‘He has come back from the dead’: The comedy legend spent eight days in a medically induced coma during Covid pandemic.
The famed comedian endured a “potentially fatal” cardiac event that led to him being placed in an induced coma amid the global health crisis, per details from a new documentary project about the comedy star.
Featured in I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the legend of movies such as Caddyshack and the National Lampoon series, who emceed the Oscars twice, spent a total of five weeks in the hospital.
“There was a problem, and he was unable to describe to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart gave out. During those years he was drinking, he developed cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood out with each beat.”
Medical professionals then put him into a state of unconsciousness for eight days, before advising his daughter, Caley: “His return is uncertain. We are unsure how present he’ll be. You must prepare for the worst.”
“When he woke up, all he was able to do was use his voice,” she stated further. “He has practically come back from the dead.”
The actor personally has stated that he has suffered memory problems since his hospitalisation, and in the documentary he does not recollect some of his past on-set and backstage controversies, including a fight with fellow comedian Bill Murray in a Saturday Night Live green room.
The comedian noted he was “hurt” by his omission from the 50th anniversary special of SNL this year, at which he was in attendance but not participating.
“Honestly, it was quite upsetting,” he said. “This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I should have been on the stage too with all the other actors. When co-stars Garrett Morris and Laraine were called up, I was curious as to why I wasn't. There was no invitation. Why was I left aside?”
The 82-year-old, came close to death in 1980 when he was electrocuted on the set of Modern Problems, an incident which triggered a period of clinical depression.
