Chevy Chase Falls Off Stage at 'Christmas Vacation' Event

Sources say that Chase is doing fine, aside from a bruised knee.

By Stephen Andrew

Chevy Chase recently took a scary fall off the stage at a Christmas Vacation event. TMZ reports that on Wednesday night the comedy actor attended a screening and Q&A of his iconic film at Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York. However, things got off to a rough start when Chase fell off the stage after being wheeled out in a wheelchair.

After he was brought out, Chase reportedly stood up and began walking toward the crowd. Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that he misjudged the edge of the stage, due to the lighting, causing him to tumble off the edge. Chase's wife helped him get to his feet and back on the stage where he went on with the Q&A. Attendees told TMZ that he did get an ice pack for his knee, and that the crowd laughed when his smartwatch gave an alert about his fall. Sources say that apart from his bruised knee, Chase is doing fine.

The big moment comes as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is celebrating its 34th anniversary. To date, the Vacation franchise has a total of five major motion pictures in its catalog: National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Vegas Vacation (1997), and 2015's Vacation, which was a franchise reboot starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate. There was also a made-for-TV spinoff of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in 2003, titled National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure. It featured Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn reprising their roles as Cousin Eddie and Catherine, as well as Dana Barron reprising her role as Audrey Griswold.

In 2018, Christmas Vacation actor Johnny Galecki sat down with Variety and spoke about what it was like to work with Chevy Chase as a child actor. When asked if he gained and "comedy experience" from the legendary star, Galecki quipped, "They don't depend on many young people to do the heavy lifting of comedy." He added, "That was a real challenge because the Rusty role was kind of iconic at that point and did have some heavy lifting comedically, and my timing wasn't on-point. Chevy would help me out, especially with the timing, and tell me some ad-libs to say. He was very patient and giving of his time."

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