The late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” is celebrating 50 years in 2025. With fifty years of television history behind “SNL,” it should come as no surprise that there has been a lot of drama behind the scenes. Except for all the chaos shown Jason Reitman’s movie “Saturday Night,” showing the evening of the show’s premiere in October 1975, the first seasons of “SNL” caused great controversy behind the stage, especially when the series began to hit, and unknown comedians began to gain popularity.

Chevy Chase was the first and most profitable of “SNL’s” success right out of the gate, mainly because, as part of the satire Weekend Update, he was the only person to mention his name on the show regularly. (“I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not” was his sign on the desk). As reported by many who worked at “SNL,” Chase’s newfound fame did not sit well with fellow cast member John Belushi, who resented Chase’s rapid rise, especially when he left the show to pursue a career in movies. This was not because Belushi wanted to be the star of the show himself (even almost refused to sign the “SNL” contract at the same time), and because it pushed everyone else to the side that was experimental. Both the cast and crew were not happy with what they did next.

Chase left “SNL” in the second season, and the third season brought Bill Murray, who was always called “the new Chevy,” which disappointed both of them. So there was already a controversy built when Chase returned to “SNL” to host the 11th episode of the third season in February 1978. This controversy was started by none other than John Belushi, although Chase’s reputation after leaving the show did not begin. do him any good. The result was a fight that broke out between Murray and Chase before the show even started.

In the book “Live from New York“Writer James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, an oral history of “SNL,” Chase admitted that his first mistake was thinking that he would do the Weekly Updates, although the member Jane Curtin took the desk since he left Chase said, “That was my imagination because Jane has been doing this all year.”

According to the book by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad”.Saturday Night,” Chase was direct and blunt in his expectations. The book describes a meeting in the office of “SNL” producer and showrunner Lorne Michaels in which Chase says, “Jane, let’s see, you can’t be there. screen with me at the same time.”

This did not please Bill Murray. As Chase recalled in “Live from New York,” “John also, as I found out later, spread false news about me out of jealousy and anger or whatever to Billy Murray, who protects Jane and, as usual, a scornful person and I’m sure Billy they want to bring me down, you know.”

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Why did it fall to Bill Murray to take the Chase down a peg or two? In “Live from New York,” Murray explained:

“It was because I was the new guy, and it was like it was my job to do it. It would have been a lot less for somebody else to do it. It’s like I was forced to do it, you know, I think everybody expected it. his work.

Everyone else was from a developed country where you never made it about yourself. There was a group. You were a company. So when he left, there was resentment. It was amazing. At the same time, Chevy was a big potato in the stew. He found many paintings. He had a lot of influence, he became very famous, all those things. So they didn’t miss that part of it. But there was no feeling that they shouldn’t leave until everyone had it. “

Of course, it wasn’t just Chase’s “SNL” anger that caused the problem. Along with Chase’s fame came arrogance, and he had a big headache to begin with. Murray had more to say when recalling the fight on “Live from New York,” where he said, “I remember the hate he faced, and he came back as a star. You go through like a year or two where you’re a real a-hole.

Chase is still in the early stages of popularity – perhaps many would argue that he has never shaken off such arrogance – but he was willing to admit more when explaining what happened to Murray. In “Live from New York,” Chase revealed:

“I think Billy was trying to bring me down, and maybe I was over the top. Maybe I was too full of myself, you know. I realized when I left that maybe I wasn’t a great person. .Maybe we weren’t close enough maybe I had a problem with self-doubt, and in time, it got easier to do. , it was water under the bridge, but it changed my mind because my thoughts were all this time that the first year was a very close family and I only discovered because of what someone wrote and because people responded to me like bridge. the first broken star.”

In the week leading up to the show, Murray and Chase were already fighting and promoting each other. The book “Saturday Night” describes the barbs they shoot at each other throughout the writing and rehearsal process. At one point, Murray interrupted a meeting to address complaints from cast and crew about his presence on the show’s first season. But perhaps the cutest was Murray’s reference to the friendship story that Chase announced by saying, “Go get your wife. I hear she needs it.” Chase, after being cool, was chased by Murray’s appearance, referring to Neil Armstrong falling on his face, mocking the boxcar scars on the comedian’s face.

Everything came to a head on the night of the live show, and just as Chase was about to hit the stage like President Gerald Ford because of the coldness of the show, he went into Murray’s room to check it out.

However, when Murray and Chase traded turns, neither seemed to get into a fight, instead just yelling and getting a little aggressive. During the scuffle, it was actually John Belushi who ended up getting hit several times, as he happened to be in Murray’s dressing room at the time. In fact, Chase recalled another detail that belies Belushi’s place in all of this, “John was like the Cheshire Cat, sitting there, ‘Mission accomplished.’

Director John Landis (“The Blues Brothers”) was on “SNL” at the time, and recalled the incident on “Live from New York,” saying, “Chevy and Billy had a big fight. On the way, and (writer) Michael O’Donoghue and Tom Davis were holding them back, and John and Danny (Aykroyd) jumped in because Chevy and Billy were coming to fight.” But perhaps the most interesting memory was Murray taking the time to call Chase a “mediocre talent,” which is a direct, thoughtful, and surprising insult.

Of course, Chase and Murray had a show to do. In “Live from New York,” Chase may have patted himself on the back the most when it came to staying on track for television:

“This happened, but I have a show to do. Others would have withered away. I had a certain strength about me since I was a child and my older brother chased me early in my young life, and there have been a few times when I was violent, so it wasn’t like I was a person who had never seen the other side of the track that I was in. In other words, instead of being filled with adrenaline that gives you a shock and doesn’t allow you to focus on what you are doing, which it just passed, and maybe because I was in shape and I played a lot of football and I was in situations where I was able to calm down when things like that happened.”

Okay, we hear you, Chevy.

Although the feud between Chase and Murray lasted for years, they finally put their beef to rest by making the comedy “Caddyshack.” Director Harold Ramis, who would later have his beef with Bill Murray after “Groundhog Day,” cast both Chase and Murray in his “slobs vs. snobs” golf video. In fact, their famous activities together (below) is why the two actors were able to put their differences behind them.

In Chris Nashawaty’s book “Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story,” Murray said he found the deal easy:

“I’ve never done anything with Chevy. We always had a … funny relationship. But it was like, ‘Okay, I liked when you did that. Let’s move on.’ We kept going, and it was funny because Ty Webb is so close to who Chevy is I thought, ‘Hey, he’s my friend!’ It’s a delightful example of what Harold says the film is – responsibility.”

Chase admits, as he said in the boastful way that only a man like him could say, “We overcame everything. The conflict was short. I have nothing but admiration and love for Bill. He can still be a sarcastic character. , to say the least. But in the end, he’s a good guy even though I’m the first star in the movie, I always think of Caddyshack as a Billy movie. It’s hard to disagree, actually when Bill Murray arranged one of the funniest scenes in the film.

The good news is that they are still compatible, as far as we know. During the show”The Howard Stern Show” back in September 2008, Chase reflected on their feud and said, “We’ve never been close, but we’ve been very friendly, we play golf together. (…) I think we’ve been trying for years to get to know each other better and let go of those things. “