Formative Performances: Gillian Jacobs in “Community”

[Women’s History Month, Day 22]

This actress has been on the same show for three years and never been nominated for a Supporting Actress Emmy, and that’s just ridiculous, because she’s great. As Britta Perry on Community, Gillian Jacobs plays a woman who is often smart and stupid at the same time. She never had an opinion that she didn’t voice, whether said opinion was well-informed or not, and she never refrained from speaking on behalf of whatever marginalized group she half-read about in a newspaper clipping.

Jacobs’s performance stands out to me because it was one that grew over the three years of the Dan Harmon Community. Britta was my least favorite character in the first season of the show and my favorite character by the end of the third. The token Hot Alternative Blonde became the annoyingly liberal, endlessly combative psychology major who still truly cared about her friends in the study group and was under-appreciated by them all. (Sure, she ruined Cougarton Abbey for Abed, but if it weren’t for her, he never would have watched Inspector Spacetime!) Enjoy this series of clips detailing why Britta is the worst (but she’s actually the best), and a bonus clip of her stoned pizza dance!