Community Hid Easter Eggs On The Classroom Whiteboard
It's been nearly a decade since "Community" wrapped up its six-season run, and the cult favorite comedy still offers a rewarding rewatch. While some parts of the Dan Harmon-made series have aged poorly, others are even funnier with time, thanks to a cast full of rising stars and industry veterans. Not all of the show's best jokes came straight from the mouths of Donald Glover or Danny Pudi, though; several of the best parts of "Community" actually take place in the background.
While most network sitcoms barely utilize the space within the camera's frame, "Community" makes good use of every inch of it, with jokes unfolding in the background as well as the foreground. In one episode, Abed (Pudi) helps deliver a baby in the Greendale parking lot while the rest of the study group is busy trying to help Pierce (Chevy Chase) process his mom's death. The subplot takes place entirely in the background of various shots and is never commented upon. Another time, Beetlejuice walks by — just after a character says his name for the third time in the series.
The gags also sometimes make their way to the group's study room, where a whiteboard sits mounted on the wall behind Annie (Alison Brie) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown). A green chalkboard also appears, typically behind Abed and Britta (Gillian Jacobs). From the show's earliest days, the whiteboard and chalkboard can be spotted with long messages on them, often about library hours, add/drop periods, and study room rules. Glance at the boards occasionally, and you'll think the study room has a long-winded, rule-oriented teacher in charge. Pay close attention to it, though, and the whiteboard transforms into an Easter egg hunt for devoted fans, complete with jokes, riddles, and more.
Random scrawlings and unseen characters
One of the earliest board gags comes in the show's season 1 Christmas episode, when a poster advertising cookies declares, "Mr. Winter Wishes You A Happy Merry!" Two episodes later, a note about sign-up sheets features the sign-off "Welcome Back!" along with the name of a never-seen character named Kotter, a sly reference to the 1975 sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter." Kotter isn't the only character who seems to only exist on the study room boards. Other episodes include references to a Mrs. Crabtree, a C. Hawk Beard, an S. Clark, and a Ms. Drysdale, the latter of whom is apparently an admin who is about to sort through applications for her replacement without realizing it. "Leave applications with Ms. Drysdale," the board reads after a job description, "but keep it on the low low, she doesn't know."
In the show's second season, the board gags remain simple, as when a question about evolution in "Cooperative Calligraphy" has the word "monkeys" crossed out and replaced with the name "Pierce." Two episodes later, the board simply says, "Illiterate? Write for help." There wasn't always an art or science to the "Community" whiteboards. Whoever was behind the bits didn't choose to change things up every episode, like the "Bob's Burgers" menu specials do, but littered in Easter eggs among the more mundane or nonsensical scrawlings ("Happy October 19th" is a favorite of mine). Jokes sometimes repeat, too; a bit about how "congress" is the opposite of "progress" appears twice, and the phrase "dry erase boards love chalkboard jokes" pops up on at least two occasions.
Meta messages and pop culture references
Other times, questions appear, like, "Who is Ed, Dr. McNamara, and Mr. Kinney?" This one's a reference to "RoboCop," and appears during an episode in which the study group takes a polygraph test. Fans are still theorizing about which "Community" student matches up to which "RoboCop" character, but another riddle featuring a complex math problem and cipher proved easier to solve thanks to a clue that simply said "Pop Pop." The chalkboards almost always have little to do with the plot we see on screen, but when they do, eagle-eyed viewers are rewarded. After Greendale eccentric Starburns reportedly dies in a meth lab explosion, both boards feature a list titled "Ten Reasons Not To Let Your Friends Do Drugs." The list stays around until season 4's Halloween episode, when its bullet points are replaced by a creepy poem about crying oneself to sleep.
The "Community" chalkboard bits start off inconsistent, but by season 4, they became a running joke. After the series survived near-cancelation and the firing of its showrunner (Dan Harmon was later brought back), the team behind "Community" clearly wanted to be more intentional with their messages to fans. "It's time to ... oh, nevermind, thanks for watching," the season's fifth episode says, along with a sign-off from the school's mascot, The Human Being. In that season's finale, when it seemed as if the show might be canceled again, the board included a similarly grateful message. "Class schedules have been postponed until further notice," it reads. "We are working to have this resolved by next hiatus. Thanks for your attendance and continued support."
A perfect storm mystery
When "Community" was in its home stretch, the chalkboard became a place to celebrate the show's legacy and document each episode. Often, the episode numbers were listed on the chalkboard and whiteboard alike (for example: "GCC607" for season 6, episode 7), a trend that I've spotted as early as season 3, but one that became more noticeable and frequent in the show's final seasons. The fifth season finale alluded to cancelation again, with a heartbeat flatlining on the chalkboard and an invitation for viewers to take a screenshot and write their own jokes on the whiteboard. By the time the final episode of the show rolled around, "Community" had one last reference to drop: A series of numbers and letters that fans quickly realized corresponded to each actor's IMDb page.
While the "Community" chalkboard references range from silly to stupid to quietly hilarious, there's one in particular that seems more important than the rest. In the seventh episode of season 5, soon after Troy (Glover) leaves the show to sail a boat around the world, a note in the background alludes to his fate. "Has anyone heard from Troy?" the board reads. "He may have fallen into a 'Perfect Storm.”' The note then lists the character's last known coordinates: 70° 23' 49.68". While fans on Reddit and elsewhere often speculate that these are coordinates for the Bermuda Triangle, the message is actually one data set short of providing a full location. Glover may or may not return for the upcoming "Community" movie; if he does, the film will hopefully be full of ridiculous tales of Troy's time lost at sea. Or maybe we'll have to spot that story in the background.