The story of Community creator Dan Harmon is a tumultuous one. The TV writer drew acclaim for the comedy's wit and deep-digging pop culture references, but then was abruptly removed from his role as showrunner by NBC. In the year following his firing, Harmon took his podcast, Harmontown, on tour and allowed filmmaker Neil Berkeley to follow him and document his every move. The result is a no-holds-barred documentary also called Harmontown, in limited opening today and coming to VOD, that looks beyond Community and examines how Harmon has cultivated a persona that appeals to those with an outsider's perspective on life.

It turns out that Harmon, who returned to Community last season and is currently writing the show's sixth season for its new home on Yahoo, is someone people can relate to mostly because he is unconcerned with doing what society thinks he should do. We spoke with Harmon and Berkeley in Los Angeles to find out what people should know about Harmon that they may not have realized before now. It turns out, Harmon truly does not have a filter.

1. He's Really Not Vain

"He's very brave to let me have final cut on the movie," Berkeley says. "It could have made him look really bad. It could have made people hate him. It was a thing not many people in the public forum or in that role would do — and don't do. He never said no to anything. He would let me shoot anything. And talk about anything." This includes Harmon while he's just woken up, while he's very drunk, and, apparently, on the toilet. "He let me shoot him taking a lot of poops," Berkeley says. "Nothing was off-limits."

2. He Listens to Eclectic Music

If you expected Harmon to be into a bunch of obscure indie bands, you're out of luck. He has only two artists on repeat right now. "I'm listening exclusively to Shakira's 'Empire,'" Harmon says. "I really like how she pronounces the word 'universe.' And I'm listening to Jeff Buckley's version of 'Hallelujah.' I never really was conscious of that song but it's really good."

3. He's Not Always Hard to Work With

There is a perception about Harmon that he's not the best at teamwork, particularly since he was once fired from The Sarah Silverman Program. At one point in the film someone says that the only boss Harmon respects is his audience, but Berkeley didn't find that to be the case. "All these people he worked with talked about how hard he is to work with," Berkeley says of Harmon. "But honestly this was a real collaboration. He was great to work with. He didn't try and guide the narrative. He was very supportive. He had great ideas. For all these people who said he's hard to work with, my experience has been fantastic."

4. He Once Owned a Sex Doll

At one point in the documentary, someone notes that Harmon once owned a life-sized sex toy called a RealDoll. And, it turns out, it's true. His doll, which he ordered online, looked like "Nicole Kidman with an athletic build." "I did that and I paid for it and then a crate came to my house," Harmon admits. "I threw it away after months and months and months of use." Why admit it? "I figure, 'Okay, it can't just be me and hardened criminals ordering these,'" he says. "If people are saying, 'Maybe you shouldn't be comfortable saying this,' and I say it, it's incongruent with expectation, which is what all writers are trying to do. It's not a brazen attempt to shock people, but we walk around thinking there's something wrong with us. We perpetuate it. We wait for it to fade away into the sands of the cosmos, but it's always there."

5. He's Always on His Phone

"Dan's always on his phone and on Twitter," Berkeley says. "Dan's usually looking at his phone most of the day. You can sit next to him for two hours and not talk." It's not always Twitter, though. "Back then it was probably some stupid time management game, like where you're a waitress or a gardener," Harmon explains. "I get really addicted to those games. It's weird because I have this job that everyone would want and I come home and I'm like, 'I want to play Sally the Dishwasher now.' Right now and for the last six months it's been a heavy relapse into Minecraft."

6. He'll Try Anything Once

Harmon is not afraid to talk about things that other people might find uncomfortable, including sexual predilections. He talks about fetishes and preferences with complete candor onstage. Sometimes he marvels at what comes out of his mouth. Case in point: On one of his podcasts Harmon discussed putting a Sharpie up his butt. "I wanted to see if it would feel better while masturbating," he shrugs. "It was better than not having a pen up your ass, but it was not better to have to throw a pen out."

7. He's Still Working on Self-Awareness

If there's anything you learn from watching a documentary about yourself, it's that you might need to become more self-aware, especially of when you're being an asshole. "I learned that I wasn't aware of how unaware I was until I saw the scene with [my girlfriend] Erin where she's saying goodbye to me," Harmon says. "What really matters when I watch that scene is 'Oh, I'm not on Erin's team there.' How could that not be obvious so you'd just correct it? And the answer is I don't know. I don't know if I'm doing any better, but I'm definitely more aware. That's the first step."

8. He Loves Baths

At one point in the documentary, Dan allows Berkeley to film him in the bathtub, where he says he spends a lot of time thinking. "I don't how that came up, like 'Can I shoot you in the bath?'" Harmon says. "That was a weird day. He's just sitting in a chair in my bathroom. I realized that I haven't taken a bath since and I think it's because I feel extra-exposed now. I really wonder if I ever got in the bathtub again!"

9. He's an Iron Man Fan

Harmon's fanbase is made up of self-proclaimed nerds and geeks, and in many respects Harmon is one himself. In fact, if you get him started he'll talk endlessly about superheroes. "Iron Man is my favorite," Harmon says. "He's a smart guy. He's rich. He's a drunk. He is disconnected from other people, but he services them, but he services the bad parts of them. Now he's reformed. The thing that makes him a superhero is an invention he created. I like Spider-Man a lot, too, in the comic books."

10. He Truly Connects with His Fans

"If you go to one of his shows, the fans are diverse," Berkeley observes. "They're from all walks of life. But what they have in common is that at some point in their lives they've felt like they had to hide something and usually it's something they love, like Dungeons & Dragons. They have this in common. I saw this in these kids right away. He's them. He goes onstage and talks about it and then says, 'I'm fine. It's okay.' He strips them of shame and embarrassment. I think that's what separates Dan from other people like him. Like, Joss Whedon has done a really good job of nerd entertainment, but Dan connects on a different level. They look up to Joss Whedon and they look eye-to-eye with Dan Harmon."

Emily Zemler Emily Zemler is a freelance writer based in London.

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