Maximum Fun Forum

Another episode, guest hosted by the lovely Janet Varney!

Danny Pudi is an actor and comedian best known for his role as the pop culture-obsessed Abed Nadir on the NBC show Community. He talks to us about working on a show that's as much fun to shoot as it is to watch and working improv comedy into a scripted show. (Community returns with its season premiere on September 22nd at 8/7c.)

This was way too good to get no comments.

Such a charming rapport, such a delightful guy, and I had absolutely no idea about the Polish heritage so the whole thing was surprising and interesting.

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Agreed. I didn't have anything much to say besides "i enjoyed this" and adore both of them. I suppose i could mention that Janet was recently on the "Totally Laime" podcast:

http://totallylaimepodcast.com/2011/07/ ... et-varney/

I could also mention that, thus far, on a per-episode basis, "Community" is the best sitcom of all time. If for some reason you've held out and not watched the program out of an irrational hatred of Joel McHale, get over it already.

I didn't know there could be hatred of Joel McHale.... Is this because of The Soup? I only learned of this show because of Community, which is the smartest show on television (which doesn't mean it's always the best).

The interview was great and I thought Janet Varney did a terrific job filling in for Jesse.

One time he was kind of mean to Jimmy Pardo and some people felt shitty about it? Something like that.

He's not entirely my favorite, but the genius of that show is not to be ignored, and it's not as if the show makes him out to be a flawless hero or anything. He gets hit just as frequently as any other character.

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I think people don't like McHale for two reasons. Most because he is handsome and his tone is snide, which is a tough combination for some people to take. Some standups don't like him because he started doing standup after he was a TV host and could do theater gigs, so he didn't "pay his dues."

Also he was a dick to Pardo, though I think even Pardo could admit that was a combination of his (Pardo's) extreme sensitivity to a couple of issues and McHale not getting it. Pardo in part picked him to be an enemy (along with Chelsea Handler) because he can't just go around talking about everyone he doesn't like, but those people really do/did bother him and he needs to complain about someone. If that makes sense.

I know McHale is friends with my friend Chris Hardwick, and I know that he was very nice and funny with me when I interviewed him for the Spirit Awards special I hosted, so I have had great experiences with him.

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The bums will always lose.

His shtick of being a smug, cocky, charming asshole rubs someone people wrong way, even though he's often funny. He does far too often resort to humor about people who are physically different...especially the short (e.g., Seacrest, Pardo on that one episode of the Carolla podcast) and overweight (e.g. Oprah, whatever Kardashian that isn't fat nor skinny (Khloe?)). He makes up for it by being somewhat self-aware and genuinely funny.

Edited to add reading Jesse's post: McHale has been generous with his time and some charity work. I don't think he's a bad person, but just an occasionally lazy comedian who resorts to making fun of people for their appearances.

It doesn't mean it's the best, but it is the best, nonetheless. Childrens Hospital is funnier on a per-minute basis, but Community accomplishes so much more than just being a string of jokes.

In case you missed it, Dan Harmon's four-part walk-through of Season 2 is a fascinating look into what goes into crafting Community and why various decisions were made:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/dan-harm ... eas,57085/

You guys know 30 Rock is still on, right?

And also Archer?

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The bums will always lose.

Not even in the Top Two among NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup. Still pretty great.


Love this, too.

Either of those would have been my favorite sitcom during the late 90s or early-to-mid 00s. I find Community at least as funny as those, but it also earns a ton of credit from me for the intricate crafting that goes into each show. It's really fucking hard to do all the homages, parodies, and other references that Community does on a weekly basis, while at the same time maintaining a sizable ensemble cast with unique, believable interpersonal relationships between any pair, and grounding the whole thing such where the audience can accept insane shows like the paintball or the zombie Halloween episodes. All that is incredibly impressive.

To do all that and be consistently hilarious, both with one liners and elaborate jokes, is amazing.