Catherine O’Hara Recalls Quitting Saturday Night Live After 1 Week: ‘Not Cool to Take a Job, Then Leave It’ (Exclusive)

For Catherine O’Hara, loyalty comes first Saturday night live.

In the new issue of PEOPLE, O’Hara recalls how she landed the role in the show’s sixth season SNL in the early 1980s, but quit after a week. “There were BS stories about someone supposedly scaring me,” says O’Hara, 69.

Not like that. Ago SNLshe was already in the cast of a Canadian comedy sketch show SCTValthough it was not consistent work.

“Our producer would sign a deal with a network and we’d have a show for one or two seasons, and then that deal would be gone. There would be a break, and then we would repeat the performance,” she explains.

During one break, “They asked me to be involved Saturday night live. And of course I said yes. Who doesn’t want to do that?”

Then she found out SCTV she was picked up again, so she left SNL without ever recording a single episode. “I basically said, ‘Oh, sorry, I have to go be with mine [comedy] family.’ ”

Catherine O’Hara ‘Saturday Night Live’ head shot.

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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In retrospect, O’Hara says she was “stupid” not to wait longer to see if he would SCTV they picked him up.

“Yeah, it’s not cool to take a job and leave it. You know what I mean?” she says.

She was eventually taken in by O’Hara’s best friend from high school, Robin Duke SNL slot. “Everything worked out the way it was supposed to,” says O’Hara.

SCTV it ran from 1976 to 1984 and was an offshoot of Toronto’s famed Second City comedy troupe, which was started by the late comedian Gilda Radner. O’Hara Costars included SCTV included John Candy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin and Eugene Levy. She and Levy would go on to collaborate several more times in Christopher Guest films, including Best in show.

Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara in ‘SCTV’.

Courtesy of Everett

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They also starred together in the comedy pop series 2015-2020 Schitt’s Creekstarring Johnny and Moira Rose, a wealthy couple who lose everything and are forced to live in a run-down motel in a small town they own, which is their only asset.

Levy created the Emmy-winning series with his son Daniel Levy, who played David, the Roses’ hard-to-support son.

“I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel for giving me the opportunity to develop the role and work with them,” says O’Hara.

From left: Annie Murphy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Dan Levy on ‘Schitt’s Creek’. Pop TV’s Dan Levy and Catherine O’Hara reunite at ‘Schitt’s Creek’ for Paris Fashion Week

“It’s a great gift to work with people you can collaborate with. And they wrote such great scripts, and it was so fun and so beautiful,” she adds.

For more on Catherine O’Hara, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Although it originally aired on the Pop network, Netflix eventually picked up the series, which O’Hara credits with helping make the series a beloved hit.

“We were really lucky,” she says.

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Source: HIS Education