Chevy Chase addresses his shocking Community exit over 10 years later
"I felt happier being alone"
Chevy Chase is once again addressing his time on NBC'S Community – but this time he's giving it to us straight.
"I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained," Chase told Marc Maron on the most recent episode of the WTF podcast. "Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me."
Community ran for five seasons on NBC before being canceled and resurrected for a bonus sixth season on Yahoo! Screen. Chase played Pierce Hawthorne, a billionaire CEO of a moist towelette company who enrolls at Greendale in order to 'keep his mind active.' Created by Dan Harmon, the ensemble cast included Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, and Jim Rash.
Added Chase: "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."
The Saturday Night Live alum left the show abruptly back in 2012, during the show's fourth season, after reports came out about the actor's on-set behavior which fueled rumors of a bad relationship between Chase and Harmon.
A Community movie is currently in the works. Chase can be seen starring alongside Dan Aykroyd in Zombie Town, a Canadian indie horror based on the R.L. Stine novel of the same name. For more, check out our list of the best TV shows of all time.
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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.