(Credits: Far Out / Chevy Chase)
Sat 15 November 2025 20:15, UK
Chevy Chase can be a prickly customer. For legal reasons, that’s as far as I’ll go with that.
For all the incredibly funny movies and TV shows he’s given over the years, he’s also provided more than his fair share of backstage fights, ill-tempered rants, and stories where he generally doesn’t come off looking great. Again, for legal reasons, I won’t use any stronger language than that.
Acting alongside the volatile funnyman is pretty bad, so imagine how much grief he’s given directors over the years. While making Memoirs of an Invisible Man, John Carpenter got so fed up with Chase that he contemplated quitting Hollywood altogether. Chris Columbus was originally going to direct National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but hated Chase so much that he left to make Home Alone instead. I’m sure he was devastated.
As it turns out, a director doesn’t even need to work directly with Chase to feel his wrath. Just ask Jason Reitman. The son of the great Ivan Reitman, who was originally going to make Memoirs of an Invisible Man before, you guessed it, he and Chase fell out, made a movie in 2024 called Saturday Night. It chronicled the chaotic build-up to the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. As he was a part of that episode, Chase was invited to watch the movie by Reitman. He quickly wished he hadn’t bothered.
“Chevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with [wife] Jayni and they watch the film,” Reitman recalled to David Spade and Dana Carvey on their podcast Fly on the Wall (via Deadline). “He comes up to me after and he pats me on the shoulder and goes, ‘Well, you should be embarrassed.’”
The former Community star probably wasn’t best pleased with how Reitman chose to portray him. As depicted by Cory Michael Smith – who looks and sounds so much like a young Chase, it’s actually scary – he routinely puts down other cast members, belittles women, and gets humiliated by TV host Milton Berle and his giant penis. The story does go out of its way to show Chase in his element, taking over the ‘Weekend Update’ segment and short notice and knocking it out of the park, but you just know he would have only focused on the bad stuff.
It can’t be nice to see yourself being such an asshole on screen, but to give Reitman some credit, he was only telling the truth. Chase terrorised the set of SNL during his two seasons on the show. He and John Belushi routinely butted heads while working together, leading to many uncomfortable moments. And then there’s the stuff he did as host. His legendary fist fight with Bill Murray happened after he’d already left the show! This incident reportedly led to him being banned from the series, although he has made numerous appearances since then.
There’s an old adage when it comes to art – “You can’t please everyone”.
That is doubly true when it comes to Chevy Chase, and quadruply true when you make a film exposing how big a prick he can be. Reitman probably didn’t lose any sleep over this remark.
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