SCTV cast delights audience in onstage reunion

Actors reminisce for a Scorsese special that is coming to Netflix

Joe Flaherty confessed he hadn’t been sure that anybody would show up.

But Toronto’s Elgin Theatre was packed Sunday afternoon with fans of SCTV, the beloved Canadian sketch comedy show that made its debut in 1976.

Flaherty, along with fellow cast members Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Martin Short and Rick Moranis, appeared onstage for “An Afternoon With the Cast of SCTV,” a panel discussion that was origi- nally filmed for a Martin Scorsese Netflix special about the series.

The discussion will also air on CTV next year.

The presentation was moderated by U.S. late night host Jimmy Kimmel, a longtime fan of SCTV.

Scorsese himself stayed out of the way.

He didn’t appear onstage at all until the very end, at the urging of Flaherty, and he snuck off again while the cast held hands and bowed to the audience.

It was Moranis who brought audience members to their feet at the beginning of the afternoon.

The Toronto-born comedian, who has stayed largely out of the entertainment spotlight for about a decade, was a last-minute and much-appreciated addition to the panel, judging by the response.

For about three hours, Kimmel led the cast on a trip down memory lane as they shared anecdotes, recalled favourite sketches and characters, and watched clips from the series.

When SCTVbegan, it was produced for about $7,000 per episode, Thomas recalled.

Kimmel suggested the low budget was part of the show’s charm.

Another favoured part was the wide latitude the cast was given to create their material under producer Andrew Alexander. “We didn’t know anybody was watching. We were just doing it for ourselves,” Moranis said. One unseen cast member was on the minds of panellists and audience members throughout the afternoon: the late John Candy, the Newmarket-born actor and comedian who died in 1994.

Candy got his own greatest hits reel and he was frequently taking part in the onstage discussion.

His children were in the audience and Kimmel said he could see the other cast members trying to hold back tears as they spoke about him.

In perhaps the most ingenious tribute, one of the cameras shooting the special was attached to a crane with the words “Johnny LaRue” written on its side.

This was a reference to one of Candy’s most beloved SCTV characters, a faux TV host with an excessive fondness for crane shots.

“He made every day a celebration,” Martin said of Candy.

The cast also paid tribute to Harold Ramis, who died in 2014.

Levy noted that the cast members have known each other for almost 50 years if you count the stage work they did together before SCTV.

He called the series the “greatest creative experience” of all of their lives.

“We didn’t know anybody was watching. We were just doing it for ourselves.” RICK MORANIS COMEDIAN