10 Most Emotional Community Moments

Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas was one of the earliest high-concept episodes of the show, straight out of the mind of Dino Stamatopoulos, better known as Starburns. Stamatopoulos had previously helmed cult claymation show Moral Orel, and Community were keen to make use of his talents.

The episode sees Abed and the study group go on a claymation Christmas adventure, with Professor Duncan guiding the therapy session. Abed has suffered a break from reality, seeing the world as claymation, so the group lean into it to get him through.

Something around Christmas is bothering him, but he’s unable to communicate what it is. Duncan feels the idea is ridiculous, but the group support Abed along the way.

It turns out Abed’s mother isn’t going to visit him this year, and he feels like he’s lost the meaning of Christmas without her. It’s a stark reminder of how young and naive Abed is, beneath his outwardly robotic personality.

The episode also won Community their solitary Emmy, in Individual Animation. Given the quality of the show and the brilliant performances by Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong in particular, that doesn’t seem exactly fair. This show should have been Emmy gold.