In 2024’s Saturday Night, there’s a scene where the president of NBC (played by Willem DaFoe) tells a young and arrogant Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith) that, if he plays his cards right, he might someday replace Johnny Carson as America’s most popular talk show host.  When Chase brags about this to one of the writers of Saturday Night Live, the writer — who is portrayed as being a weary industry veteran — tells Chase that he will never replace Johnny Carson.  In exacting detail, he predicts that Chase will start strong.  He’ll be one of the early stars of Saturday Night Live but then he’ll let the adulation go to his head and his arrogance will alienate everyone who once believed in him and, in the end, Chevy Chase will end up a faded, nearly forgotten star.

The film obviously meant for this scene to be a crowd-pleaser.  Personally, I found it to be gratuitously cruel.  While watching Saturday Night, we all know what the future holds for Chevy Chase but having a fictional character show up for just one scene so that he can say it to Chase’s face feels excessive.  It’s not only a bit too on-the-nose but it’s also not necessary.  However, the scene does speak to a larger truth.  It’s socially acceptable to hate Chevy Chase.

The stories of Chase’s bad behavior are legendary.  People have heard the stories about him being difficult to work with on the set of Community.  They’ve heard about him suggesting a skit in which Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay member of the Saturday Night Live cast, would announce that he had AIDS.  Everyone can visualize the famous brawl that occurred between Bill Murry and Chase when the latter first returned to host SNL and I think nearly everyone agrees that they’d rather have Bill Murray crash their wedding than Chevy.  Chase is famous for being rude and for snapping at people in interviews.  It’s not only socially acceptable to hate Chevy Chase but it’s kind of expected, especially if you’re an extremely online comedy nerd.

Myself, I have to admit that I wonder why Chase’s personality is the business of anyone other than the people who have work with him.  Does the fact that he’s not lovable in real life somehow make Christmas Vacation less entertaining to watch in December and if so, why?  One might be tempted to wonder if some grace can be given to an 82 year-old man who is obviously in frail health and whose ideas about comedy were developed in a time very different from today.

That many people would answer that question with a resounding “no,” is evidence of just how bad of a reputation Chevy Chase has.  Marina Zenovich, the director of I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not, described Chevy Chase as being the “rudest” person that she has ever interviewed and you can see more than a little of that while watching the documentary.  He replies to one question with, “You b*tch.”  (I gave up cursing for Lent and I’m not going back on my word just to quote Chevy Chase.)  Another question leads to him telling the interviewer that she’s stupid.  When asked about Terry Sweeney, Chase’s first reaction is to laugh and his second reaction is to say that he had heard Sweeney was dead.  (Sweeney is alive and, like many of the people who have worked with Chase in the past, declined to be interviewed for the documentary.  We can probably learn more from so many of them not wanting to talk about working Chase than we could from any of their interviews.)

And yet, there are scenes where you can see evidence of the aging and very human person hiding underneath all of the rudeness and the bluster.  When Zenovich mentions that a lot of people dislike Chase, the pain in his eyes will take you by surprise.  When he meets a fan in a diner, he seems to be genuinely touched.  Chase’s love for his family comes through, as does their love for him.  His daughter talks about a time when Chase nearly died and the viewer is reminded that, regardless of all the stories, he’s still a father and a husband.  There’s a moment where Chase seems to forget the name of his first wife.  Is he being a jerk or is he an 80-something man with memory issues?  It’s far too easy to make assumptions, both good and bad, about famous people who we don’t actually know.

The first fourth of the documentary discusses the early days of Chase’s career while the second fourth deals with his declining stardom and his reputation for being difficult.  Performers like Dan Aykroyd, Beverly D’Angelo, and Goldie Hawn all appear to defend him while others are a bit less charitable.  And yet, the most important part of the documentary comes towards the end, when Chase attends a showing a Christmas Vacation and takes questions from people in the audience.  Even then, Chase is a profane smart-aleck and the audience loves it.

And, for at least a little while, Chevy Chase seems to love it too.