After a five-season run filled with annual uncertainty about its fate, the axe finally came down on "Community" when NBC canceled the show earlier this year. Part of its perpetual audience problem was a lack of promotion by the network, but star Joel McHale says he did his damnedest to change that.

"I always fought for promotion," McHale told HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri on Tuesday. "You use the fun gloves, not the real prizefighter gloves, and you just burst into NBC and start swinging and go, 'Promote my show!'"

McHale said he took every step possible to get NBC to raise the show's profile.

"You write emails and make gentle requests. Then when you have the opportunity to promote ... I get out there and promote it," he said. "All you can do is ask. They were pretty reasonable. They were like, 'We're launching a bunch of new shows, so we'll do everything we can.'"

After NBC cut ties with the series, Yahoo! saved it by picking it up for a sixth season, which will air online only. McHale said that's just fine with him and series creator Dan Harmon.

"Dan said, 'Well, now people will watch the show exactly the way they always have -- which is on the Internet,'" McHale said.

Click here to watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with Joel McHale.

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