How Chevy Chase, SNL, and One Pratfall Changed a Presidential Election

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 737 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the brand-new Saturday Night Live first took the airwaves by storm, it was Chevy Chase’s clumsy impression of Gerald R. Ford—an All-American athlete turned commander-in-chief—that changed how Americans saw their president. The sketch also shaped the future of political satire, presidential impersonations, and even the 1976 election itself. Peter Funt, author of Playing POTUS: The Power of America's 'Acting Presidents', tells the story behind one of comedy’s most consequential impressions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an I-Heart podcast.
0:05.6	Why is a soap opera Western like Yellowstone so wildly successful?
0:10.6	The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network.
0:16.1	So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.
0:28.3	Listen to the American West with Dan Flores on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:35.3	I'm Clayton English.
0:36.5	I'm Greg Glott.
0:37.3	And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs Podcast.
0:39.8	Yes, sir.
0:40.4	Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war this year, a lot of the biggest names
0:44.4	in music and sports.
0:46.8	This kind of starts that it a little bit, man.
0:49.0	We met them at their homes.
0:50.5	We met them at their recording studios.
0:52.7	Stories matter, and it brings a face to him.
0:54.8	It makes it real.
0:55.6	It really does.
0:56.6	It makes it real.
0:57.8	Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the IHeart Radio app,
1:02.7	Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
1:06.3	You Feelin This Too is a horror anthology podcast.
1:11.3	It brings different creators to tell 10 vile.
	...

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