As a concept, I really like Chevy Chase. He put in hilarious performances in Caddyshack, Fletch and Vacation, so it's really easy to forget that he's also insulted our intelligence with dozens of instantly forgettable BAD movies like Cops And Robbersons, Deal Of The Century and Modern Problems. Hell, I can't even REMEMBER if I liked his performances in Funny Farm, Three Amigos and Spies Like Us! Did I? What about Foul Play? He had a funny bit part in that Norm McDonald movie Dirty Work that was funny. His talk show sucked, I guess, though I only saw a few minutes of one episode. Weird, when you consider how funny he was on Saturday Night Live. But there's no way in HELL I'm going to see Snow Day, and I don't think there's a video store in America that stocks old letdowns like Under The Rainbow and Memoirs Of An Invisible Man. I think he's even made more bad movies than Steve Martin - and that INCLUDES Leap Of Faith! Sad. So sad. We can only assume that an incredible drug habit is responsible for his downfall.
Thus, this album. HORRENDOUS. I read somewhere that Chevy was the pianist for an early incarnation of Steely Dan, so I guess he DOES have musical talent. But I can't even figure out what the point of this record WAS. It's certainly not funny at all, nor musically interesting. In fap, the only word I can think of that adequately describes it is "extraneous." There's just no reason at all for this album to exist. It's entirely unnecessary in every way imaginable.
Yes!!! Even the way that you're imagining right now!
How about a quick track-by-track rundown, so you can see what I'm talking about? Okay, here we goat:
(1) Three or four people sing the national anthem in low, gruff voices.
They get out of time with each other. That's the joke.
(2) A parody of Randy Newman's novelty hit "Short People," which tells why
short people have MORE reason to live, not NO reason. It's a parody of a
novelty song. Kinda like if I recorded a hilarious parody of "Weird Al"
Yankovic's "Eat It," entitled "Heat It."
(3) This one starts okay, but goes downhill and stays there. It's a soul
singer onstage doing lots of smooth, sexy stage banter, getting ready to
sing a love song. Then his pants split. Not once, but TWICE. Ha.
(4) A parody of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff," with new lyrics revolving
around drug use. Almost astoundingly unfunny.
(5) The Beatles' "Let It Be" sung in a Chipmunk voice. Why?
(6) This is the only good song on the album, in my opinion. It's a sexy
disco song with all these sex grunt noises all the way through it. At the
end, suddenly it is revealed that they weren't sex noises - they were the
sounds of a doctor helping a woman give birth. Ha! Okay, it's no Mort
Sahl, but it's sure better than the rest of this shit. And you can dance to
it!
(7) "Sixteen Tons." If there's a joke in this cover, I can't find it.
(8) I don't even think I get this one. It's a bouncy keyboard cover of
"Wild Thing" with Chevy singing in a quivery, crying voice. It must be some
early 80s thing, like sado-masochism or something. NOT FUNNY EVEN A LITTLE
BIT.
(9) A parody of "Rapper's Delight," in which an unsuspecting couple enter a
disco and have their wallets stolen. EVERY BIT AS HILARIOUS AS ITSOUNDS!!!!!!
So what is your hypothesis? Why does this record exist? Here's the only answer I can come up with: CHEVY CHASE NEEDED COKE MONEY AND FAST.
If you ever saw the ill-fated Chevy Chase talkshow on FOX, you're just barely grasping the concept of how unfunny this album is.
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