If there are two things to know about Chevy Chase, it’s that he’s one of Saturday Night Live’s biggest, funniest stars ever — and he’s kind of a dick. That’s preciously how he’s depicted in filmmaker Jason Reitman’s new movie Saturday Night, which recreates the show’s very first night, and that’s preciously how he responded to the film.
Reitman was a recent guest on Fly on the Wall, the podcast co-hosted by SNL alums David Spade and Dana Carvey. Towards the end of the discussion, Carvey noted that as “generous” as Chase can be, he “loves to say the thing you’re not supposed to say — to the extreme.” Reitman chimed in with the perfect example, recounting his encounter with Chase after a Saturday Night screening.
After watching the film with a group that included his wife, Jayni, Chase walked up to Reitman, “He pats me on the shoulder and he goes, ‘Well, you should be embarrassed!’”
Spade called the reaction such “an exact Chevy thing, you couldn’t even write it better,” while Carvey said, “He knows that’s funny, like that’s the roughest thing you could say to a director in that moment.”
And that’s the balance with Chase; he was being funny, but he was also being a pretty big jackass. “And I’m trying to balance it,” said Reitman. “Because in my head I know, ‘Alright, I’m getting a Chevy Chase moment that’s 1,000 percent only for me right now.’ And from a comedy point of view that’s really pure, and that’s kind of cool. But also, I just spent like two years of my life recreating this moment and trying to capture Chevy perfectly, and also even in the ego, find the humanity and give him a moment to be loved. And he’s just, ‘No, none of that shit played.’ He’s not talking about that stuff.”
Reitman added the caveat that he’s known Chase since he was young, and considers the actor “one of the funniest Americans ever created.” But even Spade admitted, “It’s a funny thing to say, but then you gotta look at the meter and go, ‘What percentage was real? Was it all a joke, or was there a little bit he’s not happy?’”
Frankly, Chase can say or think whatever he wants. We don’t think Reitman has anything to be embarrassed about, and in fact named Saturday Night one of the best films of 2024. The movie is available on VOD via Prime Video and Apple TV+.
As SNL celebrates its 50th season, a number of anniversary features are in the works. The four-part SNL50 docuseries is set to hit Peacock on January 16th, while the Questlove-directed Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music is debuting on NBC on January 27th.