A few nights ago, Chevy Chase appeared on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo, for a sit down retrospective of his career. He was interviewed by Mike Read. Why this was the case, no-one really knows, but from all accounts, Read’s handling of the event will go down in the annals as a total train wreck.
For a break down of the break down, read this.
Chase is a notoriously difficult interview subject, but he was trying his best to make something of the evening apparently. Here he is on Late Night With David Letterman, circa 1989, promoting his new movie Fletch Lives.
And here he is in 1986 on The Tonight Show, promoting The Three Amigos.
An interesting moment in the above clip, just before they talk about Chevy guest-hosting the show, and move on to how to deal with a show that’s tanking, is when he mentions that he was once touted as the next Carson. This seems to have stuck, as we’ve covered here before, when in 1993, Fox gave Chase his own talk show. It’s worth seeking out some of it on YouTube.
Finally, here’s Chevy and Johnny again, this time from 1985, on a Fletch promotional tour.
https://youtu.be/sFKcBJ47HCU
It just goes to show, in the hands of a good host, you can get a good interview out of him.
