It’s no secret that Chevy Chase had turbulent relationships with the Community cast and its creator, Dan Harmon. Now, those relationships and his abrupt exit from the comedy are coming back into the spotlight as a documentary about Chase premieres on the 2026 TV schedule. However, he does not address it in the new project. So, during a new interview, he was directly asked about how he left the show, and he answered.
Ahead of the premiere of I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, which will air tonight, January 1, on CNN at 8 p.m. ET, Chase and the project’s director, Marina Zenovich, spoke with the NYT about it and the comedian’s career. Specifically, the journalist brought up Community, because in the documentary Chase apparently does not address it and his exit. In response to that fact, the SNL vet said:
It wasn’t a bad experience. I just didn’t think it was that good, the show.
Now, he has spoken about not enjoying working on Community before, and his co-stars, including Joel McHale and Allison Brie, have responded to those claims. On top of that, it’s well known that Chase and Dan Harmon were in a feud.
However, this story specifically revolves around the Chase's exit from the series. In the midst of production on Season 4, he reportedly got frustrated about his character's actions and “increasing bigotry,” as the NYT put it. According to Community director Jay Chandrasekhar (via People), who spoke in I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the writing of a blackface hand puppet bit for the actor’s character is what led to an outburst and his eventual actions that caused his exit. In the documentary, it’s claimed that Chase had a meltdown and reportedly used the N-word while talking about the situation.
After that, he was no longer on the show. Again, while this is covered in the documentary, the subject of the project did not speak about this himself. After being pushed a bit further to discuss how his time on Community ended, Chase said he “thought it ended great.” When asked, “You did?” he replied by saying:
It was too great a misunderstanding of what I was saying and not saying. I thought that there was at least one person — and another who, for some ungodly reason, didn’t get me, didn’t know who I was, or didn’t realize for one second I’m not racist. They were too young to be aware of my work. Instead, there was some sort of visceral reaction from them.
Overall, this documentary has brought a lot of issues that have come up throughout Chase’s career into the light again. In terms of Community, the director said it was hard to convince anyone from the cast to participate. She explained that they all said no, and while she did get in contact with Dan Harmon, he eventually declined, too.
Along with that, Chase’s relationships with SNL cast members have come up, as well. For example, in the documentary, he made comments about Terry Sweeney, and in response, Sweeney said, “It all reflects rightly horribly on [Chase],” among other things.
All of this has happened before I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not’s premiere. So, as the documentary airs on CNN, I’m sure the discourse surrounding the comedian will continue. As we learn more about this, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
