Trivia: The character Annie Edison was originally written to be either Asian or Latino, but Alison Brie did so well in her audition that she was cast. The character of "Annie Kim" (sometimes referred to as "Asian Annie") is essentially an inside joke, as she is an Annie-Edison-like character portrayed by an Asian actress as Annie was originally conceived, and serves as a "rival" to Edison throughout seasons 3-6.
Trivia: Co-star Chevy Chase was reportedly sometimes difficult to work with on-set, as he didn't understand the show's style or humor. He also repeatedly clashed with series creator Dan Harmon over creative differences, leading to a number of high-profile public feuds during production of the first three seasons. As a result, Harmon was fired from the show and didn't participate in Season Four. Chase decided to leave the show at the end of Season Four, and Harmon was subsequently rehired as the rest of the cast rallied behind him and demanded he be allowed to return. Nevertheless and despite their differences, Harmon gave Chase a prolonged cameo in the season five opener "Repilot," as the two had settled their conflicts in the meantime and he wanted to give Chase something of a proper send-off. Chase reportedly even later asked to return to the show for its sixth and final season, but ultimately was unable to, as his character had been "killed off" to explain his absence in season five.
Trivia: Creator Dan Harmon based the show on a real experience he had. He attended a community college with his girlfriend and took a Spanish class with her, in an attempt to mend their failing relationship. Harmon based the cynical character Jeff Winger on himself, while the character Britta Perry was based on his girlfriend at the time - a strong-willed but occasionally naive idealist. The other members of the group are all partially based on people Harmon met in Community College, except for Abed, who is based on a comedian and writer he knows.
Trivia: Throughout the series, there have been several hints that the character Britta has a dark backstory - particularly with very subtle repeated references to a "transient" in a dinosaur costume who attended her eleventh birthday, and how she doesn't trust her parents. For years, fans theorized that Britta was groped or otherwise molested at her eleventh birthday by a man dressed up as a "birthday entertainer" in a dinosaur costume and this is what caused the rift between she and her parents, as she blames them for failing to protect her. Series creator Dan Harmon later confirmed this theory in a Reddit "Ask me anything" session when asked by a fan. Kind of makes the fact she's the most picked-on of the study group a bit more tragic, huh?
Trivia: A joke early on in the show created the tagline "Six seasons and a movie!" (A phrase the character Abed often says referring to shows he wants to last.) While originally not meant to be more than a gag, fans of the show adopted the line, and since it has become a sort-of unofficial slogan for the series, to the point that the hashtag "#sixseasonsandamovie" appeared during the season three finale, and another hashtag reading "#andamovie" appeared at the end of the series finale in season six. Series creator Dan Harmon has stated that it is a personal mission of his to eventually get a "Community" movie made to fulfill the wishes of the fans, though he has stated he wants to take a multi-year break, and would only make the movie when he "really missed" the characters and could insure most of the original cast would be able to come back.
Trivia: "Community" shares some interesting connections with the cult-classic "so bad it's good" film "The Room." Co-star Gillian Jacobs is a massive fan of "The Room" and discovered during the filming of season three that one of "Community's" camera operators, Todd Barron, was actually the credited cinematographer of "The Room." (He was one of several DP's who worked on the film, but was the only one credited.) Jacobs and her co-star Alison Brie, who had heard of "The Room" but never seen it at the time, would constantly grill Barron on its production and ask him questions about it. Later, Brie would go on to co-star in the film adaptation of "The Disaster Artist", a book based on the making of "The Room."
Trivia: Though creator Dan Harmon didn't want to focus too much on this aspect, the show's "Will they/won't they?" relationships were originally going to be Jeff and Britta, and Troy and Annie. While this was the case for the first season, it was later changed to Jeff and Annie for one, and Britta and Troy for the other, with Jeff and Britta merely becoming on-again-off-again "friends with benefits" and Troy and Annie just being good friends. These changes were ultimately made based on the chemistry of the actors and the response from fans.
Trivia: The show repeatedly takes several swipes at the television series "Glee", particularly early on. This is because "Glee" was one of the show's main competitors during the first season, and it was a friendly jab at how "Glee" often got higher ratings.
Trivia: Pierce's father is named Cornelius, which is Chevy Chase's real first name.
Trivia: According to Dan Harmon, a lot of Chevy Chase's dialogue in the series was based on things he actually said behind-the-scenes. He'd say something odd or nonsensical in conversation, Harmon and the writers would jot it down, and then they'd add it to the scripts during rewrites.
Answer: His attempt to "kill" Jeff was to roll at him as an iPad on a stick. He knew it wouldn't work, but it played to the story that he was a killer as he knew Jeff would tell people about it, or attempt to retaliate for it.