What the Hell Happened to Chevy Chase?

In the late seventies and early eighties, Chevy Chase was the height of cool.  He was the original break-out star of Saturday Night Live which was the hip show to watch and not an institution like it is today.  When he went into movies, Chase was hailed as the next Cary Grant.  But despite appearing in a few durable comedies, Chase has failed to live up to the promise he showed early in his career.  These days, he is known for his tirades more than his comedy.

What the hell happened?

Chase got his start as a writer.  He was part of a comedy ensemble called, Channel One and wrote for the Smothers Brothers TV show in the early 70s. In 1973, he became a cast member on The National Lampoon Radio Hour which also featured John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.  Chase also worked with Belushi in the Off Broadway revue, Lemmings, which was a send-up of musical counter-culture.

In 1974, Chase appeared in the sketch comedy film, The Groove TubeThe Groove Tube was written and directed by Ken Shapiro who was co-founder of Channel One.

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The Groove Tube was made on a meager $200,000 budget which made it highly profitable.

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Chevy Chase – Saturday Night Live – 1975-1976

Chase was discovered by Lorne Michaels one day while standing in line to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Chase was cutting up.  Michaels took notice and ended up hiring Chase as a writer – not a performer – for his new show, Saturday Night.

Chase convinced Michaels to allow him to appear on the show.  He did the opening segment in which he would take a prat fall before announcing “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night”.

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Chase was also the first host of Weekend Update, a role which allowed him to say his name on television every week.  Chase started the segment by saying, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.”  It became a popular catch phrase while subtly pointing out that Chase was probably cooler than you.

Chevy Chase - Saturday Night Live - 1975-1976
Chevy Chase – Saturday Night Live – 1975-1976

The original cast of Saturday Night Live included comedy legends like Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.  But Chase quickly ascended as the break-out star.  Many in the cast (especially Belushi who was not used to being upstaged) resented Chase’s sudden stardom.  It didn’t help that Chase was a coked-up jerk with a gigantic ego.  He was known for being a “put-down artist”, ordering everyone around  and bragging about his rising fame.

“He likes to focus attention on himself,” said Dan Aykroyd, one of the few SNL cast members who remained friends with Chase over the years.

It was a friendship that was able to survive all the focus on him that first year as a huge star.  I’m pretty easy to get along with.  I’m from Canada.  We know how to bend backwards and forwards towards Americans.

Laraine Newman described meeting Chase:

My first impression of Chevy was that he was really good-looking, but kind of mean.  He teased in the way that a big brother would, [aiming for] exactly what would hurt your feelings the most. I say this as someone who loves him. And loves him a lot.

In 1975, Chase was so popular that there was talk of renaming Saturday Night Live the Chevy Chase ShowNew York magazine ran a cover story hailing Chase as “the funniest man in America”.  And an NBC exec referred to him as “the first real potential successor to Johnny Carson.”  There were rumors Chase would guest host for Carson on the Tonight Show.

Chase dismissed talk of taking over the Tonight Show saying “I’d never be tied down for five years interviewing TV personalities.”  Ironic considering Chase would eventually host a late night talk show of his own.  Carson responded to Chase’s claims by saying he “couldn’t ad-lib a fart after a baked-bean dinner.”

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Chevy Chase – Saturday Night Live – 1975-1976

Chase’s contract as a writer for SNL was only for one year.  After the first season, Chase decided not to return to Saturday Night Live.  He fired his manager, Bernie Brillstein, who also represented Lorne Michaels and signed with the powerful William Morris agency.  Michaels, who had been close with Chase, felt betrayed by the way Chase left the show without notice.

According to Chase, the show never recovered from his departure:

I felt that once I left it wasn’t as good. We had done what we had come to do that first year, which was to parody television and to satirize political events. And once you ran out of that either A) because you did all the jokes, or the novelty had ceased to exist, or B) because others were now doing what you had started off doing and were winning Emmys for, or C) because everybody won Emmys and they were all full of themselves and they were starting to write “in” jokes, then the show was not going to be as good and therefore was just going to go downhill. And it seemed to me that after I left that happened.

These days, Chase claims that he left Saturday Night Live for love.  He was dating model Jacqueline Carlin at the time.  According to Chase, she demanded that he move out to Hollywood if he wanted to continue seeing her.  But staff writer Tom Davis claims that at the time, Chase told him he was leaving the show for “money – lots of money”.

Chase moved out west and immediately married Carlin.  The couple divorced after 17 turbulent months.  Carlin filed for divorce citing threats of violence.  Meanwhile, Chase was appearing in his own prime time specials on NBC.

During Saturday Night Live’s second season, Chase returned as a host.  When he did, he insisted on taking the Weekend Update segment back from Jane Curtin who had been hosting the bit since he left the show.  Chase claimed this upset Curtin, but she insisted that “Chevy was expecting a reaction he wasn’t getting from me.”

Chase’s return did get a reaction from Bill Murray who had replaced Chase on the cast in the show’s second season.  Belushi, served as an instigator telling Murray that Chase was looking to get his old job back.  Murray confronted Chase and a fight ensued moments before the show was about to start.  Laraine Newman recalled:

“I don’t know if Chevy provoked it or not.  But it culminated with Billy saying to Chevy, ‘Why don’t you fuck your wife once in a while? She needs it.’ And I don’t even remember who threw the first punch, Billy or Chevy. But it was ugly.”

According to Chase, John Belushi instigated the brawl:

It was Belushi that started it, I found out later, by bad-mouthing me to Murray. But he got his, because while we were swinging at each other, he was in the middle and was the only one who got hit! I would have won the fight. Absolutely. I’m taller. I have a longer reach. And I had to fight a lot when I was a kid.

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Chevy Chase passed up the opportunity to play Boone in Animal House

National Lampoon’s Animal House was originally written with the cast of Saturday Night Live in mind.  The role of “Otter” (which was played by Tim Matheson) was written for Chase.  However, director John Landis wasn’t interested in making Animal House a Saturday Night Live movie.  So when he met with Chase about the role, he subtly tried to dissuade him from taking the part.

Landis told Chase that one of the benefits of Animal House was that it was an ensemble, so Chase wouldn’t have to carry the weight of the film’s success on his own.  He was counting on Chase’s ego to prevent him from signing on to an ensemble cast.  And sure enough, Chase bowed out for a starring role in another 1978 comedy.

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Chevy Chase – Foul Play – 1978

Instead, Chase starred opposite Goldie Hawn in Foul Play.

Foul Play was a mix of genres.  It was part thriller, part romantic comedy.  Chase proved an extremely charismatic leading man opposite America’s Sweetheart, Hawn.  Hawn played an innocent girl next door type who got involved in an extremely complicated murder plot.  Chase played the goofy police detective who protected her.

Chase didn’t like Foul Play at first, but over the years he says he has warmed to it:

Everybody seems to like Foul Play, so I’m beginning to think it’s a good movie, but at the time I didn’t think so. I was very much against them making me fall off the pier into the water for the good old days. I never got over that. I was so pissed about it.

Part of what made Foul Play a hit was the chemistry between Chase and Hawn.  According to Chase, that chemistry carried over into real life:

Most people who knew us back then knew that we were romantically involved. Particularly during the making of Foul Play. But obviously that changed. Nothing went sour, we just went our separate ways. But yeah, we were very much in love at the time. Very infatuated.

Reviews for Foul Play were mixed to positive.  Chase was hailed as a comedic and romantic leading man.  Chase and Hawn were both nominated for Golden Globes and the movie was a hit at the box office.  It was popular enough to inspire a short-lived TV series starring Barry Bostwick and Deborah Raffin.

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Chevy Chase – O Heavenly Dog – 1980

In 1980, Chase starred in three movies.  The first was Oh Heavenly Dog which co-starred Benji.  For those too young to remember, Benji was a dog.

Chase played another private investigator.  The twist is that Chase’s character is killed while investigating a case.  In order to earn his way into heaven, Chase is reincarnated as an adorable pooch.  For the rest of the movie, Chase provided a voice over while Benji solved the case and spied on Jane Seymour in the bathtub.

Oh Heavenly Dog got bad reviews and flopped at the box office.

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Chevy Chase – Caddyshack – 1980

A couple of weeks later, Chase appeared as part of the ensemble cast in Harold Ramis’ comedy classic, Caddyshack.

Originally, the young caddies played by Michael O’Keefe and Scott Colomby were central to the film.  But Ramis directed the film with a highly improvisational style.  Co-star Bill Murray’s role was entirely improvised.  Chase and Rodney Dangerfield also did quite a bit of improvisation much to the dismay of co-star Ted Knight who was legitimately frustrated by this method.

As Ramis filmed, the focus of the movie shifted from the young caddies to the eccentric members of the club.  It’s no surprise given that the cast was loaded with comic talent.  Who wants to watch Michael O’Keefe when you can watch Chase, Murray, Dangerfield and Knight at their prime?

Caddyshack received mixed to positive reviews at the time.  But it was a hit at the box office and remains one of the most quotable movies of all time.  So it’s got that going for it – which is nice.

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Chevy Chase – Seems Like Old Times – 1980

Chase reuinted with Goldie Hawn in Neil Simon’s screwball comedy, Seems Like Old Times.

Chase played a man who was forced to rob a bank.  Now a fugitive, he seeks help from his ex-wife, a public defender played by Hawn.  The always-reliable Charles Grodin played Hawn’s new husband and district attorney who loathes Chase’s character.

The film was inspired by The Talk of the Town, a 1942 comedy which starred Cary Grant.  Reviews were mixed to positive.  The movie fell short of Foul Play’s box office.  But it actually out-performed Caddyshack.

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Chevy Chase – Self-titled Album – 1980

In addition to starring in three movies in 1980, Chase released a self-titled album with novelty and cover versions of songs by Randy Newman, Barry White, Bob Marley, the Beatles, Donna Summer, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Troggs, and the Sugarhill Gang.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEb5D2WIE-s]

Weird Al, he is not.

As is usually the case, the vanity album came at the peak of Chase’s career.  That’s when celebs are able to get away with recording a cover of “I Shot the Sheriff” while looking like a smug douchebag on the album cover.  I won’t say it was all downhill from here.  Chase still had a few highlights left in his career.  But he would never have a year like 1980 again.

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Chevy Chase – Under the Rainbow – 1981

In 1981, Chase starred opposite Carrie Fisher in the Wizard of Oz spoof, Under the Rainbow.

The film takes place during the making of The Wizard of Oz.  Fisher’s character is in charge of wrangling all of the actors and extras who are coming into town to play the Munchkins.  She gets caught up in international intrigue involving a diminutive Nazi agent played by Billy Barty (who was also a bad guy in Foul Play).

The intent was clearly to make a Foul Play for families.  But the movies one joke is that little people are funny.  Your enjoyment of the movie will depend largely on how much you agree with that statement.  I saw this movie on cable as a kid and the only thing I remember is that Princess Leia stripped down to her undies.

Chase met his third wife while filming Under the Rainbow.  He said the original script was actually funny:

I met my wife then. She was working as production coordinator. First picture I made $2 million on. It was just a fiasco. Awfully funny script, but it changed.

Under the Rainbow got terrible reviews and bombed at the box office.

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Chevy Chase – Modern Problems – 1981

Later that year, Chase reunited with his old friend and Groove Tube director, Ken Shapiro for the comedy, Modern Problems.

Chase played a guy who is doused in radioactive waste and somehow acquires telekinetic powers.  He uses them to get revenge on his rivals.  It’s like Carrie played for laughs.  Except Carrie was probably funnier.

Chase had a near-death experience while filming a dream sequence for Modern Problems.  He was wearing landing lights as he dreamed he was an airplane.  The wiring was faulty and Chase was rendered unconscious.  Chase recalled the experience:

It was awful. I had a scene in which I was to be wired as a landing airplane in a dream sequence and the special effects people had devised it so that these lights would go over my shirt. The director felt that wasn’t right, and that it should go under the shirt and attach to my skin. We were all a little nervous about that. They turned on the juice and I just was getting electrocuted and they thought I was kidding, screaming and yelling, “Turn it off!” In fact it was real and I fainted. The paramedics came. I was almost killed, according to the doctor. The burns were to the muscles in my shoulders, arms and back. I was weak for a long time.

Once again, the reviews were terrible and the movie bombed.  Chase was 0 for 2 in 1981.

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Chevy Chase – National Lampoon’s Vacation – 1983

Chase rebounded in 1983 by reuniting with his Caddyshack director, Harold Ramis, for National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Chase played hapless dad, Clark Griswold who just wants to show his family some fun at America’s favorite family fun-park, Wally World.

The movie struck a chord with audiences and launched a franchise which is still going today.  Reviews were mostly positive and the movie was a hit.

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Chevy Chase – Deal of the Century – 1983

Later that year, Chase starred opposite Sigourney Weaver and Gregory Hines in the comedy, Deal of the Century.

Chase played a smooth-talking arms dealer trying to sell weapons to a South American dictator.

The movie was directed by William Friedkin, director of such comedy classics as The Exorcist, Cruising and To Live and Die in L.A. 

According to Chase, Deal of the Century suffered from changes during post-production:

Billy went a little bit batshit. He’s a very intense man, a brilliant director, but there were a number of things in the script that scared him, so he completely changed the ending around…  I didn’t want to go up against Friedkin. I felt sorry for him. He’s not a universally well-liked man out here. I think it’s because he has problems with his temper. He had some real emotional problems that I just didn’t want to be involved with. Life’s too short to go through that. The picture did very poorly.

Deal of the Century was panned by critics and tanked at the box office.

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Chevy Chase – Fletch – 1985

In 1985, Chase starred in Fletch, based on the mystery novel by Gregory Mcdonald.

Chase singles Fletch out as his best movie because director Michael Ritchie gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted.  Chase even goes so far as to take credit for directing the comedic elements of the movie.  I’m not sure that wearing an afro wig should have earned Chase a directing credit, but I will give Fletch credit for blending comedic elements with a good mystery.  It is among the best of Chase’s career.

Reviews for Fletch were positive and the movie was a hit.  It is mostly downhill from here.

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Chevy Chase – National Lampoon’s European Vacation – 1985

Later that year, Chase returned to the Vacationn franchise in the sequel, National Lampoon’s European Vacation.

As the name implies, the sequel saw the Griswolds win a trip to Europe.  Anthony Michael Hall, who played son Rusty in the original, was too big of a star in the mid-eighties so he did not reprise his role.  This set a precedent for rotating kids in every subsequent Vacation film.

Ramis also passed on the sequel and was replaced by Fast Times at Ridgemont High director, Amy Heckerling.  Like a lot of sequels, this one had diminishing returns.  Chase didn’t care for the final movie:

I rate it low. It opened bigger than any of my other films because of the expectation after the first one.

In spite of bad reviews, European Vacation was a hit at the box office.

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Chevy Chase – Spies Like Us – 1985

Later that year, Chase reunited with the one Saturday Night Live cast member who would return his calls, Dan Aykroyd, in Spies Like Us.

Spies was inspired by the old Hope-Crosby Road to… movies.  Bob Hope even cameos in the movie.  Aykroyd and Chase played spies who were so bad at their jobs that they are used by their agency as decoys.  In spite of their ineptitude, they manage to save the world and Chase (in the Crosby role) gets the girl (Aykroyd’s real-life wife, Donna Dixon).

Spies was directed by John Landis who had intentionally talked Chase out of starring in National Lampoon’s Animal House a few years before.  Chase described working with Landis following the director’s tragic experiences on the set of Twilight Zone: the Movie in which actor Vic Morrow was killed in an accident:

He was affected, but not able to show it very well. If anything, it should have changed the way he dealt with people but it didn’t. He’s a bit of a bully, to say the least, with the wrong people, the easy shots. He’s got a crassness about him. Anybody who can pick on a set decorator or an extra in front of everybody else in a very mean way is lacking something. I would think that an experience like Twilight Zone–the Movie would put some humility into your life. But it didn’t.

Spies Like Us got mostly bad reviews.  It was a hit at the box office and has developed a cult following.

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Chevy Chase – Saturday Night Live – 1985

In 1985, Chase returned to Saturday Night Live as a host.  He reportedly went out of his way to antagonize everyone in his path.  He made fun of Robert Downey Jr.’s father saying, “Didn’t your father used to be a successful director? Whatever happened to him? Boy, he sure died, you know, he sure went to hell.”

But Chase was just getting warmed up.  He was especially hateful to Terry Sweeney, the show’s first openly gay cast member.  Chase suggested doing a sketch where they weigh Sweeney every week to see if he had AIDS.  Lorne Michaels forced Chase to go to Sweeney’s office and apologize in person which Sweeney says made Chase furious.

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Chevy Chase – ¡Three Amigos! – 1986

In 1986, Chase worked with Landis again.  He starred alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short in The Three Amigos.

The Three Amigos was written by Chase’s old friend, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin (with whom Chase played poker) and song writer Randy Newman.  Originally, the movie was written for Martin, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.  When Belushi died, Aykroyd dropped out and several other actors were considered.  At one point, Stephen Spielberg was considering directing with Martin, Bill Murray and Robin Williams starring.

Eventually, Short and Chase joined the cast.  All three “amigos” played poker together with Johnny Carson in the Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club.  Chase said he had fun making The Three Amigos:

That was great fun. I put that right up there with Vacation. Landis and his egoism cut out a lot of the funniest, best stuff of that picture. It could have been cut better. But Steve and Marty, we have Amigo dinners all the time. We became best friends in that.

Reviews for Three Amigos were mixed and the movie did so-so at the box office.  It has become a cult hit over the years.

When Chase was promoting Three Amigos, he had a fun appearance on The Tonight Show in which he poked fun at Ebert and Siskle who were also on the show:

Also in 1986, Chase appeared in the video for Paul Simon’s hit song, You Can Call Me Al.

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Simon didn’t like his original music video which was a performance of the song on Saturday Night Live.  Lorne Michaels came up with the idea for a new video in which Chase lip synchs the lyrics while Simon looks on bored.  Chase learned the lyrics on the car ride to the recording studio which is pretty painfully obvious.  And also typical of his comic style which involves zero preparation.

When I was a kid, I thought this video (and Chase’s mugging) was hysterical.  Watching it today, it’s not nearly as funny as I remember it.  Frankly, the funniest part is Simon’s stone-faced expression and the difference in height between the two men.

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Chevy Chase – Funny Farm – 1988

In 1988, Chase starred in the comedy, Funny Farm.

Chase played a sports writer who moves out to the country to write a novel.  Comic hijinks ensue including but not limited to Chase eating bull testicles.

Chase fought against director George Roy Hill who wanted Chase to give a more natural performance:

My dad was very upset about the picture. He felt that it made no use of what is intrinsically indigenous and good about what I do. George Roy Hill just did not want me to mug in any way. He wanted pure, real acting and he felt it would be funnier because of that. I learned less is more in some cases, but I was also fighting him the whole way. Ultimately the picture came out dull because it lacked the things that I do give to a movie that people do expect.

Reviews were mixed to negative.  But Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel championed the film.  In spite of the endorsement of America’s favorite film critics, Funny Farm was not a hit.

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Chevy Chase – Caddyshack II – 1988

Later that year, Chase appeared in Caddyshack 2.  He was the only member of the original cast to reprise his role.

Harold Ramis, director of the original Caddyshack, was enticed to contribute to the script for the sequel.  He described where things went wrong:

” The studio begged me. They said, “Hey, we’ve got a great idea: ‘The Shack is Back!'” And I said “No, I don’t think so.” But they said that Rodney [Dangerfield] really wanted to do it, and we could build it around Rodney. Rodney said, “Come on, do it.” Then the classic argument came up which says that if you don’t do it, someone will, and it will be really bad. So I worked on a script with my partner Peter Torokvei, consulting with Rodney all the time.

Then Rodney got into a fight with the studio and backed out. We had some success with Back to School, which I produced and wrote, and we were working with the same director, Alan Metter. When Rodney pulled out, I pulled out, and then they fired Alan and got someone else.

I got a call from Jon Peters saying, “Come with us to New York; we’re going to see Jackie Mason!” I said, “Ooh, don’t do this. Why don’t we let it die?” And he said, “No, it’ll be great.” But I didn’t go, and they got other writers to finish it. I tried to take my name off that one, but they said if I took my name off, it would come out in the trades and I would hurt the film.”

Mason was substituted for Dangerfield.  Dan Aykroyd was substituted for Bill Murray.  And all the jokes were replaced with TV sit-com crap.  Reviews were terrible and the movie bombed.

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Chevy Chase – Fletch Lives – 1989

In 1989, Chase continued to relive past glories.  First, he starred in a Fletch sequel, Fletch Lives.

Gregory McDonald had written nine Fletch books by 1989.  (He wrote two more in the nineties).  Unlike the original movie, which stayed fairly faithful to McDonald’s book, the sequel was not based on one of the books.  And it showed.  Part of what made the first film work was the blend of humor with a solid mystery.  The sequel is a pale imitation.

The Fletch sequel was filmed during a writer’s strike.  According to Chase, there was no script to work from:

I fought the whole time against it. I said it’s not going to work. It was during the writer’s strike and I couldn’t write for it. We had no script. We had a director who was doing the writing, and he couldn’t write. All I could do was go out and improvise. Basically I had to hold that picture together by winging it.

Reviews were mixed to negative, but the movie did reasonably well at the box office.

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Chevy Chase – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – 1989

Later that year, Chase returned to the Vacation franchise again for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Vacation is a pretty radical departure from the original.  Where the first Vacation was rated R, this sequel was PG-13.  In this film, the family never leaves home.  Instead, they host relatives for the holidays.  The kids are recast once again with Juliette Lewis playing Audrey who is now inexplicably older than her brother.

Reviews for Christmas Vacation were generally positive.  The movie opened at number two at the box office but eventually rose to number one.  It grossed roughly the same amount as the original Vacation which was less impressive given inflation.  But after years of playing on cable every Christmas, it has become an annual tradition for many.

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Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live – 1989

In 1989, Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad released a book detailing the history of Saturday Night Live.  The book did not present Chase in a flattering light.  According to Chase, he cried after reading it:

They said things about me I couldn’t believe. I came away from that book thinking nobody on that show liked me, that I had been an asshole. It was the total opposite of what it was like. An awful book, and that hurt. That one, I literally cried. I read a chapter about myself and I cried. Because that was one of the happiest years of my life. We were very much together like a team. And we were happy.

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Demi Moore and Chevy Chase – Nothing But Trouble – 1991

In 1991, Chase reuinted with Dan Aykroyd for Aykroyd’s directorial debut, Nothing But Trouble.

Aykroyd wrote the script with his brother.  As writer, director and co-star, Aykroyd had free reign to make as weird of a movie as he wanted.  And he took full advantage of that opportunity making a movie that was less funny than off-putting.  Chase co-starred opposite Demi Moore as a couple that gets into legal trouble with an eccentric judge played by Aykroyd.

Nothing But Trouble had a toxic reputation before it was even released.  The reviews were terrible and the movie flopped.

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Daryl Hannah and Chevy Chase – Memoirs of an Invisible Man – 1992

In 1992, Chase starred opposite Darryl Hannah in John Carpenter’s comic thriller, Memoirs of an Invisible Man.

The movie was loosely based on a novel of the same name.  Chase played a stock analyst who is turned invisible in a freak accident.  Afterwards, he is pursued by the CIA who want to use him as an assassin.

Originally, Ivan Reitman was attached to direct.  But Chase and Reitman couldn’t get along.  Reitman left the project and was replaced by horror auteur, John Carpenter.  Carpenter was interested in changing things up by making a comedy.  Unfortunately for him, Chase was also looking to change things up by NOT making a comedy.  He insisted on downplaying the comedic elements.

Not surprisingly, this resulted in the movie having an uneven tone.  The film got bad reviews and flopped at the box office.

Chevy Chase - The Chevy Chase Show - 1993
Chevy Chase – The Chevy Chase Show – 1993

In 1993, Chase returned to television.  Years before, there was talk that Saturday Night Live might turn into the Chevy Chase Show.  Fox was interested in breaking into the competitive late night arena, so they approached Chase to host a Carson-style talk fest.

Chase described his reasoning for returning to television:

”I’d say I’ve done only five movies in my life that were any good, but that was a particularly bad time.  There was a whole slew of Cops and Robbersons, just films that didn’t measure up, that didn’t stand for anything comedically. They were purely for a paycheck. So I thought, ‘Ah, let’s try something new.’ So I went to Fox with this late-night show.”

Chase’s Foul Play and Seems Like Old Times co-star, Goldie Hawn was his first guest.  Chase proved Johnny Carson right.  As an interviewer, Chase was stiff, nervous and clearly unprepared.  Hawn and Chase were friends and yet, their conversation couldn’t be more awkward… or less funny.  It never got any better.

Originally, Chase had pitched a show that was more like Saturday Night Live than a typical late night talk show.  But Fox wanted Chase to compete with Leno and Letterman:

I didn’t want guests. I didn’t want to do the same thing they did. It wasn’t my gig. But it just turned into the same exact kind of talk show that they do… it threw me into a depression that I had never had before. I couldn’t be extemporaneous, only bored and frightened at the same time. I needed cards. Cue cards! My best work was always with my back up against the wall, improvising. It was just awful. I didn’t know what was going on with me and I wasn’t getting the right kind of help — you know, medication. And I was clueless! I didn’t know Queen Latifah from Queen Elizabeth. I thought she might be a queen! I had 12 writers, none of whom could make me laugh. I don’t know. Maybe nothing would have made me laugh at that time. It was an ugly mess.

After only five weeks on the air, The Chevy Chase Show was cancelled.  It was less of a cancellation than a mercy killing really.  But the damage was done.  Even Chase’s most ardent fans admitted that Chase had lost it.  He wasn’t funny any more.

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Chevy Chase – Cops and Robbersons – 1994

In 1994, Chase reunited with Michael Ritchie, director of both Fletch films, for the comedy Cops & Robbersons.

Chase played an ordinary guy whose home is invaded by a police stake-out.  Jack Palance played a tough-as-nails cop who butts heads with Chase over the course of the investigation.

Reviews were bad and the movie flopped.

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Chevy Chase – Man of the House – 1995

In 1995, Chase returned to family comedy with Disney’s Man of the House.

TV kid star, Jonathan Taylor Thomas made his big screen debut in Man of the House.  Chase played his potential step-dad.  There’s a plot involving a manhunt and blah blah blah.

It was another critically reviled flop for Chase.

During the 1996-97 season of Saturday Night Live, Chase returned to host the show again.  Tim Meadows described working with Chase:

“When he was here, it was like just watching a car accident over and over again just watching him deal with people.”

Will Ferrell called Chase “a little snobbish” and prone to yelling at people.  Ferrell said that Chase told a female writer “maybe you could give me a handjob later.”  Ferrell continued:

“I don’t know if he was on something or what.  If he took too many back pills that day or something.”

Also in 1995, Chase got picked up for drunk driving.  Following the incident, he decided to leave Hollywood to focus on his family:

It was the best thing.  I had plenty of money. It was time to move on. Start thinking in terms of your children and what they face day to day, living in that place with nothing but blond, blue-eyed movie-star wannabes and no seasons. This was in their formative years, just before puberty and adolescence, a tough period of hormonal overactivity that we guys don’t go through.

chase - vegas vacation
Chevy Chase – Vegas Vacation – 1997

Desperate, Chase returned to the Vacation well for Vegas Vacation in 1997.

Vegas Vacation was the first film in the series to be rated PG.  It was also the only film in the series not to feature the National Lampoon name in the title.  Finally, it is the only Vacation film I have never sat through.

Reviews were negative and the box office was so-so.

Over the years, Chase has been involved with several unproduced Vacation films.  Following working with Eric Idle on European Vacation, the duo started working on a script for Australian Vacation.  But the both eventually abandoned the project.  In the 90s, Australian Vacation was revisited as a potential fifth film in the series.

As recently as 2011, Chase was talking about an idea he had been developing with co-star Beverly D’Angelo.  Swiss Family Griswold would have had the Griswold clan stranded on a desert island after a fire breaks out on a cruise ship.  On the island, they would run into Randy Quaid’s Cousin Eddie who had been left on the island by a Survivor-type game show.

Chase and D’Angelo reprised their roles in advertisements for HomeAway and Old Navy.  A Vacation reboot is in the works with Ed Helms starring as a now-grown Rusty.  Chase and D’Angelo are expected to appear in cameos.

chase - dirty work
Chevy Chase – Dirty Work – 1998

By 1998, Chase was basically doing cameo appearances in other people’s movies.  He played a gambling addicted-heart surgeon in Dirty Work.

Dirty Work was Norm Macdonald’s bid at a movie career.  MacDonald was the latest SNL star to take up the mantle of Chase’s Weekend Update desk.  It was also the directorial debut of Bob Saget after he left the popular series, America’s Funniest Home Videos.

The movie was intended to be nasty, but critics found it mean-spirited.  Reviews were terrible and the movie bombed.

chase - smith
Chevy Chase clashed with writer/director Kevin Smith over a possible Fletch sequel

Around this time, Chase met with director Kevin Smith.  Smith had been approached by Universal.  Smith suggesting revisiting the Fletch series.  According to Smith, Universal didn’t even realize they owned the rights any more.  But they were open to Smith rebooting the series.

Smith pushed to keep Chase in the role even though he claims Universal wasn’t thrilled with the idea.  Smith convinced producer Brian Grazer to give Chase a chance.  He set up a meeting with Chase to discuss Son of Fletch.

At the lunch, Chevy went on to claim he invented every funny thing that ever happened in the history of not just comedy, but also the known world…  You ever sat down with somebody who claimed responsibility for stuff he did AND didn’t do? It’s really off-putting.

Smith got busy with Dogma and other projects and put Son of Fletch on hold.  Eventually, he pulled out of the project and Universal shut it down.  Chase was furious and has talked trash about Smith ever since.

Years later, Chase ranted about his meeting with Smith:

Smith invited me to lunch about 5 or 6 years ago to talk to me about doing another Fletch movie: with me obviously, playing Fletch. He was ebullient about it; about working with me; and said he was writing it as we spoke. After that lunch, he never took or returned a call from me. After 2 years, I was called by Alan Greisman, producer of the Fletch films, saying, “Kevin doesn’t want to do it.” PERIOD! So I waited for three friggin’ years to hear from someone else that Mr. Kevin Smith was, for all practical purposes, lying to me to begin with – having written nothing – rudely deceiving me, and all with no apparent concern for how easily (facile) one can hurt another human being and his family…he can shove it up his hole.

chase - snow day
Chevy Chase – Snow Day – 2000

In 2000, Chase appeared in the kiddie flick, Snow Day.  Chase and Chris Elliott were there to assure parents the movie wouldn’t be too terribly painful.

Despite mostly negative reviews, Snow Day was a modest hit at the box office.

Around this time, Kevin Smith revisited the idea of making another Fletch movie.  Universal was no longer involved.  Smith discovered that the rights to MacDonald’s prequel novel, Fletch Won, were available and he convinced Harvey Weinstein to option the book.  Weinstein did so on the condition that Chase not return as Fletch.

Because the movie would be a prequel, Smith wanted to cast his friend, Jason Lee, as a young Fletch.  Perfect casting, in my opinion.  In spite of his bad experience with Chase, he was open to the idea of casting him in a framing device.  But Weinstein felt like Lee wasn’t a big enough star at the time.  Later, when Lee became a star on My Name is Earl, he was considered too old for the part.  So Fletch Won never happened with or without Chase.

It was also the last mainstream movie Chase would star in.

Chase - Friars Club Roast
Chevy Chase – Comedy Central Friar’s Club Roast – 2002

In 2002, Chase agreed to appear on Comedy Central for a Friar’s Club Roast.  He had been roasted before in 1990 and enjoyed the experience.  That roast was a star-studded show featuring luminaries like Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, and Richard Pryor.  But the 2002 Roast, for which Chase donated his pay to charity, was a very different experience.

This time, none of Chase’s show biz friends showed up.  Of the original Saturday Night Live cast, only Laraine Newman was present.  Instead, the guests mostly included Comedy Central personalities who had never met Chase.  For the duration of the show, Chase sat centerstage taking his abuse with growing discomfort.

When the show was over, Chase left the stage and went back to his hotel room.  Paul Schaffer who had hosted the show was staying at the same hotel.  So he went up to his room to console Chase:

Paul said, ‘Chev, I could tell you were hurt. I could tell that. And I just want you to know that when you were on Saturday Night Live, you were generous to a fault. To everybody. Everybody loved you.”

In 2002, Chase had a cameo appearance in the Jack Black comedy, Orange County.  He appeared in direct-to-video comedies like Funny Money (which co-starred Penelope Ann Miller) and Stay Cool which starred Winona Ryder.

chase- hot tub time machine
Chevy Chase – Hot Tub Time Machine – 2010

In 2010, Chase had an extended cameo in the 80’s comedy, Hot Tub Time Machine starring John Cusack.

The movie had a premise every bit as ridiculous as its name.  A bunch of guys get into a hot tub which transports them back to the 80’s.  Chase plays a mysterious (and possibly supernatural) hot tub repairman who helps the guys return to the present day.

Reviews for Hot Tub Time Machine were mostly positive.  While the movie was not a big hit at the box office, it performed well on video.

chase - law and order
Chevy Chase – Law & Order – 2006

As Chase’s movie career slipped into a coma, he returned once again to television.  In 2006, Chase appeared in a guest spot on Law & Order.  He played a Mel Gibson-inspired celebrity who makes racial slurs when he gets in trouble with a DUI.

chase - chuck
Chevy Chase – Chuck – 2009

In 2009, Chase played a nother villain on the cult TV show, Chuck.  Chase appeared on three episodes that season.

chase - community
Chevy Chase – Community – 2009-2013

Also in 2009, Chase was cast as a regular in the NBC sitcom, Community.

Since that time, Chase has butted heads with pretty much anyone associated with the show.  Primarily, he publicly feuded with show creator Dan Harmon.

The show premiered to mixed to positive reviews.  While it was never a big hit in the ratings, it has developed a small but loyal cult following.  In the show’s second season, Community grew into a critical darling.

All the while, Chase and Harmon feuded.  The conflict played out very publicly.  Chase’s involvement in the show was always in doubt.  Eventually, Harmon was fired as show-runner.  Not long after Harmon’s departure, Chase left Community.

Chevy Chase - SNL 40th Anniversary - 2015
Chevy Chase – SNL 40th Anniversary – 2015

In 2015, Chase was on hand for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special.  During a segment about Weekend Update, Chase was introduced by some of his male successors.  Chase gave a little speech accompanied by Garrett Morris in a bit reminiscent of Chase’s glory days on SNL.

But Chase’s appearance sparked a wave of concern about his health.  He looked bloated.  In a pre-show interview with Carson Daly, Chase seemed incoherent and was sweating profusely.  Questions about Chase’s health began trending.

So, what the hell happened?

The most obvious problem is that Chase was a notorious asshole for years.  Bill Murray once said:

“When you become famous, you’ve got like a year or two where you act like a real asshole.  You can’t help yourself. It happens to everybody. You’ve got like two years to pull it together — or it’s permanent.”

He didn’t name Chase specifically, but many believe that is who Murray was referring to.

When Chase’s career started slipping, many in Hollywood smiled broadly.  While Chase certainly had friends, there were plenty of enemies who were all too happy to watch him go down in flames.

You don’t have to look too hard to find stories of Chase being a jerk.  Comedian Paul Scheer had not one but three stories of Chase treating people badly:

Rob Huebel recounted being slapped by Chase:

The bigger issue is that Chase was never really an actor.  In his prime, he was a good-looking, charismatic guy who was talented at prat-falls and mugging.  It made him perfectly suited for the anything-goes style comedy of early Saturday Night Live.

In the rush of success, Chase got a big head.  People were telling him he could do anything and he believed the hype.  He was compared to legends like Cary Grant and Johnny Carson.  But he was ill-equipped to fill either of their shoes.

Chase’s star rose too far too fast.  A fall from those heights was inevitable.  It didn’t help that he burned so many bridges on the way up.  And judging from his recent behavior, he hasn’t learned an lessons.

Like Bill Murray said, it’s permanent.

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RB
RB
10 years ago

After literally months of anticipation, all I can say is WOW and THANK YOU! This was really well done Lebeau. I’m among the Chevy Chase enduring fan base and will always be grateful for all the laughs over the years. With Chase’s reputation my fear was that you would make him sound like an even bigger jerk. But as always you were both fair to the subject, and entertaining at the same time. He’s always kind of had a reputation for difficulty, hasn’t he? I seem to remember his attempt at being Johnny Carson was pretty much expected to fail.… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  RB

The decline of Chevy Chase’s film career is probably the most obvious of anybody who has been profiled in the “What the Hell Happened to…” series thus far. When you act like an a-hole/female dog towards your associates for most of your career, it’s ultimately going to come back and haunt you when you’re career starts to tail off. It’s just like why hardly anybody wants to put Val Kilmer, Mike Myers, or Debra Winger in headlining roles in mainstream movies anymore.
He’s Not Chevy, He’s an A**hole: A History of Chevy Chase’s Horrific Behavior:
http://gawker.com/5899097/

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Simply put, Chevy Chase fell into a hole that many different actors have fallen into. He gained a reputation for being difficult to work with. Then his movies started to bomb. And that pretty much ended him. Still, Chevy did have pretty good run from “Foul Play” in 1977 to “Three Amigos” in 1986.

daffystardust
Editor
10 years ago

Maybe your best yet, Lebeau! I have to admit that I loved Benji when I was a kid. Considering that I got my driver’s licensce in 1986 it might not come as a surprise that I saw quite a lot of Chase’s movies on the big screen. But I don’t ever remember being a big fan. Some movies just happen to you. One specific friend actually dragged me to Fletch Lives, European Vacation and Spies Like Us now that I think of it. Maybe he was the fan. I have to cop to the others. I’m surprised there was no… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’ve never heard anything about this Chase/Bocho dust-up on Politically Incorrect before. Would anybody care to elaborate if they know any details?

RB
RB
10 years ago

Something else you reminded me of. The original Vacation movie was not really intended as a family flick. At the time, all of us who went to see it, had the expectation of “Animal House” raunchier type of humor, popular among highschoolers and college kids then. To a lesser extent, same thing with “European Vacation.” Evidently what caught the producers/studio/whoever by surprise, was that the series resonated with audiences on a different level entirely, as family comedies. So they toned down the raunch into PG13 material for XMas and Vegas. The first 2 became popular on TV with some judicious… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  RB

27 Things You Might Not Know About ‘Christmas Vacation’ http://mentalfloss.com/article/60330/27-things-you-might-not-know-about-christmas-vacation JOHN HUGHES WASN’T A FAN OF SEQUELS. Though many of Hughes’ films have spawned sequels, the man himself was not a fan of retreads. “The only sequels I was involved in were under duress,” Hughes once stated in an interview. Though he’s credited as a writer on European Vacation, he said that was only because he had created the characters. “But the studio came to me and begged for another [Vacation movie], and I only agreed because I had a good story to base it on. But those movies have… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

The Lost Roles of Chevy Chase: http://splitsider.com/2011/09/the-lost-roles-of-chevy-chase/ Say what you will about the quality of Chevy Chase’s movies, but you have to admit his influence on modern American comedy is vast. As Saturday Night Live’s first breakout star, he was largely responsible for the show becoming a surprise hit, paving the way for every comedic actor and actress that followed in his footsteps by transitioning from castmember to movie star. On SNL, Chevy Chase co-created (with writer Herb Sargent) and hosted the segment Weekend Update, which has gone on to become the longest-running sketch on what has become arguably the… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

An overview of the career of comic leading man Chevy Chase: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/saturday-night-at-the-movies-he-s-chevy-chase-and-you-re-not Yes, I know that headline’s probably been used a thousand times, and I expect that when Chevy Chase finally shuffles off this mortal coil, that headline or some variation on it will be used another thousand times. That line summed up an attitude that personified what made “Saturday Night Live” such an amazing immediate cultural sensation, and it is entirely appropriate that it has followed Chevy Chase as a sort of signature since then. Chevy Chase was the first “Saturday Night Live” movie star. Even though the entire… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

That last article especially was interesting Terence. I’d be hard pressed to find a critic that liked Vegas Vacation. But it’s not very often I agree with most critics anyway. As a group they always seem preoccupied with what they think they should like or what sounds cool and forget how to just plain appreciate movies. For example, instead of basically saying “it’s the last installment I’m bored with it ho-hum” they could focus on something more unique such as that in Vegas, unlike the other 3 movies, each Griswold kind of had their own storyline so evidently Chase didn’t… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Top 10 Chevy Chase Films: http://www.top10films.co.uk/archives/7329 For years after first seeing National Lampoon’s Vacation I was hooked on Chevy Chase films. Stepping back in time I sought out his earlier work such as Foul Play, Caddyshack and Seems Like Old Times while enjoying his eighties and early nineties output like Fletch, Three Amigos and Memoirs of an Invisible Man. His career nosedived in the mid-nineties thanks to a misguided attempt to established a more dramatic career and he never recovered. The actor, who was one of the founding members of Saturday Night Live, recently popped up in eighties throwback Hot… Read more »

Orion
Orion
10 years ago

Chevy sounds like he was Mike Myers before Mike Myers, but, when all’s said & done, he was, for the most part, an actor doing his job. So, he can’t be blamed for crap like “Nothing But Trouble” and “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” the way Myers can be for “The Love Guru” & “Austin Powers”
What he can be blamed for is being an a$shole like Myers.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Movies That Killed Comedy Careers:
http://www.ugo.com/movies/movies-that-killed-comedy-careers-memoirs-of-an-invisible-man
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
While no one is debating Chevy Chase’s place in the pantheon of comedic actors, especially with his current resurgence as Pierce Hawthorne on NBC’s Community, he nearly deep-sixed his career with the 1992 John Carpenter directed (huh?!) Memoirs of an Invisible Man. This flick currently holds a 24% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and what Washington Post reviewer Desson Howe labeled as “[not] a movie, but an identity crisis” with regards to the mix-mash of seemingly incompatible actors, director and genres.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  Orion

The flops of Chevy Chase: http://collectedcinema.blogspot.com/search/label/Chevy%20Chase The flops of Chevy Chase part 3: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) So here we are with the last look at where Chevy Chase’s career went off the rails and actually it’s probably the most interesting of the three films I’ve looked at. As well as being a rare semi-serious role for Chase it’s also directed John Carpenter, who had taken a long break from filmmaking after the commercial disappointments of Prince of Darkness and They Live. The film was very much a passion project for Chase, who had secured the rights to… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  Orion

LeBeau’s blog is given a shout-out at the very start of this article comparing the careers of Chevy Chase and Mike Myers: http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/25726570-is-mike-myers-the-chevy-chase-of-his-generation- Now two celebrities that have been featured on this article are Chevy Chase and Mike Myers. And, while I didn’t think about it before, reading these articles has made me realize that what happened to Mike Myers is very similar to what happened to Chevy Chase. Both were guys that broke out on SNL and became very popular there. Due to their popularity, they ended up getting movie deals and people thought they were going to become… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Orion

The thing with Chevy Chase is that he of course, has a history of being nasty but without any real redeeming qualities in the business. He simply he’s not funny or personable enough to keep an audience. Essentially, after his talk show was cancelled he was metaphorically speaking, cancelled. Eventually, Dan Harmon threw him an opportunity on “Community” for nostalgia’s sake but even he eventually soon realized Chevy is a sack of crap.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Orion

We all know that Chevy’s personality is what ultimately did him in. But he was regardless, always a limited performer. His smug on-screen personality could be applied and used well with the right script. But he generally was not very good at picking his own scripts, so there you go.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

When discussing his failed Fox talk show one YouTube commenter made a point that really caught my attention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhcN8lYkIy8&lc=UgwDU0tE82WywVYThfR4AaABAg

Whether making faces behind Jane Curtin’s back or about to pratfall down a long staircase as Gerald Ford, Chevy’s humor came from a place of assuredness bordering on arrogance. On this talk show he came across as an uncertain, nervous, frightened little boy. It was so hard to watch.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Dirty Laundry: Chasing Chevy: http://dirtylaundryblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/chasing-chevy.html FINALLY, we did a blog that was non Husker related and got some response. We had to delete some comments (because I’m sure they had to be written by either Michael Richards, Mel Gibson or Andy Dick). But generally people have a genuine interest in at the very least, seeing the current version of SNL fixed. OK, so about poor Chevy Chase. Here’s what I think of Chevy: He’s absolutely the major star of that first season currently out on that impressive DVD package (and explains why he immediately bolted for what he thought would… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

My opinion of that dirty laundry blog, and others of its ilk, is that it goes overboard with the hatred of its subject and thus loses credibility. The writer is entitled to his views, of course. He may not think much of “Christmas Vacation” for example, but the box office numbers prove how many people felt otherwise, not to mention its afterlife on DVD. It is intriguing that CC walked away from as many movie roles as he did. My first reaction was that he screwed himself but upon reflection, maybe he knew exactly what he was doing. Fletch and… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau
Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

If anything, the roast could be considered (as pathetic and sad it otherwise his) a case in which a legendary pompous a-hole like Chevy Chase getting his comeuppance. No one from his past chose to show up. More specifically, all of these people who didn’t know him or had never even met him prior to this were suddenly judging him and telling him what kind of person he was.

tbob1
10 years ago

Like everyone else I’ve heard all the horror stories about Chase over the years. I guess my reaction to it all is I don’t really care. He’s in a special category as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t have to hang out with him. He starred in some of the most iconic comedies of my generation: Vacation, Caddy Shack, Spies and Fletch being among the best. Fletch is maybe one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. I still quote it to this day….”Can I borrow your towel? My car hit a water buffalo.” Classic. I even tuned in… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Regarding Chevy Chase’s talk show, I read (in the YouTube comments section for his interview w/ Robert DeNiro) that while getting the show up and running, Chevy fired so many unionized people for such petty reasons that ultimately, the unions just stopped sending stage hands and grips. This was because every one that Chevy fired on a whim cost them money. This has also further tainted Chevy’s career ever since movies of course, use union workers and therefore, unions wouldn’t send people to movies that Chevy is a part of. It was simply another case of Chevy thinking that since… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Talk Show Bomb #1: Chevy Chase, “The Chevy Chase Show”: http://www.businessinsider.com/chevy-chase The higher the expectations, the harder the flop. Like Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, comedian Chevy Chase began hosting a late night talk show in the fall 1993, hoping to claim Johnny Carson’s mantle. Unlike Jay, Dave and Conan, Chevy’s show lasted only six weeks on Fox. Of its debut show, Time wrote: [Chase’s] Tuesday-night debut was the sort of disaster TV fans will recall for their grandchildren. Nervous and totally at sea, Chase tried everything, succeeded at nothing. He shot basketballs from the stage, fawned embarrassingly… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

LMAO Terrence! Well… at least Fox can’t say Chevy didn’t warn them!

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

A Look Back At Hollywood’s Spectacular History Of Failed Celebrity Talk Show Hosts: http://uproxx.com/tv/2014/10/17talkshowhostsbombs/ The Chevy Chase Show Years Aired: 1993 Number of Seasons: 1 Why Was It So Awful? TV Guide once ranked it one of the worst shows of all-time, for starters, and saying it lasted one season is misleading. It made it six episodes. If people aren’t dumping all over Sajak’s lack of charisma, then they’re reminding us how hilariously awful Chase’s brief run as a talk show host went. Remember how Fox gave us the Married… with Children laugh track that sounded like people were choking… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I was reading the comments section on YouTube for a video of Chevy’s interview with Robert DeNiro on his ill-fated talk show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiiuivDi234 One commenter noted that maybe if they gave him more time he would have done better. But as it stood, Chevy was noticeably nervous, almost so much that it was uncomfortable to watch. What may have happened is that Chevy didn’t prepare enough and put the time in to make it successful. If you’ve seen Chevy when he himself is the interviewee and not the interviewer, he is very funny when the pressure is not on him.… Read more »

gluserty
4 years ago

That’s an interesting take on Chevy Chase’s talk show career; it did seem like he was awfully rattled and just not comfortable at all.

gluserty
4 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Yeah, I was thinking more of Chevy Chase and his talk show, and along with what you said about him not being much for listening, he probably wasn’t game for doing background on the guests, asking questions such as, “So, Ty Griswold, I see that your mother was a Sunday School teacher and your father was a goat farmer; that must’ve been some childhood”. I mean, sure, he could’ve also did some homework watching old Johnny Carson episodes (they were still archived or available in 1993, right?), but as you also pointed out, prep work wasn’t his jam either. In… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

For what I’ve gathered from some of the interviews that he has done regarding his experiences on “Community”, Chevy Chase’s problem was that he likes physical comedy. He doesn’t think referential, meta, and wordplay comedy is funny. And he didn’t care for the more emotional, poignant moments of the show – he only cared about the funny parts. And he didn’t like how the rest of the cast viewed him in much the same way that the characters viewed his character, Pierce. Dan Harmon made a few mentions to Chevy Chase wanting his character to be more like Fletch (which,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

The Chevy Chase Show | Forgotten Failures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhcN8lYkIy8

The Chevy Chase Show was a late-night talk show that aired on Fox for less than a month in 1993, with its inception and failure making for an interesting tale. Join me as I dive into the strange first episodes of this stunningly bizarre show.

RB
RB
10 years ago

Did you guys know that Chevy Chase has perfect pitch? I’ve never done this before but I decided to check out his Wiki page. This alone could contribute to him having a difficult personality. Apparently perfect pitch can be both a blessing and a curse for the person who has it. I’m also more and more turned off by the idea of this whole whatever roast occaison and I’m glad Lebeau skipped over it. The guy is almost 70, and I’d rather focus on what he contributed to the comedy landscape rather than his faults.

andymovieman
andymovieman
10 years ago

chevy chase is an idiot but he was a good actor in the 70s and 80s. 90s he lost it but vegas vacation and man of the house were pretty good. the man has problems and he is a political idiot and an egotistical son of a bitch. he’s let ego and politics get to his head. that is why he is a hasbeen.

andymovieman
andymovieman
10 years ago

if vacation will be good as the rest then i will go see it. if not i won’t watch it.

RB
RB
10 years ago

lebeau summed it nicely in the last paragraph, CC wasn’t really an actor so much as a comedian, and his star rose so fast it had to fall, plus he burned some bridges. my take is that he was smart enough to know what projects used his talents the best so maybe he knew what he was doing. If he’s an idiot we should all be idiots like him… even though he was from a pedigreed background, he worked odd jobs to support himself in NYC while trying to break into comedy, and eventually made it big. He doesn’t have… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Howard Stern: Goofing on Chevy Chase (1/2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7nmsB7i5W8
Part 1 of 2. Features Howard and Richard Belzer’s phone call to Chevy’s house as well as a Stuttering John interview.

RB
RB
10 years ago

Last night I decided to re-watch European Vacation, my least favorite of the 4 (Rank: 1-VV, 2-CV-, 3-V and 4-EV) although it still provided plenty of laughs (cheeses.. Eric Idle).. only this time, with the Commentary DVD feature. Wish I had done this sooner. It was very enlightening to listen to Chevy Chase give his own personal spin on the movie. I gained new appreciation for HIS appreciation of physical comedy, how effective it is when done well, and the price actors pay for that, as in, back pain later in life. I noticed he had genuine respect for his… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Of course the idea is to make it look like you’re hurting yourself without ACTUALLY hurting yourself. As a lanky young actor I was called upon to do a lot of physical comedy and I generally succeeded in delivering the moment without getting injured. Unfortunately, no matter how good you are at it you will eventually have an accident. It’s just the law of averages. Most of my dings were small bruises and scrapes, but one time I got a little too aggressive in trying to make a bit look real and I creamed my own head into the stage’s… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  RB

10 Film Franchises You Really Should Stop Watching After The First Movie: http://whatculture.com/film/10-film-franchises-really-stop-watching-first-movie.php/3 National Lampoon’s Vacation The original National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) brought together two 80s comedy heavyweights in John Hughes (writer) and Harold Ramis (director), as well as made Chevy Chase (who, after playing Clark Griswold, went on to star in a number of highly-regarded 80s comedies) a bonafide movie star. The super-quotable script also featured inspired performances by Beverly D’Angelo, as the Griswold family matriarch Ellen, a young Anthony Michael Hall as Clark and Ellen’s son Rusty, and Randy Quaid as the white-trash cousin Eddie. And of course,… Read more »

jeffthewildman
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Here are 10 that should have stopped after the first movie:
1: Halloween
2: Jaws
3: The Crow
4: Highlander
5: Friday
6: Scream
7: Nightmare On Elm Street
8: Madagascar
9: The Exorcist
10: Scary Movie
10 that should have ended at 2
1: Alien
2: The Godfather
3: The Terminator
4: Manhunter/Silence Of The Lambs
5: Spider-man
6: Superman
7: Shrek
8: Rocky (although technically it’s the original and Rocky Balboa)
9: The Karate Kid
10: Die Hard (although technically it’s the original and With A Vengeance)

RB
RB
10 years ago

Chevy Chase nailed physical comedy in so many more ways than just pratfalls. The person who he reminds me of with his physical presence, oddly enough is legendary clown Lucille Ball. Yeah, I don’t expect anyone to agree with this comparision.
It’s something to do with the way they nailed it, in terms of facial expressions, speech patterns, gestures, reactions to other actors, and whatever the whole mysterious package is that makes a great physical comedy player. It’s that indefinable something that makes them comedy gold. Maybe it’s partly a talent for improv. I will never know!

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Unearthing the Complete and Total Disaster That Was ‘The Chevy Chase Show’: http://splitsider.com/2013/04/unearthing-the-complete-and-total-disaster-that-was-the-chevy-chase-show/ That fateful minute of time also showed just how not hip Chevy Chase had become by 1993. At that moment, everybody collectively realized that somebody messed up and let Ty Webb become a month away from turning 50 years old. Unlike David Letterman, who we were used to seeing age one day at a time, and Jay Leno, who had appeared on Letterman’s Late Night show and guest hosted Carson enough throughout the 80s and early 90s to where he also aged in front of the country,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

20 years ago yesterday (October 15, 1993): Fox canceled “The Chevy Chase Show”:
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2013/10/15/chevy-chase-show-made-tv-history-today/
Chase’s talk show was one of TV’s biggest-ever disasters.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Lights Out: Looking Back On Some Of Late Night’s Short-Lived Contenders http://uproxx.com/tv/late-night-short-lived-contenders-hosts-failed-shows/ The Chevy Chase Show Length Of Run: Five weeks (1993) The Show: All the way back to his breakout on Saturday Night Live in the mid-1970s, the wry inaugural Weekend Update anchor had been considered a possible successor to Carson; even as his film career blossomed, he remained a favorite on the couch. (And not just for Johnny; he was the first guest on The Pat Sajak Show.) When Carson left Tonight, Fox saw an opportunity to take another crack at late night, its first since the Late… Read more »

Stoich
10 years ago

You should narrate your WTHH articles in video format on youtube. I’d see them (if I hadn’t already read them).

stoilstoichev
stoilstoichev
10 years ago

I’m real serious when I say this. Turning WTHH into a youtube series and/or a podcast will increase its visibility a great deal. Maybe work with somebody if you don’t have time to make it happen yourself. There’s a lot of stuff like this on youtube already and most of it isn’t written anywhere near as good as your stuff.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

It’s been well over a year since the idea was brought up by Stoich, but I think it’s worth bringing up again, Lebeau you should consider doing WTTH as a Youtube program.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

That is exciting news. If it happens I wish you the best of luck and success with it, Lebeau. I know I’ll be watching from the start.

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I understand you’re still kicking around the ideas for this before moving forward. As just an outsider and fan of your blog, I think it’s a natural progression of WTTH. In my minds’ eye I can see it really clicking. All I can say is, keep your voice that you have of lighthearted snark, and you’ll do fine. Just out of curiosity, when thinking about a possible Youtube channel do you have any thoughts yet on who your first topic would be? I think the most obvious subject would be, of course, Val Kilmer. He is in your profile pic,… Read more »

RB
RB
10 years ago

I agree totally you’d have the talent and ability to take this on to a YT channel. YT is great for so many things. The comments sections don’t flow as well as they do for a written blog though.

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