Who is Craig Pelton in Community?

Show

Community

Played by

Jim Rash

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 17, 2009

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Dean of Greendale Community College

Show run

2009 to 2015Its sixth and final season streamed on Yahoo! Screen.

Also known as

Dean Pelton, The Dean, Craig Isidore Pelton, Pelton

Craig Pelton is the eager, eccentric dean of Greendale, a man who will wear any costume and attempt any stunt if it makes his school feel like a real university. Played by Jim Rash, he starts as a recurring character and becomes a full member of the main cast.

On Community, Craig Pelton's story runs through Jeff Winger (Crush), Ben Chang (Employee), Abed Nadir (Documentarian), Annie Edison (Student), and Pierce Hawthorne (Student).

Who is Craig Pelton?

Dean Pelton has run Greendale for years and wants nothing more than for it to be respected, a tall order for a community college that most people treat as a punchline. He is locked in a bitter rivalry with nearby City College, whose dean seems personally committed to Greendale's downfall, and he makes questionable decisions with total enthusiasm.

In the early seasons he is obsessively politically correct, replacing the Greendale Grizzly mascot with the Greendale Human Being so that no one could possibly be offended. The study group is by far his favorite, and he constantly invents excuses to wander into their study room.

Personality and comedy

The Dean's signature bit is his costumes. He shows up to announcements dressed as everyone from Julius Caesar to Lady Gaga, and some outfits are more abstract, like one that is half man and half woman. He is also openly smitten with Jeff, hovering, flirting, and patting his chest whenever he gets the chance.

Under the showmanship, Pelton is a bundle of insecurity, prone to self-doubt and dramatic despair. The show stays coy about his sexuality for years, until season six, when he is recruited to the school board as its token gay member and explains that the label covers only two-sevenths of who he is.

Key storylines

In season three, Pelton's attempt to film a new commercial for Greendale spirals into madness, and Abed documents the whole breakdown in "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux." Later that season Chang kidnaps him and replaces him with a double, and the study group stages a rescue in "The First Chang Dynasty."

In "Repilot," Pelton offers Jeff a teaching job, and he becomes a central part of the Save Greendale Committee. In season six he brings in consultant Frankie Dart to clean up the school, briefly joins the school board, and then returns to the job he loves.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Jim Rash was a recurring guest star in the first two seasons and a main cast member from season three on. Rash also won an Academy Award for co-writing the film The Descendants, and he wrote the season four Community episode "Basic Human Anatomy."

The Dean's parade of costumes and his breathless entrances became one of the show's most dependable joys, and Rash is among the cast members set to return for the Community movie that Peacock ordered in 2022.

Craig Pelton: frequently asked questions

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