A Final Bow for Catherine O’Hara: The True Queen of SCTV
BY: Daiman Teer for The Simpleton Star
The news of Catherine O’Hara’s passing today at age 71 is a heavy blow for anyone who remembers what real comedy used to look like. While the media is currently falling all over themselves to talk about her later work in “Schitt’s Creek,” the truth is that her real genius was forged in the 1970s and 80s on SCTV. She wasn’t just an actress; she was a shapeshifter who didn’t need a famous last name or a safe script to make you laugh until it hurt.
If you want to understand why she was a legend, you have to look at Lola Heatherton. Lola was the ultimate “showbiz” survivor—needy, loud, and constantly “loving” her audience with a desperate, high-pitched laugh that felt both hilarious and dangerously real. She captured the hollow soul of variety-show celebrity better than anyone ever has. Then there was Dusty Towne, the raunchy, world-weary lounge singer who looked like she’d seen too many smoke-filled rooms and lived to tell the tale. These weren’t “low rent” characters; they were masterclasses in observation.
Catherine didn’t mind being made up to look ugly or for acting “crazy” for a laugh. She had a clinical eye for the way people actually move and speak when they think no one is watching. In an era before everything was scrubbed clean by “nepo babies” and safe “HR-approved” humor, she was out there on the edge with the likes of John Candy and Martin Short. She was a titan in a room full of titans.
It is frustrating that her death is being described as follows a “brief illness” with zero detail. In a week where we’ve seen so much media spin and hidden truths—from the scrubbing of Wikipedia to the silence on celebrity health—Catherine deserves more than a vague headline. She was a woman of substance who lived through the era of raw talent, and her loss marks the end of a specific kind of comedic bravery.
She didn’t need the bells and whistles of modern Hollywood. She didn’t need the crutch of a “famous son” to make her relevant. She was Catherine O’Hara, and when she stepped onto a stage as Lola or Dusty, she owned every inch of it. She gave us characters that felt like people we knew, even if we were too afraid to admit it.
Goodbye, Catherine. Thank you for the “old time” comedy, for the fearless characters, and for showing us that real talent doesn’t need a pedigree. You were the best of them, and the “brief illness” that took you away can’t erase the decades of brilliance you left behind. The stage at SCTV is dark tonight, and comedy is a lot smaller without you.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
This verse reminds us that even the greatest lights eventually fade, but they leave behind a season of work that defines an entire era. Catherine’s “season” was one of the most brilliant in the history of television.
LET US PRAY:
Lord, we thank You for the gift of laughter and for the artists who spent their lives bringing joy to others. We ask for peace for Catherine’s family and for the truth to be honored in her passing. May we remember the value of hard work and genuine talent in a world that often forgets. Amen.
