A few hours ago I wished you all a Happy Thanksgiving and announced that we’d be taking it easy for a few days unless “Jon Hamm murders Charlie Sheen on live television or something.” Well, Charlie Sheen is still alive (I mean, as far as we know), but here we are anyway because Deadline just broke the story that Chevy Chase is leaving Community effective immediately.
Pierce Hawthorne is dropping out of Greendale Community College. After a tumultuous three-and-a-half year relationship, Chevy Chase and the producers of NBC’s cult comedy Community are parting ways by mutual agreement. Chase’s departure from the show is effective immediately. The bulk of Community‘s 13-episode fourth-season order have been filmed. Chase won’t appear in the 1 or 2 episodes that have not been shot yet.
So, yeah. Outside of the abruptness of it all, this isn’t exactly a surprise. A brief examination of UPROXX’s Chevy Chase tag will remind you what a crappy relationship he seemed to have with the show, the executives in charge of it, and, apparently, much of the cast. The real question here is whether this will even matter in the grand scheme of things, since the show is looking at long odds to stick around beyond this season anyway. Actually, no, the real question is why the hell he couldn’t stick around for just two more episodes, or be quietly written out of them, to avoid this type of public brouhaha on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Something about that seems odd.
Anyway, as Hitfix’s Alan Sepinwall pointed out on Twitter, the show filmed the season finale out of order, with Chase in it, so it’s pretty unlikely they’ll send him off in a glorious white-hot fireball or anything. We’ll obviously have more as news about this trickles out, preferably during normal business hours sometime next week.
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/51/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/abed-happy-college-show-650x365-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/chris-thumbs-up-650x364-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/dancing-chandler-150x150.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/evil-annie-150x150.png)
I guess I have one more thing to be thankful for.
I wish they could have found a way to write off his character instead of just dropping him. I hope they find a way to explain his absence.
Please please please let Bill Murray fill in for him for the remainder of the season
I would sell my left eye, just rip the thing right out of my head with my bare hands, to make this true.
Otherwise, good riddance. I love Chevy, but he’s an asshole and he brings everyone down. If you tell me Annie’s boobs are leaving, THEN I’ll be upset.
Don’t even joke about Annie’s boobs, shadow. Just…..don’t…..even…
At least he got the chance to bang Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom.
So I guess they wont be sending him back to his home planet, ala Poochie. That would’ve been great.
lol
I always wondered if he was so good at playing Pierce because he was so oblivious to the humor of the show that he was just playing himself the whole time.
I am NO fan of Chevy, but it seems his beef was Pierce’s increasingly one-note racism. Chevy was big into the civil rights movement.
It does seem that way at times.
I keep seeing this references to Chase “marching in the civil rights movement” but they’re always vague. Anyone have the specific details? Was he in deep-woods Mississippi in 1963, or was this a sympathy strike at a Harvard dorm?
Odd coincidence: I was purchasing things on the following website when the news broke — [www.christmasvacationcollectibles.com]
Hip-hip hooray.
pierce was funny character at times – racism and homophobia is always funny to me – but overall good riddance to that despicable sack of fat shit
is such a bomer, this is more bad news for the Six seasons and a movie ideal, but chevy, in the show as in real life (about his coments of the show) has been nothing but an annoying … person xD
I need help reacting to something….
Now he can finally return to his illustrious career of being “that guy from the vacation movies”
He’ll probably be in Dan Harmon’s next show.
aww shit, Pierce was actually my favorite character
Yup.
I liked him, but Dean Pelton is probably my fav.
They haven’t had any idea what to do with his character since episode 1
What a fucking dick.
This timing is a pretty gigantic dick move. They’ve filmed the finale with him, but the two episodes before that haven’t been filmed but have likely been written. That means either using a replacement Pierce for two bizarre episodes or massive rewrites. Dick move.
Maybe they can bring in Randy Quaid as his long-lost in-law, and they can base an episode around how the “wipes-whackers” got him.
Or Beverly D’Angelo can guest as one of his ex-wives at the funeral.
Whatever they do, they better bring back Giancarlo Esposito to help send him off.
I’m thinking the Laser Lotus Cult will kidnap him and nobody will care or want him back, much like Moe Greene from SCTV.
So is Harmon coming back?
Bring Bill Murray as Pierce’s murderer and everybody forgives him because he is BILL FUCKING MURRAY
This is after season 3 is basically filmed, save 2-3 episodes, so the news is affective season 4? The way the show is going I doubt we would ever live to see a season 4 anyway. No harm no foul, except for the fact that his feud with Harmon was surely one of the reasons that we’re a creator/exec producer
we’re down a*
what? they’re in the middle of production on the 13 episode season 4 right now
It’s been a long day, that’s what I meant… So push everything one season, what I said stands for season 5. It doesn’t really affect the show
English, do you speak it?
It’s spelled “brouhaha.”
It’s sad that he was never able to appreciate the fact that he played a funny character on a phenomenal show. It’s also sad that Harmon was forced out probably largely because of the public dispute with Chevy, and then Chevy left less than a year later. Woulda been nice if he’d just left at the end of season 2 and spared us Harmon’s ouster.
I’m sure he has something else lined up. I mean, I actually thought he was kinda funny in Dirty Work and that was fairly recent. And before that…..Christmas Vacation. So, you know, he definitely know a good job when he sees one.
I can’t exactly say I’m terribly upset about this, but I’m interested to see how they deal with his departure.
/goes back to pre-Thanksgiving drinking
Helicopter crash.
Your Dad is in jail and your Mom gave up the ghost.
What orphanage is giving you internet access???
Best damn orphanage on the planet!
Seriously. The fuck is wrong with Chevy Chase? I can’t help but feel like he hates everything.
getting old is hard
getting hard gets old
So I guess we’ll be getting two or three episodes of: “So Pierce is getting treated for his genital warts?” “Yep, I guess we’ll just have to have adventures without him.”
They should just replace him….with Ed Asner.
He peaked decades ago. He should be thankful for this show for possibly redeeming any cred he had as a comedian. I actually only ever thought he would be around for a season, or as a side character. i thought they just brought him on to add cache/name recognition to a new show. You will now be remembered as a funny 80′s guy, then the guy who had the worst talk show ever, and now the douche who kinda hurt a great show.
This is the angriest timeline.
Ah man, Chevy will be missed.
Does this mean Chang gets his spot in the study group?
First of all gay. Second of all, stupid.
Chevy Chase is leaving Community?
No. Stop. Please don’t go.
Atta boy Saxby Chambliss.
Can an actor leave a show that does not really exist?
What IS the sound of one hand clapping?
Well it’s hardly a surprise but I’m sad. I love Chevy and I enjoyed him on the show.
The truth is that’s probably the last good/relevant/noticeable thing he will be involved in.