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There’s a scene about a third of the way through Harmontown, the documentary about the Dan Harmon-hosted podcast of the same name, that sees Harmon onstage, requesting that his audience raise their hands in slow motion, once by one, and high-five him. So they do it. And the funny thing is, they don’t just do it, but they do it well: each hand that raises does so at the same speed as Harmon walks past them, his own hands outstretched as a camera follows nearby.

It’s a good visual metaphor for Harmon himself: the Community creator asks a lot of weird things of his fanbase — slow-motion movement, yes, but also watching a sitcom where a literal roll of the die can create an alternate reality — and they deliver without question. This is because, with Community, Harmon has created something of an exclusive product whose core viewership is, to put it indelicately, a bunch of weirdos. And it is because Harmon himself is a total weirdo — but weirdos speaking to weirdos does not a commercial success make.