Chevy Chase had a little help from his co-stars during filming for the 1989 movie Christmas Vacation. The actor recently revealed that he couldn’t remember his lines in the classic holiday film during a scene in which his character, Clark Griswold, had a major meltdown over his disappointing Christmas bonus.
Speaking at the Chicago Fan Expo in August 2025, Chase, 81, admitted that his cast mates had to wear placards around their necks, displaying his lines during his character’s iconic rant about his “cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, d—less, hopeless, heartless, fat-a–, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey s—” of a boss.
“I had to cover all of those words,” Chase said at the fan event, per Entertainment Weekly. “Every one of them had a sign in front of ’em,” he added of his co-stars, which included Beverly D’Angelo and Randy Quaid.
Chase, who actually wrote the dialogue for the classic scene, added, “They all had my lines in front of ’em. So, I just went from dirty word that I wrote to dirty word that I wrote, and this went on like that for a while. But it wasn’t actually that dirty, come to think of it. I had to come up with a lot of strange stuff, instead of, like, ‘You f—in’ this or that.'”
Chevy Chase’s ‘Vacation’ Wife Explained How the Scene Worked
In the famous scene, Clark Griswold was stunned to open his Christmas bonus envelope to find that instead of the hefty check he was expecting, he was gifted a membership in the jelly of the month club. Clark’s ensuing tirade in front of his extended family is one of the funniest scenes in the movie.
In a 2015 interview with The Dinner Party Download, D’Angelo explained that the scene was camera blocked in a way that allowed each of the cast members to wear a rope around their neck with a cue card attached to it.
“The rant was divided into sections so that he could go all the way through from the beginning to end without a chance of forgetting his lines or flipping his lines,” she said,” They were all right there. So we didn’t have the lines in order exactly, and if you watch it, you can see him. His eyes go from character to character as he’s going on in the speech because we’ve got the lines there.”
D’Angelo also defended Chase, noting that the move had nothing to do with his acting ability.
“You hear those stories about how Marlon Brando would wear an earpiece, or he’d have like his lines stuck on the ceiling, or in a bowling ball, or something like that,” she said. “So, I want to make it clear that the fact that we were wearing cue cards was not about any actor’s incompetence. It had to do with our knowledge that the way to have Chevy sail was to have it there at his fingertips in case he needed it.”
One Hollywood Director Took a Pass on ‘Christmas Vacation’ After Meeting Chevy Chase
Christmas Vacation was directed by Jeremiah Chechik, but it was originally supposed to be helmed by future Home Alone director Chris Columbus. But Chase did not sail through his initial meetings with Columbus.
In a 2024 interview with Vanity Fair, Columbus recalled two “bizarre” meetings he had with Chase that prompted him to quit the project. “I was signed on…and then I met Chevy Chase,” Columbus told the outlet. “Even given my situation at the time, where I desperately needed to make a film, I realized I couldn’t work with the guy.”
Columbus claimed that Chase didn’t seem to know who he was and “didn’t say anything” for the first half hour of their meeting before allegedly finally asking him, “’Wait a second. You’re the director?’… Oh, I thought you were a drummer.’ “
Their second meeting for dinner went just as poorly. “We spent two hours together, and I left the dinner and I thought, ‘There’s no way I can make a movie with this guy,’” Columbus told Vanity Fair. “First of all, he’s not engaged [in the conversation]. He’s treating me like s—t. I don’t need this. I’d rather not work again. I’d rather write.”
Related: Longtime ‘SNL’ Cast Member Seemingly Confirms Return for Season 51
