Comic actor Chevy Chase will perform Sunday at Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. He will attend a screening of the 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacationthe third (and most successful) installment in a series in which he played Clark Griswold, the bumbling head of a suburban Midwestern family.

Chase, 81, will share his memories of making the film and then do a Q&A with the audience. Start time is 7:30 p.m

Cory Michael Smith portrayed Chase in Jason Reitman’s 2024 film Saturday eveningabout the beginnings of pioneering work in television Saturday Night Live; Chase was hired as a writer in 1974 and became the star of the debut season.

He became the first of dozens SNL former graduates are pursuing film careers; For several years it was one of America’s biggest box office hits.

Like all Not Ready For Prime Time players who have followed a similar path, Chase has made some great films (Caddyshack, Fletchthe first and the third Vacation films) and some real stinkers (memories of an invisible man, nothing but trouble, spies like us).

From the latter work from 1985 The Washington Post opined, “It’s no surprise that Chase is terrible – he’s been running empty-handed for years with variations on that tired ‘I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not’ riff.”

Four years laterNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was No. 1 at the box office for two weeks, grossing $72 million in theaters.

However, film critic Roger Ebert rejected the film. “The film is strange in how close it comes to its material: one sequence after another seems to contain all the material necessary to be well on its way to success, and then somehow it doesn’t work,” he wrote.

Through home video and streaming, the film has earned a reputation as an enduring Christmas classic. “Sure, it’s crude, episodic and half the jokes don’t work, but Christmas holidays “Perhaps it is the only modern Christmas comedy that can truly withstand reruns,” he said TimeOut.com.

The website Cracked.com have a specific problem with Mr. Chase? For a story published Nov. 21 titled “Is Chevy Chase the King of Cash-Grab Comedy?”, author Matt Solomon went to great lengths to describe it Limited Edition 35th Anniversary Christmas Holiday Legacy Box, available on the comedian’s website.

Included are seven trading cards, a custom anniversary poster signed by Chase, two limited-edition ornaments, a deck of cards, a bag of popcorn, and a card that may be signed by Chase or one of the film’s co-stars (from Beverly D’Angelo to Juliette Lewis or even the relatively unemployed Randy Quaid).

The box costs $300 and specifically does not contain a copy of it Christmas holidays in any home video format.

In 2023 Broken Chase reportedly sold – for $500 each – small cards with his autograph and a piece of the “Land Shark” costume he wore during his only season on SNL.

According to numerous online sources (including Broken), Chase’s net worth is $50 million.

Tickets for Sunday’s event are available here.