Things have been getting weird on Community this season. Zombies. Animation. Barenaked Ladies bashing. And don’t forget the lesbian make-outs. What’s going on with the sophomore sitcom?
“A lot of it is (creator) Dan Harmon and our writers and producers really just continuing to take great risks,” says Alison Brie, who plays the naïve, sweet Annie on the college-set comedy.
“And it was us (actors) going forward gung-ho. Dan started to realize that we were willing to do anything he would put in front of us.”
Anything includes a recent near-kiss between Brie’s character and Britta (played by Gillian Jacobs).
“It wasn’t in the script. We just sort of improvised it. And everyone behind the camera was like ‘Yes!’ It was clearly a bunch of dudes,” says Brie.
“It’s nice to know that everyone was in support of us getting really incestuous,” adds Danny Pudi, – who plays Community’s pop culture junkie Abed.
For Pudi, the show’s second season has been all about finding their characters.
“It’s natural that the more you discover each other – where they come from, their lives – the more complicated things gets,” he says.
“That, by the way, was very similar to my sophomore year in college.”
On this week’s episode – airing Thursday – the cast cope with the imminent arrival of the U.S. Vice President. There’s also a student election faceoff between Jeff (Joel McHale) and Annie, who comes off a bit more ruthless than you’d expect.
“Oh, she has heart, but she’s driven. She definitely has the cut-throat attitude. There’s a lot of Hillary Clinton in what Annie is doing. And some Bill Clinton in what Jeff does,” says Brie.
“And I play Chelsea Clinton,” claims Pudi though, in truth, the episode finds Abed in an encounter with a Secret Service agent.
“Abed has these side adventures – this other secret life. People are always like – what have you been doing this episode? Delivering a baby?”
Community airs Thursday nights on Citytv.
