Bill Murray and Chevy Chase turned an already combustible Saturday Night Live reunion into a backstage brawl in 1978, with director John Landis witnessing the chaos firsthand. For Murray, the incident was rooted in more than a bruised ego, as Chase had left the original cast and returned after landing a more lucrative opportunity. It was the kind of backstage story that could only emerge from the anything-goes atmosphere of early SNL, when the line between comic rivalry and real resentment could get dangerously thin.

And one of the strangest chapters from that period has now resurfaced with exactly the sort of backstage folklore that has kept the original SNL era alive for decades.

According to Nick de Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever, Bill Murray was furious that Chevy Chase had left SNL after only one season for a better-paying opportunity. When Chase returned to Studio 8H as a guest host in February 1978, the unresolved resentment reportedly boiled over into a physical confrontation. 

Director John Landis, who witnessed the encounter, described it bluntly.

 “It was a huge altercation….They were big guys and really going at it,” Landis said.

The story has since become part of the larger mythology surrounding SNL feuds. BuzzFeed included the Murray-Chase clash in its retrospective on the show’s most famous cast-member rivalries, noting the complicated tensions surrounding Chase’s original departure and his return. That distinction matters because the fight did not define their entire relationship. 

‘The Odyssey’ Faces Tucker Carlson’s Verdict as ‘SNL’ Brings Back His Impression

The fight may have become one of the more colorful stories from that era, but it was hardly the final word on Murray and Chase. Their eventual reunion in Caddyshack showed that the rivalry could give way to a different kind of comic chemistry, setting up a look at how much the SNL landscape itself has changed since those volatile early years. 

The remarkable part of the story today is how different the SNL ecosystem has become. In the early years, the show was a pressure cooker of young comedians trying to establish themselves, with live television leaving very little room for rivalries to cool down. Chevy Chase had already become the breakout star of the original cast as the first Weekend Update anchor, while Bill Murray arrived the following season and gradually established himself as one of the show’s defining performers.

That evolution becomes easier to see when looking at SNL in 2026. The show entered its 52nd season in September, and its current run has continued to bring major Hollywood names into Studio 8H. Dakota Johnson returned to host on October 3 for her third appearance, with Turnstile serving as musical guest, while Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance during Johnson’s opening monologue.

Seen from that distance, the Murray-Chase confrontation belongs to a particularly unruly chapter of SNL history. 

SNL Season 52 Cast: New Additions, Exits, and Who Stayed? Meet the Faces Who Will Run 'Saturday Night Live'

What do you think about Bill Murray and Chevy Chase’s infamous 1978 SNL fight? Share your thoughts in the comments.