Chevy Chase Slams Current Day ‘SNL,’ Gets Brutally Honest Talking About Will Ferrell, Tina Fey & More

What a dick.

Well, he is right about Will Ferrell

He IS right. But it does no good to compare what WE had in the 1970s. THAT was GREAT.

I imagine that he is more right than wrong, but it was a bitch move to go public with his opinions,

Wonder where he would be without Lorne & Co.?

Keep it up Chevy.

Does he have a fortune?

When was the last time Chevy was funny? 1983?

In just 7 years SNL will be 50 years old.

But it looks 35.

Chevy's opinion about Farrell is accurate but Chevy is still an idiot.

I’m surprised he said nice things about women, honestly.

He was great in Community, he played an asshole. Perfect cast

R10 here. Should be Ferrell.

He's right. SNL has been unwatchable for years. Decades even. I'm surprised it's even still on the air.

Who?

Chevy is an unfunny asshole, but he's pretty spot-on here.

[quote]“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...That means a whole generation of shitheads 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.”

What the fuck does this even mean?

[quote]On 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?”

Has he seriously never heard of "Bridesmaids" and Ghostbusters"?

Can't wait for National Lampoon's Geriatric Vacation

SNL is just trash playing to the lowest. It hasn't been funny since I was in middle school in the late 80's and the only reason it was funny then is I was a sheltered kid who grew up thinking life was sports, family and church. SNL expanded my horizons then. .. Now it just plays to the bottom feeders.

He must have watched the Emmys and had to suffer through all the SNL cast memebers

I love the olds going on endless about comedy treasures such as Land Shark or King Tut. Please get the fuck out of here with holding up that lowbrow shit like it's priceless pop culture artifacts.

He's right about Kristen Wiig too. Completely eclipsed by Kate McKinnon. BRIDESMAIDS was made in 2011,and the female GHOSTBUSTERS was a gigantic flop. Obviously no mention of Bill Murray, since they loathe each other.

My local library had a display of Burt Reynolds movies last week and I picked up this DVD called THE LAST MOVIE STAR just for grins. It was a very thinly disguised version of Burt Reynolds' life, starring himself, and was surprisingly kind of touching. Chevy Chase is in it for about five minutes.

Haven’t watching SNL maybe the couple of years now save from checking out some clips in YouTube. But in fairness it still do crazy ratings.

He's right, EXCEPT he was never that funny, either. I think he THOUGHT he was super funny.

He is right but i wasn't fond of his "Class" of SNL graduates. I am more of the Sheri Oteri, Nora Dunn, Will Ferrell, Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman clan.

Chevy is an awful person who made homophobic comments about Terry Swenney and IIRC, he hit Cheri Oteri in the back in the head at SNL in the 90s.

r22 the difference in the old shows was there was more variety. What Chase is saying is that even the traditionally higher-brow parts of the show are now all pandering to the lowest common denominator. The range from A Whitney Brown to Chris Farley isn't there anymore.

I think he's really taking a shot at the writers, but he won't do it directly because he knows they'll come after him. His ego is probably fragile, but huge.

Good looking or once good looking comedians turn out to be the nastiest and most damaged of all comedians (and that is saying a whole lot), especially when they get old and unpopular. Joel McHale is a perfect example... no amount of plastic surgery, hair plugs and working out/steroids is going to help him now. Everything ends and pretty boy comedians are the bitterest bitches about it. Chevy is the king of this (and nothing else). Dane Cook is next on the list.

Chase has always been a known asshole, and that's certainly not going to change at his age. He's spot on about Will Ferrell, though—especially Ferrell's famed Bush impression. Jon Stewart had it right when he said Bush wasn't stupid, he just talked like he was talking to someone who's stupid. Ferrell's impression was fundamentally unfunny because he never understood that. He just played Bush as a straight-up imbecile.

In a way, SNL is a generational show.

Every generation thinks their SNL casts were the funniest.

Chevy was in some good movies in the 1970s but he was always the weakest link as far as acting went. The 1980s were kinder to him because broader characters like Fletch and the Griswold dad suited him better.

OLD SNL is little different than NEW SNL. I agree with the above. None of that old shit is watchable nowadays.

What I say is SNL has always been fluffy disposable crap about the current zeitgeist. Its not meant to be classic comedy or comedy gold or anything more than skits based on whats happening now. The end. Thats why I still like it! low expectations.

[quote]In just 7 years SNL will be 50 years old.

Oh God...I wish you hadn't said that.

I remember watching the first broadcast and talking about it with friends the next day.

I've only watched one Chase move that made me laugh - it was one of the Vacation's movies.

He has one schtick and it hasn't worked in years.

What a miserable prick.

Chevy Chase is one of the biggest, most opinionated assholes on the planet and thinks very highly of himself. This confrontation with Stephen Bochco (starts at the 16:30 minute mark) says it all about him.

Couldn't stand him, but I loved Seems Like Old Times.

Sorry, R36, but Chase comes across as ten times more respectable than Bochco in that clip. Bochco seems like the typical money-obsessed Hollywood jerkoff and he insults Chase personally while constantly patting himself on the back, whereas Chase presents a respectable point and is continually insulted ("there's the door, pal!"). Bochco is a douche and Chase is an asshole but there's a clear winner in this clip, plus Chase even offers an apology for their argument (which Bochco clearly would never, ever do). And, just to add, Bochco is the most disgusting case of nepotistic preference ever with his continued use of the homely and untalented ex-Mrs. Bochco (including her horrendous work on COP ROCK).

Since this is DL, I'll also add that es-Mrs. Bochco's most illustrious screen credit is no less than Lucy's MAME. Says it all. What an eternally horrible actress.

Chevy Chase IS WRONG. And a major tool. As r31 said: “Every generation thinks their SNL casts were the funniest.”

Shut up Old Man!

Agreed he's wrong now and comes across as a horribly entitled asshole, R40, but in the POLITICALLY INCORRECT clip above he is the winner of the argument. No question. Takes a lot to out-douche Chevy.

Isn’t it against the law to not adore and celebrate the brilliant Tina Fey???

we all wanted to suck his dick in Vacation

And he’s wrong about Kristen Wiig too. Ms. Wiig is the next WONDER WOMAN vilian!!! WW 2 will make hundreads of millions of dollars worldwide. Kristen Wiig has eclipsed SNL by a factor of a billion.

Bitches man.

People on here treat SNL the same way they treat DL. It was always so much better at some point in the past. It has some how lost it's past glory by making changes. Here is the deal about SNL. It was uneven in the 70s and it's uneven now. The only difference between now and then is that you are now 40 years older.

Why is he talking about cast members who haven't been on the show in years as if they are current?

I guess it's a generational thing....I've watched the old ones and find them slow and boring with he exception of Gilda Radner. I mean is "Jane, you ignorant slut" funny? Or how about a shark that knocks on your door ...yawn

Chevy Chase is a has been that won't just go away and retire in Florida

Chevy show us your Schweety Balls.

Lorne Michaels agrees with R31. He has said that when asked which SNL years were the best, everyone's answers align with the years that the person was a teenager.

Also, Kristen Wiig very deliberately ran away from her Bridesmaids success by following it up with indies and quirky small roles. Just check her credits. She has no interest in being a hugely famous movie star. If she wanted Will Farrell success, she would have made dozens of Bridesmaids knock offs.

Oh c'mon. When was the last time the show had a memorable original character that resonated with the public? Everyone watches now because of the political sketches, which star none of the actual cast members. The rest of the show itself has become amateurish and unmemorable.

And sorry, but If you put on a Phil Hartman era episode and put on one from today, you'll notice a HUGE decline in quality. From production to writing to delivery. It's bullshit that the quality hasn't declined. It has greatly. Lorne's been phoning it in for years.

“She has no interest in being a hugely famous movie star.”

Sure, Jan. The DC Comics superhero movie WONDER WOMAN 1984 should keep her flying under the radar. I’m sure no one will notice...

Chevy is a douche. Just die already.

[quote]On Will Ferrell and his George W. Bush impression on the show: “Just not funny.

This from a man whose Gerald Ford impression consisted solely of falling down.

The problem with SNL is the skits go on for too long. And that has been its problem for a long time, possibly even from the beginning. Skits are meant to be short and punchy. Don’t come in with the joke,get the laugh and then flog that joke over and over until everyone is sick of it. It’s like your uncle saying something amusing at Christmas lunch and then repeating it 17 more times during the day, long after everyone stopped laughing.

[quote]the female GHOSTBUSTERS was a gigantic flop.

Nope, sorry. It made $230 million worldwide with another $38 million in home video sales. Add in all the other PPV, On Demand, Premiere cable, basic cable, network and TV sales and it did just fine. Not as great as the original but it is definitely not in the flop category.

Chevy Chase is the most miserable self-important douche bag on the planet, and that is saying a lot. This is the man who had a talk show hyped for months - millions of dollars behind it and it failed so hard it was off the air in 6 weeks. There is no one more impressed with his own talent than Chevy Chase.

[quote]Why is he talking about cast members who haven't been on the show in years as if they are current?

Will Ferrell left SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. This is some serious “Old Man Yells at Cloud” shit.

Trying to get through a Chevy era episode is absolutely brutal. The female cast members were treated like garbage. Who wants to watch that?

Chevy Chase is a major douchebag, no argument here, and I agree that the original SNL's were not all gold. A lot of people now, though, don't realize how radically different it was from anything else on tv at the time It was exciting and energizing then, and it hasn't been that for decades now. As lame as Chevy is now, and even though he was never a major comic talent, he is pretty much spot-on with his assessment of the present scene. It's positively painful to sit through a whole show now.

Correct conclusion, Chevy. Wrong messenger.

R56 It far from did just fine. With the production budget and at least that again on marketing it will be lucky to generate any profit.

[quote]With a net production budget of $144 million. Due to the large amount spent on marketing, the studio stated that the film would need to gross at least $300 million to break even. Before the release, director Paul Feig stated "A movie like this has to at least get to like $500 million worldwide, and that’s probably low.

[quote]He's right, EXCEPT he was never that funny, either. I think he THOUGHT he was super funny.

He was probably high at the time.

You really have to read the complete article/interview at WaPo.

If you think Chase comes across as an asshole in the Just Jared synopsis, wait till you read the whole thing.

[quote]This from a man whose Gerald Ford impression consisted solely of falling down.

Gerald Ford's presidency consisted solely of falling down.

R56, you need to take into, consideration the revenue split with theaters. The $230 million reported is total revenue. The portion that goes to the production company is 40 to 50% less than what's reported.

I agree that the sketches always ran too long, and still do.

It's like the Oscars- one hour of sparkling entertainment spread over four hours.

For a show with an army of comedy writers, comedians as writers, comic actors as writers - there are very few skits (zero) that are well-written and funny all the way through.

The actors have the cloying tendency to laugh at their own lines. Sometimes before they even say them. Jimmy Fallon was the absolute worst at trying to create a false moment where the material he were performing was so hilarious that he couldn't help but break up into forced and fake laughing, hoping the audience would take the bait.

SNL hasn't been funny in years. And I never found it to be all that way back when. I think humor pushes the boundaries over time and suddenly Jack Benny isn't funny anymore.

Phil Hartman, Bill Hader, Kristen, Fred Armisen, and Kate are the only truly "funny" ones that come to mind.

IMO, the funniest recent skits were Bern Your Enthusiasm, Girl's Halloween, Short Term Memory Theatre, and (the only one I think actually made me laugh out loud) Farewell Mr. Bunting. I think these skits have a bit of a plot.

... AND THAT'S why everybody hates Chevy Chase.

SNL has not been funny for decades. I would love to see the cast in a cruise boat that is on fire and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

[quote]we all wanted to suck his dick in Vacation

Fuck that “we” shit. He’s always been a self-important, greasy asswipe. And NOT funny.

After watching the video accompanying the Washington Post article I'm wondering if Chevy has some kind of degenerative condition... does anyone else see this? He has a strange blank expression and looks shaky and unwell.

He knows there’s a grease fire waiting for him at his demise R72, and it’s a rager.

Chevy is now and always has been a raging asshole but he's right that SNL is shit and has been for years, the only chance it has of ever being truly inventive and fresh again is when it's sour old Canadian puppet master is finally gone.

[quote]After watching the video accompanying the Washington Post article I'm wondering if Chevy has some kind of degenerative condition... does anyone else see this? He has a strange blank expression and looks shaky and unwell.

That was my impression from the video. Watching it made me think he wasn't playing with a full deck, and some of the comments about his daughter monitoring the conversation and generally being protective of him reinforced that idea.

[quote]Sorry, [R36], but Chase comes across as ten times more respectable than Bochco in that clip

No he doesn't. He comes across as a complete asshole, a negative norton with nothing worthwhile to contribute. Bochco comes across much better and more intelligent than Chase, and I love that he nailed Chase about his lousy movies (and by the time this aired, they were REALLY lousy).

Chevy's Girls

After all of the original cast left in 1980 the show should have been taken off the air.

SNL has always been wildly overrated. Even in its first couple of so-called "classic" seasons there was rarely more than one or two passable skits per show, and there was a heavy reliance on painfully unfunny drug humor. And yes, as someone said upthread, the women were treated like shit. There was a really nasty, ugly undercurrent than through the show, and which Chevy Chase personifies.

I always greatly preferred SCTV, which was far more inventive in exploring its wacky little world. Sometimes I still watch SCTV skits on YouTube. They have held up far better SNL.

Have you seen any SCTV skits lately? Have of them don't hold up now, either. And, with the exception of Andrea Martin, I like Jane, Gilda, and Lorraine better.

He's spot on about Will Ferrell. Like Adam Sandler, Ferrell should never be allowed to release another film.

Completely unfunny and over blown.

Even with the original cast Chevy Chase was NOT funny. When Bill Murray joined the cast it was a vast improvement.

Yes, I have, R80. And the ones I have watched have held up well. I always found Gilda Radner irritatingly cutesy and I will take Andrea Martin and especially the brilliant Catherine O'Hara over Radner and the other original cast SNL women any day of the week.

Just saw this in the comments section for the Washington Post interview:

[quote]As a nurse of 25 years, watching the Wapo clip of Chevy reveals a man who appears to have neurological changes going on. He may want to work, but he doesn't seem well. I don't think he deliberately spilled the water on his shirt. Watching this short video interview is sad. I hope his wife has a good gerontologist, neurologists at hand.

The approach changed when the cast members were no longer interested in producing comedy and more interested in getting movie deals.

Wasn't he pretty disliked on the Community set? It seems like his Community character did not involve too much acting. Having the same skin color comment was something that character would have said. He was also the least funny part of that show.

Wasn't he fired from Community?

He sounds like a bitter old man, a person whose career has passed him by because of his own vile behavior. A real Get Off My Lawn type!

He's always been a nasty piece of work. WHY should anyone be shocked by his latest vitriol. Sour grapes much?

Fuck him. He needs to fade into oblivion, exactly where he belongs.

Exactly what was so funny about Chevy's SNL schtick? Falling over on EVERY episode of SNL? That wasn't repetitious?! He has a huge set of balls commenting on any one of the SNL people being one note..

Eddie Murphy is a brilliant comedian, who the hell in this douchebag kidding!?

Eddie Murphy WAS a brilliant comedian. Has he done anything, since.... the 1990’s?

He lost his edge when he got all plump and monied.

If I remember correctly didn't Murphy get Stevie's speaking and singing style down pretty well. I remember he had a sing-off with the real Stevie in one of the skits. It wasn't simply because he was black.

[quote]Eddie Murphy WAS a brilliant comedian. Has he done anything, since.... the 1990’s? He lost his edge when he got all plump and monied.

Don't be so fucking technical. My point was, Chevy Chase never reached those comedic levels of most of the people he's putting down.

Chevy was one note, yet he has the audacity to complain about other comedic talents?! Even in his films he played the same types of buffoons he portrayed on SNL.

He has always been an asshole, but he was pretty sexy when he was young.

A few years back, a former cast member said that SNL he become like that Chinese restaurant on the corner, where it no longer matters if it’s good or bad. It’s just there. Reliable and does the job.

But now, I think it’s gone the next step. Now it has become the truly terrible restaurant that somehow manages to stay on air because no one wants to challenge the lease.

CC is a well known curmudgeon and basically an asshole. But with regards to SNL he's right. The show jumped the shark years ago. I am still shocked the Emmy's picked those two boring no talents from SNL to host the last awards show. They are about as funny as a toothache. It's like they picked two of the slow kids from high school who were held back 3 years to do a comedy act.

Glad to see Chevy is taking the Shut The Fuck Up Old Useless White Guy award this week.

“I just saw Chevy as fighting time,” Glover told the magazine. “A true artist has to be okay with his reign being over. I can’t help him if he’s thrashing in the water. But I know there’s a human in there somewhere.”

I wonder how Donald Glover will adjust when his “reign” is over? Haha He will be doing commercials like the rest of them.

Chase is bitter as hell but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some insight. Why didn’t Wiig move on to bigger things? She seems cold and bitchy in interviews.

100% right on Will Farrell and he was too kind about Tina Fey. She might as well write for Sesame Street. Did anyone see Good News? Sheesh.

[QUOTE]But with regards to SNL he's right. The show jumped the shark years ago.

Years ago? Chevy said it jumped the shark in the late 70’s after he left. So unless you think SNL was worthless through the 80’s and 90’s and 2000’s as well, he’s not right in the least.

I wonder what would've happened if the Lampoon had taken that offer to televise their schtick, they had the radio hour, the magazine, its a shame that SNL came along and snapped that up- Loved Doug Kenney!!

SNL was rarely if ever funny, save for the female cast members. It's like the sledgehammer of comedy.

The newer seasons aren’t that bad. Yeah, Trump helped them become more relevant but so did Clinton in ‘16 and Palin in ‘08. They have used politics for as long as I can remember.

I liked Mad TV growing up and didn’t get into SNL until Amy Pholer was on. I did and still do like to watch Norm Macdonalds Weekend Update.

Tina Fey as head writer is funny just to read. I always thought she was beyond overrated.

McKinnon is great. Maybe the best they have now. They still do some funny skits. Chase is the one thing you should avoid if can after getting sober —bitter.

He always comes off as being really, really bitter.

I appreciate the humor goldmine that is Trump, but the clips I've seen are of the hit-you-over-the-head with a sledge variety--no subtlety at all

Does anyone wonder what Trump would have been like at the hands of Phil Hartman? Or back in the day, Dan Aykroyd? To capture whatever nuance there is, instead of just bellowing

[quote]xactly what was so funny about Chevy's SNL schtick? Falling over on EVERY episode of SNL?

And he was portraying clumsy President Ford, so if he's bitching about the political skits, he's full of shit.

This is from Chevy's first movie, the hilarious "The Groove Tube" which many believe is Chevy.

Chevy is an asshole, everyone says it and I believe it.

I agree about Will Ferrero and detest Jimmy Fallon, but new SNL has given us Fey, Poehler, Wiig, and Kate McKellen

And those women are as good if not better than anyone in the original cast.

Was that supposed to be Chevy's lil' dick and balls?

[quote]And he was portraying clumsy President Ford, so if he's bitching about the political skits, he's full of shit.

Yes, I'm aware he was portraying Ford's clumsiness, but didn't he fall over in many other sketches? That became his schtick.

God I hate autocorrect with names.

But you all know who I meant.

[quote] I am still shocked the Emmy's picked those two boring no talents from SNL to host the last awards show.

Perhaps it had something to do with the Executive Producer?

This is why Chevy is one of the most loathed men in Hollywood, along with Eddie Murphy. He's the epitome of a douchebag. He's made some good comedies, like Foul Play, Christmas Vacation, and Funny Farm has its charms.

Don’t forget Cops and Robbersons with Jack Palance.

I watched the original cast as a teen and they were ok, but for me, must-see TV was SNL with Phil Hartman. Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey (Massive Headwond Harry still makes me laugh) and Tom Hanks’ many guest appearances (Mr Short Term Memory, Sabra Shopping Network, Mr Belvedere Fan Club)

[quote]There had been tension behind the scenes. Chase felt worn out, frustrated by Harmon’s lack of organization, which created long waits on the set and constant changes to the scripts. He had begun to dislike his character. [bold]Harmon didn’t appreciate the pushback. At the party, he led a shout of “f--- you, Chevy” to, as he states in an email, “let the cast and crew know how much I valued their patience and professionalism.”[/bold] At that point, Chase, Jayni and their daughter, Caley, left the party.

WTF? I'm sure there are better ways to get rid of a cast member you dislike.

From everything I’ve read r115, they’re both assholes.

Does anyone remember his feud with Howard stern around the time of Chevy's terrible show? Something about Howard yelling at his housekeeper..? And the stern crew decided Chevy was an ass w/o a sense of humor.

There’s was NEVER more than 15 minutes worth of good material in each SNL episode, starting with season 1.

The glow people put on those first years is ridiculous. Go back and watch the first season. I did. By the 3rd episode, I was yelling “WHAT THE FUCK?” out loud. That shit was not better than the stuff we’re getting now.

Is he ill? I watched the video on the Washington Post website and his voice is very hoarse and he doesn't seem to be mentally all there.