Why Chevy Chase Doesn’t Regret Being Fired From ‘Community’
Saturday Night Live original Chevy Chase has no regrets about being fired from the sitcom Community because he didn’t think the series was funny. Plus he thought the show held him back from going for the raw and hard-hitting comedy.
At least that’s what he said.
Chase famously grumped his way off of the show, fired for a racial slur on set. He went to war with Community creator Dan Harmon and their conflict came to a head when Harmon shaded Chase at a cast party. Chase was furious, stormed out of the room, and then left Harmon a curse-word-laden voicemail.
Needless to say, Chase’s character Pierce Hawthorne was killed off the series, leaving no door open for a return.
Chevy Chase said ‘Community’ wasn’t funny
Chase joked that he didn’t remember being in Community. “I kind of forget about that. They wanted me, so I said ‘OK,'” he said in a 2009 interview on the WTF with Mark Maron podcast.
“I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me. Ultimately I felt a little bit constrained,” he said. “Everybody had their bits and stuff, and I thought they were all good, but it just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me. I didn’t mind the character. I just felt happier being alone in a sense. I just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table every day with those people. It was too much.”
Chase also claimed that Harmon apologized to him. But added, “I have no idea if we’re OK. I’ve never been not OK. He’s kind of a pisser. He was angry. He called and said he was sorry. I love him now.”
Chevy was never a fan of sitcoms in the first place
Despite agreeing to star in Community, Chase said he considered sitcoms to be the “lowest form” of television.
“The hours are hideous, and it’s still a sitcom on television, which is probably the lowest form of television,” he told HuffPost UK in 2012. “That’s my feeling about it. I think the reason I have stuck around is because I love these kids, the cast—they are very good. It’s not like I am working with the great innovators of all time, but at the same time, they are my friends and I am out, and one of my daughters is out here and wants to be in the business, so she is living with me.”
He added, “I prefer movies because the money is better and certainly because you really know where you stand when you are making movies, and I have made a lot of them: 50 something, I don’t know. The hours in this kind of show are not commensurate with the actual product.”
At the time, Chase seemed to enjoy his time on Community. “I just love these guys. I’m just having such a good time, I am going to fight my way back in,” he joked about how his character was on the outs with the others on the show.
