Bill Murray vs Chevy Chase
As recounted by Nick De Semlyen in his terrific book Wild and Crazy Guys, Bill Murray punched Chevy Chase when Chase returned to host the eleventh episode of Season 3 on Feb. 18, 1978.
Murray had replaced Chase after the latter left the show in the middle of Season 2, and the SNL team felt that Chase “had deserted them,” Semlyen writes. His return, the author adds, “was leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.”
Murray and Chase talked smack at each other prior to the taping, and finally Murray slugged the host. That escalated into “a huge altercation,” according to John Landis, an eyewitness quoted in the book. “They were big guys and really going at it.” Murray, however, described it as “really a Hollywood fight; a don’t-touch-my-face kinda thing.”
The show went on. And Chase and Murray reunited, amicably enough, for 1980’s Caddyshack (above).