‘Community’s Epic ‘Beetlejuice’ Easter Egg Began as a Joke in the Writers’ Room
Nearly 36 years have elapsed between the release of the original Beetlejuice and the new sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but in that span of time, the “Ghost with the Most” still popped up occasionally on the small screen, first in the beloved ‘90s animated series, and later in one episode of Community — if you were looking closely enough, that is.
As we’ve discussed before, back in 2011, Community gave us one of the most impressive pop-culture Easter eggs of all time. One that somehow took three whole years to set up.
In Season Three’s “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps,” Annie mentions the Beetlejuice soundtrack while prepping for a Halloween party. Since this was the third time in the show’s history that the name “Beetlejuice” had been intoned, following brief references in each of the first two seasons, he showed up!
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As per the lore of the movie, saying his name three times (albeit over the course of three seasons) “summoned” Beetlejuice (or a guy in a Beetlejuice costume), who can briefly be glimpsed sauntering past the window behind Annie’s shoulder.
Again, this is a gag that took years to set up before ultimately paying off with a punchline that was as easy to detect as a fart in a hurricane broadcast on NBC. “The Easter egg that took three years to hide. Our show is TOTALLY ACCESSIBLE,” Community creator Dan Harmon posted on social media once once eagle-eyed fans shared their discovery.
The Beetlejuice bit was a big hit with fans, essentially rewarding their devotion to the show with proof that its creators were willing to go the extra mile, even for a gag that 99 percent of viewers wouldn’t pick up on.
Harmon credits the Beetlejuice cameo to writer Megan Ganz, who once revealed in a Reddit AMA that the scene wasn’t part of a three-year-long plan. According to Ganz, Beetlejuice was originally referenced in a different Season Three episode, during Chang’s conversation with the school security guard about that striped “thing that comes down from the parking booth.”
Recalling that Beetlejuice had been mentioned in Season Two’s bottle episode, Ganz “jokingly warned” Harmon that the “show had said ‘Beetlejuice’ twice, and we had better be careful.” But Harmon “out-nerded” her by remembering that his name had also been said in the first season by Jeff’s love interest, Professor Slater.
So the writers decided to remove the word “Beetlejuice” from the speech about parking lot barriers, and instead work it into the Halloween episode, specifically “so we could have him make an appearance.” That’s “perhaps not as impressive as planning it for three years,” Ganz admitted, “but come on. Have you ever heard (of) a writing staff (that is) more nerdy about their own show?”
We’ll have to wait and see if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice returned the favor by including a blink-and-you-miss-it Jeff Winger cameo.
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