Community is a fan-favorite comedy, but lately it's nothing but drama behind the scenes.
Last week, Chevy Chase and Community creator Dan Harmon's heated feud hit the Internet, playing out for the entire world to see, or in this case, listen to. Today, we get more pieces to the puzzle in the form of a newly leaked voice mail from comedy vet Chase intended for Harmon...
In an audio clip obtained by Celebuzz, Chase lays into the show's creator, calling Community "just a f--king mediocre sitcom." According to the site, the recording is from March 2011, and Harmon is playing it for production executives. You can hear his comments while he plays Chase's message.
"I want people to laugh and this isn't funny," Chase says. "It ain't funny to me because I'm 67 years old and I've been doing this a long time. I've been making a lot of people laugh a lot better than this."
Chase then goes on to complain about the show focusing on romantic storylines and cutting his material short. "This is not my kind of comedy. I thought you hired me for what I do that's funny. You've got to give me some range," Chase rants.
And though the Community star was very ticked off at his showrunner, Chase has his complimentary moments in the new voice mail. "I think your writing is great. I think everything you do is great," he says. "But the real problem is, Dan, that you're not there when we shoot and you're not there when they edit so you don't even know what you have. You've got to give me some range."
Reps for the show have no comment on the situation, while reps for Chase have not responded to our requests for comment.
Last week, Harmon took to his blog to apologize for publicly playing the first voice mail, calling himself a "selfish baby. "
Community is still awaiting news on a season-four pickup, and while it had been enjoying solid ratings since returning from hiatus, its most recent episode dipped 11 percent to 3.1 million viewers.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)