Steve Martin and Martin Short paid tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara hours after her death at 71 and while performing at a comedy show.
“Catherine O’Hara and I met when she was 18 years of age,” Short, 75, reportedly said on stage at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas, on Friday, January 30, as he and his comedy partner Martin, 80, raised a glass in the late Home Alone star’s honor.
“And all these years later, she has been the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with,” Short added, per footage shared via TikTok. As the crowd reportedly reacted with applause, Short said, “God bless.”
On Friday, news broke that the former Best in Show star died at the age of 71.
“Prolific multi-award-winning actress, writer and comedian Catherine O’Hara died today at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness,” O’Hara’s agency, Creative Artists Agency, said in a statement shared with Us Weekly at the time, confirming the actress’ death. “A private celebration of life will be held by the family.”
Short worked with O’Hara at Toronto’s Second City improv theater in the 1970s, with O’Hara joining in 1975 after the late Gilda Radner departed the group to appear on Saturday Night Live, and Short joining in 1977.
@kristenpasc 🥺 #fyp #catherineohara #stevemartin #martinshort
♬ original sound – Kristen
“I took the program home, and I remember kissing his picture because I thought he was so adorable,” O’Hara once told Vanity Fair of seeing Short appear in the original Toronto production of the play Godspell.
Martin and O’Hara worked alongside one another on NBC’s The New Show, created by Lorne Michaels in 1984 during his time away from Saturday Night Live. The pair later costarred in the 1994 comedy-drama A Simple Twist of Fate. O’Hara’s surviving husband, Bo Welch, also worked with Martin on 1991’s Grand Canyon. (O’Hara and Welch shared two sons, Matthew and Luke.)
Shortly after news of O’Hara’s death broke, many of her former costars on hit TV shows and films like Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone shared poignant tributes to the actress via social media.
“Ha-ha-HAAAA?!?! Her laugh was a perpetual ‘Yes, And’ challenged anyone who heard it to join in, and be as delighted as she was,” Annie Murphy, who played O’Hara’s daughter on Schitt’s Creek, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, January 31. “Gosh, were we ever lucky to have her.”
She continued, “She would have never presumed to call herself a teacher (too self-deprecating, too Canadian) but holy f***, was I ever a student. Here a few Coles Notes for those who also want to study: Giggles always. Jokes first. As looking as they feel right in your bones. When you find the people you love and make you laugh, stick with your lovers and laughters. Everybody on set is a part of the community who (ideally) wants to make something great — treat them as such. Make suggestions, even if that means overstepping sometimes. Acknowledge if it doesn’t work. Be appreciative to those who appreciate it when it does.”
O’Hara’s onscreen husband and longtime collaborator Eugene Levy also mourned the loss of his dear friend.
“Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today. I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years,” Levy, 79, said in a statement to Us. “From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship.”
He continued, “And I will miss her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”
