Troy And Abed's Friendship Wasn't Something Community's Writers Could Have Planned
One of the best things the NBC sitcom "Community" has going for it is the chemistry between the actors. The study group at the center of "Community," often referred to as the Greendale Seven, is a diverse group of characters in appearance and personality. There are a variety pairings and relationships within the group itself throughout the show's run, but if one duo stood out more than others, it wasn't the will they/won't they of Jeff and Annie or the odd opposites that are Troy and Pierce. It was Troy and Abed (in the morning).
Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) became one of the staple friendships in "Community," perhaps even comedies in general. Troy's naive nature and Abed's love for movies helped to create a wholesome friendship. It's one that's not just played for laughs but also highlights an authentic connection between actors that was found while filming the show.
During the early days of filming "Community," this friendship was one that, at the time, was unexpected. However, an unforeseen requirement for the runtime of "Community" allowed this friendship to shine, in turn giving us things like Troy and Abed's "morning show."
Testing new dynamics
In a panel with Vulture called "In Conversation with the Cast of Community," Danny Pudi talked about the season 1 episode "Introduction to Statistics," which is where he felt the cast really started to come together:
"This is, when I think about the show, I think this is the first time during this episode where I felt like we were all clicking. I think everyone was kind of doing their own thing, and everyone showed up, the costumes were all like, very specific. I felt like the world was kind of starting to establish itself, meaning that the world was – there was everything, it was just chaos. And I got to play Batman, which was a dream of mine ever since I was a kid, so."
"Community" slowly but surely found its footing, with the actors becoming more familiar with their characters and co-stars. First seasons always feel experimental, especially on a comedy series, with the cast and writers trying to see what works and what doesn't. With "Community," the episode "Introduction to Statistics" would make a newfound discovery of previously unseen chemistry between Troy and Abed.
The birth of a friendship
Dan Harmon would speak about that same episode Pudi referenced, explaining that a changing of the NBC schedule led to creating tags at the end of episodes, in turn discovering the potential in pairing Tory and Abed:
"It just happened that this was the first episode, about six episodes in, where the tags started needing to get shot. And this episode was the first time that we put Troy and Abed together in this, like, intimate way. In that tag for that episode, where you guys are sitting there, improvising really, about Cookie Monster and stuff. And so this episode was the birth of that friendship, which was based on organic chemistry between actors on set."
Most of the end credit tags on "Community" would go on to use Troy and Abed similarly. The bit scenes would have the two in varying scenarios, whether it be waxing poetic or hosting an imaginary morning talk show, "Troy and Abed in the Morning." Each end credit scene almost always had nothing to do with the episode, but they were an excuse to highlight the great chemistry between Danny Pudi and Donald Glover.
Troy and Abed's friendship would eventually make its way into the main stories of "Community," where they were given their own handshake and hilariously portrayed as being borderline romantic. It just goes to show you how important collaboration can be in film and TV, because one of the best parts of "Community" came about because of an organic camaraderie between two actors and the happenstance of network needs. The writers merely adapted, and now we have one of the best comedy duos on TV.