Chasing Chevy Chase Podcast

All good things must come to an end — and so, at last, must the chase. Mike White and Chris Stachiw close out the Chasing Chevy Chase Podcast with special guest Rod Lott (Flick Attack, Bookgasm) joining them to tackle the inevitable: I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, Marina Zenovich's unflinching documentary which is something more unsettling than a hit piece. 

Chase himself sits for interviews, offering the kind of casual, self-sabotaging candor that has defined his public persona for decades. Long-time friends and collaborators including Dan Aykroyd, Goldie Hawn, Beverly D'Angelo, Martin Short, Lorne Michaels, and Ryan Reynolds weigh in. So does Community director Jay Chandrasekhar — notably one of the only people from that production willing to participate, with Dan Harmon and others taking a hard pass.

The documentary doesn't shy away from the wreckage: the SNL exit Chase himself now calls a mistake, his notorious feuds, the Community firing, and a cringe-inducing on-camera exchange about SNL castmate Terry Sweeney that speaks volumes. Yet, glimpses of an 82-year-old Chase at home in Bedford and doing his annual Christmas Vacation Q&As reveal something more human lurking beneath the legend — and the liability.

The podcast may be ending, but Chevy Chase, for better or worse, is forever.

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The Last Laugh (2019) pairs Chevy Chase with Richard Dreyfuss for a cross-country road trip fueled by regret. Chase plays Al Hart, a sharp-tongued talent manager newly relocated to an assisted living community, who discovers his long-lost first client — the one who got away — is now his tour guide. Buddy Green (Dreyfuss) walked away from a spot on The Ed Sullivan Show fifty years ago and never looked back.

As the penultimate stop on the Chasing Chevy Chase journey, this one carries some weight. Mike, Mark, and Chris take stock of where Chase lands in a film that's very much about looking back — at missed opportunities, faded careers, and the stubborn refusal to go quietly. It's a fitting subject for a podcast that's spent so much time doing exactly that: taking Chevy's career seriously, one film at a time.

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The Griswolds hit the Strip in Vegas Vacation (1997), the fourth installment in the beloved National Lampoon series and one that doesn't get nearly enough credit. Mark, Chris, and Mike cash in their chips on this sun-baked comedy that transplants Clark Griswold's particular brand of well-intentioned chaos from the open road to the neon-drenched excess of Las Vegas. Chase is at his most endearingly unhinged here — a man who can lose a fortune at the blackjack table while somehow radiating pure, oblivious optimism — and the guys make the case that this late-era entry deserves a second look from fans who wrote it off as a franchise on fumes.

From the Hoover Dam to the casino floor, the trio dig into how Vegas itself becomes as much a character as any Griswold, and whether the film's sharper satirical edge on American excess and gambling addiction sneaks in something smarter than it's given credit for. Chevy Chase fatigue be damned — this one might just hit the jackpot.

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Chevy Chase tries to trade sarcasm for step-dad duty in Man of the House, the 1995 family comedy that pairs him with sitcom royalty and a Tiger Scout troop. Mark, Chris, and Mike dig into Chase’s turn as a well-meaning attorney trying to win over his girlfriend’s skeptical son, played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas at peak mid-’90s fame. Add Farrah Fawcett, George Wendt, and a script credited to Don Calame, and you’ve got a movie engineered for broad appeal—and uneasy laughs.

The guys weigh how the film fits into Chase’s post-Vacation trajectory, how it softens his prickly persona for family audiences, and why the culture-clash humor (complete with faux-Native American pageantry) lands differently today. 


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Mike, Mark, and Chris revisit Cops & Robbersons, a mid-’90s Chevy Chase outing that jams suburban family comedy into a would-be cop thriller. Chase plays Andy Robberson, a lackluster father whose life implodes when a volatile detective (Jack Palance) moves in to surveil a killer (Robert Davi).

The discussion looks at where the film sits in Chase’s post-Vacation career, Michael Ritchie’s shaky tonal control, and the odd-couple dynamic between Chase’s flustered everyman and Palance’s granite-jawed intensity. Is this an overlooked curiosity, a misjudged genre mash-up, or just another example of how badly a Chase vehicle can skid without a sharp satirical edge?

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Chevy Chase takes an unexpected turn into sci-fi thriller territory with Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992). Directed by John Carpenter and adapted from H.F. Saint’s novel, the film follows Nick Halloway (Chase), who becomes invisible after a freak laboratory accident. As he grapples with the perks and pitfalls of invisibility, he also tries to evade ruthless CIA operative David Jenkins (Sam Neill) and connect with Alice Monroe (Daryl Hannah). 

It’s an ambitious mash-up of comedy, romance, and paranoia that didn’t quite land with audiences or critics at the time but remains one of the oddest entries in Chase’s career. Mike, Mark, and Chris break down the film’s tonal shifts, behind-the-scenes clashes, and its place in both Chase’s and Carpenter’s filmographies.

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Mike, Mark, and Chris revisit the 2015 Vacation, a remake-sequel that tries to chart a new path while carrying the Griswold name. They examine how the film reframes Rusty as the next-generation family man, what works (and what doesn’t) in its mix of callbacks and updated comedy, and how the movie handles the legacy of the original series. The trio also considers Chevy and Beverly D’Angelo’s brief return and whether the film earns its place in the larger Vacation lineage.

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Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, John Candy, and Dan Aykroyd walk into a nightmare—literally—in Nothing But Trouble (1991), Aykroyd’s one and only directorial effort. Chris, Mark, and Mike dig into this gonzo horror-comedy oddity that blends Texas Chain Saw Massacre grime with Looney Tunes energy and a dash of Wall Street satire. Though often written off as one of the worst films of the ’90s, our hosts find themselves surprisingly charmed by its grotesque ambition, wild set design, and commitment to sheer weirdness. Maybe, just maybe, Nothing But Trouble deserves a little less hate.

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Potentially the most popular of all of Chevy Chase's films, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation has become a perennial family favorite despite the Griswolds not actually going on vacation but their extended family visiting them in the suburbs of Chicago during a year where Clark counts too heavily on his Christmas bonus.

With a stand-out performance from Randy Quaid returning as Cousin Eddie, the film layers slapstick chaos with sharp holiday satire. Beverly D’Angelo anchors the madness as Ellen Griswold and new kids Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki provide memorable turns.

Written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, the movie captures both the warmth and the frustration of family gatherings, becoming a December staple for generations who can’t help but sympathize with Clark’s doomed quest for the “perfect” Christmas.

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Chevy Chase dons the Lakers jersey once more as Mike White (The Projection Booth), Mark Begley (Wake Up Heavy), and Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) dig into Fletch Lives (1989). The long-delayed sequel to Fletch swaps the quick-witted investigative journalist’s L.A. backdrop for Southern Gothic eccentricity, televangelists, and KKK satire—sometimes with mixed results. The trio debate whether Gregory Mcdonald’s sharp creation survived the Hollywood comedy blender, why the sequel feels both broader and thinner, and whether Chase’s disguises still land. Along the way, they examine the film’s troubled production, its place in Chase’s career arc, and the curious legacy of this oddball follow-up.

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