Stephen Colbert Roasting Chevy Chase
The 2002 New York Friars’ Club Roast of Chevy Chase is fairly infamous in certain nerdy/comedy circles. There’s a whole host of reasons for that and I’ll expound on it momentarily, but there’s no reason to drag out the drama before getting to the good stuff which is a 2002 Stephen Colbert giving the business to Clark Griswold in an astounding display of comedic writing, timing, and performing. Enjoy!
(there’s also a video that Randy Quaid contributed that’s tacked on at the end. This was before…well all the everything with Randy Quaid. You can watch or skip as you deem fit.)
Good stuff, right?
Anyways, that Roast of Chevy Chase has an air of infamy around it—which is odd because of how muted most of the show is. It was actually the second time the NY Friars’ Club was roasting Chase, he never took off his glasses or faced most of the roasters, there weren’t many good jokes, and not a lot of big names (at the time) for someone who had been literally the biggest comic actor at one point. That last factor is what ultimately gave it a bit of buzz.
The roast occurred September 22, 2002 and was recorded to eventually air on Comedy Central. But before it hit the cable airwaves it already had an air of infamy about it from the taping. As mentioned, not a lot of well known folks were there for a person who had been working in entertainment for 30 years which tipped off the audience a bit. They were also tipped off by the fact that it was awkward as fuck due to Chase’s behavior and the comedians ribbing the “man of the hour” almost all professed, at one point in their time at the dais, to not knowing Chase or having worked with him at all or anything.
The roast occurred September 22, 2002 and was recorded to eventually air on Comedy Central. But before it hit the cable airwaves it already had an air of infamy about it from the taping. As mentioned, not a lot of well known folks were there for a person who had been working in entertainment for 30 years which tipped off the audience a bit. They were also tipped off by the fact that it was awkward as fuck due to Chase’s behavior and the comedians ribbing the “man of the hour” almost all professed, at one point in their time at the dais, to not knowing Chase or having worked with him at all or anything.
The most infamous story about the event takes place after it ended in what sounds like the saddest hotel room in New York.
A despondent Chevy Chase sobbed in his hotel room all night as Paul Shaffer (the roast’s MC) tried to comfort him. The source for most of sadness was because no one showed up from his SNL days except for Shaffer, Al Franken, and Laraine Newman (and I think we all know she was being nice). Chase’s longtime VACATION co-star Randy Quaid sent in that video and Beverly D’Angelo sang an awkward song. But the Naked Lunch moment Chase had on stage was realizing how many bridges he had burned through the years due to his volatile nature and behavior.
Allegedly, Chase also found the jokes incredibly mean. If true, that would probably be due to the fact that it’s a young stranger telling you how much of a fuck up you are to your face…it’s not going to land particularly well. (Also, a lot of writers of Chase’s generation that covered the event also found most of the jokes cruel which…they’re not; it’s about what you’d expect from celebrity roasts) There’s an irony in the fact that the behavior that pushed away so many people prior to that night was on full display then as well, with Chase refusing to be a good scene partner or playing along in a manner to help the show as a whole—the “show”, in this case, being an evening dedicated to and revolving around him.
Comedy Central aired it on December 1, 2002 and then never really replayed it ever again due to its infamy (also it’s doubtful that folks Comedy Central viewers in 2002 were clamoring for more Chevy in their content).
But the standout moment that has stuck with me for almost 18 years is Stephen Colbert’s segment. It is simply amazing with a brilliant angle and precision wording that Colbert delivers impeccably. And while all he says is absolutely accurate about Chase—and perhaps cut too close to the bone for the star of COPS AND ROBBERSONS—it isn’t technically specific to the former late night talk show host.
It’s just about someone no longer being relevant or talented. The fact that each particularly sculpted phrase touched Chase’s every last nerve basically gives away the game that Chase was more than aware of what he had become.
It’s all a shame as Chase in his prime was legitimately good.
And he was actually well utilized as a villain on the TV show Chuck and did good work on Community (despite all of the mishigas with that). But in the end, no one’s really that impressed that you were almost a part of Steely Dan. So I guess the lessons are:
Consider not being such a horrible dick all of the time to everyone.
“A humorless husk of my former self, haunting the halls of Hollywood like some sort of walking, waking cautionary tale…shapeless and odorless and colorless…gray on beige…a comedy lamprey just sucking the joy out of everything I touch!” is God-level brilliant and I hope it stays with you for the next 18 years as it has with me. (Also calling SNL cast members “sketch-a-teers” tickles me to no end)