Comic-Con 2011: Community

Of everything I saw at Comic-Con, my most exciting sighting was Annie's Boobs. I'm referring, of course, to the monkey from NBC's Community—her real name is "Crystal." While the precious primate didn't join us in the press room, she did make an appearance at the panel on Saturday. But I was able to get plenty of good quotes from the speaking members of the cast in attendance (Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown, Chevy Chase, and Jim Rash), as well as Community creator Dan Harmon and writer Russ Krasnoff.

On the secrets of Season 3…

"Britta has a big reveal, and that's all I'm allowed to say." – Jacobs

"[Not having a plan] is sort of how we work. Which, I think most people would probably be terrified. What's kind of nice is we have a cast and group of people that always pull together, so for me, as an actor, I feel strangely secure never knowing what's going to happen." – Pudi

"There's a big plot point where there's an adversary who's already in—a new person that we learn of, who's already been there for a while." – Rash

"The Dean's going to have a lot of problems." – McHale

On what they'd like to see next…

"I would like to see a victory [for the Dean] at some point. It would be fun. I want a little moment. It could fall apart … So that would be it, probably. A little thing. And maybe some one-on-one time with Jeff Winger." – Rash

"I'd like Shirley to come into her own. She's got her man back now. She's got a new baby. Who is she outside of being that mother and wife?" – Brown

On embarrassing themselves…

"I think I'm on the right track when I'm embarrassing myself with my own acting. And I definitely feel like that was happening more and more in Season 2. I definitely felt like I was taking on a bit of Senor Chang at times." – Jacobs

"I don't have pride. I don't have any shame whatsoever. I never feel stupid." – Glover

"I trust [Dan] implicitly. Whatever he wants, I will do. Anything. I will degrade myself." – McHale

On Jeff/Britta…

"Dan always described it perfectly: the will-they-won't-they thing doesn't last. … I'm happy in that, like in real life, things move on." – McHale

"I think it's more interesting that they had secret sex all last season. … Then it shows an interesting side of the characters, that as soon as everyone finds out and it's not a secret anymore, they're not really interested in doing it anymore. Which shows a much more interesting thing about them as opposed to just, are they going to get together?" – McHale

On Chang's outsider status…

"I hope Chang never joins. I love him being the perpetual outsider. I really loved last season where he was the guy looking in—it was almost this Wile E. Coyote thing going on." – Jeong

On Pierce's villainy…

"Pierce Hawthorne doesn't apologize for who he is. He's been through a lot. He grew up rich. He had a bad dad. And he knows the value of stubbornness. It's important to have characters like that in your life. And I think it's specifically important to have characters like that in your life who are over 60, because we're all scared of going into that good night. And the ones that don't go gently are very important heroes to us." – Harmon

On Abed's Comic-Con plans…

"Well, you gotta hit the floor and count things, right? You gotta count stormtroopers, you gotta count Vulcans. I think that would be number one. After this year, Farscape, someone to talk Farscape with." – Pudi

On Shirley's baby…

"I think the baby might be there as a prop once or twice, but I don't think that it's going to be like she has a little papoose strapped on her in every class. She's already got the humongous purse. Unless you pull the kid out of the purse, she's already carrying too many things. So I think that Andre will now become the world's greatest stay-at-home dad." – Brown

On The Wire connection…

"[Writer] Neil Goldman sent a tweet [to Michael Kenneth Williams] saying, 'Do you know our show? Do you like our show? Would you like to be on our show?'" – Krasnoff

"Dan watched every episode of The Wire between seasons, and it gave him a lot of thoughts as to an arc for a season." – Krasnoff

"I sort of devoured [The Wire] between seasons, and very much so, in a certain sense, I want to give that show credit for being a huge inspiration to me between seasons. In an energy way. As far as narrative, despite what people say, we don't actively engage in reference humor. I'm not gonna just mimic someone else's show, and say, 'Isn't that funny because you recognize it?' But I want to achieve some of the same things in terms of energy that show showed me it was possible to achieve." – Harmon

On the next paintball episode…

"I hope that we're on wires. I hope we're doing a Crouching Tiger." – Jacobs

"[Dan] always wants to do outdo himself, so whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be good." – Glover

On Donald Glover's impression of Mr. Kunis…

"Donald Glover, God bless him, 'cause he has the most energy out of all of us combined, and he will keep us in stitches between takes. … He will come up with some of the dirtiest, raunchiest things you can't even utter in an R-rated movie." – Jeong

"Have you seen the rack on my daughter? … I'd like to be friends with benefits, if you know what I mean. Father with benefits!" – Donald Glover as Mr. Kunis, Mila Kunis' lecherous father

On graduating from community college…

"That starts to get addressed this year. It needs to be addressed on screen and off. The characters need to come to terms with the fact that school doesn't last forever." – Harmon

"You can't be there forever. … Jeff is still actively trying—he's not just like, 'I'm just gonna be with these people.' He's actively trying to get out of school. And he still will cheat." – McHale

"We don't study a lot." – Brown

On Community's demographic…

"We were talking about it yesterday. A new name for our show could be 'Stoners and Toddlers.' Because, if you watch our show—just based on some of the premises, if you try to explain them to people… A trampoline? All these things. I think if you're on drugs, they resonate. And I think if you're a child, they really, really connect with you." – Pudi