Community: Exploring Daddy Issues

What could have made a man like Pierce Hawthorne be so, well, Pierce Hawthorne? On this Thursday's new episode of Community -- called, amusingly, "Advanced Gay" -- you'll find out, as we meet Pierce's dad.

Yvette Nicole Brown described Cornelius Hawthorne (played by Larry Cedar) as, "Very racist, very southern, very rich. Those are the three 'verys' that come to mind."

Brown said she felt Shirley and all the other characters were learning a lot about Pierce via Cornelius, remarking, "There's definitely insight. I don't think sympathy. I don't think Shirley feels any sorrier for Pierce because of this, but it does explain why he's the way he is. He did not have a good experience with his dad growing up."

Alison Brie also described Cornelius as, "very racist, so we see where Chevy gets it -- I mean Pierce gets it! It's interesting, because even us, the actors, we were kind of like, 'Oh, we thought Pierce's dad was dead!' We all thought that and we've seen Pierce kind of have weird freak outs that relate back to his dad, like in the space bus episode and things like that." Added Gillian Jacobs, "The trampoline episode, where he was high up in the air…" And with that, both Brie and Jacobs said, in unison, "Faaather!"

Joel McHale described guest star Larry Cedar as "Tremendous. He's really funny and nailing the jokes. It doesn't parallel things that happen in Jeff's life because he's obviously not that old and hasn't had his dad in his life -- but he brings up everything about fathers that Jeff hates and what selfish fathers can be. So that's his journey through this. It's so great how they bring in such opposing forces."

I watched a scene being filmed in which the group meet Cornelius and find themselves so amazed by his behavior, he is described as "the Abed of racism." Said Danny Pudi, with a laugh, "Yeah, he's a machine when it comes to racism. So that's good. He's pretty old school. He's able to break you down by your genetic makeup very quickly. In some respects, he's very similar to Abed."

All the actors said they loved the episodes where you met family members of the main characters. While Pudi noted Abed's father was the one parent introduced early on, he added, "It's almost like filling in the blanks for us. We make some assumptions. You kind of have to as an actor. You make some guesses, and you're like, 'Well, this is probably what happened,' or 'This is this person's backstory.' There are some references in terms of lines, but it's very clear where some of Pierce's behaviors and tendencies come from now. It's also a good reminder that the world is bigger. First of all, you can't take things for granted. Secondly, it just gives you way more to play with. It's fun also because you get to see a different side of the character. Like, you see a different side of Pierce now with his father than you do when he's just with the study group. He's a little bit more timid, and he has to play the role of a son. That's always just fun to see when a character has a different side and dimension to him."

Pudi also added that with Cornelius, "You have the father figure here whose wig is probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life," referring to the incredible ivory headpiece Pierce's father is wearing in the episode. Yes, I said ivory… I'll let Cornelius explain why when you see the episode, but the cast were all in awe of the thing. Said Jacobs, "That was incredible. That's like a $7000.00 piece! Isn't that amazing? It's always shocking to me what are the really expensive things and what's like, 'Oh, this was $20.00 on Ebay.' And then you're like, 'That was $7000?' And Shirley's fake baby from when she gave birth? Those babies are so expensive! They're incredibly expensive. Apparently an ivory wig, very expensive! But yeah, he looks terrific. The poor actor has to spend like two hours in makeup aging himself. That's dedication!"

When I asked Jacobs if she's hoping to meet Britta's family, she replied, "Yes! I can only imagine what they are like, to have produced this. In the pilot, they said I had brothers. I've always wondered what her mother and father are like. I think at some point they had the idea that they're just infuriatingly normal and she was rebelling against that. I could see her mom being a June Cleaver type and she rebelled against that. But until they write it, I don't know. It's all speculation on my part."

Of course Jeff's dad has been mentioned many times now, and McHale said he thought we would meet him in the not too distant future, noting, "That's what Dan [Harmon] said in an interview - that we'd meet his dad. I can't wait. He also said he was going to put my character through hell. So, once again, can't wait. Taking these journeys, these are the journeys that I dreamt of as an actor when I was out of work. When I was in school, I was like, If I could just do cool stuff like this. And I am so blessed that I get to. I can't believe these journeys my character gets to take."

I couldn't resist asking McHale who he'd like to play his father, and he replied, "Boy, that's a good question. I know there was talk of Bill Murray, but getting Bill Murray is very difficult. Bill, if you're reading this! He's a genius and one of the best comedians and actors in the world." McHale then paused and began naming other people he could see playing his dad: "Monica Bellucci? She'd be good. I like Monica Bellucci. Condoleezza Rice... Danny Trejo. Just a really intimidating Latino guy."

When I told McHale I felt Trejo would be a lot of fun on Community, regardless of what role he played, he nodded and remarked, "That would be tremendous. But you know, I trust them implicitly, and I have never been disappointed. I know it sounds like I'm towing some sort of party line, but I'm never disappointed with the choices of casting and story line. It's like opening up a gift every week when you get to read the new script. If they had my father be Macaulay Culkin, like somehow, there was a time warp, I'd be like, 'Great. Sounds good. Let's do it.'"

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Community: "Advanced Gay" airs Thursday, November 3rd at 8pm ET/PT on NBC.

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