Community: Abed breaks the 4th Wall from his first appearance

(Yeah, this isn't about books. Indulge me.)

So my absolute favorite TV show these days is Community. It's been struggling with the ratings, but it's consistently the most clever, inventive show on TV today. It has restored my faith in the sitcom.

Searching around online for Community info, I came across Dan Harmon's original Pilot script. As I started reading, I came across something pretty amazing. Abed breaks the fourth wall from his very first line.

Script fragment: ...[Jeff] is paced and orbited by ABED [20s, Arabic, "geek chic" Weezer fan clothes], who seems generally intrigued by everything all the time.

ABED: I'm only half Arabic, actually, my Dad is Palestinian, I mean, he's a U.S. [...]

When Abed first appears, he is described as "20s, Arabic, 'geek chic' Weezer fan clothes". And Abed's first line?

"I'm only half Arabic, actually, my Dad is Palestininan..."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Obviously, we're cutting in right in the middle of Jeff and Abed's first conversation. But, as a reader of the script, it's like Abed acknowledges his own character description and corrects it.

Planned or not, it's a fun bit of foreshadowing to Abed's future role as the character who's nearly aware his life is a TV show.