Comedian Chase Discusses Political Humor

Actor and comedian Chevy Chase recounted his days as a political satirist on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and commented on present-day political leaders to a packed audience as part of an Institute of Politics (IOP)-sponsored forum last Friday.

Students crowded into the Science Center to hear Chase talk about his satirical portrayal of former president Gerald Ford on SNL and his successful acting career. The forum began with a clip of Chase as President Ford on SNL in the late 1970s. Chase worked on the show during Ford's bid for the presidency against former president Jimmy Carter.

"I did comedy and parody television in the '70s. I was a liberal Democrat, and it was a very heady year," Chase said. "I just wanted to prevent [Ford] from being president."

Chase's work on SNL was among the first political satire on public television, and was reputed to have influenced voters' perception of Ford and eventually, the outcome of the election itself.

"SNL doesn't have that kind of power anymore," Chase said. "The show stuck with its opinionated side. It still has effects but there are many, many other forums for others to do [political humor]."

Chase discussed many aspects of his past works, sharing humorous anecdotes about his time at SNL and about dinners with President Ford, and gave some tips on how to approach a political humor piece.

"[When I write a piece] I take the stories of various newspapers and work with them. But the impression could get in the way of what you're trying to say. It's the writing that counts," he said.

Chase also touched upon current political issues, giving his candid assessment of President Bush and his campaign.

"He's about as bright as a manatee, stole the election... It's atrocious to me how he did it. I believe he was a coke dealer just a few years ago...The man has all the charisma of an egg-timer and doesn't come off as a leader of the Free World," Chase said.

A Democratic supporter, Chase expressed genuine admiration for Clinton during the course of his talk: "The President who just left office was the brightest person I've ever met. He could remember everything...and learn from any situation," he said. "I can't even compare Bush to the president we just had."

Chase said that he came up with the "Weekend Update" portion of SNL specifically so that he could mockingly comment upon the political situations of the day.

"Parodies came about because Mr. Ford was actually one of the better athletes of our presidents...but he continually had physical accidents...he was an easy target for me. The main idea was to get people laughing," Chase said. "All preconceptions when you laugh go out the window. Laughter kills it. Unfortunately for Ford, [the sketches] made people laugh at him."

To Chase, political humor was about commenting on the issues and getting laughs. "I got the laughs. That was the result I looked for," Chase said. He also never regretted any of his satirical comments: "As to political humor, [the politician] is already in the public domain, and so everything is fair game."

Chase's concluding comments included advice to aspiring political humorists: " Be Funny. Be naturally funny. If you're not, get out of the business. Be compassionate. Take drugs."

Students who attended the speech said they thought Chase was funny and inspirational.

"Even though I've never seen any of his movies, I still like the way he talks about politics. He's funny," Sloan Eddleston '04 said.

"I thought that the format of the presentation really brought out the best of Chevy Chase's wit-and at the same time allowed him to sneak in a few insights," Elizabeth Schemm '04 said.

The forum was the second in the IOP's Political Humor series. The first event was a speech given by Al Franken last month.