Parks and Recollection - Kaboom (S2E6)

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Enjoy the Pawnee outdoors with a bang! Today Rob Lowe and Alan Yang watch the 6th episode of season 2. In "Kaboom" the parks department build a playground with help from an exciting organization. In today's episode you'll find out why originally S2E6 had a PSA at the end, the makeup room dance parties, and if Pawnee has such a large body of water!Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email: [e-mail] Or leave a 30-Second voicemail at: [phone]  Leslie and Ann head to Eagleton as volunteers to help build a playground. The event is organized by a charity called KaBoom, which is headed up by its extremely charismatic leader Keef Slertner, played by Paul Scheer. While they’re there, they bump into Andy, who says he’s volunteering, but is actually just there for the free food. He tells Ann and Leslie that he’s moved out of the pit and is now living with the drummer of his band.  Leslie ends up being so inspired by the Eagleton playground build, that she decides to take matters into her own hands and tries to get the pit filled herself without anyone’s permission. This plan backfires as they try to fill the pit and discover they just dumped a ton of dirt all over Andy and his home - it turns out he never actually moved out after all. He gets injured and is taken to the hospital, where Ann tries to take care of him.  He tells Ann that he believes there’s still a connection and tries to persuade her to choose him over Mark. Ann shuts the conversation down by getting Andy another nurse.  Meanwhile, Leslie’s in hot water. Andy has decided to sue Pawnee for his injury, believing that if he wins the money, he’ll be able to impress Ann and get her back. Leslie says there’s another he will be able to impress Ann. The next day at City Hall, Andy says he will drop the lawsuit if the pit gets filled. The pit gets filled the next day and we see Keef ride off into the sunset on his boat, revealing that KaBoom is actually just an elaborate prank. 

We're getting together to talk about all the things we used to do The laughs, the passions, the little Sebastian's, the pets we fell into And we're putting it on in a podcast 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 Hi everybody, welcome to Parks and Recollection I'm Rob Lowe and Alan Yang

Say hello to the peeps What's up? Episode 6, season 2, here we are I like that What's up? we should think of what our like tat like we should have a thing i will not rest until the entire show is catchphrases and then we don't have to do anything just do our 10 catchphrases and get people love catchphrases people only want yes what if they made the whole plane out of the catchphrases like we why why come

up with them organically let's just come up with catch phrases and you just say literally let's say literally a bunch of times and we'll be good i've done it guy it's worked for me we we know it works well we got a good one today kaboom which by the way was a cereal in the 70s do you i'm older than you was you don't remember i'm afraid rob i wasn't alive in the 70s but but what was the cereal? It was very short-lived. But I remember it had multi-colors and little Ferris wheel-shaped things, and I liked it. Apparently, I was in the minority. And I thought when I watched this, this was going to be about the cereal, and it wasn't.

It's emphatically not about the cereal. Kaboom cereal, by the way, has what appears to be a murderous-looking clown on it. Maybe that was part of the downfall of the cereal. It also says here, Kaboom Cereal appears in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill Volume 1, as a hiding place for Vivica A. Fox's gun. So two fans of Kaboom Cereal, Rob Lowe and QT, Quentin Tarantino. You know, that speaks to my level of taste. There you go, man.

You should get into directing now. Just start now. Thank you. Second act, right? Just get into directing. Kaboom Cereal. I'll have to get some of that. So it's not about the cereal,

but what is it about, Alan Yang? I will let you know. Kaboom was episode six of season two, aired April 30th, 2009, for credit heads out there, written by Ayesha Muhar, my old roommate, and directed by Charles McDougal, not my roommate, but a proper British man

who has directed tons and tons of television, including The Office, Desperate Housewives, tons of stuff. I remember Charles McDougal really well. Yeah, terrific episode. And here's the synopsis. All you synopsis fans out there, Leslie and Ann head to eagleton as volunteers to help build a playground the event is organized by a charity called kaboom

not a cereal a charity damn it which is headed up by its extremely charismatic leader keith slurtner very normal name played by paul sheer while they're there they bump into andy who says he's volunteering but is actually there just for the free food he tells ann and leslie he's moved out of the pit and is now living with the drummer of his band. Leslie ends up being so inspired by the Eagleton playground build that she decides to take matters into her own hands and tries to get the pit filled herself without anyone's permission. This plan backfires as they try to fill the pit and discover they just dumped a ton of dirt all over Andy and his home. It turns out he never actually moved out at all. Andy gets injured. He's taken to the hospital where Ann tries to take care of him. He tells Ann that he believes there's still a connection and tries to persuade her to choose

him over Mark. Ann shuts the conversation down by getting Andy another nurse. Meanwhile, Leslie's in hot water. Andy's decided to sue Pawnee for his injury, believing that if he wins the money, he'll be able to impress Anne and get her back. Leslie says there's another way he'll be able to impress Anne the next day at City Hall. Andy says he'll drop the lawsuit if the pit gets filled. The pit gets filled the next day, and we see Keefe,

the Kaboom guy, right off into the sunset on his boat, revealing Kaboom is actually just an elaborate prank. Now, one of the first things I want to mention is Kaboom is a real organization. Thank you. This is insane. It's a real charity.

So every time I see this episode, I have to comment on that. So Kaboom is real. And we got the idea. But not a serial. It's not a serial. It's a real charity organization that does, as far as I know, build playgrounds. Now, I don't know. There's a number of crazy things going on.

Number one, why did we write a tag to this episode that implies Kaboom is fake? That seems like not a kind thing. Anyway, it happened. How did the lawyers let you do it? And not only that, the thing he says at the end is so wild. So Paul Scheer sheer great guy and you know was on human giants and very fun to have him in the show but i remember that like viscerally that stuff getting filmed he's on a speedboat by the way like something that parks and rec has

never done he's on a speedboat speeding away he's like kaboom is fake like it never made like it's never real like it it like and i i then my next it's a scam my next scam is to build a bunch of playgrounds or orphanages in china or something so it's very confusing i think it was so confusing if i remember correctly greg correct me if i'm wrong we then immediately cut to a public service announcement that said kaboom is real like it's like a real like like like leslie and amy like sorry amy and and uh rashida is saying like kaboom is real. Like, if you want to contribute to this, like, did you remember that? Am I hallucinating? Like, so why did we write that is my question.

That doesn't seem, that seems like, and why did the organization allow us to do that? Well, Kaboom was excited, I think, to be on the show because it was part of this multi-network, like, tribute to volunteerism that was happening. So a lot of different shows were doing volunteerism. So we picked Kaboom because of its connection to parks. But I remember, I think a very late night in the writer's room, someone wrote the tag and it cracked everyone up in this delirium kind of evening. And then it just, we kept laughing and it was a big debate in the room whether or not we should keep it. But because it was so funny, it stayed in, but we were mandated to immediately afterwards say it was real. So yeah, we say Kaboom is amazing. Kaboom is fake. Kaboom is real,

is the way the Parks and Rec ended the first time it aired. Yes. Yeah, that is ringing a lot of bells and I just don't know why. I mean, I guess I know why we did it because it was very late at night and it just got't know why i mean i guess i know why we did it because because it was late very late at night and it just got into the show but yeah i'm sitting here now so so in the research it says on the huffington post in an editorial after the episode kaboom aired the real kaboom chief executive officer daryl hammond called the episode ka perfect and so now now that seems like he's scamming us with that quote it seems like that is also a lie like it doesn't seem like that's real but anyway that every time i see this it

makes me think of 2 a.m in the writer's room it makes me think of morgan sackett or line producer calling us from the marina or whatever he was shooting this with paul sheer being like do we really need to shoot this like that kind of stuff And then it airing and being super confusing. So anyway, shout out to confusing, you know, tags to episodes that make real organizations seem fake. Well, I love that ending tag where he's on that speedboat. It looks like Miami Vice all of a sudden. It's a completely different show.

And where is he? What's the logic? There's no body of water that big anywhere near where Pawnee would be. Is he on Lake Michigan did he take the boat from Pawnee to Lake yeah where is he he's just gonna hit Canada so I don't know where I don't know where he's planning to go it's like I'm going to Milwaukee it's like good luck Keith like that's it and he's dressed like the captain from the Captain and Tennille it's there's no point along the way where anyone made a sane decision. In making that tag, no one ever stopped anything from happening.

So the episode is worth it for that tag alone, which is one of the most mystifying things Parks and Rec ever did. For sure. But the other thing that I love is when he's building Paul Scheer's character is, you know, he's this like Tony Robbins-esque guy. He's got one of those those microphones attached to his face, but it's not coming to what end? There's no speakers. There's no audience. Just part of the illusion, Rob. Keep in mind, in the context of the show, Kaboom isn't real.

He might be unhoused himself. That should have been the first clue. We don't know. There's a dangling cord. It's just not hooked up to anything. But yeah, I mean, it was... should we talk about the rest of the episode i mean i could do another 30 minutes on the tag i think but i feel like well but i love that so the the kaboom playground is built in eagleton i think it's the first mention of eagleton is it the first oh no duke

silver plays at a bar in eagleton so very early, we just used Eagleton as like a throwaway other town. So I think that was one of the throwaway names we used. I think another thing we did was we used Ramset Park as just a park name. And there's things that would come back. So Eagleton, we didn't know what Eagleton was yet at this point, but we would use it as the neighboring town, essentially. But it hasn't evolved into the the city that everybody's jealous yes it does it's not quite yet the eagleton everyone knows and hates but yeah and

this one by the way is the episode where we kind of i mean the pit gets filled in right the pit the pit there was one conception of the show where it would take essentially the entire series to fill it in or take the entire series to build it into a park but i think all that stuff got accelerated i think you know we were just having so much fun doing the other stuff that we can fill in the pit in this one. So that was one of the missions, I think, in writing this episode was how does that get done? The network didn't tell you to do it?

You tell me. You tell me, showrunners and NBC executives from around 2009. Our focus groups tell us that they're tired of seeing the dirt. Our focus groups tell us the pit is testing through the roof. The pit is the most popular character. That would be surprising, but yeah. This is also where Pratt gets the dirt dumped on him, obviously, right? That's a great scene.

I wasn't on set for that day, but I feel like if Pratt was allowed to do it, he would have done it. He would have done it 100%. So Pratt, one of the things about him is he would like to do all the physical stuff as much as possible including in this episode showing up naked at the end including you know jump you know being on a skateboard being on roller skates jumping over a counter like all that stuff also including i remember this early on he would you know usually when you eat food on screen you spit it into a spit bucket

because otherwise you're eating 40 cheeseburgers. But I really feel like Pratt would eat the stuff for real and just never, like, he was going for it, man. He's a big dude, and he was just eating whatever. But yeah, it probably wasn't safe to dump that dirt on him, so that's probably a stuntman, but everything else he would do. Yeah, that was kind of surprising to me.

I didn't remember that story point. I was like, oh, they just dumped it on Andy. I was like, oh, I forgot about that. Well, I think that they might have done it because it explains one of my notes I wrote when I watched it. The makeup on Pratt when he's in the hospital post-dirt, there's no way

the makeup artists are that good. And if they did do it, it's the best makeup i've ever seen it's so subtle you win an oscar and so real yeah they should win an oscar even though it's not a movie and it's from 12 years ago but yeah it's it's it's yeah he has these little cuts i noticed the same i actually did notice that it was that what you're talking about like the little cuts yes yeah it was a little scab really subtle it's really brilliant if it honestly because my favorite is in there's whenever people get in fights and movies and tv shows they look exactly the same yeah

they have fight makeup on or it's a cartoonish huge bruise that you don't buy or whatever but i actually did this is a that's an interesting thing to point out i like see again that's why that's why it's not a total waste to have an actor on the show rob because you can pick up on things like that that's right our makeup and hair total waste to have an actor on the show, Rob, because you can pick up on things like that. That's right. Our makeup and hair trailer, and you won't know this because you were busy in the writer's room, and we've had a lot of talk about the writers. The writer's room, the writer's room. Let's talk.

But, bro, the makeup and hair trailer, we had fun there, okay? Yeah. We may not have done as much of important stuff as you guys did guys did but let me tell you the makeup and hair trailer was where the dance party was every lunch break every lunch break we would have a dance athon um started by polar and it was for real i mean we were getting getting down and uh i would say polar was the ringleader who Rashida, who can seriously dance. I mean, go figure. Quincy Jones's daughter, she's got it.

That's so fun. And it also is such a great example of the fact that on how much everyone got along. I will say, Rob, very sparingly was there. But I was there. I was in and out sometimes. For Mouserat, yeah. And by the time the show wrapped, the entire walls of these gigantic makeup and hair trailers were like these amazing collages of everybody in just these unbelievably stupid, funny, hilarious behind the scenes moments. It was really, really sweet. Yeah. And can you tell us a little bit about what that's like?

Because I think people don't realize what an integral space that is. It's like a hub of activity. because I think people don't realize what an integral space that is. It's like a hub of activity. And I think the actors develop this relationship with hair and makeup because they see them every day. They talk to them every day. And it can be a sanctuary. So you would show up, and then would you go there for touch-ups?

What was the sequence of your day every morning? First of all, I'm biased. I married my makeup artist. Of course. I'm 30 years in with a makeup artist. And it's among the most intimate relationships because they see you every day. They see you first thing in the morning. They see your absolute worst.

And their job is to make you your absolute best. So you are going to love them. And if, God forbid, they're not good, it's hellish. Um, cause they're literally in your grill 24 seven. Um, and, and then the trailer itself becomes a microcosm for the show. Cause again, it's everybody rolling in five in the morning. The sun isn't even up. You're grumpy.

You haven't had your coffee. Some of them might even be hung over or whatever the hell it is and you're trapped in this cubicle and it can either be great or it can be awful or um you know you got the hair my thing is the hair dryers the hair dryers that white noise of multiple hair dryers to this day will give me post-traumatic stress disorder because you know the ladies got to get their hair like dried and but even the honestly when adam scott would be in there with that ridiculous bouffant hey you got to get that blown up you got to get that blow uh he does look different by the way you know you've seen adam in person

he doesn't have that huge hair. He has normal hair. But yeah, on the show, he got blown up a lot. I love that. Yeah. So there was a lot of that. But we had probably, without a doubt, the most fun makeup and hair situation I've ever had. For sure. That's great.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Shout out to everyone that had, you know, Adam and Terry and all those people. But yeah, and at the end of the day, sometimes you go back in there and get makeup, it, and, and, and at the end of the day, you get some of it, you, sometimes you go back in there and get makeup taken off. And so you see them at the end of the day too, but yeah,

it's, it's, they set the tone and, and you're seeing your other actors and they're like, you were saying, and so it's, it's a really important spot. It's a really important.

By the way, if you, I have many very big, powerful directors who have said, if you really want to know what's going on on your set, you really want to know what's up, ask the makeup and hair department. Yeah. This episode had one of my favorite little pieces of dialogue.

Let's see. So it's where Prattatt he's decided to sue he's decided to sue because he's misinterpreted um that ann wants someone with money so this is his way to get money to get back with her and ann is shocked about it and says uh pratt says um well i'm doing it because she said she needed a lot of money leslie says that doesn't sound like ann says um well i'm doing it because she said she needed a lot of money leslie says that doesn't sound like ann he goes well i'm not very good at doing her voice there's another joke like that where it's like so i'm reading it here leslie says all i did was order a backhoe and it came with a guy who runs it i've never rented a guy before wish i knew that

during prom and then ann says there's a girl at my prom who was known as the backhoe mary dunbar she'd let anyone massage her back it's like this is just like vaudeville straight up like these jokes are like those those i'm like those jokes like both that one and the one you cited like whoa those jokes like kind of like it's like 1930 but they're still kind of evergreen it's like all right they're in there too those jokes got in there yeah i mean they still listen set up old school set up punchline when it's when it's really good there's nothing better there's an art to it there's an art to it you know you give people all kinds of we actually talked about them the writers of sometimes it was like look you'll do big physical comedy right a bunch of dirt gets dumped on a guy you'll do you know

visual stuff you'll do character stuff subtler stuff and then there's sort of set-up punchline jokes that, you know, there's space for all of it. There's space for all of it, especially in a show that goes 125 episodes. You're going to run out of subtle shit sometimes. So, yeah, you're going to do all kinds of comedy. I also want to shout out the cold open of this episode. It's kind of just unrelated to the episode,

but it's Leslie taking a call from her credit card company saying what she bought. Oh, that's great. Yeah. So funny. Shout out to Katie Dippel who I think was the voice on the other end. She's one of the writers. Yeah, I love those. Letting Amy be Amy.

Basically, she's getting a call from her bank about recent purchases and midway through she claims that her credit card got stolen because they're embarrassing. It's like a bucket of cake and Jessica Simpson clip-in hair extensions and Leslie's like a pillow shaped like a man, you know, like all that kind of stuff. So then she's kind of like, I'm going to try to take you off speaker.

And then Tom takes the phone and they keep listening. Pillow shaped like a man is they cut to Tom. And I think that's the very first appearance of the famous Tom Haverford wide eyed smile. I mean, it's in there, man. It's in there man it's in there yeah and and and it it's uh sort of like you know greg greg levine is posting about greg daniels in the chat but he's like yeah greg daniels would call the comedy cold open an extra snack like you know it's a little aperitif you get this little uh moose boosh of comedy um and then she

says that the pillow is shaped like daniel craig something. I think that's the end of it. $20 to Netflix under charge and then $10 to Blockbuster because she needed all 11 discs of Gossip Girl. Yeah. I wanted to mention that. It was like, so when she's buying these things off, you know, her credit card purchases are listed. It starts with something that seems very modern. $20 for Netflix. And I'm like, oh, man, that actually seems kind of anachronistic.

Netflix was around 12 years ago. And we immediately realized it's when Netflix was a DVD service like that's like that that really shook me I was like oh wow Netflix and Blockbuster um yeah I Rob you probably have never been here I don't know why you would have I recently went to the last Blockbuster store in America it's on Hollywood Boulevardwood boulevard no it's in oregon it's in oregon it's in bend oregon they made a documentary about it actually i went to a wedding up in oregon and they've turned the last blockbuster video store into just you know it's still a functioning store but it just has a bunch of memorabilia and merchandise and stuff it's actually kind of fascinating because it's like you forget the feeling of walking into a video store and seeing what they have.

And you walk into this one and they have pretty modern movies. So they have movies that came out in the last year or two. And it is jarring because you haven't seen that in so long. Anyway, we were in there for like five minutes. It was fine.

It's like, yeah, okay. Those were the days, man. I mean. Yeah. And also like, oh, they're out of it. But like, oh, wait, let's go check the thing where people returned it. It's like, oh those those were the days man i mean yeah and also like oh they're out of it but like oh wait let's go check the thing where people returned it it's like oh i got it i found independence day or whatever it was like there it is like i needed i needed to find men in black or whatever whatever movie it was and it's like it's in the little return slot anyway that for the kids

out there we're old so yeah that's yeah, that's what we used to do. It's hard for actors to come into a very specific universe and really be pitch perfect. And almost every single person that comes into Parks and Rec as an actor just is amazing in these small little parts. I don't know how you guys found people who are so pitch perfect and just the guy plays the lawyer for example is so he's so dry he's so real so good and so funny because he's so dry he plays scott braddock so one way we do that i think is by just casting extremely overqualified people who had a lot of reps a lot of chops and a lot of sort of just waiting to

to burst open. So that lawyer, Scott Braddock, the character's name is played by John Benjamin, who now is a bigger actor. He was Bob on Bob's Burgers. He was Archer. We cast him in Master of None. He plays Benjamin. So we love John Benjamin. But I remember him in this episode. It's like, he's really good. He's just really dry. He's got an amazing voice. So there's a reason he's the lead of several animated shows. He's able to deliver really complicated lines and lines that maybe seem a little bit too written,

but he's able to deliver them really naturally. And so that's a big thing for him. And so compare him. So Shearer is really big and broad in the opening. He's like a fun sketch guy in the beginning. And that's what that role calls for. And then Benjamin, John Benjamin comes in and just crushes it like really real.

He plays it really real, and it's still funny. And that's kind of the genius of Benjamin. I really enjoy that guy. I got to know him a little bit on Master of None, and we had dinner a few times. But yeah, he kills it. He's great in the show. And there's so many cameos in Parks, man.

There's so many cameos. And this one alone has these two great comedy guys coming in. I love when an actor destroys with something really unexpected. And he made me laugh where Andy introduces his lawyer. And Leslie says to him, hi, Scott. And he goes, mm-hmm. Yeah, he just, so small. Just the mm-hmm destroyed me.

And it's a guy who's done comedy for, like, 20 years. It's like you just can't teach that stuff. You know, you can't teach that stuff. It's just like, ugh, they're boring. I forget who said it about whom, so it's a great anecdote. But some people are just funny in their bones. They can't walk not funny. They can't talk not funny.

They can't eat or sleep not funny and it's like yeah benjamin's like that even though yeah he's he doesn't he's not big and broad he's everything is very dry but he's funny is his timing and like the way his voice is hilarious too his voice is so fun hey you know what else um is great about uh the kaboom episode is i just soaked in the naked anatomy of chris pratt i i thought that was quite extraordinary he showed up again that's not a stunt double of course you can see his head attached to the body so yeah he shows up and it's like this is pre-jack pratt of course so it's like he's just like a normal guy he's like very reproachable and relatable and he shows up he opens the door

and he's completely naked and you know even if you do that scene you're not totally naked but you're wearing like a little sock thing so you got to do it again and again for anyone who doesn't know how this stuff gets shot you're gonna do that at least five times like it's just gonna get like you just have to do it for lighting so keep in mind like whatever take that like he's opening the door and being naked like five times is my guess it was and the other thing am i crazy but like they they pixelated his butt and stuff as they did as you know and but then there's a joke at the end of it am i where he's got a towel the towels around him and him. And yet, right, Greg Levine?

Am I wrong? I'm not crazy about this. There's a black circle on screen. I watched it on Peacock Premium. Check it out. It's like $5 on Peacock Premium. But yeah, there's a lot of circles. At one point, was I wrong?

Or was there a circle in the front and the back? Yes, right, Greg? He's wearing something. I don't know why they did that. I think as he's walking to the kitchen't know why they did that there's like i think as he's walking to the kitchen they do a double circle i think why there is a circle on the couch why they just made it it's just fun right it's an extra it's fun to see yeah see i but i see here's the thing is i love when the show or any show is not a slave to reality like

it's like what you were saying harris says sometimes motherfuckers just want to laugh right well you're gonna enjoy where the show keeps going because it doesn't get more sane i wouldn't say the show gets more sane from here i would say it definitely stays silly and uh it maintains that zone you know it's the thing they used to say is like the pawnee becomes kind of like a live action springfield right you know And it's fun, you know? Why is the brace that Andy wears on his neck when he's meeting with the city attorney? I mean, it's the most preposterous neck brace since Teddy Kennedy's Chappaquiddick neck brace. Yes. I mean, it's really, really, really a phony neck brace.

So I think that's a callback. If I recall correctly, so he's basically wearing a airplane travel neck pillow with like duct tape in front and i believe it's a callback to the pilot where after leslie's character falls into the pit she goes and talks to i think ron and she has a neck pillow airplane neck pillow with duct tape on it so i think in your head in my head canon backstory she said look i got this foolproof prop it's genius and she gives it to andy it'll prove that you broke something and you just wear this neck pillow around your neck so that's that's what i think the rationale was but for the uninitiated yeah you're right it makes no sense but it's good again it's funny anything greg

anything we uh anything from from the vault of knowledge? Yeah, you know, I was thinking about how there's a character named Keefe Slurtner. And I do remember, I don't know if this is true, Alan, you might remember this, but I think when Mike found out what Keefe was and he was upset with Harris for sneaking the name Keefe into the show. Does that ring a bell with you? Yeah, I'm wondering if Harris had to at some point write the cold open or pitch a name for the show, because I think this one kind of got snuck by Mike, because the name is Keefe Sleutner, K-E-E-F,

and for those who are uninitiated, Keefe is a slang term for marijuana, which is a drug that people smoke, and Harris liked to smoke weed, and so he called this character Keef is a slang term for marijuana, which is a drug that people smoke. And Harris liked to smoke weed. And so he called this character Keef, I think, written into some, I don't know, maybe he went off to write the pages or something. But yeah, Mike did not know that. And then yeah, years later, I think, I don't know how it came up. But he was like, wait, what? Like, there's a character named after this slang term for marijuana. And Mike was i think he was like i didn't know he was like i don't know what this like i didn't know that it's like we're like how you did not you didn't know that that was slang for like

weed and he was like no i didn't know it's like all right man well it's in the show it's canon now it's in the show mike mikey sure yeah and not mike mike not a big weed smoker no i don't think mike is the straightest. Has there ever been anybody more straight than Mike? Mike, we got in a debate the other day about the show Dave. My girlfriend is on a show called Dave, which is an FX show starring Lil Dicky. We had a spirited debate over the ethics of Dave in the show Dave. I was like, Mike, you're not supposed to be a good guy. But having Mike analyze the ethics, the ethical behavior or non-ethical behavior of Dave was very funny.

Mike in another lifetime could have been on the Hague Tribunal. Well, he literally created another show about what it means to be good. He wrote, he created the good place. He's one of the smartest people i've ever met and so his brain can probably analyze a bunch more rules of behavior than my brain or your brain and so yeah but it is very he had he's extremely analytical and so the idea that keep slurter was named after weed was probably infuriating to him because by the way meanwhile you have harris whittles who's one of maybe the one of the least analytical people who just wanted to have fun and so that was like i think it was a great yin and yang in the writers room sometimes they and they like loved each other because they respected each

other because those were they're both really funny guys but yeah that truly was like a yin and yang where where yeah we i don't think he was happy about that at all. Where are we going to hold the town hall you know what let's do it on the plot of land that is to become the ice skating rink not ben's ice skating rink but just the one in town so this is a plot of land that's about to become it's very confusing thing i just pitched i don't know why i pitched that very confusing well then can i pitch please yeah i i pitched a plot of land which makes no sense no no we want to be inside and i'm feeling a little hungry so i think we should have the confusing. Well, then can I pitch? Please, yeah. I pitched a plot of land which makes no sense. No. We want to be inside and I'm feeling a little hungry so I think we should have the town hall

at JJ's Diner. Okay, great. We'll go to JJ's Diner and the beloved Brent Briscoe, the late, great Brent Briscoe who ran JJ's Diner and we'll have a plate of waffles and we'll do the town hall. They'll be very homey. It'll be a great photo op for us and it'll make voters think that we're relatable. Yeah, let's do the town hall. They'll be very homey. It'll be a great photo op for us, and it'll make voters think that we're relatable.

Yeah, let's do the town hall question. Today's town hall question comes to us from Julia in Minneapolis. Julia asks, did any of the writers ever try to push or want to write a romantic storyline between Leslie and Ron? Rob, would you want to see that at some point?

What do you think? As a viewer, would you want to see that at some point? What do you think? As a viewer, would you want to have seen that? Yes. Wow, I love that. See, this is why, you know, it sometimes helps to get this outside opinion. I know Rob was on the show, but he's watching these episodes,

and you see the characters, and sometimes when you're in the writer's room, you get so locked into what your conception of them is and what you're trying to shape them towards. But I think oftentimes the viewer wants a certain thing and the writers want another thing the answer the question julia is it was suggested at some point it was always kind of like an elephant in the room that like never was seriously seriously considered but i i really think at one point greg daniels one of the co-creators was like, yeah, should we just should it just be Leslie and Ron?

Should they get together? And it never really happened. And I think there are a number of reasons why I think one of the reasons that was like a pro column was like, OK, well, these are kind of your two, you know, diametrically opposed forces in the show. And, you know, like they're around the same age and and there's something they're two very powerful performers and they're two very defined characters and they would be funny together etc etc i think the counter argument was is there something really powerful in them being really close and intimate and respectful of each other and have a very deep meaningful relationship but never have it be romantic and i think that eventually won out and it's like these two have a philosophical relationship they have a philosophical disagreement they are reverse

soulmates in some ways like where they really disagree but they truly respect each other and i don't want to speak for mike at all because he i'm sure has a much more sophisticated understanding of all of this but i think in the back of his mind mike was like the beauty of the show is that these two people who disagree with each other so vehemently on a political issue on on how something is practiced can yet still respect each other and respect each other as human beings and and he didn't want to muddy that with them falling in love. So, um, but it was pushed.

It was definitely suggested at some point and it would have been fascinating, right? It would have been fascinating. Rob, like, I think like those are just two awesome characters. I think, I don't know.

I can't speak for you. Was that, is that what you saw on them? Like, it'd be fun. I mean, I think there's, there's what,

there's what you want as a fan. And then there's what's good for the show. Yeah. And sometimes there are two different things. fan, and then there's what's good for the show. Yeah. And sometimes there are two different things. And it's like I remember when I was working on Wayne's World, and it was early in my relationship with Lorne Michaels. And I pitched a couple of jokes, and I could see him kind of like not really react. I go, but it's not funny. It's funny, right? And he goes, no, no, no really react. But it's not funny. It's funny, right?

No, no, no, no, no. It's it's it's funny. Just is it the right kind of funny? And I didn't know there was it. I just funny was funny, but it's kind of the same thing. It's like just because it's funny, does it need to be in the movie? It's like just because you want them to be together. Do you put them together?

And what's best for the show clearly was to not have them together. Yeah. And it's this beautiful thing where they can have their own relationships and ultimately to show, we love all the romantic relationships in the show, but it's a show about work and it's a show about idealism and optimism and being able to work together to get things done. And Leslie and Ron are the epitome of that without them ever having to fall in love. So good question, Julia from Minneapolis. I think let's close up the town hall. I'm full, man.

I had a shit ton of waffles. What waffle did you eat? I had a blueberry, I had a strawberry, and I had a banana nut. Wow, that's a lot. I keep it simple. I'm going with the strawberries and whipped cream. Hi, man, that sounds good.

Sometimes I'll put syrup on it. Sometimes. It used to be when I was a little kid, like pancakes and waffles were my favorite food. Now I'm a savory boy, just like savory food. Not really a big sweets guy, but, you know, that's for my other podcast about food. So we'll do that later. That's coming up. We got great shows coming up, Rob.

I'm excited. More coming down the pipeline. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll see you next week. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and tell a friend. Thanks to producer Greg and producer Schulte. Bye from Pawnee. This episode of Parks and Recollection is produced by Greg Levine and me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Alan Yang for Alan Yang Productions, Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher.

Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn are our talent bookers. The theme song is by Mouse Rat, a.k.a. Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danek. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Parks and Recollection. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.