Chevy Chase certainly didn’t hold back while discussing his career highs and lows in his new CNN documentary.
I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, which aired on Thursday, January 1, charts the comedian’s rise to fame while examining the complexities and challenges that have shaped his legacy. “I’m just trying to figure you out,” director Marina Zenovich tells Chase, 82, from behind the camera in one scene, to which he responds, “No s***, it’s not going to be easy for you.”
“Why is it not going to be easy?” Zenovich asks, before Chase responds, “You’re not bright enough. How’s that?”
The sarcastic remark left Zenovich nearly speechless before she uttered, “Whoa!”
“Well you asked. I know you’re not going to put that on the air, and I hope not,” Chase continued. “But my answer is I’m complex, and I’m deep, and I can be hurt easily, and I react spontaneously to people who want to figure me out, as it were. As somebody who will hold up my guard, I’m not going to let anybody figure me out, per say.”
Prior to the film’s premiere on CNN, Zenovich spoke out on the way she was treated by Chase while filming.
“I’d never done an interview where someone was so rude to me,” Zenovich told Variety on December 28, 2025. “But I was so worried going into that first interview with him about how I was going to say to him, like, ‘Everyone thinks you’re an asshole.’ I thought if I did, he would throw me out of his house. So the minute he said that to me, I had a way in.”
Despite the tense exchange, Zenovich “wanted to figure out who was the real person behind the conflicted, guarded and somewhat fragile man we see on camera.”
“What was behind the surface of his slightly intimidating superstar bravado? Was there any self-awareness there? Having interviewed Chevy at length, I have to say that yes, it’s all there – and a whole lot of pain and heartache too,” she added.
In addition to dealing with his controversial on set behavior, the doc broached Chase’s controversial exit from Community, which he starred on for four seasons from 2009 to 2012. Chase departed the series after allegedly using the N-word on the set while allegedly speaking to costar Yvette Nicole Brown.
“I know that there was a history between [Chevy and Yvette] around race, and she got up and stormed out of there,” Community director Jay Chandrasekhar recalled in the doc. “Chevy storms off, so the producer is like, ‘We need Yvette in the scene, right?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, she’s in the next scene.’ And he goes, ‘Well, she won’t come out unless Chevy apologizes to her.’”
Chase, for his part, did not address the alleged incident between him and Brown.
Several members of Chase’s family also appeared in the special, where they detailed the comedian’s past struggles with cocaine and alcohol. Chevy’s brother, Ned Chase, recalled an instance where the siblings had a night out that included drugs.
“There were about six to eight of us around the table, and the only person I knew was Chevy,” Ned claimed in the documentary. “But in the center of the table, there was, like, a lazy susan, and there was kind of a pyramid. That pyramid was cocaine.”
Chevy’s wife, Jayni Chase, later received a call from an ENT doctor who asked her to come in. The medical professional revealed to Jayni, 68, that her husband was addicted to cocaine. She subsequently organized an intervention for her husband, where he admitted to having a drug problem. Chevy went to the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, to get help, but only stayed for one week. (Chevy occasionally suffered from relapses, but mostly stayed clean, per the doc.)
Jayni also recalled noticing Chevy’s frequent drinking while working on Community.
“I realized he was getting a six-pack of organic red wine, and after about four days, it was gone,” she said in the doc. “I pointed it out to Chevy, probably five different times, and he would roll it back. And then he didn’t like me pointing it out to him because the beast of addiction starts taking over.”
Chevy appeared to be “functional” so Jayni was not aware of a potential issue until their daughter Caley questioned her dad’s drinking habits. (In addition to Caley, Chevy and Jayni are parents to daughters Cydney and Emily.)
“I didn’t realize it right away. Caley did,” Jayni said of Chevy’s drinking. “She finally said, ‘Mom, I think he’s drinking on set.’”
The documentary also dealt with Chevy’s time on Saturday Night Live — and subsequent abrupt exit — alleged other past struggles with costars and more.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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