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Chevy Chase 'Basically Came Back From the Dead' Following 'Near-Fatal' Heart Failure That Placed Him in a Coma

image of Chevy Chase.
Source: MEGA

Chevy Chase is opening up about his health problems in his new CNN documentary.

Dec. 27 2025, Published 5:41 p.m. ET

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Chevy Chase is opening up about the health problems that nearly killed him in his new authorized CNN documentary.

I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not is set to premiere on New Year's Day and features insight into the Saturday Night Live alum's past hospitalization, such as his "near-fatal" heart issues that put him in a coma for eight days as he recovered.

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'I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not' Drops on January 1

Source: CNN/YouTube

'I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not' premieres on CNN on January 1.

Details of the medical emergency, which took place in 2021, were scarce and kept under wraps at the time.

His daughter Caley Chase, 40, noted in a preview of the series how her father had “basically come back from the dead.”

“Something was wrong, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stops. During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood out with each beat," his wife, Jayni, said.

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Chevy Chase Lost Some of His Memory After His Hospitalization

image of Chevy Chase suffered with heart failure in 2021.
Source: MEGA

Chevy Chase suffered from heart failure in 2021.

“According to the doctors, my memory would be shot from it,” the Community actor recalled. “That’s what’s happened here. I’m fine now. It’s just that it affects your memory, the doctors have told me that. So, I have to be reminded of things.”

Caley added that doctors “warned" her family about the future and how Chevy might not have full cognitive function.

She looked back on physicians saying: "'We might not get him back. We don’t know how present he’ll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst.’ He woke up, all he could do was use his voice.”

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image of The comedian was in a coma for eight days as he recuperated.
Source: MEGA

The comedian was in a coma for eight days as he recuperated.

“They decided to put him into a coma for maybe eight days,” Chevy’s friend Peter Aaron also said in the doc. “That’s pretty rough on the body.”

Peter also stated that the comedian had to "reorient himself” following the coma, adding there was some “cognitive disability” and gaps in Chevy's memory.

Chevy and Jayni have been married since 1982, and also share daughters Cydney and Emily, in addition to Caley.

In 2021, he spent five weeks at a hospital for heart issues that were not exactly specified. “It was so scary when he was in the hospital. We were all there, it was during COVID,” Cydney, 42, looked back.

Chevy Chase Was 'Hurt' When He Was Excluded From the 'SNL' 50th Anniversary

image of The 'SNL' actor's 2021 hospitalization was kept under wraps at the time.
Source: MEGA

The 'SNL' actor's 2021 hospitalization was kept under wraps at the time.

Elsewhere in the documentary, the National Lampoon star discussed how "hurt" he felt being left out of SNL's 50th anniversary special, which aired on February 16.

Chevy was one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy series that premiered in 1975.

“It was kind of upsetting, actually,” he said. “This is probably the first time I’m saying it. But I expected that I would’ve been on stage too with all the other actors. When Garret [Morris] and Laraine [Newman] went on the stage there, I was curious as to why I didn’t. No one asked me to. Why was I left aside?”

He went on: “I did bring it up once in a text to Lorne [Michaels] and then took it back. I said, ‘Okay, I take it back, silly.’ But it’s not that silly. Somebody’s made a bad mistake there. I don’t know who it was, but somebody made a mistake. They should’ve had me on that stage. It hurt.”

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