Remembering 'SCTV' top moments starring Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Martin Short and John Candy

When "Saturday Night Live" premiered in 1975, it was something revolutionary in the world of late-night TV: a sketch comedy show featuring a number of stars in the making who made it cool to stay home on a Saturday night.

Following the success of "SNL" came another, often funnier comedy program that did the same for Friday nights when it began airing on WWOR/9 in 1977. The show was "SCTV," a Canadian import that ran for 30 minutes and was built around the concept of featuring sketches framed as a full day of programming broadcast from a bargain-basement television station from the fictional town of Melonville.

Now on the show's 50th anniversary (it premiered in Canada in 1976) comes "SCTV: The Greatest Show You've Never Heard Of," a new documentary about the history of the show that begins streaming Oct. 30 on Netflix. While it's possible you have never heard of the show, you've likely become acquainted over the years with some of the stars who came out of it, such as Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Martin Short and a few others.

Catherine O'Hara

SIGNATURE CHARACTERS Vegas-style singer Lola Heatherton, lounge singer Dusty Towne, game show contestant Margaret Meehan, and Violet McKay, a character from the soap opera "The Days of the Week."

LATER CLAIM TO FAME O'Hara proved herself a superb character actor both as the mom who leaves her son behind in the 1990 holiday movie "Home Alone" and as the wig-loving matriarch Moira Rose in the acclaimed sitcom "Schitt's Creek," for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. 

MUST-SEE 'SCTV' MOMENT O'Hara's hilarious imitation of screen legend Katharine Hepburn shilling for Twilling's Tea is, well, done to a T.

Eugene Levy

SIGNATURE CHARACTERS Smarmy stand-up comic Bobby Bittman, clueless "SCTV News" co-anchor Earl Camembert, the abnormally short neurologist Dr. Sid Dithers, and Mel Slirrup, host of the "American Bandstand"-like show "Mel's Rockpile."

LATER CLAIM TO FAME Levy carved out a successful film career playing quirky characters in "Splash," the "American Pie" franchise and, with O'Hara, Christopher Guest mockumentaries including "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." He also won an Emmy for playing Johnny Rose, the business mogul who loses his fortune, in "Schitt's Creek."

MUST-SEE 'SCTV' MOMENT Break out the Kleenex because you're sure to laugh till you cry watching Levy as Alex Trebel, host of the quiz show "High Q," lose his cool as he deals with six dim-witted student contestants.

Martin Short

SIGNATURE CHARACTERS The neurotic, greasy-haired man-child Ed Grimley; lounge singer and comic Jackie Rogers Jr.

LATER CLAIM TO FAME Short has had a prolific career on the big screen in hits like "Mars Attacks!," "¡Three Amigos!" and "Father of the Bride," the latter two with best bud Steve Martin. More recently, he and Martin have enjoyed killer success with the Hulu series "Only Murders in the Building."

MUST-SEE 'SCTV' MOMENT Short showed his comic smarts with his stupid answers as Lawrence, who is still trying to finish high school though he's well past 30, as a contestant on "Half-Wits."

Andrea Martin

SIGNATURE CHARACTERS Mrs. Edith Prickley, the brassy station manager who was always clad in a leopard-print coat; Peirini Scleroso, an immigrant cleaning woman whose country of origin was never defined, and Edna Bolt, Edith's sister who owned an "organ emporium" with her husband, Tex (Dave Thomas).

LATER CLAIM TO FAME The versatile Martin earned big laughs as Aunt Voula, who loved to cook, especially lamb, in the 2002 movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." She also earned raves for her riotous performance in the 2016 Broadway revival of "Noises Off" and a Tony Award for the 2013 revival of "Pippin."

MUST-SEE "SCTV" MOMENT Too many to mention, but a real standout was "The Most Depressing Songs of Connie Franklin," in which Martin did a laugh-till-you-cry parody of singer Connie Francis.

John Candy

SIGNATURE CHARACTERS Johnny LaRue, the Hugh Hefner-like TV personality who wore a monogrammed smoking jacket; Melonville's corrupt mayor Tommy Shanks, and Dr. Tongue, a mad scientist who popped up in films shown on "Monster Horror Chiller Theater."

LATER CLAIM TO FAME Candy was sweet as the titular Uncle Buck in John Hughes' comedy movie hit. Equally memorable were his turns in Hughes' "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs" and the Jamaican bobsled flick "Cool Runnings," which opened less than a year before his death at the age of 43 in 1994.

MUST-SEE 'SCTV' MOMENT Candy's LaRue also hosted a cooking show on "SCTV" as well as a fitness show. Watching the overweight, cigarette-smoking Candy do exercises like the head roll will give your laugh muscles a good workout.