Months after SNL hosted its 50th anniversary celebration, former original cast member Chevy Chase admitted he was “hurt” about being left out of the event.
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In the forthcoming documentary, I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not, the actor opens up about his lack of involvement in the SNL 50th anniversary. He referred to it as an “upsetting” exclusion.
“Well, it was kind of upsetting actually,” he explained. “This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When Garrett [Morris] and Laraine [Newman] went on the stage there, I was curious as to why I didn’t. No one asked me to. Why was I left aside?”
Referring to the event’s “Weekend Update” segment, Chase asked, “Why was Bill Murray there and why was I not? I don’t have an answer for that.”
The former SNL castmate shared his thoughts with Lorne Michaels about the 50th anniversary event. However, he took back his comments.
“I said, ‘OK, I take it back, silly,'” he said. “But it’s not that silly. Somebody’s made a bad mistake there. I don’t know who it was, but somebody made a mistake. They should’ve had me on that stage. It hurt.”
Although the event was going to include Chase, the actor’s wife Jayni said, “People told Chevy up until that day that were two bits, they were going back and forth. And then, all of a sudden, ‘No, there’s no bit.'”
Michaels revealed that there were a couple of versions of the “Weekend Update” that the SNL crew went back and forth about.
Chase was on SNL from its 1975 debut to the end of the show’s second season in 1976. The actor served as the first anchor of “Weekend Update.”
Chevy Chase Also Said It Was a “Mistake” for Him to Leave SNL
Elsewhere in the documentary, Chevy Chase admitted that it was a mistake for him to leave SNL.
Although he left SNL after two seasons, Chase has made appearances on the show’s set as a host a couple of times. He was also in attendance for the long-running sketch show’s 40th anniversary special in 2015.
Three years after the 40th-anniversary special, Chase criticized Michaels in an interview with the Washington Post.
“I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low. I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t f—ing believe it,” he said. “That means a whole generation of s—heads laughs at the worst f—ing humor in the world. You know what I mean? How could you dare give that generation worse s— than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts.”
Chase then said that he thought the show went downhill following his exit. “I’d have to say, that after the first two years, it went downhill. Why am I saying that? Because I was in it? I guess. That’s a horrible thing to say. But certainly I never had more fun. I really loved it and enjoyed it. I didn’t see the same fun thing happening to the cast the next year.”