List of Community characters: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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''[[Community (TV series)|Community]]'' is an American television [[sitcom]] created by [[Dan Harmon]] that ran for [[List of Community episodes|110 episodes.]]. The show, set at the fictional Greendale [[Community colleges in the United States|Community College]], depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit [[study group]]. In the pilot, the main cast members are [[Joel McHale]], [[Gillian Jacobs]], [[Danny Pudi]], [[Yvette Nicole Brown]], [[Alison Brie]], [[Donald Glover]], and [[Chevy Chase]]. [[Ken Jeong]] joined the main cast starting with the second episode, and [[Jim Rash]] was promoted to the main cast at the start of the third season. [[John Oliver]], [[Jonathan Banks]], [[Paget Brewster]], and [[Keith David]] also played major roles throughout their stints while not actually being credited among the main cast. The series also features recurring characters, mainly fellow students or teachers at Greendale.

==Overview==

===Main===

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" width="100%"

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Actor

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Character

! scope="col" colspan="6" | Seasons

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | [[Community (TV series)#Film|Film]]<ref~~>{{Cite~~ web |last=White |first=Peter |date=2022-09-30 |title='Community' Film Is Finally Real As Peacock Orders Closing Feature With Original Stars |url=https://deadline.com/2022/09/community-film-peacock-original-stars-1235131434/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |websitename="Deadline" ~~|language=en-US}}<~~/~~ref~~>

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 1)|1]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 2)|2]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 3)|3]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 4)|4]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 5)|5]]

! scope="col" style="width:89%;" | [[Community (season 6)|6]]

! colspan="9" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Main cast

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| colspan="5" {{cMain|Main}}

| {{CGuest}}

| {{cMain|Main}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hermanns |first1=Grant |title=Original ''Community'' Star's Movie Return Finally Confirmed As Filming Start Nears |url=https://screenrant.com/community-movie-yvette-nicole-brown-confirmed |website=[[Screen Rant]] |access-date=21 February 2024}}</ref>

~~| {{cNone}}~~

| [[Donald Glover]]

| [[#Troy Barnes|Troy Barnes]]

| colspan="5" {{cMain|Main}}{{efn|Glover only appears in the first five episodes of the fifth season.}}

| {{CGuest|''[[Stand-in]]''}}

~~| {{cNone}}~~

| {{cMain|Main}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Peralta |first=Diego |title=Donald Glover Confirms His Involvement in the {{'}}''Community''{{'}} Movie |url=https://collider.com/donald-glover-returning-community-movie |website=[[Collider (website)|Collider]] |access-date=21 February 2024}}</ref>

~~| {{TBA}}~~

| [[Chevy Chase]]

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| colspan="5" {{cMain|Main}}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"▼

===Recurring===

▲{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" width="100%"

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Actor

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Character

! scope="col" colspan="6" | Seasons

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | [[Community (TV series)#Film|Film]]<ref name="Deadline">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Peter |date=2022-09-30 |title={{'}}''Community''{{'}} Film Is Finally Real As Peacock Orders Closing Feature With Original Stars |url=https://deadline.com/2022/09/community-film-peacock-original-stars-1235131434/ |access-date=2022-09-30 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 1)|1]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 2)|2]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 3)|3]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 4)|4]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 5)|5]]

! scope="col" style="width:8%;" | [[Community (season 6)|6]]

! colspan="13" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Recurring cast

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| colspan="2" {{cNone}}

| colspan=2 {{cGuest|Guest}}

| ~~colspan="1"~~ {{cNone}}

| {{cGuest|Guest}}

| ~~colspan="1"~~ {{cNone}}

| [[Jerry Minor]]

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| Brady Novak

| Richie Countee

| ~~colspan="1"~~ {{cNone}}

| {{cGuest|Guest}}

| {{cRecurring|Recurring}}

Line 363 ⟶ 366:

| {{cRecurring|Recurring}}

| {{cGuest|Guest}}

| ~~colspan="1"~~ {{cNone}}

| Jeremy Scott Johnson

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| {{cRecurring|Recurring}}

| {{cGuest|Guest}}

| ~~colspan="1"~~ {{cNone}}

| Leslie Simms

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== Main characters ==

The show revolves around the on-and-off campus exploits of seven students connected through their study group at Greendale Community College.

=== Jeff Winger ===

'''Jeffrey Tobias''' "'''Jeff'''" '''Winger''' (played by [[Joel McHale]]), born c. 1974, is a sardonic, charismatic, and quick-witted ex-lawyer attending Greendale Community College.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbc.com/community/bios/joel-mchale.shtml |title=Community TV – Joel McHale |publisher=NBC |access-date=February 16, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217044100/http://www.nbc.com/community/bios/joel-mchale.shtml |archive-date=February 17, 2010 }}</ref> He was born in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], to parents William and Doreen Winger. His father divorced his mother when heJeff was very young and later had another child named Willy Jr., Jeff's half-brother. ~~When~~At hethe ~~was~~age of 10, he was bullied and humiliated in front of his friends at a [[YMCA]] over a game of [[Table football|foosball]], eventually wetting his pants. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, the girl who beat him was his study-group peer Shirley, who was then 12 and a bully. He tells her that he had to change schools, as well as his hair, his clothes, even his personality because of the incident. In 1997, around age 19, Jeff submitted an audition tape for MTV's ''[[The Real World: Seattle]]'', which would later come back to haunt him during an election for Greendale's student-body president. In the season 5 episode "[[Geothermal Escapism]]", as study-group member Troy is about to leave Greendale, Jeff discreetly reveals to him that he has "never set one foot outside Colorado".

Because of his background experience as a lawyer and his confidence, many people, including Dean Pelton and Señor Chang, seek help from Jeff. Jeff's adventures include stints as a member of the debate team and substitute glee club, and editor of the school newspaper, as well as efforts to improve Chang's professional and love lives. Due to his competitive nature and air of superiority, Jeff has a problematic relationship with his accounting, billiards, and pottery professors, and he ends up doing poorly in their classes. One of his remarkable traits is his perfectly unkempt hair and the mystery of how he maintains its bed-headed perfection, which Dean Pelton describes as "crispy" to the touch.

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| relatives = Marcus (nephew)

| religion = [[Atheist]]

| based_on = Life of Jeff Harris and Britta Morris

}}

'''Britta Perry''' (played by [[Gillian Jacobs]]) is a student at Greendale and a member of the central study group. Politically conscious and driven by a strong moral conscience, Britta's sensibilities often put her at odds with the rest of the group as well as other students at Greendale, who see her as a "buzzkill." Having dropped out of high school under the impression that it would impress [[Radiohead]], she attends Greendale to get her [[General Educational Development|G.E.D]] and eventually opts to study Psychology in order to become a therapist.

Britta joins the study group in order to improve her Spanish grade, though she quickly realizes that Jeff has only created the group in order to sleep with her. Though she initially rebuffs his advances, the two have sex toward the end of the school year ("[[Modern Warfare (Community)|Modern Warfare]]"). Britta, in an attempt to compete with Jeff's affections for Professor Michelle Slater (played by [[Lauren Stamile]]), publicly confesses her love for Jeff. Though she is humiliated by this, she finds that she has attracted the attention and respect of many women on campus who hail her for her bravery. Jeff and Britta continue sleeping together covertly during their second year, up until Abed [[Paradigms of Human Memory|reveals their relations]] to the group. In season 3, Britta enters a relationship with Troy, though they break up on their first anniversary after deciding to stay friends.

While vocally passionate about many causes, Britta fails to take action related to her social interests, and her political motivation is often depicted as misguided or self-serving. Jeff describes her as "pro-anti" due to her eagerness to oppose issues, such as [[Criticism of marriage|marriage]] and visiting the bathroom with other women. Her hypocrisy and tendency to invoke politics regardless of relevance, such as advocating for fictional gnomes' rights in [[Dungeons & Dragons]], frequently frustrates both friends and strangers, to the point that others regularly refer to her as "the worst."

Britta graduates from Greendale in [[Community (season 4)|season 4]] and starts bartending, but she re-enrolls in classes in [[Community (season 5)|season 5]] once Jeff becomes a professor. She joins the Save Greendale Committee and helps prevent the school from being sold to [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]].

Despite being seen as obnoxious by those around her, Britta regularly proves herself to be a caring friend. She is the first to show concern for Abed when he begins [[Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas|seeing the world in claymation]], consoles Abed and attempts to help him when he is upset over Troy's brief stint in the A/C Repair school, and helps Buzz Hickey reconnect with his son over Dungeons & Dragons.

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'''Abed Gubi Nadir''' ({{Lang-ar|عابد القوبي نادر}} '''Ābid al-Qūbī Nādir'''; played by [[Danny Pudi]]) is a young, emotionally reserved, [[Palestinian Americans|Palestinian]]-[[Polish Americans|Polish]]-[[Multiracial Americans|American]] pop-culture enthusiast who aspires to become a director and is currently taking film directing classes at Greendale. ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' ranked him first in their list of the 20 Best Characters of 2011, describing him as "the show's emotional center" and saying "his pop-culture obsessions and antics with his buddy Troy have made for some of the show's finest moments."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/12/the-20-best-tv-characters-of-2011.html?p=2 |title=The 20 Best TV Characters of 2011 |date=December 5, 2011 |first=Josh |last=Jackson |work=List of the Day |publisher=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |access-date=March 29, 2013 |quote=It quickly became apparent, though, that he was the show's emotional center—that everyone around him was a little disturbed, and he would be the one holding it all together. And when he reached that point of emotional overload in Season Two, the result was 'Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas,' Community's best episode that didn't involve paintball. His pop-culture obsessions and antics with his buddy Troy have made for some of the show's finest moments, particularly the closing segments like the absurdist Troy and Abed in the Morning. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130626205744/http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/12/the-20-best-tv-characters-of-2011.html?p=2 |archive-date=June 26, 2013}}</ref>

Abed Nadir is an alumnus of Greendale Community College. Abed had a troublesome life growing up due to a limited extent to his parents. There was social disunity between them as Abed's dad is a [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] from the [[Gaza Strip]] and his mom is [[Polish American]]. Abed ~~has~~is heavily implied to be on the autism spectrum, which makes it hard for him to understand and relate to people or display empathy in a normal way.

=== Shirley Bennett ===

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In "[[Epidemiology (Community)|Epidemiology]]", Shirley becomes frustrated with the group for mistaking her [[Glinda|Glinda the Good Witch]] costume as [[Miss Piggy]] and has sex with Ben Chang, who is similarly frustrated that his [[Peggy Fleming]] costume is mistaken as [[Kristi Yamaguchi]] or [[Michelle Kwan]]. Soon after, she reconnects with her ex-husband, Andre, and discovers she is pregnant. A message left on Troy's voicemail leads the group to speculate that Chang, not Andre, is the biological father, a possibility that Shirley finds repellant and is determined to avoid acknowledging. The baby is born in "[[Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts]]" during what was supposed to be their Anthropology final exam, and Shirley is relieved to find that it is her husband's baby. She decides to name the baby Ben after Chang, making her son Ben Bennett.

In "[[Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts]]", Andre asks Shirley to remarry him. They marry after resolving a small conflict concerning whether ~~or not~~ Shirley will leave school and become a [[Housewife|stay-at-home mother]]. She stays in school and opens a sandwich shop with Pierce, naming it "Shirley's Sandwich Shop."

In season 5, it is revealed that Andre has once again left Shirley and taken the kids with him due to her devoting too much time and money to her sandwich business. She returns to Greendale to continue pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams, and joins the Save Greendale Committee. In the [[Ladders (Community)|season six premiere]], Shirley leaves for Atlanta in order to care for her ailing father. She eventually becomes the personal chef of a suicidal former detective attempting to solve the mystery behind his wife's death and his paralysis. When the group discusses her absence, Abed claims she was "spun off", and the closing credits feature a mock television advertisement for an [[NBC]] [[police procedural]] about Shirley and the detective titled ''The Butcher and the Baker''.

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| religion = [[Judaism]]

}}

'''Annie Edison''' (played by [[Alison Brie]]), born December 19, 1990, is a diligent, strait-laced, [[Type A and Type B personality theory|Type-A]], [[Judaism|Jewish]] student who is in her fifth year at Greendale Community College after graduating and then reapplying to major in her dream, [[forensic science]].<ref name="annie bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/annie-edison.shtml |title=Greendale Community College – Annie Edison |publisher=NBC |access-date=February 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214074239/http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/annie-edison.shtml |archive-date=February 14, 2010 }}</ref> During high school, Annie was a timid, nerdy student who desperately wanted to succeed, subsequently developing an addiction to [[Adderall]]. She was an acquaintance of Troy Barnes, a popular athlete, and harbored a crush on him. They both attended a party where high school honors were being awarded. When Troy, instead of Annie, received the award for "Most Likely to Succeed", and when he failed to recognize Annie when she criticized him, she suffered a ~~breakdown and ran through a (closed) sliding glass door. Her stress finally induced a full~~ nervous breakdown that culminated in her jumping through a [[Plate glass|plate-glass]] window yelling, "Everyone's a robot!" Her injuries necessitated six separate [[Reconstructive surgery|reconstructive surgeries]]. Against the wishes of her mother, she chose to confront the addiction and go to rehab. This led to an estrangement from her family, including any financial support, and she currently survives on her savings from her childhood. In season 2, the group learns she is living in a horrible neighborhood (in an apartment situated over ''Dildopolis'', an all-night [[sex shop]]), and Troy and Abed invite her to move into their new place in season 3.

While attending rehab, she had an outing to a [[frozen yogurt]] restaurant, during which she saw an advertisement for Greendale and decided to participate in the community college. Between her graduation from rehab and her enrollment in Greendale, she shed her geek appearance and began to straighten her hair and dress more fashionably.

Though the youngest of the group, Annie is also by far the most studious and serious. She is, for example, the only student of Greendale to have ever made use of the extra credit program that the college offers by hosting a [[Day of the Dead|Dia de los Muertos]] ~~(English: Day of the Dead)~~ party. During an episode where she is forced to leave the group due to her sabotaging their Spanish finals, the group learns that she is the only person who knows how to study. She also takes audio notes of every class and transcribes them, prompting Pierce to exclaim and misuse the term "spoiler alert". She is very intensely focused on grades, school activities, and group cohesion. A noticeably cheerful girl, she is enthusiastic about helping out the school, writing for the school paper and participating on the debate team, and organizing school events. Annie's youthful innocence often, but not always, means that she is less involved with the group's less morally acceptable practices, though she genuinely enjoys spending time with them. She attempts to motivate and manipulate the other study group members with guilt, using her "Disney face". She takes the cohesion of the study group more seriously than the other members and, in trying to get the group to retake Spanish 102 together, gets Señor Chang fired for his fake degree in "[[English as a Second Language (Community)|English as a Second Language]]".

Annie has been shown to occasionally choose her interests over keeping the group intact, first by dating Britta's estranged ex-boyfriend Vaughn and (temporarily) choosing to leave Greendale and the group to follow Vaughn to another college, and later by deciding to exclude Jeff from the group and her friendship during his season 3 premiere nervous breakdown when he attacked the table with an ax after accidentally inhaling monkey-gas. On one occasion, her somewhat-illicit cradle sexuality is used to lure Jeff into Glee Club. Nonetheless, these cases rarely result in long-lasting issues. Annie used to pine after Troy, on whom she had a crush since his high school football quarterback days, but that stops when she begins dating Vaughn. At the end of the first season, it appears as if Annie has developed a romantic dynamic with Jeff, whom she kissed both to win a debate competition and at the end of the season. While she is still interested in Jeff at the beginning of season 2, he is more standoffish, and after the study group learns he'd had sex with Britta during the paintball episode, Annie says she thinks of Jeff as "gross". Later in the episode "[[Asian Population Studies]]" Annie develops a crush on Dr. Rich Stephenson, a fellow Greendale student that Jeff had clashed with. Jeff seems jealous but refuses to admit it. However, Rich declines Annie's advances due to their age difference. There have been indications that Annie may still harbor feelings for Jeff, and it has been suggested that he may feel similarly. However, it is revealed in "[[Virtual Systems Analysis]]" that Annie is coming to terms with how exactly she feels about Jeff when Abed manipulates her because of her apparent feelings for him. Annie learns from the experience that the way she responds to her feelings for Jeff is shallow and immaterial and that any kind of love or feelings like this isn't fair to herself or the other person. She also gains a better understanding of Abed as well.

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| creator = [[Dan Harmon]]

| portrayer = [[Ken Jeong]]

| full_name = ~~Ben~~Benjamin Franklin Chang

| nickname = Ben, Kevin, Señor

| title = Señor Chang

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| relatives = Jin (nephew)

}}

'''~~Ben~~Benjamin Franklin Chang''' (played by [[Ken Jeong]]), referred to as '''Señor Chang''' in season 1 and widely as '''Kevin''' in season 4, was originally the study group's unhinged Spanish teacher.<ref name="ken nbc bio">{{cite web|title=Community TV – Ken Jeong|url=http://www.nbc.com/community/bios/ken-jeong.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217043703/http://www.nbc.com/community/bios/ken-jeong.shtml|archive-date=February 17, 2010|access-date=February 16, 2010|publisher=NBC}}</ref> In the first season, he is the only main character who is not a member of the Spanish study group. At the end of the first season, however, it is revealed that he does not have any teaching qualifications and that, like Jeff, he will have to attend Greendale as a student to get a degree.

He can be quite theatrical at times (once even faking his own death to get a rise out of his students),<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Investigative Journalism|episode-link=Investigative Journalism (Community)|date=January 14, 2010|series=Community|series-link=Community (TV series)|network=[[NBC]]|season=1|number=13}}</ref> and also has a huge ego. His [[anger management]] issues are constantly evident. He acts in mean-spirited ways with minimal stimulus; during his classes, he frequently picked on Annie for apparently no reason other than her desk being closest to where he stood while addressing his students. It is made clear in multiple episodes that he initially takes certain situations far too seriously: In "Modern Warfare", he tries to eliminate Jeff and Britta by shooting at them with an automatic paintball gun and later activates a bomb of paint hidden in his jacket to try to eliminate Jeff. In "[[Competitive Ecology]]", he claims to be a "detective" of the school after being on the Security team for a month. He starts hunting for clues to solve a "case" after meeting a distressed student (which in reality was just a coincidence) and later burns down a school section while doing so. These over-the-top personality traits veil deep issues of being left by his wife, with whom he was later reunited, although this did not hinder his rash behavior towards his students afterward.

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In a showdown with the study group, both Jeff and Chang equip electric taser batons with which they intend to duel. However, this is quickly cut short by the school board arriving, demanding explanations for both the real and fake Deans fighting each other and Chang's actions in running Greendale. He vows to explain but quickly runs out the door.

In the season 3 finale montage, it is shown that Chang has taken to living in air ducts again. However, this time, he resides in the vents at City College, foreshadowing a possible alliance between the two in season 4. However, he returns to Greendale in season four with no apparent memory of his identity or previous actions, referring to his condition as "Changnesia". However, at the end of the episode "[[Advanced Documentary Filmmaking]]", it is revealed he is faking Changnesia. In "[[Heroic Origins]]", after Abed realizes that it was because of Chang that the study group all went to Greendale and tells him he was always a part of the group and hints that he knows that "Kevin" was faking "Changnesia". He then calls Dean Stephen Spreck, Dean of City College, that he is out of the plan to destroy Greendale. In season 5, Chang decides to turn himself in for his crimes and returns to Greendale under [[work release]] as a math professor, living in the school. He exhibits more social behavior in season 5 and later joins the Save Greendale Committee. However in the finale, he sides with those trying to sell Greendale. When the sale is prevented, Chang double-crosses the school board again by stealing their money and replacing his teeth with diamond fillings.

In season 6, Chang sees some success as an actor after appearing in a stage adaptation of ''[[The Karate Kid]]'' and a ham commercial that goes viral. He briefly moves to Los Angeles and is hired for a film directed by [[Steven Spielberg]]. His career abruptly ends, however, when he gets into trouble and accidentally insults Spielberg. He returns and realizes that he truly feels at home at Greendale and that he is his "best self" with the group. During an extended group hug in the season 6 finale, Chang reveals himself to have been a closeted homosexual throughout the series, tearfully declaring that he is "legit gay".

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Dean '''Craig Isidore Pelton''' ([[Jim Rash]]) (recurring seasons 1–2, starring season 3–6) was an educator at Greendale for ten years, after or during which he earned a [[Bachelor of Education]] degree at the fictional Appomattox University, and, when the series begins, has been Greendale's [[Dean (education)|dean]] for five years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/faculty-admin/craig-pelton.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923101825/http://greendalecommunitycollege.com/faculty-admin/craig-pelton.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 23, 2009 |title=Craig Pelton |publisher=Greendale Community College |access-date=January 2, 2014}}</ref> He desperately wants Greendale to be a "real" university, maintaining an intense rivalry with nearby City College, whose dean seems personally committed to Greendale's downfall. When first introduced, Pelton is obsessively [[political correctness|politically correct]], as evidenced when he changes the Greendale [[college mascot|mascot]] from the Greendale Grizzly to the racially-, gender-, and age-neutral Greendale Human Being in "[[Football, Feminism and You]]"; his explanation for the change is that "most of these people [Greendale students] have been called animals their entire lives."

In the early seasons, Pelton has a habit of dressing in elaborate costumes for Greendale events or for simple announcements. These costumes have included [[Tina Turner]], [[Julius Caesar]], [[Lady Gaga]], and other famous figures, in addition to more abstract costumes, such as one that was half-male and half-female. This quirk gradually fades as Pelton begins to be more directly involved in the study group's adventures.

Pelton has displayed [[sexual fetishism|various fetishes]], the most prominent being his increasing fascination with men dressed in [[Dalmatian (dog)|Dalmatian]] costumes during the first season, after he sees an internet video-clip featuring a man dressed in such an outfit (muttering to himself, "Ithis ~~hope this~~better ~~doesn't~~not awaken anything in me...").

Pelton displays many quirks and eccentricities regarding his [[sexual orientation]]; Vice Dean Laybourne describes him as a "[[pansexuality|pansexual]] imp" ("[[Biology 101]]"), and when once called a "[[fruit (slang)|fruit]]" by student Leonard ("[[Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples]]"), Pelton offhandedly says that the term is "barely the whole truth". Pelton displays an obvious and increasingly obsessive crush on Jeff Winger, treating Jeff with favoritism and inappropriately touching him (particularly on the chest) when he is nearby. In the season 6 episode "Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing", Dean Pelton is recruited to the school board as a token homosexual but is uncomfortable with the label, saying being gay is only "two-sevenths" of what he identifies as, and resumes his job as dean after the charade becomes too much to handle.

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== Recurring characters ==

The series also features many recurring characters, who are students and staff members at Greendale.

=== Faculty ===

==== Ian Duncan ====

'''Dr. Ian Duncan''' (played by [[John Oliver]]) is a British-born professor of psychology at Greendale. Duncan seems to be a highly qualified professor and [[Counseling psychology|therapist]], but isn't above scheming for personal gain like trying to con Jeff out of his [[Lexus]] or exploiting Abed's issues to advance his career. Though Jeff once successfully represented him as a lawyer by exploiting the legal system, Duncan refuses to help him cheat on principle. He provides free therapy to several students, including Britta and, at one point,<ref>Community S02E11 "[[Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas]]"</ref> hopes to write about Abed's issues for a book deal. He also has a rivalry with Señor Chang and willingly mocks Chang over being fired and subsequently becoming a Greendale student. At the end of the first season, he is suspended by Dean Pelton for his drunken behavior at a school function, prompting Chang to punch Duncan in the face. Because of this, he gets a [[restraining order]] against Chang while chasing him around and preventing him from getting to places. After Greendale suspended Professor Bauer, he took over her anthropology class, despite his complete lack of knowledge about the subject. In "[[Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas]]", Duncan played a prominent role in guiding Abed through his suppressed feelings about Christmas. It is also implied in that episode that Duncan had a miserable childhood growing up in a [[dysfunctional family]] in [[Islington]] before immigrating to the United States with his grandmother. He never knew the identity of his father and later admitted his mother worked as a [[Prostitution in the United Kingdom|prostitute]] in a [[pub]] in [[Scunthorpe]], [[Lincolnshire]]. As is alluded to several times throughout his appearances, Duncan appears to have a [[Alcoholism|drinking problem]]. Duncan did not appear in the third season, although Britta is now enrolled in his Intro to Psychology class, and his name is seen on the cover of her textbook as the author. The fourth season refers to his unexplained disappearance when Troy asks the group if anyone had seen him lately ("[[Intro to Felt Surrogacy]]").

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In the end ("Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television"), Frankie's improvements to the school enable Greendale to be officially "saved" and remove the need for the Save Greendale Committee. Frankie remains in her position and in the group, who decide to name themselves the "Nipple Dippers".

Brewster previously appeared in the [[Community (season 5)|fifth season]] episode "[[Analysis of Cork-Based Networking]]" as the head of Greendale's IT department, '''Debra Chambers'''.

==== Elroy Patashnik ====

'''Elroy Patashnik''' (played by [[Keith David]]) is a failed inventor and [[Programmer|software programmer]]. He developed a [[virtual reality]] company and lives in a [[recreational vehicle]].

He decides to enroll at Greendale to reinvent his life in "[[Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care]]", joining the Save Greendale Committee shortly after. He is hired as head of Greendale's [[Information technology|IT Department]] in "[[Community (season 6)|Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing]]".

He is a fan of the 1990s [[alternative rock]] band Natalie is Freezing, and briefly dated the lead singer Julie. Elroy initially remains aloof from the rest of the group, but bonds with them over a [[board game]] called The Ears Have It in "[[Advanced Safety Features]]". In "[[Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television]]", Elroy leaves Colorado for California after getting a job at [[LinkedIn]].

David previously appeared in the [[Community (season 3)|third season]] episode "[[Pillows and Blankets]]" as the narrator.

==== Prof. Michelle Slater ====

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Magnitude attended high school with Annie and Troy. It was revealed that Magnitude's use of "Pop-pop!" as a catchphrase began at the high school party where Annie had her mental breakdown because of two balloons popping right next to him ("[[Heroic Origins]]"). In season five ("[[Geothermal Escapism]]"), he admits that he is British (as Youngblood is in reality). He briefly appears in the season six episode "[[Intro to Recycled Cinema]]" as an extra in Abed's sci-fi film, ''Raiders of the Galaxy''.

==== Leonard ~~Rodriguez~~Briggs ====

'''Leonard ~~Rodriguez~~Briggs''' (~~formerly~~alias '''Leonard ~~Briggs~~Rodriguez''', played by [[Richard Erdman]]) is an elderly man who is studying business at Greendale Community College and has been since the '70s.<ref name="leonard bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/leonard-briggs.shtml |title=Greendale Community College – Leonard Briggs |publisher=NBC |access-date=February 16, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211115714/http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/leonard-briggs.shtml |archive-date=February 11, 2010}}</ref> Leonard's old age is shown through a scratchy voice and many references to things like the Second World War. He and Jeff have a comically antagonistic relationship resulting in Jeff and other members of the study group to only say "Shut up, Leonard..." followed by a comment (for example, "Shut up, Leonard. No one knows what you're talking about."; "Shut up, Leonard. I talked to your son on Family Day. I know all about your gambling."). Though noticeably older than the other students at Greendale, he acts inlike asa reckless, ~~and~~rebellious ~~laid-back~~teen ~~a fashion as many~~or young ~~adults~~adult, often using slang and engaging in such activities as playing pranks and bass guitar and encountering "pregnancy scares". He leads a rowdy, disobedient band of elderly Greendale students called the "Hipsters" (because they all have hip replacements), with whom Pierce temporarily hangs out in "[[Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples]]". He has children, though they are never seen on camera. In the season two finale, he claims to have been one of the [[Our Gang|Little Rascals]], to have been in "a few real wars" that were less scary than the all-out paintball battle raging on campus, and to have been banned from the [[Denny's]] near the 15 exit. During "[[Intro to Political Science]]" he ran for the student presidency, using the surname "Rodriguez" in an attempt to court the Latino vote. It is revealed in multiple episodes from season 3 that Leonard still has the last name Rodriguez in a title card.

Leonard has a [[YouTube]] channel in which he reviews food products. One such video is shown in the closing scene to "[[Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism]]", where he declares Eugenio's Four Cheese Pizza to be "a buy". He does this again in the episode "[[Introduction to Finality]]" with a bag of potato chips he also likes. While Leonard briefly held valedictorian status in season 4, Dean Pelton (empowered by a pseudo-body-swap where he was acting and talking like Jeff Winger) learned that after earning an A in a [[Rotary dial|rotary telephone]] repair course he took in 1968, Leonard simply made all of his subsequent classes Pass/Fail, taking him out of the running for a title now coming down to a showdown between Annie and Shirley ("[[Basic Human Anatomy]]").

In the season six episode "Ladders", it is revealed that Leonard has been a student at Greendale since it opened in the 1970s under the name "Greendale Computery College", in the episode "[[Pillows and Blankets]]" it was rumored that Leonard fought in the [[Korean War]] for the [[North Korea~~|North Koreans~~]]ns, and in the episode "[[Intro to Political Science]]", his candidacy synopsis graphic reveals that he is a member of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].

==== Vaughn Miller ====

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==== Rich Stephenson ====

'''Rich Stephenson''' (played by {{ill|Greg Cromer (actor)|lt=Greg Cromer|af|Greg Cromer|ar|غريغ كرومر}}) is a student who is in Jeff's pottery class, of whom Jeff grows jealous for his sculpting skills ("[[Beginner Pottery]]"). A doctor who is friendly and well-liked by everyone stands in stark contrast to Jeff, who tries to catch him as a [[List of sports idioms#R|ringer]]. Nicknamed "Doc Potterywood" by Jeff, it is implied that Jeff may actually have been right, and Rich had secretly taken previous pottery classes at different colleges. It is hinted at the end of "Beginner Pottery" that his mother's relationship is extremely strained. Rich had a brother who died in a roller-coaster accident ("Beginner Pottery"). He spends time with the study group again in "Epidemiology", when he attempts to treat the infected students while dressed as a banana and causes Jeff to admit his hatred for him openly. After spending winter break volunteering with Annie, he joins Duncan's anthropology class and unsuccessfully competes against Chang for a spot in the study group. When he turns down a date with Annie due to her youth, Jeff begins to admire his ethics and seeks life advice from him, although he wants to abuse the power Rich gets from everyone loving him.

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==== Todd Jacobson ====

Todd Jacobson ({{ill|David Neher|WD=Q104155911}}) is a student at Greendale who takes biology with the study group in "[[Competitive Ecology]]". Forgiving and good-natured, he responds to insults with "None taken". The group picks on him after he is paired with Pierce on a class project and inadvertently upsets the group's natural balance. He eventually explodes at the study group, calling their love for each other "weird" and "toxic" and ending with "Offense taken". Todd is a married [[Iraq War]] veteran who has a newborn daughter. Todd also states that he needs insulin shots. He also appears in "Basic Lupine Urology", in which he is accused of destroying the study group's biology project. Todd's relationship with the group is more amicable in season 6, wherein he works at Shirley's Sandwiches ("Ladders"), participates in the underground paintball game ("Modern Espionage"), and even officiates Garrett's wedding ("Wedding Videography"), during which he muses that he "could be God".

==== Rachel ====

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==== Officer Cackowski ====

Officer Cackowski ([[{{ill|Craig Cackowski]]|de}}) is a local police officer, repeatedly visiting Greendale in the line of duty. He initially appeared as a member of campus security before inexplicably becoming a police officer. He seems to be friends with Professor Sean Garrity, referring to him by his given name. He appears in "[[The Science of Illusion]]" to investigate a body Britta drops out of the biology labs; in "[[Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design]]", he teaches Jeff and Annie the dangers of fake gun shootouts. He later returns in season 3 to investigate Troy and Abed's landlord in "[[Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism]]", and in "Curriculum Unavailable" to assign Abed to a psychologist for sneaking onto Greendale Campus to investigate the Dean's Doppelganger Chang has in control. Cackowski returns in the season 6 episode "Basic Email Security" to help investigate a hacking attempt on the school, treating the group as old friends and acting surprised that they want to keep a cop they've known for five years "at arm's length". In that episode, he appoints a child named Warburton to run his department's [[cybercrime]] division, although Warburton catches his friend Ryan as the culprit at the end of the episode. In "[[Grifting 101]]", it is revealed that he is taking a class at Greendale.

==== Steven Spreck ====

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==== Gilbert Lawson ====

Gilbert Lawson ([[Giancarlo Esposito]]) is Cornelius Hawthorne's assistant, executor of the estate, and ~~the~~ illegitimate son (thus Pierce's half-brother). According to Cornelius' will, he has Pierce and the study group play "Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne" to claim his inheritance. He repeatedly cheats to "win" the game. Still, when Cornelius's video avatar orders him to agree that he is not Cornelius' biological son after all (to maintain Cornelius' insistence that the Hawthorne family is entirely Caucasian), he refuses to do so. Cornelius turns on Gilbert, who then joins forces with the study group to destroy Cornelius and win the game for real. Sympathetic to his story of disgusting and racist treatment by Cornelius, Pierce and the group allow Gilbert to claim the inheritance in the episode "[[Digital Estate Planning]]". He later becomes Pierce's roommate in his mansion. In "[[Intro to Knots]]", Annie mentions that Gilbert was giving Pierce [[sensitivity training]], including by watching the film ''[[Invictus (film)|Invictus]]''.

==== Annie's Boobs ====

Annie's Boobs ([[Crystal the Monkey|Crystal]]) is Troy's pet [[capuchin monkey]]. Annie's Boobs was reportedly named by a competition held via the monkey's personal [[Twitter]] account. Troy maintains that the account belongs to Annie's Boobs, and thus cannot legitimately change the monkey's name. HeIt also hates the caviar Abed buys for ~~him~~it. Since heAnnie's Boobs was set free by Abed, heit has spent ~~his~~its time collecting items owned by the study group and storing them in a nearby air vent. Its first appearance was in the season one episode "[[Contemporary American Poultry]]".

==== Faux-by ====

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== Guest characters ==

* '''{{vanchor|Nurse Jackie}}''' ([[Patton Oswalt]] in "Home Economics" and "The Psychology of Letting Go") is the school nurse at Greendale. He considers himself the [[Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] of Greendale.

* '''Cornelius Hawthorne''' (Joe Fria in "Celebrity Pharmacology" and [[Larry Cedar]] in "Advanced Gay" and "Digital Estate Planning") is Pierce's overbearing father. Cornelius is a strong [[Racism|racist]], [[Homophobia|homophobe]], and [[Class discrimination|classist]], holding prejudices and [[~~Stereotype|stereotypes~~stereotype]]s about almost all ethnic groups including [[Swedes]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]]. Cornelius wears a [[Toupée|toupee]] made carved from [[ivory]] to avoid hair coming from "orientals". He chastises Pierce for having Jewish and African-American friends and marketing Hawthorne Wipes to the [[LGBT community]]. He dies of a heart attack after Jeff tells him he's both a lousy father and a dinosaur who knows the entire world (including his son) hates him and has no more use for him. Cornelius is seen as embarrassed by his son Pierce even from a young age, refusing to have him on his [[Television advertisement|television commercial]] after he failed his audition. Cornelius strongly resembles [[Colonel Sanders|Colonel Harland Sanders]], the founder and spokesman of [[KFC|Kentucky Fried Chicken]]. This is why in "Basic Rocket Science" Pierce goes crazy as the Colonel taunts him.

* '''Jeremy Simmons''' ([[Aaron Himelstein]] in "Debate 109") is a student at neighboring City College, who is the primary rival of Greendale's debate team.

* '''Doreen''' ([[Sharon Lawrence]] in "The Politics of Human Sexuality") is an escort that Pierce meets in his marketing class and later gets into a relationship with. After she dumps him during a Greendale school dance, he borrows money to pay for her company.

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* '''Madame LeClair''' ([[Twink Caplan]] in "[[Interpretive Dance]]") is the ballet professor at Greendale.

* '''Coach Herbert Bogner''' ([[Blake Clark]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/faculty-admin/ |title=Greendale Community College – Herbert Bogner |publisher=NBC |access-date=March 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325140543/http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/faculty-admin/ |archive-date=March 25, 2010 }}</ref> in "[[Physical Education (Community)|Physical Education]]") is a physical-education coach who teaches billiards at Greendale. He comes into conflict with Jeff, who refuses to wear the Greendale regulation gym shorts when playing pool, and the two face off in a billiards match which ends in the nude.

* '''Rabbi Chang''' ({{ill|Tom Yi|WD=Q23900489}} in "[[Basic Genealogy]]") is Señor Chang's older, critical brother with much-unresolved history between them. Rabbi Chang is blind to the surface incongruity of his being a Rabbi but chides Señor Chang to drop his Spanish act. As much as these two brothers might seem to be at odds, Señor Chang does leap to his brother's aid and fights in his honor when Pierce obliviously harasses Rabbi Chang during a game of [[Pictionary]]. After Señor Chang is fired, Rabbi Chang helps him by getting him jobs as a security guard at ceremonies he officiates.

* '''Amber''' ([[Katharine McPhee]] in "Basic Genealogy") is one of Pierce's thirty-two ex-stepchildren, who pretends to like him and comes to Family Day since he sends her significant sums of money. She and Jeff share a mutual attraction, and the two prepare to have sex until Jeff learns how she is exploiting Pierce.

* '''Nana Barnes''' ([[Fran Bennett]] in "Basic Genealogy") is Troy's grandmother, whom he fears and avoids. Britta argues that the elderly should be cherished and respected, but Nana is incensed by being called old and insists on spanking Britta with a switch.

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* '''Alter-Pierce''' is a sitcom version of Pierce played by actor [[Fred Willard]] in Abed's four-camera fantasies in "[[History 101 (Community)|History 101]]".

* '''Toby Weeks''' ([[Matt Lucas (comedian)|Matt Lucas]] in "Conventions of Space and Time") is the world's biggest ''Inspector Spacetime'' fan. He tries to kidnap Abed at a convention before being stopped by Troy.

* '''George''' and '''Deb Perry''' (~~'''''[[Clue (film)|Clue]]''''''s~~ [[Martin Mull]] and [[Lesley Ann Warren]] in "Lawnmower Maintenance & Postnatal Care" and "Advanced Safety Features) are Britta's parents, who are shown to have had a much closer relationship to the rest of the group than she has had herself.

* '''Reinhold''' ([[Chris Diamantopoulos]] in "Alternate History of the German Invasion") is Juergen's brother who seeks revenge on the study group by repeatedly reserving their study room table before they can.

* '''Karl''' (Alex Schemmer in "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" and "Alternate History of the German Invasion") is a member of the group of German students. He becomes Abed's friend after it is revealed he has a character named "Dr. Blitz" who saved Abed's character "Spacetimer 8032" in the on-line game Spawncraft. He loves blutwurst.

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* '''Mountain Man''' ([[Jason Alexander]] in "Intro to Felt Surrogacy") is a friendly yet mysterious Greendale alumnus who lives in the woods. The study group runs into him when they crash a hot air balloon into the wilderness.

* '''Mark''' ([[Joe Lo Truglio]] in "Heroic Origins" and "Advanced Introduction to Finality") is one of Jeff's former partners from his former law firm, where he went by the nickname "Cash" to Jeff's "Tango". In "Advanced Introduction to Finality", he offers Jeff a partnership at his law firm, claiming that Jeff is still a great lawyer. Jeff later declines Mark's offer, instead opting to search for another firm closer to Greendale so he can remain close to the Study Group.

* '''Mr. Stone''' ([[Walton Goggins]] in "Cooperative Polygraphy") is a seemingly stoic man hired by Pierce to administer a polygraph test to the study group. When Dan Harmon hosted a table reading for the episode, Mr. Stone was played by [[Pedro Pascal]].

* '''Bob Waite''' ([[Nathan Fillion]] in "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking" and "Ladders") is the head custodian at Greendale. Though a slick politician, one of his primary concerns is his difficulty getting access to online pornography on campus.

* '''Lapari''' ([[Kumail Nanjiani]] in "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking" and "Modern Espionage") is the deputy custodian at Greendale. After making a brief appearance initially, he returns more prominently when he secretly works with City College to orchestrate a paintball assassin game on Greendale's campus.

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== Fictional characters within ''Community'' ==

=== Inspector Spacetime ===

Inspector Spacetime (Travis Richey) is the protagonist in a British science-fiction television program called ''Inspector Spacetime'' that has been on the air for fifty years and has many similarities to ''[[Doctor Who]]'' (both are British science-fiction television programs that have been running for approximately fifty years). With his sidekick (similar to that of a [[Companion (Doctor Who)|companion]] in ''Doctor Who'') Constable Reggie, he travels through space and time in a [[TARDIS]]-like [[red telephone box]] while fighting creatures such as "Blorgons", which are similar to [[Dalek~~|Daleks~~]]s. Troy and Abed become major fans starting in the third season and often impersonate Reggie and the Inspector.

=== Constable Reggie ===