Since as it turns out, porn without the sex scenes is actually a thing, grab your notebooks and let’s settle in for another session of the YouTube screenwriting course that is Tunglebreck’s “No Jokes, All Plot.” This semester we’ll be studying Community Season 1, Episode 16, “Communication Studies,” broken down into its basic A-plot, B-plot, and dance sequence because this is Community we’re talking about here. (It’s mostly A-plot in this one, as was noted in The A.V. Club’s initial review of the episode.)
Next let’s consider Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 2, Episode 3, “Trick Or Treat,” which is by far the longest of the videos at four minutes and 28 seconds. That’s not much of a surprise, though, considering that an episode of Curb revolves around a complex web of intersecting plot points all building up to one trenchant final punchline. More surprising is how short episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond (1 minute, 42 seconds) and The Office (1 minute, 7 seconds) are with the jokes taken out, perhaps reflecting the crowd-pleasing simplicity necessary to cater to viewers who had a hard day at the office and just want to sit in silence next to their spouses and listen to jokes about how horrible offices and spouses are.