Reddit Debates Whether Chevy Chase Became A Jerk or Was Just Born That Way

Redditor Pale_Willingness_415 has been wondering about a certain comedian for years. Sure, Chevy Chase has a terrible reputation for being difficult. “But is the common perception that he was just always a jerk or did he change because of fame (or, Door #3, did he get worse because his fame started to fade...)”? 

The folks in the r/LiveFromNewYork subreddit were happy to weigh in.

Spoiler alert: The first option was the runaway winner. “Based on everything we know about SNL Season One, he was always a jerk,” posted user JacedFaced, “and then he got worse once he started to think he was solely responsible for inventing modern comedy.” (That last part is not an exaggeration; director Kevin Smith claims that Chase believed he “invented every funny thing that ever happened in the history of not just comedy, but also the known world.”)

“People who worked with him 50 years ago haven’t worked with him in 50 years, even when they made money with him,” argued user pqln. “That tells me he was like this from the start of SNL.”

User YoungXanto pointed to Three Amigos as an example. “The worst roast of all time was Steve Martin and Martin Short not showing up to his roast,” they posted. It’s a good point. While Martin and Short remained joined at the hip, they’re rarely seen with their Amigos co-star Chase. And the notorious nice guys have had no problem spilling stories about Chase’s terrible behavior. 

The answer could be a combination of the options: Chase was an asshole from the start, and fame made it worse. “He was always a jerk,” argued user SugarSweetSonny. “Once he became an up and coming star, he got worse.... and then he became a star, and got even worse. Basically he’s always been a jerk, but add the stardom, and that makes it much worse.”

Could it all just be performance art? The thread’s original poster wondered if Chase’s behavior “became a bit of a show after a while. I do NOT believe he’s secretly a modest, kind man but celebs like Audrey Plaza have said people WANT her to yell at them so maybe Chase does a *little* performative ... Jerk-ing ... because it’s expected.”

Maybe, responded user Sufficient-Ice-5574, but “I imagine he’s closer to Ty from Caddyshack than Clark from Vacation IRL.”

User MartyFreeze chose Door #3: “I wonder if also seeing his peers grow into larger legends than him in their old age and seeing younger talent eclipse his shrinking star added to his attitude problems.”

The thread runs for quite a while. Some pointed to a troubled childhood as a defense, but no one argued that Chase started out as a decent guy who only became a jerk once he was corrupted by fame. That sucks for anyone who’s had to work with Chase, but user Corporation_tshirt pointed out that one person has suffered more than anyone. “Not to give him a pass or anything, but the biggest victim of his titanic ego has been himself. The man can’t have anything good enough that he can’t ruin for himself.”