A London theater audience was treated to a minor showbiz miracle last night, when comedy legend (and famed jerkass) Chevy Chase had an awkward, uncomfortable, antagonistic interaction with another human being…and for once, it doesn’t appear to have been his fault.
Chase was appearing at the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo in London this week for “An Evening With Chevy Chase,” in which British DJ—and the singer-songwriter of this racist, anti-immigration calypso song, which ranks among the worst things we’ve ever heard—Mike Read was set to grill him about his life and career. Or, you know, just his thoughts on tennis, and his “music career,” and his ancestors in 1620s England, and whatever other questions happened to wander through Read’s head. Why the fuck not?
Chase seems to have been just as baffled by the line of questioning as everyone else in the theater, according to a few different accounts of the night. Video shows him mocking Read’s accent after a particularly rambling question, a textbook Chase asshole move that actually somehow comes off as charming in the moment. Read apparently sensed that he was rapidly losing the crowd; after being treated to a cry of “Mike Read is a twat!’ from the audience, he promptly abandoned the stage; Chase—the hero for once, if only by default—was apparently treated to enthusiastic cheers after he dropped the mic and followed him off. (That didn’t stop London theater-goers from angrily demanding their money back afterward, though.)