Now is certainly not the time for pettifogging. But can we confabulate about the comic brilliance of Catherine O’Hara?
These radically arcane words, like so many others, dripped off the gifted comedian’s tongue so silkily as Moira, her singularly eccentric matriarch in “Schitt’s Creek,” that you laughed well before you wondered what the heck they meant. (For the record: “pettifogging” means to emphasize petty details, and “confabulate” simply means to talk.)
But conversely, O’Hara, who died Friday at 71, could make a ho-hum phrase utterly hilarious. As when she desperately declared, trying a bit of line-cutting in the crowded “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” afterlife waiting room: “I have global entry!”
And for something even more concise, how about her simple, one-word line reading of “KEVIN!!!” — the child she kept leaving behind in the “Home Alone” movies?
In any case, as Moira would say, don’t be a dewdropper (a lazybones.) Here are some indelible O’Hara roles to catch up on:
Moira in “Schitt’s Creek” (2015-2020)
The commercial that Moira Rose films for local vintner Herb Ertlinger’s fruit wine starts out reasonably well. Until she tries to pronounce the product’s name.
“Herb Ervlinger. Erv Herblinger. Bing Liveheinger,” she intones, inebriated, in a virtuosic scene that recalls Lucille Ball in her Vitameatavegamin ad.
Moira, a career-capping (and Emmy-winning) role in the comedy created by Eugene and son Dan Levy, brought O’Hara legions of new fans — and elevated a new vocabulary. She discovered much of it in obscure word books, she said.
O’Hara told The Associated Press she’d created the character by thinking of women married to wealthy men — women who wanted to be seen as special, in their own right. Her unique look included a series of eccentric wigs. “I knew a woman who would have dinner parties at her house and she would keep disappearing and coming back with different wigs. And she would appear like, ‘Tada’” — Whatever Moira was feeling on a particular day would dictate what kind of wig she would wear.”
“Schitt’s Creek” is streaming on Prime Video and available to rent on various platforms.
Delia in “Beetlejuice” (1988) and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)
Thirty-six years after the first “Beetlejuice,” Tim Burton retuned with a 2024 sequel. Why, you ask? Well, here’s one really good reason: O’Hara.
Her Delia Deetz, the narcissistic artist stepmom of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, was a supporting character who stole the whole show.
To sample her comic timing, just take the quick scene where Delia, mounting a gallery show where she herself is the canvas, notifies Lydia: “You father has left me.”
“He’s divorcing you? Lydia asks. “What a horrible thought!” replies a shocked Delia. (Beat). “No, he’s dead.”
The “Beetlejuice” movies are available to rent on various platforms.
Kate McAllister in “Home Alone” (1990) and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992)
OK, motherhood is chaotic. It’s hard to keep track of everything. Things can mistakenly be left at home. A child, even.
Once.
But, twice? That’s iconic.
On the plane in that first “Home Alone” movie, Kate tells her husband she has a terrible feeling she forgot something. “Did I turn off the coffee?” “Did you lock up?” And then, the awful 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 again was discovered missing, at the Miami airport. This time, O’Hara’s “KEVIN!” was squealed at a high pitch — accompanied by her falling backwards, unconscious.
Those moments allowed O’Hara, in a mostly straight role, to add bits of signature zaniness. But the reunion scenes with Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) were heartwarming, and it was hard to not tear up when she apologized and said: “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”
“Mama, I thought we had time,” Culkin said on Instagram Friday, alongside an image from “Home Alone.”
The “Home Alone” movies are available on Disney+ and can be rented on various platforms.
Cookie in “Best in Show” (2000)
We have 80 episodes of “Schitt’s Creek” to see the brilliant synergy between O’Hara and Eugene Levy, but If you want to see their early magic, look no further than Cookie and Gerry Fleck, the married dogowners in Christopher Guest’s classic mockumentary “Best in Show.”
For example, when Cookie and Gerry sing an ode to their beloved Norwich Terrier.
O’Hara, for one, sings in a musical key that sounds too high to actually exist on this planet.
“God loves a terrier, yes he does” they sing. “God didn’t miss a stitch, Be a dog or be a bitch. When he made the Norwich merrier with its cute little derriere; Yes, God loves a terrier.”
“Best in Show” is available to rent on various platforms.
