First-time Saturday Night Live host Dan Levy reunited with his father Eugene Levy, who is also his Schitt’s Creek co-star and co-creator, during his opening monologue. When it comes to television, 2020 was the year of Schitt’s Creek: many discovered the Canadian sitcom during quarantine and fell in love with the Rose family as they navigated the transition from living in the lap of luxury to living in a motel in a small town called Schitt’s Creek.
The show’s sixth and final season dominated the Emmys, winning a total of nine Emmys in a historic sweep, including a win for Best Comedy and wins for all four of the show’s leads: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy. Schitt’s Creek is poised for further awards season victories, with several nominations at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Since the beloved series is still in the public eye, it makes sense that Saturday Night Live would capitalize on its popularity and feature a Schitt’s Creek reference during Dan Levy’s first foray into hosting. Levy began his monologue talking about all the ways Schitt’s Creek has changed his life – including people recognizing him in the street and yelling catchphrases from the show at him – before giving a tour of the studio to show the kinds of precautions the SNL cast and crew are taking against COVID. Some of the gags included a cast decontamination station and an overzealous safety officer who used a pool noodle in order to enforce health guidelines.
The high point of the monologue came when Levy encounters his father Eugene Levy watching the show from an “isolation box.” He claimed that he’d flown in from Los Angeles to watch his son host, and that he needed to quarantine in the box after traveling. It was a touching moment between the Levys, who created Schitt’s Creek together, and Eugene Levy’s excited support towards his son’s performance calls to mind his Schitt’s Creek character Johnny Rose’s similar support of his son David.
While this was Dan Levy’s first time hosting SNL, Eugene Levy is no stranger to televised sketch comedy. He was part of the original cast of Second City Television, which included his Schitt’s Creek co-star Catherine O’Hara, as well as John Candy, Andrea Martin, and other Canadian comedy legends. Eugene Levy was actually meant to host SNL in 1985, but the episode was never made due to a writers strike. His brief cameo celebrating his son’s debut on SNL was also his first time on the Saturday Night Live stage, and both Levys marked the occasion with a strong showing of familial support.
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