I don’t really understand the purpose of the Washington Post’s Chevy Chase interview this week. He’s 74 years old and eager to work, so I guess the purpose is possibly “hey remember this guy, give him a job!” The problem is that Chevy Chase has spent the past four decades being an absolute monster to most of his coworkers. He’s persona non grata in Hollywood for a reason: because he’s mistreated so many people that now no one wants to work with him. I guess Chevy thinks he gets a do-over because he’s sober now, for the first time in years. The problem? He’s still a jackass. You can read the full WaPo piece here. Some highlights:
How Donald Glover claimed Chevy Chase said racist sh-t all the time: He doesn’t deny delivering the line — “I could have said it” — but he denies the interpretation. It was a joke. Chase had been a fan of Glover’s since they filmed the pilot in 2009. How could anybody think he was racist?
On the current incarnation of Saturday Night Live: “First of all, between you and me and a lamppost, jeez, I don’t want to put down Lorne or the cast, but I’ll just say, maybe off the record, I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low. I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f—— believe it.”
How SNL is still immensely popular: “That means a whole generation of sh-theads laughs at the worst f—— humor in the world. You know what I mean? How could you dare give that generation worse sh-t than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts.”
When was SNL last funny? “I’d have to say, that after the first two years, it went downhill. Why am I saying that? Because I was in it? I guess. That’s a horrible thing to say. But certainly I never had more fun. I really loved it and enjoyed it. I didn’t see the same fun thing happening to the cast the next year.”
But what about Will Ferrell doing George W. Bush? “Just not funny. Makes $25 million a picture.”
Tina Fey? “I liked Tina. I didn’t see what all the folderol was about. She was good.”
How about Kristen Wiig? “I liked her a lot. She had two things going for her. She had clear-cut chops, and she was pretty, too. But what happened to her? Where did she go?”
Eddie Murphy? “I thought Eddie Murphy was funny. Gumby. I found that funny and people loved that. . . . Stevie Wonder, he did well. [Pause.] It’s not that hard, for Christ’s sake. Your skin’s the same color. You just put on some sunglasses and do this.”
After Chevy’s hot-takes on SNL, the rest of the piece is just his history, how he’s misunderstood, how people mistreated him too, and all of that. I just feel like… do we really need any of this? He was fired from Community for good reason – a series of racist incidents, not “just one comment,” or one misunderstood joke. The man is a racist, and it’s like he can’t f–king help himself: “Stevie Wonder, he did well. It’s not that hard, for Christ’s sake. Your skin’s the same color.” Says the man who did the worst Gerald Ford impression ever, but it’s cool because they were both white guys and it’s not that hard, right? Basically, Chevy Chase is still racist and still a massive douchebag and please don’t hire him.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Horrible.
I hate Chevy Chase.
I do agree with him that Will Ferrell isn’t that funny, but at least he’s a good person!
He’s like a racist old uncle you wish your mom would stop inviting to Thanksgiving.
No Chase, you are still not forgiven for what you did to Community. So sit down and shut up.
can someone fill me in on the backstory here? I actually had no idea he was off the map. what did he do on community?
i figured he was just retired. seems like he ought to have stayed off the map because dissing everyone around is not going to win friends and influence anyone.
The best way to fill in the blanks about Chevy & Community is to get the first 3 seasons (mostly season 1 and ESPECIALLY 2) on DVD and listen to the audio commentary. Chevy is extremely jealous that Joel is the star, he tries to incite drama (asking everyone who they think is a better actress/ who is prettier between Gillian and Allison) and really butt heads w/ Dan Harmon. He’s just old and out of touch and didn’t get the humor on the show and made everyone’s lives difficult.
He would constantly say the “N” word around the black actors on the show and wouldn’t stop. Donald Glover said it didn’t bother him, but Yvette Nicole was really really unhappy with him being on the show.
WOW…DID…HE….REALLY…SAY…THAT…ABOUT…EDDIE…MURPHY…AS…STEVIE WONDER??!?!
I just….
I just…WOW!!!! WOOOWEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m…speechless!!!
P.s. Why do racist people always say “how can anyone think I’m racist?!” As if we don’t know! The moment I hear a white person utter that BS line, I know exactly that they are!
A lot of them really think they are not racist. The are so convinced of their own superiority, they do not even realize that they are absolutely racists.
That is absolutely no excuse, it only shows their stupidity.
And how the system is rigged in favor of stupid, racist, sexist men how support each other.
If you told someone like him what was said is racist, they will respond with “How is that racist? It’s true! Just look, they are the same color! I mean is that a lie? All he said was they have the same skin color, which is correct, he didn’t say anything BAD about the skin color.” It’s like trying to speak to a wall. 😑
Yes, he did. Racist white men say racist things.
Hhhhhmmmm. Racist people say racist things.
But Lala11_7 (is that a different screen name?), he’s not racist! Thinking all black people look alike isn’t racist, either, and his using the N word was clearly intended as a joke because he’s so not racist. /s
I mean, FFS. How does one get to that point in life as that racist and not have an iota of self awareness about it? Criminy, at least own up to it.
Yeah, I had to read it twice to absorb the fact that he really did say and mean that. Uh, yeah, he did, and he did. Unbelievable. Can’t believe the Post printed something so offensive.
the light of day is the best disinfectant. seems like the Post gave him the rope and he is hanging himself publicly. just in case anyone forgot…! Im still a massive jerk!
Coming from the person who was the least funniest when he was on SNL.
Donald Glover was right when he said that he was desperate to hang on to any relevancy.
I always find that people don’t consider the fact that humor can change significantly between generations. Will Ferrell worked for Millenials because there was an absurdity to his portrayals, and hyperbolic absurdity is very appealing to the Millenial sensibility. Just look at how offbeat Internet humor is – Gen Z is giving us a run for our money in that department. If anything, I think if you compare comedy now to what existed in the 90s, a lot of it has gotten smarter because the genre has gotten more traction.
But Chevy Chase is just a racist jackass, so I’m not surprised he doesn’t get any of it.
So true. For the record this gen xer loves millenial humour!
Bill Murray replaced CC on SNL. Pretty clear who was the better performer and certainly the better film actor. Chevy seems full of himself.
Oh dear. Poor Chevy climbed out from under the rock he’s been hiding under to trash every SNL episode post-1976, make racist comments about Eddie Murphy, and to wonder where Oscar nominated Kristen Wiig went. Time to go back to his hidey-hole!
SNL does suck for the most part, and it has for a while, save for a few funny skits here and there. So he’s not wrong there, but a broken clock is right twice a day and even racist old white men can be right about some things.
I pretty much only watch the best sketches on YouTube, so from my perspective, SNL is always the funniest it has ever been. It’s the highlight reel and it is amazing. Plus I think the actors have generally gotten better, so even when the sketches fall flat they’re better.
As a person who has watched SNL from the beginning when I was just a kid, it’s always been a show where only some of the sketches were good. It’s made for Youtube, then you can miss the crap. In the early days it was kind of funny when a skit bombed, but now we have all seen that too many times the humor is gone.
When I re-watch Chevy’s SNL skits I thought funny, I can see they aren’t funny. The first two years of SNL were hilarious because no one had ever done something so irreverent. Then Chevy left for Hollywood, and SNL recovered. I don’t watch it now.
As you say, Chevy is the problem. Yikes, what an awful person.
His Gerry Ford impression was the worst. He’s criticizing will Farrell’s GWB portrayal for some reason, jealous of how hilarious and spot on it was
Bingo. The first few seasons of SNL is critically applauded partially cause it was different, but still some of the skits bombed big time. Even when it bombed it was funny in a weird way too, cause it was kind of new to show that on tv too. Other than a few years here and there they’ve always had some amazing comedians who really could bring it though.
Now Chevy really was a comedian for a time period. I never thought he was very funny, but he was kind of goofy funny. He became a big movie star in the day, and then he was just gone. Which was weird for guys, but I just thought he got old. Still maybe he was just such a d()*)* as he seems now. I heard about the Community thing, but up until then I didn’t really hear anything about his acting demise, still it was pre social media so maybe it didn’t get the coverage it gets now. Not sure what is better. Weren’t we all just better not knowing about Chevy and not having him around. If this is the case the Hollywood community just quietly kicked him out for decades, and the public didn’t have to hear his stupid racist crap. Good for them. Too bad Community crew were too young to know better.
It’s funny (pun intended) that he bashes Will Ferrell. I think they played essentially the same characters (pompus asses or clueless people – Vacation Anchorman anyone?).
CC just please stop talking.
Welp, Chevy just torpedoed his “comeback” all by himself.
I have to admit I enjoyed his Vacation movies back in the day. I had no idea he was such an asshole
I love the Christmas vacation movie. His character was an asshole in those movies too really, in every movie he hits on other women, even though he’s on family vacation with his family,
My family and I watch Christmas Vacation every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. Even if he is a racist douche I still will always love that movie.
there’s a huge space between being a bit of a an ass and saying racist things so his character was relatable in those films-but in the remake with Christina applegate-he was in very little of it but was funny IMO. but many in Hollywood are funny and manage to not be awful to work with. BTW the actress who played his wife in the vacation movies has had SOOO much work done it was distracting
Time to just go away.
He DID go away. Who the hell invited him back?
I read the whole interview, he sounds incredibly bitter and out of touch.
So did I, plus a couple minutes of the writer’s interview with him. I ended up with no sympathy for him.
He actually asked Lorne for a gig as his own daughter was literally ready to walk down the aisle. “Hold on dear, Daddy has to network before he can escort you to the altar!”
I read the entire interview last night too. He’s a mess and has zero accountability. I did feel for him regarding his childhood. Also also have sympathy for his wife and daughters.
I did feel badly for his childhood and the black eye photo. One Post commenter said they also had a bad childhood and had to learn to adjust. I’m not sure Chevy has ever done that, though he had significant resources throughout his life to get help.
I realize terrible events stick with people forever, but that doesn’t give him license to be cruel to others. He should be thankful for his wife and children’s loyalty.
@Christin I absolutely agree that he doesn’t have license to be cruel. He definitely had the resources in adulthood to deal with the issues.
I felt like my earlier comment might have been too harsh, and I agreed with your comment. I don’t think I conveyed that very well.
Those childhood references were sad (especially the black eye one). He has a very supportive wife and daughters, that is for certain.
No I think you’re spot-on, Christin. I do think that it depends on the person’s ability to cope and rise above the dysfunction that comes with a terrible childhood–some can overcome and others cannot. I think a myriad of factors contribute to their ability/inability to transcend, including and certainly not limited to genetic predisposition (are they positive or negative people, etc) and their support system. It’s a very individualized thing.
But it’s possible to feel both sympathy and disgust for someone–they are not mutually exclusive sentiments.
Same on the bitterness. It was hard to look at how self-destructive and miserable he is; that said, he seems to have made a good go as a dad and not repeated the disaster of his own childhood.
Geez. People are complicated, aren’t they.
I ran across the article and ended up watching a couple of minutes of the interview video. I think the writer contacted Chevy after some other kerfuffle a couple of years ago, and somehow it led to this needless interview. There were several references to his childhood and abuse from his mother.
Commenters were calling out how the article simply confirms everything that’s already been said about him. And why he (at 74) isn’t getting work offers, when several of his contemporaries (Martin, Murray, etc.) have succeeded at reinventing and staying relevant.
He’s right
He is! I’m not here for the racist sh-t, but his take on SNL was pretty dead-on. It hasn’t been funny in my lifetime. There have been some funny people on it and a few funny moments, but the show itself sucks. Tina Fey’s funny, Kristen Wiig is funny, Eddie Murphy is funny, Will Ferrell is not. Yup, sounds right to me.
But also, obviously, comedy is objective. Which is to say, I object to most of it. Hey-Oh!
Aw I think Will Ferrell is funny! 🙁
I do agree that SNL hasn’t been great in quite sometime. That being said, some segments are really clever. I have a DVD that’s a compilation of all their parodies of commercials going back to the 70s and some of them are so still so hilarious. But yes, overall I agree with you.
It’s not really relevant anymore because it isn’t as daring as it should be. It had its moments, though. The Bush v.s. Gore debate skit (LOCKBOX) is still legitimately funny to me years later.
I think SNL was best in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The late 80’s had that dream cast of Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn, etc that were SOOOOO good together. The 90’s had the Wayne’s World era with Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, which then slowly brought in Chris Farley and Adam Sandler (back when he was still kinda funny). Those were the days…
Phil Hartman’s death still hurts after all these years.
Agreed.
Agreed. He left a very large hole in comedy that will never be filled.
I am right there with you!
Chris Farley’s Chippendales audition sketch is hilarious. “Living in a van down by the river” is another classic. I watched a documentary about Farley’s life and early death and you could see how crushed his cast mates were, years later.
Chase is self sabotaging. After discussing his blowup with Glover about racism, Chase mentioned meeting Glover backstage at the Emmys. “He turned so white,” he said of Glover. He just got through explaining how he’s not racist but he just has to bring up skin colour again.
Yupp until Tina Fey came around and ruined it for us not so serious folks. I can’t stand the likes of Tina Fey. As much as I harbor a lot of resentment towards Amy Schumer for being an unoriginal hack, at least she can be funny. Tina Fey may need to steal more jokes or just go away finally. K Wiig …I hate even having to type her name. She’s just as gross and never made me laugh.
I have a friend who’s a director of short films (he won an Oscar in 2011!!) and he worked with him once, it was him – and Matt LeBlanc. He told me Matt was incredibly nice and had him over to his home, he said Chevy Chase was an asshole. I was really shocked, but believed him, and this sounds exactly like the Chevy he described. Ugh.
I mean..it’s hard to give the guy the benefit of the doubt when literally EVERYONE who has worked with him says the same thing: he’s an ahole.
On L&O CC played a Mel Gibson like anti-Semite. Dream casting?
‘what’s so tough about the impression, you have the same skin tone-just put on some glasses-‘
does he think that about white cast members who do impressions of white people?
nope.
it’s scary when people defend themselves saying they’re not racist then turn right around and say something racist.
He’s so incredibly blatant about it, too. Course, he might just be clueless by now.
That comment….just gross. But again, he’s been called racist too many times for this to come as a surprise.
Let’s not forget, in the SNL years, Chevy’s main goal was to have his name repeated. He and Belushi were awful to female writers.
He used to be one of the funniest people, and I thoroughly enjoyed some of his movies, but as soon as I saw that there was an interview with him I just felt in my gut it was going to be bad. I had no idea about any of his “problematic” (racist, sexist, classist) behavior, but I still knew it was going to be bad. He is such a complete and utter tool. I have no doubt he’ll have a new movie soon, because that’s how crap works around here. Sigh.
But Fletch and Fletch Lives 4 lyfe.
“I don’t want to put down Lorne or the cast”….proceeds to do that anyway….
And what happened to Kristen Wiig? Shes gonna be in a Wonder Woman movie for chrissake. Where did you go Chevy?
Chevy has learned absolutely nothing over the years. He can’t find a job because he spent his entire professional life making everyone around him miserable, and brings so little to the table. Here he is doing this interview to remind people that he is ready to work, and yet still can’t his what an a-hole he is.
Total wanker. Clueless POS.
Wow, I had no idea he was so awful. I used to love his movies as a kid.
That said, I haven’t thought SNL was funny for decades (excepting Tina Fey and Kate McKinnon). It used to be awesome, but not for a long while, imo.
Still an insufferable, smug asshole
Hes definitely a racist a-hole but he’s right about snl being awful now and it’s painfully clear why after watching the Emmys. When your head writers are Jost and Che the show doesn’t really stand a chance.
He’s a vile person.
My jaw dropped at the Eddie Murphy comment. Can not believe he said that. How stupid can you be????? Please go away again. Idiot.
I read the entire article and it’s sad what a jerk he is. I love so many of his early movies. Community WAS his chance to “come back” and keep working, but he screwed it up. So…enjoy retirement.
I know his real name is not Chevy but I never understood why he shares the same name as a town in Maryland!!
If you want to know more about Chevy’s history of being a huge jerk, just read this:
http://gawker.com/5899097/hes-not-chevy-hes-an-asshole-a-history-of-chevy-chases-horrific-behavior
Chase doesn’t seem to grasp that he’s so disliked because over and over again through the decades he has always come across as an unpleasant and insecure man.
As SNL’s first breakout performer the stuff about Murphy reeks of jealousy in that someone became a more beloved and bigger star from a lesser era of the show than he ever managed to be during his years as a bankable leading man.
He’s such a miserable SOB, just wallowing in his insecurity, shame and irrelevance.
Chase was SNL’s first breakout star and acted like a huge diva, his cast mates all hated him. It’s amazing that he complains about being seen as racist and still says the most racist shizz. You are permanently canceled old man.
Where’s Kristin Wiig? Doing movies and getting paid. Where’s Chevy? Not doing movies and not getting paid. Because he doesn’t have chops and he’s not pretty. A-hole.
Useless, untalented, jealous, racist, old bitter hag!
There was a c.c. roast some years ago.
A lot of people he worked with never showed up, and some of the people roasting him didn’t even really know him.
And they let him have it.