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February 12, 2006
Geniuses, vol. 3: ANDREA MARTIN & CATHERINE O'HARA
A few weeks ago, I blathered about TWIN PEAKS and how much I loved it. Well, I have another all-time favorite TV show. Without a doubt it was SCTV, the late-night Canadian comedy program that ran from 1976 through 1981.
I could go on and on and on and on about some of my favorite characters and favorite sketches--Martin Short's Jackie Rogers Jr.; Eugene Levy as cockeyed midget Sid Dithers; John Candy as Divine doing Peter Pan--but now, after watching the old stuff over and over on the recently released DVD sets, I have to say that my absolute favorite cast members remain the two women, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara. Lord, they're amazing. Really. If you didn't spend a big part of your preteen and teenage years staying up, as I did, to watch SCTV, or if you've never seen it at all, I highly recommend buying or Netflixing the discs.
I bet if you asked some of the funniest women on TV right now--ie, Amy Sedaris; Rachel Dratch on SNL; Mo Collins, ex of MadTV--they'd cite these two as major influences. Above and below are some photos of both Andrea and Catherine on the show. (Above: Catherine & Andrea as Lola Heatherton and Mother Theresa; Catherine as sex-crazed cabaret star Dusty Towne; Andrea as Edna Boil, advertising her Curio Emporium; and Andrea as Beverly Sills with her painting of Catherine as Dame Joan Sutherland. Below: Catherine as Tammy Faye Bakker; Andrea & Catherine as Anne Murray and Rita Coolidge; Andrea as confused foreigner Pirini Schleroso; and Andrea as kids' TV host Mrs. Falbo.) If you're a fan like me, you practically die laughing just looking at these pictures.
Posted by scottheim at February 12, 2006 11:26 AM
Comments
these pics are awesome thx sooooo much!!! im in love with andrea!! :P:P:P
Posted by: marie-pier at March 6, 2006 11:47 AM
I truly feel like the world's dumbest human being that I didn't realize Mary Margaret & Catherine were sisters. I love them both but never made that connection. Thanks Mike!
Posted by: scott at February 19, 2006 01:31 PM
Catherine O'Hara is the sister of Mary Margaret O'Hara, which is brilliant!! Morrissey's "November Spawned A Monster" has taken on an SCTV-by-proxy life for me. Heheheh!
Posted by: Mike Peterson at February 18, 2006 11:59 PM
In the New York area there used to be TV ads for the Broadway production of EVITA. It was a saturation campaign, so the average viewer was likely to see the ad four or five times between six at night and one a.m. I guess the touring companies had ads, too, because one time, as I was watching SCTV, I saw Andrea Martin writhing on the screen as a very familiar narration ensued. Somebody was saying "She only seduced a nation!" And the crowds were chanting a three-syllable name. They weren't chanting "Evita," though, and the Mandy Patinkin stand-in was NOT singing "You were supposed to have been immortal." No, he was YODELING it, because it was someone dressed as Slim Whitman (who had a saturation campaign of his own a few years before, touting the excellence of his incredible output of two-and-a-half-minute, octave-climbing country songs. The word the crowds were chanting was "Indira!" The seductive dance Andrea Martin was doing was a geriatric belly-dance. She was ululating and the crowd was shouting "In-DIR-a, In-DIR-a, In-DIR-a," and Slim Whitman was yodeling. There is nothing like it on TV today.
Posted by: Fred Wemyss at February 18, 2006 02:31 PM
Dude! You have NO idea how special SCTV has been to me. When I was a kid, living in a village in Saskatchewan, we had only two channels. SCTV was on Friday nights, and my brother, Don, an I would stay up late to watch it. Every Christmas, Don and I watch all the SCTV Christmas specials, because it feels more festive then even the Rudolph animotion shows. Remember Andrea Martin singing Connie Francis:
"I've become completely deaf,
I've lost sight in one eye
I'm sorry, I can't hear you
Did you really say goodbye?...MAMMA!!!"
Posted by: Douglas Ferguson at February 15, 2006 03:02 PM
Thanks for Posting these pics
Posted by: Toniette at February 13, 2006 02:20 PM
Fuck Yea! I own them all. Did you enjoy Martin Short's Jiminy Glick as much as I did? The skits in between the interviews reminded me a lot of some of the sctv funnies.
Posted by: Erik Miller at February 12, 2006 11:33 AM
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