List of Community characters

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Cast members of Community

The cast of Community Seasons 1–2. Third row, in the back, from left to right: Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne, John Oliver as Ian Duncan, Donald Glover as Troy Barnes, and Ken Jeong as Ben Chang. Second row, sitting at table, left to right: Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett, and Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir. (Front row, left to right) Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, and Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry.
The cast of Community Season 5. This season introduced Jonathan Banks as Buzz Hickey, the return of John Oliver as Ian Duncan, and included the departure of Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne (Not pictured), and Donald Glover as Troy Barnes


The series also features recurring characters, typically fellow students or teachers at Greendale.

Main characters[edit]


Jeff Winger[edit]

Jeffrey "Jeff" Tobias Winger (Joel McHale), is a snarky, glib ex-lawyer attending Greendale Community College.[1]

Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) was once a highly successful defense attorney with the law firm Hamish, Hamish, and Hamlin. For over six years, he specialized in juvenile and traffic offenses, as well as DUI/DWA/DUID cases. During this period, he successfully defended Ian Duncan from a DUI, and they developed a friendship. After a successful case in which he defended a stripper named Mysti, Colorado Bar Association began scrutinizing his background. His rival and friend Alan Connor, then betrayed him by sending the CBA an incriminating email, revealing that Jeff did not receive a bachelor's degree from Columbia University but, in fact, got one that was "less than legitimate" and "better than real" from the country of Colombia. He strikes a deal with the bar in order to prevent him from being disbarred, on the condition that he graduate from an existing college with an actual degree. While brainstorming the right college to attend, he ate at a frozen-yogurt restaurant, and overheard a conversation detailing the ease of graduation from Greendale Community College. Remembering that Ian Duncan was a professor there, Jeff decided to attend in hopes that Duncan would help him graduate as quickly as possible.

In the pilot, Jeff forms and joins the study group because he is attracted to fellow student Britta whom he hits on, despite her rejection of his advances. However, by the end of the pilot episode, he is kicked out of the group before being asked to join back in. After Britta definitively rejects his advances, Jeff begins flirting with his Statistics professor, Professor Slater, and they eventually begin dating. Before this, he shares a number of awkward moments with another study group member, Annie, after she kisses him to win a championship debate. After Professor Slater breaks up with him, he sleeps with Britta in the study room after a paintball fight in "Modern Warfare." At the end of season one, Britta and a newly interested Professor Slater compete for his affections, culminating in Britta professing her love for him at the school's Tranny Dance. Soon after, he meets Annie outside and they kiss. At the beginning of season two, Britta recants her "I love you," saying she was caught up in the spirit of competition, and he comes to an uneasy understanding with both Britta and Annie. Later in the season, the study group finds out that Britta and Jeff had been hooking up in secret throughout the year, and both of them then realize they have no interest in continuing to hook up. Jeff and Annie both wrestle with their romantic impulses towards each other for much of Season 3.




In the season four finale, Jeff receives an Associate of Education degree and finally graduates from Greendale.

Britta Perry[edit]

Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), born in October 1982 and of Swedish descent, is a politically interested and socially empathetic student at Greendale, who in many cases serves as the study group's scapegoat.

Britta experienced an unexplained trauma in her childhood during a birthday party, involving a man in a dinosaur costume. She decided to drop out of high school because she thought it would impress Radiohead.[2] After dropping out of school, she started vandalizing billboards around the area where she grew up. During the vandalizing she became friends with other people who liked to vandalize. The friends created a small group of "anarchist billboard vandals". When the group grew larger she was kicked out, via a democratic voting system. Soon after her departure, the group developed into a high-end advertising firm.[3] After her fallout Britta joined the Peace Corps, did some foot modeling, got teargassed at a World Trade rally, and took an extended vacation in Africa.[3] She at one point formed an activist group, THE ANHERCHISTS, but it disbanded when the other members grew tired of activism. This led Britta to realize that she needed to do something with her life. While applying for a job at a frozen yogurt restaurant, Britta began a conversation with an irritable man handing out flyers for Greendale Community College. Upon learning how easy gaining a degree from the school was, Britta resolved to get her G.E.D, and enrolled at Greendale.[3] In the Season 3 premiere, Britta tells the study group that she's decided to major in Psychology and work towards becoming a therapist, a career goal the study group is extremely skeptical about.





In Season 3, an attraction begins to emerge between Britta and Troy. In "Origins of Vampire Mythology", it is a disguised Troy who texts "something nice" to Britta in an attempt to end her interest in an old flame of hers. She is shown smiling when she discovers that it was Troy who sent the text. In the following episode, "Virtual Systems Analysis", Annie plays matchmaker with them, and the two go on what appears to be an unofficial date. In the Season 4 premiere, it is revealed that Britta and Troy have begun dating. However they break up in "Basic Human Anatomy".

Abed Nadir[edit]


Abed's original plan at Greendale was to take business classes to eventually help run his father's falafel stand, but this became his backup plan when Britta inspired him to pursue his true passion. While like Spock, Abed has emotion and sympathy for his friends, he is very analytical and speaks with a rather detached and emotionless tone. He also has a distinct straightforwardness and often contextualizes situations via pop cultural tropes and references, which leads many people to suspect he has Asperger's Syndrome. Jeff openly accuses him of having Asperger's during the first study group meeting, which the others find offensive, but Abed responds "what's that?" with confusion, apparently having never heard of the term. While Abed exhibits many of the classic symptoms of Asperger's throughout the show, he apparently never submits himself for a formal diagnosis. Abed even comments on this possibility in the episode Regional Holiday Music, during his rap with Troy, as he raps "On the Spectrum? None of your business..." Inwardly, however, Abed might not be as pervasively content as his nonchalant exterior presents. His mother eventually became so fed up with his atypical behavior (due to his undiagnosed neurological condition) that she left the family when he was only six years old. Abed doesn't talk about it much, but his film project in the first season revealed that it deeply affected him. Abed truly cares for his father but frequently clashes with him, though privately Abed blamed himself that his mother left, and felt deeply guilty about the pain that her departure caused his father.

Abed usually serves as a self-aware bridge between the world of "Community" and the world of the viewer, and this frequently permits "Community" to play with television motifs and conventions. However, although this is a defining character trait it is not his only one. Despite his straightforwardness and self-awareness he also has an underlying happy, innocent, and sweet nature. Because of this, Abed is generally loved by all, and especially so by his best friend Troy. Abed also possesses many stealth talents, such as being surprisingly athletic and coordinated. He also is competent at attracting both women and men. At the end of the episode "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps", it is revealed that Abed is the only sane member of the study group, according to a set of psychology tests they all took.



Abed's family situation over the years has been quite complicated. His parents divorced when he was very young, and for a long time Abed blamed this on himself and his neuroatypicality. His mother is remarried and has her own family. Abed's dad, Gobi Nadir (played by Iqbal Theba), lives in close proximity to Greendale, and until Abed moved into Apartment 303 during his junior year at Greendale, Abed lived with his dad during the summer. According to Abed and his dad's accounts, most of his extended family either lives in the Middle East or in Poland.

Shirley Bennett[edit]

Shirley Bennett, née Edwards (Yvette Nicole Brown), is a mother of three who attends Greendale Community College.[6] At Greendale, Shirley is taking classes which will allow her to market her baked goods, specifically her famous brownies.[6] She is proud to be an African American and a woman but appreciates not being defined by those characteristics.[6] Shirley is a devout Christian and has very sweet, feminine and motherly mannerisms; but she also has thinly veiled rage issues—her husband cheated on her and she has an alcoholic past—as well as religious-tolerance issues. She is very friendly to everyone, but sometimes has problems minding her own business or keeping secrets, and she gossips compulsively.

Shirley's life took a turn when she took her family to the Mall. While eating with her husband, Andre, at a restaurant, she was distracted by her children being accosted by an angered movie-goer. While she was gone, Andre met a stripper named Mysti, with whom he eventually had an affair. When she discovered this, her marriage ended in divorce, she fell into a deep depression, and began abusing alcohol. During an outing to a frozen yogurt restaurant, she read an advertisement for Greendale Community College, and decided to turn her life around. She then set out to earn an Associate's Degree in Business, so that she could start her own company.


Shirley bonds principally with the women in the study group.[citation needed] Shirley just barely tolerates Pierce, given his racist statements. It was revealed in 'Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism', Season Three, that Shirley and Jeff met when they were 12 and 10, respectively. Shirley humiliated Jeff by beating him so badly in a Foosball game that he urinated all over his pants; they did not realize this for years because they'd never said what their nicknames were.

In the Halloween episode of season two, Shirley and Chang hook up after bonding over how their costumes are misunderstood (she being Glinda the Good Witch and not Miss Piggy and he being Peggy Fleming and not Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan). Shirley was divorced at that time, and she reconnects with her ex-husband before learning that she is pregnant. During the episode 'Cooperative Calligraphy' it is revealed Shirley has a home pregnancy test in her bag. In 'Asian Population Studies', Shirley's pregnancy is confirmed, and thanks to Troy's voice mail, it is speculated that Chang is the biological father. This possibility Shirley abhors, due to Chang's deviance and slightly malevolent insanity. Beyond the evidence of the voice mail that Chang sent to Troy during the Halloween episode, however, no one remembers this incident due to the Army wiping their memory and blaming it on roofies after a zombie incident. The baby is born in 'Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts' in an anthropology classroom, and Shirley is relieved to find that it is her husband's baby. Graciously, she decides to name the baby Ben after Chang, as he helped her during the delivery.


After the board of Hawthorne Wipes fires Pierce, he tries to open up a sandwich shop on campus with Shirley. Instead, the space for the sandwich shop is rented out to Subway, so Pierce and Shirley work together to sabotage the Subway restaurant. In "Curriculum Unavailable" Shirley delivers a speech against the Subway restaurant, and it is destroyed in the ensuing riot. In, "Introduction to Finality" Dean Pelton then offers the space to Shirley and Pierce, but because there is only one signature space, Pierce and Shirley file suit for the rights to the sandwich shop. After an inspirational Winger speech, Pierce and Shirley agree to jointly own Shirley's Sandwich Shop by having Jeff sign the papers, and she achieves her dream of opening her own business.

Annie Edison[edit]

Annie Edison (Alison Brie), born in December 1990, is a diligent, straight-laced, Type-A, Jewish twenty-one year-old who is in her fifth year at Greendale Community College after graduating and then reapplying to major in her dream, forensic science.[7] During high school, Annie was a timid, nerdy student who desperately wanted to succeed, subsequently developed an addiction to Adderall. She was acquaintance of Troy Barnes, who was a popular athlete at the time, and harbored a crush on him. They both attended a party where high school honors were being awarded. When Troy instead of Annie received the award for "Most likely to succeed", and when failed to recognize Annie when she berated him, she suffered a breakdown and ran through a (closed) sliding glass door. Her stress finally induced a full nervous breakdown that culminated in her jumping through a plate glass window yelling "Everyone's a robot!". Her injuries necessitated six separate reconstructive surgeries. Against the wishes of her mother, she chose to confront the addiction and go to rehab. This led to an estrangement from her family, including any financial support, and she currently survives on her saving from her childhood. In Season 2, the group learns she is living in a horrible neighborhood (in an apartment situated over Dildopolis, an all-night sex shop), and Troy and Abed invite her to move into their new place in Season 3.



Annie has been shown to occasionally choose her own interests over keeping the group intact, first by dating Britta's estranged ex-boyfriend Vaughn and (temporarily) choosing to leave Greendale and the group to follow Vaughn to another college, and later by deciding to exclude Jeff from the group and her friendship during his Third Season premiere nervous breakdown when he attacked the table with an axe after accidentally inhaling monkey-gas. Her somewhat-illicit cradle sexuality is used to lure Jeff into Glee Club. Nonetheless, the self-interest cases serve only for within-episode plot tension, and the study group remains intact. Annie used to pine after Troy, on whom she had a crush since his high school football quarterback days, but that stops when she begins dating Vaughn. At the end of the first season, it appears as if Annie has developed a romantic dynamic with Jeff, whom she kissed both to win a debate competition and at the end of the season. While she is still interested in Jeff at the beginning of the second season, he is more standoffish, and after the study group learns he'd had sex with Britta during the paintball episode, Annie says she thinks of Jeff as "gross". Later in the episode "Asian Population Studies" Annie develops a crush on Dr. Rich, a fellow Greendale student that Jeff had clashed with, Jeff seems jealous but refuses to admit it. However Dr. Rich turns down Annie's advances due to their age difference. There have been indications that Annie may still harbor feelings for Jeff, and it has been suggested that he may feel similarly. However it is revealed in "Virtual Systems Analysis" that Annie is actually upset that Jeff used her by kissing her at the end of the first season, so she is now trying to teach Jeff to respect other ladies instead of using them. She practices this in the episode "Digital Exploration of Interior Design" By convincing Jeff to apologize to a student named Kim for supposedly also using her. It is revealed that Kim, much to Annie's dismay, is actually a male student that is upset Jeff kept forgetting his name and in the end Jeff learns nothing.

Troy Barnes[edit]





Though he repeatedly tries to deny it, Troy is skilled at plumbing and air conditioner repair, expertise recognized by the Greendale plumbing underground as well as Greendale's air conditioning technical school powerhouse cabal,("Advanced Gay") who have launched a serious campaign to convince him to leave the regular school and join their ranks. Troy also plays down the serious interest he shares with Britta in interpretive dance, which conflicts with his fading image as a football player. His lifetime idol is actor LeVar Burton, but he is so terrified to meet Burton in person, that when he does so, he goes catatonic. A reliable source of boyish faux-dumb wit, Troy has a number of unique opinions and beliefs, such as that there are only boy dogs and girl cats; he is also distracted by shiny objects and tends to cry over minor emotional setbacks. Troy has evolved from the start of the series as a cocky, selfish, image-obsessed boy to a goofy and emotional yet good-hearted and responsible young man.

In the season four premiere, it is revealed that Britta and Troy have begun dating. They break up in "Basic Human Anatomy".

In season five, after Pierce's funeral, Troy was given his remaining shares of Hawthorne Wipes weighting at about $14.3 million, on the condition that he sails around the world. Pierce had the chance to do so but failed and called it his biggest regret; he wants Troy to do it and Troy accepts. Troy then leaves in Geothermal Escapism.

Pierce Hawthorne[edit]

Piercinald Anastasia "Pierce" Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) is a moist towelette tycoon attending Greendale Community College. His father created Hawthorne Wipes, the award-winning moist towelette company.[3] He claims to be a world traveler, a toastmaster, magician, keyboardist and self-styled hypnotherapist, and considers himself a "quality of life person".[3]


Though he considers himself to be a "Reformed Neo-Buddhist," he is actually a member of an obscure religious cult. In the first season episode "The Science of Illusion", the group pranks him into dressing as the Cookie Crisp wizard in order to achieve a level of ascension in his cult. His religion also plays an important role when his mother dies in season two and Pierce believes his "Buddhist" teachings that she will be reborn, carrying a canister of what he thinks is his mother's soul around. When, along with Jeff and Troy, he listens to a CD made by his mother telling him she's gone and encouraging him to let her go and live his life, Pierce simply shrugs it off as her losing her mind. At the same time, Jeff decides he's better off with that rationale and lets him continue with his belief.


In Season 2, Pierce becomes more and more annoyed at the study group for leaving him out of their activities. He temporarily joins an elderly group of students who act like teenagers called the Hipsters, to feel accepted. He breaks both of his legs in a trampoline accident after revealing a secret trampoline Jeff and Troy were hiding. To move around, he buys himself an ineffective wheelchair powered by his breath, which he claims to have outbid three hospitals for. After this, he grows dependent on his painkillers and also becomes increasingly at-odds with the study group because of the combination of his nasty behavior and their tendency to exclude him from their activities. He begins to play the role of the study group's villain but both trends seem to subside when he comes to terms with the group after overdosing on his painkillers. These underlying tensions come to a head in "A Fistful of Paintballs", however, when it's revealed that the other members of the group secretly took a vote about whether they'd include him in the group next year, with only Annie voting to keep him in; by the end of "For A Few Paintballs More", while the other group members have reconsidered and are willing to let him back in the group, Pierce says he's not interested in staying with "whatever this is". He also tells the group that he assumes all of his relationships will end, which is why he constantly tests and provokes people, and why he's had seven divorces and never kept a group of friends at Greendale for longer than a semester (until he joined the study group).

However, at the start of Season 3, he promptly returns and rejoins the study group, having regained an overall center of calm. Having always sought the approval of his racist, homophobic father, Cornelius Hawthorne, he becomes more defiant after his death (Advanced Gay). After the board of Hawthorne Wipes subsequently fires him, he tries to open up a sandwich shop on campus with Shirley. The space for the sandwich shop is rented out instead to Subway and together, Pierce and Shirley work together to sabotage the Subway restaurant. In "Curriculum Unavailable" Shirley delivers a speech against the Subway restaurant and it is destroyed in the ensuing riot. In, "Introduction to Finality" Dean Pelton then offers the space to Shirley and Pierce but because there is only one signature space, Pierce and Shirley file suit for the rights to the sandwich shop. After an inspirational Winger speech, Pierce fires his lawyer, Alan Connor (Rob Corddry), and he and Shirley agree to have joint ownership of Shirley's Sandwich Shop by having Jeff sign the papers.

In the Season 4 finale, Pierce finally graduates from Greendale. He later appears in a cameo during the Season 5 episode "Repilot", as a pre-recorded holographic projection in a courtyard at Greendale. It is revealed that the hologram was donated in compliance with a court order he was "not allowed to discuss" and that he has "no legal right" to be on the Greendale campus as a result of the lawsuit. The recording also reveals that the Greendale College Quad is home to the "Pierce Hawthorne Museum of Gender Sensitivity and Sexual Potency". In the Season 5 episode "Basic Interguteal Numismatics", Shirley reveals that Pierce has died; in the episode "Cooperative Polygraphy", the group is forced to take a lie detector test in compliance with Pierce's will to prove that none of them have murdered him. He leaves the group sentimental parting words and gifts. He leaves Troy his remaining shares in his moist towelette company, worth over $14 million. He leaves Shirley his time-share in Florida. He also leaves each member of the study group a cylinder of his frozen sperm may they like to continue his legacy.

Craig Pelton[edit]

Dean Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) (recurring seasons 1-2, starring season 3-present) was an educator at Greendale for 10 years after or during which he earned a Bachelor of Education degree at the fictional Appomattox University, and has been Dean for four years.[10] He wants his school to be more like a "real" university, and is often asking favors of the students. He is described as politically correct, made evident when he changed the college mascot from the Greendale Grizzlies to the Greendale Human Beings in Football, Feminism and You; Pelton's politically-incorrect explanation for the change was that "most of these people have been called animals their entire lives".

Pelton has displayed a number of quirks and eccentricities regarding his sexual orientation. He is described by Vice Dean Laybourne as a "pansexual imp", and when once called a "fruit" by student Leonard during an episode, Pelton mentioned briefly in passing that the term was "barely the whole truth." Pelton has also clearly displayed an obsessive crush on Jeff Winger, treating Jeff with favoritism and often inappropriately touching him (particularly on the chest) when he is nearby, even though Jeff does not reciprocate the feelings of attraction. It is implied that Pelton has also used Greendale's fountain (where students throw coins and make wishes) to make wishes regarding Jeff, and he is shown to have adopted a litter of kittens in one episode, two of which he named "Jeffrey".



Despite his ongoing behavior, Pelton has on occasion shown some traces of self-doubt and confusion, once even questioning his life-choices after realizing that he had gone "too far" with one of his costumes after realizing he was going to have to wear it during a trip to the bank that day, commenting to himself that he needs to "get his life together".

Ben Chang[edit]



Chang has an antagonistic relationship with almost every student and faculty member at Greendale. He is on especially bad terms with Professor Duncan ("Pascal's Triangle Revisited", "The Psychology of Letting Go"), who potentially foreshadows Chang's lack of teaching qualifications early in the series when he notes Chang demands to be called "Señor" because he is not a real professor. In the first season finale, Chang and Duncan come to blows when Chang becomes a student and Duncan is suspended from teaching, resulting in a physical battle at the end of the year dance. Though Duncan gets a restraining order against him, Chang in turn nullifies this by getting a restraining order against Duncan, thus allowing him to take his anthropology class. They seem to have formed a grudging respect for each other since.






Dean Pelton, in the wake of the riot, decides to fire Ben and pin the blame for causing the damage to the school on him. However, Chang instead replaces the dean with a doppelgänger, tranquilizing the real dean and keeping him prisoner within Greendale. The fake dean, under the orders of Chang, supports the school board at the trial for the "Greendale Seven", and the study group is expelled.

With the study group gone, Chang takes over Greendale, installing his "Changlorious Bastards" as school-wide security officers and keeping the real Dean under heavy security.


After gaining intel on the inner workings of Chang's rule over Greendale, the study group plan an "elaborate heist", attempting to rescue the real dean and expose Chang to the school board. While it originally looks as if the heist has failed, Chang realizes the study group has pulled a fast one on him, and the failed plan was merely part of a larger plan that succeeds. However, Chang realizes the true plan in time, and stops the study group from leaving. He explains his goal, which is to burn down the Greendale records and thereby erase any evidence of his wrongdoing, but fails to see that this could potentially burn down the entire school and kill everyone. With help from the Greendale Air-Conditioning Repair School, Troy and the group manage to escape Chang's imprisonment and prevent the fire from ever starting.

In a final showdown with the study group, both Jeff and Chang equip electric taser batons with which they intend to duel, however this is quickly cut short by the school board arriving, demanding explanations for both the real and fake deans fighting each other and Chang's actions in running Greendale. He vows to explain, but quickly runs out the door.

In the season three finale montage, it is shown that Chang has taken to living in air ducts again, however this time he resides in the ducts at City College, foreshadowing a possible alliance between the two in season four. However, he returns to Greendale in season four with no apparent memory of his identity or previous actions, referring to his condition as "Changnesia". However in the end of the episode "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking", it is revealed he is in fact faking Changnesia. In "Heroic Origins" after Abed realizes that it was because of Chang that the Study group all went to Greendale and tells him he was always a part of the Group and hints that he knows that "Kevin" was faking "Changnesia". He then calls Dean Stephen Spreck, Dean of City College that he is out of the plan to destroy Greendale. Chang decides to turn himself in for his crimes and returns to Greendale under work release as a math professor, living in the school

Recurring characters[edit]



Ian Duncan[edit]


In the Season 5 episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", Duncan returns, explaining that he had been taking care of his ailing mother, although he stopped because he had "put in [his] time", and didn't want to help her anymore. He has since appeared more frequently.

Buzz Hickey[edit]

Prof. Buzz Hickey (Jonathan Banks) is a criminology professor and Jeff's officemate in season five. Hickey's gruff demeanor is a result of his 15-year tenure at Greendale, and he serves as a mentor to Jeff, helping him to transition from student to teacher. Hickey is a member the Save Greendale student-teacher alliance and Annie's criminology teacher.

Michelle Slater[edit]


Eustice Whitman[edit]

Prof. Eustice Whitman (John Michael Higgins) is an accounting professor at Greendale Community College, the college's debate coach, and a strong believer in carpe diem.[15] Despite believing that Whitman would be an easy teacher, Jeff had trouble passing his accounting class in "Introduction to Film" since Whitman grades his students not on their academics but on how well they "seize the day". In "Debate 109", he instructs Jeff as coach of the debate team and offers him unsolicited advice on how to lead his life fully in different circumstances.

Sean Garrity[edit]

Prof. Sean Garrity (Kevin Corrigan) is the theatrical drama instructor at Greendale. He gets involved in a conspiracy intrigue with Jeff, Annie and Dean Pelton, when he mysteriously poses as Jeff's fake Conspiracy Theories night school class teacher, "Professor Professorson" in the episode "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design". He later teaches Troy and Britta in an elective acting class and directs Troy in an all-black cast stage production of Fiddler on the Roof, entitled, "Fiddla Please". In "Introduction to Teaching", he teaches a two day course called "Nicolas Cage: Good or Bad?" that Abed finds very difficult.

June Bauer[edit]


Marshall Kane[edit]


Noel Cornwallis[edit]



Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne[edit]

Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne (Dino Stamatopoulos) is a middle-aged student at Greendale known for his facial hair and sideburns shaped like stars. He takes a number of classes with the main characters, including Spanish and Boating. He is a member of the campus' "cool study group", and a music lover.[16] Though Star Burns is habitually laid back and sloppily dressed, he has a son who, in stark contrast to him, is incredibly businesslike. In "Intro to Political Science", he admits that he is a drug dealer. He worked in the school cafeteria until the group got him fired for siphoning off chicken fingers for his friends. For the most part, however, he is disconnected from the group and he sometimes seems confused as to who the individual members in the group actually are. He does know who Jeff is, and acts as the impromptu campus spokesman after Britta and Professor Slater both declare their love for him by saying everyone's waiting for Jeff's response to what happened. Though he enjoys the attention he receives with his sideburns, he craves an identity beyond them and begins wearing a top hat at the beginning of the second season to draw attention away from them. He is allegedly killed when the meth lab in the trunk of his car explodes in "Basic Lupine Urology". As per his wishes, his body was cremated. In the third season finale it is revealed that he faked his death and is now attempting to start a new identity; to this end he is shown sporting a new haircut, albeit still with star-shaped sideburns.

He returns in "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", when he is found hiding in the stables, where has apparently lived while hiding, eating garbage, and trying to develop a "cat car". He ends up being accused of being the Greendale Ass-Crack bandit, only for Jeff to find out this was a ruse by the Dean to deflect attention, in exchange for the Dean hiding Star-Burns' meth charges, and allowing him to remain in the stables.

Leonard Rodriguez[edit]

Leonard Rodriguez (formerly Leonard Briggs, played by Richard Erdman) is an elderly man who is studying business at Greendale Community College.[17] He and Jeff have a comically antagonistic relationship resulting in Jeff and other members of the study group to only say "Shut up Leonard..." followed by a comment (Shut up Leonard. No one knows what you're talking about; Shut up Leonard. I talked to your son at family day, I know all about your gambling). Though noticeably older than the other students at Greendale, he acts in as reckless and laid-back a fashion as most young adults, often using slang and engaging in such activities as playing pranks and bass guitar and encountering "pregnancy scares". He leads a rowdy, disobedient band of elderly Greendale students called the "Hipsters" (because they all apparently have hip replacements), which Pierce temporarily hang out. "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" He has children, though they are never seen on camera. In the season two finale he claims to have been one of the Little Rascals, to have been in "a few real wars" that were less scary than the all-out paintball battle raging on campus, and to have been banned from the Denny's near the fifteen exit. During the student election episode from Season Two, he ran for office, using the surname "Rodriguez" in an attempt to court the Latino vote. It is revealed in multiple episodes from Season Three that Leonard still has the last name Rodriguez in a title card. Leonard has a series of videos on YouTube in which he reviews food products. One such video is shown in a closing scene, where he declares Euginio's Four Cheese Pizza to be "a buy." He does this again in the episode "Introduction to Finality" with a bag of potato chips he also approves of. While Leonard briefly held valedictorian status in Season 4, Dean Pelton (empowered by a pseudo body-swap where he was acting and talking like Jeff Winger) learned that after earning an A in a brainless course he took in 1968, Leonard simply made all of his subsequent classes Pass/Fail, taking him out of the running for a title now coming down to a showdown between Annie and Shirley.


Vaughn Miller[edit]


Rich Stephenson[edit]

Rich Stephenson (Greg Cromer) is a student who is in Jeff's pottery class, of whom Jeff grows jealous for his sculpting skills ("Beginner Pottery"). A doctor who is friendly and well-liked by everyone, he stands in stark contrast to Jeff who tries to catch him as a ringer. Nicknamed "Doc Potterywood" by Jeff, it is implied that Jeff may actually have been right and Rich had secretly taken previous pottery classes at different colleges. It is hinted at the end of "Beginner Pottery" that his relationship with his mother is extremely strained. Rich had a brother who died in a roller-coaster accident ("Beginner Pottery"). He spends time with the study group again in the season two Halloween episode, when he attempts to treat the infected students while dressed as a banana and causes Jeff to openly admit his hatred for him. After spending winter break volunteering with Annie, he joins Duncan's anthropology class and unsuccessfully competes against Chang for a spot in the study group. When he turns down a date with Annie due to her young age, Jeff begins to admire his ethics and seeks life-advice from him although it is to abuse the power Rich gets from everyone loving him.

Fat Neil[edit]



Magnitude (Luke Youngblood), short for "Magnetic Attitude", is a student at Greendale who is described as a "One man party." His catchphrase is "Pop pop!" a phrase that gains him laughter from his peers. It is implied that he is disliked by the faculty staff, particularly Professor Marshall Kane ("Competitive Ecology"). In the episode "Intro to Political Science" Magnitude runs for the office of Student Body President. He is one of the final two candidates, opposing Leonard in "the political debate of the century" which consists of Magnitude repeating his "Pop pop!" catchphrase, while Leonard blows raspberries as a retort.[19] When Dean Pelton and Annie take the "Pop pop!" phrase away from him to give to a lazy potential student with rich parents, he is left broken and speechless, and they're so horrified that they tell the student he cannot have Magnitude's catchphrase (though to everyone's surprise, that ends up leading him to enroll at Greendale, because he's tired of having his ass kissed and never getting any better at anything) and Magnitude happily declares "POP POP!" Magnitude attended high school with Annie and Troy. It was revealed that Magnitude's use of "Pop pop!" as a catchphrase began at the high school party where Annie had her mental breakdown ("Heroic Origins"). In season five ("Geothermal Escapism"), he admits that he is actually British.

Garrett Lambert[edit]


Todd Jacobson[edit]

Todd Jacobson (David Neher) is a student at Greendale who takes biology with the study group in "Competitive Ecology". They all pick on him after he is paired with Pierce on a class project, and inadvertently upsets the natural balance of the group. He eventually leaves the study group, calling their love for each other "weird" and "toxic." Todd is a married Iraq War veteran who has a newborn son. He also appears in "Basic Lupine Urology", in which he is accused of destroying the study group's biology project.



Other recurring students[edit]

  • Eric Wisniewski (Bill Parks) is a football player at Greendale. He appears in "For a Few Paintballs More" before getting shot down by city college paintball soldiers.[21]
  • Pavel Iwaszkiewicz (Dominik Musiol) is a Polish exchange student, and a hallmate of Abed, serving - among other things - as his directing assistant.[22]
  • Mark Millot (DC Pierson) is a journalist for the student newspaper as a co-founder of the college sketch group the Greendale Goofaws, which also include Linda Greene (Meggie McFadden), Buzz Foster (Dominic Dierkes) and Derrick Bideos (Dan Eckman).[23] In real life, actors Pierson, McFadden, Dierkes, and Eckman form the comedy group Derrick Comedy, with Donald Glover as the fifth member.
  • Quendra (Marcy McCusker) is a student at Greendale whom Jeff brings to a mixer in order to keep Rich from being voted into the study group in "Asian Population Studies". Her personality is that of a flirty, air-headed blonde who has a penchant for spelling words with "Qu" where a "K" sound would normally be, which explains her name. She also appears in "For a Few Paintballs More". In "Basic Lupine Urology", Star-Burns attempts to use her as a "make-out decoy". She is mentioned in the 4th season episode "Intro to Knots" when Annie tells the group that she'd learned from Quendra that they were receiving a failing grade from Professor Cornwallis, who Quendra did "assistant work" for. Upon hearing of Quendra's connection to Cornwallis, Shirley replies sarcastically alluding to Cornwallis' history with co-eds.
  • Annie Kim (Irene Choi) is Annie's chief academic rival at Greendale. Intelligent and extremely competitive, she copies Annie's idea of a Greendale Model United Nations Team ("Geography of Global Conflict"), and later appears as a rival to the group in other school events.
  • Harry Jefferson (Wil Garret) is an elderly, blind man. Appears in ("Digital Exploration of Interior Design")("Basic Lupine Urology"). He has a short monologue in ("Pillows and Blankets"), where he states "Well, I guess all hugs have to come to an end" .


Robert Laybourne[edit]




Crazy Schmidt[edit]




Sgt. Nunez[edit]

Sgt. Nunez (Mel Rodriguez) is the chief of campus security for Greendale College. All of Nunez's officers quit when Dean Pelton informs them that the college no longer has funds to pay them, and they can only be reimbursed in class credits. Nunez stays because he needs SCUBA certification, and Chang becomes his new underling. He eventually quits after Dean Pelton sides with Chang.

Carl and Richie[edit]

Carl (Jeremy Scott Johnson) and Richie (Brady Novak) are two inept, often drunk members of Greendale's board of directors. Though they are generally laid back and friendly, they have repeatedly low standards for the school and fail to realize when Chang replaces the Dean.


The Greendale Human Being[edit]

The Greendale Human Being is the "ethnically neutral" school mascot created and designed by Pierce and Dean Pelton in "Football, Feminism and You". Though intended to embody a spirit of inclusiveness and to avoid derogatory stereotypes, its featureless appearance is distinctly uncanny, like a neutral gray gimp or zentai performer. It appears in a number of different events and initiatives sponsored by the Dean as the school's mascot, and fumes from the magic marker used on its costume have been known to make it unusually aggressive. It has been seen with both female and child versions of itself. Items have been added to the costume, such as angel wings for Valentine's Day and icicles in "Regional Holiday Music", which the students say only make it look creepier. In an episode of Dean Pelton's Office Hours, a series of mini episodes featuring the Dean, it's revealed that at least one of the mascots is played by a woman.

Andre Bennett[edit]


Alan Connor[edit]


Gobi Nadir[edit]


Officer Cackowski[edit]

Officer Cackowski (Craig Cackowski) is a local police officer, repeatedly visiting Greendale in the line of duty. He originally appeared as a member of campus security before inexplicably becoming a police officer. He seems to be friends with Professor Garrity, referring to him as Sean. He appears in "The Science of Illusion" to investigate a body Britta drops out of the biology labs; in "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", he teaches Jeff and Annie the dangers of fake gun shootouts. He later returns in season 3 to investigate Troy and Abed's landlord in "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism", and in "Curriculum Unavailable" to assign Abed to a psychologist for sneaking onto Greendale Campus to investigate the Dean's Doppelganger Chang has in control.

Steven Spreck[edit]

Dean Steven Spreck (Jordan Black) is the dean of rivaling City College, who makes several subversive efforts to shut Greendale down, including the instigation of an all-out paintball war on Greendale's campus. Like Dean Pelton, he seems to have an ambiguous sexuality. He appears briefly during a montage at the end of season three, apparently forming another plot. In the Season 4 episode "Heroic Origins", it is revealed that he is working with Chang to sabotage Greendale, and has blueprints for a giant mechanical spider.

Gilbert Lawson[edit]

Gilbert Lawson (Giancarlo Esposito) is Cornelius Hawthorne's personal assistant, executor of estate, and illegitimate son. According to Cornelius' will, he has Pierce and the study group play "Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne" to claim his inheritance. After learning that Cornelius refused to accept Gilbert when he was alive, the group agrees to allow Gilbert to claim the inheritance in the episode "Digital Estate Planning". He later becomes Pierce's roommate in his mansion.

Annie's Boobs[edit]



Faux-by (J.P. Manoux) is an underemployed Moby impersonator that Chang hires to impersonate and replace the Dean after he takes over the school.

Guest characters[edit]

  • Cornelius Hawthorne (Larry Cedar in "Advanced Gay" and "Digital Estate Planning") is Pierce's overbearing father. Both a racist and a homophobe, Cornelius wears a toupee made out of ivory in order to avoid hair coming from "orientals". He dies of a heart attack after Jeff yells at him about his continued dominance over Pierce's life. Cornelius is seen as embarrassed by his son Pierce even from a young age.
  • Jeremy Simmons (Aaron Himelstein in "Debate 109") is a student at a neighboring community college, who is the primary rival of Greendale's debate team.
  • Madame LeClair (Twink Caplan in "Interpretive Dance") is the ballet professor of Greendale.
  • Coach Herbert Bogner (Blake Clark[26] in "Physical Education") is a physical education coach who teaches billiards at Greendale. He comes into conflict with Jeff, who refuses to wear gym shorts when playing pool, and the two face off in a billiards match which ends in the nude.
  • Amber (Katharine McPhee in "Basic Genealogy") is one of Pierce's 32 ex-stepchildren, who pretends to like him and comes to Family Day since he sends her big sums of money. She is attracted to Jeff and the two have sex until Jeff learns how she is exploiting Pierce.
  • Prof. Marion Holly (Tony Hale[27] in "Beginners Pottery") is the pottery professor at Greendale. While his class seems very easy and passable, he has a zero-tolerance policy for students who jokingly reference the pottery scene from the film Ghost (1990) (which he calls "Ghosting") and thus comes into conflict with Jeff. He has a habit of calling the students in his class "blueberries".
  • Admiral Lee Slaughter (Lee Majors in "Beginners Pottery") is the gruff teacher of boating at Greendale who runs his classes on a sailboat in the school's parking lot.
  • Ted (Drew Carey in "Accounting for Lawyers") is Jeff's former boss. He started up a law firm so that he could have people around him who would not inquire about the weird hole in his hand. He and Jeff have a good relationship as evidenced by his offering Jeff a consulting position at the firm. Alan Connor claims in "Introduction to Finality" that that Ted has died (having been literally eaten by sharks) and that Alan is now the head of the firm, but this is not confirmed.
  • Paige (Brit Marling in "Early 21st Century Romanticism") is a student at Greendale befriended by Britta. Britta believes that Paige is a lesbian, and uses her friendship with Paige to show her open-mindedness. Annie learns from Paige's friend that Paige is heterosexual, and interested in Britta for largely the same reasons Britta is interested in her. Britta and Paige eventually realize that neither of them are lesbians, and have a falling out.
  • Special Agent Robin Vohlers (Eliza Coupe in "Intro to Political Science") is an emotionless Secret Service agent, who scouts out Greendale in preparation for Vice President Joe Biden's arrival. She meets and is intrigued by Abed with whom she has several similarities. The two seem to develop feelings for each other enough for Vohlers to try and make him a threat to national security so she can spend more time around him, while Abed claims he can make napalm out of dish soap and catfood on television so she can observe him. They end up having a "date" watching Kickpuncher with Vohlers watching through binoculars from her van in the parking lot. She also bugged Abed's room.
  • Luis Guzmán is the most famous alumnus of Greendale, and appears as himself in the episode "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" to help film the college's new TV ad. Previously, the Dean had commissioned a statue of him for Greendale's campus. Like the study group, Guzmán acknowledges the inferiority of Greendale Community College but holds it dear because of the good times had there (His good times there related to him getting "Laid like crazy").
  • Juergen (Nick Kroll in "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism") is the leader of a German foosball gang at Greendale.
  • Vinnie (French Stewart in "Celebrity Impressionists") is the manager of a company that rents out celebrity impersonators who used to impersonate French Stuart himself. After Abed goes in debt after using the service too much, Vinnie makes the group work for him at a bar mitzvah.
  • Reinhold (Chris Diamantopoulos in "Alternate History of the German Invasion") is Jeurgen's brother who seeks revenge on the study group by repeatedly reserving their table before they can.
  • Mark (Joe Lo Truglio in "Heroic Origins" and "Advanced Introduction to Finality") is one of Jeff's former partners from his law-firm. In "Advanced Introduction to Finality", he offers Jeff a partnership at his law firm, claiming that Jeff is still a great lawyer. Jeff later decides against Mark's offer, instead opting to search for another firm closer to Greendale so he can remain close to the Study Group.
  • Bob Waite (Nathan Fillion in "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking") is the head custodian at Greendale. Though a slick politician, one of his primary concerns is his difficulty accessing internet porn on campus.

Fictional characters within Community[edit]

Inspector Spacetime[edit]

Inspector Spacetime (Travis Richey) is the protagonist in a British science fiction television program called Inspector Spacetime that has been on the air for fifty years, and has many similarities to Doctor Who (both of them are British science fiction television programs that have been running for approximately fifty years). With his sidekick (similar to that of a companion in Doctor Who) Constable Reggie, he travels through space and time while fighting creatures such as "Blorgons". Starting in the third season, Troy and Abed become major fans and often impersonate Reggie and the Inspector.

Constable Reggie[edit]

Constable Reggie (Derwin Reggie) is the secondary character in "Inspector Spacetime", who acts as the Inspector's sidekick. Unlike the Inspector, who is an alien, Reggie is human.


Kickpuncher (Derek Mears) is the titular hero in a series of cheesy action movies that Troy and Abed like to make fun of, while still being fans. He is a cybernetically enhanced police officer, reminiscent of Robocop. His first name is David.

The Helicopter Pilot[edit]


Evil Abed[edit]

Evil Abed (Danny Pudi) is (implied to be) a figment of Abed's imagination who torments Abed as his nemesis. Identical to Abed except for an evil-looking felt beard, he is originally from the darkest timeline in the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory" and makes a return appearance in the episode "Contemporary Impressionists". He returns to seek revenge against Abed and the study group in the season 3 finale "Introduction to Finality". His beard parodies that worn by "Mirror Spock" in the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror."

Webisode characters[edit]



  2. ^ 06 minutes and 06 seconds into S01E01 - Pilot
  5. ^ "The 20 Best TV Characters of 2011". List of the Day. Paste. December 5, 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-29. "It quickly became apparent, though, that he was actually the show’s emotional center—that everyone around him was a little disturbed, and he would be the one holding it all together. And when he reached that point of emotional overload in Season Two, the result was 'Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas,' Community's best episode that didn’t involve paintball. His pop-culture obsessions and antics with his buddy Troy have made for some of the show’s finest moments, particularly the closing segments like the absurdist Troy and Abed in the Morning." 
  13. ^ Community S02E11 "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"

External links[edit]