I FINALLY hung this up today after **counts** TEN YEARS! Oops.

I’ve loved Community since the first episode aired. I don’t even remember WHY I watched it anymore, it was just on and I think I might have just be looking for something to make me laugh. I still think it is one of the smartest comedies that has been made and while not perfect, there are a lot of perfect episodes that stand the test of time. I watch the Christmas episodes every December 24th and they still make me laugh even though I have every single word memorized.

But if you look closely, this isn’t a mere poster. It’s probably hard to see with all the fake yearbook signatures, but all those silver squiggles? Those are REAL autographs. I was very fortunate to attend San Diego Comic-Con 2010 and that was the year the first season of Community had aired.

I remember wandering the show floor, I think I knew the cast was doing a signing, so I was trying to figure out where to go. Anyone who has been to a convention knows that the “start time” and the “queue time” are two very different things. For some strange reason, they had the autograph session set up in the middle of the floor, perhaps they underestimated how many people would be interested in such a thing. I saw small group in a huddle near a sign that said “Community signing” or something along those lines, so I also huddled with them. Security came over and told us we were not allowed to line up yet…so we all kind of drifted apart but circled the specific area, like strange vultures.

Eventually, the security guard gave up and let us queue in an orderly fashion since our circling was starting to attract attention and we weren’t supposed to block the walkway. They gave us all free posters to get signed and, like a well oiled machine, the actors were shuffled in and then we were all told to walk down the line, where we got to chat for half a second with each of them. It was very surreal.

I remember Chevy Chase was in character as Pierce (or maybe that’s just how Chevy is?) and acting confused and disinterested in any actual comments about the show. I remember making a comment to Donald Glover, comparing the show to Arrested Development and Glover being VERY happy with that comparison. I was kind of proud of myself for that.

And then, like that, it was over!

At some other point in the weekend, when I was walking back to my hotel, I vaguely remember walking past Joel McHale. I might have waved? I remember him smiling and waving back and it was just like “Well, that was neat.”

And then the big panel was a LOT of fun, seeing the whole group on stage, just so thrilled that anyone was watching their show. I remember laughing a LOT during that panel, though all the specifics escape me now.

2010 is the only time I have been to SDCC. It was quite the experience and I think I went at the perfect time for myself, the height of my BIG fandoms. I don’t know if I ever need to go again (and in this COVID world, I wonder if these events will ever be the same post-pandemic?) but the year I attended was a lot of wild times and good people.

And I made Donald Glover smile.