As I write this, I am five episodes from watching the season finale of Season 1 of Community. Twenty-one episodes in, I think I might be ready to make a statement: Community is my favorite show that I’m currently watching. Of course, I still love Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother and look forward to watching them every week. But when it comes to comparing those shows with Community, it just seems that I get more laughs from twenty minutes of Joel McHale and his buddies. Here are a few things that make the show great.
Joel McHale (as Jeff Winger) and Danny Pudi (as Abed Nadir)
Almost every character on Community is reliably funny in each episode. Britta and Annie can at times be a little weak, but other than that I can usually count on the rest of the crew to keep me laughing. Each character has such a different personality and a different sense of humor about them that it’s fun watch the various types of humor that emerge. Pierce is the old man who is out of touch with modern times to the point that he is often unintentionally (or is it?) racist or politically incorrect. Troy is the former high school football star who typically takes part in wacky antics with his best buddy Abed. Besides coming from a strict Muslim background, Abed seems to possibly have Aspergers and is passionate about making short films (often based on his friend’s real problems). Shirley is a recently divorced mom who is usually super sweet and friendly but she can also turn on the sass. Jeff is the group leader who is seen as the cool guy and has a way with the ladies. Some of these characters sound stereotypically familiar, but the writers of Community always manage to keep their jokes fresh and genuinely funny.
The humor on Community is consistently well-timed and well-written. After watching the majority of the first season, I’ve yet to come across an episode that I thought just wasn’t very good. I think that some of the funniest moments on the show come from a character just being himself, rather than him trying to crack a zinger of a joke. When watching Community, I never feel like the characters are trying to get to some punch line or get to that laugh-track laughter like in Two and a Half Men or the dreadful Mike and Molly. The humor comes naturally, more like when you experience a funny situation when you’re just hanging out with your friends. Maybe that means that the comedy of Community is more situational that verbal.
Ken Jeong as Senor Chang
One of Community’s little treasures is it’s cast of minor but reoccurring characters throughout the season. I’m talking of course about characters like Star Burns – the guy in their Spanish class who has side burns shaped like stars. Or Senor Chang, their Spanish teacher who also likes to go by El Tigre. Even Greendale’s mascot, the Greendale Human Being, is bound to get a laugh when he makes an appearance. These minor characters are kind of like rewards for loyal viewers because some of them you might not completely get the humor unless you’ve seen all the previous episodes. Add these colorful personalities into the mix and they just add to the hilarity of the situations that the main players typically find themselves in.
The bottom line is: watch a few episodes of this show and it shouldn’t take long for you to realize it seriously is one of the funniest shows on TV right now. The episodes are half an hour, which boils down to only about twenty minutes without commercials, so it would take no time at all to watch a few episodes. Get the first disc of Season 1 on Netflix, of just find the episodes online (it’s easy enough). If you’re looking for a show to fill that Thursday night gap in your schedule, Community is definitely worth a try.
