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"Physical Education"
◄ Season One, Episode Seventeen ►
Air date	March 4, 2010 on
Written by	Jessie Miller
Directed by	Anthony Russo

Summary: Jeff's refusal to wear gym shorts causes him to be kicked out of billiards class. The study group tries to get Abed to romance a girl.

PlotEdit

Jeff is looking forward to his first day of billiards class, dressing up especially for the occasion. Britta mispronounces the word bagel, causing the study group to mock her. As the group begins to study, Troy finds a drawing in his textbook which resembles Abed. Drawn alongside various romantic symbols, the group assumes that the textbook's previous owner was a girl with a crush on Abed.

After conferring with Chang, the group discovers the girl's name is Jenny Adams. Abed is uninterested, but the group insists on making a love connection despite Jeff's protests. He goes to billiards class and shows off his skill at the game, impressing the other students. The teacher, Coach Bogner, arrives and informs the class that they are required to wear the school's athletic uniform which includes a pair of tight fitting gym shorts. Jeff awkwardly tries to maintain a cool exterior as he is wearing the shorts but quickly becomes extremely self-conscious. He tells the coach he refuses to wear the uniform, resulting in him being kicked out of class and told not to return until he follows school regulations.

The study group tracks down Jenny Adams for Abed and convinces him to talk to her. After seeing Abed in action, however, they decide he's not ready yet and take it upon themselves to teach him how to pick up girls. They believe he needs to approach her using a different persona and start arguing about which one would be the most effective. Jeff shows up and criticizes the group for forcing Abed to be something he's not. Impressed by the speech but ignoring his admonishment, the study group members all agree that Abed should imitate Jeff. After taking their advice, he successfully manages to flirt with Jenny, but their courtship is interrupted by her boyfriend who bears a striking resemblance to Abed.

The next day, the group apologizes to Abed for how things turned out. He admits the only reason he did any of it was because he knew how much it meant for them to help him. He didn't mind changing for them because he already knows who he is and is fine with it. This inspires Jeff to challenge Coach Bogner to a game of pool wearing the school gym uniform. As the game intensifies, Bogner mocks Jeff for his vanity and says it's the game itself that matters, not what they wear. Jeff then strips completely naked and sinks the 8 ball, winning the game and earning Bogner's respect.

End tagEdit

Troy and Abed are role playing as Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street until Troy remembers that he has to attend a funeral for his cousin. In the Community Season 1 DVD commentaries, Donald Glover mentions that this bit was Yvette Nicole Brown's idea.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

School uniform: Jeff strips down, revealing striped underwear; this type of underwear worn by Jeff would make appearances in later episodes.
Winger speech: Jeff delivers one to the group in the beginning of the episode but is ignored by the study group. Abed gives one towards the end of the show which relays the true lesson of the episode.
Googly Eyes: Annie ogles Jeff as he plays pool naked, as does Dean Pelton.

Running gags:Edit

Bag-ul: Britta mispronounces the word bagel. She would later mispronounce other words throughout the series.
You're the worst!: Britta is called "the worst" by Señor Chang. She would be called this many times by other characters later on.
I'm Batman!: Abed continues his trend of portraying other personalities. In this episode, it's Don Draper from "Mad Men".
Bon appetit!: Pierce again implies that Britta is a lesbian.
Shut up, Leonard!: Jeff again tells Leonard to shut up because this time, he knows about his gambling problem.
Fan service: Jeff strips down to his underwear while playing pool, then goes full monty when he takes his final shot.
Man crush: Dean Pelton takes pictures of Jeff when he's naked and feels up his bare stomach.

Pop culture references:Edit

IMDB:
- Annie mentions the movie The Notebook, assuming the picture in Troy's Spanish text book is of Abed.
- Abed mentions the movie Can't Buy Me Love. Troy and Shirley refer to it as the remake for white audiences of the movie Love Don't Cost a Thing. This joke is based on it's inaccuracy, beacuse Love Don't Cost a Thing came out fifteen years after Can't Buy Me Love.
- Abed's impersonation of Jeff contains 30% Hilary Swank from Boys Don't Cry.
TV Guide:
- Jeff mentions the ABC Afterschool Specials and then Fat Albert after Troy and Shirley don't get the reference.
- Abed chooses to portray Mad Men character Don Draper. Shirley advises Abed to not be Don Draper and instead be Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch. Britta suggests Jo from The Facts Of Life, and Troy proposes he be Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
- After Abed hits on Jenny, her boyfriend Joey shows up and challenges Abed to a fight saying, "Let's go, Slumdog," a reference to Slumdog Millionaire which had come out the year before.
- Troy and Abed role play as Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie.
Shout out: Abed does an impersonation of Jeff which he describes as a combination of Dick Van Dyke, Sam Malone, Zach Braff and Hilary Swank. Jeff is only offended by being compared to Zach Braff.
Name that tune: Werewolves of London, by Warren Zevon, plays during the billiards match montage.

Meta references:Edit

Use your allusion:
- Jeff knocks a bag of bagels off the study table. Abed looks down at the mess and says, "Thirteen." This is a reference to the movie Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman.
- Jeff's billiards game with his coach is reminiscent of Tom Cruise in The Color of Money. The song Werewolves of London also plays in both.
Résumé: Abed practices his seduction technique on Annie by portraying Mad Men character Don Draper. Alison Brie also stars in that show as Trudy Campbell.

QuotesEdit

“Nobody here is "Can't Buy Me Love"-ing or "Love Don't Cost A Thing"-ing anyone because we've all seen enough after school specials [off Shirley and Troy's confused looks] and Fat Albert [Shirley and Troy nod in understanding] to know that Abed only needs to be himself.”— Jeff

“Good grief, clear the chickens off the runway. I'll be the bad guy. Yes, Abed. You need to be someone else, someone who eventually gets a girlfriend because I can't think of anything more frightening than a half Polish/ half Arab virgin in his thirties. One way or the other, that story ends with an explosion.”— Pierce

“The truth is lots of girls like me because let's face it: I'm pretty adorable. And my aloofness unconsciously reminds them of their father, so I'm more used to them approaching me.”— Abed

“So we didn't damage your self esteem or anything?”— Britta

“Britta, I've got self esteem flowing out of my butt. That's why I was willing to change for you guys because when you really know who you are and what you like about yourself, changing for other people isn't such a big deal."”— Abed

ImagesEdit

Season One Episodes
1. "Pilot" 2. "Spanish 101" 3. "Introduction to Film" 4. "Social Psychology" 5. "Advanced Criminal Law" 6. "Football, Feminism and You" 7. "Introduction to Statistics" 8. "Home Economics" 9. "Debate 109"	10. "Environmental Science" 11. "The Politics of Human Sexuality" 12. "Comparative Religion" 13. "Investigative Journalism" 14. "Interpretive Dance" 15. "Romantic Expressionism" 16. "Communication Studies" 17. "Physical Education" 18. "Basic Genealogy"	19. "Beginner Pottery" 20. "The Science of Illusion" 21. "Contemporary American Poultry" 22. "The Art of Discourse" 23. "Modern Warfare" 24. "English as a Second Language" 25. "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

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