Joel McHale Gets Emotional During The Community Movie Table Read

Joel McHale reveals that he “cried like a baby” after the table read of the upcoming Community movie.

McHale starred in all six seasons of the 2009 sitcom, Community, as Jeff Winger, a disbarred lawyer who starts a study group in Greendale Community College. The series created by Dan Hermon was initially canceled by NBC in 2015 due to low ratings. However, the sixth and final season of the series aired on the now defunct streaming service, Yahoo! Screen.

After years of waiting and pleading from fans, it was finally confirmed that the Community movie was indeed happening with most of the original cast returning. Soon after the official announcement, McHale expressed his excitement that “six seasons and a movie” was finally becoming reality.

In an interview with The Wrap during Saturn Awards, McHale further spoke about the Community movie. Sharing his reaction to the script written by Dan Harmon, McHale revealed that he “cried like a baby” after the table read that took place during the pandemic.

Here’s what he said –

I’m going to look a lot older. I’m not kidding, so you know that I’m sarcastic about literally f—ing everything but um, there will be tears. We did that table read during the pandemic and I cried like a baby afterwards and I’m not joking. Everyone thinks that what I say is joking, but it is like being with — it really is like a family reunion but without a-holes. Because you know, you go to a family you and you’re like, “Ugh, there’s that one cousin of mine. He smells.’” So anyway, we’re really — I can’t wait. Yeah, that’s all I can say.

Most of the original cast from the sitcom are all set to return for the movie, including McHale, Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, and Alison Brie. Jim Rash, who played Dean Craig Pelton, and Ken Jeong, who played the Spanish professor Señor Chang, will also be seen in the film. Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown were missing from the original announcement, but it’s possible that their deals are still being worked out.

Chevy Chase is one star who will not be returning for the film due to his creative clashes with Dan Harmon and his character being killed off in season 5. With Harmon and Andrew Guest on board to write the script, fans can expect to see the same humor, frequent homages to movies and shows and pop-culture references that made the original show so special.

Fans can also expect the film to be a rollercoaster of emotions and a heartfelt reunion of television’s most beloved study group for the first time since 2015. As of now, we await an official announcement of a release date from the team.

About Community: The Movie

The Community Movie is an upcoming comedy movie and a spin-off of NBC’s 2009 sitcom, Community. The film will premiere exclusively on Peacock. No release date has been confirmed yet. Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, is set to write the film alongside Andrew Guest. 

Several regular cast members from the original series are set to star in the film, including Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry, Alison Brie as Annie Edison, Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir, Jim Rash as Craig Pelton and Ken Jeong as Ben Chang.