“I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not” became Chase’s catchphrase on Saturday Night Live. You can still get T-shirts printed with that line, according to Rob Lowe. So when Lowe got a chance to interview Chase, Lowe had to know the background of Chase’s famous line.

Chase was a guest on Lowe’s Literally! podcast on April 14. They discussed all things Saturday Night Live, Fletch, Three Amigos and more. But, when it came to Chase’s famous introduction, Chase revealed the original inspiration.

What did Chevy Chase say about ‘Saturday Night Live’?

Chase was part of the very first cast of Saturday Night Live from 1975-1976. He was also the first ever anchor of Weekend Update. The show continued to do Weekend Update after Chase left and still does it with cohosts Colin Jost and Michael Che. 

“I was doing that Update,” Chase told Lowe. “I invented this thing called Weekend Update. It allowed me to do political stuff, to say things that were outrageous but in the guise of a newscaster, it could be okay. I was always going, ‘Good evening, I’m Chevy Chase…’

The original newsman who inspired Chevy Chase’s Weekend Update line

Chase said he took the first part of his Saturday Night Live line from a real local news anchor. The rest was his own. 

“I was thinking about this Channel 5 guy here in New York, Roger Grimsby,” Chase said. “He was a newscaster at a local station but he used to always say, ‘I’m Roger Grimbsy, and here now the news.’ I just didn’t want to go that long. ‘I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.’ That was it. Just very simple. It happened right there on the Update thing. 

Even reading the news was slapstick

Chase’s trademark was physical comedy. He played Gerald Ford falling down in various sketches. Chase would continue the pratfalls in his movies. He said even reading the fake news was physical comedy.

“It’s a lot of physical stuff though,” Chase said. “To me, just about all comedy is physical. That means the face I would make or the gesture I would make or the eyebrow lift or turning around. I love to say this one because it was between ‘75 an ‘76. We came on the air the beginning of ‘76. We were on in ‘75. I was up there on the Update set and we said, ‘Well, that’s it for 1975. Here we are in 1976. Let’s take a look back, won’t we?’ Then I did this.”

In the sketch, Chase turns to look at the number 1975 on the screen behind him. 

Source: Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast

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