One Popular Rick and Morty Plot Was Originally Meant for Community

Every story told in Rick and Morty throughout its first four seasons is so completely off-the-wall and unique that it feels like there’s no way it could work on any other show. Who else could pull off the kind of intricate and insane tales that Rick and Morty delivers to audiences on a weekly basis? Before Dan Harmon co-created Rick and Morty with Justin Roiland, he was responsible for another wildly unique TV experience: Community. Like the animated Adult Swim hit, Community relies heavily on genre-bending parodies and extremely meta humor, paving the way for Rick and Morty to come later. In fact, one of Rick and Morty‘s latest episodes features a plot that was originally meant for Community‘s lead character, Jeff Winger.

Season 4 of Rick and Morty features one of the saddest and most thought-provoking episode plots of the entire series. “The Old Man and the Seat” sees Rick build a toilet on a remote planet, overlooking an empty valley where he can use the bathroom in peace. That changes when a random man stumbles upon this toilet and uses it, sending Rick into a tailspin. During an interview with The Independent this week, Harmon admitted that he had come up with an early version of that story for an episode of Community, but wasn’t able to work it in.

“I can’t remember any ideas we always wanted to do but couldn’t crack,” Harmon explained. “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 Rick and Morty.”

Like Rick and Morty, many of the most memorable plots in Community are those that deliver on high concept ideas, while also making viewers think about their own bigger picture. “The Old Man and the Seat” is the epitome of that structure, and would have fit in perfectly on Community.

Where does “The Old Man and the Seat” rank amongst your favorite Rick and Morty episodes? Let us know in the comments!