Gillian Jacobs Talks Community‘s Second Season, Foot Fetishes
Gillian Jacobs plays bombshell feminist Britta on NBC’s Community, which kicked off its second season last week. She’s joined by a stellar ensemble cast which includes the likes of comedy maestros Chevy Chase and Joel McHale as well as promising young actors Donald Glover and Alison Brie, to name only a few.
Paste caught up with Jacobs to talk about Community’s sophomore season (which continues tonight on NBC at 8 p.m. ET), what it was like working with Betty White and about a certain internet community that appreciates her, um, work.
Paste: How is it working with Betty White?
Jacobs: It is delightful. I don’t have a bad word to say about the woman. She was sweet and obviously incredibly talented and so willing to do whatever they asked her to do. She’s a delightful presence. We loved having her.
Paste: Is she going to be back on the show at all this season?
Jacobs: I’ve heard rumors but I don’t know if I can confirm anything. I did hear something about another episode but I don’t know what that could be.
Paste: Working with a lot of heavyweights like Chevy Chase, Betty White and Drew Carey coming up in this week’s episode—were these any people that you watched when you were younger?
Jacobs: Definitely all those people. I’ve seen I don’t know how many episodes of The Drew Carey Show and I’ve always loved Who’s Line is it Anyway?, that improv show that he hosted. I was huge fan of that show as well. And of course Chevy’s a huge icon. It’s definitely a real experience being on the same show with these people that you’ve watched for years.
Paste: Do you think Chevy ever tries out any of the @oldwhitemansays lines in real life?
Jacobs: Well, that’s Pierce. That’s a character created for him and I think it’s so amazing that they are integrating online media like Twitter heavily into the show in such a smart way that really seems to excite and invigorate our audience. They can follow the characters on Twitter. Like they did a Twittersode last week leading up to our season premiere where all the characters were Twittering each other about what was about to happen in the episode. It’s amazing to me [that] it goes from being a story plot point to being a real thing in the world. And I follow @oldwhitemansays on Twitter, so you know.
Paste: Ten minutes before this interview, Joel McHale tweeted something about a bunch of puppies and monkeys on the set right now. And he asked “cutest episode ever or terribly disturbing lunch?” What’s your take on that?
Jacobs: Well, we love animals at Community. We had a goat on our show last year. You know we had the famous monkey, Annie’s Boobs, that was heavily featured in our chicken fingers episode. And we love them. We love babies and dogs and all kinds of animals you could ever name. I hope that’s not what they’re serving for lunch today.
Paste: Last season, Glee took a few jabs from you guys. Do you plan on getting back on the Glee wagon or are you guys going to find a new target?
Jacobs: Well, I think you could definitely perceive @oldwhitemansays as a jab at a certain freshman sitcom, but I think that we’re a pop culture-heavy show so we’re talking about things that are actually on TV right now. It’s not like Abed (Danny Pudi) especially isn’t watching what’s on TV right now, so if it’s appropriate and it comes up, then yeah, sure, we’ll be talking about various new shows. I mean, we don’t have a grudge against Glee. I think, more than anything, we’re just jealous of their ratings. Any jabs we take at them—we’re just the feisty little underdog wishing that we could have the sort of huge, incredible success that Glee has had. There’s no real animosity towards their show.
Paste: Which leads into your Emmy snub. How do you guys feel about that?
Jacobs: I don’t think that we were expecting or feeling like anything was necessarily going to happen in that category. It certainly would have been nice but I also understand that sometimes it takes a show a season to build and find an audience and I feel like a lot of people discovered us over the second half of our season last year. So, maybe this year there will be a nomination in store for us and maybe not. There’re a lot of great shows that don’t get nominated for any reason.
Paste: I’ve read that you and Joel McHale have quite the height difference so you have to wear high heels. What’s the average height that you have to wear?
Jacobs: Well, I’m staring at my wedge boots right now. I’d say at least two inches. He’s a good foot taller than me. I’m never going to really bridge the gap in our height. My poor, problematic feet don’t let me wear anything much over a three- or four-inch heel. I don’t wear stilettos, but I definitely feel it at the end of the day and I curse his freakish Nordic height.
Paste: What’s wrong your feet?
Jacobs: They just hurt, you know? Some girls say they don’t feel comfortable in flats, they only feel comfortable in heels; I am not one of those girls. If it weren’t for the show, I would not wear heels on a daily basis. I never wear them in real life, but if that’s a sacrifice I have to make for Community, then I’m willing to do it.