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\n <\/div>\n\n Catherine O\u2019Hara. This interview was originally published March 20, 2019. We\u2019re rerunning it following Catharine O\u2019 Hara\u2019s death at 71.<\/p>\n Despite an impressively long career, Catherine O\u2019Hara maintains a Canadian humility in person \u2014 first off, complimenting my hair. She\u2019s something of a secret hair expert: She honed her skills styling herself and her fellow cast members during the early years of Second City on the Toronto stage in the \u201970s, and later on SCTV, to help generate a variety of characters. From there, her character work has been featured in multiple movies with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration), Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and lately the television show Schitt\u2019s Creek, in which she plays the worldly accented Moira Rose<\/a>. \u201cThere are actresses who want to stick to one certain way, and there are actors like me who want to do a bunch of different characters,\u201d she says. \u201cDon\u2019t fence me in! Don\u2019t lock me down! I want to do different things! I don\u2019t know who I am!\u201d<\/p>\n Everything about <\/strong>Moira Rose on Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/strong><\/a> is eccentric: the wigs, the clothes, the word choices, the diction. Is she based on anyone you knew personally? <\/strong> You\u2019ve said that you were reluctant to do the show at first. What made you change your mind? <\/strong> So other people\u2019s experiences were top-down, and not as collaborative?<\/strong> You\u2019ve said that some people like to build characters around a part of themselves, and others like to hide behind characters, and I was wondering if you felt pulled toward one pole more than the other?<\/strong> What is the most personal character that you feel like you\u2019ve played?<\/strong> With Claire Danes, right?<\/strong> But when I read it I was like, \u201cAh, it\u2019s just a nice lady.\u201d When you think of the great memorable characters, I don\u2019t think that, generally speaking, they\u2019re just regular nice people. Even someone in your life who you might think is just a nice person, they\u2019re way more complex than not. Every human being is. But to read the thing on paper \u2014 and I often read things wrong or incorrectly the first time \u2014 I think it just doesn\u2019t grab you right away. You have to sit with it and relax and forget about trying to show off. Not that I go into any job thinking that consciously, but I\u2019m sure unconsciously you need to let go of wanting to show off and just be. That\u2019s the trick in life, too. Just be.<\/p>\n Do you think there are character types that you did a lot of? <\/strong> I think there\u2019s a bit of the sameness in a lot of the characters I do. I think there\u2019s a lot of \u2026 insecure delusional. And I say this a lot, but I love playing people who have no real sense of the impression they\u2019re making on anyone else. But the more I say it, the more I realize that\u2019s all of us, and the internet, social networking, is a desperate attempt to try to control what others think of you. But look, we\u2019re all trying to do that all the time. Anyone who reads your Twitter account as a follower \u2014 what the hell is that? I\u2019ve never been consciously aware that I was hiding myself, but I also have never thought, I\u2019m so interesting as myself. I\u2019ll have thoughts where I think, Oh, that\u2019s a good thought! That\u2019s a good idea! I\u2019ll share this! But generally speaking, who does think that way? Really?<\/p>\n Well, they\u2019re all on social media.<\/strong> A lot of people try to control the image they\u2019re putting out there.<\/strong> Some people try to avoid that, which is interesting. <\/strong> How much is social critique part of what you\u2019re conveying?<\/strong> How did you go about doing impressions of celebrities like Brooke Shields on SCTV? <\/strong> A lot of my impersonations were impersonations of Marty\u2019s [Short] impersonations, because he did Katharine Hepburn and Liz Taylor. [Laughs.] You know when you see a great impersonator and you didn\u2019t realize that the person they\u2019re doing did that until you saw the impersonator do it? They let you inside the head of what they discover in somebody, to be able to impersonate them. Frank Caliendo from Mad TV did Bush in a way I\u2019d never heard anyone do Bush, and Will Ferrell went a whole other way, but equally great.<\/p>\n When we were doing SCTV and someone would say, \u201cWhat about this person? You want to play them in a scene? You want to do her?\u201d If I didn\u2019t like them, I wouldn\u2019t play them. It takes too much of my time and energy.<\/p>\n Do you think that people have a right to be mad about impressions that are done of them?<\/strong> You gotta see Anthony Atamanuik on Colbert<\/a>; he talks about how he developed the impersonation of Trump, and it\u2019s really good. It\u2019s like a trailer from a master class on how to impersonate someone. He talks about his center of gravity, or lack of center of gravity, and he becomes him right before your eyes. He doesn\u2019t even need that wig. No wig, no makeup, nothing. He becomes Trump before your eyes. It\u2019s really, solidly good. He\u2019s the best Trump ever.<\/p>\n SCTV was a fairly male-dominated space. Was it difficult getting your ideas heard during brainstorming or the writers\u2019 process?<\/strong> That\u2019s funny. <\/strong> You and Andrea Martin?<\/strong> Did you feel there was limit placed on the kinds of characters you could do creatively because of gender?<\/strong> You weren\u2019t credited as a writer in the beginning of SCTV. What happened? <\/strong> How did that change? <\/strong> I realized all my training in negotiating was from SCTV because I realized, \u201cOh, when they say I\u2019m not worth the same as someone else, it means they don\u2019t want to pay me. It doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t believe I\u2019m not worth the same. They just want to try to get away with \u2026\u201d you know? And always ask for more than you\u2019re willing to, so you come down to what you actually were happy to get. It\u2019s not to take it personally is the big lesson.<\/p>\n For the Christopher Guest movies, is the script an outline?<\/strong> Then you improvise it. Chris would just let us go, and on the second or third take, he says, \u201cOkay, just go back to where you talk about where you met.\u201d That doesn\u2019t mean the dialogue has to be the same, he asks to go back because he knows he\u2019s missing a beat that\u2019s in the outline, or he wants to give it more focus. And then, \u201cDo I go completely new now?\u201d and \u201cOh, I came up with a joke, should I try to get it in?\u201d \u201cHow fresh am I now in this take?\u201d It\u2019s really scary and fun to do.<\/p>\n Are you generally trying something new on the fly with each take?<\/strong> Was For Your Consideration<\/span> also improvised?<\/strong> 2006.<\/strong> How did you practice that? Was it tiring? <\/strong> Was there ever a fork in the road where you imagine your career could have gone down a different route?<\/strong> Anyway, we finished the movie, and then a month or two after that Milos Forman asked to have lunch with me. I don\u2019t even know what he had in mind, or if that could\u2019ve led to another thing. I\u2019m not even saying it could have been, but at the very least it was an opportunity to ask him about his life in Prague and where he\u2019d lived. His childhood was amazing, with the little I\u2019ve learned since. Why didn\u2019t I take that opportunity to learn about his life? Instead I was like, Uh, what does it mean? Does he like me? Is this a date or is he thinking of hiring me and now I\u2019m being judged? I was so ignorant, really, and insecure. So more than I could tell you about a movie I blew off, it would be opportunities like that. Because I claim to observe people and learn, and I didn\u2019t in those moments because I was afraid I was being judged or assessed. And what a beautiful, interesting man that I could have learned something from, or even worked with again. I was just kind of ignorant. Oh, he told me stories and I swear to you, my response to some of his stories about his life were like, \u201cYeah right!\u201d [Laughs.] That\u2019s the saddest admission.<\/p>\n What was your experience doing a big, popular film like Home Alone? Did that affect how you were able to live your life or subsequent jobs? <\/strong> A lot of mid-budget studio films have disappeared. <\/strong> It\u2019s not just actors. My husband<\/span> is a production designer and that world has changed as well. He used to go in, do an interview, and he had the job. He can still do that because people know his work, but even production designers who have done tons of beautiful work have to create these \u201clook books\u201d where they\u2019re basically creating the look of the movie before their first interview. Sorry, I don\u2019t mean to complain on his behalf either. It\u2019s just recognizing that things have changed.<\/p>\n I know it was a blip, but I was curious to hear what you initially hoped to accomplish at SNL<\/span>?<\/strong> So you wanted to stay with SCTV?<\/strong> Who\u2019s doing improv and sketch comedy now that you like? <\/strong> Who excites you on SNL?<\/strong> After SCTV, you did less script writing, and I wondered if you ever wanted to write more of your own material? <\/strong> What was the show called? <\/strong> You were doing \u201cprestige TV\u201d before anyone else was! <\/strong>
\n Photo: Ryan Pfluger for Vulture<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
The exterior always helps make me feel like someone else. For Moira, I get my hair done, I get my makeup, I get those clothes on. They make me stand differently and walk differently. I explain the voice as souvenirs from all my world travel. I\u2019ve taken a bit of all the people I\u2019ve met in the world and I\u2019m sharing it with you. [Does Moira\u2019s voice.] \u201cAren\u2019t you lucky?\u201d I was thinking of somebody I know who words things in a very particular way, and in an indecipherable accent. But broadly, you know, Madonna spoke English for a while. I think there was a part where Kathleen Turner was on a talk show and she sounded Brazilian. And you know what? Madonna is great at reinventing herself and going, \u201cWhat do you mean? I\u2019ve always been this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, part of it\u2019s laziness and not knowing how long the job is going to happen. But mainly, my training is in Second City<\/span>, and I\u2019m spoiled because I\u2019ve been allowed to create my own characters and do my own writing and improvise and just create in such a free way. I was just used to playing a lot of different characters and having something new to do every day. That was my only real trepidation about doing a series. I\u2019ve had friends who\u2019ve been put in lockdown. Somebody talked them into committing to a series, and then treated them as if nothing they\u2019d ever done had come from them, and now these people were going to tell them how to be.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Maybe [this was] only fear-based, and not reality-based for me. You just never know. I was trying to think of somebody I wanted to play in case the show went for any length of time, and it was great that Daniel and Eugene [Levy] made her an actress, because that gives her possibilities. Then I talked to Eugene about the way I want to speak. And then, \u201cCould I wear different wigs?\u201d And they said, \u201cYeah, in fact, we\u2019ll give you a wall of wigs!\u201d They made it so attractive on every level, and I\u2019m so glad something guided me to do this, or tricked me.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>I don\u2019t think you can help but draw from yourself, especially if you\u2019re doing improv. It\u2019s all you have, that hard drive that\u2019s still in there that you can draw from. At the same time you can start with, How would I look at this? How would I react to that? And then, you can consciously shift it. And once you start getting into the way a character seems to think, then it gets easier to improvise and be them. I don\u2019t think any of us probably started out with any strong ideas of who we would become on this show. Even though you may have months to think about it, when you actually do this with other people, you have to be affected by each other. You\u2019re not working alone there; you\u2019re ever evolving with the help of each other.<\/p>\n
Oy. I don\u2019t know. [Laughs.] I think that the one I resisted playing the most because it was just \u201ca nice person\u201d \u2014 and I\u2019m not saying that\u2019s me \u2014 but I was in an HBO movie called Temple Grandin<\/span>.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Yeah, I love her. She was so good. She kept apologizing to me off camera, that she wasn\u2019t giving me anything because she couldn\u2019t totally engage, because she\u2019s playing an autistic person, Temple Grandin. She would apologize to me that she wasn\u2019t totally connecting with me, I should say, on every level. I\u2019d say, \u201cAre you kidding? You\u2019re Temple Grandin. What more would I want?\u201d Working with her made it easy to just be there with her and want to take care of her.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>I was afraid I would lean on being a bitchy wife [with Moira] because I often did that. When in doubt, I played either insane or bitchy at Second City Theater. And I didn\u2019t want to do that with Eugene, and I\u2019m so happy either of us didn\u2019t go the way of not loving each other. I think we\u2019re a great loving couple in this.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>But are they youthful maybe, and they haven\u2019t actually found themselves? They\u2019re going to look back on these words like bad hairdos from their youth. Like, Wow, I actually said it to the world? Whatever I did in youth, that\u2019s pretty private! Whoever was there at the time saw how stupid I was. But wow, there\u2019s no hiding what you do now! Anything you put out there is there forever.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Good luck. Aren\u2019t you going to have to show up in person at one point?<\/p>\n
My kids are 24 and 21. When I wanted them to get off their games, they\u2019d go, \u201cWe can make really big money!\u201d and they\u2019d talk about [this] guy who plays games on the internet<\/span>. And then I saw him on Colbert and there was no conversation. He actually showed clips from his work!<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Oh, that\u2019s what Second City stage is. It\u2019s all, \u201cWhat did I see on the streetcar on the way to work today? Oh, I overheard a bit of conversation.\u201d You hear them say something in a way you\u2019d never heard anyone speak, and you go, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to put that into something.\u201d So you\u2019re kind of gathering all these little bits of information. And it\u2019s all laughing at ourselves. Not just others, but ourselves. Just behavior that human beings can\u2019t help. We are ridiculous and great and lovely and sweet and innocent and scary.<\/p>\n
Well, we all wrote for each other. Someone in that case would be writing \u201cFarm Film Blow-Up<\/span>\u201d and would go, \u201cKnow who would be fun to have on?\u201d \u2014 as if they were booking a guest \u2014 \u201cMeryl Streep!\u201d \u201cHmm, okay, I\u2019ll try it!\u201d \u201cWhat about Brooke Shields?\u201d \u201cOh my God, I\u2019m in my 30s! What?\u201d But we had amazing hair and makeup. And there was no internet then so it was, \u201cCan you get me any tape?\u201d My big fat VHS tape, I\u2019d start recording things on TV, in the worst quality. But you\u2019d record people on talk shows, and I\u2019d seen Brooke Shields when she came out on Johnny Carson and did a tripping bit. Brooke Shields, God bless her, tried to do a bit. But because she\u2019s a young, gorgeous girl who would stun men, nobody would give her the benefit of being funny. They all went, \u201cAre you okay? Are you okay?\u201d \u201cNo, I was doing a bit!\u201d Nobody would believe her \u2014 except me! I believed her! No, seriously. I thought, Okay, they just won\u2019t let a beautiful girl do that bit!<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It depends how they\u2019re done. When you\u2019re aware of the work that often goes into it, I think it\u2019s a compliment that we might spend that much time thinking about and studying somebody, and trying to accurately portray them. But I think if you do a quick, grotesque version, then, yeah, they have a right to be PO\u2019d or offended or just hurt. But depends how big they are. If they get it from all sides, then it\u2019s part of the job.<\/p>\n
Yes. At the very beginning I\u2019d whisper my ideas to Dave Thomas and he\u2019d say them out loud, but he wouldn\u2019t say, \u201cCatherine said \u2026\u201d He\u2019d say the idea out loud, and if it didn\u2019t get a laugh I\u2019d stay quiet. That\u2019s what an insecure weasel I was. If it didn\u2019t get a laugh I wouldn\u2019t say anything, but if it got a laugh I\u2019d go, \u201cI said that! I told him to say that!\u201d [Laughs.] It was like I had to go through the test kitchen of Dave Thomas!<\/p>\n
<\/strong>The sexism was still a holdover at that time. That generation of guys had been raised by an older generation, and depending on who raised them, they looked at women a certain way. But because they also did character work and not stand-up, I think they weren\u2019t just working from their own ideas, so they were open-minded. I love those guys, and no one was ever cruel. It was just a case of numbers, and that was a product of the times. There would never be more than two women in a cast of Second City stage. Just this last year I asked Andrew [Alexander], \u201cTell me, have you ever had more women in a cast than men?\u201d and he said, \u201cAll the time.\u201d \u201cOh, thank God; that\u2019s so great! What about anybody besides white people?\u201d \u201cOh yeah, a lot.\u201d \u201cAnyone besides straight white people?\u201d \u201cOh yeah, a lot!\u201d So finally it\u2019s opened up \u2014 like the world \u2014 but at that time it was two women.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Yeah, but I worked with different women. When I first got in I understudied Gilda Radner, and then I understudied Rosemary Radcliffe, who\u2019d been in the cast with her. Then I worked with Andrea. I worked with Robin Duke. At one point when Andrew Alexander gave the cast a holiday, they put an all-women show together, so it was Robin, Andrea, and Mary Charlotte Wilcox, and some other women. That was fun \u2014 all women. If one of the guys was writing a scene that was basically about men, they\u2019d say, \u201cAnd then the women come in!\u201d as if we shared one hip. Can we be different women coming in at the same time? But again, it was the times. It was when\u2019s women\u2019s liberation was just happening. It\u2019s changed.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Yeah, of course. We\u2019re drawing on life. We were parodying the world; we could only parody women who were allowed to do things in the world, women who were allowed to achieve certain things and have a public life. I think the reason comedy\u2019s changed is because the world has changed. There are more women being allowed to reach for and achieve their potential now than then. It still hasn\u2019t changed enough.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s of the times. We weren\u2019t paid as writers [in season one]. It made no sense. Andrew Alexander just said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m sorry. That\u2019s the way things worked at the time.\u201d He\u2019s made up for it; we\u2019re on equal ground now. And he was always creatively supportive of all of us. But yeah, money-wise, I don\u2019t know how many workplaces still don\u2019t pay women the same as men for the same job or better.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>At the beginning I was so excited to be doing the TV show that it was like, \u201cWow, we get to create our own show?\u201d and it was really thrilling. And I was never that money-conscious. At Second City Theater, I stupidly or na\u00efvely thought, Wow, I get to do this? And I\u2019m getting paid? So I never had a \u201cYes, I\u2019ve earned this\u201d vibe about me, or a consciousness. So when we did the TV show, same thing: \u201cWow! We\u2019re getting to do a TV show!\u201d I don\u2019t think I was aware right away that we weren\u2019t being paid. I think John Candy revealed it. John wasn\u2019t paid either! John Candy and Andrea and I. John Candy made it known that Andrea and he and I were not being paid the same as the other guys, and John was a great fighter. He had great self-respect. So I\u2019m sure I was encouraged by him. I can\u2019t remember the details, but I loved him and he was a great ally in work and in all things. So I\u2019m sure I was buoyed by his confidence. I\u2019m sure I talked to [Alexander] and said, \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s a story outline. And actually the final result is exactly what that outline was. The whole thing is inspiration: Each actor is allowed to just fly. There\u2019s no real discussion, unless you\u2019re playing husband and wife. You might discuss it a bit if you have to. Like, in Best in Show<\/span>, we did have to discuss dog training and dog showing. Eugene and I saw each other the first day of makeup. He had not told me he was going to look like that; I had not told him he was going to look like that! It\u2019s so much funnier when you go, \u201cOh, that\u2019s who I\u2019m married to!\u201d And whatever you might have thought of in a vague or specific way has to adjust.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Oh yeah, you have to be affected by everyone, and they\u2019re all working on the fly. I learned that when you\u2019re doing those kinds of movies, you learn you\u2019re not alone, as you aren\u2019t in life. You have others to build your characters, and you can help them build theirs by the way you treat them, by some incident from the past that you improvised and you shared with them. And you go, \u201cYeah, you\u2019re right, I did.\u201d The basic rules of improv are, \u201cYes, and,\u201d and \u201cNo, but.\u201d So you go, \u201cRemember that time you tried to kiss me when we were in school?\u201d You don\u2019t say, \u201cNo I didn\u2019t.\u201d You go, \u201cI don\u2019t remember, but I do remember being naked with you later!\u201d Or, \u201cYes, I remember, but I believe you asked me to!\u201d You just always come back with something to offer, so we\u2019re all building each other.<\/p>\n
Every one of them! They wrote that I would get a face-lift, that I\u2019d be so sucked into the awards game, as you\u2019re seeing right now. They talked about pulling it up [with tape] and I said, \u201cNo, I won\u2019t do that,\u201d because I knew even when I was in my 20s and 30s doing comedy, if I ever got pulled back, your face has to come back at the end of the day. And of course I\u2019m not in my 30s when I was doing that. When was For Your Consideration?<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Yeah, so I knew my older skin would have to come back at the end of the day. So I did just facial-muscle exercises, and then hold it as long as I could and do this weird eye thing I\u2019ve seen happen to women who had inferior work done. [Laughs.] And the only really false thing was a set of teeth that we had made because I\u2019ve seen on women that have a lot of work, what it does is, they lift their nose or bring their lip down so they have a much longer space than normal there, and my teeth were covered, so they made me longer teeth that would show. Big, white, straight teeth \u2014 which I don\u2019t have. And then Kate Shorter, our makeup artist, gave me a great glossy, waxy, acid-washed face.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>You just lift. The more you do it, the more it stays! There are muscles behind your skin and face, and my mother did it her whole life. My mother never had a face-lift or any kind of cosmetic surgery. Her eyebrows were up here, God bless her, when she died at 81, with no wrinkles above. Her cheeks were up here! I\u2019m not kidding. I wish I could show you pictures. When she was in her 20s, her eyebrows were down here. In her 80s, up here. And she would just hold her face like this. She had enough vanity that she\u2019d look in the mirror, ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the best way to look?\u201d and she did it and it worked. She lifted her face naturally.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>I\u2019d have these meetings set up with studio heads and producers and directors, and I met them like they were interesting, or not very interesting, people. It was like a date, you know? I remember having lunch with Milos Forman. I worked with him on Heartburn. I was very intimidated on that set. I was with Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Stockard Channing, Richard Maser, and Milos Forman. We were supposed to be three couples who were best friends. Okay \u2014 What was I doing there? That was all I thought at the time. I wanted to hurl the first day of rehearsal out of nervousness. Just sit there, just be quiet, just listen. And that\u2019s Mike Nichols, God bless him, just picking out some little creature that he thought, Ooh, this\u2019ll be fun to throw this into the mix. He did that with a lot of people, and a lot of smart people blossomed with that opportunity. He picked me to be in that group, and it was crazy.<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019ll tell you right away, it was not a big film when I signed on. It was just a good script with some good people, John Hughes, Chris Columbus. Going in, I never had a sense of whether something\u2019s going to be big or not, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever put too much thought into it because you can\u2019t control that. It was not until I negotiated for the second movie was I aware that I was maybe part of a big project! [Laughs.] That was the most money I have ever been offered up front. That\u2019s when I negotiated not to be there for all 12 weeks of the shoot. You could take more money, and be available for the whole shoot. Because we\u2019re shooting interiors and exteriors in Chicago, and it was winter, so if you agree to be part of the whole shoot, then you\u2019d be available for a cover shoot, which means if they have a scene scheduled to be outside and suddenly there\u2019s horrible weather, or there\u2019s no snow, they\u2019ll shoot one of the interior scenes that was scheduled for another day. So on the first Home Alone, I was available to them for the whole shoot, and I was in Chicago the whole 12 weeks. If I went out for the day either shopping or sightseeing \u2014 and this was before cell phones \u2014 then I\u2019d have to call in every once in a while to the first or second AD and be like, \u201cDo you need me? I\u2019m kind of a homebody, so for the second one, I didn\u2019t want to have to be there for the whole shoot because I knew I wasn\u2019t in every scene. So I took less money, which was still an insane amount of money, and they condensed my work. So that\u2019s the only spot where I took advantage of the fact that it was a big movie. But that\u2019s because it was a sequel, and the first film was so, so loved and still is. Wow.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>There\u2019s no middle class in acting salaries in film anymore. In television, I guess there\u2019s still money. I now get offered movies for $1,500 a week! They\u2019re independent movies. There\u2019s either big budget with Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Lawrence. You\u2019re either the top one percent or you\u2019re making it for the sake of art, with no money. So I guess it\u2019s like the rest of the economy. [Laughs.] Someone like me, when I was just starting out in film, got really decent money. At least I was excited about it. And I was just starting out! The films I get offered now are little independent movies, and they\u2019re way less money than I got when I was getting my first jobs in film.<\/p>\n
To do the same kind of work I\u2019d done with SCTV. But we were so under the radar at SCTV, and I loved all the people at SNL. Like everyone, I thought it was the coolest show on TV. It was an opportunity to do it on a big stage and do it live. I thought, It\u2019s going to be the greatest combination of Second City Theater and SCTV. But it was when SCTV was down. We were down many times between seasons. Andrew Alexander would fight his way into another deal, and he\u2019d call us and say, \u201cOkay! Now we\u2019re on this network! Now we\u2019re half-hour! Now we\u2019re 45 minutes! Now we\u2019re 90 minutes!\u201d So it was on a downtime, and I got a call with the offer [for SNL]. It was in the summer before they were going on the air for that next season, and then Andrew called and said, \u201cI made a deal with the same network, NBC, for 90-minute shows!\u201d So I went to Dick Ebersol, the producer at the time, and said, \u201cSorry, I have to go back to my family!\u201d It was that. There was BS in some book<\/span> about me being scared. That\u2019s not true. I don\u2019t want to say this out loud, but it was boring what I saw, not scary. They spray-painted \u201cDanger\u201d on the wall. That didn\u2019t scare me. It was a bad date. Not \u201cbad bad,\u201d just, \u201cOkay, thank you.\u201d Honestly, I do not look back on that with any pride. That was not a cool thing to do, to take the job, make them think you\u2019re committed to being in that next season, and then run away or \u201cgo back to my family.\u201d But I really did want to stay with my friends at SCTV.<\/p>\n
Yes. There was no job and then suddenly there was. Andrew made a deal. Nobody did anything awful. And even if they did, I could work with that. Who cares? But they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Well, I\u2019ll always watch SNL for the great moments. There\u2019s always something there. And I really miss Mad TV. There were so many good people on that. Groundlings, I\u2019ll go there once in a while.<\/p>\n
Kate McKinnon\u2019s great, obviously. She\u2019s the star of the show right now. But I also really love Cecily Strong. She was kind of stuck in the news for a while there and you didn\u2019t know what she could do, and I think she\u2019s really good. On SCTV, I\u2019d say Andrea was more Kate McKinnon and I\u2019d be Cecily Strong. Maybe I relate to her more because she\u2019s quieter about what she does. Not that Kate McKinnon\u2019s loud; she\u2019s obviously amazing and talented and funny.<\/p>\n
At one point I sold a half-hour idea to HBO, but I didn\u2019t even mean to pitch it. I just had a meeting with Carolyn Strauss, who was the head of HBO then, we had lunch, and she said, \u201cDo you have any ideas for a show?\u201d I told her an experience I\u2019d had. It was something my husband and I went through. It was silly, but it was about being parents and the school function. And she said, \u201cYeah.\u201d I said, \u201cYeah what?\u201d She said, \u201cYeah, we\u2019ll do it.\u201d If I knew I was pitching I wouldn\u2019t have made a deal! But because I just innocently told a story, I managed to pitch something!<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It was called Everyone Has One. It was basically about a marriage and what it goes through when you have children. But the pilot didn\u2019t have a beginning, middle, and end. It didn\u2019t wrap up. And I thought, That\u2019s okay. That\u2019s why I say it was ahead of my time! It didn\u2019t sell, but I loved the opportunity.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Anytime I get an opportunity to write and I\u2019m given a deadline, I find out that I can write, and I gain confidence and I go, Why am I not doing it? This is stupid. But I don\u2019t know, I get sucked into life \u2014 [Moira Rose voice] \u201cand all that is has to offer!\u201d Be with my kids, or my husband, or my friends. Or acting! But [Schitt\u2019s Creek] has given me an opportunity to rewrite dialogue. I don\u2019t have to, but I do and I want to, and Daniel [Levy] has made me feel welcome to do that. And I have a consulting producer credit, which just says, \u201cYeah, she\u2019s doing something else.\u201d But it doesn\u2019t matter. I just do have the opportunity to write and it\u2019s great. I would love to. Every year I say, No, this year I will actually write one of these ideas I have. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s stopping me. I guess I\u2019m not that disciplined unless I have to. I need a deadline.<\/p>\n