Chevy Chase’s Reaction to Jason Reitman’s ‘Saturday Night’ Shouldn’t Surprise Anybody

While Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night has been getting positive reviews, nominations, and is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Chevy Chase was unsurprisingly not a fan. The controversial actor was one of the original Saturday Night Live cast members when the show premiered in 1975, along with Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, George Coe, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael O’Donoghue, and Gilda Radner. Saturday Night tells the story of the 90 minutes leading up to the very first show, with Cory Michael Smith portraying the Community alum.

Unfortunately, Chase wasn’t too fond of the film. Via Deadline, speaking with former SNL cast members David Spade and Dana Carvey on their Fly on the Wall podcast, Reitman, who directed and co-wrote Saturday Night, recalled Chase’s reaction, which Spade called “an exact Chevy thing” to say.

“So, Chevy comes in to watch the movie, and he is there with [wife] Jayni and they watch the film, and he’s in the group, and he comes up to me after, and he pats me on the shoulder and goes,, ‘Well, you should be embarrassed,’” Reitman shared. “I’m trying to balance it because, in my head, I know, ‘Alright, I’m getting my own Chevy Chase moment that’s 1,000% 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 – no, none of that s— played. He’s not talking about that stuff.”

In response to Chase, Spade said, “You couldn’t even write it better,” while Carvey added the National Lampoon actor “knows that’s funny like that’s the roughest thing you could say to a director in the moment, or right up there.”

Chevy Chase doesn’t have the greatest reputation, including when it comes to sitcom Community, saying the show “wasn’t funny enough.” With the long-awaited Community movie coming to Peacock in the near future, he will not be returning, but much of the cast will be. Meanwhile, after leaving SNL, he continued to appear on the sketch series both as host and in cameo spots throughout the years. He’s hosted nine times, with his last one being in February 1997, while he was last on the show for the 40^th anniversary special in 2015. As of now, it’s unknown if he will return for the big 50^th anniversary celebration, but one will have to wait and see.