Television · 1976–1984
The Emmy-winning sketch series that grew out of Toronto's Second City — and launched a whole generation of comedy.
I was in the Second City stage show in Toronto when Bernie Sahlins and Andrew Alexander decided to start the sketch comedy show that would become SCTV. Harold Ramis and Joe Flaherty made their first recruiting stop at the Second City stage company — which is how Catherine O'Hara and I ended up in the cast, along with John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin.
We wanted the show to be smart, but we quickly moved away from anything too academic toward something more purely, commercially funny. It ran for five seasons, won several Emmy Awards, and became — for a lot of people — the greatest sketch comedy show of all time.
I wrote and played some of its most memorable characters, and later wrote a book, “SCTV: Behind the Scenes,” documenting exactly how it all came together. It's out of print now, but you can still find it on Amazon.