No show in the recent past has been surrounded by as much drama as Community. With low ratings but a rabid internet fanbase, Dan Harmon and Chevy Chases all-too public feud, Harmons subsequent dismissal as showrunner and Chases departure partway through filming season four and now Harmons re-hiring, there has been enough going on even without NBCs constant reshuffling and delaying of the show in its schedule. Many shows would not manage to get over these troubles and would likely have died a painful death by now. While Communitys season four was admittedly its least on form so far, being funny was probably one of the things it did best, and the series still has three impeccable seasons in its legacy- not even yet counting the upcoming series that everyones getting excited about again with the news of Harmons return as showrunner. Despite NBC once again playing the cruel mistress and leaving Community off the fall schedule, here are 10 reasons why we can celebrate Community as TVs current funniest show.
7. Dan Harmon And The Writers
Lets start with the most obvious thing of all: it is the shows creator/showrunner and its writers who make it funny. Without them, its just some amazing actors trying their best to work with random material. Megan Ganz has explained the way that Harmon developed the writers room to create a very specific type of humour, preferably with a punchline every other line to get in as many jokes as possible. Statistically, this means that Community will have a high number of hits, even if some fall flat or only appeal to a certain niche. However, the admirable thing about their process is that the story always comes first: if that isnt well crafted then nothing will work. The jokes have to fit naturally inside the outer casing, and Communitys team are pretty adept at this practice. One joke that always comes to me when thinking about how Community is funny is from season twos Competitive Wine Tasting. Annie tells Shirley not to take the class on writing jokes, saying I dropped it after the lesson on set-ups. The professor is so old This is such a simple joke but becomes really effective in the long pause that follows it.