Steve Martin and Martin Short’s bittersweet farewell to Catherine O’Hara

The Moment

Hours after the world learned Catherine O’Hara had died at 71, two of the men who knew her best walked onstage in Austin, Texas, and did the most old-school thing you can do for a fallen friend: they raised a glass.

In a TikTok video that’s been circulating widely, Steve Martin, 80, and Martin Short, 75 – longtime co-stars and current partners in crime on Only Murders in the Building – are seen standing onstage at Bass Concert Hall, both in suits, in front of a large portrait of O’Hara.

Steve Martin and Martin Short paid tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara Friday night, raising a glass to the star during their “The Best of Steve Martin and Martin Short” comedy show in Austin, Texas. https://t.co/RcXpwPpd6w pic.twitter.com/AcuImrWFYI

— Variety (@Variety) January 31, 2026

Short tells the crowd, “Catherine O’Hara and I met when she was 18 years of age.” He goes on to call her “the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with.”

The two men clink what appear to be champagne glasses, raise them to the crowd, and the audience answers with applause. It’s simple, it’s old-fashioned, and it hits like a punch to the chest if you grew up on Beetlejuice, Home Alone, or Schitt’s Creek.

In the comments under the clip, fans call O’Hara a “queen” and praise the tribute as “touching.” One commenter sums it up: how blessed she was to have those friendships – and how blessed they were to have her.

The Take

There’s something almost disarming about how low-key Steve Martin and Martin Short’s tribute is. No big speech, no montage cut by a streaming service, no branded hashtag. Just two legends, two glasses, one photo, and a few honest sentences.

In an era where half of Hollywood seems to process grief via Notes app, this felt like what happens at the kitchen table after the funeral – only it happened live onstage, with thousands of people watching.

And if you zoom out, you realize: this isn’t just one loss, it’s the slow fade of a whole generation of comedy. O’Hara came from the same school as these guys – literally and spiritually. They all came up through sketch and character work, where you had to be weird, fast, and fearless, not just famous.

Look at who’s mourning her publicly: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Tim Burton, Macaulay Culkin, and Seth Rogen. That’s basically a timeline of three different generations of comedy and film all saying the same thing: she was the secret weapon in the room.

What struck me is how much of the early reaction centers on her kindness, not just her talent. Short calls her an “angel.” Alec Baldwin reportedly calls her “one of the greatest.” Eugene Levy, her decades-long friend and collaborator, says he cherished not just their work, but their friendship. It sounds less like colleagues and more like cousins talking about the glue of the family.

If Betty White was America’s naughty grandmother, Catherine O’Hara was the cool, theatrical aunt in a caftan who showed up with too many suitcases and the best stories. Losing her feels like losing a whole flavor of comedy – smart, odd, and deeply human – that we don’t see enough of anymore.

Receipts

Confirmed (from agency statements, emergency officials, and public posts/video):

• Catherine O’Hara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles at age 71 after what her representatives described as a “brief illness,” according to a statement from her agency CAA shared with entertainment media on January 31, 2026.
• Los Angeles Fire Department officials said they responded to an emergency call at her Brentwood home shortly before 5:00 a.m. that day and transported her to a hospital in serious condition.
• Emergency dispatch audio shared with the press indicated she was experiencing “breathing difficulty” at the time of the call.
• A TikTok video posted from the Bass Concert Hall show in Austin on Friday night shows Steve Martin and Martin Short onstage in suits, standing in front of a portrait of O’Hara, raising glasses and delivering a short tribute.
• In that clip, Martin Short says they met when she was 18 and calls her “the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with,” as the audience applauds.
• Castmates and collaborators including Seth Rogen, Macaulay Culkin, Tim Burton, Alec Baldwin, and members of the Schitt’s Creek ensemble publicly posted tributes on social media on Friday, with many calling her a legend and praising her warmth.
• CAA’s statement notes that O’Hara is survived by her husband, production designer and director Bo Welch, and their two sons.

Unverified / reported but not officially detailed (labelled as such in entertainment reports):

• The exact cause of O’Hara’s death has not been publicly released as of this writing.
• A UK tabloid, citing unnamed friends, reported that some people in her circle were in “complete shock” and felt they’d been “kept in the dark” about her illness. Those claims have not been independently confirmed.
• Descriptions of her condition as a “mystery illness” are media shorthand; no medical diagnosis has been officially shared.

Sources: Statement from CAA shared with entertainment media (Jan. 31, 2026); information provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department to press (Jan. 31, 2026); publicly available TikTok video from the Austin show (posted Jan. 31, 2026); public social media tributes from cast and collaborators (Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2026).

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

If Catherine O’Hara’s name doesn’t ring a bell right away, her characters will. She was Delia Deetz, the artsy stepmom in Beetlejuice. She was Kate McCallister, the frantic mom in Home Alone who gave us the immortal “Kevin!” scream. And recently, she was Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek, the ex-soap star with the wigs, the wardrobe, and the one-of-a-kind accent.

O’Hara started in the 1970s on the Canadian sketch series SCTV, alongside comedy heavyweights like Eugene Levy, John Candy, and yes, Martin Short. She became a regular in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries – Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind – where she was the queen of playing slightly unhinged but deeply lovable oddballs.

In later years, Schitt’s Creek turned her into an awards magnet and a late-career fashion icon. She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Moira Rose, and suddenly a whole new generation discovered what the rest of us had known since the VHS era: she could steal a scene with just an eyebrow or a vowel.

What’s Next

In the short term, we’re going to see what feels like a tidal wave of tributes. Expect more stories and behind-the-scenes photos from the SCTV crew, the Home Alone cast, the Beetlejuice family, and especially the Schitt’s Creek ensemble. These people didn’t just work together; many of them grew up together in the business.

There will almost certainly be formal “in memoriam” spots at upcoming award shows. She’s the kind of figure industry people rally around – respected, beloved, and linked to some of the most rewatchable projects of the last forty years.

Officially, the cause of death is still unknown to the public. Until her family or representatives choose to share more, that’s where the line should stay. She was a public figure, but her illness doesn’t have to be public property.

What we do know is this: the people who knew her best are already showing us how they plan to keep her present – by telling stories, by raising glasses, and by queuing up the movies and shows where she was at her strangest and best.

In a way, that quiet toast in Austin may be the model for how the rest of us handle this one. Put on a film where she made you laugh, pour something nice, and give a little nod to the woman who turned “fold in the cheese” and “Kevin!” into generational memories.

Question for you: Which Catherine O’Hara role or moment is the one you’ll go back to when you want to remember her at her absolute best?