Schitt’s Creek and Saturday Night Live’s shared history
By Matt Moore
Schitt’s Creek star Eugene Levy inspired Saturday Night Live’s Celebrity Jeopardy
There were some similar sketches and concepts between SCTV and Saturday Night Live over the years. Martin Short even brought his characters Jackie Rogers Jr. and Ed Grimley with him to SNL. But few fans may know that SNL’s “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketches actually needed to be approved by Eugene Levy.
SCTV‘s “Half-Wits” parodied quiz shows and featured Levy as an Alex Trebek-inspired host named Alex Trebel dealing with very dumb contestants. SNL cast member Norm MacDonald was a fan of the sketches and got the idea to do “Celebrity Jeopardy”. But rather than ripoff SCTV, MacDonald reached out to Levy. He detailed the story in a 2016 interview with Howard Stern:
"I always loved that show, and ‘Celebrity Jeopardy,’ they always asked such easy questions. And celebrities are all so stupid. It would be great to do it. Unfortunately, [SCTV had] already done it, and I feel like I just shouldn’t steal a sketch."
When Martin Short joined SNL from SCTV, MacDonald told him about his love for “Half-Wits and High-Q” and wanted to know who wrote it. Short told him it was Levy so MacDonald sought out the comedian for his permission:
"So I phoned Eugene Levy and I asked him. I told him the whole sketch. I said how much I loved the first one, and he was kind enough to give it to me."
The rest is SNL history. MacDonald used “Celebrity Jeopardy” for his famous Burt Reynolds impression and Will Ferrell took on the role of the exasperated Alex Trebek. None of it would have been possible without Eugene Levy.