Joel McHale Snaps Back At Chevy Chase Over Community Controversy
Apparently, Joel McHale (Jeff Winger) is skilled at letting things slide, and Variety reports that he seems fairly unphased by the recent digs dealt out by Chevy Chase on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast regarding the comedy series Community. Though the show had its finale more than eight years ago, Chase still has plenty of negativity to spew regarding his experience on set.
Chevy Chase made some very clear statements via the podcast, saying that he “felt happier alone” and “didn’t want to be surrounded by those people.” He also felt the need to comment on the show’s quality as a comedy series, saying that it wasn’t really funny enough for him.
Joel McHale responded to his Community co-star Chevy Chase by saying the acerbic star, “stopped hurting my feelings in 2009.”
For those who haven’t yet seen the show, Community is a comedy sitcom revolving around a varied group of students attending a fictional Greendale Community College. With students ranging from young to old, all different races and cultural backgrounds, and a mixture of personalities, a community college setting can really make way for some hilarious scenes.
Chevy Chase and Joel McHale were costars on the show Community for four seasons before Chase was fired after making repeated off-color racial statements between scenes.
From various reports regarding Chase’s time on the set of Community, he probably should have been relieved of his duties long before he was actually fired. This begs the question … If Chevy Chase wasn’t happy working on the show, then why didn’t he leave on his own?
Chase played Pierce Hawthorne, a millionaire owner of a moist towelette company who is enrolled in college to keep his mind active. He is often at odds with the rest of the cast because he is arrogant, lacks empathy, and sports a sort of casual social ignorance due to his age.
By the sound of his behavior on set, maybe Chevy Chase was just a little too much into maintaining his Community character between scenes, or maybe he and Hawthorne are just two peas in a pod.
From various reports regarding Chase’s time on the set of Community, he probably should have been relieved of his duties long before he was actually fired.
Joel McHale’s character, Jeff Winger, continued for the full stretch of the six-season series and has since been quoted saying that Chevy Chase “stopped hurting my feelings in 2009”. Given that Community began airing that same year, you can assume McHale wrote Chase off as a nonfactor somewhere along the way.
McHale’s initial response to hearing of Chase’s recent negative comments regarding the show was to say that no one was keeping him (Chevy Chase) there. Also, “the feeling’s mutual, bud.” It’s apparent that there was no love lost between the two men on or off set because they never had much love between them from the beginning.
By the sound of his behavior on set, maybe Chevy Chase was just a little too much into maintaining his Community character between scenes, or maybe he and Hawthorne are just two peas in a pod.
Regardless, Community has done well for itself as time has progressed, gaining a cult following over the years. While it didn’t originally air on the streaming channel, Netflix now has all six seasons available to watch on demand for those with a subscription.
If you’re already a fan of the show, you can look forward to a film version of Community set for possible release on Peacock. The movie is expected to be available in 2025 (at the earliest), and McHale and the rest of the cast (minus Chevy Chase) have been reunited for the new release.
