The second episode of Community was funnier than the first, meaning I laughed a lot more and it actually tickled me at one point.

This week the ragtag study group anxiously awaits Jeff (Joel McHale), for whom they all have varying degrees of crushes. He shows up late, making the big entrance one would while trying to impress the only one in a crowd who doesn't already love you.

Jeff's indifference toward the band of misfits sets up Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase)'s first big laugh with a highly repeatable pun on the word "tardy." My man Abed makes a meta joke about his character's tendency to quote movies and television, an improvement on the misquoting Michael Scott character, except even further through the fourth wall.

Viewers get the opening credits for the first time, set to an innocuous instrumental, exactly the type Neil Patrick Harris lampooned during the Emmy's earlier this week.

Ken Jeong makes his first appearance as Sr. Chang, the Chinese Spanish instructor. He gives an over-the-top, fairly obvious rant about his heritage and proficiency in the romance language while threatening his students. Though his scenes were below what we've seen from him in Role Models and The Hangover, expect his comedic talent to flourish in smaller doses.

Scenes without screen-eating McHale stumble, but in a cringeworthy confession, Jeff's love interest Britta admits that though she is well versed and interested in social injustice, she has never done anything to stop it.

She motivates her classmates to organize a vacuous silent candlelight vigil for a slain Guatemalan journalist, which, in a masterful scene, characters temporarily peel off their black duct tape to comment on a drunken Pierce's disruption.

The line of the night comes just before Chase accidentally sets himself on fire trying to punch McHale, "I'll show you some sperm!"

The ensemble cast has enough eccentric, stereotyped characters to draw a large audience with their unlikely friendships, but what makes this show unique is it's depiction of a community college.

A large part of American culture that is entirely overlooked in television and film is the melting pot culture of the junior college.

Most think community colleges don't lead to hookups and homogenization like its 4-year big brothers but its students often find themselves fraternizing with people well outside their own demographics.

I give this week's show an A- for the tardy and sperm jokes and because I WANT MORE EPISODES!


Story by Matt Anaya

Starpulse contributing writer
Twitter.com/shmattshmanaya

Image © NBC Photo: Trae Patton