3mo ago

Chevy Chase, the beloved comedian who was a monster off camera: ‘Not everyone hated him, just the people who’ve worked with him’

english.elpais.com Chevy Chase, the beloved comedian who was a monster off camera: ‘Not everyone hated him, just the people who’ve worked with him’

A film about ‘Saturday Night Live’ has revived interest in its first star’s controversial career as a beloved icon of humor who was a real nightmare for those with whom he shared a set

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I was more than surprised to see him on Community, not just his appearance but also that he was working at all. Once you know what he's really like, you can't help but see that in every role he plays.
- There is so much lore behind Community and Chevy Chase. My understanding is that Community was supposed to be his show, where he was the good guy and was the main protagonist, not Joel McHale. (You sort of see hints of this in the gas leak year.)
  As the series went on, it was clear that Chevy was annoyed about their long hours, shooting schedules, etc. TBF to Chevy, Dan Harmon made every episode into a movie that required a lot of shots, something that made him disliked by network executives. It's why he got fired over Chevy in season 4.
  What every executive failed to realize is that these "movies" were absolutely awesome and that's why the fans love the show. They were smart, funny, and gave you a sense that they weren't taking things seriously.
  In the end, the show was better without Chevy.
- His character is killed off because he couldn't be bothered to film one of the Post-Credits scenes that was actually well written and emotional, which pissed the director off so much he fired his ass
  
  Do you remember which post credits scene? Going through the show again and trying to think which one it could be.
  
  The one for the game episode with his father. In the post credits scene, Abed comes back and downloads Hilda, but it was supposed to be a completely different scene.
  
  Great episode, shame we didn't get the other scene. Love that fans went out of their way to recreate the game from the episode.
  
  Oh man, that's awesome! Was the scene they described actually confirmed? That would have been amazing!
  
  I remember seeing the recreation in the game a few years ago but had no context until now. Guess it came up in a reddit ama I missed. Seems to be the genuine article.
- I actually enjoyed his 'vacation' movies far more once i knew what a jerk he was since those movies' make his struugles the punchline.
  kinda makes me wonder if part of what makes those movies work is how cathartic watching scenes of chase get hurt was for his director and co-stars.
  
  Taken as a whole, the vacation movies were funny. But not because of anything Chevy did. They could have cast that role with a mop and it would have rated just as well.

48 comments