A couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to
watching the docucomedy Saturday Night, about the frantic 90 minutes leading
up to the premiere of SNL 50 years ago this October. The film took Hollywood’s
usual liberties with the facts, but it rang true in depicting the outsized personalities
associated with the show in its incarnation, particularly Chevy Chase.
Now, after Susan Morrison’s profile of the variety show’s
producer for most of its history, Lorne Michaels, we know for certain
that Chase was not only a jerk back then, but still is one.
I’m not going to get into here how obnoxious the
actor-comedian has been over the years. (For that, see how I unloaded on him in
my blog post from 11 years ago, on his 70th birthday.)
But I will say that it hasn’t occurred to Chase that,
49 years after he left the show, early in its second season, it has done just
fine without him.
The lion’s share for the credit belongs rightly to Michaels,
who—his numerous idiosyncrasies and unique management style notwithstanding—launched
the SNL ship and, five years after it almost foundered without him,
returned to the helm and put it on its current steady course (as I discussed in
this post from four years ago).
For anyone who hasn’t done so yet, I highly recommend reading
Ms. Morrison’s retrospective on Michaels before watching the SNL 50th
anniversary special tomorrow night.
Oh, yes—and when Chase makes his scheduled appearance
among its galaxy of stars, past and present, try not to give him the raspberry
for still being such a whiny, egotistical, idiot, okay?
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