Catherine O’Hara’s improv roots shined during award showspublished at 20:36 GMT
20:36 GMT
Nardine Saad
in Los Angeles
Image source, Variety via Getty ImagesImage caption,
Catherine O’Hara presents an Emmy Award in 2024
Beyond her frazzled mom days in Home Alone, Catherine O’Hara cultivated a zany, self-effacing persona in Hollywood that was delightful to watch. At any awards show, when the Canadian star – who got her start in improv – walked onstage, the audience always knew it was in for a treat – even to those most jaded of awards-show viewers.
Take her 2020 appearance during the socially distanced Canadian Screen Awards, when she quipped about “enjoying the great indoors” during the virtual ceremony and delivered her acceptance speech while appearing from home. Fully committing to the bit, she played herself off with music but managed to sing the remainder of her speech to the tune in a way that only the quirky Moira Rose can.
When she won the lead actress in a comedy prize at the 2020 Emmy Awards, she relished the opportunity to play “a woman of a certain age – my age – who gets to fully be her ridiculous self”, while appearing at a Toronto viewing party while Covid-19 restrictions relegated most winners to digital appearances.
The following year, her onstage reunion with her Schitt’s Creek co-stars Dan Levy, Eugene Levy and Annie Murphy was a welcome sight, especially when the jokes were warmly delivered at the expense of the elder Levy.
Most memorable perhaps, might be her 2024 appearance at the Emmys when she was presenting an award solo and hesitated to deliver the prize, asking, “must we really choose one winner?” before ripping up the envelope.
At the Oscars that year, she reunited with her “Beetlejuice” co-star Michael Keaton to present awards for make-up and hairstyling, saying “the last thing we want is for anyone to know what we actually look like or the squalor in which we actually live”.
Last year, she and The Studio co-star Seth Rogen presented at the Golden Globe Awards, and their rambling bit on Canada’s made-up awards shows went long but still got plenty of laughs for their digs at Americans and awards shows.