 Buy this Chevy Chase poster from Art.com I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not. -- Chevy Chase, Saturday Night Live The son of a plumbing-company heiress, Cornelius Crane Chase was nicknamed "Chevy" (after the wealthy Maryland community of the same name) by his grandmother. After graduating from Bard college with a BA in English, Chevy held down several jobs (tennis pro, truck driver, bartender) before seeking work as a comedy writer; throughout his twenties Chase wrote for the Smothers Brothers, National Lampoon, and (just once) Mad magazine. His performing career began with "Channel One," a New York-based comedy video workshop, which evolved into the 1974 feature film Groove Tube. Chase's quick wit and smart-alecky stage presence led to his being hired by producer Lorne Michaels for the first season of NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1975. Ostensibly an ensemble show, S.N.L. quickly became a star vehicle for Chase on the strength of his satirical "Weekend Update" news reports and also because of Chevy's spectacular slapstick falls and his devastating lampoons of President Gerald Ford. Falling on his face (as President Ford on Saturday Night Live) made Chevy a star in 1975. Originally a comedy writer, his deadpan, preppy demeanor and reckless, smartass antics took him to Hollywood after only a year on S.N.L. Chevy stumbled on booze, drugs, and divorce after his initial hits, but his movie career and home life picked up again after a stint in rehab, four, count 'em four, National Lampoon's Vacation movies, and a new wife, Jayni. Chase is living proof that comedy really is hard: he developed a chronic back condition as a result of his frequent pratfalls for the camera.
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