Eugene Levy Recounts His Career, from ‘SCTV’ to ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ While Accepting Lifetime Achievement Award

Eugene Levy has been a consistent part of popular culture for more than forty years, spanning multiple comedy franchises from “SCTV” in the 1970s and 1980s, all the way up to Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek,” the Emmy-nominated comedy hit that recently ended its run after six seasons.

Now, the accolades are following. Levy just earned his second consecutive Emmy nomination as lead actor in a comedy, for “Schitt’s Creek.” Last year brought him back into the Emmy race for the first time in 36 years. He also has been given the first-ever Newport Beach Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, as part of its first-ever TV Awards Showcase.

“It’s always nice when people recognize what you do, and like what you do,” Levy tells Variety in this video as he accepts the Newport Beach Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award from home (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). “It’s rare to have a show like ‘Schitt’s Creek’ at this point in my career, in the so-called ‘twilight’ of one’s career. And to have created it with my son makes it even sweeter, certainly. It’s the show that I’m the most proud of, in anything that I’ve done and to have it come now is just fantastic.”

Levy, of course, first drew notice for playing a wide variety of characters on “SCTV,” which began life as a Canadian show before airing across the U.S. as well (and eventually on NBC). “When we started SCTV we were we were too stupid to even think about whether people were going to like it,” he remembers. “Our thing was, do we like it?”

In between “SCTV” and “Schitt’s Creek,” Levy remained one of the busiest and most-recognized names in comedy. That includes scene-stealing roles in feature comedies like “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Splash” and “Father of the Bride.” Then, in the 1990s, came two more career-defining franchises: the “American Pie” films, and Levy’s involvement in the Christopher Guest series of improv movies.

“American Pie,” in which Levy played the father of Jason Biggs’ character, turned into a run of three features and four more direct-to-video movies for Levy.

As for the Guest movies, not only did Levy star in “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “For Your Consideration,” but he was also a writer.

For Levy, it’s always been about character — from his early days launching the Second City troupe in Toronto, to perfecting personalities like “Bobby Bittman” on SCTV, to demanding that his role on “American Pie” as Jim’s dad be loaded with depth and heart, and then to all of those eccentric personalities with Guest.

And then came “Schitt’s Creek.” Johnny Rose may be perhaps the most “straight man” character he’s ever played: “Somebody has to make sure the story is moving and things remain grounded. And I was very excited about doing that,” he says.

Later in the video, Levy gets emotional at a surprise tribute from family (including his son, “Schitt’s Creek” co-creator Daniel Levy) and friends/colleagues including Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Steve Martin.

“This is even more rewarding because it’s a show we’ve all worked so hard to get off the ground from its bootstraps,” Levy says of being recognized now in light of the “Schitt’s Creek” phenomenon. “It’s a tribute to the cast and crew and all the very talented people who worked on this show because as it was always kind of the little engine that could.”