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Yvette Nicole Brown Drags Chevy Chase For Saying 'Community' Wasn't 'Funny Enough'
Yvette Nicole Brown threw shade at her former Commumity co-star Chevy Chase after he criticized the comedy series, which ran for six seasons, saying it wasn't "funny enough."
The show set in a community college in the fictional Colorado town of Greendale was created by Dan Harmon and featured an ensemble cast.
It aired for five seasons on NBC from September 17, 2009, to April 17, 2014, and later on Yahoo! Screen for its final season in 2015.
For the first four seasons, Chase played Pierce Hawthorne, a curmudgeonly CEO of a moist towelette company who had enrolled in the community college just to keep his mind active.
His character had a hard time fitting in with the other students in his study group due to his selfishness, general lack of empathy, and being a bigot.
The character flaws became a gradual point of contention for the SNL alum, who was often at odds with the writers, which led to him reportedly having a racist meltdown in 2012, for which he later apologized.
He eventually left the show by mutual agreement with the network, and his character was killed off in the fourth season.
Chase revisited the bitter drama in an interview this week on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
He said of the show:
"I honestly felt the show wasn’t funny enough for me, ultimately. I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn’t hard-hitting enough for me."
When asked about his character, Chase told Maron:
“I didn’t mind the character. I just felt that it was… I felt happier being alone."
"I just didn’t want to be surrounded by that table, every day, with those people. It was too much."
And when asked about his reputation as a difficult actor to work with, he said:
“I don’t think people really felt that way. I don’t know what my reputation was among people."
"I just always assumed I was okay.”
Brown, who played an optimistic Christian student and divorced mother, Shirley Bennett, disagreed.
She took to X (formerly Twitter) and sarcastically shared:
"He seems nice."
He seems nice. \ud83d\ude02— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1695726174
Fans got a kick out of her reaction.
@YNB Love this response. \ud83d\udcaf out of \ud83d\udcaf.— Kevin Cate (@Kevin Cate) 1695733943
@YNB Seems he was a lot closer to the character he played than perhaps we knew. \ud83e\udd14— chris evans (@chris evans) 1695736508
@YNB This response made my month thank you— J\ud83c\udf69ey Bag \ud83c\udf69f D\ud83c\udf69nuts \ud83c\udf69 (@J\ud83c\udf69ey Bag \ud83c\udf69f D\ud83c\udf69nuts \ud83c\udf69) 1695747362
@YNB He had his season. He needs to learn how to celebrate other people using their gifts. It was funny. And God blessed you all with several seasons. It\u2019s so disheartening when people that you have looked up too have this kind of spirit about them.— Henry Louis Adams (@Henry Louis Adams) 1695740574
@YNB He's gives Diva a bad name— Eric (@Eric) 1695735915
@YNB It\u2019s wild because when the show came out I watched it BECAUSE chevy was on it (big snl fan growing up) and then grew to dislike him once he showed his true colors. Now i follow all the other cast members projects to this day, because you guys are all fantastic!!! #teamshirley— \ud83d\udda4 Texan \ud83e\udee0 (@\ud83d\udda4 Texan \ud83e\udee0) 1695726686
@YNB We just started watching Community again... maybe he wasn't funny enough for Community.— Design Dreamer (@Design Dreamer) 1695726456
@YNB I'm just sad that all of you had to be in his presence.— Tim Williams (@Tim Williams) 1695758463
You can listen to the whole podcast episode here.
Although the show struggled in the ratings, Community gained a dedicated cult following and was praised for its acting, directing, writing, and meta humor.
In addition to Brown, the show featured an ensemble cast including Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Chevy Chase, and Jim Rash.
Chase may not have found the show particularly funny, but fans certainly did.
The show won several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy award out of four nominations and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Series in 2012.