There were public blow-ups, tales of onset dramas, and the stories of Chevy Chase on Dan Harmon’s “Community” comedy series are nearly legendary at this point (the actor eventually just bailed on season five). In the past, the cast has suggested Chase was old, out-of-touch, and possibly even racist and hateful at times; hell, even Chase himself called his appearance on the show a “mistake.”
So, on the Marc Maron podcast recently—seemingly promoting nothing and just hanging out— Chase talked about a good many things. There were stories about “Saturday Night Live,” hosting the Oscars twice and loving his co-host Richard Pryor, lamenting the death of John Belushi, adoring friend, and comedian Dan Aykroyd, knowing Bob Dylan back in the day casually, and heavily disliking his “Caddyshack” co-star Rodney Dangerfield, among other stories.
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Chase is Chase, a combination of genuinely irritated and perhaps playing the character of an irritated person; it’s hard to tell, so it was a bit of a rat-a-tat chaotic conversation. But it was truly awkward when Maron mentioned his stint on NBC’s “Community.”
“Oh, I kinda have forgotten about that,” Chase said dismissively about the time on the show when first asked about it.
Asked about his impression of the beloved comedy series, he answered, “Honestly, I felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. “
“I felt a little bit constrained a bit,” Chase continued. “Everyone had their bits and stu.f, I thought they were all good, but it just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me.”
Asked why he didn’t like the show, perhaps that he didn’t like his character, Chase fumbled with an answer and eventually said, “I just felt happier being alone, in a sense,” he said. “I didn’t want to be surrounded by that table every day with those people. It was too much.”
Maron tried to suggest that maybe Dan Harmon was too intense, and Chase then launched into an odd comedic riff, seemingly as if he couldn’t remember it all.
“Dan Harmon? Yeah, that’s right, he was,” he said. Asked if he and Harmon are OK, Chase answered, “I have no idea if we’re OK; I’ve never been not OK. He’s kind of a pisser. He’s angry. He called and said he was sorry. I love him now,” he laughed with heavy sarcasm about the apology and the latter half of the remark.
Maron then finally started to dig a little bit about his reputation as a difficult person that some people have publicly said they don’t like, pointing to the Chevy Chase roast of 2002 that Chase himself said— at the beginning of the podcast—was too uncomfortable because all the guests seemed to genuinely relish roasting him. About to get slightly awkward, Chase seemed to either be genuinely unaware of his reputation or sidestepped the conversation, and Maron moved on.
“I don’t think people felt that way… that I was what?” Chase said, and Maron explained that the Roast got a little ugly. “I don’t think those people knew me on that roast.”
Then Chase went on one of his strange little comedic riffs that seemed genuinely earnest and super sarcastic rolled all up in one. “What are you trying to get away with here? No, but I mean, are you a bad shit? Are you a fuck?”
“No,” Maron said, to which Chase answered. “OK, thank you, next.”
Maron countered, “Are you a f*ck?” Chase: “Yes, and a good one. I don’t know what my reputation was among people; I just always assumed I was OK.”
If that sounds antagonistic, it’s not really; the two were riffing back and forth the entire time, and while there were clearly moments of truth that could have been heated, the two comedians quickly deescalated any of the situations by glib, flippant back-and-forth quips like the one above. It’s an awkward and stilted conversation, but if you’ve heard Chase on podcasts before, it wasn’t that much different.
You must listen to the entire podcast to understand the dynamics between the two men. If you know Maron, he genuinely wants to go there and get truthful, but Chase seems too elusive, slippery, and flippant about it all to give an honest answer.