in memoriam
Ach, folks ... this one hurts ...
Growing up when I did, Saturday Night Live was all the rage with my friends (and enemies), but -- for what it's worth -- my closest mates and I were often found guilty on Saturday night staying up late to watch the far better and far funnier SCTV, a comedy import from the Great White North that is Canada. Not a great deal of my classmates appreciated my humor anyway, so the likes of what came over the airwaves from John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and Catherine O'Hara tickled my funny bone in ways that maybe my Cannuck brethren up there understood. It was goofy funny -- sometimes just plain looney tunes -- but the program and its various characters meant much more to me than just about anything that came out of SNL's glory days. That's certainly not an insult because I have nothing but respect for the popular NBC line-up of originals: I just didn't laugh as much at their schtick as I did SCTV's, and humor is very subjective anyway.
Because so many of them were part of my formative years, I followed their careers with delight, sometimes being weirdly gleeful when I'd catch them in some American production where they were typically cast as background characters. Inevitably, they'd wind up stealing damn near every scene they were in; and -- while I celebrated -- those around me couldn't quite appreciate what I found so damn laughably to begin with. Looking back, it was probably more nostalgia for my youth than it was their work; but that shouldn't be construed to take anything away from any of them. These folks were genius bit players, and they knew something special about crafting memorable characters. Not everyone who goes into Comedy -- especially these days -- has those skills; and this is why the line-up meant so much to me. They knew how to do it to transcend the ages as SCTV is still funny to this day. If you doubt me, then go and check out those early years wherever you can. You won't be disappointed.
Argh ...
I just saw word reaching the worldwide web of Catherine O'Hara's passing, and it's heartbreaking.
Yes, many many more readers know her from other work -- Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990), Waiting For Guffman (1996) -- and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. As I said, she was an actress unlike so many; and she had the chops to step in to do Comedy and even modest dramatic work with the best of them. Without a doubt, her time aboard the somewhat ground-breaking Schitt's Creek (2015-2020) but her back on Hollywood's map -- as she enjoyed a good handful of roles in its wake -- and re-introduced the level of zaniness she could bring at the drop of a hat to an all-new audience of untold millions of fans. (Yes, that show was that popular.)
Readers are encouraged to check out her IMDB.com profile, and you'll see she raked up a great deal of professional citations -- in various awards categories and programs -- which only underscores how uniquely she did what she did in front of the camera.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Ms. O'Hara.
May she rest in peace ...
-- EZ
Growing up when I did, Saturday Night Live was all the rage with my friends (and enemies), but -- for what it's worth -- my closest mates and I were often found guilty on Saturday night staying up late to watch the far better and far funnier SCTV, a comedy import from the Great White North that is Canada. Not a great deal of my classmates appreciated my humor anyway, so the likes of what came over the airwaves from John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and Catherine O'Hara tickled my funny bone in ways that maybe my Cannuck brethren up there understood. It was goofy funny -- sometimes just plain looney tunes -- but the program and its various characters meant much more to me than just about anything that came out of SNL's glory days. That's certainly not an insult because I have nothing but respect for the popular NBC line-up of originals: I just didn't laugh as much at their schtick as I did SCTV's, and humor is very subjective anyway.
Because so many of them were part of my formative years, I followed their careers with delight, sometimes being weirdly gleeful when I'd catch them in some American production where they were typically cast as background characters. Inevitably, they'd wind up stealing damn near every scene they were in; and -- while I celebrated -- those around me couldn't quite appreciate what I found so damn laughably to begin with. Looking back, it was probably more nostalgia for my youth than it was their work; but that shouldn't be construed to take anything away from any of them. These folks were genius bit players, and they knew something special about crafting memorable characters. Not everyone who goes into Comedy -- especially these days -- has those skills; and this is why the line-up meant so much to me. They knew how to do it to transcend the ages as SCTV is still funny to this day. If you doubt me, then go and check out those early years wherever you can. You won't be disappointed.
Argh ...
I just saw word reaching the worldwide web of Catherine O'Hara's passing, and it's heartbreaking.
Yes, many many more readers know her from other work -- Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990), Waiting For Guffman (1996) -- and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. As I said, she was an actress unlike so many; and she had the chops to step in to do Comedy and even modest dramatic work with the best of them. Without a doubt, her time aboard the somewhat ground-breaking Schitt's Creek (2015-2020) but her back on Hollywood's map -- as she enjoyed a good handful of roles in its wake -- and re-introduced the level of zaniness she could bring at the drop of a hat to an all-new audience of untold millions of fans. (Yes, that show was that popular.)
Readers are encouraged to check out her IMDB.com profile, and you'll see she raked up a great deal of professional citations -- in various awards categories and programs -- which only underscores how uniquely she did what she did in front of the camera.
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Ms. O'Hara.
May she rest in peace ...
-- EZ
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