Annie really summed it up when she said, “Everyone’s religions are weird.” It’s so difficult to even talk about religion, much less joke about it, without being offensive. Somehow, though, Community really pulled it off. Maybe it’s because we’ve spent so much time getting to know these characters, that by the time we find out that Troy is a Jehovah’s Witness, or that Pierce is a fake Buddhist, it hardly matters. We already love the characters, so we love their religions, which makes us able to laugh with each other, instead of at each other.
It was subtle, but the characters also bonded over the similarities in their religions– Abed and Troy can’t drink (although it helps), and they, along with Annie, are faced with the awkward decision of how to respond whenever someone automatically throws a “Merry Christmas!” at them. But from Pierce’s “tell it to the birthday cake you never had,” and Annie’s “you should really use the whole word!” I just could not stop laughing about religion, which is quite a feat.
The writing was also firing on all cylinders when it came to Jeff and Mike’s fight. However, there were some problems: One, it’s a little awkward having Anthony Michael Hall in this episode in general, since his girlfriend beating and alleged, uh, forehead biting has come to light. Plus, the mustache was just ridiculous. He was so much of a caricature, that at times he really detracted from the episode. Everyone else was so strong though, that it ended up working.
Now that 100% of Britta’s screen time isn’t devoted to fighting Jeff off, she’s actually become an interesting character. She’s always been the weak link for me, but she was spot-on in this episode. Fighting is really gay. I was at a bar the first time that I saw a UFC fight, and oh my God, I thought I should have been paying a subscription fee. That stuff makes Queer as Folk look like Little House on the Prairie by comparison.
The fighting metaphor is a good one for this episode, because they had such an onslaught of jokes. It was a one-two one-two over and over again, with no chance to breathe. By the end, when they got to Christmas Troy, I had tears in my eyes, I was laughing so hard. Community has once again proven why it’s consistently one of the funniest shows on TV this season.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Dec 10, 2009 @ 21:22 EST5EDT
And I’m agnostic, so I’ll bring my winning smile!
I enjoyed all the hilarious little moments, like Annie telling baby Jesus “you were one of us” and that line from Pierce to Troy (“tell it to the birthday cake you never had”) which cracked me up because I have cousins who are JWs and we make those kinds of jokes about them (real life is so not PC). Community has become one of my favorite comedies.
This episode was hilarious. I must admit I never watched Community past the pilot and a glance at the ep after it as I felt it stuck too closely to stock types, particularly by construing Britta as the girl (despite the brilliance of Abed & the Spanish teacher). Whenever I considered re-watching, a commercial focusing on the Britta-Jeff coupling always made me think otherwise. However, the show has definitely gelled, and by not making Britta ‘the girl’ but one of ‘the gang’ I actually enjoyed her, as well.
However, I truly loved everything in the ep from the ‘I’m disappointed in you’ = ‘I’m mad’ in mother language, to the 2-minute pre-fight ‘wassup’ dialogue, to the crazy look, to the chevy chase hot girl fakeout and Troy’s response to Chase’s character’s color coding to the late-80s/early-90s ‘breakin 2′ and ‘fly boys’ references.
Not only was this episode of Community completely hilarious, but it was probably one of the best Christmas-themed episodes ever done — ever. I mean in the top ten — ever! It was brilliant and I loved every second of it.
Senor Chang, “I’ll allow it”. couldn’t stop laughing this whole episode….i’ve watched the ending like 5 times!