Community: 10 Best Professors at Greendale
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Community was a comedy series that was created by Dan Harmon and ran for six seasons. It became a cult hit and its loyal fanbase continue to return to Greendale over and over again through countless binge watching. What made the show break through conventional sitcom tropes was the way the show runners used these traditional storylines to create their own. All the while adding cultural references that everyone could understand and laugh at.
The show centered around a community college and the central core students that made up a study group. Over the course of its run, the students battled each other as well as encountering a plethora of teachers. Some of the best recurring characters were the professors. Just like the real world, fans remember their favorite fictional teachers at Greendale even long after the show is over.
Marion Holly – Pottery
Over the course of the show’s run, Greendale had seen professors come and go. As the professor of Pottery, Professor Marion Holly is one of them. Played by Tony Hale, his first introduction would make any student roll their eyes. Sitting cross-legged on a chair and pounding on clay, he exuberantly expresses; “Hello my precious blueberries.”
A happy go lucky teacher who’s one and only rule is no reenactment of the classic pottery movie scene in Ghost and no rendition of the Righteous Brothers tune. The episode is mostly about Jeff’s jealousy over a pottery student but Hale’s background teacher is still just as memorable.
June Bauer – Anthropology
Another professor to have one appearance at Greendale is Professor June Bauer. Her encounter with the study group gives quite a juicy punch, literally. Played by Betty White, Bauer was introduced in “Anthropology 101” with dialogue like “.. you will lock eyes with a shrieking, blood-drenched, sister raping beast from which we sprang,” and drinking her own urine.
Bauer is one of the few professors to directly teach her students. At the end of the episode, Jeff learns a valuable lesson not about Anthropology but respect. Not the answer she was looking for Bauer fails Jeff and then proceeds to beat him senseless leading to her suspension. Betty White’s natural charisma mixed with the comedy of Community makes this episode stand out.
Noel Cornwallis – History
Going down the list of one hit professors, Malcolm McDowell plays Noel Cornwallis, an Oxford professor who after 20 years of service gets brought to Greendale to teach History. Every community college has that one professor who doesn’t quite fit in. Cornwallis is that one.
First introduced in “Alternative History of the German Invasion,” he challenges his class to “look at history from all perspectives.” Cornwallis appears to be the perfect professor to push his students and his assignment to look at both sides of history lingers as the study group goes to war with a trio of German students over the quest of taking over the study room. Yet the audience gets nothing more from the professor.
Admiral Slaughtery – Boating
Due to the fact that Greendale was nowhere near the ocean, it seemed odd that the college would have a class about Boating but therein lies the charm of the show. Despite this, fans were introduced to Admiral Slaughtery played here by Lee Majors. A tough but fair teacher, Slaughtery takes the students outside the classroom and teaches them with hands-on experience and he had a few lessons to teach the students about life.
In a mock set up where the parking lot stood as the ocean, Slaughtery stood as a spectator while he watched his students take control of a boat. Shirely, as captain, becomes more assertive here and Pierce who takes a hard lesson of the reality of failure. The rest of the students learned the important lesson of sticking together and working as a team through the rough storms that is life.
Professor Professorson/Sean Garrity – Conspiracy Theory/Drama
In the quintessential throwback to 70s thrillers, “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design,” a mystery arises as to who was Professor Professorson? The unknown professor taught Conspiracy Theories in History and according to the Dean, neither the class nor the professor exists.
At the end of the day, it was Sean Garrity, the drama teacher played by Kevin Corrigan. Here, he plays someone who takes his teaching seriously and like all drama professors, his mannerisms are exaggerated and overly dramatic. He returns one last time in “Introduction to Teaching” in a class dedicated to asking the question: Nicolas Cage. Good or Bad?
Eustice Whitman – Accounting
One of the most vibrant teachers who tried to teach the study group about life was Professor Eustice Whitman. He was first introduced as a professor of Accounting. Despite being a class on Accounting, Whitman spends the entire episode teaching the students anything but. According to other students, the class was supposed to be an easy A. The class would end up being a lot harder to pass for Jeff than he realized.
Whitman is a kooky professor who takes a cue from Dead Poet’s Society and leads the class in an unorthodox lesson of Carpe Diem. He’s the kind of professor who would rather be your friend than be authoritative. His goal for his students is for them to live in the moment and to celebrate life. In order to pass his class, all Jeff has to do is seize the day and while he desperately flunks every chance to do just that, Whitman is there to push him harder.
Ian Duncan – Psychology
When Community first aired in 2009, fans got a first glimpse of John Oliver’s Ian Duncan. Starting out at Glendale as a psychology professor who owed Jeff a favor after he helped him with his speeding ticket, he quickly became a favorite. He also is one of those professors that if existed in the real world would have been fired.
Duncan spends a majority time as a drunk and a creep. He’s probably the last person anyone would want counseling them due to the fact he can barely counsel himself. Yet his memorable presence in the faculty had fans wanting more. One of his memorable moments comes when he teaches Annie the Duncan Theory which caused mayhem and had Duncan throwing a tantrum of his own towards Annie.
Dr. Marshall Kane – Biology
Most professors that graced the faculty of Greendale were the kind of teachers fans would love to take part in their class. One of them is Dr. Marshall Kane, played by the late Michael Kenneth Williams. Kane taught Biology and his first introduction was just as memorable as the actor himself.
The first day of class, Kane tells the students his life story. While serving 25 years in prison, Kane worked vigorously to earn a degree in teaching. Williams’ voice vibrates here but is continuously interrupted by Jeff’s ringing phone. Williams uses his time on the show by commandeering every episode he’s in. His authoritative and soothing presence was mesmerizing to watch even when he asked his class what happened to legos?
Buzz Hickey – Criminology
Hickey teaches Jeff the ropes in how to be a teacher at the community college while also showing him how to deal with bullies. While actually teaching criminology, he uses his mysterious background in military and police work to help his students solve a crime at Greendale. He spends a majority of his time on the show as part of the group not as a professor but a colleague.
Ben Chang – Spanish
As the show’s central teacher and arch enemy of the study group, there is no better way to end this list with Ben Chang. The Spanish professor, played by Ken Jeong, was an integral part of the show’s long run as villain and teacher and fans either loved him or hated him.
The erratic professor was prone to outbursts and had some of the show’s memorable lines. He made it his mission to intimate his students by getting in their faces, literally. When it became known that his teaching credentials were bogus, he got fired. This doesn’t stop Chang from returning over and over again. No matter what character type he played on the show, Jeong did it meticulously.
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