Danny Pudi: ‘Born to Play’ Abed on ‘Community’

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The Daily Beast

Tv & Film

4.5 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Danny Pudi received the pilot script for ‘Community,’ his agents wrote at the top that Abed was the role he was “born to play.” He had no idea at the time how true that would be. In this episode, Pudi traces his road from guest star on dramas like ‘The West Wing’ and ‘ER’ to his breakthrough role as the pop culture-obsessed Abed to his charming reunion with ‘Community’ co-star Alison Brie in her new rom-com ‘Somebody I Used to Know.’ We also talk about the career challenges he faced after the sixth season of that cult hit sitcom and how he’s feeling about the chance to inhabit the character again when the ‘Community’ movie finally starts shooting in the near future. Follow Danny Pudi on Twitter @dannypudi and Instagram @danielpudi Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My guest on this week's show created one of the most complex, fully realized characters in television history.
0:07.3	It's the role he was born to play, and soon he will step it to his shoes one more time.
0:13.7	Abbot, you know, we just want you to be happy, right?
0:16.3	Yeah, I know. Everybody wants me to be happy. Everybody wants to help me.
0:19.5	But usually when they find out they can't, they get frustrated and stop talking to me.
0:22.5	Or they trick me into buying them ice cream
0:24.0	and then shove me into a clothes dryer,
0:25.5	which I didn't want to happen with you guys,
0:27.0	so I want to make sure that you felt like you could help me.
0:29.3	The truth is, lots of girls like me
0:31.6	because, let's face it... I'm more used to them approaching me.
0:40.2	So we didn't damage your self-esteem or anything?
0:42.9	Bernie, I got self-esteem falling out of my butt.
0:46.1	That's why I was willing to change for you guys,
0:47.7	because when you really know who you are and what you like about yourself,
0:50.6	changing for other people isn't such a big deal.
0:55.4	Abed?
0:57.2	You're a god.
1:03.1	This is the last laugh.
1:05.6	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast,
1:07.7	and that was Danny Pudi as Abed from Community.
1:11.6	That part on Dan Harmon's NBC sitcom, which launched in September 2009, and was perpetually
	...

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