'Community' Theater: Ratings, Improv, And 'Million-Dollar SWAT Team'

I would tell you that a visit with the cast and creator of NBC's Community is a lot like herding cats, except that they would have to be some very amusing cats.

When the TCA traveling band showed up on the Community set for a Q&A with creator Dan Harmon and the whole cast, it quickly turned into a display of impressive conversational derring-do.

Chevy Chase opened with a jab at Joel McHale's other project, E!'s The Soup: "How's that cooking show you do going?" McHale came right back: "It's as good as Cops And Robbersons." Chase held for the cackle, then said, "The thing is, it is as good as that." Aaand they were off.

More from the panel, and a chat with Joel McHale, after the jump.

 

Predictably, they took some questions about Community's relatively low ratings compared to its critical acclaim, which questions nobody felt much like answering. As McHale put it, "I hear it with the ratings and stuff, and I'm like, 'Not our problem, let's just go to work and make a great show if we can.'"

Harmon also looked on the bright side, both reminding everyone of the fact that there are oddities of demographics that sometimes improve the way ratings look and arguing that the show's DVR numbers are strong, so people are watching it — just maybe not when it's on. He pointed out, too, that it's hard to feel too bad about setting the table for a night of comedies as strong as the ones NBC has on Thursday nights right now (the others being Parks & Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock).

Harmon punted entirely on a question about "the state of the network" with the pointed deflection, "What do you, write for The Daily Rabble-Rouser?" Gillian Jacobs (Britta) stood up for NBC, however, saying that all four of the comedies on the network's current (well-regarded) Thursday-night lineup are ones that didn't find their audiences instantly, and that the network had given all four of them time. Not everybody was buying it — Chase responded to Ken Jeong's comment that the network "nurtures" comedies by grousing, "I love being nurtured in my sixties" — but they're all clearly glad they're still there.

It would take pages upon pages to inventory all the good lines that were flying back and forth — Jeong, for instance, saying he echoed what he perceived to be Chase's feeling about the show, which he paraphrased as "I haven't felt this fresh since I was 70."

But all that levity also led to some questions about how that kind of atmosphere and combination of personalities contributes more concretely to the creative product the audience ultimately sees. Asked for examples of how the cast's energetic back-and-forth might lead to something that could wind up in the script, Harmon cited a recent moment when Chase was standing around at the craft services table, trying to recall the title Slumdog Millionaire. Chase offered up both Sweatpants Indian Boy and, even better, Million-Dollar SWAT Team.

After the panel discussion closed, the cast hung around and answered a few more questions, and McHale talked about his possible future in movies, The Soup, and — as all the actors had already stressed with palpable genuineness — how much he loves working on this particular show. A few highlights:

On whether there's competition among the actors when they're improvising: "No, because if you are in competition while you're improvising, then you're not improvising. The key to good improvising is making the other person look good. And if that person's doing it for you, then you're working together, and that's a much better scene, as opposed to just: 'Zinger!' It's not about zingers."

On MTV's Jersey Shore: "Just the name 'The Situation' is amazing ... Snooki looks like she escaped from the movie Avatar ... It should be renamed We're So Sorry, Italy."

On getting movie scripts these days: "They used to send me them, and I'd say, 'Yes, this would be great! I would like this! And they'd be like, 'We just read for interest.' I'm like, 'It's interesting, and I'm interested. Are they going to see me?' 'No, they're going to wait for 19 people to pass.' ... Now, for the first time, I actually have a meeting with the producer and the director. That wasn't happening before."

On The Soup's Clip Of The Year, featuring a woman who wouldn't stop saying "chicken tetrazzini," which she argued was the secret weapon in stealing her boyfriend: "On [Maury], she said it like seven times. The first time we showed it, people went nuts. And we just marked it down, we put a check by one of those clips, like, 'We need to hold on to this one.' ... And then she came on the show. We ask people, it's like, 'We have no idea if she can perform.' And she nailed it every time ... she was a really good sport, and like 6'1"."