Chevy Chase and His Presidential Memories

Tam Cam

Author

Tammy Haddad

Featured Postings

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Tammy Haddad

Chevy Chase didn't want Gerald Ford to be elected. In 1976 when he began portraying the stumbling, bumbling president on Saturday Night Live, Ford's public face and political fate was sealed. "I didn't want him to be president again, I wanted Jimmy Carter."

After writing political satire for the Smothers Brothers and other comedy shows, Chevy Chase came to Saturday Night Live as a writer and ended up on-air playing Ford. "It was more about getting laughs and a way to reach millions of people."

Chase reminded Newsweek that he called it for Sarah Palin this year. "We were all sitting around the Democratic Convention in Denver with a bunch of reporters and someone mentioned that a jet just left Anchorage. I said, it was going to be her and everyone laughed."

Chase attended Saturday Night Live last month; the first night Tina Fey unveiled her portrayal of Sarah Palin. At the legendary SNL after-party, he sat with good friend Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey. He told Fey, Palin is "Big news and it's entertaining and fun; it's more like preaching to the
choir."

What advice did he give Tina Fey? "I told Tina that night, you have got to keep doing Palin, it is going to kill McCain. That's the idea, and you have got to keep going at it!"

When asked about his comment that Palin should not have gone on SNL weeks later, he responds, "At the time, some people thought what I meant was Lorne Michaels should not have allowed it, but by then the best thing for John McCain was not to have her seen it all. She was taking him down."

What about Palin's performance that night? "I don't think they wrote anything. Lorne is like a brother to me. I just loved seeing him standing there with her. It could be Mick Jagger or anyone else, it's just Sarah, and there is nothing in his face that he doesn't like her. I looked in his eyes and I realized he hadn't written anything with her."

Why did McCain pick her? "Because of his good judgment --because he was a dummy. She's a woman and I don't know what, maybe he peed in his pants. He picked her because she is so good with the Congress?"

Now that a new president is about to take over, Newsweek asked if Chase and his wife, Jayni, who runs the Chevy Chase Green School, will be spending more time in Washington? "I don't think I will be sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom again. But I need to return some of the photos and pictures on the wall I took and books from the library."

Does he see Obama embracing the Hollywood community? "I don't think Obama is that type, but I have never met him. I don't see him as a Hollywood guy. I am a friend of the Clintons. He does not have the charm of Bill Clinton, probably the smartest guy I ever met."

Chase has met every president; does he have an opinion on what kind of President Obama will be? "Obama is a treasure, he will be a truly great president. He doesn't want to follow in anyone's footsteps. When asked what the new president should do first, Chase joked, "Have his ears to pinned back a little? He reminds me of my dad. I think, sleep in, these guys must
be exhausted."

Newsweek had to ask Chase about the new Direct TV ads featuring an iconic scene from one of his National Lampoon's Vacation hits that seem to run as much as political ads in the final weeks of the election. The ad reenacts a pool scene with Chase and Christie Brinkley.

"I was packing to leave Florida this weekend and the ad played three times while I was packing. There is Christie in the pool and me 25 years ago. Christie looks the same. She is amazing and just as bright," he jokes. "Nobody knows my name now."

Where is Chase spending election day? "In the Bowery lying in the street with a bottle of beer, yelling at people."

"I am going to early vote as soon as I can. Rush my children in and wife and anyone I see on the street."

You must be a registered user to comment. Click here to register. Already a user? Click here to login.

Member Comments

Posted By: Anonymous (November 6, 2008 at 1:51 PM)

PingBack from http://sarah-palin.bestpoliticalblogs.co.uk/2008/11/04/chevy-chase-and-his-presidential-memories/

Tam Cam

Author

Categories

Links

Featured Postings

Archives

Chevy Chase and His Presidential Memories

Member Comments