If you’re under the age of 30, there’s a very good chance that the name Chevy Chase doesn’t mean much of anything to you — and with good reason.
While he was once thought to be one of the country’s top comedic talents, much of Chase’s work has not aged well, and he’s repeatedly torpedoed his own career with bigoted remarks and other acts of supreme douchebaggery.
Though he’s attempted to revive his career several times in recent years, those efforts have proven ill-fated, largely as a result of the fact that Chase’s co-stars tend to find him insufferable.
Chase likely sees this as a result of jealousy over his self-appointed status as a comedy legend, when in reality, it’s simply a consequence of the fact that people prefer not to work with racist jackasses.
(See the incident in which Chase hurled racial slurs at Donald Glover on the set of Community for evidence of how much this guy sucks.)
At this point, it seems Chase has all but given up on making a comeback and has instead opted to burn every bridge between himself and the people who cursed us all by making Chevy Chase famous.
Chase got his start on Saturday Night Live, and many were shocked this week when he decided to attack the show for its decline in quality.
“First of all, between you and me and a lamppost,” Chase recently told The Washington Post.
“Jeez, I don’t want to put down Lorne [Michaels] or the cast … But I’ll just say, maybe off the record, I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low,” he added.
“I had to watch a little of it,” he said of the show. “And I just couldn’t f–king believe it.”
Now, ragging on SNL is a fun activity that we should all engage in as regularly as possible, but a former cast member attacking the current cast with such vitriol is a violation of an unwritten law among performers.
For a while there, it looked as though no one would push back against Chase, but thankfully, Pete Davidson eventually rose to the challenge.
Yes, folks, Pete is more than just Ariana Grande’s fiance.
He’s also one of the more outspoken SNL cast members, and he’s having none of Chevy’s nonsense.
Davidson sat down with Howard Stern this week, and he really let loose on the topic of Chase.
“He’s a f–king douchebag,” Davidson said.
“F–k Chevy Chase. He’s just a genuinely bad, racist person and I don’t like him. He’s a putz.”
Davidson added:
“It’s disrespectful to Lorne, too, a guy who gave you a career … No matter how big you get, you can’t forget what that guy did for you.”
Now, to be clear, Pete Davidson is a better person than Chevy Chase by every measure.
But can we dispense with this notion that Lorne Michaels is some unassailable comedy god and SNL is his flawless gift to the world?
Go ahead and watch a full episode from any point in the show’s 4,300 years on the air, and you’ll find that it’s always been mostly unwatchable.
It’s true of Chevy’s cast, and Pete’s, and it goes quadruple for the Joe Piscopo days.
That said, Kanye is gonna be on this week, so we’ll totally be watching.