What Happened When Chevy Chase, 82, Called Me Dumb to My Face

The director of a new bombshell documentary about Chevy Chase knew she was onto something when the comedian insulted her to her face on camera.

“I’m just trying to figure you out,” I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not director Marina Zenovich told Chase during their very first interview for the film, streaming now on CNN.

Zenovich, who previously made documentaries about notoriously difficult subjects including Roman Polanski, Lance Armstrong, and Richard Pryor, broke down the rudest interview of her career on Obsessed: The Podcast.

The tense exchange with the star best known for such hit comedies as Caddyshack, Fletch, and the National Lampoon’s Vacation series has become the flashpoint of the film, but Chase told the director he didn’t think she would keep it in.

“I mean, duh, of course I kept it in the film!” Zenovich told host Matt Wilstein. She knew she had to bring up his reputation for being a massive jerk. “But I was afraid to bring it up because it was the second time I met him,” she said.

In that moment, the documentarian had “no idea” whether or not she might get thrown out of the ‘80s comedy star’s house.

“Part of the excitement of this job is you have no idea what’s going to happen,” she told Wilstein. “And yes, he was rude, but I think he was just being himself. And I was just doing my job.”

The documentary, I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, premiered on CNN, and will begin streaming on HBO Max on January 31.

According to Zenovich, very few of Chase’s peers were willing to associate themselves with the documentary. SNL creator Lorne Michaels and fellow original cast member Dan Aykroyd were among the few to sign on. No one from Community, Chase’s cult favorite NBC sitcom, appeared for an interview besides director Jay Chandrasekhar.

Chase, who played the curmudgeonly Pierce Hawthorne on Community, was fired partway through the production of its fourth season by showrunner Dan Harmon after Chase supposedly used a racial slur in an argument on set.

Chase allegedly used the N-word in a heated exchange with co-star Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley, about a joke involving a Black-face hand puppet operated by Chase’s character.

After storming off set, Chase returned in what Chandrasekhar described in the documentary as a “full meltdown” and never came back.

Chase refused to discuss the incident in the documentary.

And his co-stars may not have wanted to appear on camera, but they have not shied away from voicing their complaints about the aging actor and comedian.

“These are things I’ve never spoken of publicly and perhaps never will,” Brown posted on Instagram.

Zenovich told Wilstein she was “surprised” when Brown spoke out about the documentary, as she had reached out to the actress during filming. “She didn’t want to talk to me, and I respect that,” Zenovich said.

“You’re limited by what you get, who’s willing to talk to you, how deep they’re willing to go,” the director said on the podcast. “It’s really like you’re always digging, and you never know if it’s going to be a good interview… That’s part of the fun.”