NBC sitcom Community will be airing a puppet episode in April, the network announced at PaleyFest Tuesday night.
The episode will feature the cast working out the aftermath of a group outing gone wrong with hand puppets. In flashbacks, the cast will be portrayed as larger versions of the puppets.
The episode synopsis reads as follows:
“In the episode, the study group takes a wild balloon ride that crash-lands in the woods and they end up spending a little time with a friendly mountain man. As the study group recounts their adventures in the woods, which has left them all feeling a little awkward with one another, Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) encourages them to speak about their experience with the use of puppets.”
According to Rolling Stone , the puppet episode, titled “Intro to Felt Surrogacy” will feature a guest appearance by Seinfeld star Jason Alexander as the “friendly mountain man.”
The series did similar transformations for its season 2 episode “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” when the cast was transformed into stop-animation characters, and the season 3 episode, “Digital Estate Planning,” when the actors were turned into 8-bit video game characters.
Community is currently in its fourth season , but the producers and cast have discussed the possibility of a fifth season. Joel McHale, who plays Jeff Winger, said that a renewal is the kind of news “no one ever lets you know … in advance.”
Yvette Brown, who plays Shirley, said there is still a lot to be proud of if the show ends with its current season.
“The show has made it four years, and that’s great thing,” she said.
According to UPI , the felt and foam puppets for “Intro to Felt Surrogacy” were manufactured by Drew Massey and Scott Johnson , who most recently worked on Muppets Wizard of Oz for the Jim Henson Co. and Warren the Ape for MTV.
Are you excited for Community ‘s puppet episode?
