favorite season? awards

Catherine O’Hara’s Quarantine Acceptance Speech Is Genius

All hail the goddess from Schitt’s Creek.
moira rose
©CBC/Courtesy Everett Collection.

Leave it to Catherine O’Hara to reinvent the acceptance speech. On Wednesday the comedy icon won the best-lead-actress-in-a-comedy award at the virtual ceremony for this year’s Canadian Screen Awards, which was live-streamed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It was O’Hara’s fifth time in a row winning the category thanks to her hilarious performance as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, and, as such, she couldn’t just give any old thank-you message. Her speech started simply enough, with a thank-you to Academy members—and then she started getting played off, with music coming over the speakers.

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“I feel like one very lucky lady to have worked on Schitt’s Creek,” she said. That’s when the music started to rise, but O’Hara, looking bewildered, continued giving her speech. As the music grew, she started to sing along to it in deliciously campy fashion. Moira would approve; her favorite season is awards, after all.

In a recent O’Hara profile for Vanity Fair (complete with a one of a kind drone photo shoot), show cocreator Dan Levy praised O’Hara’s comedy chops. “You’re dealing with a caliber of actor who is so seasoned and so willing to make choices that are outside people’s comfort zones,” he said. “I think that’s what Moira Rose is a result of: Catherine having the runway to go for it.”

Schitt’s Creek, which was nominated for 26 awards overall, ended up winning several categories at the Canadian ceremony, including best comedy, best supporting actress for Emily Hampshire, and best actor for Eugene Levy. It was a fitting send-off for the series, which ended this year with a critically acclaimed series finale.

Where to Watch Schitt’s Creek:

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