ESSAY: SNL, The Chevy Chase Ban, Sunspots and Heroes

by Don Rose


From TLR's Ironic Comic corner comes today's strange fact: comedian/actor Chevy Chase, who gained his initial fame by starring on SNL (Saturday Night Live for the abbreviationally challenged), is banned from ever hosting the show again. Hard to believe, was my first reaction -- but would Wikipedia lie? Here are the stats Wikipedia lists:

Chevy Chase
9 (number of SNL episodes hosted)
February 18, 1978 (First Hosted)
February 15, 1997 (Last Hosted)
5 (Number of Special Cameos)
First former cast member to host more than five times.
Was banned from ever hosting again in 1997.

Why would this happen, you ask? According to funtrivia.com, here is the explanation:

After hosting nine times, former SNL regular Chevy Chase was banned from ever hosting the show again after the February 15, 1997 episode due to his verbal abuse of the cast and crew during the week. Even though Chevy Chase has been banned from hosting, he did make cameo appearances in two episodes: the February 20, 1999 episode in a sketch where Bill Murray (the episode host) plugs a book featuring famous quotes from the movie Caddyshack, and the October 6, 2001 episode where he reprises his role as The Land Shark and eats Tina Fey during Weekend Update. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_From_SNL

Now, we here at The LA Report are biased, since Chevy is one of our comedy heroes. But may we humbly suggest to the SNL folks that there should be a period of penalty, sure, but eventually, a chance at redemption. Hasn't an 11 year Chevy ban been enough? Perhaps SNL can give Chevy a second chance AND get comedic mileage out of such a grand return. Like, have Chevy co-host with a random unfunny person to fulfill the rule that he never host again (he would be CO-hosting, after all). Or, show Chevy going through a futuristic Clockwork Orange type conditioning to prevent him from ever verbally abusing anyone again, lest he suffer inner pangs of pain, guilt and stomach convulsions. Just some ideas here. We just think Chevy should get a shot at a hosting comeback.

If our Sun has an 11 year sunspot cycle, perhaps S Sun L can have a Host Ban Cycle. The fact that that last sentence made little sense shows how deeply we feel about this. If we are willing to throw out all journalistic quality for one sentence, surely we must be desperate to make a point here. There are so few heroes left anymore, we think the public should be allowed to savor all we still have. We want Chevy to host again. Can't we Chase that dream?