Self-awareness has never been Chevy Chase’s strong suit. So when the comic actor raises his hand and admits, “I said something stupid,” we should probably pay attention. That’s what happened when Chase sat down with Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast two years ago, as reported by Far Out, calling out his own bad behavior during a 1980 talk show appearance with Tom Snyder.

Snyder was in full celebrity schmooze mode that night, noting that people in Hollywood were calling Chase the next Cary Grant. The SNL star didn’t necessarily take it as a compliment. “I said, ‘That’s crazy, there’s nobody like Cary Grant and there will never be another Cary Grant and I understand he was a homo,’” Chase told Maher. He didn’t stop there, referring to Grant with a sarcastically cheerful, “What a gal!”

Given 40 years or so to reconsider his words,...