Chevy Chase has
always been Clark Griswold to me. His SNL days were
before my time and as a child of the 80s, he's the
funny family man. I've seen everything he's done and
respect most of it, but his impact in the Vacation
movies won't be topped. Unfortunately I have never
read a positive story about him. I hadn't really
thought about it until this set visit, but it's really
the impression I've had for decades. SNL has
banned him from the set, Bill Murray tried to beat the
shit out of him - no former cast members have a kind
word. It seems just like a given thing. So I was more
than curious as to what he'd be like on the
set.
Throwing out
everything else I had read about him, he was
noticeably less friendly than the other cast
members... but in a way that was expected. Meaning
he's done this his whole life. Everyone else in the
cast is experiencing fame for the first time. You're
far more receptive at the beginning. Far more
appreciative. I remember signing autographs and taking
pictures outside of CBS and honestly? I would've gone
out to lunch with them. I was so goddamn appreciative
that anyone cared... I was 10x more excited about
them than they were of ME. Well, Chevy dealt with that
in 1975. 40 years later, he's just done. Given that?
He was gracious, took pictures, played the company
line. It's good for the show and these set visits are
the result of someone donating to charity... so you
play along.
As
I mentioned in the last entry, I abhor
this shit. I have to do it to hand-over this
GODDAMN blu-ray that will never be
watched. But I do it because
I can't lay in bed knowing I had
the opportunity to give Clark Griswold my
documentary and I didn't. So I did,
and he literally laughed at me and took it
into his trailer. Donald Glover joked that
Chevy doesn't even own a VHS. The truth is
though, as I mentioned in the General
Hopsital entry, there's no credibility for
these people to be interested. I printed my
review hoping that would help, but the truth
is that unless someone that THEY respect
hands it to them? This alllllllllllll goes in
the trash. Why the hell would they care? But
I did it. There it is. I did my job as
producer. Fuck. This.
Of course all I
could really think about was
"I'M HAVING A BABY!!!" and I can't
tell anyone 'cause my father-in-law doesn't know yet
and he was next to me the whole time. So when
I got a chance I figured I'd be the uber-dick and
run up to Chevy Chase with my camera as he was walking
around later in the day. I figure, if I'm gonna play
"dorky tourist", I might as well get something
for The Journey that my family, friends and fans will
appreciate. So, I give you this:
Ha. I swear there
is not one second of that where he's not fully aware
that our set visit comes from a charity and he can't
tell me to fuck off. As far as what he said? I really
was surprised he got all serious since I've never seen
that in 30 years of watching him (and yes
I understand you actually do hold the woman's leg
back to help), but it's all fascinating to me to get
that recorded. Such a surreal video. And sorry, but if
my wife wants an epidural, my wife will have an
epidural. I believe we worry too much about shit that
makes little difference. Although I think doctors
are too quick to do a C-Section and if I had the
money we would do a home-birth with a mid-wife, we
also live in a time where we can make the stream
easier to float down, with no harm to the baby.
Epidurals FOR THE WIN.
So Chevy was a
good sport with me even though I'm certain that in any
other setting it would've been really ugly. LOL. God
I hate being "that guy". As I said in the
last entry, it's still sickening to act like a tourist
in a setting you actually worked in... but
I just feel like I have to get that blu-ray in
people's hands. Fairly certain this will be the last
set visit for that shit, but what a surreal chapter in
Journey Lore., huh?
