Now is definitely not the time for pettifogging. But can we have a conversation about Catherine O’Hara’s comedic talent?
These fundamentally mysterious words, like so many others, rolled off the tongue of a talented comedian like Moira, her eccentric eccentric matriarch on “Schitt’s Creek,” so effortlessly that you laughed out loud, even before you had to wonder what they meant.
But by contrast, O’Hara, who died on Friday at the age of 71, could make a ho-hum phrase downright hilarious. Such as when, while attempting a bit of line-cutting in the crowded waiting room after “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, he announced in frustration: “I have Global Entry!”
And for something more concise, “Kevin!!!” How about reading his simple, one-word line? -The baby she kept leaving behind in the “Home Alone” movies?
In any case, as Moira would say, don’t be a dewdrop. Here are some of the indelible O’Hara roles:
The Moira Rose-filmed commercial for local vintner Herb Ertlinger’s fruit wine starts off well enough. Until she tries to pronounce the name of the product.
“Herb Erlinger. Erv Herblinger. Bing Lievinger,” she drunkenly sings in a virtuosic scene that recalls Lucille Ball in her Vitameatavegamin commercial.
Moira, a career-capping role in the comedy created by Eugene and son Dan Levy, gave O’Hara many new fans – and fostered a new vocabulary. He discovered most of it in obscure word books, he said.
O’Hara told the Associated Press that she created the character thinking about women who married rich men – women who wanted to appear special. Her unique look included a series of eccentric wigs. “I knew a lady who would have dinner parties at her house and she would disappear and come back with different wigs. And she would look like ‘tada'” – Moira Whatever she was feeling on a particular day would dictate what type of wig she would wear.
“Schitt’s Creek” is available to rent on various platforms.
Thirty-six years after the first “Beetlejuice,” Tim Burton returns with the 2024 sequel. Why are you asking? Well, here’s a very good reason: O’Hara.
Her Delia Dietz, the narcissistic artist stepmother to Winona Ryder’s Lydia Dietz, was a supporting character who stole the entire show.
To sample her comic timing, just take the quick scene where Delia, at a gallery show where she herself is the canvas, informs Lydia: “Your father has abandoned me.”
“He’s divorcing you? Lydia asks. “What a terrible idea!” Delia replies, shocked. “No, he’s dead.”
The “Beetlejuice” films are available to rent on various platforms.
Okay, motherhood is messy. It’s hard to keep track of everything. Things may be accidentally left at home. Even a child.
Once.
But, twice? He is prestigious.
On the plane in that first “Home Alone” movie, Kate tells her husband that she feels bad that she forgot something. “Did I turn off the coffee?” “Did you lock it?” And then, the terrible realization: “Kevin!”
Kate had changed her hair into a stylish bob — but apparently hadn’t updated her mothering skills — two years later, when in the sequel, Kevin was again found missing at a Miami airport. This time, O’Hara’s “Kevin!” She screamed in a loud voice and fell backwards unconscious.
Those moments allowed O’Hara, in a mostly straight role, to add bits of signature poignancy. But the reunion scenes with Kevin were heartwarming, and when she apologized and said: “Merry Christmas, darling.”
“Mom, I thought we had time,” Culkin said Friday on Instagram along with a photo from “Home Alone.”
The “Home Alone” movies are available on Disney and can be rented on a variety of platforms.
We’ve had 80 episodes of “Schitt’s Creek” to see the great chemistry between O’Hara and Eugene Levy, but if you want to see their early magic, watch married dog owners Cookie and Gerry Fleck in Christopher Guest’s classic mockumentary “Best in Show.”
For example, when Cookie and Gerry sing a song to their beloved Norwich Terrier.
O’Hara, in a way, sings in a musical key that seems too high to actually exist on this planet.
“God loves a terrier, yes he does” they sing. “God didn’t spare a stitch, be it dog or bitch. When he created the Norwich Merrier with his cute little derrieres; yes, God loves a terrier.”
“Best in Show” is available to rent on various platforms.
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