(Credits: Far Out / Chevy Chase)
Sun 4 January 2026 19:45, UK
The first rule of comedy is to make it look easy. There’s a reason everyone thinks they could be a comedian, and it’s because the best in the business make getting laughs look effortless.
Saturday Night Live has been running for over 50 years now, and week upon week, a group of some of the best comics in the US get together, put on a 90-minute sketch show, and make the whole thing look pretty simple. The fact remains that the build-up to these gigs is one of the most stressful weeks any writer or actor can endure, as they consist of late nights, persistent rejection and half-arsed skits failing to get a laugh.
As such, the whole team behind Saturday Night Live tends to look out for one another. Even once cast members leave the show, they stay in touch with their former partners as the bonds formed over years of working on one of the most prestigious, adrenaline-inducing inducing and blood-curdling comedy programs in the world aren’t easily broken.
While the general feel on such a program is pretty positive, there are a few cast members who fail to capture the heart of the team spirit, which is so essential on such a program. For the most part, it’s the special guests who manage to rub the regulars the wrong way. These people are usually prestigious actors or musicians, and given that they’re pretty far removed from the comedy scene, they don’t understand the best way to act in order to make the creative environment as positive as it can be.
However, occasionally, some of the regular cast members can also start to grate on the team. While this doesn’t happen too often, there are instances where, due to inflated ego, personal issues, or just being bad-mannered, all can contribute to making a comedy giant pretty difficult to work with. In the case of Chevy Chase, all three of these factors led to him being recognised as a difficult comedian to spend time with, and as various accounts from people who have worked with him continue coming out, this reputation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
In a recent documentary called I’m Chevy Chase, the funny man’s legacy is brought into the spotlight, and with that, the controversies that follow him around are put under a microscope and given more context than ever before. You begin to understand the monumental rise to fame that Chase went through as he was cemented as one of America’s most beloved comedians.
In addition to the highs, the documentary also brings forward the lows, as it sheds light on the claims that Chase is a confrontational person and has been the voice behind a number of highly distasteful comments. It has brought up a number of disputes once again, as Chase, his family and his co-workers all seem to recollect these moments differently. We likely won’t ever have a full picture of what went down behind the scenes with these Hollywood hotshots, but the song remains the same: Chase can be difficult.
Pete Davidson has never been shy in making his opinions on different superstars known, regardless of how big a name they might be. A great deal of his comedy revolves around discussing his personal life and the characters he meets, being one of the biggest names in modern comedy. When it came to discussing Chase, he added his voice to the choir of nay-sayers, revealing that he hated working with National Lampoon star.
“He’s a fucking douchebag,” said Davidson when he appeared on the Howard Stern Show, “Fuck Chevy Chase. I hate that dude. He’s just a genuinely bad, racist person, and I don’t like him. Fuck him. He’s a putz. I don’t like him.”
The comedy star continued, “What has he done since ’83? Like, nothing […] He had a really big career and then it stopped because everybody realized he’s a jerkoff… He should know more than anybody. It’s just like disrespectful to Lorne, too, a guy who gave you a career. No matter how big you get, you can’t forget like, what that guy did for you.”
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