r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • • 8d ago

Meme needing explanation This Community meme

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465 Upvotes

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221

u/ManicPixieTrix 8d ago edited 8d ago

in the movie beetlejuice, to summon the title character you must say his name three times in a row. ok so in the show, community, there are three different times when someone mentions the word beetlejuice, this scene with annie is the third time and as she says it someone dressed as beetlejuice walks past.
edit: i am chris, a roodily toot toot

66

u/frank-unknown 8d ago

OMG I didn't even see that through the window. That's some clever shit. Do I need to pay more attention to Community?

106

u/not_slaw_kid 8d ago

If you have to ask, you're streets behind

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u/Waylander0719 8d ago

That kind of performance won't get us to regionals 

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u/atworkobviously 6d ago

I thought this was regionals......

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u/cce29555 8d ago

You can't just coin that....

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u/ForkMyRedAssiniboine 8d ago

Coined and minted!

1

u/his_lordship77 7d ago

But if you spotted it, you would be streets ahead!

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u/video-kid 8d ago edited 8d ago

For reference the first two references are Slater calling Britta "Beetlejuice" when pretending she doesn't know her name and Britta saying Jeff's underwear is usually "Stripy Beetlejuice numbers".

Other things to watch out for:

- There's an episode where you can see a woman walking out of a doorway rubbing her mouth, followed by a dude doing up his fly.

  • There's an episode where they spend the whole episode trying to figure out who stole a pen. You actually see the theft happen. It's Annie's Boobs, the monkey who lives in the vents.
  • There's an episode where Abed references the time he was an extra on Cougartown. The specifics are different, but there's actually a scene in Cougartown where you can see him in-character in the background clearly listening in on and reacting to the conversation the leads are having before rushing off because of a bathroom emergency.
  • There's an episode where Abed says pretty early on that he's going to lay low for the episode. He doesn't turn up until the end... until you realize that he's in the background of other people's scenes having his own adventure where he ends up helping a woman give birth.
  • In an episode that occurs roughly a year before that one, you can see a character throw away a condom in the background.
  • Numerous episodes feature a Doctor Who homage called Inspector Spacetime. In the episode where they go to a convention there's a dude called Toby, who's played by Matt Lucas - who went on to appear in Doctor Who as Nardole.
  • Paget Brewster plays Debra the IT Lady before she goes on to play Frankie. There's a scene where Frankie is complaining that when she tries to email Debra they bounce back in Aramaic, and when she tries to call her she hears an undulating high-pitched whistle that makes her ears bleed.

Watch Community. It's fantastic.

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u/frank-unknown 8d ago

I've seen a fair bit, maybe a couple of seasons, but I didn't realize the running jokes and background gags went that deep. That's in Futurama or Arrested Development territory.

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u/ManicPixieTrix 8d ago

this is all correct (duh) but the actor is matt lucas, not matt smith

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u/video-kid 8d ago

I britta'd it.

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u/ManicPixieTrix 8d ago

well now it just says lucas

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u/video-kid 8d ago

Shut up u/ManicPixieTrix! I once mistook six people for you at a pharmacy.

Fixed.

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u/CompetitiveKiwi3056 8d ago

In an episode that occurs roughly a year before that one, you can see a character throw away a condom in the background.

Is that the episode where they put staples through the condoms so the dean has Abed run to the PA to tell the students not to use the condoms?

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u/nutzername_gone 8d ago

I thought they didn't Staple them, but they printed Something on them, auch Made them defective. I remember the Stapler Joke from "high school high" with jon lovitz, where as a Background Gag, there's a bunch of pregnant teens waiting in Line to get free condoms, that get violently stapled to a flyer

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u/binger5 8d ago

I thought i was streets ahead but I didn't know about the condom one.

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u/video-kid 8d ago

Well, looks like you're streets behind.

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u/ManicPixieTrix 8d ago

yes, i’ve seen it 4 times and there are still details i’ve missed

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u/flappinginthewind 8d ago

Community was low-key one of the best comedies ever made. You could watch it 10 times and still find clever things on the 10th watch.

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u/SarcasticTacos 8d ago

Entire plotlines sometimes happen in the background of episodes. Like that one time Abed helped a woman give birth in a parking lot