The “awful” ‘Saturday Night Live’ host everyone hated: “No one wanted to be near him”
Even though there’s presumably a vetting process of some description, it’s always a risk when Saturday Night Live drafts in a first-time host because nobody knows how they’ll fare under the bright lights.
For every Tom Hanks or John Goodman, who debuts to much aplomb and becomes a regular fixture of the long-running sketch series for a number of years, there’s a Steven Seagal or an Adrien Brody, who does such a disastrous job that they’re never invited back again.
Some great actors, talented comedians, and charismatic personalities have floundered when called upon to front an episode of SNL, while some talents that nobody would usually associate with the gig have thrived under the pressure of compering the weekly television staple.
In theory, a former cast member should have no issues switching from performer to host because they know the ins and outs of SNL like the back of their hand, unless, of course, they’re a dick. Unfortunately, Chevy Chase has a reputation for being a dick, and he lived up to it when he made one of his grand returns.
The fourth of Chase’s eight hosting gigs came on the November 16th, 1985 episode, and because his reputation preceded him, the writers and crew members were thrilled. Initially, at least. “We were all so excited because, to us, Chevy was like a god,” former cast member and scribe Terry Sweeney recalled.
“This was someone who’d been one of the original people and was this legendary figure,” he explained. “And we were just excited to work with him. And when he got there, he was a monster. I mean, he insulted everybody.” Everybody included the fresh-faced one-season wonder Robert Downey Jr, with Chase trashing the youngster’s father for how he “used to be a successful director.”
Sweeney, SNL‘s first openly gay cast member, found himself on the receiving end of homophobic jokes from Chase, which led to an apology, albeit one he wasn’t happy about giving. “He was really furious that he had to apologise to me,” he recalled. “He was just beside himself. And it was just awful. He acted horribly to me. He acted horribly to everyone.”
By the time the show was over, the entire cast and crew couldn’t wait to be rid of him. Not only that, but they actively tried to avoid him, such was the impression he made. “We wouldn’t be on the elevator with him,” Sweeney admitted. “We were all hiding. We were all plastered against the wall, going, ‘Oh, he’s getting on the elevator, he’s almost gone. Oh, he’s gone’. No one wanted to be near him.”
Of course, several former collaborators have called Chase a terrible person, so it’s not a surprise that his behaviour didn’t endear him to the team responsible for the 1985-1986 season. And yet, he still hosted SNL another four times, although an invitation hasn’t been extended his way for almost three decades. Based on how he acted, it’s a shock that it took so long for the show to put him on the no-fly list.
