Catherine O’Hara, who died Friday at age 71, made her final late-night television appearance on The Tonight Show 18 months ago, capping a run on the circuit that stretched back to the 1980s.
Known for her work on SCTV and a succesful film and television career that followed, O’Hara was a guest on multiple late-night shows across five decades, including memorable visits with the likes of Johnny Carson and David Letterman.
Her last appearance came in August 2024 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, when she joined her Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-star Jenna Ortega for a round of the show’s recurring game segment “True Confessions.”
The game requires participants to read two statements—one true, one fabricated—while the other players attempt to determine which is which. Her chosen confession involved arriving late to her own wedding after a dispute over Los Angeles freeway routes.
Though she didn’t participate in a sit-down interview that night, her appearance served as a brief but characteristic showcase for O’Hara’s improvisational timing, aligning with the collaborative, ensemble style that defined much of her career, from sketch comedy to her roles in Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and Schitt’s Creek.
O’Hara died early Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
Watch her full final appearance on The Tonight Show at the top of this post