Danny Pudi Interview: His Uncontrollable Charm is a Joy

People rave that Danny Pudi of Community gives a good interview. I learned first hand that if anything, that’s selling him short.

I had the supreme pleasure of talking to Danny Pudi via a conference call to promote the upcoming Community Christmas episode (Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas) that is done with stop-motion. The immense energy and excitement that Pudi gives helps create a positive energy around him. He couldn’t be more in-sync with his feelings for his show, his cast mates, and towards the fans he appreciates. He’s a comedic soul, not the sort who needs a script to entertain you.

It became clear very fast that Pudi isn’t happy just to have a job, he’s happy to have landed up on a show that is so far beyond what most other TV shows are these days. And it’s true, Community is still not recognized for being as great as it is.

Full Danny Pudi Interview: Community on Gumdrop Lane

If you hope to own one of the Community puppets from the Christmas episode, you might be able to. Of course, not the actual ones – those cost around $10,000 a piece. Pudi was not shy about saying his puppet was more “handsome” than him – citing it has a nicer jaw line, fuller eyebrows and a smaller forehead. He did say the legs were probably proportional to his own long ones. (All the better to leap buildings in a single bound!)

For now, you can always buy a Troy and Abed in the Morning mug, something Pudi is very happy to know is out there. But he does think that people owning the doll of him might take a little getting used to.

If you recall, we told NBC that they should sell Annie wig’s in their shop. This got the attention of Alison Brie and Ken Jeong. We decided to photoshop the Annie wig on Ken, and he tweeted his approval.

The Christmas episode should be epic.  Epic like a certain Chevy Chase movie – one that Pudi says Abed is certainly a fan of. Pudi said of the Community Christmas episode, “The take a journey, including a trip down Gumball Lane.” With the smart script delivery and all of the wonder that is stop-motion,  is very likely the episode will become a cult classic for TV fans to pull out around the holidays. “It’s going to rival Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, at least for our generation. At least, I hope!” Pudi declared.

This Thursdays episode will have references to Farscape, a show that is set in space with muppets. Pudi hadn’t seen the show, but says he has now seen a couple episodes. He likes to understand all of the pop culture that Abed spouts. In fact, because of this reason his Netflix que is always full. (He hadn’t even seen Meatballs!) For fans of Farscape, all we know right now is that Abed is a fan and doesn’t have many people in his life to talk about the show to. (Gee, that sounds familiar.) Abed gets to discuss the differences of Farscape season 1 and Farscape season 3 on the show.

Support your TV community by supporting Community. The show is an underdog, and soon will be up against The Big Bang Theory and American Idol.

Of the many questions I didn’t get to ask, I wanted to see if Pudi and costar Alison Brie could be challenged to go an entire day (while on set) only singing to each other, rather than just talking. If you saw the recent behind-the-scenes videos, you’ll notice they often come up with songs on the spot. So, what do you think? Could Brie and Pudi become Sad C’s? I mean, Singing-All-Day Champions?

Full Danny Pudi Interview: Community on Gumdrop Lane

Community airs at 8 pm ET, Thursdays on NBC. Visit the Official Community Website, and our Greendale-licious NBC Community news and coverage.