Slapstick comedy genius Chevy Chase who kicked off “SNL” in the ’70s, is recouping at his home in Westchester.
“These are my first few days home. I can only say how happy I am to now be back with my family. I’m feeling good,” he told me. “I was in the hospital five weeks. A heart issue. So, for now, I’m around the house. Not going anywhere.”
The onetime self-styled physical comic, now 77, says: “I used to go out and do anything. I’d do slapstick in front of 3,000 people. But at this moment I have no need to go out and meet COVID.
“I read. Turn on TV. Watch the news. All drek. I see actors, comedians, producers, screenwriters working and, God bless them, but I don’t see anything great on television. It all became a generation of s–theads laughing at the world. The humor today’s giving the next generation worse stuff than they already have in their own lives. It drives me nuts.”
Could be we could all use another shot of Chevy Chase.
Please pay attention…
Carlyle Hotel has roomed Rossellinis, royals, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Gaga, Elaine Stritch, Bobby Short, Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein. Even JFK on nights out. Or in. And it’s where my maroon alligator handbag on the tearoom floor next to me was stolen. (The hotel made good for it.) Their Bemelmans Bar now hustles a cotton off-white sweatshirt. Hotel logo, money green crest. It’s $248 — so primarily for wealthy sweat . . . Monday, 7 p.m., the Musical Theatre Club’s audio app celebrates Stephen Sondheim’s 91st birthday with singers and a 13-piece orchestra. His shows include: “Sunday in the Park With George,” “Company,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Follies,” “Pacific Overtures,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “A Little Night Music” and “Gypsy.” Happy birthday, Mr. Sondheim.
Blakeman’s blanks
Nassau GOPniks say Bruce Blakeman runs for county executive this year. I mean, so? He never wins. In ’98, he flopped against Carl McCall. 2009, withdrew from a primary against Bloomberg. Then opposite Gillibrand for Senate. 2014, versus Kathleen Rice for Congress. Blew all. In between his different nowheres, wife Nancy Shevell ran to London to marry Paul McCartney. Will somebody please get this guy a job?
Watching rabbits
Sothebys has a Swiss watch with bunnies having sex. Lot 163’s hare-raising watch “Bunnysutra” got hustled online.
Introduced in 2004, its glow-in-the-dark dial depicts six bunnies, and it also has an erotic automaton complication. Tap the crystal, the hands around the dial sweep to stop at one of the couples. Those hands, which were not giving manicures, then return from some eyebrow-raising position to their original spot to show the time. Excellent condition. Estimate $500 to $1,000. The thing sold for $3,150.
Clock-a-doodle do.
John Steinbeck. California-born, Stanford U dropout, Pulitzer Prize winner, Nobel Prize winner, author of “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Of Mice and Men,” “East of Eden.” His thoughts on his earliest trip to NYC: “The city beat the pants off me. Whatever it required to get ahead, I didn’t have it. I didn’t leave the city in disgust — I left it with the respect plain, unadulterated fear gives . . .
“All of everything is concentrated here, population, theater, art, writing, publishing, importing, business, murder, mugging, luxury, poverty. It is all of everything. It goes all night. It is tireless, and its air is charged with energy . . .
“Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it — once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.”
It’s only in New York, kids, only in New York.