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'Community' star Danny Pudi entertains Pinoy fans

Actor Danny Pudi is as passionate as Abed, his character in "Community"/Getty Images

“Community” star Danny Pudi is as hilarious as his pop-culture aficionado character Abed Nadir.

But if Greendale Community College student Abed cracks up viewers with his pop culture references and calm character, Danny seems more hyper and louder in person. The 35-year-old Chicago-born actor, who recently visited Manila to promote Fox International Channel’s show, lit up the room with his antics and never-ending punchlines.

He never seemed to get tired joking with fans. Danny did everything they asked for,  from taking selfies to rapping with him.

Learning from Abed

“Everyone’s so nice. It’s good. I’m very happy. I don’t think I was surprised by the warmth. I was surprised that everyone knows ‘Community.’ I didn’t know it is such a popular show here. Even in America, I was like, ‘Really, you watched it? Did my mom make you watch it?’ But here it was really a fun surprise to see that it’s successful here. It’s cool,” Danny told Yahoo! Philippines during a one-on-one interview.

Danny feels like a student who learns many things from his character Abed.

“That’s one of Abed’s gifts, having incredible capacity for pop culture. I don’t have that. Our writers do. So, that’s something I have to work on. I definitely have to study, I feel like I’m in school and learn what Abed is talking about. But it’s fun for me, I love that.”

Sports fan

Danny adds that he and Abed are passionate. But while Abed loves pop culture,  Danny is attracted to sports.

“I was always into basketball and baseball. So I grew up a big Michael Jordan fan, I grew up in Chicago. I was always memorizing baseball statistics, I always knew a lot about that. So, if there are some similarities, I’m always passionate about certain things and a fanatic.

But now, it’s just in a different way.”

Favorite impersonation

“Community” fans love the tags they do on the show, from Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie to Batman. Danny credits the shows’ writers for giving them great materials.

“I’m always scared to do impersonations. I don’t think I’m a great impressionist. But, I think (Batman) was a good one, but it hurts my throat a little bit,” he said about his favorite impersonation.

Abed used to have the “Troy and Abed” tag in “Community,” together with Donald Glover (Troy), who recently left the show. 

“I knew that he was leaving because we’ve been talking and we’re good friends. I’m sad personally but I’m also happy for him because I’m a big fan of his music. Donald’s gonna be awesome. But for me, I was a little sad because we don’t get to do “Troy and Abed” anymore, we don’t get to do some of our tags, which had always been fun. I like two-person comedy more, it’s my favorite thing to do comically. I think what we were doing is still the highlight of my acting life. So, I’m kinda sad,” Danny said.

Dream talk show

With whom does he want to have a talk show in real life?

 “Probably ‘Charles Barkley and Danny Pudi.’ I think that would be really entertaining. You just like to have guests come on our show and we’ll talk about basketball,” he replied.

Danny feels grateful to be part of “Community,” which also stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong.

“The cast is incredible. It’s the greatest cast ever because they’re all really intelligent and really warm. They’re good, smart people. And I’m always learning and that’s good for me because I do feel like a student, just being around these great people.”

The fifth season of "Community" starts airing on April 23, 9:45 p.m. on Fox International Channels.