Talk:Chevy Chase

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considering making a disambig page for Chevy Chase, think it's good idea? Sycocowz 16:27, Oct 15, 2004 (UTC)

You can if like, but none of the other articles is named Chevy Chase (something) - not that that's a requirement, but it is the case usually - and there'll be a lot of articles to fix if you do. I think the current notice serves this article pretty well, but do not feel strongly about it either way. -- Itai 23:30, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Should we mention that TV special "New York Friar's Club Roast With Chevy Chase" in this article? One time, a Wikipedian was occused for vandalism when really it was just a flaw of inaccuracy over a factual subject. And this subject was described under the article name "Club Roast". Anyway, when a flaw of factual content on Wikipedia is taken as vandalism, that dosen't always mean that the person has "malicious" intent. --SuperDude 01:56, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I don't know where the idea that the Friar's Roast was "mean-spirited" came from; apparently this person doesn't watch many Friar's Roasts. --Jscott 8 July 2005 19:22 (UTC)

The Friar's Roast was mean-spirited, as Chevy Chase has talked about in interviews following the roast, most notably in a lengthy "Entertainment Weekly" article. The idea behind Friar's Roasts is that it's your friends who are roasting you; it's all in good fun. With Chase's roast, most of the jokes at Chase's expense were by people he'd never met before or at least didn't know well, many of them comedians hired by Comedy Central. The difference is not a small one. If a friend makes a joke at your expense, one usually laughs, but if a stranger starts making fun of you, that can get offensive pretty quickly. Minaker (talk) 11:11, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The reference to his trip to Cuba seems oddly out of place, perhaps because the date isn't mentioned. Its placement implies that it was in the late '90s or early '00s, but this seems unlikely. Does anyone know when this occurred? What is the source of the quote? --Vardamana 13:42, 4 August 2005 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] Roast

The Friar's Club Roast sentences are odd. I have seen the special aired quite a few times since it originally aired. I think it is incorrect to state that Comedy Central did not replay the program. Also, it seems to be put in as part of a "downfall" of Chase's career section and seems to imply that even a Roast with him in it did poorly. Anyone who watched the Roast would know that it was pretty much the same as any other Roast.

The roast aired this late evening (on January 23rd) at 3am as part of a mini-roast marathon on Comedy Central; I think it would be better to change the wording of the sentence to 'rarely aired' since the network does show it occasionaly, though mostly on off-hours slots. - Mrschimpf 12:02, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] College pranks

Actually, the rumor of the cow being brought up to the third floor of Barclay is apocryphal, maybe even an urban legend: it seems that a number of colleges have a story of a similar prank. (The punchline usually is that cows cannot climb down stairs, only up, and so the unfortunate cow had to be dismembered in order to leave.) When I was a student at Haverford (and living in Barclay!), I heard that the prank that actually got him expelled (in Haverspeak, 'separated') was that he and some friends went out late one night, stole a bunch of street signs, and re-routed all of the Lancaster Avenue traffic through the one-lane road that winds through the campus. I'd like to add this and another prank I've heard of, although I can't say with any certainty which one actually got him kicked out. Is anyone aware of similar urban legends of college that might clarify what Chase did and did not do? Dgilman 19:55, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

  • Shouldn't the street sign prank be removed altogether, if it indeed ends by being attributed to another individual? What is the point of its inclusion here, if it wasn't ultimately Chase's prank? Edbanky 22:09, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed POV Comments, re: Talk Show

I have removed POV comments regarding Chase's talk show being one of the most "notorius failures" in the history of television. I have looked on line, through A9, Yahoo! and Google and only find user comments/feedback on web sites regarding the show, and/or opinions posted by professional entertainment writers.

When it comes to Chase’s talk show, which was panned by professional critics and saw it as a failure in his career, it certainly wasn’t an evil show, nor was the show infamous. However, one can say that the show failed because the network cancelled it, etc, and that is verifiable fact. Had a professional critic stated this in a review column (“The Chevy Chase Show was a notorious failure in the scope of late-night television…”) of to this effect, then the inclusion of the term would have merited its inclusion in the article, providing it was attributed to the person who stated it.

Also, the analogy that the Chevy Chase Show was as big a failure as the Edsel was to Ford Motor Company is pure POV hyperbole. There is a difference between a bad television program and an image damaging product like the Edsel. Why the Edsel failed, and become a part of pop culture is complex and fodder for scholastic books covering its economic, social and corporate culture impacts; why Chase failed at late-night TV may have been fodder for T.V. Guide, it did not preoccupy anyone except Chase, Fox Programmers and Chases circle of fans.

Also, I couldn't find any links (save for those sites that scrape Wikipedia content)that draw an anaology between Chevy Chase and the Edsel. Stude62 14:36, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree with you, although such comparisons and comments were made at the time the show came off the air (this was, of course, before the world wide web). If somebody really wanted to research it, I imagine they could come up with some old print references. But I doubt it's worth the trouble. -- MisterHand 14:51, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
    • Yes, but if they give the reference, then the example can be used "A the time the show was cancelled it was likened to ...by..." That makes the reference verifable. Stude62 15:49, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Needs rewriting?

The most elaborate prank 'that Chase is said to have arranged' involves the streets that border the campus to the north and east. Late one evening, Chase and some friends went out, uprooted some traffic signs, and re-positioned them so as to divert all the traffic on Lancaster Avenue, a major public artery, through the college campus. ... the next morning, the campus was the site of an enormous traffic jam, extending from the Lancaster Avenue entrance through the whole of the campus road, ... 'This prank, however, was not in fact Chase's, but is attributed to alumnus Clyde Lutton[1]'.

  • I think it needs to be removed outright, due essentially to 'This prank, however, was not in fact Chase's, but is attributed to alumnus Clyde Lutton[1]' Edbanky 22:09, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] statements about President Bush

Whoever keep removing this section needs to know it is backed up w/neutral sources. ENOUGH VANDALSIM! Chase made these statements, they are a matter of record. end of discussion.--Bairdso66 15:34, 16 July 2006 (UTC He's very left and I disagree w him too but why edited his views out? I can separate the work and the person or be in partial agreement.

[edit] American Beauty?

Does anyone have a source for him being offered and turning down the lead in American Beauty? It seems at the very least implausible.

[edit] homophobe?

Been a fan of Chevy's for quite some time -- sad to see he is or was a homophobe --


[edit] Is this a Parody Page???=

Is this biography genuine? It reads a bit like a subtle parody. Is he actually a 14th generation New Yorker descended from wealth and fame? Are we being led on here?


Do you think people from wealth don't become actors? Check out Stockard Channing. He is from a prominent NY family. 64.140.179.102 10:35, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

He being Chevy - Stockard is pretty clearly not male in person. 64.140.179.102 10:35, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Chevy Chase is not dead."

That seems like pretty obvious vandalism. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.236.0.58 (talk) 01:58, 22 February 2007 (UTC).

Yes, there was a parody website where someone did a parody claiming that Chase had died. The page has been semi-protected temporarilly to deal with the vandalism. I took a look and don't see anything still on there claiming he is dead, but if you see something, please point it out. Thanks. --BigDT 02:04, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Tonight Show

The facts about The Tonight Show are wrong. Chevy Chase only guest-hosted The Tonight Show once (10/31/1986), and was a guest a total of 14 times during the Johnny Carson era, from 05/04/1977 to 02/20/1992. This is according to Carson's website where show guests are searchable. Chevy's appearances are here: http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/search.do?name=Chevy+Chase&x=34&y=13&singleDateMonth=Month&singleDateDay=Day&singleDateYear=Year&dateRangeBeginMonth=Month&dateRangeBeginDay=Day&dateRangeBeginYear=Year&dateRangeEndMonth=Month&dateRangeEndDay=Day&dateRangeEndYear=Year

I changed this section once but someone changed it back. Here's the truth. Not dumping on Chevy, he's accomplished much. Saying he did something when he didn't only diminishes his real accomplishments.

[edit] Incorrect Wording

A quick perusal of the recently released Saturday Night Live Season 1 DVD reveals this section: "He was the first breakout star of SNL and was also the only cast member who actually identified himself by name in the first season, in the "Update" sketches, which only helped his immediate visibility. (The original show open only showed the names of the cast members on the same title card without their faces and without being introduced by Don Pardo by name)" contains factual errors.

At some point or another during the first season, all of the cast members are identified at least by their first names, and John Belushi, in particular, is identified by his first and last name in several skits, including on Weekend Update segments.

What set Chase apart was that he was the first cast member to say his full name on camera, and he was the only cast member to be identified as himself by his first and last name during the show (outside of the opening credits) on every single episode of the first season. This plus his high profile both on WU and the cold opening of every episode of the season was, according to the book Live from New York, a point of contention for his fellow castmates - Belushi in particular - who played characters or were barely featured in several episodes of the first season.

It should also be noted that the parenthetical regarding the opening credits, in conjunction with the previous sentence, implies that the Not-Ready-for-Primetime-Players were not identified in the opening credits of the entire first season. This is not in fact the case. By the seventh or eighth episode or so, they were named individually with mugshot pictures.

The first sentence needs to be corrected, and the second sentence needs to be made clearer. -- JCaesar 08:00, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

I saw no objections, so I fixed it. -- JCaesar 21:39, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chevy Chase is an asshole

According to Lisa Lampinelli when he was interviewed on the Kidd Chris show, she attributed Chase to being a bitter man.

http://94wysp.com/Kidd-Chris-Show-Weekly-Rundown/1459483 Week 2.