‘I expected that I would’ve been on the stage’<\/p>\n
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Published Dec 25, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 17\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 3 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n Chevy Chase is not happy he was excluded from a TV special that celebrated Saturday Night Live\u2019s 50th anniversary earlier this year.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Chase, who was one of the original stars of SNL when it debuted on Oct. 11, 1975, didn\u2019t appear on the stage or in any of the sketches during NBC\u2019s SNL50: The Anniversary Special back in February.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n In the forthcoming documentary I\u2019m Chevy Chase and You\u2019re Not, which premieres on CNN on Jan. 1, Chase says he was miffed that producer Lorne Michaels didn\u2019t include him in the broadcast.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it was kind of upsetting actually,\u201d he says, according to Deadline<\/a> and PEOPLE<\/a>. \u201cThis is probably the first time I\u2019m saying it. But I expected that I would\u2019ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When Garrett (Morris) and Laraine (Newman) went on the stage there, I was curious as to why I didn\u2019t. No one asked me to. Why was I left aside?\u201d<\/p>\n Your Midday Sun<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Chase, who was the first SNL Weekend Update host during in show\u2019s inaugural season, wondered aloud why he didn\u2019t have a chance to cameo during that segment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was Bill Murray there and why was I not? I don\u2019t have an answer for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Chase, who was in the audience during the taping, says in the documentary that he brought up how hurt he was in a text to Michaels, \u201cand then took it back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Okay, I take it back, silly.\u2019 But it\u2019s not that silly. Somebody\u2019s made a bad mistake there. I don\u2019t know who it was, but somebody made a mistake. They should\u2019ve had me on that stage. It hurt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Chase\u2019s wife, Jayni, says that up until the day of the show, her husband was under the impression that he might appear in \u201ctwo bits.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cThey were going back and forth,\u201d she says in the documentary. \u201cAnd then, all of the sudden, \u2018No, there\u2019s no bit.’\u201d<\/p>\n According to PEOPLE<\/a>, Michaels said \u201cthere were a couple versions of (Weekend Update),\u201d but that there were also concerns that Chase \u201cwasn\u2019t as focused.\u201d<\/p>\n SNL alum Martin Short also defended producers from excluding Chase by saying, there were \u201ctoo many people\u201d to include everyone.<\/p>\n Directed by two-time Primetime Emmy Award winner Marina Zenovich, I\u2019m Chevy Chase and You\u2019re Not explores \u201cthe complexities and challenges\u201d that have shaped the actor\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always loved a challenge, and Chevy certainly offered one. I wanted to understand the real person behind the guarded, conflicted man we\u2019ve often seen on camera,\u201d Zenovich says.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Chase\u2019s controversies<\/p>\n Despite being one of Hollywood\u2019s most well-known comedians who went on to star in a string of box office hits in the \u201980s like National Lampoon\u2019s Vacation franchise, Fletch, Spies Like Us and Three Amigos, Chase also has a reputation for being an actor who is not easy to get along with.<\/p>\n \u201cBilly Murray and I came to fisticuffs, but we never really ended up hitting each other,\u201d Chase said in a 2010 interview with\u00a0Esquire<\/a>. \u201cWe tried, but (John) Belushi got in the middle and we both ended up hitting John. And if anybody deserved to be slapped in the forehead, it was John, for instigating it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Chase was fired from NBC\u2019s Community in 2012 by creator Dan Harmon for reportedly using a racial slur on set aimed at co-star Donald Glover.<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cI just saw Chevy as fighting time \u2014 a true artist has to be OK with his reign being over. I can\u2019t help him if he\u2019s thrashing in the water,\u201d Glover told the New Yorker<\/a> of the incident.<\/p>\n In 2018, the Emmy winner took a swipe at SNL in an interview with the Washington Post<\/a>, saying the late-night program delivered \u201cthe worst f***ing humour in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn\u2019t f***ing believe it,\u201d Chase said. \u201cHow could you dare give that generation worse s*** than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n When Jason Reitman made a movie about the frenzied debut episode of SNL back in the fall of 1975, he said that Chase lambasted the finished product.<\/p>\n \u201cChevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with Jayni and they watch the film, and he\u2019s in the group, and he comes up to me after and he pats me on the shoulder and goes, \u2018Well, you should be embarrassed,\u2019\u201d Reitman said during an appearance last December on David Spade and Dana Carvey\u2019s\u00a0Fly on the Wall<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n I\u2019m Chevy Chase and You\u2019re Not airs on Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. on CNN.<\/p>\n![\"Chevy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/gettyimages-95613804_300499932.jpg\")
Chevy Chase arrives at the People’s Choice Awards on Jan. 6, 2010 in Los Angeles. Photo by Frazer Harrison \/Getty Images North AmericaArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/20.2.3\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-tsun.svg\"){kind=logo}
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