One of those seemingly apocryphal stories about the origins of "Saturday Night Live" is actually true — at least to some extent.
"SNL's" first big break-out star, Chevy Chase, really did get a spot on the show when it premiered back in 1975 at least in part because he happened to be standing in line for a movie at the same time as creator/producer Lorne Michaels.
"We were standing in line for a midnight showing of 'Monty Python's Holy Grail,' which, of course, is one of the funniest movies ever made," Chase said. "And I happened to be writing for the Smothers Brothers at the time. I was standing in front of Rob Reiner and Lorne, whom I'd never met before, and I guess I was cutting up in line because it was midnight and it was one of those times to cut up.
"And Lorne was laughing and heard me and asked somebody who I was. And they told him that I was a writer. And, as it turned out, he was out there interviewing writers for 'Saturday Night Live.' "
That late-night happenstance did not get Chase a spot on "SNL" all by itself, however.
"I met with (Michaels) the next day at the Chateau Marmont and that's when we hit if off big," Chase said.
A&E's "Biography Close Up" (tonight at 7 and 11 p.m.) reflects back on stories like this in a two-hour retrospective of one of the most unlikely successes in TV history — a show that even its stars expected to fail quickly that is still going strong almost 27 years later.
Chase, Michaels and dozens of cast members from the many incarnations of "SNL" are interviewed, and the show's ups and downs are charted. All of this is interspersed with behind-the-scenes footage of the week leading up to the episode that aired on Nov. 10.
The one unanswered question, however, is — which "SNL" cast was the best. And even Chase, who's not known for false modesty (or for modesty, period), isn't entirely comfortable giving an answer.
"I've always said that it's unfair to judge any cast, any group of 'Saturday Night Live' Not Ready for Primetime Players in comparison to the first case because many of them have been just as good or better," he said. "It's just that we were the first one so we're considered legends, icons, all those words that people use."
(See, no false modesty there.)
"I did see parts of one of the old shows that I was on the first year, 'cause I was only on the first year, and I started really laughing. And at that instant I said, 'You know, it's true, we really were better,' " he said with a laugh. "And I realized the reason I was saying that was because we had no expectations, really, of being anything more than at the top of the minors — late night."
Given that they weren't expected to succeed, there was no pressure on the first "SNL" cast.
"We really didn't give a crap. We didn't think we'd be on for long," Chase said. "We thought we'd be seen by five or six people and that would be about it. So we were very loose and at ease with ourselves. And, I think, later on people expected more to happen if they were on the show. Their expectations were much higher (and that) made them a little bit more nervous, perhaps.
"Not to say that we were better than Eddie Murphy or Mike Myers or the guys who are there today. But just, in retrospect, that seems to be one of the qualities that the first cast had, which was this sort of nonchalance and not caring too much."
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com