Chevy Chase has a rather harsh self-assessment of his ability to keep up with the times.
“I know nothing about pop culture from 20 years ago to now,” said Chase, 66.
Be that as it may, the veteran comedian has re-launched his career with his portrayal of Pierce Hawthorne on Community, a hilarious first-year sitcom that airs Thursdays on NBC and Citytv.
“I honestly think the films lately aren’t as good as most of the stuff on TV,” said Chase, who parlayed his early success on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s into a lengthy film career.
“I never thought I would be involved in a situation comedy until I read the script (for Community), and I was delighted to go in and say, ‘Please hire me.’”
Community is set at a community college and Pierce is, shall we say, a mature student. But when we say mature, we mean it strictly in terms of age, not behaviour.
Besides Chase, Community features a stellar ensemble cast that includes Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover and Ken Jeong.
“It’s like working with Nolan Ryan: He’s older than everybody and he has the best stories,” leading-man McHale said when asked about Chase. “He has worked way more than any of us, but he still throws it harder than any of us.
“It’s one of those things where, we have a lot to learn from that guy. It’s so weird to be walking around with this kind of icon and legend that you grew up with. He’s Chevy Chase, and it’s crazy.”
Chase’s disastrous talk show in the early 1990s — which was cancelled by Fox after only six weeks — cast him to the sidelines of the entertainment business for many years. Chase still laments that he never got to do the kind of show he wanted in the first place, and as an example, he relayed what he actually had written for the opening.
“It began with a shot of a blank concrete studio floor,” Chase said. “A couple of guys in zoo-like uniforms come out with a bag and put a rattlesnake down. Then they leave, and the camera is on the rattlesnake, curled up.
“The camera raises to the sound of an aria being sung by Leontyne Price, and some curtains. The curtains part a bit and I come out lip-synching the aria in a suit, walking toward the camera. At which point, while the camera is on me, the snake is switched over to an animatronic rattlesnake, and as I get closer it bites me. I go down, yelling, holding my leg, people come in to help me.
“Does that sound like a talk show to you? Well, man, they sort of bought into it, we made a deal. And then suddenly, I need a desk and a band and guests, and oh, the hell with it.”
Well, never say never, Chevy. Maybe in an upcoming episode of Community, there’ll be an animatronic snake waiting for Pierce.
bill.harris@sunmedia.ca
