DAN HARMON
Dan Harmon The Community creator on breaking in and out of hollywood
• The turbulent journey of Dan Harmon, creator of NBC’s critically acclaimed comedy Community, went something like this: He was fired, rehired and canceled, and miraculously escaped with his show, which will now run on internet channel Yahoo Screen. “There are multiple paths to Mount Olympus, with CBS at the top and some teenage girl’s Tumblr blog at the bottom,” he says. Along the way the combative creative took his hilarious and confessional podcast Harmontown on the road, with a documentary film crew in tow. The result, in theaters this month, is an intriguing look at a genius on his own path.—Nora O’Donnell you’re fat before you called yourself fat. I would rather walk around with a sign on my head that says I’m fat. That takes it off the menu for any assailants.
PLAYBOY: You were depressed when Community was canceled. Is that all in the past now? HARMON: I can’t tell if my bucket labeled “emotional well- being” is really big or if it’s just bottomless. In either case, I’m definitely driven to being confessionally self-loathing.
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PLAYBOY: Do you need to be self- deprecating to be funny? HARMON: That’s a cowardly move. We shoot ourselves because we’re afraid of getting shot. It’s not being told you’re fat, it’s being told
PLAYBOY: What do you geek out about? HARMON: Minecraft. Me and a bunch of 10-year-olds are excited about this game. I’ve been playing it since 2011. It’s like knitting for me. It’s something I truly obsess over. I make these worlds in Minecraft. It’s weird because I’m a grown man and I have a house. I could just build a shelf, and wouldn’t that be more satisfying? I’ll just sit and build a fake shelf on my laptop.
Ramona Rosales/August
PLAYBOY: There’s a deep understanding between you and your Harmontown fans. Where does that come from? HARMON: It’s a fullacceptance relationship. There’s a high value on transparency and honesty. My fans want to believe there is a world where we’re not so ashamed of ourselves, that society isn’t like a game of poker but more like a game of Twister or darts.
PLAYBOY: How will Community be different on Yahoo? HARMON: I see an increased potential for clever integration between how audiences view it, but I really want to ground the show. When people watch it on Yahoo, I want them to say, “The network version of this show was a caterpillar. This is the butterfly.” It doesn’t feel like it’s changed. It has just evolved into what it was supposed to be all this time.
• The turbulent journey of Dan Harmon, creator of NBC’s critically acclaimed comedy Community, went something like this: He was fired, rehired and canceled, and miraculously escaped with his show, which will now run on internet channel Yahoo Screen. “There are multiple paths to Mount Olympus, with CBS at the top and some teenage girl’s Tumblr blog at the bottom,” he says. Along the way the combative creative took his hilarious and confessional podcast Harmontown on the road, with a documentary film crew in tow. The result, in theaters this month, is an intriguing look at a genius on his own path.—Nora O’Donnell you’re fat before you called yourself fat. I would rather walk around with a sign on my head that says I’m fat. That takes it off the menu for any assailants.
PLAYBOY: You were depressed when Community was canceled. Is that all in the past now? HARMON: I can’t tell if my bucket labeled “emotional well- being” is really big or if it’s just bottomless. In either case, I’m definitely driven to being confessionally self-loathing.
24
PLAYBOY: Do you need to be self- deprecating to be funny? HARMON: That’s a cowardly move. We shoot ourselves because we’re afraid of getting shot. It’s not being told you’re fat, it’s being told
PLAYBOY: What do you geek out about? HARMON: Minecraft. Me and a bunch of 10-year-olds are excited about this game. I’ve been playing it since 2011. It’s like knitting for me. It’s something I truly obsess over. I make these worlds in Minecraft. It’s weird because I’m a grown man and I have a house. I could just build a shelf, and wouldn’t that be more satisfying? I’ll just sit and build a fake shelf on my laptop.
Ramona Rosales/August
PLAYBOY: There’s a deep understanding between you and your Harmontown fans. Where does that come from? HARMON: It’s a fullacceptance relationship. There’s a high value on transparency and honesty. My fans want to believe there is a world where we’re not so ashamed of ourselves, that society isn’t like a game of poker but more like a game of Twister or darts.
PLAYBOY: How will Community be different on Yahoo? HARMON: I see an increased potential for clever integration between how audiences view it, but I really want to ground the show. When people watch it on Yahoo, I want them to say, “The network version of this show was a caterpillar. This is the butterfly.” It doesn’t feel like it’s changed. It has just evolved into what it was supposed to be all this time.
