I think we can all agree that what any edgy, quirky sitcom needs to truly cement itself as one of the greats in the pantheon of comedy awesomeness is muscular men dressed as unicorns.
I mean, right? Right?!
To be honest thought hadn’t even crossed my mind but by the frozen yoghurts of Venus, it should have, because Community, which returns to our screens on February 7, and has always had its finger firmly on the pulse of pop culture’s edgier pulse, thought of it and totally nails it!
In a spoof of the juggernaut that is Hunger Games, which coincidentally has the next instalment in its franchise, Catching Fire, due out this year, the Dean assembles an imaginative array of obstacle courses and challenges in Greendale’s cafeteria for a contest in which every student must compete for a spot in the most popular course on campus, “The History of Ice Cream” which has been oversubscribed after an unnamed person hacked into the community college’s computer system and printed out counterfeit pink admission cards.
It’s an hilarious riff on Darwin’s survival of the fittest maxim, but I think I can safely say that even he, clever though he was, could have imagined an offbeat contest overseen by a dean in a dress, muscle men pulling a chariot while wearing hot pink accented- unicorn horns and prizes of stress balls marked by the dean’s distinctive bite print.
But hey the writers of Community did – like we ever doubted they would! C’mon! – and it’s just one of the delightful episodes – other episodes will feature a Law & Order spoof, Troy and Abed working out what their friendship really means, and the return of the blanket fort! – awaiting the show’s armada of eager, loyal fans of which I, quite clearly, am one.
Now I just need to get a greencard by Feb 7 so I can stay and watch all 12 episodes … that should be totally easy right?
Would it help if I wore a fuchsia unicorn’s head?
UPDATE Monday 21 January 2013: Here’s a new promo trailer for the new season of Community with a shirtless Chang, cross-dressing Troy and Abed and more Dean and Jeff shenanigans (clip via hypable.com).