Schitt’s Creek stars Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy reunite for the holidays.

Canadian darlings Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy reunite for the holidays.

WHEN WE REACH SCHITT’S CREEK co-stars Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy by phone, two weeks have passed since their record-setting night at the Emmys—the show won a total of nine awards. While the back-to-back wins gave viewers a good look at the cast’s COVID-19-safe gathering in Toronto, the party didn’t really start until after the cameras turned away. “It all happened so quickly; there was so much chaos and jumping around and screaming,” says Murphy, who played reformed socialite Alexis Rose on the Canadian sitcom. “I thought everything had calmed down, but then a tray of tequila shots appeared out of thin air. I was waiting for Eugene [Levy] and Catherine to kindly decline, but both of them jumped in.” O’Hara, a.k.a. the glam Rose family matriarch Moira, laughs in response to Murphy’s recounting of the evening. “I love that you think I would decline—like now that we’re Emmy winners, we don’t just grab any shot of liquor,” she says. The duo may still be feting the final season of the beloved series, but they’re already working together again—this time joining Hudson’s Bay as ambassadors for the iconic brand’s holiday campaign.

You wrapped the final season of Schitt’s Creek last year. What was it like teaming up again? ANNIE MURPHY: “I was just so excited to have another opportunity to dress up and work with Catherine again and wander through various winter-wonderland sets. It was a very fun couple of days.”

CATHERINE O’HARA: “I love Christmas, so besides being next to my dear Annie, it was the loveliest thing to be next to real Christmas trees. Almost every gift I got from my mom and dad when I was a kid growing up in Toronto came from The Bay. It’s been an important thing to me.”

What are some of your favourite holiday traditions? MURPHY: “I always watch It’s a Wonderful Life with my parents. As a kid, I used to make fun of my mom because she’d basically start crying right out of the gate and not stop. Now, I start crying 15 minutes before the movie starts and stop, like, half an hour after it ends. I’m no better than her. Everyone in my family also gets a pair of underwear in their stockings, and then we do an annual photo where everyone has their underwear on their heads.”

O’HARA: “I watch It’s a Wonderful Life every year too—I could cry now just thinking about it. I went out with a guy for a short time in my late 20s [during the holidays] and said, ‘Oh, we have to watch it.’ He’d never seen it. I was so self-conscious about whether this guy liked me or not that I didn’t cry. My best friend was with us and was struck by how wrong that relationship was.”

What’s something you’ve learned from each other? MURPHY: “Catherine has this incredible sense of joy and playfulness. She’s a true professional who takes her job very seriously, but there’s always a sense of fun and exploration. It’s so infectious and radiates to other people. On top of that, she’s so darned kind and down-to-earth. So, you know, she’s an okay role model to have.”

O’HARA: “Oh, my lord, Annie’s just talking in the mirror. She is happily comfortable in her skin—and in her mind. She is lovely and very together, honest and sweet. Every day, I fell more and more in love with Alexis and more and more in love with Annie. It was so smart and fortunate on the part of the Levys [to cast] her.”

MURPHY: “We need to get a room.” [Laughs] ®