Actor Eugene Levy is shown in a prpomotional photo for the new show "Schitt's Creek." Eugene Levy was surprised when his son Daniel first approached him about collaborating on the riches-to-rags comedy "Schitt's Creek."" THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-CBC

TORONTO - Eugene Levy was surprised when his son Daniel first approached him about collaborating on the riches-to-rags comedy "Schitt's Creek."

"My heart was palpitating because I thought, 'Is he asking me to work with him on a show? I never thought I'd hear this,'" recalled the Canadian funnyman in a recent interview.

The Levys began working on the script three years ago but weren't sure the show would ever materialize. Now that "Schitt's Creek" is premiering Tuesday on CBC, the proud papa couldn't be more thrilled.

"It went from a nice father-son project to a discovery that (Daniel) is a great producer and a great writer and an amazing actor," Levy said.

Eugene Levy stars as Johnny Rose, a wealthy video store magnate who loses everything in a Ponzi scheme and is forced to move his family to a crudely-named backwater town ­— Schitt's Creek — which he once bought as a joke for his hipster son David (Daniel Levy).

Fellow "SCTV" alum Catherine O'Hara plays family matriarch Moira, a pampered soap star, while newcomer Annie Murphy rounds out the cast as socialite daughter Alexis.

The comedy's dry tone is inspired by the films he co-wrote with Christopher Guest, including "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind," said the older Levy. He described the show as "totally character-driven and grounded to a great degree in truth."

Daniel Levy, best known for co-hosting MTV Canada's "The After Show," echoed this idea. He wanted "Schitt's Creek" to be a "funny but real" exploration of a rich family losing all their money — and thought his dad's comedic chops would be a good fit.

"I think everything he's done with Chris Guest, and all the character work he's done with Second City and SCTV, there's just such a lovely truth and an honesty and reality to everything he does," he said.

"Collectively, we were able to bring two different worlds to the show: a younger world and a more sophisticated, worldly world … Those two paths sort of met up on this really nice parallel journey together."

O'Hara has known the younger Levy all his life and is proud of his work on "Schitt's Creek." She said the 31-year-old isn't just following in his father's footsteps.

"He's got his own footsteps going," she said.

"That's been really a lovely, delightful surprise, is seeing how really great at this Daniel is. This could have gone really wrong. 'Oh, just because you're Eugene's son, you're getting your own show. Is that it?'"

Asked whether he felt added pressure because of his famous father, Levy said he — luckily — had been so busy making the show that he hadn't had a spare moment to worry.

"If I actually gave it a second's thought as to who I was working with and the calibre of talent that I was being thrown into, I probably would have freaked out a lot. But there was no time for it," he said with a laugh.

"It's been a very intense, full-on experience and by the time I actually got to performing in the show, I didn't have the time to worry about it. Because if I did, it would be a dark spiral into anxiety and fear."

— Follow @ellekane on Twitter

News from © The Canadian Press, 2015