Martin Short Suspects That Chevy Chase Left a ‘Giant Turd’ in His Trailer While Making ‘Three Amigos’

As you may be aware, working with Chevy Chase isn’t always the most pleasant experience. He famously brawled with Bill Murray during an episode of Saturday Night Live, prompted director Chris Columbus to quit National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and alienated the entire cast and crew of Community so badly that the writers decided that he was fired from the show and his character killed off (we later find out that Pierce Hawthorne literally jizzed himself to death). 

But what about on the set of the beloved ‘80s comedy Three Amigos? Although he feuded with director John Landis, Chase seemed to get along with stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, at least enough to occasionally reunite over the years. Then again, Short and Martin did essentially replace him with Selena Gomez.

While Chase seemingly didn’t drop any racist slurs, or try to wrestle anybody while filming the classic Western spoof, according to Short, Chase did leave a smelly welcome gift for him on the first day of filming. 

As Short recounted in his memoir I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend he was a novice to the world of movie making at the time. Originally, the plan was to pair Steve Martin with two other established comedy stars; some of the names being floated for Three Amigos included John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Robin Williams. Even after Chase was cast, John Candy was originally going to play Short’s role of Ned Nederlander, but dropped out because he was “too busy.”

When Short finally landed the part he was so insecure about appearing on screen that he suggested playing Ned as a “bizarre” character in the same vein as SCTV creations like Ed Grimley and Jackie Rogers Jr. (Short eventually abandoned this idea after being chewed out by Landis.)

Short recalled that he was such an “innocent” back then that, on his first day of filming, he poured himself a glass of water in his trailer and immediately retched. “Nobody had told me that you don’t drink the trailer water, because trailer water is just for washing your hands,” Short wrote. But the worst discovery was yet to come.

“Then I opened the toilet,” Short continued, “and there was a giant turd in it. I was never certain if it belonged to Chevy or some teamster who was trying to break me in — I didn’t have it sent to the lab.”

While he didn’t launch a full investigation into the identity of the rogue pooper, à la Season Two of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Short now seems to be pretty confident that he knows who dropped the mystery deuce. “Knowing how his mind works, though, my money’s still on Chevy,” Short concluded. 

While Short’s allegations have never been confirmed, Chase would later attempt to prank him yet again, telling Short to wear his Amigos outfit to the black tie premiere to match him and Martin — although he later felt bad and confessed that he and Martin would really be wearing tuxes. That near-prank seemingly became the inspiration for a bit during Saturday Night Live’s 25th anniversary show.

Thankfully no one at SNL decided to dramatize the giant turd story.