Bio[]
From now on, no more singing in the balloon!
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— Balloon guide, "Intro to Felt Surrogacy". |
The Balloon guide was a young lady hired to take the study group on an adventure in a hot air balloon. She is enthusiastic at her job and would often sing to her customers. Her first and so far only appearance was in the Season Four episode "Intro to Felt Surrogacy". She was portrayed by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. |
Character history[]
In their fourth year at Greendale, the study group felt stuck in a rut. They decided to take an adventure together outside the school to cure their doldrums. On Annie's suggestion, they decided to take a trip in a hot air balloon. They arrived at the location of the balloon and were they were greeted by their Balloon guide. She ushered them all into the basket while she did final checks and preparations for take off. While she was singing a song she failed to prevent Pierce from prematurely releasing one of the balloons ropes which tied it to the ground. At the same time she herself had released the last support tie. Inside the balloon, Troy was fiddling around with the controls and turned up the burner which heated the air within the balloon and caused it to lift off.
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The guide was forced to watch helplessly as the balloon quickly drifted up and away towards the forest. Ben Chang then showed up having intended on joining the group on their trip. The flustered balloon guide tried to cover up what had happened but accidentally stammered out the truth. Fearing for his friends, Chang used a puppet he was carrying for therapy to let out a agonizong scream by proxy. After the balloon went down, the Balloon guide searched the forest for the study group. She managed to track down the study group later that night at their make shift camp. She led them all back to civilization except for Pierce who had been absent at her arrival due to him being elsewhere in the forest using the bathroom ("Intro to Felt Surrogacy").
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Trivia[]
The actress portraying the Balloon guide is American singer/song writer Sara Bareilles. Her 2009 song "Gravity" from the album "Little Voice" was featured in an infamous Jeff and Annie Community shipping fanvid of the same name. The song "Gravity" would later be used in the Season Two episode 'Paradigms of Human Memory" to pay homage that particular shipping video. In "Intro to Felt Surrogacy" which featured Bareilles herself, the song title was referenced several times by Shirley and Britta during an argument they were having.