Remembering Catherine O'Hara

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re taking a moment to remember actress and comedian, Catherine O’Hara, who died on January 30, 2026. She was 71 years old. Catherine O’Hara is a comedy legend. She helped launch SCTV. She starred in blockbuster comedies. For all of its six seasons, Catherine played Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek, a comedy that follows a wealthy family who are forced to relocate to a rural town after losing their entire fortune. When Catherine joined Bullseye in 2013, she talked about the difficulties of being a woman in the SCTV writers’ room. Plus, creating memorable characters with Eugene Levy, and her own secret comedic formula.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne.
0:07.3	So I don't want to make too many assumptions about you, the listener.
0:11.2	But if you are anything at all like me, the death of Catherine O'Hare last month probably
0:15.8	hit you like a ton of bricks.
0:19.2	I mean, was there anyone in public life who was more charming and warm and
0:25.1	hilarious, more effervescent, and just maybe very, very slightly deranged in the best way possible?
0:35.4	Catherine O'Harell was one of a kind. In 2015, she starred alongside Eugene
0:40.2	Levy and his son, Dan, in Schitt's, that's spelled S-C-H-I-T-T, as we are required by legal to clarify.
0:49.0	The show was a smash hit, beloved by millions, particularly because of O'Hara. She played Moira Rose, the haute
0:57.0	Couture-wearing socialite turned rural motel owner.
1:05.3	I've been gutted. John, I've been stripped of every morsel of pleasure I earned in this life.
1:13.0	I was lucky enough to get to talk with O'Hara in 2013.
1:16.6	Back in those days, I would record the intros for our guests while they sat in front of me.
1:20.6	And I am glad that I got to do that for Catherine O'Hara.
1:29.6	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne.
1:31.8	My guest, Catherine O'Hara, has spent a career perfectly capturing the magic of the slightly cockied.
1:38.1	From her work on SCTV to the improvised faux documentaries of Christopher Gast.
1:44.8	Not physically, like, with a cock-eyed perspective.
1:48.2	Oh, nice way to start.
1:49.5	Okay.
1:49.8	Yeah, and you're fat.
1:50.4	Let's go.
	...

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