Chevy Chase, Chicken Man
For the last five years or so my father has lived in a nursing home in Morton Grove, Illinois. That means that I have spent a lot of time in Morton Grove, albeit not as much as I’d like.
I am a creature of habit, so I pretty much do the same thing every time I come home to visit my old man, beginning with getting a dipped Italian Beef sandwich at the airport before I take a Lyft to my room at the Super 8.
In between the motel and my dad’s nursing home there are a lot of businesses I am eminently familiar with, including a chain restaurant called Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.
I’ve never actually eaten at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers but I have stopped there several times and been thoroughly annoyed that they don’t have a public bathroom. What kind of place doesn’t have a public bathroom? Don’t they realize that people have to relieve themselves regularly?
Then someone posted something to my Facebook group Society for the Toleration of Nathan Rabin, an aggregation of like-minded souls that NEVER gets any bigger no matter how many times I mention it on my poorly read personal blog, that made me think about Raising Cane’s in a whole new way.
It was an ad for a personal appearance that Chevy Chase was making at the Morton Grove Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers to light up its Christmas tree in tribute to his role in Christmas Vacation.
I fucking hate Christmas Vacation, incidentally. Like the original Vacation, it’s a wildly classist, misanthropic dark comedy about how poor people suck, are subhuman, gross and repulsive and are consequently fun to laugh at derisively.
In other words, it’s the perfect Chevy Chase vehicle. When I saw that Chevy Chase was reduced to making personal appearances at a second-rate chicken fingers chain it struck me as deeply sad.
There was a time, only thirty-seven to forty-seven years ago, when Chevy Chase was one of the biggest stars in the world. When Chase left Saturday Night Live after just a single season the world was his oyster.
The sky was the limit. The possibilities were endless. He was funny. He was sexy. He was hip. He was charismatic.
Younger generations might not believe any of that. Chase has fallen so far that it can be hard to believe that he was ever that popular or that good but having watched and written about the early seasons of Saturday Night Live for The A.V. Club and watched many of Chase’s early vehicles I can personally vouch that Chase genuinely was that good. It’s not just hype.
When Chase left Saturday Night Live two paths stretched before him. He could go the movie star route and be the next Cary Grant or he could stay in television and comedy and give Johnny Carson a run for his money.
Decades later Chase had his own talk show, of course, but it ended up being one of the biggest disasters in late night history. As a leading man, Chase had a string of hits: Foul Play, Caddyshack, Vacation, Fletch and Funny Farm.
Then he took a little time off in the mid 1990s and when he came back nobody wanted him anymore. It’s been over two decades since Chase starred in a theatrically released film.
Community should have been Chase’s big comeback but, as usual, his personality and world-class gift for personal and professional self-destruction fucked that up.
Now Chase, who will be EIGHTY years old next year, is reduced to showing up at fast food joints in honor of a thirty-two year old movie that sucked despite its reputation as a Christmas classic.
I Googled Chevy Chase and Raising Cane’s and saw a story about how Chase hopped behind the counter and served food to customers at an outlet in the South.
If Chase’s arch-nemesis Billy Murray were to do that at, I dunno, Portillo’s Beef (which is also, incidentally, between my motel and my dad’s nursing home), customers would lose their shit. They would be overjoyed. They would have an anecdote to eat off of forever.
Murray is also a deeply problematic figure but one who still commands respect and admiration despite everything he’s done.
When Chase served random folks chicken fingers, however, I imagine the customers just felt sad. I wonder if they asked Chase if he was doing okay and if he needed money or a place to stay.
Of course there are lots of ways to make money off being famous that do not involve lighting up Christmas trees at chicken shacks in exchange for walking around money and a place to sleep for the night.
There’s Cameo, for example. Chase is not currently on Cameo but he has been in the past. There’s also that Community movie that everyone is excited about but I’m guessing that Chase will not be involved.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Buy The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Cynical Movie Cash-In Extended Edition at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop, signed, for just 12 dollars, shipping and handling included OR twenty seven dollars for three signed copies AND a free pack of colored pencils, shipping and taxes included
Pre-order The Fractured Mirror, the Happy Place’s next book, a 600 page magnum opus about American films about American films illustrated by the great Felipe Sobreiro over at https://the-fractured-mirror.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s first non-"Weird Al” Yankovic-themed book is out! And it’s only 14.00, shipping, handling and taxes included, 25 bucks for two books, domestic only at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here
Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace We just added a bunch of new tiers and merchandise AND a second daily blog just for patrons!
Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 18 dollars, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.