Norm Macdonald Has a Show season 1, episode 6 recap: Chevy Chase

In episode 6 of Norm Macdonald has a Show, Chevy talks about his influences, the early days of SNL and brags about knowing The Beatles.

In case you didn’t know, Norm Macdonald knows Chevy Chase a little. If nothing else, the two worked on Bob Saget’s revenge-for-hire themed comedy Dirty Work.

Still, rather than discuss that film the whole time, Chevy discusses some of his influences, such as Charlie Chaplin. He also notes how, back then, Chaplin and Hardy (form Laurel and Hardy) both had “Hitler mustaches” (interestingly, a lot of things originally didn’t belong exclusively to the Nazis, such as understandably dreaded swastika).

They also discuss Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and drugs, the documentary on National Lampoon called A Futile and Stupid Gesture, and what it’s like to impersonate Gerald Ford.

In a kind (and actually quite meaningful) compliment, Chevy Chase says Norm was the best Saturday Night Live Weekend Update guy after him. In fact, Chase phoned him up after he got fired.

He also notes how it’s important to say when something is live as it is more impressive to viewers at home. In that regard, he gives the general impression that today’s Saturday Night Live is overproduced.

Other random topics and events

The Holy Grail is Chevy Chase’s favorite Monty Python movie, and John was the funniest Beatle.

On that note, Chase can’t help but brag about knowing them. He says “It’s a sign that you’re successful that you personally know the Beatles.”

He also related that, at Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s birthday party, Leonard Bernstein kissed him on the lips. Chase was disappointed that a baseball scene with Tommy Lasorda was deleted from the movie Fletch.

He gets refreshingly candid at times, too. He thinks Allan Arkush (Rock ‘n’ Roll High School) is not a good comedy director. He also hated the Chevy Chase Show but loved meeting Robert De Niro. Chevy then randomly does an impression of John Belushi blowing his nose (hint: his septum is gone).

Where did Chevy Chase get his start? He was sort of a late bloomer as a celebrity, beginning at Saturday Night Live at 31 years of age.

However, prior to that, he wrote for The Smothers Brothers, and Laugh-In was his very first gig. He worked with John Belushi and Christopher Guest in National Lampoon’s stage production called Lemmings, and also on the so-called Woodchuck Festival of Peace, Love and Death (with “Woodchuck” replacing Woodstock).

Interestingly, Chase was an early drummer for Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who went on to form the classic rock band, Steely Dan.

At one point, Chevy Chase’s dog Wally wanders on set, and Chase (probably jokingly) claims he slept with Bob Dylan. One big highlight of the episode, though, is seeing an old sketch recorded with Chevy and Norm.

During spare moments in the making of Dirty Work, the two shot a black-and-white, old-time comedy where Chase sits in a chair. Then, out of nowhere, Norm runs up to him and seemingly bites him in an extreme place. Anything for comedy, right?

That’s it for this recap of Norm Macdonald has a Show! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!