Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, And Martin Short Were A Dream Team On ‘SNL’ In The ’80s

Upon its establishment, Saturday Night Live became an unprecedented platform for the best in comedy. The mid-’60s saw one particularly memorable collaboration, that being the dream team of Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Chevy Chase, who proved themselves masters of slapstick.

Short and Martin are often thought of as a package deal, with many of their projects pairing them together, from the pure comedy of Father of the Bride to the biblical wonder of The Prince of Egypt. They made an equally strong impression during their first foray into the sketch comedy show alongside series original Chase.

Martin Short and Steve Martin were a force to be reckoned with alongside Chevy Chase on ‘SNL’

On December 6, 1986, SNL was hosted by a founding cast member Chase alongside the unstoppable comedic duo of Martin and Short; the trio also famously appeared together in The Three Amigos. The cold open was a strong nod to Chase’s own origins on the program, but it allowed each of them to show off their strengths—which lay heavily in successfully delivering hilarious slapstick comedy, showing off total physical control.

It takes place at the Gerald Ford Clinic, likely a play on the real Betty Ford Clinic, but this one is dedicated to relentless klutzes. When Steve Martin enters a therapy session, he immediately trips over one of his peers. Short is a bit more graceful in his descent than Martin, but still as disastrous, and it sets the tone as the patients await their counselor, played by Chase.

Slapstick can be easy to overdo or miss the mark on, but all three key players in this delicate scene proved they had total mastery of their movements and an unbeatable knowledge of comedic timing.

Doing this for another bunch of decades

It’s quickly made apparent that this therapy session might just be a severe case of the blind leading the blind, as Chase, the therapist, quickly proves that perhaps he should have been a patient instead.

December 10, 2022 would see Short and Martin return to the SNL stage again to host, this time with a season of Only Murders in the Building under their belt. As far as they’re concerned, they would like to continue this trend of friendship and collaboration for decades more.

From their time getting to know one another in Three Amigos to promoting the latest season of Hulu’s whodunit, Short and Martin feel they have another four decades of laughs to go.