What The Biggest Fans Don't Know About Schitt's Creek
When Schitt's Creek first hit our screens in 2015, the Canadian sitcom didn't make a huge impact. In fact, it wasn't until the show reached Netflix in 2017 that it really took off (via The New York Times). Fortunately, the show eventually received the acknowledgement it deserved, picking up four Emmy nominations in 2019 for its fifth season, and going on to win a record-breaking nine Emmys for its sixth and final season.
Schitt's Creek was praised for being a ridiculous comedy that still managed to present lovable, complex, ever-changing characters (via Vanity Fair). The show follows the Rose family — a mega rich foursome that falls from grace and moves into a tiny motel in a middle-of-nowhere town called (you guessed it) Schitt's Creek. The parents are played by comedy legends Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, while their two grown-up children are played by Dan Levy (Eugene's son and creator of the show) and Canadian actress Annie Murphy (via IMDb).
While most fans of the show know how it came to be, there's still plenty you may not have realized about the show and its beloved cast. Here are things that even the biggest Schitt's Creek fans don't know.
Schitt's Creek is a Levy family affair
Most Schitt's Creek fans probably immediately recognized Johnny Rose, as he was played by a total acting legend.
The man behind the Rose family patriarch, actor Eugene Levy, found fame working on SCTV before appearing in a series of hit comedy films such as American Pie, Best of Show, and Waiting for Guffman (via Variety). And it seems Levy's comedic talents were passed on to not one, but two of his children. Dan Levy, Eugene's son, is the creator of Schitt's Creek, and also stars on the show as Johnny's son, David. Eugene explained to The Los Angeles Times that he was initially nervous to work with his son, as Schitt's Creek was a character-driven show rather than a sketch show; however, he eventually decided to give it a shot.
What some fans of the show may not realize is that Eugene's other child, Sarah Levy, was also central to the show, playing waitress Twyla. "He couldn't be more delighted watching his kids perform," co-star Annie Murphy explained on Late Night with Seth Meyers, revealing that Eugene would even mouth their lines along with them as they performed.
Catherine O'Hara surprised the entire cast and crew of Schitt's Creek with her bizarre accent on the first day
Schitt's Creek is full of gems, but perhaps one of the greatest parts of the show is Moira's bizarre, untraceable accent. In fact, the accent has received loads of media attention. In 2020, a dialect coach broke down the accent for Elle – and in 2019, The Atlantic explored the character's truly bizarre vocabulary. As fans can attest, Moira's way of speaking is definitely one of a kind.
Catherine O'Hara, Home Alone star and the genius comedic actress behind the character of Moira, explained to Variety that it took her some time to discover Moira's accent. Apparently, she emailed Eugene Levy, musing about how to create the voice, but she refused to show anybody her vocal creation until the first day of filming! "The first time we heard it was knockout — unreal," Levy recalled.
The accent and speech patterns of Moira developed over the course of the show. In a 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly, O'Hara said that the writers added stranger and stranger words as the show went on — apparently, she even studied books of "arcane and archaic words" to help!
Annie Murphy added "David" onto the end of lots of her lines herself
Schitt's Creek is a treasure trove of quotable quips, and Annie Murphy may have coined the most popular one herself.
In addition to Moira's vocal peculiarities, Alexis Rose, played by Murphy, also had her unique vocal ticks. In addition to her recognizable and annoying vocal fry, the character said her brother's name, "David," a lot – much to fans' delight. The compilation of Alexis saying "David" has been viewed on YouTube over 2 million times, and you can even purchase merchandise featuring the name.
As it turns out, Alexis saying "David" multiple times an episode wasn't originally part of the writers' plan. As Murphy explained to Variety, she never actively decided to start milking the way she said the name; nevertheless, she had fun saying it. "The writers and Dan didn't stop me when I would just start littering them in every now and again," she explained. We love hearing that Murphy actually improvised most of her iconic "David" moments throughout the show.
Annie Murphy's "broken wrist" Alexis hands on Schitt's Creek were inspired by the Kardashians
On Schitt's Creek, Alexis' rich-girl voice quickly became iconic — and so did her unique mannerisms.
One of Alexis' most recognizable physical ticks was the way the character held her hands. As the woman behind Alexis, Annie Murphy, explained to Harper's Bazaar – the Schitt's Creek team had "come to describe [Alexis'] wrists thing as a T. Rex playing a piano in an old-timey saloon." As it turns out, Murphy was initially inspired by watching lots of videos of the Kardashians and Paris Hilton. "I noticed late one night, when I was probably on marijuana that a lot of these socialites carry their handbags in a very particular way," she explained. Murphy continued, saying, "Like, it was casually tossed off their arm and their palm was facing up in the sky. And they would just travel around like that."
Murphy made the decision to slightly change this weird arm position and use it all the time, even without a handbag. And, lo and behold, Alexis' weird hands were born.
Noah Reid composed his Schitt's Creek cover of "Simply the Best" himself
Throughout Schitt's Creek's six seasons, the music on the show played a huge role.
One of the most touching musical moments of the entire series occurs when Patrick, David's boyfriend, serenades him with a rendition of Tina Turner's "Simply the Best." As Dan Levy explained to GQ, the act of serenading someone can be a deal-breaker — describing it as "bone-chilling." Levy wanted to put his character in that vulnerable position, so he asked Noah Reid, who played Patrick, to come up with a cover version himself. And considering Reid is actually an ex-musician, it's not surprising the song turned out so well! "The minute I heard it, I knew that the scene was going to work," Levy said.
Levy he was right. The moment was seriously emotional – even Catherine O'Hara said that she couldn't stop crying during the filming of the scene and had to turn her back to the cameras. The song soon took on a life of its own, even reaching the Top 10 of ITunes Canada charts! And as Levy explained to GQ, countless couples have played it at their weddings.
Schitt's Creek star Annie Murphy co-wrote "A Little Bit Alexis" with her musician husband
Schitt's Creek has no shortage of magical, musical moments, and one of the most memorable of these is the theme song for Alexis Rose's reality TV show.
On the show, Alexis performs the song — called "A Little Bit Alexis" — at her audition for the town's production of Cabaret. Fans were immediately hooked on the ridiculous jingle (as well as Alexis' out-there dance moves). When the song turned out to be a hit with viewers, "A Little Bit Alexis" was released in its entirety, and it even became a streaming hit.
As it turns out, the song was actually written by Murphy herself, along with her musician husband, Menno Versteeg. She, Versteeg, and Nick Boyd all collaborated on the song, using Britney Spears' "Work B****," for inspiration, along with some old Paris Hilton songs (via Elle). "We knew it had to be funny, and we knew it had to be kind of spoofy, but we all secretly wanted it to be a f***ing banger of a song," Murphy confessed to Elle.
Annie Murphy almost lost her Schitt's Creek role because she's a natural brunette
It's hard to imagine Schitt's Creek with anyone but Annie Murphy tackling the legendary role Alexis Rose. However, as it turns out, she almost didn't get the part — and it had everything to do with something as trivial as her hair color.
As Murphy explained to Variety, Dan Levy loved her from the very beginning, even sending her audition tape to his dad and co-star Eugene Levy and saying, "We found Alexis." That said, Eugene Levy had a hard time getting past her dark locks.
"Eugene, who's the sweetest man in the whole g****** world, had a really hard time wrapping his head around the fact that I was a brunette," Murphy explained. Even when Dan told his father that it would be pretty easy to dye her hair, Eugene remained unconvinced. This led to the Levys giving Murphy another audition — this time for the brunette character, Stevie. Thankfully, Dan contacted Murphy weeks later to let her know she'd scored the role of Alexis. We love a happy ending!
Getting the role of Stevie in Schitt's Creek changed Emily Hampshire's life
On Schitt's Creek, Emily Hampshire plays deadpan Stevie — and landing the role apparently changed the course of Hampshire's life.
Prior to landing the role, Hampshire was going through a divorce, her agent had dropped her, she was running out of money, and she hadn't worked in a year. Hampshire spoke to Popsugar about how much the show transformed her life, joking, "I think it's ironic that a show called Schitt's Creek is the show that really changed my life for the better."
Not only did her life improve during the show, she also discovered a lot about herself. Hampshire spoke to Advocate about how her friendship with Dan Levy, and about how the show's themes helped her to explore her own sexuality and identity. In fact, Hampshire revealed that she ended up falling in love with a woman for the first time. "I remember when I was engaged and people were saying things about me like, 'Oh, is she a lesbian?' Trying say 'what I am' because I was a cis woman, who happened to be with a trans woman," Hampshire recalled.
Catherine O'Hara used real-life inspiration for her character's many wigs on Schitt's Creek
If you're a Schitt's Creek fan, you know all about Moira Rose's beloved and bizarre wig collection. However, as it turns out, us viewers may never have seen the strange array of wigs if it wasn't for Catherine O'Hara's creativity.
O'Hara spoke about her character's wigs to Toronto Life, explaining that they were her idea. "I was inspired by a woman I knew who would disappear from dinner at her home and come back with a different wig on," she said. Apparently, this woman would return, exclaiming, "Hi, look what I've got!" Thank goodness O'Hara had some wacky acquaintances in her past who could provide such spot-on inspiration for Moira!
O'Hara and the Schitt's Creek hair stylist Ana Sorys spoke in more detail about the character's fabulous wig collection in an interview with Variety. Apparently, Moira had over 100 wigs. O'Hara said, "We would pick wigs sometimes just according to moods that Moira is in." Added the star, "I would say that Moira gives the wigs personality as opposed to the other way around."
The Schitt's Creek cast did have some fights — about pizza!
The stars of Schitt's Creek seem to be a close bunch — and as Dan Levy explained to HuffPost, the cast and crew involved in making the show really became like "friends and family." However, it turns out, the cast did have one pretty significant argument — about pizza.
Annie Murphy explained how it all went down on The Tonight Show. While her cast mates couldn't recall Murphy having any on-set fights, she said that the "biggest fight" she had on set was with Dan Levy. "We got into a heated argument about which dirty fast food pizza is the best," she recalled. Murphy continued, saying, "[Dan] got so upset that [he] ordered five different pizzas from five different places and made us have a taste test at lunch."
At the time, Murphy documented the incident on Instagram, writing, "When 'someone' claims Pizza Pizza is the best trash pizza, 'someone' gets upset, orders all the trash pizza, and insists on a blind taste test." Sounds like this cast (especially Levy) takes the search for the truth very seriously!
The Schitt's Creek cast took home a few props as souvenirs during the final season
Apparently, the Schitt's Creek cast and crew are big fans of the show, too. Stars, they're just like us!
In an interview with Variety, the Schitt's Creek cast confessed that during the final season, they started to grab various props as mementos. Apparently, Dan Levy took home the first receipt from Rose's Apothecary that Patrick gave David on their first date. And Eugene Levy said he took a few framed family portraits, saying, "They hold more value because they were the very first things we did on the show, were taking those family stills — even before we started shooting."
Catherine O'Hara grabbed a few mementos from Moira's wardrobe, including a few items of clothing, some jewelry, and, of course, some wigs. And as for Annie Murphy, she decided to take home the prop of Alexis' college diploma — with its hilarious "pubic relations" typo. She also grabbed some other props, and joked, "It looked like I was raiding the place!" We can't say we blame them — who wouldn't want a few souvenirs from this hilarious show?
The final season of Schitt's Creek is filled with Easter eggs
The final season of Schitt's Creek has been described by Dan Levy as being a "love letter to the fans" (via City News). So, it's no wonder that the whole season is jam packed full of little Easter eggs that only true fans could spot.
In David and Patrick's wedding, for instance, there were a few musical callbacks to remind fans of earlier moments in the show. As David walked down the aisle, the Jazzagals sang "Simply the Best," which was the same song that Patrick sang to David at the open mic in Season 4. And, in another musical recall, the Jazzagals went on to sing "Precious Love" – a song that played in the second season when the family all danced together at Mutt's barn party.
Levy also added another Easter egg by redesigning the town sign in the final season. When we first saw the sign in the first season, it showed a brother and sister in an accidentally sexual position. In the final moments of the series, however, it features the four members of the Rose family.
Dozens of fans have left real reviews for the fictional Schitt's Creek motel online
Schitt's Creek takes place in the fictional town of (you guessed it) Schitt's Creek — with most of the action happening at the Rose family's Rosebud Motel. And while the motel itself is fictional, lots of hardcore Schitt's Creek fans have taken it upon themselves to leave reviews for the establishment online. In fact, the reviews grew so much in number that the official Schitt's Creek Twitter page even took notice and posted some of their favorites, writing, "You are the best, you sweet, sweet strangers."
One fan wrote, "Stevie and Johnny were a delight. They made sure our accommodations were met when my wife and I stayed on our anniversary." Another fan gave a shout out to David's fictional general store, writing, "Also check out Rose Apothecary for all your beauty needs."
It's pretty clear that lots of the show's fans would love nothing more than to step into the fictional world created by Dan Levy and his team. Talk about a dedicated fan base!
Filming the final Schitt's Creek episode was seriously emotional
Schitt's Creek is certifiably great. Unfortunately, however, all certifiably great things must come to an end someday.
In 2019, Dan Levy announced on Twitter that the sixth season of Schitt's Creek would be the "final chapter" they "had envisioned from the very beginning." Unsurprisingly, the last few days on set were seriously emotional for the cast members. Levy explained to GQ, "The last day of shooting was the most emotional day I think I've ever had in my life." Apparently, Levy ended up crying for five hours (and documented it on Instagram)!
Catherine O'Hara told Variety that she also struggled to say goodbye, saying that she cried like her character had at the beginning of the show. However, the stars weren't alone in their sadness. One fan summed up the general mood, writing on Twitter, "Just laugh-cried my way through the Schitt's Creek finale and my heart is bursting and empty and I tried to limit my tissue usage and I'm a weepy mess. Oh my heart." It's rare that a comedy series can have such a massive impact on everyone involved — but Schitt's Creek was certainly the exception.