Bill Murray and Chevy Chase got into a physical fight during SNL

The late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2025. With five decades of television history behind “SNL,” it should come as no surprise that there has been a lot of drama behind the scenes. Apart from all the chaos it depicts Jason Reitman's “Saturday Night” depicting the show's premiere night back in October 1975, there was a lot of tension behind the scenes of the early seasons of “SNL,” especially as the series became a hit and previously unknown comedians began to rise to fame.

Chevy Chase was the first and biggest benefactor of “SNL's” success right out of the gate, mainly because, as host of the news satire Weekend Update segment, he was the only regular on the show. (“I'm Chevy Chase, but you're not” was his signature at the desk). As many who worked on “SNL” have recounted, Chase's newfound fame didn't sit well with fellow cast member John Belushi, who resented Chase's rapid rise, especially when he left the show to pursue a career in film. This happened not only because Belushi wanted to become the star of the show himself (despite almost refusing to sign the “SNL” contract at one point). The rest of the cast and crew were also not happy with his attitude after that.

Chase left “SNL” during Season 2, and Season 3 brought in Bill Murray, who was constantly referred to as “the new Chevy,” much to the chagrin of both comedians. So there was already some tension when Chase returned to “SNL” to host the 11th episode of the third season in February 1978. This tension was caused by none other than John Belushi, although Chase's reputation did not change after he left the show. do him a favor. The result was a fight that broke out between Murray and Chase just before the show went off the air.

In the book “Live from New York” by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, an oral history of “SNL,” Chase admitted that his first mistake was assuming he would do Weekend Update, despite cast member Jane Curtin having taken over the desk since his departure. Chase said: “It was a bit selfish of me because Jane has been doing it all year.”

According to the book by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, “Saturday evening,” Chase was more direct and blunt in his expectations. The book describes a meeting in the office of “SNL” creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels, in which Chase is quoted as saying, “Jane, let's face it, you can't be on screen with me at the same time.”

That didn't sit well with Bill Murray. As Chase recalled in “Live From New York,” “John, as I later found out, had spread some pretty apocryphal stories about me out of jealousy and anger or someone else to Billy Murray, who was protecting Jane and also, generally speaking, a brave fellow, and I'm sure Billy wanted to tear me down.

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Why did Bill Murray have to knock Chase down a peg or two? On “Live From New York,” Murray explained:

“It was because I was the new guy and it felt like it was my job. It would have been too small for anybody else to do. It's almost like I was immersed in it, you know, I think everyone was hoping for it. I think they resented Chevy for taking a big part of the success, leaving his career.

Everyone else was from the improv world, where you didn't talk about yourself. You were an ensemble. You were the company. So when he left, there was resentment. It was a shock. At the same time, Chevy was the big potato in the stew. He won the most sketches. He had the most influence, he got the most publicity, all those things. So they didn't miss that part. But there was still a hangover feeling that he shouldn't have left until everyone had experienced it.”

Of course, it wasn't just the “SNL” cast members' resentment of Chase that caused the problem. With Chase's fame came even more arrogance, and he already had a big head. Murray noted this when recalling the fight on “Live from New York,” where he said, “I just remember the general animosity they felt, and he came back as a star. When you're famous, you're famous. It's been a year or two, when you act like a real a-hole It happens to everyone.

Chase was still in the early stages of fame— many would probably argue that he never shook that cocky ego — but he was willing to admit at least as much when talking about the fight with Murray. On “Live From New York,” Chase reflected:

“I think Billy was trying to bring me down and I might have been up. I guess I was a little too full of myself, you know. When I left, I realized that maybe I hadn't been such a great guy. Maybe we weren't that close. , that was water under the bridge, but it changed my perception because the whole time I was under the impression that that first year was really a close-knit family and that I just happened to be born because someone had written and because people responded to me as the first breakaway star.”

In the week leading up to the show, Murray and Chase had already poked and prodded each other. The book “Saturday Night” describes some of the barbs they threw at each other during writing and rehearsal. At one point, Murray interrupted the meeting to air some excuses from the cast and crew for his presence in the show's first season. But perhaps the deepest cut was when Murray took aim at Chase's publicized relationship problems, saying, “Go to hell with your wife. I hear she needs it.” Chase, keeping his composure, met Murray's gaze as he made a comment about Neil Armstrong that landed in his face, and he was a serious insult to the scars on the comedian's face.

On the night of the live show, things turned sour, and just before Chase was scheduled to take the stage as President Gerald Ford for the show's cold opener, he walked into Murray's room for a card demonstration.

However, even though Murray and Chase traded blows, neither of them seemed to land a punch, instead just yelling and petting each other a bit. During the brawl, it was John Belushi who ended up with a couple of punches, as he was hanging out in Murray's dressing room at the time. In fact, Chase recalled one telling detail that incriminates Belushi's place in all of this: “John was like a Cheshire Cat, sitting there like, 'Mission accomplished.'

Director John Landis (“The Blues Brothers”) happened to be on “SNL” during the matchup, and he recounted his memory of the incident on “Live From New York,” saying, “Chevy and Billy had a huge, screaming fight in the hallway, and (writers) Michael O'Donoghue and Tom Davies held them back, and John and Danny (Aykroyd) jumped in because Chevy and Billy were really going to come to blows.” But perhaps the funniest detail he remembered was Murray taking the time to call Chase a “mediocre talent,” an insult so specific, thoughtful and hilarious.

Of course, Chase and Murray had their work cut out for them. On “Live From New York,” Chase may have patted himself on the back a little too much to stay on track, going straight to live television:

“It happened, but I have to put on a show. Others might have withered. I had a certain stretch from childhood with an older brother who had already beaten me out of me for much of my younger life, and there were several times when I got into violent situations, so it wasn't like I was just some guy who'd never seen a track.In other words, instead of being filled with adrenaline that shakes you up and keeps you focused on what you're doing, it's simple passed and that may be because I was fit and played a lot of football and I've been in situations where I could easily calm down after something like that happened.”

Okay, we got it Chevy.

Although this feud between Chase and Murray would last for years, they eventually patched up their beef during the production of the classic sitcom Caddyshack. Directed by Harold Ramis, who would later have his own beef with Bill Murray after “Groundhog Day” played both Chase and Murray in his golf movie Slob vs. Snob. In fact, their famous scene (seen below) is the reason the two actors were able to forget their differences.

In Chris Neshawaty's book “Caddyshack: The Making of Hollywood's Cinderella Story“, Murray said that the collaboration seems easy to him:

“I've never really done anything with Chevy. We've always had kind of a … funny relationship. But it was like, 'Okay, I liked it when you did that.' Let's continue. We went on and it was funny because Ty Webb is not far from who Chevy is and I felt comfortable as Carl. And if Ty laughed he thought it meant, “Hey, he's my friend!” It's a really fun, self-aware example of what Harold thinks the movie is about—status.

Chase agrees, saying in a self-congratulatory way that only someone like him can say, “We've gotten through it all. The tension was temporary. I have nothing but admiration and affection for Bill. He can still be a fierce character. , to say the least.” more but he's a good guy at the end of the day even though i'm the number one movie star i always think of kadishak as billy's movie it's hard to disagree esp when Bill Murray improvised one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

The good news is that they still have good rules, at least as far as we know. During the performance “The Howard Stern Show” In September 2008, Chase reflected on their conflict and said, “We've never been close, but we've been very friendly, we play golf together. (…) I think we've made an effort over the years to get to know each other better and put those things away.”