation has in “allowing the multi-school collaboration in sketch-comedy” and “provid[ing] scholarship to comedy students.”
USC Comedy Faculty David Issacs next presented this year’s recipient, Catherine O’Hara. While starring in prominent comedy productions, including “Schitt’s Creek,” and “Beetlejuice,” Issacs made particular mention of “Second City Television,” the pioneering late-night sketch-comedy group who “were doing meta before anybody had a name for it.”
O’Hara then proceeded onto the stage, welcomed by roaring audience applause. Next, both O’Hara and Higgins reflected on their time working with director Christopher Guest nearly 25 years back. Despite her seamless execution in mixing improvisation with scripted lines, O’Hara admits to having “always found those [scenes] really hard.”
“There was no particular goal in mind other than try to do something funny,” O’Hara joked. “I might as well have been drunk in those scenes.”
Higgins then steered the conversation back to O’Hara’s beginnings in Ontario, Canada. Raised as the second-youngest of seven kids in an Irish-Catholic family, O’Hara credits her natural comedic disposition to her upbringing.
“I think everyone’s born funny. But you either are fortunate enough to have it encouraged, or you have life beat it out of you, unfortunately. I was very fortunate to grow up in a fun family.”
O’Hara recalled regularly using comedy as a vehicle for attention at the dinner table with her large family. Despite her parent’s love for music and comedy, O’Hara said her father worked for Canadian Pacific Railways, and neither had careers in entertainment.
Regardless, her father “would tell jokes he heard at the office” and her mother “would always tell stories about people she met that day, she would imitate everybody and was really good at it,” naturally leaving O’Hara and her siblings primed to follow in their footsteps.
In fact, her brother’s romantic relationship with the late Gilda Radner initially opened the door for O’Hara’s career in comedy. During Radner’s run in “Godspell” and “Second City Theater,” O’Hara silently watched from the wings and “just imitated her” until she could land roles on her own.
On that same production of “Godspell,” O’Hara was introduced to future co-stars and comedy legends Martin Short, Andrea Martin, and most notably, Eugene Levy.
“We’re all still friends!” O’Hara exclaimed.
O’Hara then offered some advice to the audience: “Just attach yourself to some really talented people and don’t let go!” The conversation then pivoted to O’Hara’s run on “Second City Television,” which aired weekly following “Saturday Night Live.”
As “Second City Theater” transitioned into “Second City Television” following the success of SNL, O’Hara admits she “just lucked out” as a cast member during the production’s shifting period.
“It could’ve been any cast at that time, but we happen to be the cast that was on stage, O’Hara said. “So when they decided to do a television show, we were the ones that were there.”
During O’Hara’s time on SCTV, she accumulated awards for writing, including a 1982 Emmy Award for Writing in a Variety or Music Program. She recalled being fortunate to “have an audience that would tell us what’s funny,” which allowed for positive growth among the cast and writers.
O’Hara then discussed how “SCTV really opened doors” in comedy opportunities outside Canada. She began receiving audition offers from renowned casting directors who O’Hara confessed to disregarding too soon.
“I was like, ‘Ha, I don’t know who you are. No thanks.’ Ignorance. Just ignorance.” O’Hara made light of her past casting misconceptions admitting she “wished [she] had the internet back then to look people up before [she] met them.”
O’Hara’s first role in America in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours,” which she called a “really fun and exciting” experience. However, when O’Hara began a relationship with Tim Burton, director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Frankenweenie,” she found her stride in American TV and Film.
O’Hara admitted repeatedly rejecting meeting requests with Burton until she finally agreed to a meeting in Los Angeles. “Really, it went on for a while,” O’Hara acknowledged. In addition to the repeated denials, O’Hara recalled driving to the wrong studio and missing their meeting, yet still receiving an offer to work with Burton.
Capping off her conversation with Higgins, O’Hara summarized the success of her career by crediting the talent around. “If you can work with good, smart, funny people who lift each other up, that’s the best.”
A Q&A from the captivated, fan-filled audience followed the conversation. Sophie Lee, a BA theater major braved the microphone to ask how O’Hara came up with her infamous accent in her portrayal of Moira Rose on “Schitt’s Creek.”
“Think of Moira as an actress who, lately, nothing’s going on for her…and now she’s married to this very successful man, and I know that she would take credit for his success, but still, when you’re married to somebody really famous, and you want people to know that you’re interesting too… she developed this vocabulary.” Referencing Moira’s iconic use of words often absent from the everyday conversation.
Catherine O’Hara’s Master in Comedy Lecture was solidified in the final moments of the presentation when she was officially awarded the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Comedy Award.
Toward the end of the presentation, O’Hara offered a piece of advice she received from a producer on SCTV at the start of her career.
“Be really conscious of the foot you’re going in on, and make sure it’s the foot you want to stay on because it’s really hard to change after that,” O’Hara explained, “treat yourself with the respect that you hope to one day earn.”