‘He was brought back from the edge’: The comedy legend endured eight days in a medically induced coma during the pandemic.

Chevy Chase endured a “potentially fatal” heart failure that resulted in him being placed in an induced coma amid the global health crisis, as revealed in a recent documentary about the entertainment icon.

Featured in I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the star of films such as Caddyshack and the National Lampoon series, who hosted the Oscars on two occasions, spent a total of five weeks in the medical facility.

“Something was wrong, and he was unable to describe to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stopped. During those years he was drinking, he developed cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood through the body with each beat.”

Medical professionals then put him into a state of unconsciousness for more than a week, before cautioning his child, his daughter: “His return is uncertain. We are unsure how cognizant he’ll be. You must prepare for the worst.”

“After regaining consciousness, all he was able to do was use his vocal cords,” she added. “He has practically come back from the dead.”

He himself has stated that he has dealt with memory problems since his hospitalisation, and in the project he does not recollect some of his past on-set and backstage controversies, including a fight with Bill Murray in a Saturday Night Live backstage area.

The comedian noted he was “disappointed” by his exclusion from the 50th anniversary special of SNL this year, at which he was in the crowd but not featured.

“Well, it was kind of upsetting actually,” he said. “I haven't spoken about this until now. But I expected that I would’ve been on the stage too with all the other actors. When former castmates Garrett and Laraine took the stage, I was wondering as to why I wasn't. I wasn't invited. Why was I excluded?”

Chase, 82, nearly lost his life in 1980 when he was electrocuted on the set of Modern Problems, an accident which triggered a period of depression.