As expected of one of the most innovative and unique shows on television of the last few decades, Community had a unique lifespan full of fascinating details for fans to obsess about. Even in the years since the final season aired in 2015, the show has continued to spawn new facts, theories, and even content.
Whilst there is a certain level of Community knowledge that everyone who has watched the show loves to discuss, these are also the details that only the biggest of Community fans know about.
The Show Is Based On Dan Harmon's Experiences At Community College
Whilst the show is heavily associated with its creator and showrunner of five seasons, not as many know that Harmon actually went to community college himself, where he gained the experiences that would eventually influence the sitcom. In real life, it was California's Glendale Community College that Harmon attended, rather than Community's Greendale.
Harmon's choice to set the sitcom pilot at a community college shows how important to the writer his experiences there were, though he couldn't have predicted that they would eventually spawn one of the best sitcoms of all time.
Patrick Stewart Was Considered For The Role Of Pierce Hawthorne
Whilst Pierce was eventually played by Chevy Chase, for better or for worse, he wasn't the only older star considered for the role of the wealthy curmudgeon. During a Reddit AMA, Harmon revealed the actors he wanted to play Pierce in Community, including Fred Willard, John Cleese, and even X-Men and Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart.
Sony was ultimately responsible for the executive decisions surrounding the show, however, and that meant they had the final say on who would be playing Pierce. Of course, it is hard to imagine anyone except Chevy Chase playing the character now.
Annie And Britta's Actors Are The Same Age
Whilst the show portrayed Annie as much younger than Britta, as much as a decade her junior, the age difference between Alison Brie, who portrays Annie, and Gillian Jacobs, who portrays Britta, is only a couple of months. In fact, it is Brie who is slightly older.
This is ironic considering how much the character is treated differently due to her age, with Jeff's repeated line "Annie's pretty young, we try not to sexualize her," being one of the strongest associations with her character.
Harmon Discovered He Is On The Autistic Spectrum Whilst Writing Abed
Whilst doing research for the character of Abed in the show, Harmon ended up learning more about autism which apparently ended up hitting very close to home for the show's creator. As Vulture reports, it was as a result of this research that he spoke with a doctor and would get diagnosed himself.
Harmon expected himself to relate more with Jeff Winger, the sardonic but charismatic disgraced lawyer but he also identified strongly with the socially inept, pop-culture-obsessed Abed Nadir.
An Episode Of The Show Was Nominated For A Hugo Award
"Remedial Chaos Theory" from season 3 of the show featured a plot that spanned multiple parallel universes, including "the darkest timeline" after Jeff uses a dice roll to decide which of the group will go downstairs to fetch a pizza. It was one of Community's most experimental episodes, which challenged the linear narrative structures that sitcoms are usually reliant on.
It is no surprise then, that episode's writers, Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna were considered for multiple awards for the episode, including a Primetime Emmy and the Hugo award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Though the episode didn't win, it still holds a permanent place as one of the most unique episodes in any sitcom, as well as one of the best episodes of Community ever.
Abed Was Wrong About Six Seasons And A Movie (Sort Of)
Whilst the show is still on course to reach Abed's iconic "six seasons and a movie" target, with only the movie part of the equation left to tick off, there was one way in which his estimation was very wrong. This is because Abed originally made the prediction, not about Community, but about NBC's 2011 superhero series The Cape.
Abed made this claim after Jeff told him there was no way the series would last more than three weeks and, unfortunately, his prediction was a lot closer to the mark than Abed's. Despite that show lasting only 10 episodes in total, the phrase Abed used became synonymous with Community, and almost a rallying cry among fans for the show to continue during the times when its future was in doubt.
Abed Actually Did Get To Feature In Cougar Town
After Abed's embarrassing anecdote about featuring on the ABC sitcom Cougar Town in the season 2 episode "Critical Film Studies," Danny Pudi, the actor who plays Abed, did actually get a small part on the show. Hilariously, Abed's small role in the season 2 finale of Cougar Town reflected the anecdote he told on Community.
Rather than acting naturally as an extra, Pudi appeared to become nervous being so close to the stars of the sitcom having their conversation on the next table over and had to run off, presumably towards the nearest bathroom. Cougar Town actors Busy Phillips and Dan Byrd likewise made a cameo in the season 2 finale of Community, completing the crossover.
Jeff And Chang Had A Podcast
Rather, Joel Mchale and Ken Jeong, their respective actors, had a loosely Community-themed podcast titled The Darkest Timeline with Ken Jeong and Joel McHale that ran for 25 episodes in 2020. The show featured many moments of the two reminiscing about their time on Community and what it meant to them both.
In addition, the podcast featured guests from the show including Alison Brie, Jim Rash, Nathan Fillion, and Danny Pudi, as well as stars like Whoopi Goldberg and Dave Bautista. During a summer when fans may have been missing the sitcom, the podcast made for a good substitute.
There Really Is A Leonardllikespizza Youtube Channel
Leonard's amateurish food review channel from the show, with even the name mistyped, does actually exist on YouTube for those who wish to watch his rambling opinions about frozen food. Richard Erdman, the actor who played Leonard and became one of Community's lowkey villains, passed away in 2019 after a long career that encompassed classic cinema as well as the cult sitcom.
As a tribute to the character, the YouTube channel lives on with the lighthearted food reviews still up for anyone to watch. The channel even links to the channels of Jeff Winger, Troy Barnes, and other characters from the show.
The Cast Reunited In 2020 For A Table Read For Charity
In an effort to raise money for World Central Kitchen and Frontline Foods, the cast of Community, as well as Dan Harmon and The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal, got together for a table read of the episode "Cooperative Polygraphy" from season 5. The reunion aired on Youtube and raised over $130,000.
In addition, the get-together was also an opportunity to see the cast united after so long, including Donald Glover whose music career as Childish Gambino had only grown massively since the final season ended. It also raised hopes that, if the cast could reunite for this, perhaps a movie to round out the show wasn't quite so implausible.