Line #11 Creator/ChevyChase


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chevy_chase.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:"[[Series/{{Community}} Well, I may be a genius, but I'm not a lesbian.]]"]]
3	->''"I made about twenty-eight movies, and I think about five of them were good."''
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5	He's Chevy Chase (born Cornelius Crane Chase on October 8, 1943 in New York City), an American actor/comedian known for his pratfalls... and you're not.
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7	Chase began a full-time career in comedy by joining the National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1973; he and many other comedians on the program would later become the original cast members of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. He was known for his physical comedy, particularly his impressions of then-President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord (which wasn't so much an accurate impression or even one that was hilariously exaggerated to the point of being perceived as real by the general public as it was an excuse for Chevy to do his pratfalls[[note]]though, thanks to Chase's impression, there are people out there who do believe that Gerald Ford was that comically clumsy[[/note]]). He was also the original Weekend Update Anchor -- ''[[CatchPhrase "Good evening. I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not."]]''
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9	Chase received a lot of praise for his role in the show, though he left in the middle of the second season, returning later to host eight times[[note]]nine if you count the last episode of season six in 1981, which had no host, but had celebrity appearances by him, Al Franken, Creator/ChristopherReeve and Creator/RobinWilliams[[/note]], one of which[[note]]the first episode of the show's eighth season[[/note]] had him appear live via a television set because Chase missed his flight and couldn't get to the studio to do rehearsals in time; another of which[[note]]during the show's 12th season[[/note]] was done with Creator/SteveMartin and Creator/MartinShort to promote ''The Three Amigos''; and the last of which[[note]]during the show's 22nd season[[/note]] was his final time before he was banned for being high on painkillers and harassing the cast and crew. Chase was ''SNL'''s most frequent former cast member to come back and host. Along with Creator/BillMurray and Creator/DanAykroyd, Chase is also one in three members of the "Not Ready for Primetime" era of ''SNL'' (fall of 1975 to spring of 1980) to come back and host the show. Chase is also one of the few members of the "Five Timers Club"[[note]]the club for celebrities who have hosted ''SNL'' more than five times, as seen with such famous faces as Creator/TomHanks, Creator/ChristopherWalken, Creator/BuckHenry, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/CandiceBergen, Creator/JonahHill and Creator/DrewBarrymore[[/note]] to have been a cast member on the show, joining Bill Murray and Creator/TinaFey.
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11	After SNL, Chase begin taking film roles with appearances in hit films such as ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' and its sequels, and ''Film/ThreeAmigos'', roles that would make him a highly paid actor in the late '80s. He also hosted the Academy Awards in 1987 and 1988. However, his career went in decline in the '90s as many of his films flopped at the box office, with even ''Film/VegasVacation'' being a commercial disappointment. He hosted a talk show in 1993 called ''Series/TheChevyChaseShow,'' which only lasted for five weeks. He gained some prominence again with the role of Pierce Hawthorne in the TV show ''Series/{{Community}}'', though he did have creative issues with the show's creator Creator/DanHarmon throughout its run, leaving that show in the 4th season. (Though, ironically, Harmon was not working on the show at that point.)
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13	As might be hinted by some of the above events, he has a reputation that could charitably be described as "[[{{Jerkass}} difficult]]".
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16	!!Works featuring Chevy Chase include:
17	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (1975–76): Was the first ''Weekend Update'' anchor. He was also the first ''SNL'' cast member to leave the show, the first one to come back and host (until he was banned for being a jerk to the cast and crew members), the only host who had to be broadcasted on a TV instead of appearing live onstage when he hosted,[[note]]It was season eight, episode one. The musical guest was Music/{{Queen}}.[[/note]] and the former ''SNL'' cast member to host the most episodes (nine). His celebrity impressions include U.S. President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord (which wasn't really an impression as we would know it;[[note]]You know, the kind where the actor's hair and makeup would have been altered to look like an imitation of Ford while Chevy does a vocal impression of him.[[/note]] instead, the 'impression' was just an excuse for Chevy to show off his penchant for pratfalls), Creator/LeonardNimoy (as [[Franchise/StarTrek Mr. Spock]] on the infamous ''Last Voyage of the Enterprise'' sketch), Greg Allman, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan (also a "non-impression" like Ford's), and Jeffrey Dahmer. He only had one recurring character, "The Land Shark" (a creepy man in a cheap shark costume who attacks anyone who answers the door, usually with him saying, "Candy gram?").
18	* ''Film/FoulPlay'' (1978)
19	* ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'' (1980)
20	* ''Film/UnderTheRainbow'' (1981)
21	* ''Film/ModernProblems'' (1981)
22	* ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' (1983)
23	** ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation'' (1985)
24	** ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'' (1989)
25	** ''Film/VegasVacation'' (1997)
26	** ''Film/{{Vacation}}'' (2015)
27	* ''Film/DealOfTheCentury'' (1983)
28	* ''Film/{{Fletch}}'' (1985)
29	* ''Film/SpiesLikeUs'' (1985)
30	* ''Film/SesameStreetPresentsFollowThatBird'' (1985)
31	* ''Film/ThreeAmigos'' (1986)
32	* ''Film/FunnyFarm'' (1988)
33	* ''Film/NothingButTrouble'' (1991)
34	* ''Film/LAStory'' (1991)
35	* ''Literature/MemoirsOfAnInvisibleMan'' (1992)
36	* ''Film/AccidentalHero'' (1992 - Uncredited Role)
37	* ''[[Film/ManOfTheHouse1995 Man of the House]]'' (1995)
38	* ''Film/DirtyWork'' (1998)
39	* ''Film/SnowDay'' (2000)
40	* ''Film/OrangeCounty'' (2002)
41	* ''[[Film/ZoomAcademyForSuperheroes Zoom]]'' (2006)
42	* ''Series/{{Community}}'' (2009–14)
43	* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'' (2010)
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45	!!Tropes associated with this actor:
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47	* AllMenArePerverts: A ''lot'' of his roles have him being a lech. If the character's single, he'll get the girl. If not, he'll get a chance for no particular reason, but stick with his partner. It's this trope, rather than TheCasanova, because he's usually really creepy about it, in the way that 80s "heroes" often were. Unlike the movies, though, Chase never grew out of it.
48	* AtLeastIAdmitIt: He [[WordOfGod knows and admits to being difficult]], if his previous interviews in the 2000's are any indication. He [[ItsAllAboutMe simply]] [[BlatantLies doesn't]] [[AttentionWhore care]].
49	* TheBigGuy: He is 6'4" and was the first of ''SNL''[='=]s many tall, white male cast members. Chase, Creator/RandyQuaid (from the 1985–86 season), Creator/CharlesRocket (1980–81 season), and Creator/KevinNealon (1986–95 seasons) are tied as the tallest ''SNL'' cast members.
50	* TheComicallySerious: Much of the humor in his early roles, especially on SNL, came from the contrast between his straight-laced, upper-class WASP persona and the ridiculous stuff he said and did as well as his ability to say absurd things with a completely serious, newscaster like tone which made his "Weekend Update" segment especially popular.
51	* DeadpanSnarker: In his earlier roles and peak period, he could match Creator/BillMurray easily when it came to snark and delivering bitter, sarcastic lines in a tone of barely concealed rage and disdain.
52	* EarlyBirdCameo: His first claim to fame was writing a single back-page gag for ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' in 1970.
53	* OldShame: His 2002 Friars Club Roast. To call it '''brutal''' would be kind, at best. In short, almost no one famous showed up, a running joke through the roast. Those that did offered ''very'' little in the way of genuine praise. Most of the then-B-list comics that tore him a new one and took very personal shots. The horrified look on Chevy's face revealed he knew how bad it was going, and when it was his turn to get revenge, he offered a few pathetic shots at his tormentors, saying "that hurt" after it was over with. Comedy Central has yet to rebroadcast it due to how ''unnerving'' it was to watch. Former SNL castmate Laraine Newman gave this particularly painful barb: "When Chevy left ''Saturday Night Live,'' he said he wanted to follow his dream, to make crap movies and host the worst talk show in history. We all knew he could do it!".
54	* ThePeteBest: To Music/SteelyDan. He was the drummer in Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's proto-Steely Dan band The Leather Canary when they were all at Bard College in the late '60s, which perfunctorily summarizes the brief history between Chase, Fagen and Becker in any general article on either subject.

Context Creator / ChevyChase