The cast and creators reflect on living through the end of must-see TV.
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Dan Harmon:It retained 97 percent ofThe Offices ratings.
Yvette Nicole Brown:It did.
Harmon:Thats all I remember.
The following week … [makes raspberry sound with mouth] … done.
When I think about the difference between the pilot and the series, I think of Britta.
Harmon:But you knocked it out of the park also.
Jacobs:Oh, thank you.
Jacobs:I think about the first Winger speech when I think about the pilot.
What was essentiallyCommunityto me was Joel delivering the sharks and pencils and Ben Affleck speech.
But that truly felt like something special.
Joel McHale:He was a stalker and had nothing to do with the pilot.
Danny had mentioned this.
I think everyone was kind of doing their own thing and everyone showed up.
The costumes were all very specific.
It was just chaos.
Can you still do the voice?
Can you do it right now?Pudi:Uh, yeah.
Also one of my favorite lines: [In Batmans voice] Chex Mix.
Harmon:This was Justin Lins first episode he directed.
McHale:He never went on to anything.
Harmon:He rigged the chair-fort explosion.
This episode was being produced around the time I was watching people watch the pilot.
And I was watching what they were responding to.
What they were responding to was obviously character.
They were quoting lines, and the lines werent one-liners.
They werent like Henny Youngman jokes that were really crafted.
They were lines that encapsulated the characters, that made them unique.
You service them and then the world can be insane.
McHale:Apologies to the Henny Youngman fans.
Harmon:These millennials.
Just because he has young in his name.
So there are two character decisions in this episode that I want to talk about.
First was Gillian helped in choosing the costume.
and I said, How about a squirrel?
Ken Jeong:Finally.
We really get deep.
McHale:Thats how the Sistine Chapel was made as well.
Want something on the ceiling?
Jacobs:I dont know why I wanted to be a squirrel.
McHale:She was high every day, you guys.
Jacobs:I dont remember.
Dan, do you remember anything?
Harmon:No, I think you really just said Squirrel.
Brown:I think you wanted the comfort of it too.
I think every costume you wore was comfortable.
That tail was very heavy.
Brown:It wasnt?
Jeong:We all thought that.
Jacobs:They did not rig that tail well.
It was grooving ridges into my shoulders for that week.
McHale:We got the furry audience big time on this.
It just felt right for Britta that she would not wear a stereotypical girls on Halloween costume.
A joke I believe that Shirley was supposed to do in the statistics teachers office was cut out.
So Ive told this before.
Dan knows Ive told this story before.
Shirley was supposed to take a shit in the drawer.Harmon:She was supposed towantto.
She was supposed to want to.
Brown:I thought she was supposed to do it?
I was so sad that I had to go to my boss and give a shot to explain.
And I told Joe what my problem was, and Joe cracked up.
He was like, Yvette, its a comedy.
You dont understand, Im the only black woman on this show.
So I went to Dan and I talked to Dan and I said, Listen.
They aint never coming back.
They aint never coming back!
Harmon:You only get one chance with Christian black women.
Brown:You defile a black woman once, and youre out of there.
So I said, We should find something else.
And he was kind enough to come up with the hose in the drawer.
Harmon:Its funny that you think there would be a debate.
McHale:Ironically, when we werent filming, Yvette would shit anywhere.Brown:Everywhere.
Harmon:Im just representing someone who had a lot of Chick-fil-A.
Brown:Nicely done.
And Joel went, Not more monkey!
And then, since then, I have called the showCo-Monketty.
But yeah, that monkey was supposed to save us all.
You worked with the monkey before.
Jeong:Oh my God,Hangover2and3.
Made a lot of money.
Chris McKenna:Crystal.
Jeong:Crystal the monkey.
Tom Gundersons the trainer.
McHale:Cant believe Ken dropped that in there.
Jim Rash:Ken has been waiting to say that.
We had amazing sushi.
Yes, I am bragging.
And it was great.
I had a great time.
Crystal and Tom, they send their regards.
There were 70 Lassies.
You heard it from me first.
Dont GoogleMilo and Otis.
I got a letter from PETA to shut that monkey shit down.
Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design
Season two, episode nine, Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design.
Dan and Chris, you both mentioned this episode.
What did you love about it?Gillian Jacobs:Kevin Corrigan.
McHale:If needs must.
McHale:Thats what is said: If needs must.
I just remember him saying it in that episode.
Brie:Et cetera.
McKenna:Did you just mispronounce et cetera?
No, it was just really a great, fun episode.
We actually wrote a whole conspiracy about night school the night before we started shooting it.
And him going, I dont know.
Like we knew this was a good idea, but we didnt know.
McKenna:There we go, Dan.
Two more acts of it.
I was so excited about that first act.
Harmon:I thought you were saying Go ahead, be a panel hog.
Harmon:It was amazing.
We pitched her the whole thing, and she heard it all, and she said, Ah.
So theyre not really getting shot?
Like, Yeah, but theyre squibs.
Then she said something like, Can the whole thing be about gun safety?
Yes it can, because it wasnt about anything ten minutes ago.
May as well be about pretzels.
McHale:Shes the head writer ofThis Is Usnow.
Brie:This is an answer to so many questions about why our hours were so long.
Its a half-hour comedy show.
And Id be like, Its okay Kevin, now get on your hands and knees.
We got to race through this blanket fort.
Brie:And then at one point, hes playing the trideksnis.
I studied for this panel, you guys.
And I will show off my knowledge.
Rash:You prepped.
You did prep, Alison.
Pudi:Did you watch the whole series?
Brie:I did not watch the whole series.
Pudi:You watched a lot of episodes though.
Brie:I skipped the gas leak year.
Brie:And I just jumped around.
Pudi:Next question.
McHale:They had reduced the budget to about $50,000 an episode.
McHale:Laser discs.
Celebrity Pharmacology
Season two, episode 13, Celebrity Pharmacology.
Joel, this was your choice.
And Jim did a one-man freeze-tag game and then he kept saying, Can I get a suggestion?
And the kid just goes, Bald.
Theyre like All right.
Can I get an occupation?
Mayor of Bald City.
And then Jim proceeded to do …
I thought Donald was going to choke to death because he was laughing so hard.
And that is, that was my entire … there wasnt an entire episode.
Anyway, thats what I loved.
again, I was just like,I think Im on the greatest television show ever made.
Harmon:Was this Hillary Winston or Lauren Pomerantz?
McKenna:I think it was Hillary.
Jim, what do you remember from that?Rash:Well, now, everything.
McHale:And his bad miming.
He was like driving.
Rash:I remember there was a fire.
McHale:There was a fire with the cleaners.
Jacobs:Oh, on the moon or Mars?
And so I just did a long improv about a fire at a dry cleaner.
Harmon:What a show.
Rash:What a show.
Pudi:What a time.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Season two, episode 14, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
None of the audio is in, but you’re free to figure out what Im saying.
Brown:It was so dirty, you guys.
It was so dirty.
Brie:But also upon rewatch, its just storytelling.
Its a very beautiful episode.
Im being genuine, Ken.
Jeong:How dare you.
Brie:Take me seriously for once in your life.
McKenna:You got to put it like this if you want to get paid.
Jeong:I was not!
I was trying to get laughs.
Brie:Lets not forget that Kens sort of in blackface in the episode.
Jeong:You had to bring that up right now.
Brie:I heard that was his choice.
Jeong:Right now.
Jacobs:He was on a throne.
You showed a clip of it when we came out.
I dont like being excluded Jeff, do you?
And its just such a great example of it.
There are jokes coming from those other characters, and it was just this high point of Chevy.
Legend, legend, legend.
I have a tic.
I say self-described just randomly.
A very self-described carpet, I love it.
No, but like, I get it.
Hes going to see this episode.
And they were like All right.
The concept was it [was] created by them, not me.
How do you make aD&Dsession compelling?
I forget who was in that room, but it was such a crack team.
I mean, if you compare it to …
Harmon:I didnt know how.
I guess this is what its like to have a staff of writers.
McKenna:And all of our hard work paid off after that table read.
That Daffy Duck kind of version of Pierce whos being dragged out by the ear by Jeff and lectured.
It was just magical.
And Joe Russo was on point.
Hes the guy thats going to go on and make Marvel movies, but hes owning that room.
Theres no special effects in that episode.
Boy, what a show.
Just such a good character piece and then the whole thing, yes.
And I was so proud, because this justifies everything about my horrible dysfunctions.
This is the most enabling thing that could ever happen.
McKenna:Again, never turn anything in on time.
Harmon:Had you been more professional, you could have made worse TV.
Brie:And then he rapes the Duquesne family twice.
I was watching him read that line for the first time, and he was saying erections or erection.
And I think he mentioned it should be erection, or he wasnt sure why it was erections.
And we were all trying to convince him no, that it should be erections, plural.
And that was when I was like,We made it.
This show is the greatest show of all time.
Harmon:Like all of the dialogue wasnt lifted from the meetings where hed summon us to his trailer.
He just never would remember saying this stuff.
I speak seven languages.
I play the piano.
And then wed write them in the script and hed be like, Now were talking.
Critical Film Studies
Season two, episode 19, Critical Film Studies.
Danny mentioned this one.
And also I imagine eff you to the data pipe, whos like You cant doMy Dinner With Andre.
The show wasnt like, I dont know,Family Guy.
My therapist watches it.
The show doesnt just go Hey, thanks for tuning in.
Were going to doTaming of the Shrewthis week.
I just understood, like, how do you relate to people without getting kicked out of society?
Abed was a film major, and it allowed for this stuff.
I think I answered your question.
Critics apologized two years later, going like, Well it got better.
And I was just like, Fuck you.
It was always good, dick.
Do you remember memorizing that monologue?McHale:No, we had teleprompters.
You had weeks to memorize it, Danny.
Pudi:Uh, I dont know it at all.
I just remember the last line: And I pooped my pants.
Jacobs:And that was all Joels doing, getting Richard to direct the episode.
McHale:One of the funniest, most talented people on the planet.
Because everybody else was dressed inPulp Fictionclothes.
So that night, I remember watchingMy Dinner With Andreand being like These guys are just having a conversation.
Its super-engaging, but then thinking Okay, so everyones having aPulp Fictionparty.
Me and Jeff are just talking at a dinner table?
Jacobs:Oh my God!
I dont think he was a fan of the show at all.
Jacobs:He didnt know who we were.
He knew Ken fromThe Hangover.
McHale:He was so excited to see Ken.
He was like, DoThe Hangover.
Harmon:Thats that monkeys friend!
Pudi:The whole crew, no ones watching me and Joel.
Pudi:There were three different Chevys, right?
I think there were three different Chevys.
Brie:Yeah, his body double, the gimp.
Pudi:The gimp, the body double.
Brie:Stand-in John, who would read his lines.
Pudi:We had to react to one face while we hear erections over here.
Brie:That was a really good one.
Pudi:I love that episode.
Paradigms of Human Memory
Season two, episode 21, Paradigms of Human Memory.
Yvette and Jim, you picked this.
This is also my favorite episode.McKenna:Feast your ears on these memory pops.
We did like 70 scenes in a week, wasnt it, you guys?
McHale:How many drawers did you shit in?
Brown:At least five.
We were thinking like,We could do this every week?
We can do 70 in a week.
Why we taking so long?
You know what I mean?
We had to be efficient.
Brown:We also got to see all of the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Like we knew how everything works at Universal and things like what.
Water that comes down.
We know how that works.
Brown:Jaws, we knew how that worked.
So we got to be on the other side.
Its not just what were saying.
Its jokes on top of jokes on top of jokes.
I love this episode.
And so it was gang-written.
Didnt we have three crews going?
I dont remember if they picked up some of this now.
Joe, you know, like doing that thing where he seems like a little Mafia character.
Hes like, Ill tell you what were going to do.
Were going to go to the Universal back lot.
Were going to run and gun guerrilla style.
Im going to go over here, Anthonys going to go over here.
Brown:Thats your Russo?
Thats a good Russo.
[Everyone imitates Russo.]
Did you watch me?
Yeah it was great, we got it.
McHale:He would do fantasy football and be like, Again, guys.
Rash:Do it again.
Harmon:That guy really needs to get his shit together or hes gonna fail.
So every now and then, it would just go off.
Jeong:This habitat was for humanity.
Yeah, this habitat was for humanity.
Harmon:Did I just do the Dan thing where I repeated your story?
Rash:You know what I loved?
When we were onWar of the Worldsand I was standing in front of the house.
What if we just doGroundhog Daywith one answer?
McKenna:But like the detail …
I remember like the whole montage.
One of my favorite sequences of the whole show I did was the deans montage of coming in.
Jacobs:It was me and Joel and Jim, yes.
McKenna:You had multiple.
I think Joe and Anthony had to come on and oversee it.
By the end of the week, there were definitely like three different sets going on.
Jacobs:But the DGA did call a few times.
McKenna:She only pitched that because she thought she got money for it since paintball they fucked.
She thought it was like a character payment.
Harmon:Youre right.
Emily cut that for the paintball episode.
Britta and Jeff fucked.
Harmon:Look at Yvette.
I love the rakish angle to the hat.
Remedial Chaos Theory
Season three, episode four, Remedial Chaos Theory.
Gillian.Harmon:See, season three was good.
I will note, you almost all picked season two moments.Jacobs:No, this is my favorite episode.
This nearly killed us.
We were shooting this until the week it aired.
Brown:And I think we cried.
Jacobs:I just, it … Jacobs:I love this show, guys.
Was this the beginning of toilet olives?
Was that the introduction?
McKenna:As a thing?
Jacobs:No, no, no, thats existed for time immemorial, since toilets.
This was just the first time it had been mentioned on our show.
Because it takes a long time to do my makeup.
Jeong:Look at me.
But with my kids going Me so hungee, me so hungee.
Danny Pudi:Pizza dance.
Brown:Do it.
Jeong:That pizza dance.
Do a little of the song.
You dont have to do the dance.Jacobs:All right.
Jeong:It was a joke.
I didnt know shed do it.
Brown:In those cute shoes, too.
Jacobs:Pizza, pizza, me so hungee!
Jacobs:I feel humiliated, but you guys seem to like it, so.
Pudi:For you.
It looked like a serial killers lair.
Was that when you got scratched by the cat?
McKenna:Is was right around there, maybe after.
You go get some rest.
But then youre going to rewrite it.
Im like, No, baby, no.
Jacobs:Is that why Chang got scratched by a cat?
McKenna:I got bit by my wifes cat when we were moving out, yeah.
It was like this big.
Jacobs:You dont remember?
Harmon:All his fingers were the same length.
Thats how big his hand was.
Guys, it was a good show.
Pudi:Decent show.
Dan Returns, Donald Leaves
So season four happens.
Okay, season five, Dans back.
McKenna:Hence the promise in the opening musical number.
That was like a big promise to NBC.
Harmon:I was like,Why am I back?
I have no idea.
Jeong:That was Joel McHale right here.
Jacobs:It was Joel McHale.
Jeong:It was Joel McHale.
That was all Joel.
A ton of publicity for hiring him back.
Harmon:Yeah, the Classic Coke move.
Out of the frying fan, hit the fryer.
McHale:I was just worried we were never going to see LeVar Burton again.
I say it all the time.
He just can do everything.
So I just wish him every success.
McHale:There he is, you guys, right back there.
Brown:Donald Glover, everybody!
1 who, behind the scenes, had us crying laughing so hard.
Brown:All the time.
Brie:I didnt think we could.
Brown:But were funny like over and over.
Brie:Theyre saying no.
Brie:Well text each other.
Ill text you, Ken, about that.
Harmon:Oh, thats good.
Oh, it sounds good.
Brown:A real efficient use of time too.
Thats how I got diabetes.
Donald would write like a TV show or write an album.
Like he really used his time efficiently every time they said Cut.
Brown:Shes pretty good.
Brie:And he would be like, kindly stop doing that.
Id be like, Ill never stop.
Brown:I thought you were good, Brie.
I loved it, Brie.
Brie:Thank you.
Bear Down for Midterms
Donald is in the next episode.
Well, what should have showed up is Kens favorite, which is Bear Down for Midterms.Jeong:Yeah.
Brie:Click it again, click it again.
McHale:Oh my gosh, that explains with the image.
Jeong:I remember there was an episode where Im eating a pine-cone sandwich.
I think they actually …
I think it was poorly performed.
They cut it from the episode, and then I remember feeling burned out.
Maybe it was me just kind of believing my own hype for everything else.
Because, you know, I used to be a doctor, and Im eating a pine-cone sandwich.
I feel like theres an arch were Chang could pay his dues.
I think hes been jailed because he tried to murder the study group.
McHale:You tried to murder everyone.
Jeong:But I think that hes paid his dues, no matter how pathetic he is.
He deserves a second chance.
Even your daughters will say, Well, this guy has range.
And Im like, Well Im not that good of an actor.
Im not that good.
I dont know how to cry on scene.
It literally was the best moment of my acting career.
Jacobs:But what would you give to be eating a pine-cone sandwich in a scene now?
Jeong:Oh, I think that would help my career.
Rash:Lets bring on the pine-cone sandwich.
McKenna:It was chocolate that was made to look like a pine cone.
Jeong:It was not a pine-cone sandwich.
McKenna:Also, we shot the first five out of order.
Harmon:Season fivewasgood.
Six Seasons and …
So I imagine youd still feel youd love to do it, but lets talk about it realistically.
What would you better do it?McHale:$20 million for Donald.
That would do it.
But is it, you know are you thinking about it?
Part of ABCs summer of fun, by the way.
It just … thats what Ive always said.
Like I dont know how to … how does it happen?
Brie:Sounds like it starts with you, Dan.
Pudi:Go, Dan!
Do it, Dan!
McHale:Well do it, well do it.
Are you guys doing it?
Brown:Id do it.
Jacobs:Id do it.
Jeong:Oh yeah.
Harmon:Oh yeah, everyone thats showed up for the Vulture reunion will do the movie?
You know who Im talking about.
Im talking about Jonathan Banks.
That would be great.
Brown:I would just love to have everybody back together again.
I think that would be sweet.
We had a lot of fun.
So Im very grateful.
McHale:It is the best thing youve ever done.
Jeong:Joel tells me that every day.
How are dare you.
Eff you, Joel.
I had a moment.
Jacobs:CommuniCon, which Yvette and I have attended every … yes.
Brown:Every year.
But for that alone, I think it has to be up there for me, No.
1, and Im so grateful for it.
So it has to be No.
Pudi:Im echoing that.
So I was like Okay, and then I read it, and I was like This is unbelievable.
The writing is just so rich, its so specific.
The cast is obviously incredible, and theyre just amazing.
So on set, it was just such a joy.
Always unpredictable and exciting, and wed read the script, it was funny.
Wed get on set, it became funnier.
Wed watch it, and wed still laugh, and that to me was just so joyful.
And then yeah, connecting to people, I get reactions all the time.
But truly, I feel so lucky, so fortunate.
To laugh every day like this, its the best, so for me, No.
Brie:I think what is unparalleled is the amount of laughs that we had behind the scenes.
There will never be another job where I cry,crylaughing every day.
And Im like, Im being professional now.
This is a new side of my career where Im an adult.
Pudi:You dont do taco taco taco?
Brie:I dont do taco taco taco and I dont do get that goo gone.
Brown:So many inside jokes.
Brie:We had shirts made that said Dont Eat the Crab Dip.
But they didnt say, Yay Yay-ee.
The version we had was, Dont Eat the Crab Dip.
They ran it with that one.
So, yes, I feel like the fun that was had, it can never be matched.
You know, like just you, all of you, its like they were starting out.
Everybody blossomed on this set, and we got to watch each other.
So I talk about Donald, but its true for each one of them.
We got to watch each of them be great and become great, and thats something that I cherish.
I ran into Alison at the Golden Globes.
Im like, Im seeing Allison at the Golden Globes, and shes nominated!
Rash:I feel bad because mines going to be exactly the opposite.
For me, I couldnt get out faster enough.
Jacobs:In a closed bank in the Valley.
Brie:In Northridge, the porn capital of Southern California.
Rash:Crammed in there, Russo and everybody just crammed in there.
McHale:Thats Chatsworth.
Brie:How dare you.
Brown:It takes that long.
Jacobs:The Oscar really changed things on set.
Jeong:Changed it for Joel.
McHale:It was for adaptation.
Rash:Down here, down here.
Someone else did all the work.
We were saying lines that were connected to character, and I thought that was such a gift.
So we were on theWar of the Worldset, and uh, this house was on fire …
Rash:I have a story too about that.
No, this is absolutely the thing that I will always be the most proud of.
I mean, web link TV isnt necessarily dead, but its turned into a different thing.
Its all becoming streaming platforms now.
The end of must-see TV, the end of broadcast.
Jacobs:We helped kill it.
Harmon:We were the tar pit of that period.
McHale:We were the barn.
Harmon:And we got to work with, there was 150 people that were A-list.
The guy that hauled the cable, I never knew his name, but the best at hauling cable.
McHale:John Goodman showed up to do the show a couple times.
It was hands-down, absolutely the most proud that, the proudest?
How do you talk?
The thing of which I am most proud of, forever and ever.
