“O’Hara started off working as a waitress at The Second City,” The Canadian Press wrote; she had “auditioned for the Second City company only to end up as a waitress,” says The Irish Times. “She joined Second City in her early 20s,” the AP reported, and “Between 1976 and 1984, the sketch show SCTV, a television spin-off of Second City, became a cult success.”
“In 1981, O’Hara’s SCTV work caught the eye of producer Dick Ebersol, who had just taken the reins of SNL. Ebersol recruited O’Hara to join the show late in Season 6, and she agreed,” LateNighter writes, but “she left after learning that SCTV was going back into production.” As SlashFilm puts it, “When ‘SCTV’ was picked up again, however, O’Hara dropped the ‘SNL’ gig and went back north.” In her own words, quoted by SlashFilm from PEOPLE: “basically I said, ‘Oh, sorry, I gotta go be with my family.’” “Ms. O’Hara would briefly be hired for ‘SNL’ but quit before appearing on air,” the AP noted.
Back at SCTV, “Ms. O’Hara would win her first Emmy for her writing on the show,” the AP wrote; The Irish Times dates it to 1982, “earning O’Hara and her fellow writer-performers an Emmy.” She later “starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two Home Alone movies,” the AP said, but “Roles in big Hollywood films didn’t follow Home Alone.”
Decades later came Schitt’s Creek, “The small CBC series,” in the AP’s words, “made on a shoestring budget in Canada,” as The Ringer put it. At the 2020 Emmys, the cast gathered “at Toronto’s Casa Loma to watch the Emmys together,” Zoomer reported, and “Catherine O’Hara, 66, became the first winner of the night, landing the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.” Zoomer noted that “she’d previously won an Emmy in 1982”; as the AP wrote, “Her second, for best actress in a comedy series, came four decades later.” Schitt’s Creek became “the first comedy to ever sweep every major award category — going seven for seven.”
On January 30, 2026, the AP reported that she had “died Friday. She was 71”; “Ms. O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles.” Her Home Alone son wrote on Instagram, the AP said: “Mama, I thought we had time.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- She got hired by Saturday Night Live, then quit before she ever went on air. AP: “Ms. O’Hara would briefly be hired for ‘SNL’ but quit before appearing on air.” LateNighter: “only to quit SNL in her first week, before ever appearing on-screen.” 15
- Her name was Catherine O’Hara. AP: “Catherine O’Hara, Emmy-winning comedian of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘SCTV’ fame, has died at 71.” 1
- She started out as a waitress at Toronto’s Second City comedy theater. The Canadian Press: “O’Hara started off working as a waitress at The Second City.” The Irish Times: “auditioned for the Second City company only to end up as a waitress.” AP: “She joined Second City in her early 20s.” 431
- Soon she was on its TV show, SCTV. The Irish Times: “Between 1976 and 1984, the sketch show SCTV, a television spin-off of Second City, became a cult success.” 3
- In 1981, Saturday Night Live hired her. LateNighter: “In 1981, O’Hara’s SCTV work caught the eye of producer Dick Ebersol, who had just taken the reins of SNL. Ebersol recruited O’Hara to join the show late in Season 6, and she agreed.” SlashFilm: “hired in the early 1980s to make the commute to New York and work on ‘SNL.’” Laughing Squid: “Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center.” 5610
- But SCTV got picked up again. LateNighter: “she left after learning that SCTV was going back into production.” SlashFilm: “When ‘SCTV’ was picked up again, however, O’Hara dropped the ‘SNL’ gig and went back north.” 56
- “Oh, sorry, I gotta go be with my family,” she said. SlashFilm, quoting her PEOPLE interview: “basically I said, ‘Oh, sorry, I gotta go be with my family.’” Cracked prints the same line as “my (SCTV) family.” 67
- She went back, and won an Emmy for writing it. AP: “Ms. O’Hara would win her first Emmy for her writing on the show.” The Irish Times: “earning O’Hara and her fellow writer-performers an Emmy in 1982.” 13
- Then she was Kevin’s mom in Home Alone, but big Hollywood roles never followed. AP: “starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two Home Alone movies”; “Roles in big Hollywood films didn’t follow Home Alone.” The Irish Times: “‘Kevin!’ With that panicked exclamation.” 13
- Decades later came a tiny Canadian show, Schitt’s Creek. AP: “The small CBC series created by Levy and his son, Dan.” The Ringer: “made on a shoestring budget in Canada.” 19
- She won best actress at 66, almost 40 years after her first Emmy. Zoomer: “Catherine O’Hara, 66, became the first winner of the night, landing the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series”; “she’d previously won an Emmy in 1982”; the cast gathered “at Toronto’s Casa Loma to watch the Emmys together.” AP: “Her second, for best actress in a comedy series, came four decades later.” (From 1982 to 2020 is 38 years.) 81
- Her show swept all seven major comedy Emmys, a first for a comedy. Zoomer: “the first comedy to ever sweep every major award category — going seven for seven.” 8
- In January 2026, she died at 71. AP (January 30, 2026): “died Friday. She was 71”; “Ms. O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles.” 1
- Her Home Alone son, Macaulay Culkin, wrote, “Mama, I thought we had time.” AP: “‘Mama, I thought we had time,’ Culkin said on Instagram alongside an image from ‘Home Alone.’” 2
Sources
- Catherine O’Hara, Emmy-winning comedian of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘SCTV’ fame, has died at 71 (Associated Press obituary, January 30, 2026) The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Catherine O’Hara, Emmy-winning comedian of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘SCTV’ fame, has died at 71 (Associated Press obituary, January 30, 2026) The Boston Globe
- Catherine O’Hara: Comedic genius who starred in Home Alone, Schitt’s Creek and Beetlejuice (obituary, February 7, 2026) The Irish Times
- ‘This is my home’: How Catherine O’Hara never forgot her Second City Toronto roots (The Canadian Press, January 31, 2026) CP24
- SNL Remembers Catherine O’Hara (February 1, 2026) LateNighter
- Why Catherine O’Hara Quit Saturday Night Live After Just One Week (2025, quoting her PEOPLE interview) SlashFilm
- Catherine O’Hara Reveals Real Reason She Quit ‘Saturday Night Live’ After One Week Cracked
- Emmys 2020: ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Completes Historic Awards Sweep; Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy Win First Acting Honours (September 21, 2020) Zoomer
- Catherine O’Hara obituary essay (January 30, 2026) The Ringer
- A Comprehensive Tour of Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center Where ‘Saturday Night Live’ Is Produced Laughing Squid
Notes
Why she left SNL: an old story says head writer Michael O’Donoghue scared her off; she called that “BS” and gave the SCTV reason (CinemaBlend, quoting PEOPLE). Only her own account is used.
How long she lasted: “her first week” (LateNighter), or “about a week and a half … just the writing period” (her words to Marc Maron, via CinemaBlend). The Short gives no number and says only that she quit before she ever went on air.
“My family”: SlashFilm prints her words as “my family”; Cracked prints “my (SCTV) family,” so the family she meant was her SCTV castmates.
“Toronto’s Second City”: the Toronto company opened in 1973 and its venue moved in its first year, so the Short names no building, and the 1975 street photo shows a street of the time, not Second City.
“Almost forty years”: her first Emmy came in 1982 and her second in 2020, 38 years later; the AP says “four decades later.” “A first for a comedy”: the HBO miniseries Angels in America also swept every major category (Zoomer), so the Short limits the record to comedies.
Her death: her family gave no cause, and none is given here.
Left out for length: her years understudying Gilda Radner at Second City (The Canadian Press), the Christopher Guest films and her last Emmy nominations, for The Studio and The Last of Us.
Macaulay Culkin and Bo Welch are alive. Only Culkin’s public tribute, as the AP printed it, and public photos are used; Bo Welch is shown beside her in one photo and named only in its caption. Nothing here goes into their private lives.
Pictures: no free photo or footage exists of SCTV, SNL in 1981, Home Alone, Schitt’s Creek or the 2020 Emmys, so none is used, and places are shown with their own dates. Catherine O’Hara is at the Venice Film Festival on August 28, 2024, alone and with her husband, Bo Welch (two photos by Harald Krichel). Macaulay Culkin is at a Q&A for Home Alone’s 35th anniversary in Los Angeles on December 13, 2025 (Kevin Paul). The places: Yonge Street at Elm Street, Toronto, about 1975 (Harvey Naylor, City of Toronto Archives), not Second City; 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, home of SNL’s Studio 8H, on February 1, 2011 (vincent desjardins); SCTV’s star, with the cast’s engraved signatures, and her own star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, Toronto, on April 19, 2009 (two photos by Tabercil); her Walk of Fame star at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, on July 30, 2014 (Ken Eckert); the Home Alone house in Winnetka, Illinois, a private home seen from the street, on May 11, 2015 (Famartin); and Casa Loma, Toronto, where the Schitt’s Creek cast watched the 2020 Emmys, on December 29, 2022 (Evelyncyuzu). The other people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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