A Scrapped Concept From Community Was Finally Realized In Rick And Morty

13 years after it first premiered, "Community" has solidified its place as one of the best network TV sitcoms ever made, a brilliant show that's as much (if not more) about the situation in the word "sitcom" as it is about the comedy. This is a show with endearing characters who get in all sorts of ludicrous situations, and over its six seasons (and hopefully a movie) the show explored many genres and lampooned many pop culture properties without losing sight of its characters.

Of course, even with as many wild ideas and situations as the writers of "Community" could imagine, there are only so many episodes to include those ideas in. This means some things get left on the writer's room floor, never to be seen. Unless you're Dan Harmon and you go from the cult-hit "Community" to the smash hit "Rick and Morty," which shares the former's love for pop culture and genre-blending, and can simply revive your ideas in animated form.

Speaking to The Independent (but no, not Trent Crimm), Dan Harmon revealed that, while he couldn't recall ideas that they couldn't crack during "Community," there was one that was dropped and revived years later:

"There was one concept that was always floating in the air which was the idea of doing an episode about Jeff Winger being a shy pooper. I ended up grafting that over to [his next series] 'Rick and Morty.'"

Now, the idea of Jeff Winger, notorious self-absorbed jerk who thought way too highly of himself, being so insecure about his body to be considered a "shy pooper" makes perfect sense. There was that whole episode about Jeff learning to be comfortable enough in his skin to get naked in front of the whole college while playing pool, as well as many an episode exploring Jeff's complex about being abandoned by his dad. What would this episode even look like? We don't know, but we do know what the idea ended up looking like when it made its way to "Rick and Morty."

In the fourth season episode of the hit adult animated comedy, Rick goes on a journey very loosely based on "The Old Man and the Sea." In the episode, we learn that Rick is such a shy pooper that he has an entire pocket universe just so he can go to the bathroom alone, with the toilet overviewing a beautiful valley, and an entertainment system that plays upbeat music and displays a bunch of holographic versions of Rick to cheer him on while he uses the toilet — it even has a crown for Rick! 

Sure, that episode is about a lot more than just shy pooping, it's about how Rick is the author of his own pain and misery, ruining everything and everyone that gets near him. But at some points, that also applies to Jeff Winger, too.