Gillian Jacobs has spent a season seeing her character on 'Community,' Britta Perry, go from an idealistic, put-together woman to one that has a ton of baggage. And, according to her, that was all part of creator Dan Harmon's "master plan" for the character.

"I think she's really being challenged in a lot of ways by being in this study group," Jacobs told me the other day. "And I didn't know that when I read the pilot, you know? And it became clear to me, I think along with the audiences, as the season went along where she became the butt of a lot of the jokes."

Jacobs was in New York to attend the NBC upfronts and couldn't have been happier that 'Community' is back for a second season. After the jump, we talk about the first season, including the hilarious 'Modern Warfare' action episode that brought the rocky sexual tension between Britta and Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) to a head. We also talked about the season finale, which airs tonight, and what might be in store for the second season.

Do you live in New York most of the year when you're not doing 'Community,' or are you back there for a reason?
I'm back in New York for the upfronts. I did live in New York. Yeah, I moved to L.A. for 'Community.' And I gave up my apartment in New York. So this is my first time back in like nine months I'd say.

How weird was it, being in New York and staying in a hotel... not going to your apartment?
That's the most bizarre part about it, I have to say, to get in a cab at the airport and not go to your apartment. And really not have a place that's yours in the city that was your home. So that's definitely the strangest part about it. But it's been really nice to see my friends and wander around the city, and yeah, go back to all my favorite places. I can't wait to go have my favorite lunch, you know, all that kind of stuff that you miss when you move across the country.

You're not the type of person though who's telling friends to ship you your favorite food or anything like that?
No. I have not resorted to that, but if it goes on long enough, if 'Community' runs enough seasons, I might start doing that.

What would be the place where you'd have your friends ship you food from?
This is gonna sound so boring and bizarre, but the thing I miss the most is this tofu sandwich from this vegan restaurant, and I'm not even a vegan. But I just really miss the tofu sandwich from Angelica's Kitchen. I can't explain it to you. So that's where I'm gonna go today for lunch.

How good did it feel to be at the upfront as a show coming back for a second season?
For us to find out that we are staying in the same time slot and that we're coming back for a second season is really, it's just so terrific. I mean, you know, we love our show, and we're so excited to do another season of it.

You found out about it relatively early on. Did knowing your fate help the way you finished the season?
Definitely. Yeah, I mean, you just, you don't have any worries. You don't have that nagging question in the back of your head, or that insecurity about next year. You can just really enjoy being with each other. And it was especially fun because the paintball episode was one of those last episodes that we shot. And it was just like, it felt like a party. It felt like we were getting away with something, like we were pulling one over on the network that we got to make an action movie.

So it's just sort of really, really a great group of people, and they're genuinely fun to be around. So I feel lucky for every day that I get to work on the show

It always seems like there's an atmosphere of fun on the set. Was it like that from the first day?
Yeah. Well I mean, the very first day, everyone's going, "Hello, it's so nice to meet you." And then very quickly, I think we realized that we all had this shared sensibility, which I really think is the foundation for our chemistry as a cast. It's that we think everyone else is funny. And we make each other laugh. Nothing is better, I think, than when just someone in the cast is just riffing and cracking everybody else up. And we're just enjoying being around each other, totally separate from making the show.

And we do, we talk when we're not on set, and we email, and we text each other, and we all just like each other. And thank God, because you can't predict that, you know? No matter how many times you test people, you can't predict what the group chemistry is going to be like.

Could an episode like 'Modern Warfare' been pulled off that way earlier in the season? Or do you think the chemistry had a lot to do with how that turned out?
Well, I think it's confidence on Dan Harmon's part in the show, in the cast, and also in Justin Lin, who directed that episode. I think because he had worked with him twice before, and Dan really got inspired, I think, with Justin's movie background, directing 'Fast and the Furious' movies, and making these really great action films.

And I think it's Dan's sort of boldness and confidence in the show. And I also think he's really wise in saying, in the first season of a show, you're still telling people what your show is. No one can really tell you, "Well that's not 'Community,'" because it's still so new. So if you really go to the outer limits with an episode like that, you've really expanded people's notion of what your show is.



Was there a concern at all following up the 'Goodfellas' episode with the 'Warfare' episode, because it was two movie parodies right in a row?
You know, for us as actors, I don't think we were even aware, because we were shooting some of the episodes in a different order than they were airing. So I don't think for us it was a back-to-back shooting. Maybe on the network's part, but they sort of keep us out of that loop, thankfully.

I think that the 'Goodfellas' episode came together so well and I think it was so pleasurable, I didn't find it the pop culture references (in) it exhausting. I think the thing that Dan does well is that he takes that sort of structure of a parody or a reference and then he makes it specific to the characters, and to the arc of the season as well. So that you're still grounded in who these people are, and it's not just a completely one-off episode that doesn't have anything to do with anything else.

You know, which is like why I really liked that they put the moment of Jeff and Britta in the middle of that paintball episode. So it's still grounded in story and it's still taking part in the larger arc of the season.

How has Dan been able to balance it out the pop culture references so that the episodes can stand the test of time?
Dan Harmon has this idea that characters on TV are allowed to talk about their favorite movies and TV shows and songs. I think he sort of looks at some of the conventions of television, like you're never supposed to talk about other shows, and goes, "but that's what people do. People talk about their favorite TV shows and movies."

And I also think the character of Abed is a really great way to sort of have that element on our show and not have it overwhelm the show. The thing I look to is that my mother doesn't know anything about pop culture. I mean, after the 'Goodfellas' episode, she was like, "So I guess I should watch that movie...what's it called? Goodfellas?" I mean, she's never seen it. My mom wouldn't know Tom Cruise if he punched her in the face. And she still, loves every episode every week. My grandfather can barely even hear, and Chevy Chase makes a face and he laughs.

I mean, I don't get every reference. I realize sometimes when I watch the episode when it's finished that I didn't get things.

Where do you think the character of Britta has gone from the start of the season, and why do you think Dan and the writing staff decided to shift her a little bit from where she was at the beginning of the season?
Well apparently, Dan had a master plan that I was totally unaware of when I did the pilot, which was to present Britta as this reasonable, on a pedestal girl that's unattainable and too good for (Joel McHale's character, Jeff WInger), and then to reveal all her flaws, and insecurities, and hang-ups as the season went along.

I think being in the study group is showing her that she's a little bit humorless maybe, or she's a bit of a buzzkill, and that she wants to be a good person, but that doesn't mean that she actually always is, or when she tries to help people out, it might not come from the best place, and it may be coming from an ego-driven place, or wanting to be perceived in a certain way. So I think she's really being challenged in a lot of ways by being in this study group. And I didn't know that when I read the pilot, you know? And it became clear to me, I think along with the audiences, as the season went along where she became the butt of a lot of the jokes, you know...




She can't pronounce "bagel..."
Yeah. Well, that's a Dan Harmon thing. He says "baggle" and he got made fun of a lot about it. He actually made all these videos about him saying "baggle" and so I was not really that surprised when it made its way into the script. And then, of course, it was Britta that says it.

So it's been really interesting because a lot of times as an actress, you're asked to play sort of an idealized version of a woman or of a girl. And so to play someone who's like a romantic lead on a show, but has all kinds of hangups and flaws, is I think really kind of refreshing. I think it's relatable to a lot of women. A lot of girls that I'm friends with, I think they really relate to Britta in a way that maybe they don't always to women on TV.

Considering Britta's a 29-year-old woman who's going to community college, there's obviously something going on. So you had to have at least a suspicion that there might be something underneath.
Yeah, definitely. One of the question marks for season two is, what does Britta exactly want to do with her life? What is she interested in? You know, she's not very good at school. She doesn't like tests, she doesn't like papers, she doesn't like homework. She doesn't appear to have any real passion for anything, other than seeming like she's a humanitarian.

So I think that's sort of a challenge for season two, is to figure out what these people, why they're there, how they afford to go to community college. And I think those are all questions that hopefully we'll find out in the upcoming seasons. Yeah, I mean, definitely someone who has a GED and no job and is at community college, they have to work to do it.




At the beginning of the season, when Britta and Jeff try to get together, it didn't quite work, and there was a lot of comment on their sexual tension during the paintball episode. Was that in response to like how things were going as it went along?
I think that early on in the season people don't want something shoved down their throat. So I think they backed off from the incessant bantering towards the middle of the season. And I really do love those episodes where Jeff and Britta are working as a team, whether it's the Shmitty episode where we're taking on the high schoolers, or the episode where we're trying to get Troy and Annie together.

And then I really love the episodes where there is more of the sexual tension between the two of us. I think there it's like OK, well in life, you have people in your life that you have tension with and you're attracted to, but maybe you're not necessarily wanting to be in a relationship with them, or you're confused, or you don't want to be vulnerable to them, you don't want to expose yourself in a way. And sometimes it's easier to have a night of passion with them, and then go "that never happened," and the next day be like, "I want to be with you."

So you know, I think the thing that we've learned about Britta is that she's got an ego, she's got issues with perception, and that she's not really at this point entirely comfortable with being vulnerable. So it's not going to be, it's never going to be easy, regardless of whatever happens, it's not going to be smooth. And I think that's more fun.

And I think the thing about it is that our show is bigger than a will they/won't they. It's not 'Moonlighting.' I really have fun working with the other actors on the show, too, like the dance episode where it was Britta and Troy, which is definitely one of my favorite things that I did this year. And so I think it's great that we're totally a group. We have adventures as a group.

So do you think the way that it was resolved in the paintball episode, did that seem fitting to you that that would be the way it was done in the context of a movie clichè?
Yeah. Well it, when we were shooting that episode, Justin Lin kept saying, "You two are the leaders! You're the leaders, Gillian!" So I think it inevitably happens in an action film, where people die, and you're left with two central characters. And so I think it was great, because you saw Britta in a different light, where, within this context of this paintball war, she's being a leader, she's being strong, she's taking control.

And so, of course, it ends up Jeff and Britta in that way. And it's an homage to all those action movie romance scenes stuck in the middle of war. I always wonder how they don't die. How there's always somehow a lull love enough for them to have sex, right?



In the finale, we're going to see a little bit of a love triangle between Britta, Jeff, and Professor Slater. Anything you can mention about it?
Well, I think you'll see the pettiness in everyone. I think you'll see the competitive pettiness that comes out through a love triangle. You'll see a beauty pageant. And dalmatians. Men dressed as dalmations. I don't know how much more I can say, other than, you know, obviously it has been revealed that yeah, it's Slater and Jeff and Britta. And you know, I think it was kind of fun the way they did that too, because they had Slater just dump him. And so now she's coming back, I think, with some regrets trying to make some amends. And obviously, the paintball sex is still a secret from the group.

Can you tell me if they're going to find out anything in this episode, or no?
It's gonna leave the audience with I'd say a cliffhanger and some tension going into season two.

How are you spending your break? Are you going to be doing any projects, or are you going to be just taking a break?
I'm hopefully going to be taking a vacation. I went and worked on an indie movie in Chicago -- (pauses a beat) I'm watching a man urinate on the New York City streets right now, actually. It's great to be back in New York. (chuckles) "Only in New York," as Cindy Adams would say -- And hopefully work on a couple more projects before the break is up. And you know, wake up whenever I want to wake up, and go to sleep whenever I want to go to sleep. That's the greatest gift of hiatus.

Anything we're going to see you in coming up?
I have a couple of movies that are doing like a festival circuit right now. I have this movie called 'Helena from the Wedding' that was at SXSW this year. And another movie called 'No Names,' which has been playing in festivals.

I (also) have a one-scene uncredited cameo in this movie called 'Solitary Man' that stars Michael Douglas, that I think might be out now, where I dyed my hair black and chopped it all off, and I look like Mrs. Robinson from 'The Graduate.' So anyone feels like going to the theater, they can play "Spot Gillian Jacobs in 'Solitary Man.'"