Catherine O'Hara Used to Get Fans Asking Her to Scream 'Kevin!' — Now It's All About Schitt's Creek

Legendary actress Catherine O’Hara has played plenty of quotable characters throughout her 40-year career (Cookie Fleck from Best in Show being one of them), but she says with the newfound popularity of Schitt’s Creek, her fan base has suddenly shifted from mostly men named Kevin to, well, everyone she meets.

“I’ve met a lot of Kevins over the years who ask me to yell their name at their faces,” she tells PEOPLE, referring to her famous line “Kevin!” from 1990’s Home Alone, when, on an airplane, her character suddenly realized she’d left her youngest kid at home on Christmas Eve.

“Now it’s mostly Schitt’s Creek,” she says. “It’s amazing. CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] made sure everyone in Canada saw the show, then Pop TV did a great job in the U.S. promoting it, and then Netflix just served it to the world. And then our lovely viewers, who watch our show, forced everyone they know to love to watch our show.”

O’Hara, 65, who was recently up for the best actress in a comedy SAG award for her portrayal of Moira Rose (and what might be the most original, funniest, and over-the-top character on TV today), says she’s happy that the show — created by Dan and Eugene Levy — has grown so popular in such an organic way.

• Read more about Schitt’s Creek and its final season in the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

“It’s nice to start out slowly,” O’Hara says. “Daniel [Levy] had the stories mapped out from the beginning, but it’s so lovely and rare to be given that time to allow your characters to grow, to not have to tell the whole story right up front.” She adds, “That kind of freedom is wonderful.”

As for her newfound Schitt’s Creek fans, she says they’re extremely lovely and respectful when they bump into her.

“When you do comedy and you get recognized … I keep getting embarrassed thinking, I know them as well as they know me, and I’m forgetting why I know them,” she says. “I’m going, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t remember your name!’ And they’re like ‘No, we’ve never met.’ “

She adds, “When you’re in comedy, people are just so loose and friendly and they think they know you.”

RELATED: Schitt’s Creek Creator Dan Levy Says the Show’s Popularity Has Risen as News Has Gotten Bleaker

Now that Schitt’s Creek is in its final season (the finale episode airs Tuesday, April 14), O’Hara says she’s going to take some time to figure out what’s next.

“I personally wouldn’t want to try and top this experience right away,” she says. “No. Work here and there and be at home in between.”

The star does say that whatever she does next, she hopes her character wears clothes as nice as Moira Rose.

“Whatever we do, I want to work in nice clothes,” she says. “I couldn’t carry a lot of Moira’s wardrobe off as myself, but once you’ve worn well-built clothes that make you stand and feel so much better, it’s hard to go back!”

Schitt’s Creek airs Tuesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Pop TV. Older seasons are now streaming on Netflix.