{"id":220119,"date":"2026-02-01T06:58:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/saturday-night-live-pays-tribute-to-catherine-ohara-after-her-death-at-71\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T06:58:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:58:53","slug":"saturday-night-live-pays-tribute-to-catherine-ohara-after-her-death-at-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/01\/saturday-night-live-pays-tribute-to-catherine-ohara-after-her-death-at-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Night Live Pays Tribute to Catherine O&#8217;Hara After Her Death at 71"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> paid tribute to former host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrities\/catherine-o-hara\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Catherine O\u2019Hara<\/strong><\/a> following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/catherine-ohara-dead-the-schitts-creek-star-was-71\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">her death at age 71<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The NBC sketch comedy show aired a throwback bumper featuring O\u2019Hara alongside a lower-third of her name during the live show on Saturday, January 31, which featured guest host <strong>Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/strong> and musical guest <strong>Cardi B<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for O\u2019Hara confirmed to <em>Us Weekly<\/em> on Friday, January 30, that she\u2019d died following a \u201cbrief illness\u201d and that a \u201cprivate celebration of life will be held by the family.\u201d Per a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, paramedics transported O\u2019Hara to a local hospital in \u201cserious condition\u201d on Friday \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/01\/30\/celebrity-news\/catherine-ohara-had-difficulty-breathing-before-being-rushed-to-hospital-dispatch-audio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>PageSix<\/em><\/a> reported that she\u2019d previously complained of having \u201ctrouble breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara had a unique place in <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>\u2019s history even though she was never officially a cast member. Due to her success on Canada\u2019s groundbreaking sketch show <em>SCTV<\/em>, <em>SNL<\/em> executive producer <strong>Dick Ebersol<\/strong> attempted to hire O\u2019Hara in early 1981 when he took over the show.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"ratio-based-placeholder\" style=\"padding-bottom:55.4%;\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While there were stories about O\u2019Hara being scared off by notoriously volatile <em>SNL<\/em> head writer <strong>Michael O\u2019Donoghue<\/strong>, she dismissed those rumors as \u201cB.S.\u201d during a 2024 interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/catherine-o-hara-recalls-quitting-snl-after-1-week-exclusive-8549201\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>People<\/em><\/a>. Instead, O\u2019Hara revealed that she decided against taking a job at <em>SNL<\/em> out of loyalty to <em>SCTV<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur producer would get a deal with a network, and we\u2019d have a show for a season or two, and then that deal would go away. There\u2019d be a break, then we\u2019d do the show again,\u201d she explained. \u201cI got asked to be on <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>. And of course I said yes. Who doesn\u2019t want to do that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, O\u2019Hara ultimately backed out of a potential place in the <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> season 6 cast alongside <strong>Eddie Murphy<\/strong> when <em>SCTV<\/em> was picked up for another season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, not cool to take a job and leave it. You know what I mean?\u201d she admitted, before adding, \u201cIt all worked out the way it was supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That decision certainly worked out for O\u2019Hara because she won her first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1982 for her work on <em>SCTV<\/em>. (O\u2019Hara received her second Emmy nearly 40 years later, this time in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for <em>Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara did eventually host <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> on two occasions, first in April 1991 and then again on Halloween night in 1992.<\/p>\n<p>She forged a legacy as one of Canada\u2019s most successful comedy exports with starring roles in <em>Home Alone<\/em>, <em>Beetlejuice<\/em>, <em>The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/em> and <em>Best in Show<\/em>. In 2025, she received Emmy nominations in both drama and comedy categories for her work on <em>The Last of Us<\/em> and <em>The Studio<\/em>, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara was reportedly filming the second season of Apple TV+\u2019s <em>The Studio<\/em> until shortly before her death.<\/p>\n<div class=\"link-related article link-related__with-thumb\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article__thumbnail related-ab-test\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/catherine-ohara-said-she-felt-lucky-to-be-alive-2-years-before-death\/\" target=\"\" data-source=\"01\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"article__figure\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" class=\"ratio-based-placeholder\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2234222489-catherine-ohara.jpg?crop=0px%2C49px%2C2000px%2C1131px&amp;resize=400%2C225&amp;quality=86&amp;strip=all\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 400px, (max-width: 770px) calc(100vw - 6em), 200px\" alt=\"GettyImages-2234222489-catherine-ohara\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" data-fallback-img=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2234222489-catherine-ohara.jpg?quality=86&amp;strip=all\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article__content\">\n<h3 class=\"article__title\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article__title-link related-ab-test\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/catherine-ohara-said-she-felt-lucky-to-be-alive-2-years-before-death\/\" target=\"\" data-source=\"01\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"related-badge\">Related: <\/span><span class=\"related-title\">Catherine O&#8217;Hara Said She Felt &#8216;Lucky\u2019 to Be Alive 2 Years Before Her Death<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\t\t\tCatherine O\u2019Hara reflected on feeling \u201clucky\u201d to be alive two years before her death. \u201cI\u2019m lucky [I get] to keep doing things like this at my age \u2014 I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d O\u2019Hara told Elle Canada in August 2024, promoting her appearance in that year\u2019s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. \u201cOver the past few years, when I\u2019ve gotten [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cReally don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d <em>The Studio<\/em> cocreator <strong>Seth Rogen<\/strong> admitted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUJk2NNEnyj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">via Instagram<\/a> on Friday. \u201cI told O\u2019Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I\u2019d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. <em>Home Alone<\/em> was the movie that made me want to make movies.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"news-block\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form  \">\n<div class=\"newsletter-signup__success\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<h3>Thank You!<\/h3>\n<p>You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Rogen, 43, went on, \u201cGetting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous\u2026 she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We\u2019re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of O\u2019Hara\u2019s contemporaries and fans \u2014 including <em>The Last of Us<\/em> costar <strong>Pedro Pascal<\/strong>, <em>Home Alone<\/em> castmate <strong>Macaulay Culkin<\/strong>, comedian <strong>Amy Schumer<\/strong> and late-night host <strong>Andy Cohen<\/strong> \u2014 have all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/celebrity-news\/news\/celebrities-and-costars-react-to-catherine-oharas-death-pedro-pascal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shared their own remembrances<\/a> of the comedy icon since news broke of her death on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/saturday-night-live-pays-tribute-to-catherine-ohara-after-her-death-at-71\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday Night Live paid tribute to former host Catherine O\u2019Hara following her death at age 71. The NBC sketch comedy show aired a throwback bumper featuring O\u2019Hara alongside a lower-third of her name during the live show on Saturday, January 31, which featured guest host Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd and musical guest Cardi B. A spokesperson for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-220119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}