I wondered that too, then felt slightly racist for thinking it. Anyway, IMDB says no.
Having a common last name in the exact same industry with a long-standing tradition of family ties and nepotism is reason enough to suspect a familial connection, let alone being of a common minority race with each other.
I haven’t watched Community since the very first episode, which I thought was only so-so, but I caught the Christmas episode last night and really enjoyed it, so I’m off to hulu (thanks for the tip, TheTerribleTako) to catch up.
One question about the Christmas episode: Who was the actress that played the hot professor that Joel McHale wanted to sleep with? I know I’ve seen her in something else, but I can’t remember and it’s really bugging me.
Ok, I just answered my own question–she played the nurse on Grey’s Anatomy that McDreamy hooked up with for a while.
Well, it was only slightly.
Also, as I thought it, I pictured Troy telling me “That’s racist!” which probably didn’t help matters. 
That’s awesome. I picture him saying it as Troy too.
I watched the marathon last night and caught a line I had missed the first time through. The bully was played by Anthony Michael Hall, whose first big break was playing Chevy Chase’s son in Vacation and a skinny loser high school kid in Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science. Later he bulked up and, starting with Edward Scissorhands, he began playing more macho characters, including bullies.
When the guys are trying to talk Jeff into fighting him, Chase remarks “I know his type, he used to be a nerd, now he’s a meathead…”
She’s also Trudy, Pete’s wife in Mad Men. She looks TOTALLY different, and - IMO - is a great actress, because I didn’t know until my 4th or so episode of Community that they were the same person.
I watched all the episodes on hulu over the last week. I am so glad I did! Maybe the funniest show on television right now. It makes me laugh out loud several times each episode–it reminds me of watching the first season of The Office.
The characters are all great, but Abed is the one that cracks me up the most. His “Asperger’s” is played well, broadly speaking. He really interacts with the world in a different way than everybody else. Chevy Chase is also really good–I never expected to see him in anything very funny again. Oh–and Senor Chang is freaking hilarious, too!
So thank you all for turning me on to Community. I’m spreading the word to my friends and family. New episode this Thursday!
Yay! More viewers! I’ve been loving this show for a while now, but with the exception of my boyfriend, none of my friends or family have showed any interest. Which is too bad, since I really really love this show.
Now people are going to start thinking that I’m a shill. But I’m not! I just love to watch Community every Thursday night at 8pm while drinking a nice refreshing glass of Pepsi. 
I heard that Jon Oliver might be back for more episodes, so there’s that good news.
I assume Brits think different, but the first sound out of John Oliver’s mouth over here is funny. As are all of the subsequent sounds.
He (Jon Oliver) had a stand-up special that aired on Comedy Central last week, and he is hosting a new weekly stand-up comedy show on the same channel. I agree he’s very funny.
One of my favorite jokes fo far on Community was when McHale and Oliver’s characters were having an argument in one of the hallways at school. McHale is about to leave and he sarcastically tells Oliver, “Cheers” (as in “goodbye”). Abed happens to be walking by and without missing a beat he says “MASH” and Oliver immediately replies with “Fawlty Towers. Game-set-and match.”
OK, I almost took this off my recording list. Last night’s was funny enough to keep me on board. A lot of good lines, right from the very start.
Does anyone else just loathe Jack Black? He’s got horrific man boobs and generally looks like a street urchin. I thought he failed miserably. Also, the “cool group”? Jack Black does NOT fit with the “cool” group at all - he wasn’t even qualified for the McHale group whatsoever. It was such a stretch on so many levels. Creepy. I didn’t laugh once while he was onscreen.
Loved the texts sent to only black students, and loved Pierce STILL calling Abed “A-bed”.
I could have done with far less Jack Black. But the MASH parody was very well conceived, and I was much relieved to see that Senor Chang is not dead.
Last night’s episode was the first “miss” I’ve seen from this otherwise awesome series. I hope it was just a hiccup.
Also very relieved that Senor Chang wasn’t dead. I did NOT see the fake death coming at all, but the SO did. Senor Chang is awesome, not at all overdone IMO. I love his “spanglish”, it’s so horrible.
YES
Jack Black’s presence was definitely for the worse, but I thought the episode overall was still pretty funny.
I liked the brief appearance of Dino Stamatopoulos as “Starburns.”