{"id":271067,"date":"2026-01-06T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271067\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:44:10","slug":"cant-i-get-anybody-to-like-me-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271067\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Can\u2019t I get anybody to like me?\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chevy Chase<\/a> is many things: an unparalleled physical comedian, a once-powerful leading man, an integral member of the original cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL). He is also, according to many who have worked with him, a jerk \u2013 although they often use a more colourful noun.<\/p>\n

Few in Hollywood<\/a> want to collaborate with him. John Carpenter<\/a> has said that his experience directing Chase made him want to quit the business. In February, Chase was left off the performance roster of the SNL 50th anniversary special, even though he was the show\u2019s first Weekend Update anchor. He hasn\u2019t been in a hit since 2014, when he was written off the NBC comedy Community.<\/p>\n

In an honest but empathetic new documentary, I\u2019m Chevy Chase and You\u2019re Not, Chase is shown as a complex man, one who is loved by fans and intimates regardless \u2013 even if, as he tells the film\u2019s director, Marina Zenovich, she is \u201cnot bright enough\u201d to grasp that complexity. (The film premiered on CNN on Thursday night and was on its streaming platforms the next day.)<\/p>\n

Zenovich was no stranger to handling prickly subjects. She has a history of excavating the lives of complicated men \u2013 Roman Polanski<\/a>, Lance Armstrong and Robin Williams<\/a> among them \u2013 and was intrigued by the contradictory opinions of Chase. She wanted to understand him better.<\/p>\n

Chase, in contrast, appeared at once confused that he had created such a reputation and dismissive of the criticism. His wife of 43 years and his three daughters love him. People still clamour to get a glimpse. He still receives a healthy amount of fan mail. \u201cI feel fulfilled,\u201d he says in the documentary.<\/p>\n

By the time Zenovich joined Chase at CNN\u2019s New York offices to talk about the film last month, the director seemed well attuned to Chase\u2019s often caustic manner but also to the fuller, more sensitive person behind it. He didn\u2019t excuse his rougher behaviour. But it was clear that his childhood, during which he was physically abused by his mother and stepfather, contributed to many of the choices he has made in his career.<\/p>\n

Chase, who was battling a bad cold that later turned into pneumonia, had just returned from a trip through Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota as part of an annual holiday tour, in which he hosts screenings of Christmas Vacation with Q&A sessions. (Although he seems to enjoy the adoration, he also couldn\u2019t help but disparage some attendees as \u201cMaga horses**t people.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The lively discussion segued from absurd to thoughtful, from funny to painful. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n

\"ChevyChevy Chase with Marina Zenovich in New York. Photograph: Blaise Cepis\/New York Times Q: Why did you want to participate in this film?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chevy Chase:<\/b> I really like it. I didn\u2019t know if I wanted one or not. I just knew that I\u2019d seen the one with Armstrong. I thought it was very good. All I could think of when we were doing mine was: What\u2019s my problem? What have I cheated on? I thought about my life a little bit, which I tend to do, unlike others. I just thought: \u201cI\u2019ve not really done anything bad that\u2019s worth filming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Marina, why did you want to make this?<\/b><\/p>\n

Marina Zenovich:<\/b> When the idea was brought to me, I thought, ooh, Chevy Chase \u2013 that could be really interesting. I was a fan. But what was interesting was that when I would tell people that I was working on it, they wouldn\u2019t really have nice things to say about him. That was kind of consistent.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Really?<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Yes<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I didn\u2019t realise.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> So that was intriguing to me, because, why do people not like you?<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Maybe they thought I was full of myself, or, you know, that I thought too much of myself. I don\u2019t think people really like a tall, handsome, funny Jew guy who\u2019s not a Jew, but he\u2019s Jewish. [Chase is not Jewish.] I didn\u2019t mean to interrupt you. I\u2019d like to hear more from you.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Would you?<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Yeah, I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> I just couldn\u2019t believe how consistent the hate was. Not hate, just \u2013 come on, they thought you were an a**hole. And then I realised, as I was making it, that there were three levels. Chevy is so loved and protected by his family and friends. So that\u2019s level one. Level two is Hollywood, where he has a reputation. He\u2019s misunderstood. The third tier are the fans who don\u2019t care about the reputation. They love him so much, and I really saw that when we went out on the road with him in 2023.<\/p>\n

But then the more research I did, the more I learned about Chevy\u2019s background and what he went through as a kid. It\u2019s not an excuse, but it puts things into perspective.<\/p>\n

Q: Did you participate in this documentary as a way of correcting the record, or providing an explanation for why you act a certain way?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I don\u2019t have any need to do that. The whole issue of them thinking I\u2019m an [expletive], it\u2019s all junk. I don\u2019t care much about it. I have a great, great life, a wonderful family.<\/p>\n

Q: Were you surprised by anything in the doc?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> You didn\u2019t like the Terry Sweeney part.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Saturday Night Live: \u2018You can take the temperature of America by watching that show\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In the mid-1980s, Chevy Chase met Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay cast member of SNL, during a hosting stint. According to Sweeney\u2019s account in Live From New York, an oral history of SNL, Chase approached Sweeney and said: \u201cOh, you\u2019re the gay guy, right? I\u2019ve got an idea for a sketch for you. How about we say you have Aids and we weigh you every week?\u201d (In the documentary, an obviously upset Chase offers a qualified denial when asked about it.)<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Oh, that did surprise me because I don\u2019t remember doing it. It\u2019s not natural for me to do that, but one can always be an [expletive] on occasion. I felt bad for Terry Sweeney when I heard that. Is he dead?<\/p>\n

Q: He isn\u2019t dead.<\/b><\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> You could write him a note.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Why would I write him a note?<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Because it would mean so much.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Why would he care about me? I was a [expletive] to him.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Because it\u2019s healing.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Okay, I\u2019ll do it. [Laughs.]<\/p>\n

In 1992, Chase starred in and produced the John Carpenter movie Memoirs of an Invisible Man, an experience which, as heard in a previously recorded podcast interview included in the documentary, was a difficult one for Carpenter.<\/p>\n

Q: What about the part where John Carpenter said you made him want to quit the business?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s all about, but he\u2019s a crazy guy anyway.<\/p>\n

Q: So that\u2019s about his behaviour, not yours?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Did he say I was an [expletive]?<\/p>\n

Q: He said you made him want to quit the business?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Oh, that\u2019s even better. If you look at those movies, they come from a guy who\u2019s frightened, who\u2019s unsure. I think that he mistreated other people, and that\u2019s not good. And I try not to mistreat other people, particularly having a fame quality, because it makes them feel bad. [Carpenter declined to comment.]<\/p>\n

Chase was on the NBC comedy \u201cCommunity\u201d for four seasons. It was a turbulent experience during which he frequently clashed with showrunner Dan Harmon. During production of season four, Chase became frustrated with his character\u2019s increasing bigotry, in particular with a storyline in which the character does a bit with a blackface hand puppet. The documentary recounts allegations that Chase, in frustration, asked whether his character would next be made to use a racial slur, and reportedly uttered that slur in reference. He abruptly exited the show.<\/p>\n

Q: How do you feel about how Marina depicted the situation on \u201cCommunity\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> They hated me, too?<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Pretty much.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> [Laughs.] Can\u2019t I get anybody to like me?<\/p>\n

Q: I think your family likes you.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> They do.<\/p>\n

Q: Why is it so different how your family feels versus the rest of the world?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I partially explained it as the tall and handsome thing.<\/p>\n

Q: But there are other tall and handsome actors that aren\u2019t depicted this way.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> They aren\u2019t as handsome. It\u2019s like Jon Hamm, who played Fletch. I met him at an airport, and I felt it was incumbent upon me to say, \u201cDid you do Fletch?\u201d because he did. And I spoke with him, almost as a fan, because that\u2019s what he needed, so I\u2019m trying to be nice, basically. And by the end of our talk, he got up and left. [Laughs.] \u201cI\u2019ve got to get my plane.\u201d No hug, no shaking hands. And, I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWhat have I done wrong in my life?\u201d [Laughs.]<\/p>\n

Q: Do you have anything to say about Community? Because you don\u2019t address it in the documentary.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> It wasn\u2019t a bad experience. I just didn\u2019t think it was that good, the show.<\/p>\n

Q: But you really loved it, at the beginning.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Oh, shut up.<\/p>\n

Q: Your daughter [Caley Chase] says in the documentary how much you loved the writing.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> My daughter can go to hell. [Laughs.]<\/p>\n

Q: How do you feel about how your role ended?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I thought it ended great.<\/p>\n

Q: You did?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> It was too great a misunderstanding of what I was saying and not saying. I thought that there was at least one person \u2013 and another who, for some ungodly reason, didn\u2019t get me, didn\u2019t know who I was, or didn\u2019t realise for one second I\u2019m not racist. They were too young to be aware of my work. Instead, there was some sort of visceral reaction from them.<\/p>\n

\"MarinaMarina Zenovich in New York. Photograph: Blaise Cepis\/New York Times Q: Marina, what surprised you the most about making this?<\/b><\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> I still want to psychoanalyse Chevy. Forgive me if I say anything that upsets you, but I feel that you had so much going for you, but because of your mother and your stepfather, they really did you a disservice.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I agree with that. Once you\u2019re slapped with a yardstick on your bare ass and on the backs of your legs until they\u2019re so bruised that somebody else notices, then that\u2019s a different thing.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> He was trying so hard. He had looks and talent, and he had a chance. He had a shot. And he made it as much as he could, but I think he turned to drugs and drinking to stop the pain.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Everybody does, to some degree \u2013 something to help us get through life. So it\u2019s not such a bad thing. We don\u2019t take drugs and drink because we want to hurt others. In fact, we want to be loved by them. I don\u2019t look back on [the years of drugs and alcohol] as a bad time at all. We all smoked pot. Everybody took acid. I took it once. Cocaine ultimately put a hole in my septum.<\/p>\n

Q: When did you finally quit?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Let\u2019s see. When I married Jayni [in 1982], I was still taking cocaine.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> How did you hide that from her?<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> It wasn\u2019t too hard, really. I mean, I had a packet of cocaine in my pocket.<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> I think a lot of your behaviour that people don\u2019t like is from when you were using and you don\u2019t really remember that.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I wasn\u2019t that great when I was drinking and using drugs?<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> Your personality wasn\u2019t great. You were talented. Like anyone, you didn\u2019t know how you were behaving. So a lot of the questions that came up for me during this were around: How do you sustain a career?<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> That\u2019s a trick, isn\u2019t it? I never thought about it, so I don\u2019t know how to tell you how I did it.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you think you sabotaged your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I don\u2019t think I sabotaged my career. I think we go up and down and up and down, up and down. You make mistakes. You make mistakes. You don\u2019t make so many mistakes. You learn more, and then you get to where I am now, where I don\u2019t think any of that matters any more. All that matters is how I am with people throughout the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you feel at peace now?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I can\u2019t tell you how much.<\/p>\n

Q: Really?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> No! I still get anxiety attacks. I had one this morning, but that\u2019s partly because I knew you were coming and people were coming. You have no idea how much nose blowing, how much Kleenex was used before I got here.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Saturday Night Live celebrated the 50th anniversary of its premiere season \u2013 Chase\u2019s only season in the cast. Chase was invited to the three-hour live anniversary special in February, and he appeared onstage for the group goodbye. But unlike the other living members of the original cast he was not invited to perform.<\/p>\n

Bill Murray, who effectively replaced Chase in 1977 \u2013 and got into a backstage brawl with him when Chase hosted in 1978 \u2013 performed, too. He poked fun at Chase during a segment on Weekend Update, a franchise Chase helped create.<\/p>\n

\"ChevyChevy Chase in New York. Photograph: Blaise Cepis\/New York Times Q: Do you want to talk about the SNL 50th special?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Do they hate me there too?<\/p>\n

Q: It\u2019s clear in the doc that it was really upsetting to you how you were treated.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Lorne [Lorne Michaels, the show\u2019s creator] never got back to me on that. I texted him a fairly long thing about how he hurt me. \u201cHow could you hurt me like that?\u201d That\u2019s what I felt. I never got an answer. I love that guy. I don\u2019t think he means it, but it did hurt. I would have put me inasmuch as Bill Murray. Murray came in to replace me. But I\u2019m not replaceable. He\u2019s Bill Murray. He\u2019s great. You can\u2019t replace me.<\/p>\n

Q: In the doc, you call yourself an angry child. Why are you angry?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I\u2019m angry at what I was left with from my parents. I\u2019m angry with the fact that I had to go through that and continue to go through it every day of my life, in some fashion.<\/p>\n

Q: It doesn\u2019t ever go away?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> No, no, it doesn\u2019t. I don\u2019t think about the physicality of it, but it\u2019s all just a mishmash of fear. Most comedians, I think, come from fear.<\/p>\n

Q: Did you ever go through therapy?<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Sure. It was pointless, really. I went to two that I thought were good, but not over a long period of time. After a while, it was like, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Marina, was there anyone you tried to get into the doc that wouldn\u2019t talk?<\/b><\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> A lot.<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> Well, the ones you got were precious to me. I mean, Goldie [Goldie Hawn, his costar in the 1978 film Foul Play].<\/p>\n

Zenovich:<\/b> No Christopher Guest. [Guest and Chase first worked together on the 1973 stage show National Lampoon: Lemmings, a spin-off of the humour magazine that also featured John Belushi.]<\/p>\n

Chase:<\/b> I don\u2019t for a second hold that against Chris. It mostly is that he\u2019s smart enough to stay out, and he\u2019s got his own life, and he\u2019s making his own movies.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t talk to him much. But once in a while, I\u2019ll call and I\u2019ll just leave a message that\u2019s kind of funny and that\u2019s about it. He doesn\u2019t do it back, by the way. \u2013 This article originally appeared in The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chevy Chase is many things: an unparalleled physical comedian, a once-powerful leading man, an integral member of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[13746,21139,18,117,19,17,138125,48523,15896],"class_list":{"0":"post-271067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bill-murray","9":"tag-chevy-chase","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-john-belushi","15":"tag-jon-hamm","16":"tag-lorne-michaels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115850580019881011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}