"Comparative Religion" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...

''. It aired in the United States on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

on December 10, 2009.

Plot

Shirley (

Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress, comedian, writer and host. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 version of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS and as Dina Rose on the AB ...

) plans a Christmas party for the study group, hoping to celebrate in her Christian ways, but learns everyone else is from a different religious background; Annie (

Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came with the role of Trudy Campbell in the drama series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), which won her a Screen Actors Guild Award. She gained recognition fo ...

) is Jewish, Abed (

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor ...

) is Muslim, Troy (

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glo ...

) is a Jehovah's Witness, Britta (

Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016� ...

) is an atheist, Pierce (

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

) is in a cult but believes that it is a Buddhist community, while Jeff (

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performed ...

) is agnostic. Meanwhile, Jeff stands up to a bully named Mike (

Anthony Michael Hall Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in ''The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...

) that harasses Abed in the cafeteria. They agree to meet in a parking lot to fight. Shirley refuses to support Jeff because she is against violence, while the group helps Jeff get ready to fight Mike. Shirley tells Jeff that if he participates in the fight, he cannot come to her Christmas party. During the party, the group all decide to leave to support Jeff at the fight, and eventually even Shirley leaves to support Jeff. They all come to Jeff's defense when they fight Mike and his friends on the college campus. After they finish the fight bloodied and bruised but triumphant, the group celebrate the holidays and learn they all passed their Spanish final, meaning they will all move on to Spanish 102. In the end tag, Abed piles Christmas decorations on Troy while singing "

O Christmas Tree "" (; "O fir tree", English: O Christmas Tree) is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree. History The modern lyrics were written in 1824 ...

" with the lyrics "O Christmas Troy." Jeff walks in and asks why they do things like this, to which Troy replies that it's fun and Jeff helps decorate him.

Reception

Around 5.505 million Americans watched "Comparative Religion". Emily VanDerWerff of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'' rated the episode A, calling it "one of my favorite episodes of the show so far."

References

External links

"Comparative Religion"
at

.com * {{Community (TV series) Community season 1 episodes 2009 American television episodes Television episodes directed by Adam Davidson (director) Television episodes about religion Television episodes about bullying American Christmas television episodes