On Saturday, Season 6 of Community premiered at SXSW. We spoke to some members of the cast on the red carpet about the move to Yahoo, what should we expect from their characters this season, and Joel McHale being a handsome dick.
Gillian Jacobs
What should we expect from Britta this season?
You’re going to meet her parents for the first time, played by Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren. She has a job. She works at a bar. And sometimes she’s good at things. She feels like a human being.
Is there going to be more this [points at Gillian] and that [points at Joel McHale]?
It’s not a big romance season.
Community was resurrected at the last second by Yahoo. Is there a show you wish had gone on for one more season, nine more seasons, 17 more years, whatever?
The Comeback. I’d like to see another season of that. A show that has been renewed, but I want it to have many more seasons is Getting On. I think it should run for a long time.
Paget Brewster
How was it joining the cast?
It was absolutely terrifying at first because I was such a huge fan. There’s a lot of learning. They’re so good, and the way to make Community work, as per Dan Harmon’s vision, is to speak quickly, which I thought I knew how to do. And I didn’t know. I used to be hired as the fast-talking district attorney, and on Community, you really learn how to speak quickly. It’s been great and exciting and these guys are hilarious.
The fast-talking television hierarchy goes Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Community, then everything else.
I feel like Community‘s at the top because if you notice on those other shows, they’ll cut away while people are speaking. They do not cut away on Community, so you have to get all the way through a half-page speech.
Your character isn’t really a villain, but she’s certainly antagonistic.
It’s someone who the Dean has brought in to make Greendale financially viable, which is difficult because Greendale is a goddamn wreck. So, I seem like the bad guy at first, but then they realize they do need someone to keep on top of things. My character doesn’t always get her point across, but they need someone trying, which is great because I get to do a lot of scenes with Jim Rash, who is dreamy. He’s so not his character. They’re all so not their character, except for Joel.
Look at his hair.
He’s a dick. An attractive asshole. But in a really charming way.
Jim Rash
What Dean puns do you hear from fans of the show the most?
Probably “Dean-a-ling.”
Where is the Dean’s head space this season?
It’s nice because we have the addition of Paget’s character Frankie. There’s a nice thing where she has a better head on her shoulder than the Dean, so there’s an episode where that becomes a heated issue. Also, we get to deal with the Dean’s sexuality this season.
In terms of Jeff?
In general. Basically how complicated it is, and how he has to use it to get more power.
Are there any now-canceled shows you’d like to have seen more seasons of?
I would go back to Freaks and Geeks. Or My So-Called Life. Those are the big two.
Joel McHale
First off, as a Carolina Panthers fan, I’d like to say, boo Seahawks.
I’m sorry that you hate winners.
That’s one yard from being true.
You’re a Panthers fan. How are they doing?
They lost… to you guys.
Exactly.
You set me up for that one.
But, hey. We lost in the Super Bowl, so that must have made you feel good.
To the same team the Panthers lost the Super Bowl against.
We got to the Super Bowl, so everyone’s happy. Hey, we don’t live in Syria. That’s good news. Our town hasn’t been taken over by ISIS. That’s good news. Everything’s good!
I have a question. Where is Jeff…?
He dies in the third episode.
What do you do for the rest of the season?
I’m not in them.
Not even as a ghost?
That would be ridiculous. No funeral. They search for his body, then forget what they’re doing.
Is Jeff’s BlackBerry still at the table to memorialize him?
That’s what killed him. He moved on to the iPhone. A tainted iPhone.
Did he download the Yahoo Screen app?
He did. That’s what set off the chain reaction. He was too entertained.
Alison Brie
Can you talk a little about where Annie is this season?
This season, I feel like a lot of the storylines have been focused on the group as a whole, so it’s so much more relationship driven than ever because we’re all always together. I think, y’know, it’s a return to really responsible Annie and there’s great stuff with Annie and Abed, and Annie and Abed and Britta. I think there’s a lot of Annie being a good friend and wanting to take pride in her school, so with Paget’s new character, who’s kind of an efficiency expert who wants to make the school better, which immediately threatens Annie because she’s like, woah, I got that covered. But they end up really hitting it off.
