"Grifting 101" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
''. The episode was written by Ryan Ridley and directed by
Rob Schrab
Robby Christopher Schrab (born November 12, 1969) is an American comic book creator, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is the creator of the comic book '' Scud: The Disposable Assassin'', co-writer of the feature film '' Monster House'', c ...
. It premiered on
Yahoo! Screen
The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...
on May 5, 2015.
Plot
Annie (
Alison Brie
Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress, writer, and producer. She earned recognition for playing Trudy Campbell in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and had her Breakthrough role, breakthrough starring ...
) notices an upcoming class on
grifting
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibil ...
and, despite Jeff's (
Joel McHale
Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger, Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV seri ...
) protests that the class itself will be a grift, all of the group but Jeff signs up. The teacher, Roger DeSalvo (
Matt Berry
Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...
), tells the students to divide into pairs and practice repeatedly swapping briefcases over, the briefcases being "regulation briefcases" that he sold to them for $150 apiece. The group asks Jeff for help but he declines, smug that he was correct about the class.
Professor DeSalvo moves in to share an office with Jeff and begins to annoy him by telling Jeff that his faking a
Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
degree makes him simply a liar, not a grifter. Jeff agrees to help the group plan a grift on DeSalvo. Their first attempt is the "African telegram", where Elroy (
Keith David
Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media.
He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...
) pretends that he will give DeSalvo part of his newfound inheritance in exchange for loaning him money; their second is a fake winning lottery ticket. DeSalvo sees through both attempts easily.
Jeff admits to the group that he has no long-term grift and, demoralized, they watch ''
The Sting
''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film. Set in 1936, it involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had dir ...
''. Afterwards, DeSalvo interrupts to mock them, so Britta (
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...
) punches him in the face. DeSalvo runs away, but slips on a recently mopped floor and falls down a flight of stairs. Now in a wheelchair with a leg cast and arm sling, DeSalvo is given $50,000 in cash as compensation by the dean (
Jim Rash
James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He played Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best ...
) and Frankie (
Paget Brewster
Paget Valerie Brewster ( ; born March 10, 1969) is an American actress. She first received recognition for her recurring role as Kathy on the fourth season of ''Friends''. She gained wider recognition as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Pre ...
). Britta meets with DeSalvo, the pair having planned DeSalvo to fake an injury as a grift, and kisses him while the group switches his briefcase of money for an empty one.
After DeSalvo attempts to find his briefcase, unamused by Leonard (
Richard Erdman
John Richard Erdman (June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in supporting roles ...
) spilling a tray of briefcases over him and a "briefcase parade" in which he can easily identify the one with money inside, he finds the group conversing with a police officer. The group tells him that he must either admit that he was grifted or owes the school $50,000 for claiming compensation for fake injuries. DeSalvo concedes and is fired by the dean.
Production
Roger DeSalvo is played by
Matt Berry
Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...
; creator
Dan Harmon
Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV series), Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ' ...
was a fan of Berry's works including ''
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' is a British horror parody television series created by Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness for Channel 4. The show focuses on fictional horror author Garth Marenghi (played by Holness) and his publisher Dean ...
'' and ''
Snuff Box
A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are u ...
''. The episode is an homage to the 1973 film ''
The Sting
''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film. Set in 1936, it involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had dir ...
'';
it incorporates a
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
score and
iris shot
An iris shot is a technique used in silent film and sometimes television to emphasize a detail of a scene above all others, more commonly to end or open a scene. The film camera's iris is slowly closed or opened, so that what is visible on film app ...
s.
Harmon described the difference between homage and parody, as he saw it, as "a matter of love"; a homage merges examples of a genre together, rather than making specific references or recreating scenes exactly.
Critical reception
Joshua Alston of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an 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 created in ...
'' gave the episode a B rating, finding it a "solidly funny" episode. Alston praised Leonard and Chang's acting, but would have preferred a thematic title card to match the piano theme music. Alston found it similar to but lower quality than the season 2 episode "
Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design
"Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" (alternate title "Conspiracy Theories and Soft Defenses") is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series ''Community'', and the 34th episode of the series overall. I ...
".
Joe Matar of ''
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a UK and US-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a biannual magazine.
History
''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ' ...
'' rated the episode two stars out of five, criticising that it is "goofy" and "one-note". Matar additionally compared it to "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", due to its contrived twists and absurdity, and viewed it as a trend of high-concept episodes in season 6 being poor.
In a three star review, ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
''s Evan Valentine praised Berry's "dry wit and delivery" and found each member of the group well-used, but believed that the episode would have been improved with a shorter runtime and that the group's initial grifts could have been funnier.
Eric Goldman of ''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' rated it 7.3 out of 10, finding the pacing slow at first and the dialogue referencing ''The Sting'' repetitive, but appreciating some moments as humorous and approving of the storyline's payoff.
References
External links
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{{Community (TV series)
2015 American television episodes
Community season 6 episodes
Confidence tricks
Fraud in television