CliqueClack TV
TV SHOWS COLUMNS FEATURES CHATS QUESTIONS

Community – Interviewing Annie and Abed in the morning

Are Alison and Danny the real life Troy and Abed? Last week I had the opportunity to interview Alison Brie and Danny Pudi. To learn their thoughts about the change in the show, what happened during Danny's sophomore year, and who they'd vote for, clack on!

Did you see last night’s episode on Community? If you didn’t, stop reading this article and pop over to Hulu for “Political Science.” NBC hosted a roundtable conference call with Alison Brie (Annie), AKA the candidate, and Danny Pudi (Abed), AKA utterly awesome, last week. And, can I say, I’d totally vote for them on a combined ballot.

Danny and Alison have a great, natural chemistry with each other which manifested through their banter. Seriously, every single interviewer commented on their mutual awesomeness. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. They completed each other’s sentences and called each other out on their responses. We need an Annie and Abed in the morning. Nay. We demand it. Anyone calling themselves a “two piece Voltron” deserves their own show. I loved Danny’s confronting Alison for voting for her character after Starburns and Alison’s calling him out on his vaguely ambiguous statements.  As you can tell, I had an awesome time. Even if I hadn’t gotten to speak to the dynamic duo (which I did), I would have gone away happy.

Conference calls are interesting items. There’s a magical fairy who introduces the room and oversees the flow of the questions. After you press a button on your phone, a few seconds or minutes later (if you’re lucky), you’re announced and you’re directly connected with the actors. Before and after that, you listen to the other interviewers ask questions. For some conference calls, people tend to limit themselves to 1-2 questions, but this time each interviewer tended to have mini-conversations. I didn’t realize why until I asked the final questions. Danny and Alison are incredibly charismatic. I know I shouldn’t seem shocked, but they’re intelligent and engaged. They pull you into a conversation and they don’t focus on just “answering the question.” So, you find yourself having a mini-chat with the “cool cats.”

I learned a couple things from what the other writers asked:

  • Gillian always gets the pop culture references in the script (and, after her, there’s always google).
  • Alison and Abed have a game called “I’m better, I’m good.” It’s essentially a verbal form of rock, paper, scissors.
  • Danny and Alison had a mini-fight over who they would vote for, but eventually they agreed: Starburns.
  • Danny and Alison would call an Abed spin off show, Secrets. If you watched this week’s episode (or ANY of the episodes), you’ll know what that means.
  • Am I the only one who viewed Alison and Danny referencing themselves as a two piece Voltron as vaguely sexual?
  • For Troy and Abed in the morning, they would love to have Howard Stern or Chevy Chase as himself.
  • One of the writers asked Alison and Danny to tweet to each other in song lyrics.
  • Our beloved Senor Chang can’t stop laughing at himself.
  • Donald has great improvisational lines.
  • According to Alison, the making of each show is its own blooper reel.
  • Alison got a little too into the Dungeons and Dragons re-enactment with the well-endowed.
  • Alison believes Jeff and Annie still have a tiny flame for each other, which she believes is what catalyzed “Political Science” where you see their bumping heads fueling the tension.
  • Danny looks like a female news anchor and was always attracted to them.

Another awesome thing about participating in a conference call is when the writers asking the questions are fans of the show. It adds to the positive energy flow. I was able to ask the two questions about the show’s development and their responses made me want to pat myself on the back. It’s kind of awesome when you get through and are actually able to connect with the actors. When you listen to another writer talk and ask questions it’s great, but directly talking to them you really get a feel for their energy and antics.

So to learn about Danny’s sophomore year, if we’ll get an Annie and Abed in the morning (on Community or some other show), and they what they thought of my questions, click on!

Photo Credit: NBC

Categories: | Clack | Community | Features | General | Interviews | News | TV Shows |

7 Responses to “Community – Interviewing Annie and Abed in the morning”

February 25, 2011 at 6:19 PM

I only have one question: Why aren’t more people watching this great show?

I don’t see how “2 1/2 Men” can get several times the audience with “Community” obviously being a far, far better show. I’m not even going to throw in the word “arguably” in that sentence because if you’ve seen both shows you know it’s just a simple fact that “Community” is better! :o)

February 25, 2011 at 7:40 PM

You make a crude sex joke, everyone gets it right away.

You make witty references to bad movies from the 80’s or thinly veiled attempts to show how ridiculous politics can be, people have to think about it for a second, and people don’t like to think when they’re watching tv.

February 25, 2011 at 8:36 PM

Sadly, this is true and yet another indicator that we’re barreling towards a real-life “Idiocracy” faster than ever. If you haven’t seen the movie, the top TV show of the future was called “Ow, My Balls!” and consisted of nothing more than the main character constantly getting painful blows to the groin. People loved it and laughed out loud at each episode.

We’re so very close to that reality already. Maybe that’s why I’m such a fan of science fiction, I have a true desire to leave this planet.

February 26, 2011 at 3:51 AM

Great Interview. Love it!

I think there’s a wrong “Abed” in the second bullet point.

Oh and I would like to know how the “wrong” Oh sounded and how the right one was then. Was the first a disappointed Oh and the second a more silent curious one? Doesn’t quite come across I just wanted to know if I got it correctly.

You know it really sucks now that WE can’t hear their real banter because Alison has been on Craig Ferguson and THEIR banter is already insanely fun (and her dress is why I just don’t understand people complaining about the Jeff/Annie thing because Alison clearly isn’t anything between 16 and 19 and if you listened intently to what they said on thursday’s episode Annie had a line where she said she wasn’t 19 (anymore) so gosh darn it let a 20+ year old have a relationship with an older guy for Pete’s sake – those two are cute together).

Here’s a link to to the “The Late Late Show” interview

February 27, 2011 at 2:10 AM

That was a great interview, but I like Craig Ferguson and he makes everything fun. Alison Brie was more outgoing than I guess I expected, but she was a pretty good guest. She seemed to be enjoying herself and was very comfortable.

As for her age, if it can be trusted Wikipedia says she was born on December 29, 1983. If my math is correct that would make her 27; far from a teenager. That’s good because I think she’s really beautiful and I guess that makes me a dirty old man. Oh well, I’ll accept the label and still continue to enjoy her on “Community.”

February 26, 2011 at 1:13 PM

I remember seeing this with the two of them from a couple of months ago.

May 6, 2011 at 4:51 PM

As someone who just participated in a conference call with Alison alone, I can vouch for everything An has said. Alison was crazy intelligent in her answers and was also so gracious to us fans in the call.

Powered By OneLink