Chevy Chase has added a new wrinkle to his dishonorable discharge from Community in 2012. As it turns out, he never really thought the show was that funny to begin with.
Finally given the opportunity to tell the world who his guys were, Chase appeared on Marc Maron’s long-running podcast, WTF, today. Leaning on his 50 years of showbiz ups and downs, Chase discussed the things he liked and the many things he disliked in Hollywood. Chase is who he is. Eventually, the conversation turned to his most notable set confrontation of the last two decades: his firing from Community.
By the time Maron brings up Dan Harmon’s beloved cult series about an hour into the podcast, Chase seems surprised to hear the title at all. The former Fletch had just finished talking about how much he loves his life, which consists primarily of spending time with his wife and kids, when Maron brings up Community being a “big deal”—again, to Chase’s surprise. “I kind of forget about that,” Chase said of being asked to be on the show. “They wanted me, so I said ‘yes.’”
Chase lasted 83 episodes on the sitcom before creator Dan Harmon fired him for using the N-word on set. The actor sarcastically asked aloud if his character would start using racist epithets. For Chase, though, the show could have been better to begin with.
“I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained,” Chase told Maron. “Everybody had their bits, 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 that it was—I felt happier being alone. I just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much.”
Despite the Harmon-Chase feud making its way into the discourse occasionally, Chase says he’s “okay” with Harmon but has not seen him since 2012. “I have no idea if we’re okay,” he said. “I’ve never been not okay. He’s kind of a pisser.”
Last year, after news broke about a Community movie supposedly coming to Peacock, Harmon said he didn’t “even know if it’s legal for [Chase] to come back.”
“That may be out of my hands,” he continued. “Maybe something I sign for with an insurance company, I really don’t know.”
For what it’s worth, Chase does say that he and Bill Murray are okay these days. Maybe there’s hope for Community yet.