Annie Murphy Divulges the Origin of Alexis Rose's Signature Schitt's Creek "Boops"

Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton may have been the inspiration behind Alexis Rose's T-rex-like hand gesture and vocal fry on Schitt's Creek, but the freelance brand invigorator's iconic "boops" can be solely credited to Annie Murphy. While chatting with the Canadian actress about her partnership with Tide for the laundry detergent's #TurnToCold campaign, she revealed the origin of her character's tendency to affectionately tap her family members and friends on the nose with her index finger. As it turns out, the habit was born from Murphy's on-set hijinks with her costar and real-life pal Dan Levy.

"First of all, I heard 'boobs,' and I was like, 'They weren't that remarkable,'" Murphy jokingly prefaced before diving into the funny backstory of Alexis's boops. "I realized very early on that booping Dan Levy on the nose was a source of great delight for me because it was a source of great annoyance for him. So I just ran with it and booped him as frequently as possible, both on and off screen. It just kind of became a fun addition to all of the mannerisms. I think we were sitting on a bed together in the first season, and I remember doing it and just seeing the David Rose exterior crumble a little bit and the annoyed Daniel Levy come out, and I was like, 'Oh, this has to stay.'"

When Murphy wasn't goofing around with her onscreen brother between takes, chances are she was sitting back and witnessing one of Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy's many sing-alongs. "I miss it so much. It was a very, very fun set," she told POPSUGAR. "Usually before we started shooting, we would watch Eugene and Catherine riff on something or sing. They often passed the time by doing harmonies on kind of old timely show tunes. That was a pretty magical thing to be able to watch."

Equally as magical to watch has been Schitt's Creek's well-deserved rise from an under-the-radar sitcom with a peculiar name to an Emmys-sweeping megahit that's captured the hearts of millions. Murphy credits at least some of its success over the last few years to quite the unexpected culprit. "I honestly think we owe some of the success to [Donald] Trump because it was four very, very gloomy, very bleak, very scary years," she said. "I think people really needed to find some light and some positivity and go to a place where everything was more or less A-OK."

When I mentioned to Murphy how Schitt's Creek has been an endless source of solace and entertainment amid the pandemic, she modestly replied, "When people say that, not to sound cheesy, but it really is the most rewarding thing to hear. The Office is my comfort show, and it truly has gotten me through some really bad times — therapy and The Office. To know that Schitt's [Creek] is that show for other people is just the biggest takeaway and the nicest thing to hear overall."

Although Murphy's real-life demeanor and personal style are a far cry from that of Alexis Rose, the 34-year-old star walked away from Schitt's Creek with an important lesson from the socialite she portrayed for six glorious seasons. It's a line Alexis tells a very panicked David while dropping him off for his driving test during the third season. "[She tells him,] 'Nobody cares. Nobody's thinking about you the way that you're thinking about you.' I think that that's a really good piece of advice actually, despite coming from Alexis," she said. "Often, we get so concerned about the tiny little things that we've done wrong or what we've said or how we look that are, in the grand scheme of things, so deeply insignificant and only noticeable to you. To try and let that worry go is a really good piece of advice."

Murphy will likely have this nugget of wisdom in the back of her head as she remains in the spotlight with her upcoming roles in Kevin Can F*ck Himself and season two of Russian Doll. Both parts "couldn't be further from Alexis," Murphy said, adding, "I was like, sh*t, can I do anything else? But it was also a really, really wonderful challenge. In Kevin Can F*ck Himself, I'm playing a woman from Worcester, MA, with a real chip on her shoulder and a real doozy of an accent . . . As much as I miss everyone and I miss [playing Alexis], it was really, really fun to take on something completely different."

Yes, Murphy does secretly wonder if fans will ever be able to see her as anyone other than the Rose family's globe-trotting, "David!"-yelling, Harry Styles-dating reality star turned PR maven, but she doesn't seem too worried about the prospect. "It certainly has crossed my mind, but if that's the case, there are far, far worse things," she said. "I would be proud to just be known as Alexis for the rest of my life, if that turns out to be the case."