Dan Harmon Turned Chevy Chase’s Bad Behavior Into ‘Community’ Gold

Joel McHale chalks up the hilarity of Community to the relentlessness of creator Dan Harmon and directors Joe and Anthony Russo. “I’m so fortunate that that was the spearhead that was fighting for this comedy,” McHale recently told Collider. “I look at comedy now, or when I do it now, I remember Joe and Anthony would always go, ‘Cut. Do it faster. Cut. Do it faster. Cut. Do it faster.’”

“There were so many good jokes,” McHale said. “There were so many jokes flying that it was great, because it taught me to throw away jokes. ‘Don’t be too married to a joke or two.’ But it taught me to say them and say them fast.” 

The dark side of the “million takes” that Community’s creators demanded? It made for awfully long work days, and not everyone was thrilled about the extra time commitment. “The hours were bananas, and (Chevy Chase, who played Pierce Hawthorne) didn’t want to be there that long,” McHale said. 

When Chase didn’t want to be there, everyone knew it. “His reputation precedes him,” McHale said. When Chase was committed to the bit, “it was fucking gold. It was so good. But a lot of the time, his antics… And I don’t think he would disagree — would you, Chevy?”

When Chase offered Community lemons, Harmon and his writers attempted to make comedy lemonade. McHale points to the “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” episode, an installment driven by Pierce’s jealousies. “What an interesting struggle that was between our characters,” McHale said, a reflection of the actors’ relationship on set. “Well, that was difficult. Those struggles, Dan put right into the script and made gold out of it.”

Seriously, watch the clip — it’s practically a documentary.

Other Chase faults ended up being turned into comedy as well. Hawthorne’s character constantly made offhand racist remarks, a reflection of Chase’s real-life on-set behavior when he used racial slurs toward Donald Glover.  

Unfortunately, Chase’s behavior just got worse. In Season Three, he refused to film a scene with Danny Pudi because he didn’t like the direction, walking off the set. He got into ugly verbal fights with Harmon. With McHale, it was “fists. Multiple times. I mean, there was pushing and shoving,” he once said on the Inside of You podcast. McHale called it horseplay, but at its worst, it resulted in a dislocated shoulder for Chase. 

While some of the conflict was spun into “comedy gold” for Community, that level of strife can’t last forever. By the middle of Season Four, Chase was given his walking papers. “We all know why he was fired,” McHale said. “I haven’t really spoken to him since.”