Bill Murray And Chevy Chase Got Into A Physical Fight During SNL – SlashFilm Trending Global News

The late-night sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. With five decades of television history behind “SNL,” it should be no surprise that there’s been a lot of drama behind the scenes. In addition to all the chaos shown in Jason Reitman’s film “Saturday Night”, depicting the evening of the show’s premiere in October 1975, the early seasons of “SNL” created a lot of tension backstage, especially as the series became a hit, and Previously unknown comedians started becoming famous.

Chevy Chase was the first and biggest benefactor of “SNL”‘s success from the beginning, largely because, as host of the news satire Weekend Update segment, he was the only person to say his name on the show on a regular basis. (“I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not” was his sign on the desk). As reported by several people who worked on “SNL”, Chase’s newfound fame did not sit well with fellow cast member John Belushi, who was displeased with Chase’s rapid rise, especially after he left the show to begin a career in films. Had left. This was not only because Belushi himself wanted to be the star of the show (despite almost refusing to sign an “SNL” contract at one point), but also because it pushed aside everyone else who would have naturally It was a collective effort. After this, the rest of the cast and crew were also not happy with his attitude.

Chase left “SNL” during Season 2, and Season 3 brought in Bill Murray, who was constantly referred to as “the new Chevy”, much to the displeasure of both comedians. So when Chase returned to “SNL” in February 1978 to host the 11th episode of the third season, there was already some underlying tension. That tension was heightened by none other than John Belushi, although Chase’s reputation remained unchanged after leaving the show. Do him a favor. This resulted in a fight between Murray and Chase just before the show aired.

in the book “live from new yorkIn “An Oral History of “SNL”, by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, Chase admitted that his first mistake was to assume he would take over Weekend Update, despite the fact that cast member Jane Curtin had been working since his departure. “It was kind of cocky of me because Jen had been doing it all year,” Chase said.

According to the book by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad “Saturday night,” Chase was more direct and rude in his expectations. The book details a meeting in the office of “SNL” creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels in which Chase is quoted as saying, “Jane, let’s face it You cannot join the screen with me at the same time.”

Bill Murray did not like this. As Chase recalled in “Live from New York”, “John also, as I found out later, fabricated something about me because of his jealousy and anger or because of Billy Murray, who defended Jane. Was spreading stories.” Generally speaking, a courageous man, and I’m sure Billy wanted to take me down, you know.”

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Why did the responsibility fall on Bill Murray to take Chase down a peg or two? In “Live from New York”, Murray explained:

“It was because I was the new guy, and it was like it was my job to do it. It would have been a very small thing for anyone else to do. It’s almost like I was bullied into getting involved, you know. , I think everyone was expecting it. I think they were angry at Chevy leaving, for one thing, he left with a huge amount of success and a career.

Everyone else was from the improv world where you didn’t make it about yourself. You were a group. You were a company. So when he left, there was resentment about him. It was a shock. At the same time, Chevy was the big potato in the stew. He got the most sketches. He had the most influence, he got the most publicity, all these things. So he didn’t leave that part out. But there was still a hangover feeling that he shouldn’t have gone until everyone else had that hangover.”

Of course, it wasn’t just the “SNL” cast’s resentment toward Chase that sparked the issue. With Chase’s fame came even more ego, and he already had a big head. Murray recalled the fight on “Live from New York”, saying, “I remember he felt a kind of general hostility, and he came back as a star. When you get famous, You can’t help yourself after a year or two of feeling like it happens to everyone, otherwise you have 2 years to get over it.

Chase was still in the early stages of fame – many would probably argue that he never shook off that cocky ego – but he was at least willing to admit that when recounting the scuffle with Murray. Chase reflected in “Live from New York”:

“I think Billy was trying to take me down a notch, and I was probably up a notch. I was probably a little too full of myself, you know. When I left I realized That maybe I wasn’t such a great person. Maybe we weren’t that close. Maybe I was somewhat of an a**hole, left with self-doubt, and as time went on, so did the last few years. Got a little easier because, you know. It was water under the bridge, but it changed my perception because my perception had always been that there was a really close-knit family in the first year and I was able to get over that because of something someone wrote and because people were different than I was before. Were reacting like stars.”

During the week before the show, Murray and Chase were already teasing and provoking each other. The book “Saturday Night” describes some of the barbs thrown at each other during writing and rehearsals. At one point, Murray interrupted a meeting to express some of the cast and crew’s complaints about his appearance during the show’s first season. But perhaps most deeply hurtful was that Murray took aim at Chase’s publicized relationship issues, saying, “Go be with your wife. I hear she needs it.” Chase responded to Murray’s look by keeping his cool, with a comment about Neil Armstrong hitting him in the face, an apparent insult to the boxcar scars on the comedian’s face.

Everything went well the night of the live show, and just before Chase was to take the stage as President Gerald Ford for the show’s cold opening, he went to Murray’s room for a showdown.

However, when both Murray and Chase attacked each other, it appeared that neither of them threw punches, but only yelled and jostled with each other a bit. During the melee, John Belushi actually suffered some injuries, as he was hanging out in Murray’s dressing room at the time. In fact, Chase recalled a telling detail that incriminates Belushi’s place in all of this, “John was like the Cheshire cat, sitting there like, ‘Mission accomplished.'”

Director John Landis (“The Blues Brothers”) was on “SNL” during the feud, and shared his memories of the incident on “Live from New York”, saying, “There was a lot of shouting and screaming between Chevy and Billy. There was a fight going on.” hallway, and [writers] Michael O’Donoghue and Tom Davis were blocking them, and John and Danny [Aykroyd] Jumped in because Chevy and Billy were actually going to come to blows.” But perhaps the funniest detail he remembered was that Murray took the time to call Chase a “medium talent” who was a distinctive, thoughtful, and hilarious That one is an insult.

Of course, Chase and Murray had to put on a show. On “Live from New York,” Chase probably patted himself on the back too much when it came to staying on track and going straight to live television:

“It happened, but I have a show to do. Other people might have dried up. I had a certain tensile strength in me right from my childhood with an elder brother who had a strong influence on me for most of my short life. I had the shit kicked out of me, and there were times when I was in violent situations, so it wasn’t like I was just someone who had never seen the other side of the tracks and so I think I just coped with it. In other words, instead of being filled with. The adrenaline that shakes you up and doesn’t allow you to concentrate on what you’re doing just passed, and that might be because I was in shape and I played a lot of football and lived in such situations. Where I could have calmed down quickly after something happened.”

Okay, we get it, Chewie.

Although this feud between Chase and Murray would last for years, they eventually stoked their beef during the production of the classic comedy “Caddyshack”. Director Harold Ramis, who later had his own meeting with Bill Murray after “Groundhog Day”, cast both Chase and Murray in his “Slobs vs. Snobs” golf film. In fact, their famous scene together (seen below) is the reason both actors were able to leave their differences behind.

In Chris Nashawaty’s book “Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story,” Murray said that he found the collaboration easy:

“I had never really done anything with Chevy. We always had kind of a weird relationship. But it was like, ‘Okay, I like it when you do that. Let’s just keep going.’ We kept going, and it was funny because Ty Webb wasn’t too far from Chevy, so he was pretty comfortable in his spot and I was comfortable like Carl was, so he was free to laugh at me and think that means, ‘ Hey, he’s my friend!’ It’s a really fun, self-aware example of whatever position Harold maintains in the film.”

Chase agrees, as he says in the self-congratulatory way that only someone like him can say, “We overcame everything. The stress was short-lived. I have nothing but admiration and affection for Bill. He may still be a goofy character, to say the least, but I’ll always think of Caddyshack as the movie’s number one star. I will think.” It’s hard to disagree, especially when Bill Murray improvises one of the funniest scenes in the film.

The good news is that at least as far as we know, they still have a good relationship. during an appearance onhoward stern showIn September 2008, Chase reflected on their conflict and said, “We’ve never been close, but we’ve been very friendly, we play golf together. […] I think we’ve made efforts over the years to get to know each other better and leave those things behind.”