Community, much like show creator Dan Harmon's other works, is a show that relies heavily on pop culture references and parodies. It's safe to say that every single episode makes some sort of reference to another movie or TV show at some point, even if it's just a single line (most likely spoken by Abed).
Sometimes, Community takes it a step further and dedicates an entire episode to parodying another classic work. Usually, Abed is the one to call it out and Jeff Winger pushes back as much as he can. But eventually, everyone at Greendale Community College always joins in on the fun.
Donald Glover Seemingly Confirms He's In Upcoming Community Movie
Glover seemingly confirmed that he will return as Troy Barnes when discussing the upcoming Community movie.
"Contemporary American Poultry" (Season 1, Episode 21)
Business is all about supply and demand, and chicken fingers are no exception. In this season 1 episode, Greendale's cafeteria appears to have a shortage of chicken fingers, an absolute fan favorite. But the study group soon learns that it's actually Starburns, who works part-time as a fryer, who's stealing the majority of the chicken to give to his friends. Jeff decides he's had enough and devises a plan to kick Starburns out of the kitchen and replace him "all in one move" in order for the study group to achieve control over the chicken.
To Abed, this plan sounds like something straight out of a mafia movie. And so, cue the voiceover, like from Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Right away, Abed's voiceover says, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be in a mafia movie." Sound familiar? It's a parody of the iconic line from Ray Liotta's character, Henry Hill, in the opening scene from the 1990 mobster flick. Abed ends up being the one to replace Starburns as he accepts the role as Henry Hill in this episode.
Soon, Abed starts making deals with other people at Greendale, like Señor Chang, giving them chicken fingers in exchange for their own favors, much like how a mafia business would work. Jeff sees how this could spiral out of control, and tries to put an end to it, but the study group disagrees and kicks him out, leaving Abed, the controller of the chicken, as the new Don. But Abed's inferiors begin to act selfishly and ungrateful. Worried that their behavior might compromise everything they've achieved, Abed begins destroying all of their gifts he gave them; Annie's backpack, Troy's pet monkey, even Shirley's guy crush.
The episode shows all the destroyed gifts while playing Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla", the same song that plays in Goodfellas when Jimmy (Robert De Niro) is worried his men are unreliable and goes on a killing spree. This parody is so clever because it takes what often is a complex business idea like the mafia, and makes it simple and connected to a community college cafeteria. A lot of times, the people working with the mob do so out of desperation of money. In Community, they're desperate for the delicious chicken fingers. But in the end, it always comes crashing down with a fury, with eviscerated backpacks and missing monkeys.
"Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" (Season 3, Episode 8)
Besides talking about movies, one of Abed's favorite things to do is make movies. More often than not, Abed's movies are filmed as documentaries. In this episode, Dean Pelton is assigned the simple, low-budget task of directing a new commercial for the school. But knowing the Dean, the making of this commercial will be neither simple, nor low-budget. Naturally, Abed sees this as an opportunity to do what Eleanor Coppola did with Hearts of Darkness, the documentary film that showed the troubles her husband Francis Ford Coppola had while making the avant-garde Vietnam movie, Apocalypse Now.
Much like Coppola, Dean Pelton slowly loses his sanity while making the commercial. He goes way over budget and after nine days of shooting, he loses the entire cast, including actor Luis Guzman. During Apocalypse Now, Coppola dealt with extremely hindering situations, like severe weather factors and even the film's lead, Martin Sheen, having a heart attack. Pelton, however, is a hilariously indecisive and insatiable maniac who wants to change the world with a thirty-second ad.
The juxtaposition of both documentaries is the real-world seriousness of it all. While Coppola was trying to redefine an enormously established cinematic genre while dealing with serious obstacles, Pelton wanted a college ad that could solve global racism. Obviously, only one of them achieved their goal. Viewers have both Eleanor and Abed to thank for their documentation of these acclaimed directors. Definitely check out "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" over the actual ad for Greendale, because according to Abed and Luis Guzman, Hearts of Darkness is "way better than Apocalypse Now".
"Basic Lupine Urology" (Season 3, Episode 17)
What happens when a yam for a biology project is sabotaged at Greendale? Call in the detectives from the study group to solve the heinous crime. In this episode, the group tries to unravel the mystery behind the fallen yam after it's discovered by the custodial staff late at night. Troy and Abed are the leading detectives, Annie and Jeff are the attorneys, Britta is the ineffective technical analyst, and Shirley, of course, is the police chief.
The episode cuts between scenes by having title cards that read the time, location, and day of the week as the characters follow lead after lead. Viewers may recognize these sequences from the Dick Wolf's long-running, highly successful crime drama, Law and Order, as well as the opening title and theme song sequence. The entire episode plays out like a Law and Order episode, with the detectives interrogating numerous suspects and the office people examining the evidence deeper and deeper.
The culprit ended up being someone Troy and Abed had interviewed before but seemingly had no motive, at least one not so obvious to the detectives. This resembles many, many episodes from Law and Order. And maybe this episode parodied the show so well because they actually had some help from Dick Wolf himself, giving Harmon rights to the theme song, title cards, and other obvious likenesses to the show. But it was also a good mystery. In the end, it made sense that Fat Neil, the room key administrator, was the criminal who sabotaged the yam so that he and Vicki could pass and not have to take summer school. But the whole time, Todd seems like the most guilty. That's why the people let the professionals -- the study group -- take the reins on such dire circumstances.