I just finished watching Community with my wife, and we both agree that it is one of the funniest comedy shows out there. The show was brought to us by the genius, Dan Harmon, who now brings us Rick and Morty, the most hilarious show on TV today. Community is an exceptional comedy show that doesn’t rely on awkwardness, or extremely narcissistic behavior by every character to be funny.
Rather than relying on these common unoriginal tropes, Community is built around characters which embody common characteristic found in each of us, yet the show doesn’t try to pretend this a completely normal life they are living. The writers create completely original episodes on a common basis which have extremely clever jokes, aka knee-slappers.
So let’s dive into why this show smashed some of the other most popular live-action comedies to dust when put up head to head.
The Office
I personally love The Office. I grew up watching it. It is great TV; I love Jim and Pam, and I LOVE Dwight. The characters, and stories about them, are great, but is it comparable to "Community"? Definitely not. The Office relies on the untalented comedic routine of awkwardness. Anyone can write a scene where a bumbling fool (Michael Scott) does something stupid without thinking about others and, for some reason, this is supposed to be funny? I don’t think so, guys.
We enjoy it because the actors are great, but it's not amazing comedy by any means. Unlike Community, The Office is extremely cringe-worthy, which I don't find to be funny at all, but instead just uncomfortable. " Instead, Community takes you on an almost fantastical journey where there are quirky adventures and characters just normal enough to be intriguing, but weird enough to be hilarious.
Parks and Rec
See above. No really, this show is not funny consistently and employs basically the same jokes as The Office, just packaged in a different box. Again, I enjoy the characters and the stories, but it’s not ‘slap my knee funny.' I don’t watch a scene of Parks and Recreation and then laugh my way into the following scene because I am still taking in all the subtle jokes written into it, as I do for Community.
And of course, Parks and Rec is basically a remake of The Office, so how could it really compare to a show like Community, where they have not one, but TWO episodes about dungeons and dragons?!
How I Met Your Mother
I might as well write about this one and Friends in the same paragraph. But I have only seen a few episodes of Friends because it is so utterly boring and unoriginal to me that I can’t stand it unless my wife makes me suffer through it. Both these shows have half the same characters.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find some episodes with basically the same exact plot and jokes. Anyways, the storyline for How I Met your Mother is alright, but again, I don’t find every episode hilarious, and I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does. Now I don’t want to give away too much of Community, but trust me it is at least eight times better.
Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Okay, you got me; this show might be as good as Community but at some costs. Always Sunny is hilarious, but the characters are all so insanely narcissistic, dumb, and downright evil that you can’t relate to them at all. There is hardly any connection because they are almost alien to us based on how they act.
Besides the character development, the jokes are based on crass behavior and ideas, so, although this show is hilarious, I think Community’s comedic genius might be stronger. If I had to compare them solely based on "knee slap-ability", I would have to be fair and say they are equal in my book, but the crass humor in the show makes it appeal to fewer audiences.
Community
Let me try to break it down for you without ruining too much for you. In this show there is a questionably-mentally challenged main character (we never know the truth which is part of what makes this so hilarious) who breaks the fourth wall during almost every episode; there is an old man who makes constant racist and other inappropriate jokes; there is an annoying hippy liberal who actually never takes action on anything political but is always lecturing about it; there is a crazy Asian dude (who you might recognize from the Hangover movies) who honestly is indescribable but I love him; and there is a dean who is maybe gay or transgender or a cross-gender (honestly, I don’t know but that’s what is so great about it).
On top of these hilarious characters, the show has crazy paintball battles where they pretend to be in Star Wars and the Wild West and take paintball to a level only heard of in dreams.
One character starts not one, but two blanket forts that encompass the entire school, and in one of them an overly intense civil war breaks out. Similarly, there is an episode where a hot lava game takes over their entire school.
The show is impossible to explain, so stop reading this and definitely don’t read the next piece of garbage you plan on wasting your time on, and go watch Community. Then, get your friends to watch it, and get their friends to watch it. Then we will start a petition and get the movie none of us deserve, but the movie we need.
#6seasonsandamovie
