BOOMer icon Chevy Chase, now 82 (!) years old, finally admitted his big mistake.
In a recent CNN Films interview, Chevy said he “never should have left Saturday Night Live” four episodes into its 2nd season.
The entire interview airs January 1st on CNN- making it the first thing I will purposefully watch on that wretched network in many years.
I’ve read countless stories about Chevy describing him as everything from difficult to work with and a man with bipolar mood swings. He’s admitted to having issues with prescription pain killers, something necessitated by his very physical brand of comedy. He’s been an outcast from the SNL alumni reunion shows, having alienated producer Lorne Michaels with harsh criticisms of the show’s recent incarnations.
The thing is, Chase is right. SNL is unmemorable and unfunny. A show that shocked and awed 50 years ago with its absolute disregard of comedic boundaries is slowly suffocating to its inevitable death by boundaries that are self-inflicted.
Chevy was the first alum to make a feature film, “Foul Play” with Goldie Hawn. It’s a convoluted but watchable rom-com. Chase went on to do the so-so ”Fletch” films but struck eternal gold when he agreed to play Clark Griswold in the “Vacation” series.
My daughter and I watch the 2nd of those movies, Christmas Vacation, every year. It’s her favorite movie, in part (I’d like to think) because I remind her of Clark. Like the man who plays the character, Griswold is a good but flawed man. However, Clark’s determination to make Christmas special is the tie that binds the Griswold character to everyman.
Christmas Vacation also makes me grateful. Clark Griswold develops breakfast cereal coatings for a big hyper-corporate company in Chicago. His company is populated with hyper-corporate stiffs run by a boss who’s a stone’s throw from Hitler. It makes me appreciate my life as a non-corporate radio guy for a local company, with a boss who keeps highly entertaining French Bulldogs in his office, so it’s happy and festive year-round.
Christmas Vacation’s shopping scene is gold. Clark is so smitten with the perky clerk at Marshall Field’s that he declares his wife dead (“God rest her soul”). Clark doesn’t want the clerk to know he’s married and great with family. It’s one of those high-testosterone moments most men will have in their lives. Women know what’s happening and are happy to oblige the fool in all of us.
(What man has never made a fool of himself over a woman? I think they expect it from us.)
Ironically, Chevy Chase left SNL in 1976 for that very reason. He left New York for California to pursue film offers- and a woman. The relationship ended disastrously, not long after his departure from SNL.
Meanwhile, Chevy’s contribution to Christmas comedy has become a holiday classic- an enduring tribute to the Dad who goes overboard trying to make everyone happy for the holidays.
Clark Griswold is the ghost of Christmas Bankrupt.
I can’t imagine anyone other than Chevy Chase playing the part.
The Griswoldian Yuletide is Chase’s legacy. Example: I never stapled 25,000 lights to my roof as Clark does in the movie. For 8 years, I strung my entire roof perimeter with big, colorful C9 bulbs, draped on hooks I’d permanently installed. One year, I hung the lights with care, perfectly spaced- and clambered down from the ladder for the Big Moment. When I plugged the extension cord in, there was a snap, crackle, and pop. ALL LIGHTS OUT! I not only had to take everything down, but by that night I’d purchased eight strings with C9 bulbs and had them strung and lit by sunset. That is Griswoldian determination!
Family! Clark’s utopic Christmas meant inviting his and his wife’s parents to stay with them. They’re not in the house 10 minutes when his wife (superbly played by Beverly D’Angelo) has taken to smoking cigarettes. Her frustration plays out masterfully when she chops a head of lettuce that not even a guillotine could have halved better or louder. It’s always advisable to keep a head of lettuce handy in your Christmas kitchen because chopping anything else is almost certain jail time.
Christmas Vacation ends happily, following a kidnapping, SWAT team rescue, and sewer explosion. Beloved 80-year-old Aunt Bethany caps the excitement by shouting “play ball” after the entire family sings the National Anthem on the front porch.
THE Greg Budell moment in Christmas Vacation is when Clark locks himself in the attic. He entertains himself by plugging in the family 8MM projector and watching films of his childhood Christmases. A touching moment in the movie is a shot of Clark’s face with a stream of tears running down the side of his face.
I’ve got those 8MM films too, first transferred to VHS and now on DVD. Unless I get trapped in the attic, I can’t watch them. I’m afraid of flood damage from my uber-sensitive tear ducts.
I have those films stored where they play perfectly- between my ears.
I’m a Chevy Chase fan. I’ll watch “I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not” when it debuts on CNN on the first day of 2026.
Thank you for Christmas Vacation, Chevy. Perhaps, late in life, he’s realized how blessed he’s been, and perhaps, how much time he wasted worrying or being angry about stupid stuff. That, however, is a different movie.
That film is entitled “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Because it is!
Merry Christmas BOOMers!
Greg Budell has lived in Montgomery for 20 years. A 50+ year veteran of radio, TV and writing, Greg hosts the Newstalk 93.1FM Morning Show with Rich Thomas, Susan Woody, and Jay Scott, 6-9 AM Monday – Friday. He returns weekday afternoons from 3-6 PM for Happy Hour with Pamela Dubuque and a variety of sidekicks. His favorite topic is life!
Greg can be reached at gregbudell@aol.com.