Parks and Recollection - Campaign Ad (S4E12)

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergich himself!) and writer Greg Levine are back to discuss S4E12 of Parks and Rec - it’s Campaign Ad! Jim and Greg discuss the arrival of Bobby Newport, Paul Rudd’s method acting, the Better Better Business Bureau, Greg’s brief turn as a film star, and so much more. Treat yo’ self!Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email at [e-mail]!

We're getting together to talk about all the things we used to do The laughs, the passions, the little Sebastians, the pets we fell into And we're putting it on in a podcast, then we'll send it up into the sky Then we'll send it up into the sky We're calling it Parks and Recollection Come on little podcast Spread your wings and fly Okay, welcome back everybody. We're doing another Parks and Recollection.

I am one of the hosts, the better looking one I think we could agree. Jim O'Hare, I think you know me as the guy who played Jerry or Gary or Larry or Terry or even Barry from the show. The show. And you did what on the show? You are? Actually, you know, they wanted me to be Jerry. Really?

No, they didn't want that from me. I have a face for radio and it's finally coming true. It is happening. I have a face for radio, and it's finally coming true. It is happening. It's Greg, and I'm so excited to be back here with you, Jim, talking about just another stellar episode. It really is. We're doing the campaign ad, and I think it is a stellar episode. We have amazing guest stars on this episode and all this stuff.

But before we begin, life has been happening. You have been dealing with some sick kids, but everyone's good now. Happy about that. Yeah. Sick kids are sad. Sick babies, sad. But we're, you know, sleepless nights, but we're getting through it. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and that's the best part. You've been busy, too. I've been busy. I've been gone. I've been in Michigan shooting a film. Say no more. I get it.

You get it. I've been in Michigan. Shooting a film. It was weird how this even came up. So anyway, we get the script. We look at it. You know, we means me and my team as they say. No, please. My manager sends me this film. And to be honest, there's a lot going on and I

didn't think I would have time to do it. Initially said I'm not even going to read it because I think I just can't do this time wise. And then I was like, well, let to do it. Initially said, I'm not even going to read it because I think I just can't do this time-wise. And then I was like, well, let me read it. And then I read the darn thing and I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

And I called my manager the next day, said I have good news and bad news. And it's both the same. I love this script. Yeah. Because it was good because who doesn't want to do a good work on a good film? But it's bad just because of timing. So anyway, uh, I ended up doing this thing. So, but she said it was shooting in Michigan and you know, Michigan's a big state. And I said, oh, okay. What part? And she said a place called Sawyer. Well, the crazy thing is my family had

a place on a Lake that I grew up with 20 minutes from Michigan. Wow. So I have spent the last three weeks on my old turf, like literally on my old turf. And it was great. Um, it felt familiar and that's always comforting. Uh, it was scary. This is the second time ever on a film where I've been, um, they call them, you know, call sheets, which is going to tell you what's going to happen during the day, what's going on. Uh, I was number one on the call sheet, which means, okay, here he is. No, I'm only saying it because I have never been so exhausted from three weeks in my life. It was the thing is you read these, like you read a good script that you like and like, Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Okay. I'm going to do it. We decided to do it. And then you realize I got to learn this damn thing. Every one of these words has to come out

of my mouth and it's 109 pages. And so, uh, it was daunting, uh, but it was also exhilarating, but every day, every day was minimum 12 hours yeah and then i would go back to the hotel and i would sit with the script for the next day like it it was not any like when i think about what amy must have gone through on parks because you know as jerry i came you know i'd work three maybe four days a week depending on what the episode was sometimes five it would depend but there was downtime i did not have downtime like amy must have rarely had downtime right parks just by the nature of it's it's fun and it's exciting and it's it's a version of work that so many people would love to have but it is still work it is still work yes um i think people don't also think about or know about perhaps the length of

time a day of shooting is the the set life i mean to talk about the day that perhaps the length of time a day of shooting is. The set life. I mean, talk about the day that the number one of the call sheet's there for, but like the PAs are there three hours before. Oh, if I'm there 12, there's others there a lot longer than me. Yeah, right. But you're there and the day is hinging on, in this case for you, you showing up, you doing the work, you being prepared,

or else the days go even longer. Way longer, yeah. And probably on a shoot like this, you know, can't afford to go much longer. It's an indie film. So they don't have, you know, there's not $50 million with this. So they, what I, the reason this, and I think, I think, you know, I could be eating my words. I think it gave me the chance to do some of, this is so weird to say out loud, but I think it gave me the chance to do

kind of some of the best work I've ever done. And we've been waiting for that for a while. Everybody has been waiting. I know. Right? Everybody.

Most listeners have seen seven years of some of your worst. Yeah, oh, absolutely. 100%. So really, anything I do in this film

will be considered a plus probably. That's awesome. So yeah, that's what I've been doing. Yeah, I'm really excited. Of course, I keep saying, you know, you see the final cut.

I could be like, ah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not what I thought. I don't know. You never know. Well, that's a good story. I appreciate you trying. But, you know, honestly, like I know comparing, like most people would prefer to have my life the last few weeks dealing with the sick children.

Oh, me too. I wish I had had that. That's number one on the call sheet. Oh, yeah. Just like people just like, how can we help you, Mr. O'Hare? You're wanted on set, Mr. O'Hare. All right, well, let's talk about the episode. Let's talk about this episode because we say it all the time.

I feel like it's a bit of like the boy who cried wolf because you're never going to believe us when we say it, but this is one of the great ones. I think so too. An amazing guest star, great comedy games happening in this episode. Let's talk about specifically, this is Campaign Ad. It was written by Alan Yang,

directed by Dean Holland. I mean, some superstar action here. Superstars. It originally aired on January 19th, 2012. It is episode 12 from season 4 and Jim blurb. Blurb us.

The race for city council is shaken up by the entry of Bobby Newport, a wealthy and good-natured but dumb as a stump and incompetent son of the town's largest employer. Leslie and Ben disagree on the content of her first campaign ad. Ron is very uncomfortable when Chris tries to befriend him, while Andy and April make an unbelievable trip to the doctor.

Sure, you know, three great random storylines that just work and fit so well together. It's so crazy because I know we've talked about this before. We have the rare episode that is fully one story, but here we have an A, B, and C and they all are awesome. There's not a weak storyline

in this episode. Right. We have the episodes like, let's say, The Trial of Leslie Knope, which we recently talked about, or even The Comeback Kid, a recent episode where you have our A story and the B story and C stories kind of splinter off from there, right? Everyone, you may have a comedy game in the Comeback Kid where Ron and Tom and everyone are getting all the stuff together

for the big event, but it's for all servicing and third act A story that everything comes together for. In this case, you get a storyline where Chris and Ron are hanging out and it turns out to be about friendship, but also I'm testing you to see if you might do Ben's old job. But these disparate stories,

but I actually love those stories the most, I think. Because it shows you that, oh, we have a set of characters who can kind of do anything. And you can do so many different stories. And you don't have to worry about each story servicing plot only. Right. Three totally separate.

But let me ask you this. When you're in the writer's room, do you guys say, okay, we haven't had a Chris and Ron story? Will that be something you'll say? And then that's how this ends up happening? Like we haven't put these two characters together? Sometimes. It's easy to say sure or no, but it's

a mix. Because sometimes you'll have a situation where you'll create an A story that is necessary for your plot. Let's say it's this one. And we have a certain amount of our characters who are in it. Then you kind of look to see who's left over. In this case we have a certain amount of our characters who are in it, then you kind of look to see who's left over, right? In this case, we have Andy and April,

and we have Ron and Chris. And so you pitch in the room what would be fun stories with these characters, and you kind of see what could come about. In other situations, early on in the season when we're kind of talking a lot more about story ideas, just blue sky pitch whatever ideas you might have. Let's put them on cards, put them on the wall, and we can use them to form our episodes as we move on. You may have had a storyline pitch like this with Andy and April where Andy goes to a bunch of

doctors and you're like, oh, let's do that story. So in that case, that story's been crafted. You have our A story that's collected Ben and Leslie, Tom and Jerry and all our people. And you're like, oh, who's left? Oh, it's

Ron and Chris. What the hell are they going to do? And then you just pitch, what would be a fun Ron and Chris story? And so it kind of shapes out that way. Sometimes it's necessity. Sometimes it's we have a great idea. And that's the alchemy that's making network television. Because as I would imagine in the writer's room, you guys, I don't know, the word service

seems so odd, but you have to service each character. Right. Like especially series regulars. You're going to make sure that everyone has something going on. Right. So, but I love, because Ron and Chris are so, what a ridiculous coupling. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But how perfect to put them together. Right. And maybe it works sporadically, or maybe it works because you don't see them together that often. Right. Yes. That's why it works. Right. And they don't see them together that often. Right, yes. That's why it works. And they couldn't be

more different human beings. Right. You couldn't have, between food and recreation and everything, they are opposite ends of the planet.

So some notes from this episode. This is Paul Rudd's first appearance as Bobby Newport. Obviously, we know Bobby is a member of Pawnee's infamous

Newport family. He's heir to the Sweden's fortune. And Paul Rudd will wind up appearing in five episodes of Parks and Rec. But his, you know,

his character is so important for the back half of the season. Yes. Right? It's now really making it where Leslie's

competition kind of isn't herself and the scandal that kind of plagued her for the first nine or ten episodes. Now her competition is this person. This nut. This nutty cuckoo sweetheart. Also, I don't know if you know this.

Yes, all of the above. I don't know if you guys know this, but he, before this, and I know they still are, was dear friends with Adam Scott. Yes. In real life. Like, families vacationed together. They did the whole thing. So I love that, like, when I watch the scenes, it's like, oh, I know they're really buddies in real life.

And I love that. Yeah, and I actually, that's so funny because I thought about that when you see Amy and Paul doing scenes together. And you're like, oh, but you've acted in other things together, right? And now you're like, oh, but you've acted in other things together, right? And now you're like, oh, who are our characters today? And I've

acted with Paul Rudd before. Have you? Well, not in the same scene, but during a part of my career, I worked in casting and one of the movies we cast was I Love You Man. Oh, yeah. Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones

and Jason Segel and it's great. And I got a little chummy with John Hamburg, who was the writer-director of the movie. And one day he said, you know, Craig, I think there might be a part for you in this movie. What? And I was like, and I'm just like at a desk being like, what? And he said, yeah, you look like a guy who'd be on J-Date. Thanks, John. at a desk being like what and I said yeah you look like a guy who'd be on J-Date thanks John yeah and at the time

and apologies to my wife now at the time you know over a decade ago I was on J-Date okay there we go so the part I was

born to play baby and so yeah I wound up doing this one line thing and I didn't tell a single friend of mine about it because I thought it'd be so funny if people saw this movie and then had one of those like, what the hell? Yeah.

Because I'm not an actor. Why would I be in this? And I got a lot of great reactions from people. So it made it. It's in the final. It's in it. Yes. It's one of the first.

It's like in the first like two or three minutes. I'm on a date with Rashida's character's friend, played by Sarah Burns. And they're on the phone, and Sarah has this line saying something like, you know, because Rashida just gets engaged to Paul. It's like, you're so lucky. It's impossible to find a good guy in this city. And then you cut to me on a date with her, and I say, I thought we were connecting. I got to check that out. Yes, yes.

Wow, do you get residuals from it? Do you still see checks? No. No, okay. Well, there we go. That's a shame. Okay, but moving on. Yes, moving on.

Yes, yes, yes. Jim, we were talking, this is a great note we have. We were talking about people who've worked together and other things. I mean, Parks people continue to hang out together

in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right? Unless you've been living under a rock. We have Chris Pratt as Star-Lord. I'm sorry, Chris who? Am I pronouncing that right? Pratt. Pratt? Christ Pratt. I wondered what happened to him. What is he doing? The biggest star on the planet as

Star-Lord. Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. Jim, are you going to join? Jim O'Hara, this was a very lean name, bad joke for me. And Jim O'Hara's human person. Yeah, I read that joke. It's really lean. Yes, it is.

But let's just say we're in the pre-pro, as we say in the business. Pre-pro. One other notes I want to call out is in the ad that we see from Leslie later on, there's a bunch of things that Leslie is pro, like other campaign things that she wants to see happen. Other things Leslie is pro list. And it scrolls about 110 items on it. It includes things like better, better business bureau. Start talking to Cuba again. Reopen the toucan exhibit at the Pawnee Zoo.

I think another one was like, find the toucans, free cookies at every street corner and one school for every student. And here's the fun thing. This list was written by me and David Phillips, the other writer's assistant. That's awesome. We were told to come up with some, we did. And then we were told to come up with like 70 more. And then I sent the list off in like a Microsoft Word doc to our post people. And then when I saw the episode, and you'll see it when it scrolls by, it looks like it's just a Microsoft Word document. It is exactly just that.

They didn't reformat it. They didn't change the order. It's in the exact order I wrote it. We wrote it, which obviously adds to the comedy. But little moments, little fun moments. One of the things that also struck out to me that I wrote down, fewer libraries. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah.

That is. Thank you so much for calling out that joke. Any other things you really liked about it? No. Okay. Anyway, actually, I thought the list was the weakest part of the episode. No, it was a great list. Well, let's talk about the episode.

I'm going to start our synopsis. Bobby Newport, a member of Pawnee's influential Newport family, has entered into the city council race against Leslie. He's immediately way ahead of her in the polls, despite his complete lack of experience or interest in politics. Ben decides that Leslie should air a negative campaign ad on TV against him, an attack ad. Meanwhile, Andy has health insurance for the first time. So he meets with Dr. Harris about a possible concussion he suffered and discloses a number of ailments and injuries he's amassed over

the years. And in our C story we were alluding to earlier, Chris asks for Ron's help in delivering bad budget news, which the anti-government Ron is way more than happy to do. That is Ron's go-to. Yeah. It's what he's good at. He doesn't care. He will crush your dreams and put a smile on his face. Yeah. Walk away and have a steak.

Yeah. And he's going to do that in this episode a few times. He literally does it in this episode. All right, first impressions of Bobby Newport, Jim. What do we feel? Well, first of all, Paul Rudd playing Bobby Newport

is perfection. He plays adult like no other adult because the thing about Bobby Newport is as much as, of course, you want Leslie to win this thing because he's such an idiot, but he's so stupid. He doesn't know better.

He really is adult. I mean, he really is just a simpleton. And, you know, I know we have this in the notes and we can talk about it, but he's like pleading, no, no, no, just leave, stop. Leave the race. He doesn't understand how it all works. Yeah, he keeps saying like, you know, my dad,

my dad made this for me. It's a Bobby bar. My dad made this for me. It's a Bobby bar. My dad made this for me. He doesn't even know who he's running against. He thinks he's running against nobody. His first meet, when he meets and greets, you know, the people, and then he meets and greets Leslie and Ben is just hysterical. He has no concept who they are.

I know. And Amy's, Leslie's reaction, however you want to say it, is just perfect. Like she's looking at him like, this can't be real. I have worked my whole life for this. I've worked so hard for this always. And this idiot. Right. And he's 70 points ahead in the polls. And it punctures this like, this like false sense of reality that I think she's living in, which is like, oh, everybody must view the city council race the same way I do.

Everybody must view government and politics and it's important in your life the way I do. And here's a businessman or son of a businessman, a business person, whoever.

Whomever. Who thinks pretty much I can buy my, you know, my election. And she's like, no, what about me, the person who works hard, who cares? Truly cares. Truly cares.

I mean, she certainly has an ego. Leslie has an ego. But she cares. She truly cares. But I think the way Paul played it is just so funny. And so I can't hate his character because he's sweet and stupid. Right. And I think that was an intentional choice in the writer's room to not just make him be just this comically evil.

Right. Right. But there's something sweet about his simpleness, right? That you're like. We end up with comically evil later. We get our, you know, jam and other stuff. Yeah. But this is, you're like we end up with comically evil later we get our you know uh uh jam and right we get yeah yeah but this is you're right this was not there's nothing evil about bobby newport right because you want to make it complicated you want you you in this case you want to feel

like should leslie actually if he's comically evil why isn't leslie putting out a campaign ad even if it's not who she thought she would be, this guy is attacking you, attack him back. But that's not what's happening here. So you have to find the Leslie way through. So we get iconic lines from Bobby Newport, from Paul Rudd throughout the series. But already right up front in the beginning, we get things like, I don't know why they call it a campaign.

Because up until now, it's been a cam pleasure. I love how he keeps saying, have a Bobby bar. My dad made them. With such pride. My dad made them. Yeah. And I like, you know, he has that moment where he's like, oh, I thought I was running. I'm running unopposed, right?

And he turns to the security guard who's just never acknowledged him. Just in both of those, like, just doing what a security guard does. The security guard literally doesn't acknowledge. Yeah, but I also think maybe the security guard just hears questions like this from him all the time. And it's like, I've learned to tune them out. That could be. I have to tell you, this is behind the scenes of this show, as a matter of fact. So the way, and I think this is okay to say, we all watch the episodes again.

We have our own things that we do, and then notes are put out so we can share and all that kind of stuff. Greg and I, as much as we tease back and forth, every note you have, I have. It's as if, like, we've been, I don't know. It either means those are the highlights of each episode, but I feel like we're very much on the same page of what makes us laugh. Yes, 100%, yes. Just sharing that, just a little, that's BTS.

That's what the kids say, BTS. Oh, boy. I say... You say it like you just learned it. I did just learn it. Like, I just learned it, and I can't wait. It's like when you learn a new word, you can't you just learned it. I did just learn it. You're like, I just learned it and I can't wait. It's like when you learn a new word, you can't wait to use it. Okay, so this B story or this storyline with Andy Napro is so funny

because it's just a perfect comedy engine. You come up with this idea, which is that Andy is going to see a bunch of doctors because he has health insurance. And it's Andy Andy so he rattles off all the things that are wrong with him that he hasn't been dealing with and he just and he's like great I get to see you do comedy scenes

so they're all comedy scenes nothing's building towards like oh I wind up having this great you know lesson about life and that's gonna it's just for comedy and it's with two characters who are perfect for that. I love that when he's talking to Anne. Oh, so great.

About some of the things. And she says, some of those are symptoms and some of those are just being a person. Exactly. Because one of them is, I'm hungry. Yeah, I'm hungry. Yeah, that's called being a person. Yeah.

And that, you know, Andy's trying to seem all smart, which is a thing he does throughout the episode. He's talking to the doctors, you know, like, technically, I did smash my head area into the wall area. And then we get to see him hang his gold record, which is a great callback. His point being, I have a gold record. Right. That's all it's about. And it's a great callback to when Leslie gave, I have a gold record. Right. That's all it's about. And it's a great callback to when Leslie gave him that gift, that present for Christmas. Yes, of course.

We talk a lot about our favorite blooper gag reel moments on this show. For me, personally, I think there's one from this episode. It's my absolute favorite. And that's saying there have been ones we have talked about some on the show recently, right? With Joan Calamezzo and Tom and Ben. That cracks me up. But there's one that makes me smile so much. And it is when Andy and April are with Dr. Harris.

Who I love, Dr. Harris. He's great. He's just the best. And in a blooper. Cooper Thornton. Cooper Thornton. Cooper Thornton. Shout out to Cooper Thornton. You just learned the word shout out, Dr. Harris. That's great. He's just the best. And in a blooper. Cooper Thornton. Cooper Thornton. Cooper Thornton. Shout out to Cooper Thornton.

You just learned the word shout out too. I did. Okay, great. BTS shout out to Cooper Thornton. Okay, great. So in the blooper, you know, Pratt's going on about different things. And he says, you know, sometimes when I wipe, I'll wipe and I'll wipe

and I'll wipe and I'll wipe. And every time, each time, it's still poop. And he says, it's like I'm wiping a marker. And alone, if this is improv,

if this was Alan, if it was Yang on set as well, if it's whatever it is, it's so fucking funny. So funny. But it's coupled with, and you watch it after the episode, everyone, get through our amazing gobbets that we're talking about the show, then go to YouTube and check out this blooper, because what's also great is that Aubrey completely breaks.

Yeah. Right? Which was very hard to do. It was very hard to get Aubrey to break. In fact, we talked about this on the podcast before when they were doing Hunting Trip in season two. Pratt said to Greg Daniels, the director of the episode, I'm going to try to make Aubrey break.

And he finally got her to. It was like a joy to get Aubrey to break. And she does. And she cracks up. I just love it. It's so funny. Okay. One last thing to call out before we move love it. It's so funny. Okay, one last thing to call out before we move on because there's so much. I mean, this

episode is chock full of great stuff. I really like this moment and it never made me laugh. Well, they all make me laugh, but it got me in my prep for this episode. When Ron and Chris Oh, so you do prep. Okay, good. Go ahead. When Ron and Chris are meeting with you do prep. Okay. Okay, good. Go ahead. When Ron and Chris

are meeting with John from Public Works, there's something about this character and the actor that's so funny. He's very concerned about the Pawnee River Dam, which they're killing the project, and he says he's concerned it's ending, and then

he said, where will all the water go? Right. And I'm calling this out. I'm calling this out because he doesn't play as a comedy character. He's just a person who works in public works and is working on a dam. And I'm like, oh, yeah, Pawnee isn't just full of silly people. Real people live in Pawnee. Real people go to the doctor and they aren't Andy. Real people

send their kids to school. Real people go to work at whatever businesses they are and those businesses aren't Sweetums or Dennis Feinstein or whatever. They're just work. And this guy is just like, I'm sorry, crazy person Ron and crazy person Chris. What are we

going to do about all the water? Anyway, really, really, really made me laugh. And nobody cares. Get rid of it. Get rid of the product. Ron walks out with a smile. Literally,

a hop in his step, a little dance in his step as he left that room. Yeah. Because he had crushed that man's dreams because government should not be involved.

Yeah, yeah. It should not be involved. Okay, in our synopsis, Leslie is uneasy about the negative ad idea as she's always dreamt of running a clean campaign. Ben says that pointing out Balbi's obvious

flaws is the only way to help her poll numbers. So Leslie decides to make a positive ad about herself while Ben makes the negative ad, and they're going to let the Parks Department decide which one to air. Meanwhile, Ron is uncomfortable when Chris asks him out to lunch. Jim, I've been very excited to talk to you about a scene in particular from this meanwhile Ron is uncomfortable when Chris asks him out to lunch Jim

been very excited to talk to you about a scene in particular from this episode I think you know what we're talking about so Ben, Tom, Jerry are doing the voiceover for the negative Bobby Newport ad we get to see all three of you guys saying the words

Bobby Newport we start with Ben doing it, and then Tom gives the directorial stuff about making it more intense, and then they go back and forth, and then Jerry joins in. Jerry gets in there. Bobby Newport, right?

It's so delightful. Love that Jerry's included in it. It's a pure comedy scene. Talk to us about it. It was so much fun to do that. Number one, yes, I love that Jerry was included also. But it's one of those scenes I hear about all the time

to this day. People have yelled Bobby Newport! Like they're doing it from the show. Now I felt like I was there. That was great. We laughed so hard. We did so many takes just because we were having so much fun. I can picture we were on stage, I think, the 22. We had 21 and 22, and they had set up the house there.

Yeah. And, my God, I can picture like it was just yesterday, and we were laughing so hard. It's so silly. It's just one after the, Bobby, you pull. Yeah, yeah. With different takes. And so it's great.

It's great. And we're having so much fun. And then, of course, Jerry gets slammed at the end. Yeah, yeah. With different takes. And so it's great, it's great, and we're having so much fun. And then, of course, Jerry gets slammed at the end. Yeah, yeah. Which is perfect. It's perfect, yeah. But it's like, hey, we're having this great time together. We're all doing it, we're all doing it, we're all doing it. And then it's like, well, Jerry, come on, now we're

just wasting time. Yeah, yeah. Even though they've been totally into it. Yeah, and it's this scene where, like, you could cut this scene, one might call it cut bait, and you don't need it. You just don't need it. Yeah, and it's this scene where like, you could cut this scene, one might call it cut bait, and you don't need it. You just don't need it. You don't need to see

the negative ad being made. Right. Right, because we're going to wind up seeing the negative ad. Yeah. So we don't need to spend this, what, 30 seconds.

I mean, this felt like a 20 to 30 second scene. Yeah. And in a show that's about 20 and a half minutes long, that's a significant period, a chunk of time. But it's pure comedy. You don't need it. But it is so funny that we need to have space for scenes like this. Yes. That could have been an easy edit if they needed the time,

but they also knew it was important. It was so funny. And also just as from an actor's point of view, sitting there with Adam and Aziz, those are the moments that I treasure so much from the show. Because whenever there's a group of you in that type of situation, there's just so much laughter and joking and telling of stories and BSing. And by that point, we know the crew. It's just, that is like the perfect day for me. That is the perfect day. That's why i always said my favorite scenes have always been ultimately the conference room scenes because it's a group

of us together so whenever we just got to sit and hang yeah yeah those you know please i always say every day was a great day at parks but uh that scene was just special because it's rare to have the three of us together also true that. That's not a common thing. Yeah, that brings great memories back. I loved it. Before we move on, can you give us one more? Greg Levine. Oh, no.

Greg Levine. Before actually we would go home, I might want you to record my voicemail for me. So, okay. This battle between the positive campaign ad, the negative campaign ad, I mean, this is where we get to see some of our big differences between Leslie and Ben play out, right? They have different ways, I think, of handling life, about seeing situations. They both bring out the best in each other. They ultimately need each other to get through things. And I love it.

I love the relationship. I mean, Leslie is forever an idealist. She sees the good in people. She wants to spread that. Ben is always expecting to be let down, I think, right? He always needs to be on the defense. He's had some disappointments. And we're going to learn a lot more about him

in next season, about his parents. We'll get to see a little bit of his origin story. Oh, I just saw one of those episodes on Comedy Central Place Parks again. And I was in the hotel over the weekend and that episode. Oh, that's a good one. With his parents.

That's my episode. I wrote that episode. Oh, dude, that's a good one. Oh, you wrote it? People talk about it being perhaps, and this is you know, unparalleled, the best episode the show's ever had well yeah that's what I was thinking other than the other

125 well that's why it's great because there are 125 other episodes yeah no but it's a great episode I didn't know you wrote that

yeah no I don't maybe I don't yeah I know you want to take that you want to cut that can we cut that out can we cut bait that

is that a cut bait thing oh god he just learned a term and he's using it okay also I love that Donna Can we cut bait that? Is that a cut bait thing? Oh, God. He just learned a term. Okay. Also, I love that Donna says she always goes negative. Always goes negative. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's great. It's great. It's great. Love Donna. Okay. In our synopsis, April and Andy spend the day visiting specialists at the hospital. And the team votes for Ben's very effective attack ad.

Ben is about to deliver the ad to the television station, but Leslie tackles him. They ultimately miss the window to air the spot. And Ron continues to evade Chris's overtures of friendship. And so Donna guesses that Chris misses Ben, who was his closest friend at City Hall and was always the one to deliver the bad news.

At the end of the day, Andy is shocked that his copay is $500 because of all the doctors that he's visited. He says, I have the insurance. He and April flee without paying. They medically dine and dash. But Andy immediately runs into an ambulance

parked outside. Medically dine and dash. That Andy immediately runs into an ambulance parked outside. Medically dine and dash. Yeah. That's brilliant. Thank you. That's not in the snow, because I, dear listener, just came up with it. But it's what they did. They did.

It's what they did. Yeah. And April was so happy when he decided to do that. The smile on her face as they're running. Yeah. If you're watching on Peacock, at 9 minutes, 14 seconds, freeze it. Watch it, pause it, freeze it. We call it pausing,

but I want to call it freezing it. Read the list of the doctors on the directory on the wall. We've got some classic Parks names or the characters that we meet. Mitch Forch, L. Bernie Walrus, Lip Nerpens,

and the rest of the names are all crew members Nerpens. Of course. And the rest of the names are all crew members from the show. Literally crew. Literally the names of crew members. We have Tom McGill. I love it. Yeah, we have all of our friends. And that's a common thing a lot of shows do, right? You have to fill, you know, set deck with things.

And those are names kind of cleared because they're all crew names. And so you'll see a lot of shows do stuff like that. I love that. We did it a ton. Okay, there's a moment in the Ron and Chris story

that we should talk about which is, I mean, it's great. This story is so fun. You mentioned it's a very rare pairing so it's, I think,

even more fun to see it because we don't get to see the kind of comedy come from these two, just these two together. But when Ron kind of blacks out and ends up at lunch with Chris, befuddled as how he even got there, you know, it's, I remember in the room, the writers, we're all talking about, is that, does that make sense? Can we do a joke like that? Because every so often, we would talk about the fact that

this started as a mockumentary, right? The idea there was a camera crew. And even though we never, it kind of veers away from maybe the, the office maintained the mockumentary format throughout to the point where the final season is going to build around the fact that it's going to come out soon. The doc is going to come out. In our case,

we didn't do that. But every so often, you'd ask, well, would they edit it like that? Would they edit a match cut like that where you zoom in on him and you zoom out into somewhere else? And ultimately, we land on, it's funny.

It's bottom line, it's funny. It's funny. And you're in season four. And at some point, you have to be like, this is the show we're making. Let's lean into that and not stress so much about some of the behind-the-scenes machinations. And I love, as a lover of the show, that Ron was so manipulated. A man who we know can be manipulated. We have seen this in the past with the women in his life.

So he can be manipulated. Yeah, yeah. And Chris really is a master. Like he can talk you just his words. He can make things happen. I loved it. I didn't look into it any deeper like, oh, that doesn't make sense. No, I'm sorry.

I thought it was brilliant. And then Ron, whatever, just looking, I don't know how I'm here. I don't know how this happened. And that's proof of that it was the right choice, I think, because that's how most people are going to enjoy it. They're going to like, did it resonate with me? Did it make me laugh? Did it make me cry? Sometimes in our side of things, in the making of art, of comedy, of story, whatever, you overthink things.

You're like, what will the viewer, what will the audience member appreciate and like about it? And then maybe let that be your guide. And we did. 100%. Love that. Do you remember some of the great things that Andy and April wound up doing at the hospital? He got his ankles microwaved. He took his blood away to use for science.

I mean, April repeatedly correcting him, obviously, that that's not what happened. He got an x-ray. They took his blood to be tested, whatever. These two are at their best when they're on these weird adventures together. Absolutely. I have to call this out.

He's a great guy. The guy at the station who wants who's wanting the ad to be handed to him when Leslie gets tackles Ben. It's played by Mike Macaron who was an associate producer in the post-production

department of our show. I didn't know that. Mike Mac. Oh yeah. I didn't know that. His character name is Walter Clarming Bang. That's one of the great names. And I'm also going to extend the, okay. Clarming Bang is a character name from our infamous Harris Whittles written and directed shorts that we would make in the writer's room. And I think calling them shorts makes them seem like,

oh, maybe we should see these. They're very stupid. They're very silly. They'll make pretty much only the people who know the people in them laugh. How long were these shorts? I mean, they were short. They're like a minute. They took a minute for Harris to write in his office.

They took a minute to shoot. And then we'd watch them for hours. We, you know, we had Chelsea on our podcast. We were talking about them. So, Climbing Bing is a character in the Harris Whittles series, The Date. And now Walter Climbing Bing, forever played by Mike Max. So, anyway, a little fun behind the scenes. Shout out to Mike.

A little fun BTS there, boss. Yeah, BTS, behind the scenes. That's what that means. Yes. Also, how much time went into, like, did you guys get a lot of play time during the day in the writer's room? Or was it, because I would imagine you would need, you know, it can't just be work, work, work, work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I'm alluding to the fact that we definitely had time.

Yeah. To be silly. And when Mike or Greg, nobody was on your ass about that. It was like, because the work was getting done. The work's done. And, you know, you need to sometimes, you know, for us, it's the version of like getting up from your desk and walking to the break room and getting a snack, right? You need to turn off a part, the thing that's working, to then be able to go back to work. Okay, let's close out our synopsis.

Leslie apologizes to Ben, but says she cannot forsake her morals. So the two work together to make a more effective positive ad for Leslie, which they post on YouTube. Ron introduces Chris to Kyle to try to get out of attending an event with Chris, but he reveals he wasn't looking for a friend. He was scouting Ron to see if he would be a good replacement

for Ben's old job as assistant city manager. Leslie's ad is well-received and garners the attention of Bobby Newport, who asks Leslie to drop out of the race and throws a whiny tantrum when she refuses. You know, the way you expected that storyline to end. Absolutely. The tantrum from Bobby Newport. We talked about it earlier a little bit, Jim. But we get to see his entitlement,

the desperation in him. You know, he just wants to win. Obviously, he wants to prove something to his dad. We never really get too much about it, but, you know, I love he's like, I want it. Come on, give it. Give me it.

Give me it. Come on, give me it. Just give me the election. And then he's like, I'm sorry. Please, please. I laugh so much at this because we're doing this right. My wife and I right now with our daughter who like kind of like teaching manners. Right.

Then you have to teach and you're like, she'll ask for something. And I'm like, great. That's great for asking for it as opposed to pointing at it or whatever. But we're also teaching how we say please and thank you, right? And so sometimes she'll, my daughter now will like ask for like, you know, I want another strawberry. And then she'll then remember, please, right? And so when I'm watching this, I'm like,

oh, that's who Bobby Newport is. Bobby is the guy who threw a tantrum and then was like, wait, I've been taught my manners. Please, come on, please. And that would make it all better. Yeah, yeah. But also you have to watch Amy as an actress. Her reactions to him are so perfect

because she's in shock. She cannot believe this adult male is begging. She can't believe she's in the polls majorly losing to this guy. 70 points. Yeah. Yeah. But just watch Leslie's reactions to him. They're so funny.

She just is in shock. And then she's like, no. And just so you know, there's going to be a debate. And just to let you know, I know my stuff. Yeah. Like, she's even giving a heads up like you need to be prepared

yeah she is a good person yeah oh it's just brilliant brilliant brilliant we get a great end of the episode

line from Bobby and it reminds me of when Andy's at the Grand Canyon and he says where's all the faces it's that kind of a thing where

they're talking about the ad and Bobby is like where'd you get that girl? And the attendant was like, can I get her information so I can get her in my ad or whatever? And she's like, that was me at 10. And he's like, how'd you do that? He still doesn't get it. Doesn't get it.

He doesn't get anything. He's still so stupid. He's a dumbass. Yeah, yeah. Who's got money. Imagine if Andy had a ton of money, what crazy shit would happen? Oh, great point. You know what I mean?

Yeah. He is Andy with a ton of money. Yeah. He's got a ton of money. Do you remember the moment? I don't think it was in the script when Red, when he leans back and he hits his head on the backrest and he's like, oh, it's not padded. Exactly.

He lives out loud. He's. Exactly. He lives out loud. He's a little kid who lives out loud. He really is Andy with a lot of money, which could be very scary. Yeah, no, that's a great way to close. Jim, we talked about a lot. Do you have some crap we didn't get to? You know, I always do have crap.

So a couple of things that, of course, stick out to me. So when they first approach Anne about getting medical help, because she's like, well, go to a doctor. Well, they're like, you're an idiot. We don't have money. And she's like, you do. You work for the thing. And of course, Andy doesn't know what insurance is.

And Anne is like, how did we live together? How did that ever happen? And then another great moment. I love when Ron is realizing he's going to help Chris out. And he said to Chris, have you ever considered cutting the entire fire department? I have personally put out several fires at no cost to the local tax. At no cost. No cost. I just have the kindness of my own heart. Kindness of my own heart. And anytime Andy uses finger quotes, he doesn't know when he's using,

he doesn't know air quotes. Is that what that's called? Air quotes. He puts them in totally the wrong places. It means nothing. Yeah.

And that just, that gets me every time. And then when he says to the doctor, I once ate a Twix with a wrapper on it, and I've never seen it come out. I mean, that is...

And then also, this is just a thing that I remember being on set. When we were shooting, when we were going to do the ads, and we were doing the scene where Leslie's trying to let Ben know that this is not how she wants it to go, but she's blaming everybody else. I don't think Donna's comfortable with this. And then Donna's like, oh no, I always go negative. And then she wants it to go, but she's blaming everybody else. I don't think Donna's comfortable with this.

And then Donna's like, oh no, I always go negative. And then she looks over to Ann and Rashida is smelling the markers. Yes. We all smelled those markers. Yeah. They were delicious. Yeah, they were good. They were truly smelly markers.

Yeah, I wonder how many kids actually bit them because they smelled that good. But I remember being on set that day and we were laughing. It was like, oh my God, this is Jerry's. This is banana. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was really, really fun.

And also a little hurtful here, but I'll put it out here. When they decided to go split up the teams. So it's going to be Leslie, Donna and Ann. And then it's going to be Ben. And he gets Tom and Jerry and she says, Leslie says, you can take Jerry. You want him to go negative? You got the biggest negative in the world, buddy. And then they cut to Jerry playing with his nose.

Yeah. Thank you. Nice moment. Nice sweet moment. And I also loved when Andy when they showed, he said, I think I'm allergic to getting stuck with needles and his arm is covered in rash. Yes, that's such a funny. From whatever test. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's some crap I forgot to talk about.

Let's flush the toilet on Jim's crap. Do you have a MVP for this episode? Great question. It's one of the questions we ask every episode. Yeah, I think I love Andy in this episode. Yeah, me too. He's my MVP. Like, you know, I love Andy.

We don't often talk about having our guest stars be MVPs, although Paul Rudd in this just nails it. Nails it. Within seconds, he's so good, and Bobby is so good, we get his character immediately. He's so good, and Bobby is so good. We get his character immediately. But the stuff with Andy at the doctor, to me, it's like the right story for the right character, and the comedy is so great.

And like I said, Chris Pratt and this storyline produced my favorite Parks and Rec gag reel moment. Blooper ever. And so for me, it's Andy. I'm 100% Andy yeah Paul Rudd certainly special mention but yeah this is Chris Pratt

again Pratt is it Pratt I don't know I don't know not much happened with him I don't know what happened to him anyway yeah

that's what I say listeners let us know who your MVP is by tweeting at Team Coco Podcast or by using the hashtag hashtag Parks and Recollection. We love to hear from you. We love to know what your thoughts are on the episode.

We do. And thank you all for listening. Oh, my gosh. I mean, we've come to the end of another perhaps stellar Parks and Recollection episode. I think absolutely stellar. I would imagine. Are there podcast awards? So should I get the tux cleaned and ready to go?

Yeah, okay, great. I would imagine that this one will put us in the rankings. This is our submission. So anyway, text this episode to your group chat, let people know, give us five-star reviews wherever you're listening. As always, an immense thanks to

Joe and Sean for keeping us going. And to you all, goodbye from Pawnee. From Pawnee. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. This has been a Team Coco production.