The 15 Best ‘Community’ Jokes on Its 15th Anniversary

Fifteen years ago, the single most streets-ahead sitcom in American television history made its NBC debut — if only the movie wasn’t still frustratingly streets behind.

Despite teetering on the edge of collapse and cancellation for most of its original run, Dan Harmon’s meta-comedy masterpiece Community still has one of the most reliable and enduring fanbases of any comedy series on the internet, even nine years after the last episode hit streaming. Ever since Abed first uttered the words “six seasons and a movie” in the Season Two episode “Paradigms of Human Memory” when talking about the then-recently cancelled and not-nearly-as-loved NBC action-drama The Cape, the resilient Community fandom has continued to hold out hope that their own series will actualize such a perfect send-off, and with the Peacock-produced Community movie set to start production any decade now, that dream has never felt more real.

Harmon first introduced NBC Thursday Night viewers to the world of Greendale Community College and its quirkiest, quippiest study group on September 17, 2009. On the 15th anniversary of the pilot episode that brought Jeff, Britta, Abed, Annie, Troy, Shirley and no other important characters into our lives, let’s celebrate the 15 best Community jokes as we look forward to the release of The Community Movie in another 15 years.