The actor claims a mutual separation between Chevy Chase and Community, the NBC sitcom on which he featured for four seasons till 2014. Chase said, “Oh, I kind of forget about that,” in response to a question regarding the series, which he appeared in 85 episodes of, on a recent episode of WTF With Marc Maron.
The 79-year-old, who portrayed millionaire Pierce Hawthorne, went on to say that, in the end, he just didn’t think the show was humorous enough. He experienced some slight constraints. He believed that everyone had their moments, and they were all well.
For him, it wasn’t quite brutal enough. Chase continued, stating that he “felt happier being alone” and “just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people,” most likely referring to his co-stars Yvette-Nicole Brown, Jim Rash, Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong, and Donald Glover.
Chevy Chase Controversy
In Community’s fourth season, Chase departed following reports that he had made racist comments about Glover. The sixth season saw the demise of his persona. Series creator Dan Harmon told The New Yorker in 2018 that Chevy was the first to recognize Donald’s extraordinary talent and that his envy was an attempt to confuse Donald.
After a particularly difficult night of Chevy’s non-PC remarks, I remember apologizing to Donald, and he remarked, “I don’t even worry about it.” Chevy is an outsider from his tribe despite having contributed to the explosively ironic, cut-and-paste pop world that serves as the setting for Community.
There was a running joke that no one could stand him from the beginning since he never appeared to fit in with the group. In the show Community, outcasts gather together since no one else can stand them, yet Chevy is the one that even they find offensive.
For a brief while, Chevy was the world’s funniest man, but it’s easy to forget that because he’s been a waning Clark Griswold figure for so long. He was the driving force behind the SNL/National Lampoon movement of the 1970s. Not as a naive father figure but as a cold-blooded bitch seeking retribution on the world.
Looking back, it’s startling to realize just how intense he was. In one Weekend Update, he discusses a new character that appears in the Peanuts comic by Charles Schulz, which is home to Woodstock and Snoopy. “Sincerely, Schulz says Chevy. He’ll swap Woodstock out for a bird called Altamont and use a pool cue to beat the other birds to death.”
With a hint of sadistic delight, Chevy seems to be saying, “Yeah, I did that,” when he delivers the line. Neither Dan Aykroyd nor Bill Murray nor Jane Curtin could have pulled off that joke. Their obsession with warmth and humanity was too great. It was Chevy’s charmingly sarcastic, authoritative accent that conveyed all that shock humor.
The actor, who portrayed the popular but unloveable curmudgeon Pierce on the NBC/Yahoo sitcom, discussed his experience on the Dan Harmon-created program in an interview with Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.”I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately.” I encountered certain limitations. Everyone had their moments, and I found them to be rather enjoyable. For me, it wasn’t quite intense enough.
Chase responded, “I didn’t mind the character,” when asked if he had a problem with Pierce. I simply thought it was… It was better for me to be alone. Simply put, I didn’t want to spend every day with those folks and that table around me. It was excessive.
Following reports that the actor had used the N-word in front of co-stars Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown, Chase left Community ten years ago. In addition, he was involved in a widely reported conflict with Harmon.
Chase disclosed that he hasn’t “seen him since” Harmon was fired from the show before Season 4 when asked about their relationship status. “I’m not sure if we’re okay,” he said. “Never have I felt unwell. He’s kind of a pisser.”
Harmon was questioned last year about whether Chase might appear in the upcoming Peacock revival of Community. As the EP said to our sister publication Variety at the time, “I don’t even know if it’s legal for him to come back.” That might be beyond my control. I might have to sign anything with an insurance provider.
