Get well wishes to Chevy Chase, who showed up for one of his Christmas Vacation Q&As Wednesday and promptly tumbled off the Buffalo, New York stage. Of course, TMZ was there. TMZ is everywhere.
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For a pratfall king like Chase, that would have been damn well expected if he was 30 years younger. But considering that someone had to roll him onto the stage in a wheelchair, it’s fair to say it wasn’t planned. Worse yet, it wasn’t funny. Chase seems to have survived the tumble just fine, so it wasn’t tragic either, but when Chevy Chase falls, we want a laugh! His latest doesn’t even make his top ten topples.
The beauty of this Carter/Ford debate on SNL is how much we’re anticipating for Chevy to fall at the end. He knows it too, teasing the faceplant before yoinking it away like Lucy denying Charlie Brown a chance to kick the football.
Clark is pretty high off the ground as he tries to hang the Griswold holiday lights. Will he fall from the ladder or return to earth in another way?
Chase turned Gerald Ford into America’s Clutz, but he doesn’t quite nail the pratfall the first time around. Don’t worry, he’ll perfect it soon.
This entire sketch is built around a tall flight of stairs, foreshadowing the fall we all know is coming. Chase nails this one.
Chase isn’t exactly phoning it in here, but he is performing the cold open from a remote location. To give the live audience what they came to see, a stagehand jumps on stage and pushes the monitor featuring Chase to the floor.
Wednesday wasn’t the first time Chase careened from a wheelchair to the unforgiving ground below.
We’ll forgive Chase’s obvious use of a body double here given that (a) he’d been addicted to painkillers for back pain and didn’t need to start that up again and (b) the fall itself is so spectacular.
Early on, Chase realized that ordinary falls would grow tired fast. Introducing props increased the danger factor that comedy fans craved.
The Three Amigos reunite for this exercise in comic clumsiness.
And what better way to celebrate the season than Chase’s fall into a full-blown Christmas tree? Happy holidays!