McHale, the writer, producer and host of “The Soup” on E!, and Dan Harmon, creator and executive producer of “The Sarah Silverman Program,” participated in a conference call Monday evening to talk about “Community.”

The show follows a bunch of misfits who form a study group at fictional Greendale Community College and McHale, a lawyer who lost his degree and needs help to get it back.

Question: What was the appeal of this project for you?

Joel McHale: I read a lot of pilot scripts, and always want to be involved in something good. After reading Dan’s scripts, I realized it was so head and shoulders above everything else I’d been reading. It was incredibly funny and had really strong characters and a lot of heart. I read it on a plane on the way back from a standup gig. I was sitting next to a guy who was watching “What Happens in Vegas” on his laptop and he was getting mad at me because I was interrupting his romantic comedy by laughing out loud while reading the script.

Q: It looks like a very funny show, and obviously the critics are very big on it. What are your expectations coming into this?

JM: Nothing short of 900 episodes.

Dan Harmon: Whenever things are going this well, all I can anticipate is the other shoe dropping. After working in TV for 15 years, you realize things are so much out of your control, so you just work on what you can control. It’s amazing to look and notice critics are saying great things about the show and NBC is being so supportive of it, but the expectations of the show that I have are simply that I hope the scripts are good and the actors like them and have fun with them.

Q: How is this different from producing “The Soup”?

JM: First of all, producing “The Soup” is literally one camera and a green curtain, so it’s not nearly the operation that this is. My role in this is as an actor, and the scripts are so good that I can’t wait to read them. I’m so honored to be a part of the project.

Q: Joel, since you’ve done both, do you prefer movies or TV?

JM: I prefer what we’re doing here because this is to experience what a character is going through, to begin what is hopefully a long arch of this guy’s journey. It’s so enjoyable and satisfying. The movie I’m in called “The Informant!”, which comes out this week with Matt Damon, that was a lot more satisfying as far as a movie because my role was larger and I actually did something.

Q: Dan, how is “Community” different from working on “The Sarah Silverman Program”?

DH: It’s more sophisticated; it feels like coming home. It feels like the NBC I always fantasized about and the TV industry I always fantasized about.

Q: Dan, what are you doing for your heartburn that you frequently blog about?

DH: So far I’m keeping it down with Prilosec. The thing is, with Prilosec, every couple days it fools you into thinking you no longer have a problem. It’s great because it just kind of shuts you down. But then every couple days I forget I haven’t taken it and it’s such a surprise for me.

Q: Do you think, given the nature of the economy, community college is as valuable as it used to be?

DH: Way more valuable, right? The press has been speaking on that very point with increasing frequency. We’ve been mentioned in Time magazine in context, which I never dreamed. I think it has something to do with whatever edge you can get in this economy, and that difference can be an associate’s degree in community college. Obama’s been calling community college the backbone of our country in a time of such emergency.

Q: Did you ever have a teacher in school who resembled any of the professors on the show?

JM: There’s a very “carpe diem” teacher I had in high school named Mr. Anslow, and he was a teacher that would scream and would yell and was passionate about history. His passion was unbelievable; that’s the only reason why I majored in history in college, because of his screaming.

Q: What memories do you relate to college experiences? Did you have any wild antics while there?

DH: I went to a community college in my early 30s and very directly have experiences there that inspired the pitch for this show. I was in a study group with a bunch of strangers to whom I actually took a natural affinity. There was a spark there that doesn’t exist with people we know from work, with colleagues that are above or below us. We very rarely are forced into these community situations.

Q: What’s it like working with Chevy Chase, one of your co-stars on the show?

JM: He’s older than everybody but when he throws the ball he throws it harder than anyone. It’s so strange to be acting with a guy I grew up with.

DH: He tends to come up with lines you can actually end scenes with, which I’m really impressed by. We have a really talented class of people with a lot of improv chops.

JM: But that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of incredible writing. It’s like getting the best strawberries in the world and saying, want whip cream on it too?

Q: What is most challenging about the role?

JM: My main goal is to make sure I bring the character to life and do it well. That’s what I always am trying to figure out: where am I going, what am I doing, what is my guy thinking … and whether I can get a decent cup of coffee on set.

Q: Why should people watch “Community”?

DH: It still endeavors to blow your mind but with characters who have dialogue in beautifully shot scenes. It might remind you of television from a golden age, when TV was really proud of itself. I hope that’s what people get out of it.