Parks and Recollection - Matt Besser: Ann’s Decision (S5E12)

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Ann’s on a quest for a sperm donor amid Pawnee’s shallow pool of candidates, April sets fire to Leslie’s impressive collection of pantsuits, and Ben, Ron, and Chris are stricken with an epic case of food poisoning. Jim O’Heir and Greg Levine break it all down in this week’s walkthrough of “Ann’s Decision.” Plus, improv genius Matt Besser joins Jim and Greg to discuss his recurring role as half of Pawnee’s rock jock DJ duo, Crazy Ira and The Douche.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 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 Hello everybody and welcome back to Parks and Recollection

I'm one of your hosts Jim O'Hare The guy who played Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, Barry And the guy next to me I'm pretty sure I've overheard him say many times that I'm the greatest actor he's ever met and certainly the funniest man he's ever met. So you are? Oh, we've just met actually today. And I've never met an actor until today. So you are the best. Thank you. Of the one I've met. I'm going to take that little clip of you just saying you are the best. And you're going to make it into your voicemail. You got it. It's Greg. I'm back with Jim. And we of you just saying you are the best. And you're going to make it into your voicemail. You got it.

It's Greg. I'm back with Jim, and we're here talking about our favorite show, Parks and Recreation. Jim, you saw someone recently. Is that right? Yeah. I'm going to give a quick rundown of a really embarrassing thing that just happened to me. No, no, no. If it's embarrassing, please.

Yeah. Take my time. By all means, take your time. Take all the time you need. So I'm writing a book about my years on Parks and Recreation and also about my life. And I've been on a thousand different things over the years. But anyway, so my- You're a gym war.

It's a gym war, parks focused. Okay. So anyway, so I always figured Mike could be the guy to piece it all together. You know, any questions that the publisher would have or whatever. So I reach out and I don't hear back. But I also know he's literally in production on his new Netflix show. So I know he's a busy man. And so then the next day, I just did a quick mic.

I'm so sorry to be a pain in the ass. But I was just wondering if, you know, we can figure out a time. And he goes, how about now? And he says, just send me a quick Zoom invite and we'll do it. I said, that would be great. Here's the problem. I don't know how to do a Zoom invite.

I haven't told him I don't know how. So now I start, if you ever saw what was going on in my house, I'm Googling because he's waiting for the invite. The man is producing a show, a Ted Danson show. Like he doesn't, I think his time is very tight. So I'm feeling terrible.

So then I call a book guy I know, and I'm like, he is going to save my butt on this. And I sent him a quick text. Hey, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, Jim, my father needs triple bypass heart surgery. The family's all getting it. Okay. So that ain't going to happen. I'm getting nothing from him. What'd you call a book guy? Because I've been Zooming with him, but he always sets them up. I've done Zoom a million times. I hit a button. I thought you just called like a friend who like loves books. No, no, no. He's a writer, book writer. Okay. And so I think, well, he's going to like loves books. No, no, no. He's a writer, book writer. Okay.

And so I think, well, he's going to save my ass. Well, this poor guy's in hell. His father's about to go triple bypass surgery. So I'm like, well, he's out. So again, I'm Googling. I'm like, oh my God, this is awful. Wait a second. How's his father doing?

Fine. Okay. Thankfully fine. All right. Thankfully fine. Then we can go on with our story about you. It is always about me. So I'm truly panicked because I know he's waiting for this effing Zoom invite. Yes.

And I had also heard on Zoom, unless you pay for the service, you only can do 20 or 30 minutes. I don't even know what it's on. You've heard about that? People have been talking about it? People, I've heard at the water cooler. It's 40 minutes, but go on. Okay, 40. I don't even know. So anyway, I'm People, I've heard it at the water cooler. It's 40 minutes, but go on. Okay, 40. I don't even know. So anyway, I'm like, I got to fess up.

I go, Mike, I'm so sorry. I'm having trouble figuring out the Zoom. God bless you too. And because Mike is such a kind, he goes, well, Jim, how about I set it up for us? So here he's doing me the favor of doing this interview. He sends me the Zoom invite. Okay okay so now that embarrass has happened but now we are looking at each other you're there you're in the space it's all good i this happened to me with pratt too because pratt i was trying to do record

on my phone anyway i'm terrible at this this is i'm so Jerry when it comes to, as Tom said in one episode, I don't even deserve the internet. That's right. And this is a time I did not deserve the internet. So we're going, and then Mike says to me, because I'm an idiot, he goes, well, how are you recording this? Stop it, Jim. I go, recording? That never dawned on me. I don't know how I'm recording this. Wait, what do you me. I don't know how I'm

recording this. Wait, what do you mean? I don't know what my plan was. Let me just pause. Were you planning on recording it or were you planning on just having your memory serve as the... No, no, no. I wanted to record it because I knew... So you wanted to record it but you didn't

decide how to record it. How to do it. So then I'm looking at him and and then I'm grabbing my phone, because I have that voice memo thing. Yeah, you're the one who got it. I'm the one who got it. I'm thinking, well, maybe if I just record while we're... And he goes, Jim, how about I record it, and then I can send it to you when it's done?

Yeah. You got to pay Mike for his services at this point. My God. I don't even know what to say and then he spent I'm sorry well believe me there were so many I'm sorry's for many reasons then he chatted for two hours and he when he's done

he goes Jim I recorded it two ways one our back and forth on the zoom and then just his side of it like just his anyway so so, so embarrassed. It's all over with. He sends it to me with my, hey, let me, you know, if there's any trouble, let me know. So I go to click it and it says, you have no access.

I go, oh, damn it. Damn it. I don't want to have to reach out again because I already made a fool of myself. And he goes, so I go, but I can't open this. So this will do me no good if I can't open it. Stop. I can't take this. Oh no. It's the worst. So I reach out, I go, Mike, I am so sorry. I can't open it. It wants a password or something like that. And he goes, were you using the original email address? No. You don't even know what the email address is, do you? So I type in the correct email

address. There it all is. Yeah. There it all is. Yeah. The embarrassment would not stop. Yeah. It would not stop. Yeah. So that was my meeting with Mike Schur this week. Yeah. Lovely. I have to tell you, you really don't deserve the internet. I don't deserve the internet. No, I don't. I would like to argue, but I can't because it would be wrong. It would be a hundred percent wrong. No, but I don't know. I think it's one of those things where you, one is in their head more than the other person. I think for you, this is like, oh my God, it was so embarrassing. And I, I had to have Mike do these things, but for him, he's probably like, I don't care. I hope that was the case. He acted like he didn't care, but you know, Mike's known me a lot of years. He's probably like, I don't care. I hope that was the case. He acted like he didn't care. But you know, Mike's known me

a lot of years. He's probably like, okay, this dumbass can't figure this out. If I want this done today, I'm going to have to make this happen. And he 100% made it happen. He sent me the files. I had nothing to do with it. Nothing. I think probably we should remind people who we are after that story.

We have Jim O'Hare and Greg Levine. And we are later going to be joined by UCB comedy legend, Pawnee radio DJ, Crazy Ira, the one and only Matt Besser. Stick around for that. Stick around for that. Fun interview with Matt. And we have Matt because we'll be seeing Crazy Ira and the Douche

later in today's episode of Parks and Recreation. It's called Ann's Decision. And it was written by Nate DiMaio or directed by Ken Whittingham, originally airing on February 7th, 2013. 2013. It's a different time. I know. Different time.

It's a different time. And I want to jump out here. Ken Whittingham, he directed a number of parks. What a lovely, lovely dude. Yeah. Like, he got us. Yeah. You know, some directors more than others. He got us. He got our sense lovely dude. He got us. Some directors more than others,

he got us. He got our sense of humor. He got the cast. He knew how to not manipulate us. That's not the right word, but he knew how to work with us. Right, right. Member of the team. Yeah, yeah. Totally member of the team. Well, Jim, before we jump into our notes, if you can give us a word.

Yes. Giving up hope of finding the perfect mate, Anne decides to have a baby on her own. Embarking on a journey to find the best sperm donor in Pawnee. Meanwhile, Ben enlists the help of Chris, Ron, and Tom to find the best wedding caterer in town. And April steps in for Leslie in a series of public forums about the Pawnee Commons Park Project. Obviously. So yeah, we have some notes. Notes, which is that, as we mentioned, today has a reprisal of Pawnee Radio DJs, Crazy Ira and the Douche, Matt Besser and Nick Kroll.

And we get to see a completely new side of the douche in this episode. Who knew? Who knew? Right, but it's so fun. This is the beauty of a character comedy TV series. Yeah. And I will say that Nick Kroll, who plays the douche, he nailed it. He's just a good actor.

Yeah, we'll get to that scene, but I do love when he had the two personas of the douche and Howard, and he would just go back and forth between the two. It's also the second of five episodes of J.J. Lipscomb, owner of J.J.'s Diner, played by Brent Briscoe, who's so charming. Brent is also just a sweet human being, like just a sweet guy to be on set with. Is he? Yeah, really fun, really nice. I just like being around people like that. Well, let's talk about those people and those actors on this show in our synopsis then.

After dating herself for six weeks, Anne has decided to make the relationship exclusive and become a single mother. Meanwhile, Ben has enlisted the help of Ron, Chris, and Tom to find the right caterer for his and Leslie's wedding. Okay, I want to talk about the synopsis because I'm going to be honest here. You've been honest, Jim, about storylines that maybe, you know, they bump you or whatever. A little cringe? A little cringe, like the Tom and Anne relationship. I don't have the cringe part of it,

but I'm just going to be truthful. I remember in the room, there was something a bit jarring about it. I think it's wonderful. I think it's an amazing decision that any person should choose if they want to be a parent on their own or with a person or whatever,

or with a partner, whatever. That's not at all. It was the story move. It kind of feels like it comes out of the blue. Would you, do you have a feeling like this? I actually wrote a note here to ask you, was the Anne storyline part of the big picture of that season? Because it did come out of the blue for me.

Because I know you guys at the beginning of the season, you guys have writers retreats and all this kind of stuff. Was that on the board? Like Anne's going to have a baby this year? You know, I don't think that this was discussed early on, but as you get into production, you also need to start thinking of an endgame and thinking of character arcs for your characters

in the back half of the season. And so you start the blue sky pitching. Anything's possible. Where can we take our characters? We knew Leslie was going to have a campaign storyline in the previous season. So that really we knew we were going to have a season-long arc for her there. But it's rare to have that on our show. And so I believe that this came about as we're starting to see where we want to take in and other characters as we,

you know, do the second half of season five. Love that. Interesting. I love hearing how it all comes together. Hey, but having been a part of every single storyline in the writer's room and having witnessed the entirety of the series,

this one still, it bumps me. I can't lie about it. Like I love the series. I love the show. That's why we're doing this podcast, but watching it, the way it was introduced, show. That's why we're doing this podcast. But watching it, the way it was introduced, there's just something that

was disjointed. Yeah, I agree. So let's talk about that B story then, because we have this great comedy showcase for Nick and Rob and Adam and Aziz, where they're doing their food tasting.

And I like the, you know, you know what Ron's going to be like as he has opinions about food. And we already know what Tom and Chris are going to be like with food. We've seen these personalities, but something about all of them together as Ben is trying to wrangle

some kind of unity or decision. It was very fun to see. Yeah. We know Ron, give me the meat. Give me the meat. Chris, give me the salad. Tom, who knows? It's all about social media.

So it's about Instagram and whatever else he was posting. And it was so funny the way Adam would deliver those lines as Tom would talk about the food. I don't know what anything you're saying. I didn't either. But I found that happens a lot with Tom's character. I'm old, people. I'm old. There is a great

Ron line in this scene where he says when the salad comes and he said, there's been a mistake. You've accidentally given me the food my food eats. Yes. Yeah. It's so funny.

It's a perfect Ron line. It's about food. It's a perfect Ron line. It's a perfect Ron line to describe a salad. And it's beginning when they're all ordering their food. And this is jumping back to the cold open. Ron says, I'm going to get 12 eggs and part of a dead animal. Dealer's choice.

Yes, yes. Please and thank you. Please and thank you. Yeah. He doesn't care. Just make it part of a dead animal. Yes. All right. Back to our synopsis.

Although not fully on board with Anne's choice to become a single mother, Leslie heads to a sperm bank with Anne to suss out potential donors, only to find the pool of Pawneans to be less than appealing. Meanwhile, tasked with leading a series of public forums about Pawnee Commons, April tries to channel Leslie's public service spirit by trying on every pantsuit in arm's reach. Again, because I'm an old dude, but for those out there who have seen, there's a great sperm bank episode of Golden Girls. And it is funny putting people in a sperm bank. It just is. We're all adults, but we all know what happens at a sperm bank.

We know how the sperm is collected. I'm still waiting to find out. Please don't share us. I'm not going to. Please, I did not mean to tee that up. No spoilers for you. Thank you. No, but I just love seeing them there.

And then, of course, because Leslie's not on board with this. She's like, this is not the way to go. And how do you feel about that? How do you feel about that as you're watching it? because Leslie's not on board with this. She's like, this is not a way to go. And how do you feel about that? How do you feel about that as you're watching it? That Leslie's not on board? Yeah. Well, I mean, I was agreeing with Leslie, but Leslie, I'm not against it. Like Leslie keeps saying throughout this show, have a baby, do whatever you want to do. Like it's your body, do whatever. Well, I couldn't be more on board with that. But I felt like it was all happening pretty quick. One day she's dating herself.

And the next day she says, I'm going to have a baby. And the next day she's at the sperm bank. Right. Boom, boom, boom. You know, there's something. Take a breather. I'm going to be honest again. Watching this, there's something about this that bumps me again, which is, you know, we've seen Leslie, you know, force herself onto other people's personal life decisions.

Oh, yes. We've seen that with Ron know, force herself onto other people's personal life decisions. Oh, yes. We've seen that with Ron, with his Tammies. Now, we all know that she's right. We see what's happening to Ron. We see the way that these Tammies have treated him and are changing him. And so we know, Leslie, yes, be this force. We need you.

But then there's the little bit, I think of the April and Andy's wedding episode where she had a strong opinion about these two youngsters getting married. It's too fast, too fast. And she keeps trying to find a reason to slow it down to stop it. And then ultimately it's fruitless

and they get married and perhaps have demonstrated so far to be the strongest relationship that Parks and Rec has had so far. And she was wrong. That was what exactly stuck out to me. It was the April and Andy wedding. Though she was right as far as

anybody would tell you. These two kids are too young and they blah, blah, blah. But she was only right in her own logic, right? She was right in Leslie's logic that this is not okay. She had to learn my logic is wrong.

And in this case, I feel the exact same thing. She is right only in the logic that she has built in her head about what needs to happen here, but ultimately wrong. And so I'm watching her try to slow this down

or gum up the works or whatever it is. And I'm thinking, I wish, I don't know. It took me out of it. But so they get there. They're in the sperm bank. It's, you know, that's an uncomfortable setting. And it's SBA, the Sperm Bank of America.

Yes. First of all. Yeah. And do they need to bail out? We don't know. Who knows? Who knows? But unfortunately, fortunately for Leslie, unfortunately for Ann, while they're there,

they get a visit from Sewage Joe. Yes. Because it turns out this is his new job. Yes. Joe Fantringham, Sewage Joe himself. Yeah. Who says, free money, free porn, best job I ever had. Also, if you're looking to buy some weed, I'm looking as well.

It's so funny because, you know, you think, okay, great. He's going to talk about another job he has. No, he's just looking for well. It's so funny because, you know, you think, okay, great. He's going to talk about another job he has. No, he's just looking for weed. Just looking for weed. So now Ann does have to go, holy crap.

Yeah, yeah. This is the pool? Yes. No, literally. Literally. These are your choices. Yeah. Do you want Joe Fantringham

to be one of them? And she doesn't. And we'll get to that next part. Yeah. I love April trying on these clothes, but that's part of a larger game that she's, in order to do this, in order to run these public forums, she's going to be Leslie.

And that's quite sweet when you think about the April and Leslie relationship from the beginning. How April rolls her eyes a lot at Leslie and Leslie desperately wanted April to be just like her. Just like her. Right? And April wanted nothing to do with that. And now she is choosing to, in order to succeed at a thing, to be like Leslie. I also think she's mentally thinking, this is the only way I can get through this. That's also true.

If I am, I will become her. Right. And I was there shooting those scenes when she had to keep changing clothes. Yes. And first of all, what you see on the episode is a fraction of the outfits. Really? Poor Aubrey had to put on and off and on and off. But that being said, Jim O'Hare loves that kind of thing because it meant hanging around time, laughing, doing stupid things.

And those were kind of my favorites. Those are your favorites, yeah. Favorites, very favorites. Well, let's jump back to our synopsis as we move on. Realizing the sperm bank is not going to work out, Anne decides to flip through her Rolodex of past relationships for the perfect donor, narrowing it down to three main contenders. Meanwhile, Ben, Chris, and Ron have been stricken with awful,

awful food poisoning from the catering taste test. And when Tom shows up unscathed, Ben realizes the culprit must have been the mini calzones. Okay, I'm going to jump in here and say, because we'll get to all this, but I think that two-minute scene with Nick and Adam and Rob is one of the funniest physical comedy scenes in all of the series. I really think it is. They were so violently ill. And if you look at Adam's face when he's laying, you know, his back, when he's laying on the ground, he is so committed.

It looks like he's just in hell. Yeah. This has taken him down. This has taken him down. Right. Because we've seen Chris Traeger when he got the flu in that second episode. Stop pooping. Right. We've seen him be overcome with illness. And to see Chris sick is a sight to see because the man's body is a temple.

To see Ron, like you're saying, this, again, a different type of temple, a temple of fortitude. And then when Adam is on the floor and he uses his nose to call Tom, I had forgotten that that's where it was going. Like, okay, the phone is thrown at him. It's like, what happens next? We cut out of it?

No, we just spend time watching him roll over and just like a bird, like pecking. Yes, and it was so funny. So funny. Yes. But that whole scene, that whole scene, I just think, I kept going back. Right. Like re-watching it. Just the fact that they couldn't even pick up the phone.

And what it was, I'm like, well, pick up the damn phone. No, you're afraid to move anything. You're afraid to lift up anything because things are pushing and things could be happening. And so it made sense. Just get the phone to the ground and let Ben make this work. And I remember it made us laugh so much in the room then to have Tom come in and just be like singing whatever he's singing. And he's just in a completely different space.

And it's funny because of the disparity between the two, where our characters are. It's also real. It's like when I am not feeling well, I hate seeing people feel great. Yes. And vice versa. Misery loves company. That's an old, we all know that.

Yes. But no, it's so funny when he comes in. And then when the reveal is, it's the calzone. The calzone. And again, Adam kills it. When he says the calzones betrayed me. Yeah. Never again, guys.

As God, as my witness, they're dead to me. Never again, guys. As God, as my witness, they're dead to me. And do you think that was the case? No. The man felt better a few days later and ate a calzone. And he had a calzone. Yeah. Well, he loves calzones. He loves a calzone. He likes calzones. Okay. Let's go back to

Anne's story where she is whittled down her list of three people. She crossed off everyone who's in a relationship. And obviously knuckle hair Dave from HR because he's a dick. Yeah, not because of the knuckle hair. No, that she could have lived with. Yeah. And then so Dr. Harris comes in.

You know, I know we have crazy iron the douche, but somehow Dr. Harris is the real douche of this episode. Oh, big time douche. I mean, he's always been uppity. He's always been a little, you know. No, but the man walks into Ann's office and under his breath says, small office minds bigger.

Yeah. We needed an asshole in this episode. We needed to have someone somehow worse than the douche. Yeah, that's hard to do. So here's Dr. Harris. And he did a great job. I love that guy. He's great.

He's awesome. Yeah, wonderful. But we get. So here's Dr. Harris. And he did a great job. I love that guy. He's great. He's awesome. Yeah, wonderful. But we get to see also Howard Tuttleman, a.k.a. The Douche. The Douche. The Douche comes in and says, I know it's a winter's morn, but it feels like a summer's eve

because the douche is in the building. That is another genius line. Yeah, yes. It is. But this duality that we have with the douche, we have the douche, this persona that he's created, Howard Tuttleman, his given name, who he really is. And it feels like he's done this thing

where he can't be both at the same time. Where he's like, I've bifurcated my brain and that I'm either Howard Tuttleman or the douche. So much so that he says, he'll do a thing and say that was the douche talking. But Howard says this. It was such a funny turn. And he nailed it.

Unexpected. Yes, yes. Having seen the douche now a few times. Yeah. I would probably kind of like the real Howard. You know what I mean? Like he's probably a smart, intelligent guy. Right.

But he can't, he just can't stay. Right. The douche is. The douche. It's always looking to come out. Right. Well. Back to the sperm bank.

Oh my God. Anyway. Back to our synopsis, my friend. Realizing in horror that Anne has chosen the douche as her sperm donor, Leslie corners him in the parking lot, revealing Anne's true intentions. Meanwhile, back at City Hall, the public forum is underway

and April finds herself fending off ridiculous ideas for Pawnee Commons. Okay, we have a great town hall. We have a public forum. It's always the best. It's our bread and butter, right? We love them. And in this one, we get to have Harris Whittles back on our show.

We're talking about the topless park. Harris is so funny on this show. I love him in Animal Control. And I somehow love him even more here because he's trying to engage with society. He's got his fish shirt. I think it was his own fish shirt. It had to be because the man traveled the country. Yes.

Following fish. But I love it. He's into the older woman there. Well, he's not at first into it. At first, he's like, oh, no, that'd be a hard pass. And then they literally watch. Because it's Harris. You see his eyes go down, look at her chest. And he's like, yeah no, that'd be a hard pass. And then he, they literally watch. Because it's Harris. You see his eyes go down,

look at her chest. And he's like, yeah, okay, this could happen. Yeah, he's great. And then we have Chance Frome, the guy who chants a lot at meetings behind him.

And it's just fun to see our regulars. These are our usuals. These are our crazies. These are our NIMBY type people. Those are people who plan. The minute they see there's something going on, they're going to be there.

Right. And they got trouble to make. And we have April really trying at this public forum. She made friendship bracelets to put around the flyers to make everyone park pals. She's trying to do her best. Leslie Knope even makes a quote to say, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said to Betty Ford,

Hillary Clinton is great. Yeah, genius. And I love the fact that, did she make those friendship bracelets? She must have. Like, she really went all Leslie. She said she did. I think she did.

She went all Leslie. And what she quickly learned is that no matter what you do, the crazies are going to crazy. Yeah. And then she says, I just don't know how Leslie can be Leslie all the learned is that no matter what you do, the crazies are going to crazy. Yeah. And then she says, I just don't know how Leslie can be Leslie all the time. I was her for two hours and I wanted to die. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Back to our synopsis. After the douche embarrasses Anne on the radio, Leslie goes down to the station to clear things up, humiliating herself in the process. Meanwhile, after gaining only four signatures from the forum, two of which belonged to her and Andy,

April decides to be herself instead of impersonating Leslie, setting the people of Pawnee straight and garnering support for Pawnee Commons. And now on the mend, the guys meet up at JJ's diner for some much-needed comfort food, only to realize the

best caterer for Leslie and Ben's wedding would actually be JJ himself, JJ's diner. So obvious. And that was one of these moments where it's so sweet and so obvious, but I think sneaks up on you. Yeah, I didn't think of it. Yeah, I think we did a good job. Because we've been to JJ's Diner so many times.

It's not like we start the episode where they're at Leslie's to celebrate my upcoming wedding. Or to celebrate this, I'm taking my friends to my favorite restaurant. And we introduce the restaurant. This is the mainstay. This is JJ's Diner. And so I think you don't see it coming. I did not. But I will say, when Ben realized it, I realized it. Yes. And it's diner. And so I think you don't see it coming. I did not. But I will say when Ben realized

it, I realized it. Yes. And it's so satisfying. Yes. Yeah, that's when it hit. And you, right, to be in that same space, to realize at the same time as the character is a very satisfying feat, I think, of storytelling. Yep, I agree. Sorry, but let's jump back. Let's jump back to Leslie going on Crazy Ira and the Douche to save Anne here and to clear things up and make things better. It's so fun to be in Crazy Ira

and the Douche's radio station. It is so fun to see these actors together. The comedy in there is so unlike the comedy of the rest of the show, I think. Yeah, it is different. You're right. It's low bar.

Crazy Iron, the douche, they live in the same space with Dennis Feinstein and some of the dregs of Pawnee. And because it's a different type of comedy and we don't go to it that often, it makes me laugh

because we get to see Leslie in that space who also doesn't like it. It's not like she's like... Oh, she feels dirty in that space. In fact, when we first meet Crazy Iron, the douche, I think she wants to yuck it up with them. She wants to be silly and have fun with them. And now she realizes that we've come full circle.

Who they really are, their type of comedy. Their type of silliness is not her speed. But I have to be on here. I have to save it. Because she did goof up. I don't know if we mentioned this, but she, when she gave the douche what was really going on

with Anne. Right. Of course, he couldn't keep that to himself. He had to go online. Right. He's not only Howard Tuttleman. Yeah. He's the douche too and he outed her. He outed her and now Anne has heard it

and is angry at Leslie and Leslie's going to make it. And rightly so. Yeah. And rightly so. Absolutely rightly so. Yes. Yeah.

Imagine you're here at home listening to people talk about the fact that you're looking for sperm. Yeah. No, it's not great. Not great. It's not great. And so Leslie also has to go to people talk about the fact that you're looking for sperm. Yeah, no, it's not great. Not great. It's not great.

And so Leslie also has to go to an uncomfortable place. And that to me is the fun of this, where Anne is quite uncomfortable clearly hearing this. And so the only way to save it for this friendship is to also put Leslie in a very uncomfortable place. In this case, a pit of jello. Literally a pit of Jell-O. Literally a pit of Jell-O. It was always ready. We're in the douche's studio. Always a pit of Jell-O,

ready to go. Yes. But I thought when Leslie couldn't get out of that Jell-O, that Breasty Bertha, who had been introduced earlier to wrestle Leslie, was going to just jump in,

thinking, oh, this girl's ready to go. That's really what I thought was going to happen. Instead, she kind of just watches the horror. Yeah. Let's talk about the sage of today's episode, if you will, who is Andy.

Right? And April's in this place, and she has to do another public forum. And instead of bringing April her Leslie gear, he brings a bag full of roll-ups and baseball cards. And he plays it off that it was a mistake, but he did it on purpose. And Andy is quite clever when he needs to be,

and he knows exactly what his wife needs. And he says, you look amazing. Plus, you're the smartest person on the planet. I think you can do this just being yourself. Really, really nice and sweet. And he knows it was even smart because he gives himself a nod. He looks to the camera, touches his forehead like, mm-hmm. Right.

And Andy is a goofball 99.9999% of the time. Yeah. So that on that.00001 times when he's not, it's earned and satisfying and great. And we immediately need to make sure that's not the last impression you have of Andy. Because in the very next scene, he points himself with his thumbs as his thumbs are covered with fruit roll-ups. Right? And so don't worry. Now we're back, Andy. The Andy you know and love is

that Andy. He ain't gone anywhere. Yes, yes. We have one little bit of synopsis left. It's the tag where April burns Leslie's pantsuits. And Ben and Leslie agree to have JJ's diner cater the wedding over a big stack

of waffles. So yeah, it's that satisfying. It's so great. Exactly what it should be. Exactly what it should be. Burning someone else's property, perhaps, that was on loan to you, might not be what everybody else should be doing. But that's the

April we know and love as well. The Andy, there's the goofball know and love as well. The Andy, the goofball, of course. And of course, JJ should cater this wedding, of course. And of course, April will burn Leslie's clothes. Well, Jim, we've come to the end of the episode, but we haven't come to the end of our podcast episode

because we need your crap, sir. My crap. Okay, because we're going long here, but I'm going to just yell out some stuff. So when Leslie is finding out that Ann wants to have, you know, do the whole meeting to have a baby with somebody, she goes... You know, the whole storyline.

Yeah, the whole storyline. She says, congratulations, Ann and Channing Tatum, because that is the only scenario that would make sense to me. And I want to jump out and say, I worked with Channing. I call him Chan. But anyway, that's a separate story. And he's asked you not to. He has asked me.

Actually, he's through legal ways. Also, Sue's Joe, he was the gentleman who was fired for emailing a picture of his penis to every woman in the city hall. That's what Leslie says. Sue's Joe goes, guilty. And Ann goes, yeah, that's what the judge said yes just so just so damn funny um ron when he came in because he was so sick after you know the calzone took him down i did not sleep for one second last night and i cracked the bottom of my

toilet yes yikes yes i have voided more than Tom's body weight in the last 12 hours alone. He basically said Tom has probably disappeared. Tom can't. Yeah. If he's lost what he lost, Tom can't even be in existence anymore. So that's some of my crap. A lot of the stuff we hit on. Yeah, that's great. That's great crap. So final thoughts on the episode then. Love the episode. And I don't know if we're doing MVP, but to me, I have two this episode. Yes, please. I have Anne, because it's such an Anne-centric episode. As always, Rashida nailed it.

And Adam Scott laying there. Yeah. I'm sorry. And I know it's just mostly a visual bit, but he nailed it. So, I'm going to go. That's where I'm heading. That's where I'm heading. That's where I'm heading. That's interesting.

Yeah, I'm going to land with Anne because it's Anne's decision. Yeah. And I think it does this great job of feeling both empowered but also quite frustrated with Leslie at the same time and gives us the stakes we need.

And I think Rashida was great. I don't argue that. We have some gifts, parties, and jobs where Leslie gives Anne a binder of men. Right? So I know that we said binders full of women, but this is a binder of men. And now JJ gives Ben free waffles for Leslie.

We talked about our MVPs earlier, our most valuable Pawneans. Well, we sat down earlier with another Pawnee MVP, crazy Ira himself, Matt Besser, to talk all about his time on the show, about improv comedy. It was great. And here's what he had to say. We have Matt Besser. Hey, Matt, how are you? Hey, y'all. It's so great to have you.

He is an actor, comedian, improviser, and fellow podcaster with his popular podcast, Improv for Humans. We're going to probably jump around, but I found something out that kind of blew my mind. And maybe you'll correct it, and maybe it's wrong, or maybe you'll say it's right. You'll correct it and maybe it's wrong or maybe you'll say it's right. The original members of UCB from what I have here are Ian Roberts, Ollie Farinakian, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz. Is that true? More or less.

More or less. Really? More or less. I just assumed. So what's the really part for you adam mckay and horatio well yeah like i never knew i i just assumed it was you know you and amy and and matt and right right that makes sense that part makes a lot of sense um yeah amy actually well i would say when i say more or less i would say that what we would call the early, early UCB was me, Ian Roberts, and Adam McKay. We did every single stage production.

And we did a couple of years before Amy came to town. Amy's a little younger than we are by a few years. So by the time she came to town UCB as a sketch group was already established and we had dreams at that point you know we want to be the next kids in the hall that was our goal

and Adam got on second city stage and quickly got onto SNL and so did Horatio so they went their own way, but the UCB kept its goal and we were doing pretty well in Chicago,

making a name for ourselves. So we asked Matt Walsh and Amy to join us for a showcase and pretty much immediately went to New York and got our sketch show. Wow. Well, tell us how you came to us at Parks and Rec. Do you remember the casting process? And I don't think there was much, I don't think you auditioned,

if I remember correctly, but do you remember how it started? No. Oh, great. I don't. I, you know, I assumed Amy had something to do with it, but I, it easily could have been Harris as well. But I knew a lot of people on the show, and I was asked to do the show, and of course I did it. Well, I remember being in the writer's room that when we would do a lot of casting for the show, sometimes auditions would come in and maybe they just weren't right. We were trying to think of who would be good. We would honestly go through the headshots on the UCB website, start thinking, oh, who knows who and who would be funny. And then when it came to...

Who's obnoxious like a shock jock. Right. That guy. That Matt Besser guy. Those two guys. But in this case, I think the idea was to have someone who could just have fun in a room because you wanted to have the energy of the shock jock radio station. And you wanted to have people who could have fun with Amy and have fun with the craziness of it

and have great voices and great voice for radio too. And I don't remember how Nick joined, but I feel like there was just because of the familiarity with Amy and Harris, too. And just the, you know, Katie Dippold was on staff, right? And so there were the UCB names that made sense to bring someone like you in. And it was awesome because it's hard to picture. You know, I always think great casting is when you can't picture anyone else in the role, right? There are some roles you see like, this was great, but there are 20 other people who could have done it.

But it's hard to picture a different crazy Ira and the douche. And the douche. But we have Ira with us today. Well, I love guys who grew up through the shock jock. Not that shock jocks have gone away, but when they were really big was like the late 80s and early 90s, right? Right. And you could only hear them in certain cities. And even Howard Stern, you couldn't hear everywhere at that point.

No. You'd have to be in the city that had them. And I learned about shock jocks through people giving me cassette tapes. Friends of mine sending them to me and going, listen to this dude. This is Howard Stern calling the whatever, Iranian embassy with a prank call. And I was like, what? And at that time, that was just like, what the? This is crazy.

It's crazier than anything on TV. It's crazy. It's crazier than anything on TV. And then, of course, I became, once I moved to Chicago, and actually, Howard wasn't in. They had Steve and Gary there. I don't know if you guys remember them. Steve Dahl, Gary Meyer, of course.

Man Cow. And I didn't like all those guys. I didn't like Man Cow. So it's not like I liked all shock jocks, but I did. And I didn't like everything Howard was doing. And he's grown out of a lot of that stuff. But a lot of stuff he was doing, I was like, this is fucking cutting edge comedy. This is really cool. And when I went to college, I was an American studies major and I did my thesis comparing Lenny Bruce to Howard Stern. And the shock humor of Lenny Bruce and the shock humor of Howard Stern, how they both got in trouble. Wow, I like the thought of that.

Is that out there to read? It's not. If it was, I'd hide it. It was poorly written. No, but I love that. That's a great, that's a, wow. That was smart. That was really smart.

Well, it also probably screwed up a whole generation of comedians too. And that's also the time of Sam Kinison and For the Better, Andrew Dice Clay, For the Worst, maybe. But I think that I came and that's when I started doing stand-up was through that shock jock, shock comedy era. It is for better and for worse. It created a lot of toxic stuff in comedy too. But yeah, I come from that. I feel like I am birthed from the shock jock era. So when I got the role, I was like, cool, it'll be a lot of fun to play

this. Well, speaking of which, we talk on the show about fun runs that the Parks and Rec set was famous for a fun run. I feel like having witnessed the recording of multiple

Crazy Iron the Douche episodes that the entire thing was a fun run. That there was rarely a time when you would... I mean, the script had little bits. We had to get like a... In the episode we're talking about here, we had to get one thing accomplished, right? Where Leslie had to stand in the, what is it?

A pit of jello and say a Cosby reference or something. But the entire thing was a fun run. And that must have been a blast as an actor a pit of jello and say a Cosby reference or something. Yeah. But the entire thing was a fun run. And that must have been a blast as an actor to sometimes have to hit a script, in this case, just to have a lot of fun. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

I said it's a butt coming up here. For sure is. There is a butt. There is a butt. But you guys are one of the best writing staffs around, certainly at the time. So there's a lot of gold already there on the paper that I'm sure the writer of that script, the director, the whole staff, they're like, I actually liked every line. So once it comes to editing room, even if there's a lot of fun in that one, I don't know how much of my fun actually makes it.

That being said, I think a lot of times when I've gotten hired, it's been because of my ability to do the fun run. And maybe it's a character, like you're saying, that there's more room for that. And even the writer's room is like,

well, come on, they're shock jocks, has to have a loose feel. We want them to, we don't want has to have a loose feel. We want them to... We don't want them to sound stiff with lines. We want them to really improvise a little bit. But other shows I've been on, you'll get the fun, Ron, in a lot of these good shows. Yeah.

And then I wait, and then it's that day when the show comes out, and you're waiting as the actor's like, oh, my God. It's my goal. Which of my lines survive? Yeah.

Here we go. Yeah, yeah. And one where that was big time for me, I did a show on Netflix where you don't have to fit into the 22 minutes, right?

So it was called Haters Back Off and I was the main character's dad and they let me improvise every take. Not just the fun dad. And they let me improvise every take. Not just the fun run. And it's one of the most fun times I've ever had shooting a show.

And it was up in Vancouver and I'd call home after every day to my wife and go, man, they're really letting me improvise like a surprising amount. This is going to be one of the best shows I've ever done because I feel like half the time that's going to be coming from my mouth. Yeah, yeah. But practically zero of my lines made the final cut. Oh, no. It was insane.

They must have brought in a brain surgeon to edit that. Oh, man. I was like, how did you find those original script lines amongst all that improv? That's amazing. Give the editor some kind of award. And I was on every episode pretty much a whole season.

Barely any of my improv made it. And I was like, oh, my God. I was so disappointed. It was like, oh my God. I was so disappointed. It was like getting kicked in the stomach. But on Parks and Rec, I would say at least one of my lines would make it every episode.

That was thoroughly satisfying. This is what I'm almost positive about Improvise. Do you guys remember a movie called The Legend of Billie Jean? It was on cable all the time. And it was about this, I guess she was a teenager, Billie Jean, and she kills someone righteously, but then she's on the run and all these teens are supporting her. She has this phrase, fair is fair, says Billie Jean. And I say fair is fair says Billie Jean and I say that

I say fair is fair a couple of times in this episode when she's when we're negotiating her getting into the tub and I go fair is fair and then I think Nick repeats it fair is fair and I bet when I improvised it I said fair

is fair says Billie Jean of course to anyone except for me or someone around my age said it'd make no sense. So they probably just put in fair is fair. You know, I'm just scanning the script right now, which I have access to on my phone. Don't tell me fair is fair is in it. Fair is fair is not in it. Okay, there you go. That's yours.

Yes, yes. And I, you know, we haven't hit that episode yet, but coming up in later in the season, in episode new slogan, I'm in the episode in with Crazy Ira and the douche. There was a character, China Joe, who would play the sound effects for Crazy Iron, the douche. And for some reason, that actor was unavailable the day we had to shoot this.

And so we're in the writer's room. And I, as a writer's assistant at the time, I played a lot of sound effects in the room. It's the way to keep myself entertained and have a voice. And when that actor was unavailable, they needed someone. And someone said, Levine should do it. And so I was like, all right, yeah, great. You're going to do it, Greg. And what should his name be?

And I think Dan Gore from across the room shouts, Jewish Greg. And Jewish Greg gets typed into the script. And then so I wound up for a day hanging out with you guys. And I truly, I think I was bleeding from biting the inside of my mouth to stop from laughing because of how fun it was just to see the three of you just entertain. And because I knew the script, I thought like, I'm going to be okay. I know where the jokes are. But those weren't all the jokes.

You guys provided this great improv and this great comedy environment. So it was so fun to be able to witness that. I got to look at that episode. I got to remember that episode. It was inside the radio station? In the radio station. It's called New Slogan. I think it's the 16th episode of the season.

It was my one and only time as Jewish Greg. But I've been playing Jewish Greg for 42 years now. For many years, yes. Was it cool being in the room with Amy? Like, playing around again? Definitely. Definitely. It's probably weird as much as cool. But I'm not sure.

Probably weirder the first time rather than whichever time this was. But the four of us for three years straight did nothing but that. And it was just crazy. I'll never just forget that. So to be with her

in a different environment, it's kind of weird. Well, this has been a blast talking to you about the show. I have to ask as a guy who loves improv, I've watched my fair share of improv shows, and I always wondered why there were not more improv TV shows. Good question, my man. I have a huge take. It's the bane of my comedic existence, so let's cut me off at some point. But yeah, it's been my goal for years

to have a long form improv show on TV. But what we've gotten through the years pitching ASCAT or various forms of it was in so many words, there's just not enough bells and whistles. Like they're used to sing in short form. And you can't give them a script week to week for them to judge and say, this is good or not, or okay, this will work for advertisers.

They just didn't trust all that. It was built on so much, trust me, it'll be good. And they just weren't used to that. And they always wanted to put too much mustard on it, which turned it into a short form show. And there's been so many bizarre improv shows

through the years that I've shouting Freud delighted and taking track of. But do you guys remember the one? I can't remember what it's called but the stage was on a slant and the more the show went I think it was on Fox

oh yeah it was on a slant and then they would throw like soap on the stage and food and sounds going off it was literally bells and whistles it was like it's not enough to do comedy we gotta fucking throw and sounds going off. It was literally bells and whistles. Yes. It was like,

it's not enough to do comedy. We've got to fucking throw. Yeah. And make you sly. Yeah, yeah. I want to bring that into our studio for you, Jim. Because we are just,

you should do that. Yes. Yeah, because we're just clowns. We're just clowns. Yes. Matt, thank you so much. I know we've taken over your time, but we're very grateful you did this.

Yes, thank you so much. You're an iconic character on Parks and Recreation you are part of the Iron Adouge it doesn't get better the voice of Pawnee the same voice of Pawnee so thank you so much well, it's great to be included

on one of the last sitcoms ever made as comedy. It is nice, isn't it? It is true. I got to say, fellas, it kind of bummed me out because I really feel like you'll never have this many episodes of a sitcom again. It's just not stacking up that way anymore. It made me wistful. Yeah, they're not as common, right?

They're rare. They're not just not as common. They're rare. They're not just not as common. They're rare. It used to be NBC, you know, must-see TV. Every show did 22 to 24, sometimes 26. Now, it's a whole different landscape. On that happy note, we are happy to be discussing Parks and Rec with you. And thank you once again, Matt Besser, for joining us on the pod.

Thank you, Matt. This was awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. That was great, Matt. Thank you so much. It's great to hear about how guests come in.

Because not every show did what we did with the fun runs and the playfulness. Right. And you can hear how much he enjoyed being able to play. And again, he's back with one of his old stalwarts, Amy Poehler. So yeah, it was great to hear from him. Yes, thank you, Matt. That was awesome. And thank you all for joining us and for listening and for

being a part of this little experiment called Parks and Recollection. Text this episode to your group chat. Give us five-star reviews wherever you're listening. Thanks as always to Lisa and to Joe. Yay, we love them. And from

all of us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye from Pawnee. From Pawnee, bye-bye. Parks and Recollection is produced by me, Lisa Berm, and engineered by Joanna Samuel. The podcast is executive produced by Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, and Nick Liao. Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn are our talent bookers, along with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Our 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.