Without a Paddle
WHERE WOULD YOU like to sit?” a colleague asks Catherine O’Hara as she enters the room alongside Eugene Levy, who plays her TV husband on the new comedy Schitt’s Creek.
“As far away from each other as possible,” she shoots back, initiating a spat between the two Canadian comedy legends over who should sit where on the nearby couch. “Oh, shut up!” Levy barks. “Yak, yak!” Within seconds, the squabble gives way to grins, their brimming mutual admiration a by-product of 40 years of friendship dating back to their SCTV roots.
It’s this innate chemistry that’s generating buzz around their new comedy, which follows a rich family that loses everything but a small town they bought as a joke – Schitt’s Creek. In fact, the show was renewed for a second season before the first even debuted.
“It’s fun to watch friends work together,” O’Hara explains. “When you know there’s a history between people, it (adds) something.”
Levy jokes about his decision to return to a regular television series – “I like eating. I like to be able to afford to buy food” – though it’s clear the chance to develop the show alongside his son, Dan, who conceived it and costars, propelled his decision.
“When we started, I [thought] I was kind of mentoring [Dan] but I quickly became aware that I don’t have an awful lot to teach this kid,” he beams. “Looking at him as a writer, as an actor and as a producer, I am working with an amazingly accomplished partner.”
Levy says his son “[wouldn’t] be too interested in where I screwed up along the way,” in reference to his experiences when starting out with O’Hara on SCTV. In fact, the television landscape has shifted dramatically in the decades since the pair left regular series work for the big screen.
“When we were doing SCTV, we’d go into work, we’d shoot in the studio and then go home for dinner,” Levy recalls. “There’s something very Canadian about it. Just do your work and then go home and, you know, shut up about it.”
“There was a certain freedom in that, too, where you don’t have to worry about a zillion people commenting on what you’re doing,” O’Hara says, pointing to social media. “We did no interviews. Only now, 40 years later, are people [asking] about SCTV.”
But, O’Hara notes, “It’s fun to work with younger people because they’re living a different life than we did at their age, and it’s fun to hear their take on this world around them.”
As for his longtime co-star, Levy deems landing O’Hara for the series a “coup.”
“I thought,” O’Hara says, “if I’m ever going to do a series, why not do it with my smart, funny friend who I already love and respect?”
“You’re very selective about what you do. The idea that she trusted us enough to commit, I think, is great,” Levy says.
“All right, thank you,” O’Hara interrupts, laughing. “I’m already hot flashing … Once I start getting self-conscious, it gets way worse.”
“Oh, all right,” Levy concedes. “I won’t say another nice thing about you.”