Here are the biggest ‘Saturday Night Live’ feuds you forgot existed
Live from the New York Post, it’s the biggest feuds from “Saturday Night Live.”
“Saturday Night Live” has helped some of the comedy world’s biggest stars get their start, but audiences may not remember the on and off-air turmoil in between. Why did Bill Murray call out Chevy Chase on Season 2? What made Dana Carvey believe Mike Myers stole his Lorne Michaels impression?
Well, with Season 50 swiftly approaching on Sept. 28, it’s time to look back on all the messy moments.
Chevy Chase vs. Bill Murray
Season 2 of “SNL” was back and better than ever when the premiere episode aired Sept. 18, 1976. Chevy Chase returned to host, but Murray didn’t hold back when confronting the man he had replaced about being a jerk on the show.
It started with insults that quickly turned into shouts, as Murray, 74, sneered at Chase, 80: “Go f–k your wife. I hear she needs it.” The “National Lampoon’s Vacation” star fired back, targeting the “Caddyshack” actor’s complexion by saying his face looked like something astronaut Neil Armstrong had landed on.
According to Laraine Newman’s account in the 2015 book “Live From New York,” that insult turned the fight physical. “It was ugly,” she recalled. “I’d never seen guys fighting like that, let alone people I knew.”
Mike Myers vs. Dana Carvey
So yes, technically, the “Wayne’s World” stars have called a truce, but only after being estranged for years.
Dana Carvey, 69, believed that Mike Myers, 61, didn’t give him adequate screen time in the “Wayne’s World” movies and also stole his Lorne Michaels impression. Every detail to be in fact, including the pinky to the mouth, for Dr. Evil in the “Austin Powers” films.
“When I saw Mike do it, I did kind of go, ‘Hmmm…’” Carvey, who was on ‘SNL’ for seven seasons in the late ’80s, told Howard Stern in 2017. “But it’s a long time ago and look, it’s a really funny affectation because it’s so specific.”
Nora Dunn vs. Jan Hooks vs. Victoria Jackson
This three-way feud was nothing short of dramatic. Let’s break it down:
Jan Hooks, a returning player from 1986 to 1991, wasn’t a fan of Victoria Jackson, who starred on the show during the same time.
“I just have a particular repulsion to grown women who talk like little girls,” the late comedian said of Jackson in “Live From New York.” “She was like from Mars to me.”
No love lost here. Writer Terry Turner recalled a meeting where Jackson stood on a chair, calling fellow co-star Nora Dunn, 72, a bitch and claiming Hooks was the devil. (This was said to have been during a discussion of how the cast could better get along.)
Eddie Murphy vs. David Spade
Ah, David Spade is the infamous snarky Weekend Update guy who shamelessly roasted celebrities. He was a fan favorite on “SNL,” but sometimes, the character got the 60-year-old in trouble, like when Eddie Murphy didn’t take kindly to his remarks regarding his career.
Murphy, 63, starred on “SNL” from 1980 until 1984, and 11 years later, Spade made a reference to him in the 1995 “Hollywood Minute” sketch.
The “Grown Ups” actor held up a picture of “The Haunted Mansion” star before stating: “Look, children, it’s a falling star. Make a wish.”
Murphy told the New York Times in July that the jab was a response to his 1995 movie “Vampire in Brooklyn” tanking at the box office.
“It was like: ‘Yo, it’s in-house!’” Murphy reflected to the outlet. “I’m one of the family, and you’re f-–king with me like that?’ It hurt my feelings like that.”
And the jab took him by surprise. “It was like, ‘Hey, hello. This is ‘Saturday Night Live,’” he said. “I’m the biggest thing that ever came off that show. The show would’ve been off the air if I didn’t go back on the show, and now you have somebody from the cast making a crack about my career?”
Spade addressed their fallout from the joke in a 1997 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“Chris Rock told me, ‘Spade, Eddie’s got his biggest movie in 10 years, a beautiful wife, and he still can’t shake the fact that you took a swipe at him,’” he recalled at the time. “I said, ‘Tell him three words that’ll change his life: ‘Let it go.’”
But Murphy admitted to the Times that the two are on good terms these days.
“In the long run it’s all good, worked out great. I’m cool with David Spade, I’m cool with Lorne Michaels. I went back to ‘SNL,’” he explained, referencing his 2015 appearance on the show’s 40th-anniversary special. “It’s all love, but I had a couple of cheap shots.”
Norm Macdonald vs. Chris Kattan
The late comedian Norm Macdonald, who spent five seasons on “SNL” as a writer and cast member starting in 1993, didn’t mince words when sharing his feelings on Chris Kattan.
“I don’t know, but to me he seems gay,” Macdonald told Rolling Stone in 1997, per Observer. “He claims he’s not, but I’ve never seen, like, a guy who’s not gay seem so gay. I don’t find him funny. What can I say? Never made me laugh.”
It’s safe to say the feeling was mutual. “Norm gives me a hard time,” Kattan, who was a cast member from 1996 to 2003, said in the same article. “If Norm says I’m gay, then put in that I say he’s an asshole.”
“They had a very acrimonious relationship,” a source connected to the sketch comedy series said at the time, according to the outlet. “Norm would rip [Mr. Kattan] to his face. Norm’s a weird guy. If he doesn’t like someone, he’ll say it to his face.”
Pete Davidson vs. Louis C.K.
Pete Davidson set the record straight on Louis C.K.’s role in his departure from “Saturday Night Live” in 2022 after eight seasons.
“So, Louis C.K. tried to get me fired from ‘SNL’ my first year, and this is that story,” Davidson explained in his 2020 Netflix comedy special, “Alive from New York.”
The 30-year-old shared he was smoking weed in his dressing room, and in his version of the story, the 57-year-old wasn’t a fan. Louis complained to creator Lorne Michaels, who had to reiterate the message back to Davidson.
Although the “King of Staten Island” actor wasn’t in trouble, he was mad at C.K. for snitching on him.
Davidson even took a moment to take a dig at the stand-up when women accused him of indiscretions years later.
“I didn’t want it to happen,” he said in his special, “but if it was gonna happen to anybody, I’m glad it was him.”
Season 50 of “Saturday Night Live” premieres Sept. 28 on NBC with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll at 11:30 p.m. ET.
