Danny Pudi

Danny Pudi: To play a character that is so much quicker than you … it gives you a new way of looking at the world.

Danny Pudi: (On how often his TV and movie tastes match up with Abed's, a character he plays on the TV series Community) You know, pretty often. I think the tastes are pretty similar. The knowledge is vastly different, because Abed has such a vast knowledge-he's like an encyclopedia. My favorite movie of all time is Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, and last year, in an episode, I got to wear Indiana Jones's whip, and I was talking about Indiana Jones a lot. You know, Abed has this love and fascination with '80s movies, with '80s trivia, and with shows that were huge in the '80s. And I grew up then, so a lot of that stuff definitely resonates with me. I think the biggest difference, though, is Abed can name every episode from M*A*S*H Season 4, and I can't name one.

Danny Pudi: (On his character Abed's side stories in the TV series Community) Yeah, I mean, it started out-I remember when we first started the show, we were doing photo shoots in the beginning, and people would be like, "Everybody smile!" And I would smile, and they'd be like, "Except you, Danny." And I was like, okay, this is sort of where we're going. Everybody smiles but Danny. And I get it. The Abed character-in some ways I feel like a fan who's won a contest to be in a show. Because I get to kind of be part of the show as well as being the audience in many ways, which I love. The scripts are always pretty damn ridiculous. All the sudden I'll flip to page 23, and it's like, "Abed delivers baby," and I'm like, "What?!" Somehow it makes sense, though.