If you want to make a fan of NBC’s “Community” laugh out loud, walk up to them and say, “brown Jamie Lee Curtis,” or, “Pop! Pop!” and without warning, that person will convulse into giggles.

This is the effect the sophomore sitcom has on its small but mighty audience. Pulling in just fewer than 4 million viewers weekly, “Community” isn’t TV’s highest-rated comedy, but it is one of the medium’s most beloved. This is one of the reasons Peacock executives recently announced the show will be back for a third season.

“If I relied on ratings alone to tell me how the show is resonating, I would’ve killed myself a long time ago,” says Dan Harmon, the creator, head writer and executive producer behind the underrated show about a group of community college misfits.

Harmon, who turns to Twitter when he wants to connect with fans, recently talked about the series with some 2,000 devoted viewers at a Paley Center for Media panel in Los Angeles. The panel also included stars Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown, Detroit-born actor Ken Jeong, Gillian Jacobs and Chevy Chase.

“I rely on Twitter because the fan feedback fuels us,” he says. “I don’t want fans to think they have so much power that we write what they tell us to write — that’s too much power — but it does let us know what worked and what didn’t.”

For instance, when “Community” paid homage to the 1990 gangster classic “Goodfellas,” fans couldn’t praise the move enough. Then there was a “bottle episode” where all the action occurred in one room. The latter is one of McHale’s favorites. And the Christmas episode, done almost entirely in stop-motion animation, is still getting positive buzz.

And just in case you’re not in the know, the aforementioned “Jamie Lee Curtis” nod refers to a nickname or description given to one of the show’s most irreverent characters, Abed (Danny Pudi). Meanwhile, “Pop! Pop!” is a satirical catchphrase uttered by Magnitude (Luke Youngblood), a background player introduced this season.

Harmon and his band of brilliant actors and writers should impress fans even more with this week’s installment. The episode revolves around flashbacks that never actually aired.

“Don’t expect too much,” Harmon jokes about the episode that pokes fun at flashbacks. “Come in with low expectations and prepare to be blown away. That’s better than coming in with high expectations and being disappointed.”

But comedy veteran Chase, who is best known for stints on “Saturday Night Live” and those National Lampoon movies, has high expectations for this show.

“Last year, when reporters would ask, ‘What should we expect?’ I didn’t have an answer because we were still creating our characters,” says Chase in a rare moment of seriousness. “Now when we get asked that question, I can say, ‘Expect anything,’ because our characters are capable of anything and everything, and that’s what makes this show so exciting.”

mmadden@detnews.com

(313) 222-2501

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