Parks and Recollection - Patton Oswalt: Article Two (S5E19)

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Comedian Patton Oswalt joins Jim O’Heir and Greg Levine to break down his epic Star Wars filibuster as Garth Blundin (the Pawneean with a passion for history), his old-timey wager with Leslie at the historical house, and the waffle iron battle royale between Ann and Ben. 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!

Welcome back to another episode of Parks and Recollection I'm one of the hosts, Jim O'Hare The Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, Barry guy People like Barry, Johnny People are like, Barry? Johnny Karate. Yeah. I was Barry and Johnny Karate. And I'm sitting here with my dear friend.

Hello, Greg. Greg. It's Greg. It's Greg. I've been doing so many episodes of this now, and I'm like, I need a better response to Jim's. He posted you up, and you just went, yeah. Yeah.

Just Greg. Well, this amazing voice you hear joining us today is our fantastic, Pawnee in with a passion for history, Garth Blunden. Welcome to our studio, Patton Oswalt. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, yay. I'm so glad I'm here.

So for me, it was King of Queens. That was, I'm sure with a lot of people, that was the first introduction to you. Such a great character. You got to work with Jerry Stiller, and you got a lot of stuff with him. I got, I mean, yeah, they really, as the show went on, and I'm saying this as a very grateful person, but I became the weird B-plot story that writers had an itch to do. Like, I don't know if we can pull this off, so let's have Spence do it. And me and Jerry Stiller would very often get to do these just insane,

weird little offshoot stories from the main story. You know, I mean, you have Kevin and Leah who are just ridiculously charming and great. Kevin is such a hilarious actor. I got to do some stories with him, but he's like, he's one of those guys that he's so completely hilarious in the scene. It's like,

I don't need to be here interrupting him. Like, Jerry is on his own weird wavelength. You know, you can really kind of play with him and it's amazing. There's so many, I mean,

I could go on all day about King of Queens because I love that show too. Also, I want to ask you, do you remember, you probably won't, the first time we met? Yes, and I came in with this story.

I was actually telling, I had an actual damn it, Jerry moment. And I even, the story ends with me tweeting a picture and almost everyone responded with damn it, Jerry.

Of course, yes. I took a flight from LA. It was either from LA to New York or back. I forget which one it was. I feel it was back, but it could have been there. I don't know. I took a flight from LA. It was either from LA to New York or back. I forget which one it was. I feel it was back, but it could have been there. I don't know. I sat down and without either of us knowing, you sat behind me.

Right. But we didn't know it the entire flight until we stood up when we landed and we stood up and we're like, oh, hey. And you were there the whole time. And it was such a great damn it, Jerry moment. Hey, and you were there the whole time, and it was such a great damn it, Jerry moment. Because at that point, I had been tweeting a lot about Parks and Rec,

like how much I loved that show. Before you were on the show? I had not been on the show yet. Right, right, right. But I was a huge fan of the show, and I would like, I wouldn't live tweet, but I would just go, hey, this new episode. Because again, Parks and Rec was like a perfect, it was like you got a free 22-minute short Tom McCarthy film every week.

Like about these smaller stories that touched on deeper things and were also hilarious. And I'm like, I can't believe we get to have this for free every week. This is insane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you won't know is that when you said hello, of course, I'm trying to be cool, but inside of like, dear God, that's Ben Lundgren!

And he knows who I am, and he's acknowledging me. Yeah, that was really exciting for me, and I know you're like, what? But it really was. Anyway, so yeah, I have the total memory of that whole experience. Yeah. I just love that.

That was one of the first shows where even people who are just kind of almost background actors, they said, no, let's do whole stories and live them. So as the show goes on, yes, you were following Leslie Knope and Ron. But if you go back, someone could cut together a linear story about Jerry, a linear story about Retta, where you fill in their lives. Exactly. It's amazing.

I think that way, even just about the recurring characters, like the people we would see at the town halls. There's a character in today's episode, Herman Lurpis, who works at the pawn store. And he has now had I think three or four episodes already and he now knows one of our main characters names

without it being said out loud like he knows Anne's name so there's a story about all of these people we've talked about this before there's the Springfield effect right yes it feels like lives are going on come to life and one of my favorite I mean again one of my favorite of so many favorite moments

in the show is when Rob Lowe and Nick Offerman's character are having their burger cook-off. Oh, sure. And it's revealed that Jerry has

his own Jerry. He has a guy. Kyle. Kyle. Just shut up and eat it, Kyle. Yeah. And who's even sadder.

Like, oh, someone always has a way to kick down. And it's weird. The scene is hilarious. But then it also makes you go, well, who's Kyle's Kyle? Like, there must be someone beneath him somewhere. And it just, again, your mind just keeps expanding every episode. Well, Kyle had really, as much as Jerry was all over him on that episode,

he was shit on by Andy and April. Yeah. Like, because when he was at the shoeshine thing. So, he was just. Yes. Yes, he's the same guy. Oh, my God. So, he's the same guy.

So, as much as Jerry's low on the totem pole. Yeah. This dude is like the dirt underneath. And a fascinating life. I mean, he clearly gets beat up by Andy all the time at the shoeshine stand. Yes. I've never seen a guy want to get his shoes shined so often.

He keeps going back. He keeps going back to the crime. It's unbelievable. So we have to ask, how did you come to us? How did you come to Parks? Who did you know? Who did you sleep with?

How did this happen? All I remember is I get a call from my manager saying, hey, they want you on an episode. And I was like, I don't even need this. Yes. Yes saying hey they want you on an episode and I was like I don't even need this yes yes yes yes yes I can't believe I'm on this show I don't want to like I'm gonna try to dial down the deadhead Trekkie vibe coming off of me for this show because I really could come in and go and then in this you know um but which is what led to what

we're going to talk about but when I I got there, I was also blown away. There are background jokes in like paintings in City Hall. Yes, the murals. The murals that you barely see. They're like they go by in a blur in the background. And there's a whole thing going on there that is amazing. And offensive and wrong. Insanely.

Yes. Oh my, I'm amazed people haven't like freeze-framed and tried to retroactively cancel the show. It's incredible. No, but we did call ourselves out for that. Right, that's like, you couch it in a joke, right? Yes. You say, why?

You have to, or else you can't just be like, these are our offensive histories of the past. No, you have to make a big joke out of it and be self-deprecating. And Leslie would be like, this was terrible. Like, she acknowledged how terrible it was. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this was Pawnee in the past.

It was one of the most fun sets. Not just the people, but the set itself. It itself was a joke. Like, you could give tours of the Parks and Rec City Hall set alone. Yes. And people would have a blast doing, like like an hour walkthrough of the set. And I don't know if people know this, but generally sets are put up and put down as the minute the season's over, they tear it all down.

And they're renting these stages to whoever because, you know, it's all about money. Our stage never went away. Stage 21 never went away. They built those walls. They weren't like just wood with a fake facade. They sat there for seven seasons on stage 21. It never went down. Right.

It's not there anymore. It's not there. No, actually, Adam Scott just sent us all out. We've said this many times. We have this thing called the Parks Family Text. And so we're always texting back and forth. And Adam was in front of stage 21 because Seal Team was just rapping and they had been using it.

And before us, one of the shows was Malcolm in the Middle because they had put a big thing above the door, one of the big doors, like the cast had put something up there, which was kind of cool. But yeah, but our set never went away for seven seasons. Well, the fact that they built it so solidly, it gave the show,

even though it was a single camera show being filmed on a lot of sets, it looked like, oh, did they take over a city hall to just shoot it? And again, in the deep, deep depths, there are people walking around doing things. Yeah. It feels like stuff is happening. We had rain. We had pigeons. Yes. They brought it all in.

Yes. They really did. It was amazing. I know. It was amazing. I know, it's just fantastic. So let's talk about today's episode, which is Article 2. It was written by Matt Murray, directed by Amy Poehler.

Amy Poehler. Originally aired on April 18th, 2013. And Jim is going to read a little blurb. We'll do the blurb. So here's what it's all about. Leslie's efforts to change a long list of antiquated Pawnee laws is met with opposition from an impassioned citizen leading to an old-fashioned wager,

literally. Meanwhile, April and Ron get roped into a management seminar held by Chris, and Ann and Ben go to the mattresses over at JJ's Diner Waffle Iron for Leslie. So we have a great Nopes Notes. It's like our early idea.

Nopes Notes. Yep. Nopes Notes. You understand it. You're not just playing it. I want to give some background about this episode. In season two, we first tried to crack in the writer's room a story set at an historical house. So this had been thought of for a long time. We called it

Historical House. It had an outline written for it. never made it past that stage. The idea was basically that the city was going through some kind of economic woe and parks programs were being cut. So Leslie's throwing all these different fundraisers like Shakespeare in the Pit.

And then the episode story is going to focus on this dinner and historical reenactment of the founding of Pondy set at the historic house. The rest of the team is going to play all these different parts. It never really gelled enough to become a script, but that idea of an historical house

and everyone dressed up in old-timey garb and doing old things had stuck around for seasons so that now here we are in season five. And it felt like, oh, we have the finally someone cracked the right way in. And that's how we get today's episode. That's so cool. This is one of my favorite things about doing this podcast is learning stuff like that. Yeah, that a lot of times you will.

And I've experienced this firsthand. There are things that you make a full run at and it does not click. And then for some reason later on, wait, and then someone cracks it out of nowhere. So you keep those ideas in the background. Yeah. So let's, we have so much episode to talk about. I want to jump into the synopsis. See what we're doing here, Pat.

Are you getting this? Are you getting this? Heck yeah. Okay. Fed up with being thrown in Rams at Lake in honor of Ted Party Day, one of the many Teds of Pawnee, Brian Stack, convinces Leslie to take a stand against the antiquated laws still lingering

in Pawnee's town charter. Meanwhile, Anne winds up in a bidding war over a breakfast day present for Leslie. And April and Ron are forced to take Chris's management training seminar, Katumps. Katumps. Katumps.

Which sounds kind of like the Law & Order sound. Katumps. Katumps. It does sound like that. Very good. Very good. A shout out to Brian Stack, who is just,

is he one of the sweetest men alive? Not only is he one of the sweetest men alive, probably responsible for most of the comedy that you've enjoyed on Conan throughout the 90s. Like, there are now compilations of Artie Kendall, the ghost singer, Ohanagan, the traveling salesman, Frankenstein, Waste a Minute of Your Time. These long running, oh, inappropriate, Like he built a whole world of comedy. He's one of the smartest, funniest writers out there. He's so great. If there's something that you liked on Conan,

chances are Brian Stack wrote it. Wow. Seriously, he probably wrote it. And also just a genuinely wonderful dude. Genuinely like just the chillest. It's one of those weird exceptions to the rule. Like, no, you can be really happy and upbeat and be really,

you don't need to be tormented and burning your life on the ground. Right, to be talented. Yes, exactly. Yeah, it's the Fred Willard principle of like, no, you can actually just be happy and cool and be the funniest person on the planet. His wife is named Miriam

and she's equally tall and happy. Yeah, and also a equally tall and happy. Yeah. And also a genuinely really funny actress. Yes. She has a great, like, again, just a couple of lines on 30 Rock

where she's working at Airbike, which is supposed to be like JetBlue. And then when she has to, when they dissolve the company, she just turns to her and goes,

I've always hated you and just like leaves. Like immediately, it's such a perfect turn. Yeah. Okay, so Tea Party Day is actually Ted Party Day as we talked about. It's the commemoration of the great Pawnee

tea dump of 1817. There's an A that looked like a D in the charter and so they've been throwing a Ted into the lake. Which is just one of these little things that, to me, feels so Parks and Recreation. It captures the essence

of small city life, yet it is peculiar and weird and just straight out comedy because it's a TV series. It's the perfect blend of, I think, yet it is peculiar and weird and just straight out comedy because it's a TV series. It's the perfect blend of, I think what the show was so good at, you know, capturing some essence of real. It also feels ridiculous in a way

that then if you went and checked with a bunch of small towns, they probably, there are towns that do stuff exactly like that. Exactly, yeah. Well, they misspelled it, but we just ran with it. We went with it, yeah.

And now we kind of dig it. Yeah. Well, there misspelled it, but we just ran with it. We went with it, yeah. And now we kind of dig it. Yeah. Well, there are laws all over this country that are just... They're nuts. Nuts! But they just sit there

because no one really enforces them. But yeah, no, they're out there. There's all sorts of crazy stuff. Yeah. I love how

when we first meet Garth, when we first meet your character, Patton, you're not saying anything, but you're mouthing along to the words, right? Was that improv or did they tell you to do that? It wasn't in the script.

No, I just know that from my experience, when someone is a nerd for something, be it a sport or be it a movie, they tend to start treating it like it's scripture and they will talk along with it. You see it all the time. Yeah, you can't help it. It's such a funny moment because you're doing it word for word right along with Leslie. Because he loves it.

He loves it. To me, it's like singing along at a concert. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? You're so, they're almost evangelical for the music. I'm part of this. Yes, yes. I'm part of this.

Yeah, they need my voice as part. This is why the concert is happening. Yeah. Did you know, I know this is, again, a little tangent. Did you know Amy or Nick or Pratt or anybody? God, I'd known Amy for forever. I mean, I'd never really gotten to work with her, but I knew her. I used to see her do, you know, Ask Kat and Upright Citizens Brigade and just all of her SNL stuff was incredible. in New York backstage. There were so many like on the walls, like love notes written to Amy Poehler, like just like little improv guys

with impossible crushes on Amy. Like, just love you so much, Amy. Just like, I'm going to see this whole wall of tip. But also she's another one of those weird fonts of absolute creativity. Just absolute nonstop. And energy too. This is a quick tangent,

but it's about Amy. I got to host one of these things that Jason Reitman would do. These readings, script readings at LACMA where they would take a famous script and they would recast it with people. So they did like the Breakfast Club

and, you know, with like, with Mindy Kaling as the goth girl and Jennifer Garner is the Molly Ringwald part. And, you know, people like, with Mindy Kaling as the goth girl and Jennifer Garner as the Molly Ringwald part and, you know, people like that. And they did a shampoo. They did Reservoir Dogs

with all African-American actors. It was incredible. So then he let me do one. So I did Raising Arizona. And it was Timothy Oliphant in the Nick Cage role and Amy Poehler in the Holly Hunter role. And Amy Poehler, she never said this to me, but I could tell she had just come off of like a full day of shooting,

probably had a 5 a.m. call the next morning, showed up and just destroyed. It was just this absolute like focus. Every time that I've ever been in the middle of a project, I have a 4 a.m. call from tomorrow. I'm like Amy Poehler. This was during the height of Parks and Rec. She was probably also directing stuff in the writer's room.

And on my one night off, I'm going to go and do this reading for no money and just killed it. Amazing. I did hear that she got paid a million. You got no money and just killed it. Amazing. I did hear that she got paid a million. You got no money. She did get a million. I heard about that. So she showed up for a reason. She did show up. No, but you're right. But it was also one of those things where it's like, Holly Hunter's performance in that movie is iconic. It's one of the best

comedic performances. What Amy Poehler did was completely different from Holly Hunter's and watching it, you're like like if she had played that role that would be the only way we would have thought of the role that's how good it was it wasn't like that it was better than Holly

it was just a completely different take and it was just as funny I'd never seen anything like it it's such a great testament to the alchemy of great writing meets great acting right a great script on its own is amazing and what it does when in the hands of any different type of amazing actor that it can go different ways and to be as satisfying that's a great point i wrote a thing for um esquire that's right i've written for esquire how you doing all right here we go but

it was about um what comedic actors would you like to see do like serious roles, like an actual serious role. I picked like Kevin James. I think he'd be like a weird, like do an Adam Sandler kind of thing, like do a straight dramatic role. I think Eric Idle would be really interesting. But my top one was Amy Poehler. And I don't know if she would ever do that. But if a really amazing dramatic role came her way, I know she could nail it. Oh, absolutely.

And I was saying like one of those low stakes crime movies, but her soul is on the line. Yeah. Like she's like a working class person. Like her face and her expressiveness. Yes, she has used it for comedy, but there are moments on Parks and Rec where your heart just breaks for her.

Yes, yes. You know, and she's, I don't know, there are depths to her that I cannot wait to see what she's going to do. She is decades ahead of her, my God. Decades, of course. That reminds me, like a Mary Talamore in Ordinary People. Yes.

So she's known as, you know, Dick Van Dyke and the Mary Talamore, funny, funny, funny, funny. And then, yikes, Ordinary People. Yeah. I'll bring us back as much as I've loved this conversation. I think it's worth pointing out some of the other statutes in the Pawnee town charter. Any white citizen has the right to seize any Indian property for 25 cents. So Ted trades Tom's car keys for a quarter and claims ownership. Any woman raising her voice to a land-owning male gives that male the right to crack an egg on her face. And I made a note how funny it was that Ted, Brian Stack, came in ready to argue this please stop Ted day with an egg ready to go with him.

He's like, I might get to the point where I have to argue my case and bring up all these antiquated laws. So I'm going to smash an egg on somebody's face. And the great moment is then he smashes his head after he's told her about the statute. And Leslie's just like, oh, I was not aware of that statute. Not upset. She said, egg is dripping down her face.

She literally has egg on her face. Yeah, she has egg on her face. Let's jump over to Ron and Chris and April's story. So Ron and April are going to be forced by Chris to do Chris Trigger Management Training Seminar. And I love how Ron says in a talking head

that he will do something if it helps someone do nothing. He'd work all night if it meant nothing got done. That to me is one of the great

Ron talking heads from this season. It goes along with talking about how terrible Tammy to his ex-wife was. And then there's a hard cut. It comes to him. It's like, do I believe in marriage?

Sure. Like if you don't believe in marriage or love, what's the point of living? It's like these little Ron Swanson aphorisms. You can make a book out of these. Yeah, you really could. So Chris's C'tumps is now going to be forced on April and Ron.

And it sets up this really great storyline that we'll talk about a little bit more. But let's jump over to Anne. So Anne and Ben are caught in a bidding for a waffle iron for Leslie's breakfast day that I think they both celebrate. And they're competing bids for this. And first of all, her signature, her handle for bidding is future Mrs. Tiger Woods. Which she says, I don't know how to change it. She just did it.

She had a moment of in love with Tiger Woods. And there we go. And the competing bids are from Tall Tyrion Lannister. Top bid, we find out that's Ben. We have future Mrs. Tiger Woods. And then H underscore Lurpus. Which you think, I think at the beginning,

this is just like a little, you know, piece of fun comedy that you get to see. You don't realize, you think it's an Easter egg. You don't realize you're going to meet Herman Lurpus

later on. And Leslie has all these holidays commemorating all of her important moments. And she's given Anne a calendar to keep it straight. She has a zoo day, which is the first time Leslie and Anne went to the zoo. Double date day, first time Leslie and Anne went on a double date. There's

Daniel Day Lewis Day. Talk like a pirate day. Talk like a Pittsburgh pirate day. Calendar day, which is the first time Leslie bought Anne a calendar. And later in the pawn shop, we've learned one of my favorites, where she celebrates mail day with her mail carrier. The pressure she puts on her friends.

Yeah, but that's such a Leslie thing to do. And where she has the time to do all this makes no sense. The energy, it's insane. The money she spends. Yeah, yeah. I think she has to have a trust fund or something.

Something's going on. She spends money. Yeah. Let's keep going with our synopsis. How about that? With city council in session, Leslie presents a bill to repeal Article 2, a.k.a. Ted Party Day,

along with 110 obsolete laws from Pawnee's charter. But her efforts are met with strong opposition from an impassioned citizen, Garth Blunden, leading to an epic filibuster and old-fashioned wager. Leslie and Garth will compete to see who can last longer in an historical house with no modern technology while living under 1817 rules. Meanwhile, April and Ron board Chris's management train to Motivation Station, and Anne realizes the person on the other side of the bidding war is actually Ben. Okay.

We're getting to the moment that I got to witness firsthand. Here we go. So let's ask. I'm sure you've been asked this question a thousand times. Yeah. How did it happen? I'll tell you exactly how it happened. This is the filibuster.

Go ahead. Do you want to set it up? No, I think it's important. It is an infamous moment in both the actual show Parks and Recreation, which you would watch on linear television, and an extended almost nine and a half minute work of art by Patton. Yeah, now that

I've set up, you're going to filibuster. Your character filibusters because you're not getting your way with Leslie. Right. And take us to this moment. It's like the Zapruder film. Give us everything. There's a man opening an umbrella. Okay. It comes down to this. Give us, it's like the Zapruder film. Give us everything. Okay. There's a man opening an umbrella. Okay. It comes down to this.

I, in the script, it says, Garth begins to filibuster. And it goes, I am now invoking the filibuster rule. And then there's going to be a hard comedy cut. But when I did this scene, they never yelled cut. Because I think they wanted to see how far I would go. Because I, there was, I don't think they knew this about me. I was so excited to be on this show. I didn't wanted to see how far I would go because I there was I don't think they knew this about me I was so excited to be on this show I didn't want to get fired didn't want to get replaced so when I didn't hear cut I just kept going and so what you're seeing you know there's

a fight or flight response well there's apparently also a third option which is trivia dump and I just dumped every bit of pop culture trivia in my head. Some of which I was making up. Some of which there is any pop culture nerd is like, what if these two things, you know, collide? Can it all be together? And so a lot of weird things happened during that thing. I basically pitched what I think should be the next Star Wars film.

And then I pull in the Marvel Universe, Star Trek, Greek gods. It just goes insane. But there's a couple of weird moments during this nine minutes. One is that when I do the opening, when I go, it starts with the twin sons of Tatooine we pan down, and then the gauntleted glove of the bounty hunter Boba Fett comes out of the sand and pulls himself out of the Sarlacc pit. Well, and I had this confirmed for me, Jon Favreau, when they did the Book of Boba Fett, it opens with that exact scene.

And if you time it, it starts with the twin sons of Tatooine. They pan down to the hand, and it matches the beginning of the filibuster. Amazing! Oh, my God. So that's happening. Oh, my God matches the beginning of the filibuster. Amazing. Oh, my God. So that's happening. Oh, my God. Yeah, they use that.

Wow. Then there's a couple other weird moments, one of which, again, and this is just a testament to Amy Poehler, a lot of other lesser talents would try to jump in and start riffing. She just kind of holds back and tries to, because she's being Leslie Knope. I'm going to try to listen to this guy. But also being Leslie Knope. I'm going to try to listen to this guy, but also being Leslie Knope, she cannot help but saying,

and in my opinion, it's the funniest line in the filibuster, when she goes, the female part's a little underdeveloped. Which, by the way, was absolutely nailed that entire genre. The female parts are just not real. And at one point when I mentioned the

time, because I'm talking about the Infinity Gauntlet, this is way before any of the Marvel movies, I mentioned the time gem and they cut to Chris going like, whoa. Oh, and also when I mentioned that Leia and Lando Calrissian are having

an affair, you hear Amy go, wait a minute, this is ridiculous. But also, they would not, and then finally, finally, finally, and they don't get enough credit, the background extras, I don't know who gave them the signal to get up and leave. But not only do they all get up and leave, but they get up with this, they have this exhaustion like, oh, here's Garth Blunden again.

Like they've seen this before. And so the background extras are just as crucial, not only for the scene, but for further filling out the town of Pawnee. Like, oh, this is a guy that shows up with these things and does this. Yeah. A couple of things jumped out at me. Number one, so here you are, Patton Oswalt. They've asked you to be on this show. There's no way anyone's firing Patton Oswalt.

But we are actors and we're always... Dude, I live this. I'm always like, oh, I'm going to get fired. Of course. This is where our brains go. Yes. And unless you hear the word cut, you keep going. You do not stop. You are not the one to stop a scene, unless something weird happens or whatever. Right, right, right. But you wait for the

word cut. So I know exactly what you're talking about. But for this episode, when you were shooting, I wasn't scheduled to be there that day, but I came in. You did? I did. Because first of all, I wanted to meet you again. And as the guy behind, you know, Video Village, which is where the director and the scripty as the guy behind, you know, in Video Village,

which is where the director and the scripty sits and watches what's going on, we were like, what is happening? It was wild. Wow. Because it just kept going. And it wasn't, it was rambling, but it was smart rambles. It was, you were making sense and yet not making sense.

I remember being in the writer's room. Yes. Where I feel like someone, I think it was Matt Murray came in, but someone came in like, something amazing happened on set. Oh, I love that. It became this story that's being tossed around

until you got to see this thing. You're right. In watching the episode, I like how first John Glazer, Jeremy Jam, and other kids, they're leaning in. They're into it. Oh, that, you know, John Glazer, Jeremy Jam, and other characters, they're leaning in. They're like, they're into it. Like, yeah. Oh, that's right.

And John Glazer gets into it. His character gets into it. Yeah. But then slowly he and everyone else start filing out one by one. It is an iconic, I think, moment. Like I said, not just the outtake, which is phenomenal. And if you haven't seen it, please go to YouTube, Reddit, whatever, and watch this. But just in the actual

episode, what I watched in prep for today, it's already amazing. And I'm just curious, I mean, I get the sense from you, have you always been into pop culture? Has this been since childhood? Like you like to consume the media. Not just consume pop culture, but I'm in that world, kind of that Philip Jose Farmer, Wold, Newton Universe, Alan Moore, League of Extras, where in my mind, stories are somehow linked, not in reality, but like the storytellers of the time were reflecting the time they were living in. So they were, they are connected somehow, the creative thread.

They are connected somehow, the creative thread. So a world where Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is roaming the streets of London. Also, the Martians are attacking. Also, Dr. Moreau is down the street experimenting on it. Are they all connected because it's a way that human beings connect to themselves? And just like the most disposable pop culture ends up being sometimes a way brighter reflection of our time. You know, like if you want to learn about Victorian London, you read at the time, which were considered funny throwaway stories, the Sherlock Holmes stories ended up being a weird portrait of how, what Victorian thinking was like. Star Wars isn't about space. It's about life in the seventies and taking,

you know, the, um, as George Lucas even said, he goes, yeah, the Rebel Alliance or the, you know, they're trying to fight against the imperialist oppressors. And so people are always using pop culture to tell stories they don't want to tell outright. And it is a great, that's a great point. It's a reflection also on the human emotional experience. I think about how, to me, the explosion of superhero movies.

There have always been superheroes. But the explosion of it taking over our summer blockbusters from aliens to superheroes battling. It was a post-9-11 world. It was a, well, again, I always, my theory is the president kind of sets the tone for the pop culture. The personality of these people. Again, I always, my theory is the president kind of sets the tone for the pop culture, the personality of these people. So during Kennedy, it was all bright suits and James Bond, and we're going to space, baby, and the Rat Pack, and yeah. And then Nixon comes in.

He's killed. Nixon comes in. It's all paranoia and darkness, anti-Westerns, anti-anti-everything, because everything's been reversed now. Post-Nixon, it's all even more paranoia. And then with Jimmy Carter, it's all about, we're beautiful losers. Damn it, we stick to our guns, even if we lose. Rocky, the bad news bears.

We go that we might not win, but damn it, our hearts are right. And then Reagan was a rejection of that. No, it's Rambo. We win, we win, but damn it, our hearts are right. And then Reagan was a rejection of that. No, it's Rambo. We win, we win, we win. And then Bill Clinton comes in. It's all post-ironic, pulp fiction, characters quoting other things. It's all meta, meta, meta. George Bush comes in.

It's 9-11. It's suddenly torture. And we got to turn to the dark side because we're all terrified you know so it's movies like saw and shows like 24 and then a barack comes in and it's all superhero movies because at that point we had had so much horror i want something super powered to come out of the sky and fix everything I want someone with a magic ring or super strength to fix everything. And then there was a rejection of that with Donald Trump, which I think was a combination of like, I think it was, I think it was a white reaction to having a black president, quite frankly.

But it's also this thing, if you notice, because Trump's whole thing is like, well, what is reality? What is truth is just, and now we have, everything is all about the multiverse and, you know, everything everywhere all at once or Russian doll where nothing's really real. There's no actual set truth anymore and everything is amorphous. And I don't know what comes after that.

Yeah, really. That's fascinating. That's what's kind of happening. That's a great point about the multiverse that the life you're living right now, you don't think it's going the right way. Well, there's probably a version of you that it's going the way you want it. And there's wishful thinking to all of those. But getting back to the filibuster, I've always just thought that our stories are connected.

And I'm very hopeful in thinking that. Like, I do think that at its base, I know that like Christianity and Islam and everything is always clashing. But if we could just go into the deeper sources, they all come from the same wellspring. And maybe we could find a way. You know what I mean? It's just ridiculous. People going, well, no, DC Comics. No, Marvel. It's people in caves with powers.

That's why Joseph Campbell and the power of myth is so amazing. No, Marvel. It's people in caves with powers. That's why Joseph Campbell and the power of myth is so amazing. Yes, exactly. As much as it pains me to move on from the filibuster, we have a few other pieces of story that we should cover that we just talked about, which is that

Chris's Katum seminar is nine hours split over two days. As he says, hop on board the management train, first stop, motivation station, all aboard. And he takes that wooden train whistle that I haven't seen since I was a child. I don't know if they still make these. I thought it was one of the greatest toys ever made

in the 80s and 90s. I used to just walk around and I was a train conductor. He also had the hat. He also had the hat. He had that. And, you know, Ron and Chris are literally in a battle for April's soul, where April plays Chris to try and get the seminar to end. She says, I feel like my input isn't being appreciated. You've killed my spirit. My spirit blood is on your hands. And then Chris says, my God, I've taught

you so much already. And I'm building to this really great Ron and Chris worldview where Ron says there are only three ways to motivate people, money, fear, and hunger. And Chris says, I disagree. What about encouragement, appreciation, and smiles? And we get to see that play out in our next bit of synopsis. Leslie and Garth's competition commences at Pawnee's Historic House Museum. And it's not long before Leslie

realizes she's outmatched by Garth's enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Ben and Anne find themselves once again at odds over the famed waffle iron at Herman Lerp's pawn shop. And Ron and Chris use Jerry to prove the strengths of each of their management styles. So I teased it. So let's jump right into Jerry here.

So you're the guinea pig. As always. As always. Why not? Yeah. So they're using you to prove a point. And Chris says something like, Jerry Gergich, I need you to stop whatever it is you're doing

and file as many of these as you can. He's positive. He's, you know. Oh, he's telling me I can do it. Jerry's thrilled. Thrilled. So much so that Jerry then says, wow, Duraflex cut top A350s in deep maroon.

The honor is all mine. So how did, Jim, how did you play this solo? How do you think Jerry's feeling in this moment? Well, it was easy because Jim O'Hare also believes that. That is top of the line stuff. And so I was, as a method actor, I asked them to bring that in. And Jerry is so, I mean, here's Chris complimenting him. He's never heard this. He doesn't hear

this. He's never encountered this. Like what Nick does to him later is exactly what he's used to. That's his speed. That's his speed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is... Wow. Doesn't it remind you, reminds me of the scene in season four where you're stuffing mailers for Leslie.

And you're just in the zone of stuffing and licking the envelope and putting... Jerry excels in this monotonous, boring mailers for Leslie. Exactly. And you're just in the zone of stuffing and licking the envelope and putting, like, Jerry excels in this monotonous, boring type of work. And in that case,

if you remember, I did it incorrectly and we had to do it again. Yeah. And I think the line was something like, well, you know, government work,

you always got to do it twice. Right. And then the smile comes on his face and he starts all over again with a thousand envelopes. When he retires, he's going to retire and work in a dead letter office.

Yes, and be happy. Just be like in heaven. Exactly. Yeah. Let's jump back into Anne and Ben's story because they are really fighting over their loyalty to Leslie. Like we earlier heard Anne said that she's known Leslie for longer. She's got five years worth of anniversary she has to participate in, but Ben's like, imagine being married to her. It's like being

smothered with a hand-quilted pillow filled with cherished memories. So Herman Lurpis has won the waffle iron. So here we are in the pawn shop, one of my new favorite locations. I love how he just assumes Ben is looking for a gun

and immediately pulls out a cardboard box of loose firearms, which is terrifying. Yep. Because I think the last time we were here, they were looking for wedding rings. Right. Wasn't that the last time we were here? Right, right. And that got scary too. Right, right.

Because some of them were nails. Some of them were nails. Yeah. So, I love this actor who says, well, it looks like we have an old-fashioned pawn shop waffle iron bidding war. You know, the classic. The classic, yeah. Once again, here we go. Here we go with that waffle bidding war.

Classic logic problem. Starts the bidding at $650,000. And then we get a great sight gag, which is in the bidding, the mail carrier has shown up. It's Leslie's mail carrier who's here for the same thing bidding because she needs it for mail day. But Ben winds up winning for $500. Ben made a terrible mistake. He initially offered $100. Well, if you look carefully, and you know I do, Lorpis paid $104.

He won the bid for $104. Great point. So why would he? He certainly wouldn't take $100. No, no, no Lurpis paid $104. He won the bid for $104. Great point. So why would he? Certainly wouldn't take $100. No, no, no. But he almost took a date with Anne. It was close. There was almost going to be a date with Anne.

And I know I mentioned it earlier, but God, I was laughing watching this when he says, I'll do it for a date with you, Anne. He knows her name. Herman Lurpis has now been on our show enough just to know Anne Perkins' name. It cracks me up. But it also makes you wonder, the way he says it, has he always known it? And this is the

one time he's slipping and showing his longtime crush. Oh, that's interesting. Again, there's a lot of levels that could be happening here, right? In the Herman Lurpes show. In the Herman Lurpes show. And you know, the Lurpus family is throughout the show. They're all over the place.

They are fecund, as we would say. Yeah, they are everywhere. Fecund. Okay, so let's jump into our Back to the History story. It's you and Amy. You're in the historical house.

You have this all-timey garb on. You're at full period. Leslie's knitting. We learned earlier, Leslie used to give tours at the historical house and was three times employee of the fortnight.

Mm-hmm. And having spent the night, Garth has already made the preserves for the day, chased off an interloping cable installer. This must have been so much fun.

As an actor, as a person, you're with Amy, who you have such comedy respect for. The two of you are comedy geniuses. You have a great comedy game. This must have been such a fun day. Well, it was also great

because a lot of the scenes that I'm in, Leslie Knope is the sane eye in the middle of a crazy hurricane a lot of times, even though she can also be crazy. But she has met someone who's even crazier than her, and she now has to be the, okay, like reacting to the guy. The way she reacts,

especially in that butter turning thing, like he's a machine. He just won't stop. So the way she reacts to stuff in this scene is just, the whole way through is perfect. And also, like, she does these,

there's this great scene where she's, it looks like it's going to be just a one-er to the camera, and then I do a Canadian cross in the background with my hoop. Yes. Look at my hoop. And then she just does this long, just to the, oh, God, she's so perfect. Yes.

It made me think of like some great, like great vaudeville, and I love Lucy bits. Oh, yeah. It's so silly. It's the kind of thing where like Garth could have been doing anything old timey. And it just eats away at how much fun and comfortable he is compared to Leslie. Because I think if you're a longtime fan of the show, you're a longtime lover of Leslie Knope. I think you think she's going to nail this.

Right. She's going to be so good at this. So good. And what's amazing is we don't even play that. She's confident, but immediately Garth is better. Exactly. It's not that she's bad. It's that she is up against the Terminator of historical reenactment people.

Yeah. And you have an obsession for it. I am obsessed. You love it. My mouth it along. I can recite it. Yeah. Yeah, this is my world.

This is, you feel like he's uncomfortable back in the real world. This is where he can finally take a breath. That's such an important thing when Leslie will, in a moment, realize how to solve this problem. It's that this is a person problem, not a problem.

Garth was born in the wrong decade. Century. A lot of decades. He was born in the wrong century. Yes. Century. A lot of decades. He was born in the wrong century. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he seems like a sweet guy. He seems like, yeah. I think he's a little intense for things, but he seems decent.

I think anyone who's obsessed with something is sweet until you bump up against their obsession and get it wrong. Sports fans are really cool people, unless you get in their way on game day and they're like, they're not cool. That's true. There's a great little Andy moment in this butter making competition where Andy realizes that butter is his favorite food. He says, this tastes great.

All my favorite foods have butter on them. Pancakes, toast, popcorn, grapes. Butter is my favorite food. Grapes. I wonder if butter grapes would be good. Great Chris line. All right, let's forge on with our synopsis. Yes.

Convinced that Garth must be cheating, Leslie, Tom, and Andy sneak a look at his cell phone only to find that Garth's enthusiasm for the wager is really just a result of him being a lonely guy with no friends. Meanwhile, Ben comes up with an idea to get him and Anne out of celebrating Leslie's multitude of made-up holidays, and Ron tests out his pared-down

management style on Jerry. Okay, so Garth, not a cheater. He's just a little sad and lonely. Sad and lonely, baby. But was it 12 days without an email? Yeah. Yeah, it was sad. Except for spam,

which you responded to. That's such a great line. Tom says, I think I'm going to be sick. In Tom's world, nothing could be worse. Oh, exactly. Nothing could be worse than that.

Not having calls to roll. What is happening? Yeah. There's a great line that Leslie gives, says, there's no way a man who's into X-Men that much can stay away from the internet that long.

I think that's very true. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that is the one Achilles heel amongst, especially the nerd community, the nerd mafia, is we must log in. Yes, yes. And check on whatever and refresh and see if there's any new news. Yes, and find out. New Deadpool trailer. Oh, my God. Find out who else agrees with us on this thing. Yes. And check on whatever and refresh and see if there's any new news. Yes.

And find out who else agrees with us on this thing. Yes, exactly. And then pummel the person who doesn't agree with us on it. Oh, God. Crazy. We're in a good time

for discourse. Whoa. Great time. So Ben suggests that he and Anne split the cost of the waffle iron saying he has an idea

that will get them both out of celebrating Leslie's many holidays. Meanwhile, Anne is trying to, before she gets this offer from Ben, she's trying to make her own present, and she makes this horrifying

Leslie breakfast doll. The doll's head has been replaced by a waffle head, pancake eyes, and grapes as pupils and a nose. She's kept the doll's hair and re replaced by a waffle head, pancake eyes, and grapes as pupils and a nose. She's kept the doll's hair and reattached it to the waffle. She made a rattle out of a bagel and coffee stirrer. There's a bacon skirt. It is like the thing of a nightmare.

It's a problem. I first thought it was like a voodoo doll. It looks terrifying. It looks so primitive. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yes, it's like the first doll ever. But it's also that.

They must have made dolls 100 years ago. We've been in the business long enough to know, yes, as horrifying as it is to look at, the prop department had a frigging field day. They were so happy. Gay Perillo, we call her out all the time because she's a genius. And you know her hands were all over that thing.

But you're right, It's so primitive. Oh boy. But I could almost see it like, oh, I don't like this person. I'm going to take everything they like. But that was not what Anne's plan was because she loves Leslie and wants her to be happy. And the pressure that these people are under to do these damn gifts. Right. And we've actually spent a lot of time with Anne in episodes having to be crafty and she's actually not quite good. She's not that artistic.

The one thing she was great at is in this season, she made Leslie's wedding dress. Right. Right. She talks about Canada all the time. She's watched Project Runway and everything. She was very good at that, but it's almost like she had been storing up

all her good skill for this one moment. And now she's back down to zero. Nothing left in the tank. Yeah. Well, I think we should wrap up our episode with our last bit of synopsis. Okay. Realizing Garth has dug his heels in

due to loneliness, Leslie asks him to join the Pawnee Historical Commission, leading Garth to drop his protest. No longer facing opposition, Leslie's bill passes with an amendment to Article 2 stating a volunteer will be tossed in Ramset Lake on Ted Party Day instead of a random Ted.

Meanwhile, Chris and Ron's management experiment on Jerry yields surprising results, and Ann and Ben convince Leslie to consolidate her many holidays. Well, Ron's experiment did not work because he really was setting Jerry up to fail, which I think happens every day in that place. Yes. Because he was like, get it done. And how about that moment? And do you remember the moment when I'm eating a candy bar?

Yes. And he flicks it out of my hand and snatches it? Yes. We tried for that. Really? We did take after take. Really? Yes, yes, yes.

That was the bit we wanted to make work. Wow. It's like a jujitsu move or something. It really is. And we finally got it. Wow. Nice. That's so fun.

Well, it paid off. It paid off. People don't know what we actors go through. Your long hours. I could barely walk back to the trailer and sleep for an hour after that. I could barely get down the ridge. They had it crafty. You had to eat a candy bar after that.

I had to have another candy bar after that. Oh, rough. Yeah, rough, man. Okay, so we're talking about it. So Ron uses hunger to motivate Jerry, takes away a candy bar after that. I had to have another candy bar after that. Oh, rough. Yeah, rough, man. Okay, so we're talking about it. So Ron uses hunger to motivate Jerry, takes away his candy bar. Chris was very positive. And the Jerry results are in 268 red files,

which are Chris's, to 384 blue files, which were Ron's. But we find out that Jerry was so happy after talking to Chris that he talked to Gail about it for 20 minutes, probably accounting for why that number was lower to Chris that he talked to Gail about it for 20 minutes, probably accounting for why that number was lower. Imagine that phone call. Gail, you won't believe

what just happened. Chris just came up. And you can imagine how supportive Gail was. Oh, sweetie. Oh, my goodness. That's so wonderful. I think it starts with Gail. It finally happened. The thing we've been waiting for. Yes. But Jerry filed almost all the blue files, Ron's, wrong because he was It finally happened. The thing we've been waiting for.

But Jerry filed almost all the blue files, Ron's, wrong because he was so upset after talking to Ron. And it shows that maybe a blending of these two styles is the right way to go. But then we find out in this weird Jedi mind trick kind of thing that Chris and Ron were both participating in each other's management seminar because Chris had the letter that he wrote himself. And he says,

I, Chris Traeger, hope to engage Ron and April in a meaningful discussion about management techniques. But Ron's letter says, I will learn nothing. And then April has a letter to say, I will pit Ron and Chris against each other. They'll argue about dumb stuff that doesn't matter and I will bail. Then I'll steal 20 bucks from Chris's wallet

and buy pizza with Andy. Oh, and I'll also steal Ron's watch just for fun. And she said, it's my favorite kind of battle. Two men enter, one me leaves. Wow. That's a great line. I have to say this and I say it every week. That's genius.

This bit is so damn funny. And they're doing it visually while he's reading the letter. We see April is feeding pizza to Andy. We see Chris open his wallet. The 20 bucks is gone. She has played them perfectly. And it's very satisfying because the story didn't need this little grace note at the end. Right.

It's already satisfying that Chris and Ron, you just realize, oh, maybe each of us needs to listen to the other. But, oh, we have April. You could have just been like, oh, April, yeah,

she left for the day once you guys got distracted. But no, she played both of them and I love it. Yeah. Oh, God. I love this show. I love this show.

Okay, well, then let's talk about the end of Garth. Oh. Well, not the end of Garth because we find out oh god I love this show I love this show okay well then let's talk about the end of Garth well not the end of Garth because we find out you know the best way to disarm him

is to invite him to the Pawnee Historical Commission and I love Leslie I love the way Amy played this little moment the two of you where she's selling

and the only problem is there's tons of meetings right it's lots of work with people also love history many social occasions going to have to attend, like cocktail parties and such.

And then, Ben, you had this great line where, those clowns, no thank you. They haven't answered a single one of my complaints about their anachronistic use of fonts in their newsletter. Yes. That scene at the end where you're at the lake it's the B side how we opened up the whole episode so excited

to be Ted I'm Ted you're exclaiming and Andy runs in naked and jumps in the water naked how many takes did he do that one and done he just did one and done and he was wearing one of those little tiny like modesty right right right

yeah dude was nude yeah yeah hilarious the man has no body issues at all no no no he was happy I'm gonna put a bow on the last storyline which is that the resolve for Ann and Ben is that they're gonna do an Ann week and a Ben week

celebrating both their friendships and time together but Leslie says okay fine but there's gonna and a Ben week, celebrating both their friendships and time together. But Leslie says, okay, fine, but there's going to be a third week, friend week, commemorating now when her best friends became best friends. And she already has gifts. Of course. Already has gifts. She does.

We've come to the end of our episode, but Patton, it's not the end of our podcast episode because we always end with Jim's crap. It's the crap we didn't get to that's still delighted. That we still can talk about. Last night, I was texting with Retta because when I was going through the episode, one of the things that came out was when Ann is trying to figure out a gift for Leslie and she's losing this waffle maker.

And Donna comes walking in and Donna goes, what are you bidding on? It better not be Terrence Howard's tank top from hustle and flow. Anne goes, it is not. And then Donna, good, because I am bidding on it and I am ready to spend an amount that my accountant calls dangerous and irresponsible. Yeah. But so I was texting her that. And then I said to her, but what even killed me more? Donna says to Anne, because they're going back and forth, she goes, you don't watch the Game of Thrones? Anne, no, do you? Donna, hell yeah.

Have you seen those Dothraki dudes? They can get it. Everybody on that show can get it. So I'm texting this to Retta, and she goes, oh yeah, it's a meme. Well, that whole treat yourself thing became... Yeah, yeah. For her and Aziz, yeah, yeah. For her and Aziz.

Yeah, yeah. It became a big thing. Also, I loved the moment with Garth and Leslie when you're like, oh, big deal. You put on a costume for a couple of hours. By that logic, every time I go to bed, I'm Wolverine. She goes, you bought X-Men pajamas? And you're like, I won them, madam, in a raffle.

Of course, I can't do it like you, but I love it. I have to nail that it's a raffle. I have to nail it. It's a raffle. I did not purchase it. It's a raffle, bitch. And then just because Chris is so odd and wonderful. Chris and Ron. Chris, I don't want to seem overdramatic, but this is

literally a battle for April's soul. Ron, I don't want to seem overdramatic, but I don't really care what happens now. That describes exactly those two characters. Perfect. So that's some of the crap we didn't get to. That's great crap. Listen, we've come to talking about our final thoughts in the episode, and I was thinking about it. This episode to me is about two very big things, competition and compromise.

Yeah. In which Anne and Ben are competing for the waffle iron and compromise realizing that it's a prisoner's dilemma and they could actually, if they work together, be more successful. Chris and Ron are in competition over Jerry and then April. But then the compromise is realizing, hey, if only we took a little bit of each other

and then realize actually April is smarter than all of us. And lastly, it's about the competition between Leslie and Garth that we see play out in the city hall. We see it play out at the historical house and then realizing that it's about, again, compromise. Everybody has to win a little bit. And Garth needs to be able to win if you're going to compromise. It's a great lesson, I think, on compromise. The idea that it's a good deal if everybody hates it a little bit. And Garth needs to be able to win if you're going to compromise. It's a great lesson, I think, on compromise. The idea that it's a good deal if everybody hates it a little bit. Again, it's a world that we

don't live in anymore. It's kind of nostalgic to watch this. There's a Pollyanna kind of thing about it. But that's how I take it. We have one last little segment where we have to talk about gifts, parties, and jobs. Pat, I don't know

if you know this, but there's a bit in the writer's room where we realize that almost every episode of Parks and Rec, either a gift is given, a party is thrown, or someone gets a new job. And in this one, we have Anne and Ben give Leslie the JJ Diner off-iron. Leslie gives these unknown, beautifully-wrapped

gifts to Ben and Anne in celebration of our newly minted Best Friend Week. We have no parties, but Garth gets a job on the Pawnee Historical Commission. That's right. Oh, my gosh. Every episode.

Gifts, parties, and jobs. Our episode MVP, it's our most valuable Pawnean. Tim, it seems crazy to say anybody else, but... This is just too easy. Sometimes we find like, oh, how do I...

This one did this, this one did that, and it's hard to come up with an MVP. Patton, you are the MVP. I got to see it in person. I was there. I witnessed it, and it was amazing, and you are the MVP. We are all witnesses.

Damn it. Yes. Well, we always say it, but listeners, let us know who your MVP is by tweeting at Team Coco Podcasts or by using the hashtag, hashtag Parks and Recollection. Though, if you also don't say Patton Oswalt's Garth Blunden, what are we doing here? Yeah. Patton, thank you so very much for being with us today. Guys, this was amazing. I'm so happy I got to do this. Yay.

Thank you. No, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So thank you all for listening. Texas episode to your group chat. Give us those five-star reviews wherever you're listening. And from all of us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye from Pawnee.

Goodbye from Pawnee. 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, aka Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danik. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Parks and Recollection.