In the pilot, the main cast members are Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, and Chevy Chase.

John Oliver, Jonathan Banks, Paget Brewster, and Keith David also played major roles throughout their stints while not actually being credited among the main cast.

Jeff's adventures include stints as a member of the debate team and substitute glee club, and editor of the school newspaper, as well as efforts to improve Chang's professional and love lives.

Politically conscious and driven by a strong moral conscience, Britta's sensibilities often put her at odds with the rest of the group as well as other students at Greendale, who see her as a "buzzkill."

Her hypocrisy and tendency to invoke politics regardless of relevance, such as advocating for fictional gnomes' rights in Dungeons & Dragons, frequently frustrates both friends and strangers, to the point that others regularly refer to her as "the worst."

Abed Gubi Nadir (Arabic: عابد القوبي نادر Ābid al-Qūbī Nādir; played by Danny Pudi) is a young, emotionally reserved, Palestinian-Polish-American pop-culture enthusiast who aspires to become a director and is currently taking film directing classes at Greendale.

A message left on Troy's voicemail leads the group to speculate that Chang, not Andre, is the biological father, a possibility that Shirley finds repellant and is determined to avoid acknowledging.

When the group discusses her absence, Abed claims she was "spun off", and the closing credits feature a mock television advertisement for an NBC police procedural about Shirley and the detective titled The Butcher and the Baker.

Annie Edison (played by Alison Brie), born December 19, 1990, is a diligent, strait-laced, Type-A, Jewish student who is in her fifth year at Greendale Community College after graduating and then reapplying to major in her dream, forensic science.

While their bond was nearly destroyed during the pillow-blanket fort campus "war" of 2012 in "Pillows and Blankets", quick thinking from Jeff Winger and imaginary "friendship hats" ultimately saved the day.

A reliable source of boyish faux-dumb wit, Troy has many unique opinions and beliefs: all dogs are male and all cats female; he is also distracted by shiny objects and cries over minor emotional setbacks.

Much of this is directed at Shirley, whom he sometimes mistakes for other black women ("The Art of Discourse"); Abed, whom he suspects is a terrorist because he is Muslim; and Jeff, whom he actively tries to roast in an attempt to be cool, despite his inability to do so with wit.

("Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy") Although he has occasionally made negative comments about Jews, he has also said that Annie Edison (the only Jewish member of the group) is his favorite person in it ("Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking").

When, along with Jeff and Troy, he listens to a compact disc made by his mother telling him she's gone and encouraging him to let her go and live his life, Pierce simply shrugs it off as her losing her mind.

He acts in mean-spirited ways with minimal stimulus; during his classes, he frequently picked on Annie for apparently no reason other than her desk being closest to where he stood while addressing his students.

Duncan seems to be a highly qualified professor and therapist, but is not above scheming for personal gain like trying to con Jeff out of his Lexus or exploiting Abed's issues to advance his career.

In the season 5 episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", Duncan returns joining the Save Greendale Committee, explaining his absence saying he had been taking care of his sick mother, although he stopped because he had "put in [his] time".

Prof. Noel Cornwallis (played by Malcolm McDowell) is Greendale's stern, manipulative history professor who teaches the group in the fourth season after having been fired from his long-term post at Oxford University because of a "slip-up with a co-ed".

Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne (played by Dino Stamatopoulos) is a middle-aged student at Greendale known for his star-shaped sideburns as well as other quirks, such as wearing a top hat and owning a lizard later in the series.

He worked in the school cafeteria until the events of "Contemporary American Poultry", when the group causes him to be fired for siphoning off chicken fingers—the most edible foodstuff served by the cafeteria—for his friends (afterward, though, they conspire to do the same thing for themselves).

Though noticeably older than the other students at Greendale, he acts like a reckless, rebellious teen or young adult, often using slang and engaging in such activities as playing pranks and bass guitar and encountering "pregnancy scares".

He leads a rowdy, disobedient band of elderly Greendale students called the "Hipsters" (because they all have hip replacements), with whom Pierce temporarily hangs out in "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples".

Vaughn Miller (played by Eric Christian Olsen) is a usually shirtless, earth-friendly, mellow "neo-hippie" student who is the lead singer of a reggae rock band at Greendale Community College.

[21] A frequent hacky sack and Ultimate Frisbee player, he has had several notable interactions with the show's main characters, as he initially dated Britta and was in a band with Pierce.

When he turns down a date with Annie due to her youth, Jeff begins to admire his ethics and seeks life advice from him, although he wants to abuse the power Rich gets from everyone loving him.

In the season six premiere "Ladders", Abed, about the fact that Brie Larson's film career keeps her from making frequent appearances on the show, comments that anyone observing the narrative of the study group may have questions such as "What happened to that girl I'm dating?"

Though intended to embody a spirit of inclusivity and to avoid derogatory stereotypes, its featureless appearance is distinctly uncanny, like a neutral gray gimp or zentai performer.

He appears in "The Science of Illusion" to investigate a body Britta drops out of the biology labs; in "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", he teaches Jeff and Annie the dangers of fake gun shootouts.

Cackowski returns in the season 6 episode "Basic Email Security" to help investigate a hacking attempt on the school, treating the group as old friends and acting surprised that they want to keep a cop they've known for five years "at arm's length".

Kickpuncher (Derek Mears), whose punches have the strength of kicks, is the titular hero in a series of cheesy action movies that Troy and Abed like to ridicule while still being fans.