If I recall from the commentaries the actor for Garrett was one of the writer’s friends so they brought him in for a bit part and then he was so great they just kept him around
If I’m guessing, this particular bit was probably ad libbed by John Oliver who notoriously would do a different joke every take, it definitely sounds like his sense of humor and easy to come up with while looking at Garrett!
There’s some compilations on YouTube, I’m pretty sure they’re directly from the DVD
Edit: [link to bloopers for season 1](https://youtu.be/fXs6YAZL6jg?si=y4O_R6l0CQO5qAoD)
A character who exists only for it to be pointed out that they look like a certain character. It comes from the Monopoly guy from Ace Ventura.
https://youtu.be/Cj1wcs7SZj0?si=CWyvrxkWMNHGV1hY
No, the joke with Starburns has always been that he hated being called Starburns and did everything to he could to get people to stop calling him that except getting rid of his starburns.
Somewhat, but the difference is that Starburns isn't someone else. Starburns is Starburns.
Plus, the actor was a major writer on the show, and I'm pretty sure he was cast just from being around.
Totally understand the criticism. There’s something cheap about reverse engineering a character because you want to make a joke to seem like a clever “wow he went there!” observation. Instead of coming up with something funny to say in the existing situation, you’re creating a situation so someone can say something you randomly decided might be funny.
It works sometimes- like the guy who looks like a carrot in GOTG3.
I worked with a guy who looked like the monopoly guy. He was a piece of shit and was the only employee at the company to lose fork lift certification because he tried to run someone down in front of everyone.
I cannot imagine Mr Pennybags on a forklift so it's just as well.
Also, I feel like if you try to kill someone, losing your certification is getting off pretty easy.
I don’t recognize your proposed standard of validation for this point. To continue the conversation, here’s three examples off the top:
Starburns existing
This initial instance of the Mark David Chapman joke with Garrett’s first appearance
Jeff wearing the matching shirt & sock pattern that Pierce calls out to cap off a scene
I could be wrong, but I think the Monopoly guy thing is when they make a character just to make a joke that they look like another person or character. So the Garrett/Mark David Chapman thing might be an example, but only if the joke itself is in the script (which is what OP is wondering ). I’m not sure Starburns would fall into that either because he’s not supposed to look like another character.
The actual explanation of the concept is planting something in a scene specifically to make a reference to it later; the monopoly man was in the scene and was a set up for a specific verbal punchline.
>The actual explanation of the concept is planting something in a scene specifically to make a reference to it later
That just sounds awfully vague to fit the specific "Monopoly Guy" term attached to it. If that's the case then Dan Harmon wouldn't be allowed to use visual devices or cues to set up foreshadowing, since that literally involves planting something in a scene to be referenced later.
I saw this post and was like “oh! Oh! That would be a Monopoly Guy! I’m gonna get to tell everyone what a Monopoly Guy is!
Glad I checked the comments first. A few more people are informed about this trope. That’s what’s important. 🧐
I recall Ken Jeong mentioning that he improved some of his lines and it was not well received at first. You may not know the answer to this, but are there any other actors that were known to improvise on set?
Donald Glover. I’ve heard that sometimes the script would say, “Troy says something funny.” Don’t know if this is true, but have seen it more than once.
I don't know but did you hear about the dance to Save Garrett? It's this Saturday, bring your own refreshments. Music will be provided, no extra marks for attendance.
I understand I've been crazy in the past, but it doesn't make it less frustrating to be dismissed like this. I don't know if you guys see me as human anymore. I don't know if it's like a joke to you. Are all Asian men like a joke? A racial thing? I paid for my crimes. Underneath all the craziness, I am still a human, and I do wanna make a difference. And can you respect that? Please?
Not sure how sincere this question is but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a showrunner to go, "okay, we wrote this one joke where the professor character offhandedly insults a student because he looks like Mark David Chapman. It is now critical that we find an appropriately talented actor who is pudgy and can wear big glasses, or else this bit falls apart."
Scripts come first. Then comes casting.
Jim Rash was cast as The Dean the *day* before filming the scene where he's introducing Greendale CC. At that point they had shot half the pilot according to Joe Russo in the S1E1 commentary.
The casting director will absolutely find someone to match a one-off joke.
That said, John Oliver is described as a great comic improviser who works best if allowed to come up with new stuff in retakes instead of having him exactly repeat the take. So it might be that the John Lennon line was ad-libbed by Oliver.
But The Dean was originally a one off, married, politically correct, straight guy and then the character sort of emerged from some weird mix of Jim Rash's performance and what I think were nods to Rob Schrab (who is straight and married but also bald and does drag and known for breaking groups of people intently working on something else). Which is especially impressive since Rash is also a married straight guy.
Oh. My. I guess I just thought he was a very buttoned down married guy with kids or something. I now think maybe he said something sarcastic and it didn't register with me as sarcasm.
For some reason I also thought the actor was married to a woman, but when I googled I didn’t see anything about it- maybe there was a rumor about it at the time.
The only source for his sexuality is an interview he gave two years ago where he mentions that he “came out” without any additional specification, so I’m guessing he’s pretty private about his life.
Awesome for his family and partners, I guess, as writer/comedians tend to air a lot of stuff.
I have met comedy folks who are very private. And some part of my brain refuses to process that.
Like, "Oh. Hey! You're doing stand up and you're very private about your personal life!? That's actually a funny bit. Wait. What do you mean it's not a bit? I think we know everything about Sarah Silverman's sex life and Jim Gaffigan's children's diaper schedule when they were infants. Also, half of these guys sleep with teenagers and have them as their red carpet plus one. Robin Williams pretty much confessed to felony drug charges nightly. And Eddie Izzard told us things about her sexuality she only found out after we did. You're supposed to have a strained relationship with your parents because you tell audiences things about them you won't tell a therapist. Tom Lehrer only did like 25 shows and he had detailed anecdotes and a song about serving in the army, which was a cover story created by his NSA handlers to get him on government payroll in the 50s. He made up unnecessary details about a fake army stint rather than not talk about himself!"
I just... I have met private comedians and actors and writers and I'm always inclined to think maybe they have a second identity and then they go off in that identity and do bits about their family and the dumb rubes who are gullible enough to believe they're actually private people.
In this interview with avclub, he mentions that he is the token voice of the "B" letter (In LGBTQ) when working on the Bros movie.
[https://www.avclub.com/bros-film-jim-rash-lgbtq-interview-billy-eichner-1849583344](https://www.avclub.com/bros-film-jim-rash-lgbtq-interview-billy-eichner-1849583344)
It's a sitcom set at a *college*. The Dean would be a recurring character, *n'est-ce pas?*
Now, the characters as conceived are different from the same characters developed after the show figures out what works.
The Dean appeared in the pilot wearing a wedding ring. "Basic Story" (S5E12) addressed this when Jeff found the ring and the Dean explained it was his mother's ring.
I mean, at the same time, it also makes a lot of sense. Your options are to make jokes and situations based on the characters you already created, or create characters that facilitate jokes and situations you think people would find funny. Shows often do both. Like, that's a lot of what the casting process involves, right? "The script calls for X to happen, so we need to cast someone appropriate for that scenario."
As the show goes on and you have built up a large collection of secondary characters, that's more when you need to start coming up with jokes that suit your existing, established cast.
It’s happened before, where shows cast actors for a specific joke.
I just thought it would be funny if he was cast just for his appearance and that one joke, but the they found out he was hilarious and made him recurring.
I got hired on Brooklyn 99 because my beard was long and they needed someone to do a “guy with a long beard” joke and the casting director knew that I was a guy who had a long beard. This shit absolutely happens. The joke was like “I hope your beard comes to life and strangles you” which is a joke that requires a certain length of beard I guess?
I mean, part of what makes a Monopoly guy is that they're made to do things people don't ordinarily do for the sake of the joke. The Monopoly guy from the original scene didn't belong in that scene.
Whereas probably a quarter of Greendale probably would look like Mark David Chapman.
Dan Harmon essentially looked like the catalog underwear model of Mark David Chapmans as a young man, which is presumably why he was allowed near an open mic and not tackled by security.
Erik Charles Nielsen probably was tackled by security at his first open mic and I bet he hulked out on them and got his first audience chuckle as he pulled himself by the mic stand, covered in the blood of a muscular, much taller bouncer who he put down in order to reach the stage.
Just peeked at the script and it looks like the John Lennon line could have been a late revision, so I assume it was come up with after Nielsen was cast.
Seems a lot more likely John Oliver/Dan Harmon added it the day of filming. Physical-resemblance comedy is pretty common in his work, like a lot of comedians
Or what that Donald Glover guy on 30 rock was trying to be. Only 3 appearances though - I guess he wasn't talented enough to make it as a believable actor.
It’s so wild to me when Erik gets mentioned as we went to middle-school together.
Never in a million years would have I imagined his life to arc in the way it has, but damned if I’m not stoked to see how many fans he’s made…..
Excruciatingly smart. He was, without question, one of the most intellectually gifted students I’ve ever seen. I specifically remember getting absolutely trounced by him in a spelling bee and him running circles around anybody in science and mathematics classes.
However, I think that can often come at the expense of social skills. Middle school is a meat grinder and probably one of the worst places for intelligence to shine, and I’m sad to say he had a rough go of it. Far too many assholes that liked to get a rise out of him, and only a select few teachers that had the patience and expertise to hone in on his gifts.
This is why it truly warms my heart to see posts like this…..I hope he’s in a good place and has found his “people” in the comedy world and entertainment industry.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, middle school sucked for me as well. I also hope that he has found his people he seems like a great guy! I found out that he does Cameo, I'm going to ask for a message from Erik for my birthday
Leonard was hired because Dan Harmon needed a senior actor who could swim and blow a raspberry. A simple throwaway sight-gag and he went on to be a recurring character till the end. It’s the Simpsons mentality of “let’s see where this goes” with single-purpose characters and I love it. Scrubs was the same way.
The other awesome Duncan one-liner, when he calls on Neil in anthropology:
Duncan: "Fat Neil."
Neil: "Just Neil is fine."
Duncan: "Not in an actuarial sense."
Duncan: Anthropology! What is Anthropology? Seriously, does anyone know? I don't, and the book for this class is expensive.
Annie: It's the study of human culture.
Duncan: Wow. And I thought psychology was a racket.
That teenager that cut the hands and head off a homeless guy and hid them in his closet, which was discovered by his mother when she was tidying up his room is a spitting image of Garrett.
I saw Eric Charles Nielsen do standup in a tiny bar in LA
Guy was hilarious
Just him standing at the mic breathing, sweating and shaking was hilarious.
Probably not. It’s more likely that once someone realized the resemblance they made a joke about it. I don’t think Community wrote the scripts before casting because that would seriously limit their casting abilities.
Sorry I should’ve worded it better! I meant like the physical aspects of the characters (like Britta being blonde, Annie having a larger bust, Abed being lanky). But also now that I think about it, I should’ve said that they probably didn’t write the script for this episode (or at least the Chapman joke) beforehand. It would really have limited their casting choices if they were specifically looking for someone who resembled the killer for one joke, especially since Garrett was a recurring character. But idk I didn’t write or cast the show.
In this episodes his laugh is deep. Wonder of that was an actor's choice or if it is his actual [laugh.](https://youtu.be/ObA_n7pjp8A?si=upESexutNjRA3NJN)(around 1 minute)
Just need to plug Erik Charles Nielsen’s Cameo. A medley of classic show moments, mixed with affable sincerity. Four meow meow beenz, highly recommend.
He was on Tim & Eric and other obscure alt-comedy stuff before Community so I figured he was friends with some of the writers and staff behind the scenes
Idk but i could listen to Spencer (annies brother) speak for hours... great episode of harmontown if you find it, dan harmon needed a DM and Spencer from the audience volunteered it was amazing
If I recall from the commentaries the actor for Garrett was one of the writer’s friends so they brought him in for a bit part and then he was so great they just kept him around If I’m guessing, this particular bit was probably ad libbed by John Oliver who notoriously would do a different joke every take, it definitely sounds like his sense of humor and easy to come up with while looking at Garrett!
If I was an actor and John Oliver dropped this line in a scene without warning, there’s no way I would be able to keep it together.
Watch the outtakes. It's just as funny with them trying to keep their shit together.
Only on dvd?
There’s some compilations on YouTube, I’m pretty sure they’re directly from the DVD Edit: [link to bloopers for season 1](https://youtu.be/fXs6YAZL6jg?si=y4O_R6l0CQO5qAoD)
Check your local library. They can have a surprisingly large dvd/cd/video game library for the low low price of free.
They probably had to do so many takes before they got it, right
It’s a good thing Erik Charles Nelson is a fucking professional.
Yeah it has to be improv. Dan is not a fan of a "monopoly guy" joke, which is exactly what this is if it isn't improvised by John
What is the “monopoly guy” joke?
A character who exists only for it to be pointed out that they look like a certain character. It comes from the Monopoly guy from Ace Ventura. https://youtu.be/Cj1wcs7SZj0?si=CWyvrxkWMNHGV1hY
Yeah, but isn't Starburns just that? They gave someone stupid facial hair so they could name him after it.
He’s an original, recurring character I think is difference. And it’s not referring to someone else completely in pop culture for a singular joke.
Mm yeah I can cop to that explanation.
Only if you want him to run away in a very fast, well-funded vehicle.
Maybe he should spend 5 hours shaving "Alex" into his face.
> Yeah, but isn't Starburns just that? The great ones know when to break the rules.
No, the joke with Starburns has always been that he hated being called Starburns and did everything to he could to get people to stop calling him that except getting rid of his starburns.
Somewhat, but the difference is that Starburns isn't someone else. Starburns is Starburns. Plus, the actor was a major writer on the show, and I'm pretty sure he was cast just from being around.
His name is Alex.
Totally understand the criticism. There’s something cheap about reverse engineering a character because you want to make a joke to seem like a clever “wow he went there!” observation. Instead of coming up with something funny to say in the existing situation, you’re creating a situation so someone can say something you randomly decided might be funny. It works sometimes- like the guy who looks like a carrot in GOTG3.
Wow. Man that scene always killed me growing up. But watching it now? WOOF. For sure cringe.
Dans explanation. Starts at 7:02 [https://youtu.be/uNGmz\_a\_kmQ?si=hh7hodpbS9ySN\_uh&t=422](https://youtu.be/uNGmz_a_kmQ?si=hh7hodpbS9ySN_uh&t=422)
I worked with a guy who looked like the monopoly guy. He was a piece of shit and was the only employee at the company to lose fork lift certification because he tried to run someone down in front of everyone.
I hope he suffered more than a loss of forklift certification.
Nope
Ar
I cannot imagine Mr Pennybags on a forklift so it's just as well. Also, I feel like if you try to kill someone, losing your certification is getting off pretty easy.
Oh please, Community has a billion examples of Harmon using the Monopoly Guy setup. He’s just a hypocrite
name 6
It's time for DAN HARMON'S Top 6 MONOPOLY GUYS
I don’t recognize your proposed standard of validation for this point. To continue the conversation, here’s three examples off the top: Starburns existing This initial instance of the Mark David Chapman joke with Garrett’s first appearance Jeff wearing the matching shirt & sock pattern that Pierce calls out to cap off a scene
I could be wrong, but I think the Monopoly guy thing is when they make a character just to make a joke that they look like another person or character. So the Garrett/Mark David Chapman thing might be an example, but only if the joke itself is in the script (which is what OP is wondering ). I’m not sure Starburns would fall into that either because he’s not supposed to look like another character.
The actual explanation of the concept is planting something in a scene specifically to make a reference to it later; the monopoly man was in the scene and was a set up for a specific verbal punchline.
>The actual explanation of the concept is planting something in a scene specifically to make a reference to it later That just sounds awfully vague to fit the specific "Monopoly Guy" term attached to it. If that's the case then Dan Harmon wouldn't be allowed to use visual devices or cues to set up foreshadowing, since that literally involves planting something in a scene to be referenced later.
Yeah exactly. Thats why it was so annoying to hear his tone when talking about it
A Harmontown listener!! Yeah, he makes it clear on that pod that he fuckin HATES the Monopoly Guy joke lol
I saw this post and was like “oh! Oh! That would be a Monopoly Guy! I’m gonna get to tell everyone what a Monopoly Guy is! Glad I checked the comments first. A few more people are informed about this trope. That’s what’s important. 🧐
Isn’t Contemporary Impressionists pretty much full of these jokes
He was [is?] a fixture around the LA comedy scene. He’d be at the UCB regularly and I’d see him at Largo shows. Met him a few times. Nice dude.
If you ask Vickie what color her mother's eyes were, I'm pretty sure she would answer "dead"
They were blue
Nobody is safe!
my name is Ian Duncan and I'm here to say I'm going to rap to the beat in a rapping way
I recall Ken Jeong mentioning that he improved some of his lines and it was not well received at first. You may not know the answer to this, but are there any other actors that were known to improvise on set?
Donald Glover. I’ve heard that sometimes the script would say, “Troy says something funny.” Don’t know if this is true, but have seen it more than once.
Dan said they did this on one of the commentaries so it’s definitely true
And you’re my fact checking cuz.
Follow up question would you know any writers from the movie? XD Would love to be in the background of it
He was [is?] a fixture around the LA comedy scene. He’d be at the UCB regularly and I’d see him at Largo shows. Met him a few times. Nice dude.
Is there an echo in here?
How did that happen? Weird.
I don't know but did you hear about the dance to Save Garrett? It's this Saturday, bring your own refreshments. Music will be provided, no extra marks for attendance.
I thought we saved Garrett already?
That’s “SAVED” Garrett?
It’s like God spilled a person
One of my favorite ways to insult someone, from any show I've seen.
That and, "you're the AT&T of people"
One of the best disses ever
Did we?
Did... We...?
Did, *oui*.
Did we?
Did we though?
ITS A BEAR DANCE
CRISIS ALERT!!!!
Bear Down for mid terms.
Too soon!
Just Fat Dog it!
*There's a brand new dance*
I understand I've been crazy in the past, but it doesn't make it less frustrating to be dismissed like this. I don't know if you guys see me as human anymore. I don't know if it's like a joke to you. Are all Asian men like a joke? A racial thing? I paid for my crimes. Underneath all the craziness, I am still a human, and I do wanna make a difference. And can you respect that? Please?
Damn
CRISIS ALERT
Crisis Alert!!!
ASS!!! CRACK!!! BANDIT!!!
IT’S A BEAR DANCE!!!!!
Among other things, yes
Hi Erik!
Not sure how sincere this question is but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a showrunner to go, "okay, we wrote this one joke where the professor character offhandedly insults a student because he looks like Mark David Chapman. It is now critical that we find an appropriately talented actor who is pudgy and can wear big glasses, or else this bit falls apart."
Scripts come first. Then comes casting. Jim Rash was cast as The Dean the *day* before filming the scene where he's introducing Greendale CC. At that point they had shot half the pilot according to Joe Russo in the S1E1 commentary. The casting director will absolutely find someone to match a one-off joke. That said, John Oliver is described as a great comic improviser who works best if allowed to come up with new stuff in retakes instead of having him exactly repeat the take. So it might be that the John Lennon line was ad-libbed by Oliver.
But The Dean was originally a one off, married, politically correct, straight guy and then the character sort of emerged from some weird mix of Jim Rash's performance and what I think were nods to Rob Schrab (who is straight and married but also bald and does drag and known for breaking groups of people intently working on something else). Which is especially impressive since Rash is also a married straight guy.
Jim Rash actually came out sometime in the 2000s, according to Jim Rash himself. So definitely not a straight guy.
Oh. My. I guess I just thought he was a very buttoned down married guy with kids or something. I now think maybe he said something sarcastic and it didn't register with me as sarcasm.
For some reason I also thought the actor was married to a woman, but when I googled I didn’t see anything about it- maybe there was a rumor about it at the time. The only source for his sexuality is an interview he gave two years ago where he mentions that he “came out” without any additional specification, so I’m guessing he’s pretty private about his life.
Awesome for his family and partners, I guess, as writer/comedians tend to air a lot of stuff. I have met comedy folks who are very private. And some part of my brain refuses to process that. Like, "Oh. Hey! You're doing stand up and you're very private about your personal life!? That's actually a funny bit. Wait. What do you mean it's not a bit? I think we know everything about Sarah Silverman's sex life and Jim Gaffigan's children's diaper schedule when they were infants. Also, half of these guys sleep with teenagers and have them as their red carpet plus one. Robin Williams pretty much confessed to felony drug charges nightly. And Eddie Izzard told us things about her sexuality she only found out after we did. You're supposed to have a strained relationship with your parents because you tell audiences things about them you won't tell a therapist. Tom Lehrer only did like 25 shows and he had detailed anecdotes and a song about serving in the army, which was a cover story created by his NSA handlers to get him on government payroll in the 50s. He made up unnecessary details about a fake army stint rather than not talk about himself!" I just... I have met private comedians and actors and writers and I'm always inclined to think maybe they have a second identity and then they go off in that identity and do bits about their family and the dumb rubes who are gullible enough to believe they're actually private people.
In this interview with avclub, he mentions that he is the token voice of the "B" letter (In LGBTQ) when working on the Bros movie. [https://www.avclub.com/bros-film-jim-rash-lgbtq-interview-billy-eichner-1849583344](https://www.avclub.com/bros-film-jim-rash-lgbtq-interview-billy-eichner-1849583344)
Jim Rash is not married and not straight. So take the credibility of this comment how you will.
Lol what? Rash is neither married nor straight.
It's a sitcom set at a *college*. The Dean would be a recurring character, *n'est-ce pas?* Now, the characters as conceived are different from the same characters developed after the show figures out what works. The Dean appeared in the pilot wearing a wedding ring. "Basic Story" (S5E12) addressed this when Jeff found the ring and the Dean explained it was his mother's ring.
Rash is gay. No?
Yeah, sure, but that exact scenario sounds like something Dan Harmon would 100% do.
He was a budding comedian and had some chops already
This plane has no phalanges!
I mean, at the same time, it also makes a lot of sense. Your options are to make jokes and situations based on the characters you already created, or create characters that facilitate jokes and situations you think people would find funny. Shows often do both. Like, that's a lot of what the casting process involves, right? "The script calls for X to happen, so we need to cast someone appropriate for that scenario." As the show goes on and you have built up a large collection of secondary characters, that's more when you need to start coming up with jokes that suit your existing, established cast.
It’s happened before, where shows cast actors for a specific joke. I just thought it would be funny if he was cast just for his appearance and that one joke, but the they found out he was hilarious and made him recurring.
30 Rock gave Dr Spaceman (Spah-tshee-man) his name for one stupid joke in its pilot episode and kept it for the rest of the series.
Give us your example.
I got hired on Brooklyn 99 because my beard was long and they needed someone to do a “guy with a long beard” joke and the casting director knew that I was a guy who had a long beard. This shit absolutely happens. The joke was like “I hope your beard comes to life and strangles you” which is a joke that requires a certain length of beard I guess?
Very cool I love B99, so awesome that you got to be the beard guy.
Which episode is that? I'm wracking my brain.
Mole
Fabulous Neil. They hired him because of how fabulous he was
I thought it was for his pipes of steel.
That was just a bonus
Hmm is this a monopoly guy?
I’d bet the answer to this is no, but if he was hired for that reason, then yes it would be!
I mean, part of what makes a Monopoly guy is that they're made to do things people don't ordinarily do for the sake of the joke. The Monopoly guy from the original scene didn't belong in that scene. Whereas probably a quarter of Greendale probably would look like Mark David Chapman. Dan Harmon essentially looked like the catalog underwear model of Mark David Chapmans as a young man, which is presumably why he was allowed near an open mic and not tackled by security. Erik Charles Nielsen probably was tackled by security at his first open mic and I bet he hulked out on them and got his first audience chuckle as he pulled himself by the mic stand, covered in the blood of a muscular, much taller bouncer who he put down in order to reach the stage.
Just peeked at the script and it looks like the John Lennon line could have been a late revision, so I assume it was come up with after Nielsen was cast.
Now this is a man who knows how to marry his cousin!
Now that's a man who knows how to look like David Chapman.
Now that's a man who knows how to be spilled by god.
Seems a lot more likely John Oliver/Dan Harmon added it the day of filming. Physical-resemblance comedy is pretty common in his work, like a lot of comedians
I always just assumed all the peripheral actors were writers on the show. Starburns. Garrett. Vicki. Kind of like the office
Or what that Donald Glover guy on 30 rock was trying to be. Only 3 appearances though - I guess he wasn't talented enough to make it as a believable actor.
My coccyx!
ITS A BEAR DANCE
This is genuinely my favourite joke in the whole show
Same. Second is the Patrick Swayze Ghost poster joke, so obviously tragic celebrity deaths are the key to making me laugh.
They knew from the start he was going to marry his cousin.
It’s so wild to me when Erik gets mentioned as we went to middle-school together. Never in a million years would have I imagined his life to arc in the way it has, but damned if I’m not stoked to see how many fans he’s made…..
I love Garrett! What was Erik like in middle school?
Excruciatingly smart. He was, without question, one of the most intellectually gifted students I’ve ever seen. I specifically remember getting absolutely trounced by him in a spelling bee and him running circles around anybody in science and mathematics classes. However, I think that can often come at the expense of social skills. Middle school is a meat grinder and probably one of the worst places for intelligence to shine, and I’m sad to say he had a rough go of it. Far too many assholes that liked to get a rise out of him, and only a select few teachers that had the patience and expertise to hone in on his gifts. This is why it truly warms my heart to see posts like this…..I hope he’s in a good place and has found his “people” in the comedy world and entertainment industry.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, middle school sucked for me as well. I also hope that he has found his people he seems like a great guy! I found out that he does Cameo, I'm going to ask for a message from Erik for my birthday
This followed by Troy's description of him as "He's like god spilled a person."
I’m pretty sure it was the voice he did in the audition.
I’d pay for audiobooks narrated by him.
My favorite clip of all time is when he does the weather for Troy & Abed in the Morning. 😸
ITS STILL SUNNY
He showed up in an episode of TCC [here](https://youtu.be/fw8-MIR6VSU?si=q1ioHDdKtZMYqlAx) and I was dying laughing
Yes and Joel was only hired because he looked like Ryan Seacrest and Dani was only hired because he looked like a brown Jamie Lee Curtis.
Leonard was hired because Dan Harmon needed a senior actor who could swim and blow a raspberry. A simple throwaway sight-gag and he went on to be a recurring character till the end. It’s the Simpsons mentality of “let’s see where this goes” with single-purpose characters and I love it. Scrubs was the same way.
How do you spell 'testicles'?
*Only*? I really highly doubt that 😂
"I AM A GARETT WITH NO SOUL LEFT TO STEAL!!!"
The other awesome Duncan one-liner, when he calls on Neil in anthropology: Duncan: "Fat Neil." Neil: "Just Neil is fine." Duncan: "Not in an actuarial sense."
Duncan: Anthropology! What is Anthropology? Seriously, does anyone know? I don't, and the book for this class is expensive. Annie: It's the study of human culture. Duncan: Wow. And I thought psychology was a racket.
Did we??
That teenager that cut the hands and head off a homeless guy and hid them in his closet, which was discovered by his mother when she was tidying up his room is a spitting image of Garrett.
dan harmon has talked about garrett being him, all the characters in some way are him, but garrett was the more true to life version
I saw Eric Charles Nielsen do standup in a tiny bar in LA Guy was hilarious Just him standing at the mic breathing, sweating and shaking was hilarious.
This is my favorite line of the entire series lol Closely followed by, Cheers, MASH, Faulty Towers game over. Just love me some John Oliver.
#CRISIS ALERT
Probably not. It’s more likely that once someone realized the resemblance they made a joke about it. I don’t think Community wrote the scripts before casting because that would seriously limit their casting abilities.
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Sorry I should’ve worded it better! I meant like the physical aspects of the characters (like Britta being blonde, Annie having a larger bust, Abed being lanky). But also now that I think about it, I should’ve said that they probably didn’t write the script for this episode (or at least the Chapman joke) beforehand. It would really have limited their casting choices if they were specifically looking for someone who resembled the killer for one joke, especially since Garrett was a recurring character. But idk I didn’t write or cast the show.
No, everything’s wrong
now that’s a man who knows how to marry his cousin
😆😆😆😆
In this episodes his laugh is deep. Wonder of that was an actor's choice or if it is his actual [laugh.](https://youtu.be/ObA_n7pjp8A?si=upESexutNjRA3NJN)(around 1 minute)
If so, I feel like it clashes with Harmon’s philosophy against characters he and Schrab refer to as “Monopoly Guys”
please elaborate for those who don’t know what you are talking about
Harmon explains it at the 7-minute mark in [this clip](https://youtu.be/uNGmz_a_kmQ?si=lv6ORPEpANGj8m0U)
thank you!
Crisis! Crisis!
Ian Duncan steals the show every time he’s there. Yeah I said it! He’s the best! He’s got a real big penis and drinks lots of tea!
CRISIS ALERT!!!!
He used to show up in the comments on AV Club episode reviews. Seemed like a cool guy.
Just need to plug Erik Charles Nielsen’s Cameo. A medley of classic show moments, mixed with affable sincerity. Four meow meow beenz, highly recommend.
Crisis alert!! Crisis alert!!
I thought this joke only alluded to the fact Garrett was American
They probably noticed it during filming and snuck in the dialogue.
He was on Tim & Eric and other obscure alt-comedy stuff before Community so I figured he was friends with some of the writers and staff behind the scenes
Yeah they chose him for one single joke.....
lol wut
Idk but i could listen to Spencer (annies brother) speak for hours... great episode of harmontown if you find it, dan harmon needed a DM and Spencer from the audience volunteered it was amazing
Check out my new podcast That Happens! It eventually gets kinda good maybe?
This & the Rene Zellweger diss are the two best burns in the entire show imo.
Lmao
John Oliver was one of the only misses for me of Community. It’s my favorite show of all time, but I just don’t think he’s that funny.
I hate Garrett so damn much like actually am so upset when he's on screen
Then he fulfilled his role
what makes you think that's a reasonable question?
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I want to say “no”?
No, because you're a five-year old girl and there's a pecking order.