Chevy Chase on Community: Not 'Funny Enough for Me'

Comedian says he felt 'constrained' on sitcom
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2023 3:30 AM CDT
Chevy Chase Is Saying Controversial Things Again
Actor Chevy Chase watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Chevy Chase, no stranger to making controversial comments that blow up in the news, is at it again. The 79-year-old Saturday Night Live and National Lampoon legend sat down with Marc Maron for his WTF podcast, and was asked about his stint on NBC sitcom Community, Deadline reports. Chase left the series after four seasons playing millionaire curmudgeon Pierce Hawthorne, allegedly after conflicts with show creator Dan Harmon and his fellow cast members—including, per the Hollywood Reporter, allegations he used the n-word around castmates Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown, who are Black. But to hear Chase tell it now, Vanity Fair notes, it seems he blames something else for his early exit from the show.

"I honestly felt the show wasn't funny enough for me, ultimately," Chase told Maron. "I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn't hard-hitting enough for me." He was happier on his own, he says, and "just didn't want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much." Asked about his relationship with Harmon, Chase said they haven't seen each other since 2012 when Harmon left the show ahead of its fourth season. As for whether the rest of the cast found Chase difficult to work with, the comedian said, per Variety, "I don't think people really felt that way. I don't know what my reputation was among people. I just always assumed I was OK." Asked last year whether Chase would appear in the upcoming Community reunion movie, Harmon said he wasn't sure it was "legal" for Chase to do so. (More Chevy Chase stories.)

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