The Paintball Episode of "Community" is Still Classic Comedy

I've been rewatching "Community" in my down time lately. The show holds up. It is just as funny as the first time I saw it. The writing is top notch. The acting is great. The people this show introduced me to are pretty wonderful. I knew of, barely, Donald Glover. He is now one of my favorite pop culture icons. I also knew of Joel McHale. He really shines in this show. This was the perfect way to use his talents. Chevy Chase is Chevy Chase, but he too has his moments here. The show gave me my intro to Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown and Danny Pudi. They are all excellent in their own way, and they have all gone on to do some pretty great things. Oh, and please don't let me forget Ken Jeong. He is a revelation here.

Anyway, the other day while watching the initial paintball episode came on. I remembered this episode fondly. But I thought maybe it was just a different time in the world and maybe the more cynical side of me was going to rear its ugly head. I am here to say, this episode absolutely, 100 percent holds up. I found myself just as engrossed as I was the first time. Certain things would happen and it would flood back as a great memory. The episode works so well and it comes on so sudden.

The ep starts out like most "Community" episodes, but it delves into something so much different and amazing. When Jeff, McHale, goes to his car to nap, and then it says "1 hour later", it becomes something completely different. The show has the feel of a post-apocalyptic half hour. The camera changes. It looks dimmer and darker. When Jeff is walking around campus we all see people splattered with paint. He speaks to a student and the student fills him in on what has happened in the past hour. It is an amazing monologue from a bit actor on the show. From here on out it follows post-apocalyptic cliches, but does it so much better than most shows that are actually in that genre. Troy and Abed find him and take him in. They have a great talk off about what they should do. They also act like they are going to turn on one another, but never do. It is classic, but it is also hilarious. Troy and Abed are an excellent duo and they riff off one another so well. This episode is one of the best examples of their chemistry. When they meet up with the ladies in the bathroom it just gets better from there. From Troy trying to team up with Shirley, to Abed living his life through TV, to them using Pierce to get away from some intruders, to Britta and Jeff vying to help Shirley and then hooking up. It is all there and it all works to perfection. Even in the end, when everyone is out of the game except for Jeff, he doesn't have some epic speech about winning, he goes to the dean's office and demands to know why he did what he did and kind of goes nuts. It is too perfect. I also enjoyed the hell out of the way he got the dean with a paintball to the head and the dean didn't even flinch. When they see everyone cleaning up the day after the paintball game the camera goes back to normal and everything seems all normal again, except for the tension between Britta and Jeff.

This episode is so wonderful and so perfect and hits all the right notes. I actually feel like it is kind of underrated now. When it first came out it was this instant internet classic. People kept it in the consciousness for a bit, but I haven't heard much about it anymore. I'm here to try and change that the best way I can. Go watch this episode. In fact, go watch the entire series, well maybe up until Donald Glover leaves, and remind yourself how dope this show was. "Community" is a classic and it should be revered as such. And this paintball episode is perfect.

Ty

 Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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RIP Michael K. Williams

Yesterday I was checking on the news and I was stunned to see that Michael K Williams had passed away.

I couldn't believe it. He was only 54 years old. He had so much life in front of him. He had so much more work to do. He was such a good person who gave back to people. Why is it that the good people, the people who actually care, have to leave so early? I say again, he was only 54. This is tragic. When I was reading more stories throughout the day I saw that people found him in his apartment around 2pm and he was unresponsive. I still do not know exactly what he died from, but it is a big time bummer.

Like most of the TV watching world I was introduced to Williams as Omar in "The Wire". I personally believe that "The Wire" is the greatest television show ever made. And Omar is the greatest character ever on TV. He was a modern day Robin Hood. He was a bad guy, but he robbed bad guys and gave the money to people in need, after keeping what he wanted. The fact that Omar was gay was never a big deal, and I credit the writers, but more so Williams for that. That was a part of Omar, but it wasn't the biggest or most important part of the character. Omar was so kick ass. I still walk around saying "if you come for the king, you best not miss". I like whistling his little tune that he would when he was about to rob someone. I was devastated when he was killed on the show. It was the worst tv loss I have ever felt. Omar being mindlessly killed by a little kid in a bodega was so much sadder than seeing Walter White go down. Or when anyone on "Lost" died. Or even when Dr. Nick died in "The Simpsons Movie". I did not see when Jimmy Smits died on "NYPD Blue", but I have to imagine Omar's death was as big a deal as that was. All of this is due to how well Williams portrayed him. Williams embodied this role. He became Omar. He was an absolute gem. He was the best person on the best show ever.

It didn't stop there for Williams. I loved his turn on "Community". He was only in three episodes as a professor, but he was funny and smart and I thoroughly enjoyed his time on another great TV show. I never watched "Boardwalk Empire '', but my folks did, and they said he was great as Chalky White. "Inherent Vice" is a weird and long movie, but Williams was so memorable. I read "The Road" and watched the movie, and Williams is as good as Viggo and the kid that plays his son. His small role in "12 Years a Slave" is brutal and mesmerizing. Williams is the only good part in the new "Robocop" movie. That movie is not good at all, but Williams does his best with a pretty rough script. I have not seen "Bessie", but by all accounts Williams is superb. He's got a smaller role in the new "Ghostbusters", and it lets him stretch his comedic chops. He is a main character on the much acclaimed HBO series "The Night Of". He even does the voice in the "NBA 2k" face of the franchise mode and he crushes it. And I bet RD would say that he was awesome in "Lovecraft Country" because he was such a solid and reliable actor. He always seemed to shine.

Outside of acting I will remember Williams activism and his big scar on his face. I guess he got the scar in a bar fight, and the fact that he was able to use it as an actor proves how badass he was as a human being. He was also always trying to help people out anyway he could. He gave back to the community. He was active in politics. He was active in helping people who had less than him. He overcame a drug addiction. He was part of the ACLU. He was discovered by Tupac Shakur. He was a gifted dancer. He was a dude that had some demons, overcame them and made the world a better place.

This one stings. This one hurts. This one isn't fair. Michael Kenneth Williams should still be alive. This stinks. Rest in Peace. You will be very, very missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Listens to Childish Gambino's "Awaken, My Love!"

Last Friday, December 2nd, Childish Gambino released his third album, "Awaken, My Love!".

I adore this record.

For those that do not know, Childish Gambino is Donald Glover's alter rap ego. Glover is an actor, comedian, creator, writer, director, and rapper. He is one of the most talented performers working today. I became aware of his rapping about 7 years ago. He was deep in his run on "Community", and I had heard rumblings that he was going to put out a record, and had some mixtapes that were floating around the internet. I was intrigued. I first thought it was going to be jokey rap, a la The Lonely Island, but I could not have been more wrong. I listened to some of the mixtapes and tracks he released before his first album, and they were very good.

When he released his debut album, "Camp", I was blown away. This was a full-fledged rap record. It was not jokey or goofy in any way. It was a straight up rap album, and it was good. Glover proved that he was a very good, sometimes great, rapper. I loved this first album. I was surprised, but in a very good way.

Then, a few years later, he released his second record, "Because the Internet". This was a departure from "Camp", but I found myself enjoying it just as much, just in a different way. "Because the Internet" showed Glover taking more, spacier chances. The record had longer instrumentals, which I like. Glover also talked primarily about how social media, and other things that are on the internet, are more problematic than they are good. I thought it was a very good second step. He showed his fans that he could do something different, but still be easy to digest. The guest list on "Because the Internet" was made great simply by putting Chance the Rapper on some tracks.

Glover took a long time away from music after "Because the Internet". "Community" was done, but he was acting and developing his phenomenal new show, "Atlanta". He had other things on his mind, and those other things were all great. I missed his music, but the stuff he was doing made it not as bad as I thought it would.

Pretty much right after the first season of "Atlanta" had its season finale, which I cannot say enough great things about, it is the best new show on TV, Glover announced he had a new record coming out. I was stoked. I listened to the early release of some of the songs, and I was even more intrigued. It sounded way different than anything else he had done previously. The songs were not rap songs, but more so in the funk genre. Needless to say, I purchased the album the morning it came out, and I have listened to it almost as much as I have listened to the new Tribe record.

"Awaken, My Love!" is tremendous. Like I said, it is so much different from his other stuff. The opening track has a 2-minute instrumental intro, with very little singing, and then Glover comes in and basically sings a rock song. It is wonderful. Glover, who I will refer to as Gambino for the rest of this piece, proves that he can sing, as well as rap. I love his vocals on this track. "Have Some Love" is a straight up Parliament song. George Clinton himself probably wishes he wrote this track. It is so, so good. The song is so funky and groovy, and Gambino sounds like Clinton, and the band sounds like Parliament. We get another great funk song, "Boogieman". The song has a creepy groove, and Gambino sings it with almost a Dracula-ish voice. It is tremendous. The album only gets better from there. Some other notable tracks are "Redbone", "California" and "Stand Tall". "Redbone" is probably the best song on the whole record. It is the best put together, it sonically sounds the best, the lyrics are great and poignant and Gambino is perfect on this song. It is the true standout on an album filled with great songs. "California" is a weird, groovy, funky and, at times, Gambino's first "silly" song. The lyrics talk about a lady that wants to move to California, and Gambino tells of all the ills that could come her way if she does. The beat and the instrumentation are awesome. The closing track, "Standing Tall", is a perfect ending to this new Gambino sound. The lyrics, instruments, sound, everything about this song are perfect. "Standing Tall" closes out the record excellently. 

After 6 or 7 fully listened through times, "Awaken, My Love!", reminds me of a mix between Parliament, Saul Williams and Andre 3000, from "The Love Below". This album is an incredible departure from what we, the fans, have come to expect from Childish Gambino. I truly do not know of any single performer/artist that is doing the wonderful, challenging and different things that Childish Gambino/Donald Glover is doing right now, and "Awaken, My Love!", is one of the best things he has done in a year that has seen him do some great things. This album is one of the good things to happen in 2016. I hope Childish Gambino continues to push the envelope and try new and odd things as a musician. But, with that being said, go out and buy this album right now, it is awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He feels like we lost a lot of great musicians in 2016, but we have gained some great music in the last part of the year. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The Greatest Television Ever: NBC Thursday Night Comedy

In the coming weeks and months, we at SeedSing will be doing our favorite TV shows. It will be a lot like our greatest American band debate, each week picking a show or a season or just particular moments from TV shows that we enjoy.

I'm going to kick it off today by talking about one of my favorite two hour blocks of TV on NBC. There was a time that the Thursday night line up on NBC had four of the best sitcoms that I've ever seen. It was epic, must watch TV for me and any other fan of comedic television. The four shows they trotted out were "30 Rock", "The Office", "Community" and "Parks and Recreation". Talk about a murderers row of great, great TV. These four sitcoms are all in my personal top ten of TV shows. I love these shows and I love them all for different reasons.

First we'd get "30 Rock". This show is one of the all time greats. Tina Fey is a genius. Her writing and acting are beyond genius. She's on a whole different level from any other sitcom writer I've ever seen. She is a legend. But, it wasn't just Tina Fey that made that show great. We got Tracy Morgan, Jane Krawkowski, Jack McBrayer and, of course, Alec Baldwin. Tina Fey basically revived both Morgan's and Baldwin's career with their roles on this show. And they were both fantastic. Any episode that revolved around Morgan's character, Tracy Jordan, was so hilarious and so well written. Anytime he interacted with McBrayer, or Grizz and Dot Com or with Liz Lemon or Jack Donaghy was great. Morgan's first appearance on the show, naked, except for underwear, freaking out on the highway, waving around a fake light saber, was a perfect introduction to his character. And when he tries to get the EGOT, that was a great run of episodes. Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy was the perfect representation of the arrogant, yet idiotic studio head that has no clue how to run a network. He was so great on this show. Two of my favorite lines spoken on a sitcom were said by him. The first, Liz asks him why he's dressed so nicely and he says, "it's after six, what am I, a farmer?", loved it. The only line I like better is when Donaghy is talking about his hard working father and he says, "he worked the day shift at the graveyard and the graveyard shift at the Days Inn", that is exquisite writing. I love "30 Rock" and I could go on forever about it, but I need to talk about the other three shows.

After "30 Rock", we got "The Office". This is my second favorite show of all time, behind only "The Simpsons". When this show was great, it was the best thing on TV. Seasons 1-4 of "The Office" is some of the best TV that's ever been aired. We got three phenomenal episodes in those first four seasons. In season one they had the episode where the sales team challenged the warehouse workers to a game of basketball. It was so good. Michael Scott(Steve Carrell) warming up and then playing basketball is so god damn funny. I love that episode. Season two gave us "The Dundies". That was the award show that they had for the employees of Dunder Mifflin. It was cringe worthy comedy, with Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute(Rainn Wilson), emceeing this train wreck. It was so funny and it was the first time that Jim(John Krasinski) and Pam(Jenna Fischer) kissed. This episode is great. The best episode of "The Office" came in season four. The episode titled, "Dinner Party", is the most uncomfortable 44 minutes of brilliant comedy ever written. Michael and Jan(Melora Hardin) constantly fighting while they have four employees over to their condo is so good, yet so uncomfortable. I still love this episode to this day. It is excellent comedy. I adore "The Office" and it will always hold a special place in my heart. It is the second greatest show of all time, in my personal opinion.

Then, we got the weird, off the wall, bizarre comedy, "Community". At first glance, I didn't think Id really like this show, but the more I watched it, the more I grew to love it and look forward to it every week. Joel McHale finally got his chance to be the lead role on a show and he did it so well. He is criminally underrated for his work on that show. But the other actors were just as good. Danny Pudi. Gillian Jacobs, Donald Glover, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong were great. Alison Brie and Yvette Nicole Brown were also really good. The only person I didn't really care for was Chevy Chase, but he's an asshole. I loved the off beat humor that Dan Harmon brought to major network TV with "Community". The show was an almost perfect representation of community college life. I could relate to the people because I ran into the exact same people in my almost two years of community college. There were athletes, nerds, regular joes, old people and good looking ladies that never got into a four year school, so they had to go to community college. Sure, "Community" is a glorified version of community college, but they made it relatable, especially when Dan Harmon was the main writer and show runner. They had ups and downs, but there were way more ups than downs when it comes to "Community". And yes, the paintball episodes are as good as the fans say they are. Go back and watch those and be amazed at how well "Community" was done. It's an underrated cult classic show.

NBC would close the night with probably my third all time favorite show, "Parks and Recreation". This show is a classic that only got better and better the more seasons it got. I loved the first season, but each season that followed was better than the last. This show was the exact representation of what it's like to work for a parks and recreation department. My sister in law, that works for Columbia's parks and rec department, even confirmed this. Ron Swanson(Nick Offerman) and Tom Haverford(Aziz Ansari) are real representations of people that take government jobs in parks and rec and just sail from there. They don't take their jobs seriously at all because it's not a serious job. They plan parties and races and community gatherings, not that tough of a job. Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope was the perfect post "SNL" role for her. She was so, so good on that show. She excelled. When shows bring new people on, it's usually a bad sign, but the additions of Rob Lowe, whom I've written about before, and Adam Scott made this show that much better. Rob Lowe, as the always upbeat and exercising Chris Traeger, was the perfect foil for Ron Swanson. and Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt, failed mayor and Leslie's love interest, was perfect. When these two showed up, "Parks and Rec" went to a whole new level. Chris Pratt, Retta, Aubrey Plaza and later on, Jon Glaser and Billy Eichner were also excellent on the show. I love every episode of "Parks and Rec", there isn't a bad one. If you haven't seen it and you're looking for a starting point, start at the end of season two, when Rob Lowe and Adam Scott show up, that's when the show went from good to great.

So, there you have the first entry in our greatest TV choices on SeedSing. I figured I'd come out of the gates strong, and this Thursday night lineup is a slam dunk. Come back for more TV later. I already am writing "The Simpsons" blog in my head now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He desperately wanted to add "Andy Barker P.I." to his list, but then realized the show was no "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.