Andrew Burlinson: Swing Vote (S5E21)
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Good news, everybody. We are back. Well, good news for us. I don't know about anybody else.

Welcome to Parks and Recollection. I am one of your hosts, Jim O'Hare, Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, and Barry. Sitting alongside... Yes. Your name is... Hello, Greg. Hey, Jim. This is fun. Talking about another episode of our show. It's our favorite thing to do. That's a princess here. You wouldn't come here to talk to me otherwise, is that what you're trying to say? No, I really wouldn't. You wouldn't do it. I have you blocked on most things, so the odds are I wouldn't.

You're blocked on most things. Most ways I could have access to you. Yeah, you are blocked unless... Let's just go through reps. We'll just go through our reps. It's working this way so far. Have you ever in your time now as a working actor and a well-known and respectable and recognizable working actor? I don't know why I said respectable. I meant to say recognizable, but I said respectable. Do you ever use a fake name?

When you travel or... No, but sometimes on shoots, they will give me a fake name on the call sheet. For what reason? Just... I don't know. Maybe they just forgot your name. Like, I've seen that happen with... You know, like when I did Better Call Saul, Carol Burnett was not Carol Burnett. And...

So when I saw her there, I just about lost some stuff. You think, oh, Carol, have you lost your way? You're not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to be here. No, just to keep the information private, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Because they'll always like block out phone numbers and stuff like that. Well, I guess I get that first thing because call sheets will get leaked, right? Yes. And so it's a good way to...

hide certain guest stars. Yes. And in her case, she was, it was a big secret that she was going to recur because it wasn't just a one and done. Right. So it makes sense. She was going to recur. But I just, I do know some people who will, when they travel, they'll stay under a, you know, a fake name or they're, I was just curious if. Yeah, I am not at that level, my friend. No, but you're Jim O'Hare. But I, yes, sadly, I am Jim O'Hare.

It'd be funny if your mail actually came to Jerry Larry, Terry Gary Berry. Oh, I get all sorts of stuff. I got a fan letter from Slovenia. Is that a place? Sure, yeah. Last week, and it was addressed to Terry. To Terry. Terry O'Hare. Terry O'Hare from Slovenia. Oh. Well, let's take a good look at our episode, Jim. Let's take a good gander at it. Today's episode is Swing Vote. It was written by Joe Mandy and Alan Yang. It was directed, actually, by Alan Yang.

Alan Yang. It originally aired on April 25th, 2013. And Jim, please blurb us. I will. With the Pawnee Palms putt-putt in danger of closing due to budget cuts, Leslie pulls out all the stops to sway Councilman Jam's deciding vote in her favor. Meanwhile, Tom is on a mission to break up with his nightmare of a girlfriend. I mean, truly a nightmare, Mona Lisa. And Andy realizes he's been unceremoniously kicked out of his band, Mouse Rat. Yeah, exactly.

This is just a classic feeling Parks and Rec episode. Just fun ABC stories here. And also, we will be joined later by Mouse Rats lead guitarist Burley Andrew Burlinson. It's a tremendous conversation. Please stick around to listen to that. But let's jump right into our notes. This episode has cameos everywhere.

Galore. Galore. Galore. Galore. It's an interesting word when you say it a few times, you realize, why am I saying that? Jenny Slate as Mona Lisa Saperstein. Genius. Glaser as Councilman Jeremy Cham. Genius. Our future guest, Andrew Berlinson as Burley. The best. Mark Rivers as Rivers. Alan Yang shows up even as Chang from Mouse Rat. And Esther Povitsky as Julie the Snow Cone Maker. Esther went on to create the TV series Alone Together. I was in that pilot.

Oh. Of Alone Together. Don't ever do that to me again. Yes, I was. Yes, I was. Yes, and Esther is such a sweet girl. Yes. Yeah. Though it was a creepy, I kind of,

she's using me to get free meals and she doesn't know that we're about, I'm actually interested. And so we're walking on the beach and I go in for the kiss and she starts screaming. Yeah. Check that out. This is on the loan. This is not just like you two hanging out. This was not us just hanging out. This was on the pilot episode of Alone Together. Yeah. Yeah. It was great. Well, let's open up a synopsis. With the city council divided on future funding for the Pawnee Palms public podcast,

Leslie and Ron find themselves in a battle to win Councilman Jam's tie-breaking vote. Meanwhile, at Palladino's bar, Andy realizes Mouse Rat is performing without him. And Tom enlists Anne's help to break up with Mona Lisa. So, a cold open, Jim. We set up a classic...

Ron versus Leslie plot right out of the gate, right? Ron wants to defund the mini golf course. Obviously Leslie wants to save it. He says, what, uh, look, the defunding of the mini golf course is on the agenda for the city council meeting tomorrow. I'm sure you'll argue against it with your trademark vigor, which she obviously does. Yep. I also really love that. The name of it is the Pawnee palms, public putt, putt, pee, pee, pee, pee, pee, pee, really leaning into the palm trees all over the course for sure. Uh,

I mean, it's a great, right? You feel it. You feel it when the two of them are in that cold open together that we understand. We understand at this point if you've been a Parks and Rec watcher, it's the end of season five. You kind of get what you're going to get when you know what you're going to get when you're getting a Leslie Ryan episode. Yeah. And not just a battle of, you know, of...

opposing viewpoints, so to speak, on government work. But there's also going to be a battle because of how much they respect one another, that you know it's tough when they have to go at odds. Yeah. And you have to respect this because they both have such strong beliefs.

They're not just going to, they're just not going to kowtow to the other because no. Right. This is what I believe. Right. You know, Leslie has her own, you know, as we said, point of view about the role of government. And she has her no cut list. She's like, you know, Leslie says schools, police, mini golf, merry-go-rounds, parades, gazebo repair, roads and bridges, whatever, pretty gardens, hummingbird feeders. These are the things that they're supposed to be spending money on. And Ron's like, I don't want any of that to be. Stop spending my money.

Ron don't like government. Okay. Ron don't like that money being spent. Okay. Actually, what does Ron want done with the money? Well, I think he has a problem probably with the money being taken for... In the first place. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so, Jim, we have the Ron versus Leslie game. But what's fun about it, the swing vote here is that they got to compete.

in a way, or I don't know if Ron wants to compete, but there's a problem that the swing vote, the deciding vote is none other than Councilman Jeremy Jam. Yuck. I mean, that feels awful. The worst. I mean, not a great place for Leslie. No, no, no. I mean, obviously we've learned Councilman Milton is against the mini golf course immediately and Jam proclaims himself as a badass player.

wild card. But one of my favorite lines of the whole episode is when Milton is explaining why he is against it. Yes. And he says, well, the last time I was there, I saw kids of all races getting along and playing. It was terrible. Yeah. That is just awful. Yeah, I got to tell you, I'm watching this episode and I hear that line and I'm thinking, you know, I just watched

22 episodes the previous season of Leslie running for office and having convinced people you should vote for me to be on city council. And I'm thinking, well, Milton had to run. Who's voting for this guy? Who the hell voted for him? Is it the kind of thing where he just always was a name and people just like, you just keep voting the same name, right? So Milton's on the ballot. Milton's my guy. You don't really pay attention to it.

Makes you think about Dexhart. What is Councilman Hauser's campaign like? Yeah, why was it so hard for Leslie to get on that council? Yeah, God. Well, because she's sane. Yeah, that's the point. She's probably one. Yeah, yeah. Because remember, this town, it has a storied past. Right. So we're slowly working our way toward normalcy. That's a great point. We just haven't hit it yet. Right, right, right. Yeah.

Right. So we're at the bar. We're going to jump soon to the golf course. But the rest of it are B and C stories with Andy and Mouse Rad and with Tom and Ann and Mona Lisa. It's all at the bar. Ben's there. He's unwittingly becoming the designated driver for Andy and April, even though Andy drove them there.

And they're out celebrating a big donation to the charity that Andy discovered, the Redwood Music Program. As Ben says, somehow I just ended up becoming the designated driver and paying for everyone. And I didn't get to choose the bar. I should be more assertive. It's just a good lesson. It is a good lesson.

And who else is there? Tom and Mona Lisa. Now, Mona Lisa. Oh, gosh. Mona Lisa is firing on all cylinders. All cylinders. Yes. I mean, she's a chaos agent.

She's crazy. Jenny Slate plays Mona Lisa. Yes, we know. Jenny is... Brilliant. She's along the lines of, and she plays his sister, Ben Schwartz, when it comes to the improv and the playing around. Right. And she is so cringy. Right. In the best possible way. What's also fun is this character is so insane. Insane. It's the kind of thing where she could say pretty much anything, and it fits with the character that's been created. And so...

That's such fertile ground for a great improviser. Yeah. A great comedian. I also think someone like her, you know, you can say certain things and everyone would like, oh my God, I can't believe that person just said it. There's nothing she could say that would be shocking. Right. Because everything is shocking. That's what I'm saying. It's just what it is. Yeah. And I love that. Well, in this case, she's asking to borrow Tom's car, right? Even though she's supposed to already be in possession of it. But he says, I already lent you my car. Wait, do you not know where my car is? Yeah.

And she doesn't have a clue. I love when she says, I'm gassy. Let's make out. Let's make out. I'm gassy. She's the best. So Tom's big problem of the episode, Jim. Let's talk about it. Obviously, it's Mona Lisa. But more than that.

He wants to break up with her. Yeah. And he convinces Anne to break up with Mona Lisa for him by offering up his favorite blanket as a bargaining chip. Now, this obviously feels like, obviously, Anne could go buy a blanket. Yeah. But she's doing it for her friend, former lover. Maybe not lover. Oh, no, no, no. We've discussed it. Not lover. Former close friend. Former...

Non-sexual partner at some point. Right, who did kiss. Who did kiss, yes. And I think she's like, I'm going to do this solid for Tom, but I'm going to make him hurt. And I'm going to take this blanket that he loves. Right? What was that word? The type of blanket? It's a chenille blanket. Chenille. Chenille. Is it super expensive and pricey? I don't know anything about chenille. I don't know. I don't know. But I know it's very soft. Yeah.

Because Tom has everything nice. Right, you know it's Tom. It's going to be expensive, soft, nice blanket, and she wants it. All right, well, let's... Should we forge on with our synopsis? Forge ahead, my friend. Leslie is courting Jam with mini golf and an endless supply of snow cones, but as day turns to night, Jam remains on the fence. Meanwhile, back at the bar, convinced that he's outgrown playing music with Mouse Rat, Andy decides to perform one last monster farewell solo before officially retiring.

And after Anne points out Tom's many flaws, Mona Lisa breaks up with Tom and claims Anne as her new best friend in the process. So before we get into all that other stuff, let's just do some busy work. We forgot to mention earlier that Andy has spotted Mouse Rat on stage, but not as Mouse Rat. They're Rat Mouse because sure. And

And they're playing the mouse rap music. And he, you know, I think is like...

fucking mad about it, right? Yes. That's his band. That's my band. Those are my songs. They're going on without me? What the hell is going on here? But what also is really a sweet Andy moment, he's hearing this music and he's really enjoying it. It doesn't even occur to him initially that that is his song. Right, right. That is so Andy. He's like, oh, this is really good. Yeah, this is good. Yeah. It's his own damn band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's slowly seeping in. Slowly seeping in.

So he confronts Ratmouse, suggesting that they change their name to Burley and the Backstabbers, which, gotta tell you, kind of sounds like a cool, like, 60s, you know, like, surf rock band name. Yeah. They literally say to him, yeah, that's a pretty good name. Yeah, yeah. He's good at making names. He is good. Not at nachos, as we've learned. No, he does not. He doesn't heat them up. He doesn't melt the cheese. He does not melt the cheese. It's...

It's what a nacho is. So he buys chips. Yeah. He buys, I assume shredded cheese or maybe just a block. I'm guessing block. You know, it's a block. It's a block. Maybe he cut up into like he just took a knife and threw at it. Or broke it with his hand. Right. Yeah. And then that's your nachos. That's your nachos. And I do love that Andy convinces himself he's outgrown the band, right? Saying, I work two part-time jobs. Yes. Hello.

So he's going to write one last epic solo. What I love is the list of things he needs to write the song. He needs a piece of paper, a pen, four more beers, a computer fan, and a lightning bolt of inspiration. And I love what happens where Ben asks, why do you need a computer fan? Right? And he says, because sometimes when you use a computer, it gets hot and you need a fan to let it cool down. Yeah.

just randomly says that. It's so, it's such a, it has nothing to do with anything. But, you know, there's a funny bit where Andy randomly is smart about certain things. Now, clearly, he knows what a computer fan does. He needs it. You think maybe he needs it before his computer at home, but you know he doesn't know what the hell to do with it once he gets it. He just knows he needs a computer fan.

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Okay, Jim. Well, meanwhile, Mona Lisa breaks up with Tom, but quickly imprints onto Anne as BFFs. That's pretty tough for Anne. Well, the breakup happened because, you know, Tom made a deal with Anne that she would help break them up. And so Anne's giving her, Mona Lisa, all these terrible reasons why she should break up with Tom. But it all comes down to one thing. Money.

Mona Lisa wants her monies. When Anne says to Mona Lisa, he drinks tap water, that's the final straw.

Right. She's done. Right. Because this guy doesn't have the money I thought he would have. He does not have the money. And it's got to be a weird situation for Tom because there's some good times to be had. But is it worth the craziness? And he knows it's not worth the craziness. No. He knows it isn't. No, no. So that's why he recruits Anne. Right. And like you said, she talks about that he's a total control freak. He makes everyone use coasters, which are made out of pictures from Diddy's Instagram, which is a... Ooh.

And that prince does not age well for obvious reasons. But Mona Lisa not knowing that person was on Instagram, obviously for us, a great thing right now in 2024. But at the time, she's pretty pissed and yelling at the Jagweeds about it. Just at the Jagweeds. Yeah. Whoever that is. Yes, yes, yes. And the ruler says, who are you yelling at? Just the Jagweeds. Who? Who?

She's just screaming at this bar. Yeah, well. I love that nut. Yeah. Well, let's catch up with our friends over at Minigolf, right? Because Chris Traeger is caddying for everyone here. He considers himself a caddy to everyone in his life. He says, I love being a caddy. It's so much more than just carrying clubs. It's about offering positive reinforcement. I consider myself a caddy to everyone in my life. Good one. Nice shot. Great sweeping. Way to be, duck.

Because there's a little duck. So Leslie is drifting into what we call a little murky area, right? Where she's buttering jam up. That's funny. That's a funny thing. She's buttering jam. Hello, everybody. Hello, I'm buttering jam.

That actually is good. Write that down. Okay. With a free round of golf and snow cones. Yes, we've come a long way from accepting gift baskets. That's a taboo thing. Would you say, Jim? Yeah, we've come a long way. Leslie also, you know, Leslie certainly knows right from wrong, but Leslie will skirt that little, she'll walk that fine line between, because I, and I kind of do this in my life too.

If I think something truly is for the betterment of something, perhaps you have to work around other issues to make that happen. Sure. Nothing terrible. I'm just saying, you know, things. And I think in this case, that's what she's thinking. Right. But she is breaking perhaps a bit of her code of ethics. It is definitely. Right. Right. But I get it. Yeah. I loved when Jam sees Chris return with some Mylar balloons. Yeah.

and calls dibs on them. He first calls dibs on each one, and then he said, I want all the balloons. All of them. Yeah. He is the worst. Yes. All right, let's keep pushing on with the synopsis. With the night wearing on and jam no closer to a decision, Leslie and Ron face off in a winner-take-all round of golf for Jam's vote. Meanwhile, back at Palladino's, Ann pleads with Tom to help her shake off Mona Lisa, and Andy sings his literal swan song.

All right, so let's take the A story first. So Ron has pointed out, right, to Leslie, he's disappointed in how far Leslie is willing to stoop to get Jam's vote, even if it is for a good cause. And so what I really love about this episode is this moment where you think, okay, it's just going to be Jam playing and all the comedy of it. But no, Leslie, who's been letting Jam win, now has to turn it on

And win this for herself. This is all on her. Can she beat Ron? It's back to bowling for votes. Exactly. Where she was playing the game to get what she needed. Right. And by that, I mean losing the game. Right. And then it was like, oh, no, screw that. I have to do this. And now I got to do it. Yeah. And it's fun, too, because Leslie and Ron have often been at odds ideologically. But you see that play out in this other game.

You see that play out in the Woman of the Year episode about the award. And it's more about a battle of wits between them. In this sense, they're actually going to play the game for the vote. Right? And she just has to win. And so I found myself getting a bit like, I'm a little nervous. I forgot. I actually forgot where the act was going to end, like what the turn was. It's like, oh, yeah, I wonder what's going to happen here.

And how do you feel watching it? I love when they go, you know, mano y mano. Yeah. Whatever you would call that. And to be honest, I kind of thought it was going to be Leslie.

Not to spoiler alert at the end of the episode, but I kind of thought Leslie was going to take it. Right. Well, you're not spoiler alerting anything because it's happening right now, right? They're in this final putt and Leslie tries distracting Ron by saying like, bean sprouts, tofu, Ralph Nader, whatever. And Ron just needs to sink this and he gets it. And

he wins. Jams vote. What does Jam say? Swanson, I hate you. Nothing will change that, but I respect the hell out of your short game. You got my vote, hombre. First of all, your short game at a putt-putt golf. Yeah, yeah. You know, short game is a term used for...

for real putting in a real golf game on a real course. Well, don't forget that there's a line earlier on when Jam's playing when he sinks a putt and he says, yeah, I could be a pro. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I went through a windmill. I could be a pro. Yeah, I could be a pro. And also, just because it's such a great line leading up to, you know, the sudden death,

Chris, you know, because Chris is kind of narrating our whole situation here. He literally, as he would say, he says, sudden death playoff on the very course that hangs in the balance. I could literally faint if I didn't have impeccable blood pressure. Yeah. Brilliant. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot there. There's a lot there. There's a lot there.

So Ron wins. I want to call out when the mini golf worker presents Ron with the dragon stuffed animal for getting a hole in one. That's David Phillips. At the time was the Parks and Rec writer's assistant with me. He went on to be a longtime writer on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and many other shows. He's awesome. A great guy and couldn't have played that monotone deadpan. Yeah.

disinterested golf course worker better. Well, let's talk about Andy's swan song because it's awesome. And I'm not going to sing it because I can't do it justice, but some of the lyrics are unbelievable. Once I was a golden swan, a swan of a man.

Wow. Now that Swan's name was Andy and he started a rock and roll band, he made incredible nachos that everyone claimed they loved. And then the bandmates dicked him over with a massive rock and roll shove. This is my Swan song. Absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. That's disgusting. Oh, excuse me. That got me. Yeah. I know you made it seem like you were like blowing your nose from like you're crying, but that just sounded like.

you actually did need to blow your nose and you were using it as an excuse to do it. I did not. I promise nothing came out. So Anne is a mess. She's fine. Anne is a mess. And she comes back and she's a mess. She's a mess. She left with Mona Lisa. Life was okay. And she came back with things in her hair. Do what she looks like. Makeup.

Do you remember in the episode where Diane's kids give Ron a makeover? Yes. They put all the makeup and sparkles and things. It looks like a little kid got access to her mom's makeup drawer and took her friend and said, I'm going to do makeup on you. And that was Anne. So she must have dragged her into the bathroom. Sure. And just went at her. She covered me in glitter and Anna Nicole body spray. Oh.

Yeah. Now, fun fact, Live by Anna Nicole Smith, released in 1995 by Wilshire Fragrance, was a combination of mandarin, lavender, spearmint, jasmine, nutmeg, and black

Pepper. Is that a fun fact? Well, it is because I had a fun time telling it. No, God bless Anna and Nicole, but that's, wow. That's random. And Mona Lisa is, like we said, a chaos agent because she isn't even put off by Tom and Anne kissing. She assumes they just want to have a threesome. Yeah, so what happens is she walks in and Tom and Anne are like, we got to come up with, they're both screwed. And so they make,

Make it look like they're going to be this couple. And this is, you know, they've just been trying to play Mona Lisa. And she's like, oh, that's cool. She's all into it. Yeah. A threesome. Why not? And of course, Tom's on board, too. Yeah. Tom is willing to change his whole plan if that were to happen. Oh, sure. Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people would. I am on board with that. A lot of people would rethink their plan. Their whole life.

Okay, let's open Synopsis up one more time. Back at the Parks Department, Tom gives Anne a play-by-play of his wild night with Mona Lisa. Meanwhile, Jam tries to strike a last-minute deal with Leslie, and Leslie and Ron come to blows after she presents him with the recently unhoused gorilla from the PPPP in his office.

So Leslie and Ron. Leslie has brought the gorilla statue into Ron's office. It's a showdown between the two of them. And she says it used to bring joy to hundreds of Pawnee families, but then you got rid of its habitat. So it died. First of all, she has unlimited funds, apparently.

Leslie somehow has brought in this gorilla from a putt-putt place. And he even acknowledges, what did that cost? And she's like, I don't care what it costs. Nothing ever matters when she wants to do something. No, she's trying to make a point. She's making a point. A really visual point. Yes, yes. Must be nice. Jim, let's hop out to the courtyard where Tom is retelling to Anne the end of his night with Mona Lisa, which...

It seemed quite epic. Mona Lisa gets into a fistfight with the girl she was going to have a threesome with, threw a cinder block through her windshield, steals her purse and birth control saying, bitch, you're going to get pregnant, pretends they're ecstasy, and sells them to a bunch of college kids drinking Goldschlager at a gas station. That is a list. Yes. And again, I always go back to that had to be so much fun in the writer's room coming up with that list.

Because anything goes, obviously. Yeah. There was nothing you couldn't shout out. Right. It's a comedy game. It's a joke engine. And what's fun about it is that a lot of things can work. And so, in a way, you want to keep pitching on this really silly thing as opposed to maybe you have to fix a plot problem or how are we going to resolve Leslie and Ron in a satisfying way. But don't you just want to spend an hour just pitching on Mona Lisa's night? Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Love that. Now, I cracked up when you see Tom has his hand bandaged. And Anne says, did she assault you? And the way Aziz delivered this line, you know what I'm talking about. Yes, I do. No, this was a sexual injury. God, that was funny. And Anne is, of course, no. No.

No, no, no. No, but what Tom was willing to put up with for a sexual injury like that. Actually, really, what did go on that your hand... We don't need to really... I guess we shouldn't. Yeah, yeah. But really, I might have to put some time to that. Yes.

All right. Well, we have one last piece of synopsis unfazed by PPPP's defunding. Leslie writes a ballot measure to save the mini golf course that is sure to pass and sits down with Ron to debrief the day. Meanwhile, Andy rejoins Mouse Rat and the band takes the stage with Andy and Burley, both singing lead vocals. I give Leslie and Ron so much credit.

Because I think they're not like a lot of people, including myself. If I get worked up about something, it's hard to see the other person's point of view. And yet they totally respect each other personally.

You're saying that when you get worked up, it's hard for you to see the person's point of view? I can get a little into my head. Do you get to a point eventually where you're able to, or is this like this is a forever thing? Or is this in the moment of the fight? My sister will say I can hold a grudge. So perhaps that. But it's also, I've never been wrong about anything. So that makes it difficult for me. Because I'm talking to someone who I know is wrong if they disagree with me. Because if I've never been wrong, that must mean they are.

And so... I get it. You got that. You know, my wife says sometimes about certainly who's one of the kindest, most, you know, just a lovely, gentle person. But every so often something will happen and she'll say, you know, I can forgive, but I won't forget. And I think that's a really true thing. Like forgiveness is grace. Yeah. But, you know, the moment stays with you. Well, also, you shouldn't forget because hopefully lessons have been learned. Right. And you don't want to forget that. Sure. But I love that they can...

They're both on totally opposite sides of this, and yet they can come together and have a drink together because they just sit down and have a drink and talk it out. Yeah, and that's what I wanted to talk about at the end of this episode where we're near the end of season five. And in a casual line, Leslie tosses out that she'll solve this problem by writing a ballot measure that is sure to pass or whatever.

but we talked about this when Joe Mandy was here about the money for her park because of the Ponch Burger. They had to raise like $50,000, so they did this thing. That would have been an entire season or 13 episodes of Parks and Rec two years ago. This little thing. She's all right about it. I'll fix it. Saving the putt-putt course would have been, oh, you know, the last 13 episodes of season two was about saving the putt-putt course. No, this is just,

It's a throwaway line. Right. But that's also because you know what Leslie's capable of doing. And really, this was about Leslie and Ron not being able to, especially Leslie, but being able to live in each other's ethics, so to speak, and their way of life. And so I just love the respect that's here, right? I love... We would have a much...

kinder world, this is what went on with most people. And believe me, including myself, I wish I had that level of adulthood, adultness, if that's even a word. I remember there's a line I was reading back around the 2016 election, which was that there's a time when one could disagree on policy, but

but you would agree on polity, the idea of what governance is and why we're doing this experiment of organized community together. And that's what's happening here, that they clearly disagree on policy and what government does

how it can be used. But they also do agree on like the good nature of community. Yeah. And I really love that. And I think it's why Parks is still this timeless show that maybe it was born out of a different time in politics. But it's a reminder of what

It should be. Should absolutely be. Right? Yes, because you're always going to have policy issues. People are going to have different views. Right. But if you can come together as adults and figure it out. Yeah. And again, I wish I could. But I am not Leslie. And I am not Ron. We're Ron. Yeah.

Hear that? Pumpkin!

That's fall calling. And the pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks. From that first sweater to late autumn weather, it's all a fall in just one sip. Order ahead on the Starbucks app. Well, Jim, we've come to the episode's end, but it's not the podcast episode's end because it's crap time. It's Jim's crap, the crap we didn't get to. Give us some of your pieces. One of my couple of favorite moments. One is when Tom is telling Anne that

you know, Mona Lisa's crazy. He goes, my girlfriend is crazy. Ann goes, you say that about every girl you date. You said that about me. And he goes, calm down, Ann. You're proving my point.

I mean, it's so condescending. It's just terrible. I also love this moment where we get to hear April's true feelings about Mouse Rat because she says, to be perfectly honest, Mouse Rat music is not my thing. I really only listen to German death reggae and Halloween sound effects records from the 50s. And then she adds at the end, and Bette Midler, obviously. Yes. That's...

Just, would you ever think she listened to Bette Midler? No, but it's funny now when you say it, like, oh, I could maybe picture it now. Well, now that I hear you, of course, of course, of course, of course. And then also another great Chris line when they're at the golf course and he says, you are both about to set a course record for friendship.

I mean, it's so cringy. Yeah. It's so cringy, but that's our boy. That's our boy Pratt. And then we didn't really, we talked about the moment, but we didn't get into what they said. Mona Lisa said, you guys want a threesome? Ann goes, no, we don't want to have a threesome with you. And Tom, well, let's not rush to judgment. Let's hear her out. And I'm going to say, most guys, that's going to be the reaction.

Until it actually could, where it could happen and then panic sets in. Right. I think of, it's that great Seinfeld episode of where he's imagining, right, his brain and his other brain having a conversation, a battle of chess over who's going to actually win out here. Yes. Yeah. Between his penis and the brain. And then finally, just because he's so gross. Between the penis and the brain is like a...

It's like, I don't know, there's like a Tony nominated play between the penis and the brain. Yeah. Or penis and the brain on Netflix, 10 episodes. Jam says, you know, because he's such garbage. He just, his one line, my word is garbage. Everyone knows that. He's just the worst.

He knows it. He knows it. So that's some of my garbage crap or whatever we're calling it. It's all good turd. I'll tell you that much. Well, final thoughts on the episode. I will say, Jim, for me, listen, it is a low stakes, fun episode. Obviously, the putt-putt life is in the balance here. But what's fun is that it just utilizes so many of our fun classic parks tropes.

But with this, especially the Ace story, with this new fun complicator of Jam, who never was around early days, right? This crazy, awful person is fun now to mix into the classic Parks formula. And they need him now.

Right. Which is great. Which is great. Because we always hate him. No, he's often trying to undo their work. And now they need him for the success or for each other's, whichever. Yeah. What do you think? I totally agree. And again, I think that the sweetest moments were

that scene with Leslie and Ron at the end, I just, I don't know that just, I wish our world was there. It's not, I love anytime we have mouse rat because I think they're really good. I actually enjoy their music. Yeah. So it was great. There was one thing. What was missing from this episode? I meant to say, Oh, I remember. No,

Me. Right. Now, here's the thing. I'm pretty sure I was there because I didn't miss any episodes. Right. But apparently I was fully cut. Yeah. Red and I are barely. Red has one or two lines, I think.

I couldn't, I am not in the damn thing. Well, not really anything takes place in the parks department. No, but even at the end when they come in with the briefcase, normally you would have turned and seen me there. Yeah, yeah. So, but I would, unless, I can't, because I don't think, again, many years ago, I don't think I ever said I need,

a week off because it's not something I would normally do. If it was an episode, if you were there for shooting, if it wasn't because you couldn't be there, which like I said, doesn't ring true, you would have had a line, right? We're not going to write an episode where you don't have at least have a line where any character doesn't at least have one line. Right. But like we sometimes, I mean, these were 35, 38 page episodes, which is crazy when you think about it because these are 20 minute episodes and it's about a

page a minute. So a lot of stuff gets cut from these episodes. And also in this one, even, you know, Ben, he's there, but he's light in the episode is the term they would use. I'll tell you also was in this episode, gifts, parties, and jobs, really. We, you know, we had a lot of almost. Tom almost gives Anne the chenille blanket. Um,

but it kind of would have been more like a payment. I guess Leslie Gibbs were on the gorilla statue, but it feels like it was an act of payback and a statement. There are no real parties. The bar is there, but that's not a party. Can we call them Malar balloons? A gift? I don't know if I called them Malar. I called them Mylar. There we go. I Malar not called them a gift.

I'm going to say that this episode was one of the very few. It's the exception that proves the rule. There were no gifts, parties, or jobs, and no oops moment in it, which we love to talk about. But I'll tell you what it did have. It had an episode MVP, right? Who was our most valuable pun in? Jim O'Hara, who do you say? Okay, I'm going to use, when I'm going to go series regular, I'm going to go Chris Pratt.

because Andy just really had to bring a lot of stuff to this. And, uh, as always, he nailed it. He was great. And, uh,

I'm going to have to give our Jenny Slate Mona Lisa big props. Yeah. Because my God, she was funny. Yeah. I totally agree with you on both of those. It's fun to see Andy do both the silly clown, but also kind of the sad clown. Yes. And the real guy with real emotions. And Jenny Slate just tears it up every time she's there. Every time. Well, listeners, please let us know who your MVP is by tweeting at Team Coco Podcasts or by using the hashtag, hashtag Parks and Recal.

collection also speaking of MVPs our most valuable Pawneans we got a chance to sit down with an awesome Pawnean a member of Pawnee's favorite band Mouse Rat Andrew Berlinson who played Burley here's what he had to say

Andrew Berlinson is here today. Hello, hello. And we know him from the show as Burley. That's right. And actually, I know him in life as Burley because that's all I think I've ever called you. It's confusing. It is very confusing. The Tony Danza syndrome, right? He only plays Tonys. Oh, that's true. Is this true? Well, look, yeah, if you see it, you're like, another Tony. Okay, great. Do you think it's just because he doesn't

know he's supposed to answer to a different name his acting teachers really got in there he's like you're an amazing actor we know this so we know everything about you as an actor however you have one fatal flaw you don't know how to answer to a different character I bring myself to every role quite literally and I did actually my character I played I was on Brooklyn 99 and played Andrew

Yeah. Andrew. Good, good. I'm just nailing it. You are nailing it. Thank you. That's awesome. When I see you, I think of you as Burley. Yeah. And that's because of your character, obviously. And I think it's an excellent nickname. Thank you. But Burley is a nickname for you. It is. It's not just like we just picked a name and it's not like it's Tony here. Right. How did that name come about on our show?

Oh, well, that's all Mike Schur's fault, for sure. Well, most things in life. Yes. Actually, we should say you knew Mike before Parks and Rec. We go way back. We met when we were freshmen in college doing theater in a black box theater. Wait, Mike was acting? Yeah, he acted all through college. I didn't think I knew that. I think all these guys, Dan Gore was a big actor in college as well. Yeah. It is funny now to think of them. It is. And they're great actors, too. Yeah, they are.

They're great. But because I don't see them in that light, you don't experience them in that way. When you know someone in one certain way and then you like, oh, you play piano? You play piano very well kind of a thing? Yeah. You didn't know idea. It's a weird unlocking of a person. I'm a little, my brain is like kind of blown up right now. Especially Dan. Because Mike, of course, I've seen him on The Office. Right. He's excellent as most. He's great. He's excellent as most. So I guess I can see that. But the thought of

Like, I just, my brain is like, this doesn't make sense. Dan and I improv'd together and did theater together. He was terrific. Yeah. That's so funny. Yeah. And it's funny with the thing you said about, you know someone in one way. And I had that too because I was an actor and a singer songwriter at the same time all through my teens and twenties. So my friends from college know me as more of like a singer and an actor. And my friends in LA know me as an actor.

I mean, I've played music on TV. I've played music in bands here and there. But I used to be like actor, singer, songwriter on my tax returns until I was in my early 30s. So anyone who met me after my early 30s, wait, you sing? Yeah, actually I do. I just haven't, you know, it's pre-internet basically. My band is off the record because it's like late 1990s in New York City. So yeah, yeah. So anyway, Burley was a nickname given to me in the Hasty Pudding.

in college. We should say you went to Harvard. We did. Oh, yeah. A little place called Harvard. You've heard of it. Yeah, it's not bad. I'm sorry. It was given to me by John Berman, who's now a CNN...

Really? Yeah, we were in the Hasty Pudding together. And actually, John Berman, Mike Schur and I were all roommates in New York after college. And John was working at ABC News, Mike got SNL, and I got hired at Blue Man Group while we were all roommates.

together, which was pretty cool post-college. It's pretty wild. Three different directions. Oh, yeah, for sure. Really all successful. And all started from the theater. The three pinnacles of New York when I also think about it. It was kind of cool. It was that like, you know, Tina Fey era, SNL, Derek Jeter era,

New York Yankees. It was like a great time to be a New Yorker at age 22. Yeah, yeah. It was like really living it up. That's amazing. We had a really good time. And were you guys doing that like tiny little apartment deal? Yeah. Like no money, trying to make it all work? Exactly. We had five roommates. We're all there. Five roommates. Just like piled into this apartment. That's the fun of, I think, of going to New York in your early 20s, right? In your early 20s, yes. Oh, the closet's now an amazing place.

You good with that? Amazing room. That's great. Oh, yeah. You share your bedroom with the kitchen. Yeah, fine. That works fine with me. Yeah. Yeah. Where there's a stack of like New York Times papers. We all had a subscription. It's like, should one of us cancel? So I think four of us have a subscription. That's so funny. That's so funny because you're all these...

Great Harvard grads who are coming out to New York and you're like, you're sharing this tiny place, but we each still need our New York Times. Hands off my New York Times, damn it. Well, someone, a friend of mine who did New York in his early 20s made a great point that you will sacrifice anything. You'll live anywhere in the tiniest place because ultimately New York is your home.

Oh, yeah. You were barely in your apartment because you're just going into the... Oh, exactly. Your backyard, which is New York. Right, exactly. And at that time, too, it was like such a boom time. It's such a fun way to be like, well, I made it here. You know, if you make it here, you can make it anywhere kind of thing. And you feel a sense of electricity. And yeah, I got it. You're like, you know, you got a little...

spring in your step. Yeah. If you're like, wow, I really got a job. I got an acting job in New York City. Mike got a writing job. Yeah. And stepped up as a writer at ABC News. It was like, yeah, we have high fives all around, guys. All around, yeah. See you in LA. Yeah. So when did LA happen? Well, actually, I went to Chicago first because I got Blue Man. They actually told me I was going to Vegas.

And then a week later, they're like, is Chicago okay? I'm like, sure. And then I went there. The ultimate blue men. Right. The overlords of blue men. Okay. Thou shalt go to Chicago. And it was the Briar Street, right? Oh, yeah. So you get to train at Briar Street. I was down near NYU. You do your first shows there, which is so cool. I'd never seen the show when I booked it.

Wait, did you audition for it? I did. I got it at a backstage magazine. Isn't that so 1990s? That is so 1990s. I sent out like headshots. To look at a paper thing to say what do I want to…

do for my job. Which was cool too, honestly, like Harvard had nothing to do with it, which felt really good too. Sort of like, I'm just doing this thing. And so you get it, you go and you train, you're like, I'm acting in New York City. The Yankees are winning the World Series at the time. There's like ticker tape parades. It's like a really cool moment. And so, yeah, then they moved me to Chicago and I was there for like almost seven years. Wow. Yeah. And so when I was in Chicago, Mike moved to LA and

And I started doing commercials on the side because I said, you know, I don't want to be a blue man forever. It's a great first job. And for a lot of guys actually are still doing it that I got hired with 25 years later. Amazing. Yeah, they're amazing. I love those guys. And so it's a very unique job. Like once you're in blue man with each other, you have this weird like

I imagine maybe, you know, people that have been in the military have the same like, yeah, we did this weird thing together that nobody else has done. Yeah, it's very similar. Right. Yeah. We got covered in paint. Yeah. Totally similar. We're in the trenches together. Yeah. Same PTSD. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, sorry. Anyway, so...

Yeah, I started doing commercials because I wanted to get my SAG card to either move back to New York or move out here. And I started booking commercials on the side. And it was fun. I did one with Bernie Mac, which was pretty fun. Out of Chicago? Yeah, in Chicago. So I got my SAG card there. And I was like, I think that's it. I'm going to head to LA. And I moved out here six years later. And then it was off to the races. And I started booking commercials out here.

And that's been my day job basically for now 18 years. Yeah, if you're listening and I mean, you'll know who he is because he's Burley from the show. What if they're not listening to him? If you're not listening, you need to see a doctor. But look up, if you look up Andrew Burle and say, he's Burley.

he's been, you'll know that face. He's been on so many commercials over the years. I love when I see you on a commercial. It's like when you see someone you recognize on the street, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, oh, yeah, I'm just watching TV and there's Burley. A lot of people send me that gif of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV. Like, I know that guy. I know that guy. They send me that one. But you also have such a great

you have such a pleasant face. It's so much luck involved in the commercial thing. There's luck involved in this whole industry. Yeah. But definitely, there's a look can help. Thank you. You have that very... Thank you. I am pleasant. I am pleasant as I bat my eyelashes. You're dead. You're a young dad. Yeah. Now you're praying so you can do a little older. I mean,

We talked about the graying thing. I'll never forget this. We talked about this because you, I started going gray when I was 28. Yeah. And so whenever I came into parks, they'd have to like, you know, touch me up.

and get the grays out. And you were like, sorry, I'm the only one allowed to be gray. But yeah, I mean, I've been like a TV commercial dad. I was a TV dad on a kid's show on Amazon for a while too. So that ran for a while. It did. Four Seasons, Just Add Magic. Yeah. Four Seasons. That's awesome. It's funny because the Parks thing and the Just Add Magic thing, I do get a lot of like cult TV, like, oh my gosh, you're on the show that I watch every day.

kind of thing. There are two shows that people love to watch all the time. My daughter's friends watch this show that I was on that came out like 10 years ago. And then like a group of 18-year-olds came up to me the other day and I was like, did I do something wrong? And they're like, no, you're on Just Add Magic. We watched that 10 years ago. I was like, oh, great. It's weird. You're all very old. And now it's time for you to discover Parks and Recreation. Exactly. Here's the next thing. And I'm younger on that show. Wow.

So then how did it happen with Parks? How did Parks come to happen? So I'm out here. I'm still playing music and I'm working as an actor doing commercials and doing some theater. And it was the end of season one and they introduced Andy Dwyer's band. Yeah. And Mike was directing the episode and I think it was his first one. Yeah. And he's like, hey man, will you come be the drummer? Yeah.

So you just stayed in contact over all the years. Yeah, Mike and I are close. Yeah, for sure. You know, at each other's weddings and such. And so, really good friend of mine. And so I'm like Mike Scher's nepo baby. So he's like, just come hang out with me. An easy ask. Like a friend, you also live in this space. Plus, he knows you can do it. You're going to look natural. Thank you. I play music and I act. So he's like, you're on set. You're not weird around celebrities. You'll be fine. Just come and hang out with me.

Right. And I was going to be the drummer originally. But can I interrupt to say that the band was also going to be playing the music. Like you sometimes will watch something and it's not really the actors who are performing the music. But you guys were. You went to rehearsal. You did the thing. So you wanted someone who had the talent in both spaces. That's very kind of you. I actually went on and did a, I played a guitarist on a show called The Wedding Band on TBS. Sure. And I showed up and I was like, oh, you guys just learned to play. Yeah.

They're the nicest dudes in the world. But I was like, oh, wow, Mouserad can really play. Yeah, yeah. And so I felt like the old, like, yeah, when we do this in parks, we have in-ears and we actually play. We play to a click track, so. So whatever. Yeah, we're actually live. But yeah, so Mike called me and said, will you be the drummer in this thing and come hang out with me? Do you play all instruments? I play drums, bass, and guitar. And I sing, yeah, yeah. And I'd never been a guitarist in a band

because I started as a singer, then I started playing drums with these guys when I was 13. We played from 13 to 25 together, same guys. And halfway through that band's life, I switched from drums to, yeah, drums to bass, 'cause we already had two guitarists. We can't have three guitarists and we fired our bass player. Anyway, so Mike knew me more as a drummer. And so I show up for rehearsal and Rivers is there

and Alan Mark Rivers Mark Rivers who wrote all the songs for the show Genius and Alan and Pratt and we rehearsed at a rehearsal studio and Rivers turns to me and he's like you know I'm not really I don't really want to be on camera he was going to be the guitarist he's like do you mind swapping with me I'm like yeah sure I'll swap I'm cool with the camera so he knew you could play guitar yeah so he knew I played guitar and he knew I was an actor I'm more comfortable like you know

Putting my pleasant face in front of him. So we swapped on the spot and that was that. I'm like, ah, I'm finally playing guitar in a band. This is great. You know, it's so funny. You're talking about how you went to the studio and rehearsed and everything. And it takes me back to the writer's room at the time when it was Alan Yang, right? Who was the bassist in Mouse Rat or Scarecrow Boat, I think at the time. And he's like, yeah, I got to go leave the room to go.

It's a band practice. Like, oh yeah, you're going to be in a band now on our show. So he legit plays too. Oh yeah, he's great. Yeah, he's a great musician too. Yeah. He's a great jumper. Yeah, that was his signature move. Yeah, yeah. Did he give you any indication what this could be? Like, did he say that this could be something like recurring or you knew nothing? This was like, hey, I'm going to come over. We're going to do this. It sounded more like a one-off thing. Well, at the time, don't forget that...

as strange as it is to think about, Chris Pratt was not a series regular yet on the show, right? He was only, originally, Andy was supposed to be part of the first six episodes. The first six, yeah. But then, he's supposed to be this kind of a schmuck of, you know, a boyfriend of Anne's who she's eventually gonna dump and move on, whatever. But he's so great that the character adapted to Pratt's strengths and, and,

therefore the band stuck around. Yeah. I mean, the band changed names quite a few times, but the band stuck around. What I loved is that there was also the sense that every season finale, it's like, well, we'll see if we're coming back. That was the part, right. Which I think helps because, you know. No, it doesn't. It's mentally crushing Burley. It is awful. Much bigger stakes. I know. It doesn't help. What I meant was, no, in terms of like, well, we got to pivot and

And so let's see what we can do. Yes, that's a great point. And Mike always said like he'd ask new writers to come in and say, what would you change? Yeah. But then he played up everybody that was already there. You guys had, you know, a place in the office, but then all your personalities got to come out more in season two and three. And, you know, well, let's just keep going. We have these incredible ingredients, these great people. Let's just like build on what we have. And Pratt is this...

like secret clown genius. There it is. Oh my God, I love that. That is exactly what he is. The secret clown genius. Yes. That's a great term for Pratt. It's a great band name too. Thank you. I call it, I call it. It wasn't on the list. I called out the fact that's great. So yeah, I thought it was just a one-off thing and then we're done. And it was a fun day of shooting that episode. It was like Maya Rudolph showed up on set to say hi to Amy and

It was like a little party at a bar. And I'll say that that episode, in my opinion, is when, and it's not just me, a lot of the writers, and I think people feel like that's when Parks started to figure out it. Because, you know, the first six episodes of many shows are rough. Yes. You're figuring it out. And that's six episodes in. It's actually seven episodes in because we wrote a seventh episode that never wound up becoming an episode, which we've talked about before. It's called Spring for Rats at

wound up not being an episode. Oh, wow. But that episode, Rock Show, it feels the most of what Parks and Rec would become that people think of it. So such a fun episode.

episode to be in. I know. I always got to be in like the big events. Yeah, you did. The big stuff. I did. Something, when I think about your character that's fun for me is that you, I think, were a presence in the world of Pawnee even though your character wasn't there for some time. Right. And that's because Andy...

and April wound up living at your house. I know, I heard that. And then Ben winds up living at your house. And so Burley's house becomes just a thing that's set as a location. In fact, there are slug lines in the episodes at Burley's house. That's so funny.

There were, I mean, campaign events and dinner parties. Everything. There's an engagement party at Burley's house. Happy to host. Happy to host, yeah. And it's just a, it's a funny thing also for me to think about because for a while, you weren't living at your house. there was a time when he was your roommate and then there was a time when he was, they were just living there and like,

where was Burley? That he still has a house that he can't. Well, Pawnee is not like New York City. Pawnee is just your playground. You wake up at your house and go out into Pawnee and you come home and sleep. Why stay home when you can go to Pawnee? I will tell you this and I don't know if this is still the case because a friend of mine, many, many, we're talking over 30 years ago, was on a soap opera.

And the way the soaps worked at the time, I don't know now, if your character was even mentioned, it was mind share and you got paid. Oh, whoa. I have the feeling Burley didn't get paid every time his name was mentioned. I'm going to contact SAG-AFTRA. You really should. But isn't that interesting? Wow. Somehow, if your character, you know, like now people are thinking about

whatever the character happened to be, then you got some payment for that. That world sounds brutal, by the way. The soap world, it's like if the fans, well, it kind of was a precursor to the internet because they would go and take fans' pulse about, what do you think about this character? Right. Like in person at these like weird little shows. And you'd get written off a show if, you know, I'm not really responding to this guy. That's why they have those little digests. I would love to have had that much power. I wish I'd been asked. Exactly.

I wish I'm dying to be on the jury. If he could have got rid of me at the beginning of Parks, I wouldn't even be sitting here. There was a suggestion box and I put in just one suggestion. It happened to be about Jim and it was never listened to. Another weird thing, Mike walked me through the Parks and Rec department and the Parks department and showed me the huge mural, mural paintings. Yeah. And Andrew Burlinson painted one of them. Yes. Isn't that cool? Yes. Such a nice like buddy. Okay, didn't know that. Mike sure is netbo baby. You are his netbo baby. Yeah.

Which one? Do you remember which one it was? I don't. Oh, my God. I wish I did, but I don't. They were all fantastic. They are all really good. You should be happy to take credit for any of them. I know. I was so honored. It really was an honor. So in your time on Parks, is there an episode or a moment for your character that sticks out? Is like, this is the one I think about, or this is my favorite one, if I could rewatch it? You know, this episode that you guys are rewatching now...

I loved. I think my character just becomes a sort of grumpy, sort of stoic guy simply because I was trying not to laugh at Chris Pratt.

Like it was just my response to clown genius happening in front of me. Yeah. Cause I usually like what my work before, you know, in the theater, I was more of like the clown person. I'm like, Oh my God, I'm the straight man here. Wow. This is new. And so that was fun for me because Pratt was just so funny and so open. And so the moment, it's just kind of weird and subtle, but at the end of the episode,

when he's apologizing and he's like, "Early, I just want you to know..." We did a few takes and he did it as this little kid. If you see, he's just this open little child. And so I just responded with this sort of like, you know, it was very like almost two four-year-olds. And so it was a very sweet, open acting moment with Chris there, which I just loved. So that one I loved. But

Let's see. The thing that was really fun to shoot was Leslie's campaign song when we were all in the studio. I was just going to say to you, do you remember that? That was so fun. Robert Weedy directed it. Yeah. And we were all in that studio singing, share your dreams. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think you were chasing your dreams. Whatever the hell it was. I'm sorry. Catch your dreams. Catch your dreams. Whatever. But for me, someone who's not a singer, that was...

That was kind of my rock and roll moment. That we are in a booth and we got our hands on our ear like you see them do. Right. It's like you're, we are the world. Yeah. I love that episode. It was legit. We were at a real studio. It was really fun. It was so fun. And I'm next to Rashida who can really sing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the whole thing was, um,

you know, when you, if you're with singers, you'll say, okay, you're going to sing this part, you're going to sing this part. That means nothing to me. I'm going to sing whatever the person next to me is singing. Because if I hear it, I do it. Yeah. That's what I'm going to do. Right. And so thankfully I had Rashida next to me. So at least I could get

some sense of what we're supposed to be doing. And just between takes, everyone just hung out. Just hung out. But that's what I always say. They've heard me say this a thousand times on this show. Those are the best times of Parks and Recreation. Yeah. The hangouts. Yeah. When we were all shooting together because there's so much, you know, there's downtime, you're resetting, you're doing...

A million different things have to happen. It's true. And you're just bullshitting and laughing and telling stories. It's like they should roll the cameras then. I mean, but you know, we go on and on and on. Yeah. And for me, it was like, I was a big fan of the show. And so it was fun for me, like once or twice a season to drop in to like Parks and Rec fantasy camp.

to be like, hey, what's up? I get to be on the episode. I won a contest. And isn't it nice just to get the call? Hey, are you available? And the weird thing was because I booked the show the way I did, I never got it through my agent. I got it directly through the casting director. Oh, really? And so, and one of the times was hilarious. I had just bought my wife

I bought the wedding ring. I had walked out like, oh, I just dropped a lot of money. And then I literally see Parks and Rec casting. Huzzah! Yay! I paid for the wedding ring. It was great. That's sweet. That was very cool. Sweet. You know, I was looking, you wind up being in 15 episodes of Parks and Rec. I know. That's a lot. Of 125 episode series. That's a lot. That's a lot of episodes. But I have... Anyway, go ahead. No, but something I also wanted to touch on while you're with us is that Mouse Rat...

your band would perform at our rap parties. The best. And that's when I also think about the experience that you guys probably had in the studio recording the Campaigns song is I got to see the band perform and Nick Offerman would join as Duke Silver. Yes. It was a rock show. Yeah. The best...

best way. And remember the first two seasons, those wrap parties were very intimate. Yes. It was just a bar party. Like, it was just like, we, you know, this scrappy little show that keeps going. No one knew what was happening. Yeah. It was such a fun, sweaty, you know, environment. And I remember the first time we did that,

I think we... No, maybe the second time. We launched into the same song twice because they're all in the KFG. And there are only so many songs. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And they put some of that footage on one of the DVDs. Yes. Yeah. It was really sweet. Obviously, we've talked about this many times, but Parks was a family both on set, in the room, the cast. And so when all the disparate parts of this family now are together at the wrap party,

And like 5,000 Camels in the Wind was like an anthem for us. Yes. That we would all just be singing it together. Just a bunch of adults singing this made-up song for this fun little TV series we're doing. It was really fun. And it meant something. I love that damn song. It's great. It's really catchy. I mean, Mark Rivers did an incredible job with those songs because they ride that line of being, well, it's a funny, you know, parody of Hootie and the Blowfish.

But it's also really great. And I can't get it out of my head. And I'm singing it hours and hours later. And I'm not sick of it all day on the set. You know, it's a good song. This is a weird, this sort of took me to a tangent. But when I was in Chicago, I was in a music video for Michelle Branch and Carlos Santana's hit. That song, remember that song that came out that summer? Anyway, and it's one of those moments where we heard the playback of the song all day.

And even 12 hours later, we're all like, this is great. And this song went on to become a gigantic hit. And I feel kind of that way about, you know, 5,000 Candles in the Wind. You're like, I could just keep singing this. I'm okay with it. It's like the ultimate pub song.

Like, just, you pick up your candle and you're like, yeah, yeah. Well, Nick wraps up when he does his live show. Oh, he does? He sings 5,000 Candles in the Wind. Oh, man. And the place was nuts. And he called me. This is, I don't know, last year. Time has lost all track when you're 100 years old. Sure. But anyway, he said...

He was doing a thing at the Largo in LA. He was actually opening for another band that guested on Parks that he loves. Not Wilco. Who's the head of... I might say Wilco. Jeff Tweedy. Yes, it was Jeff Tweedy. So anyway, he said he's going to open for them. Would you want to come out and surprise everybody and sing 5,000 Candles in the Wind? Oh my God. So that's what I did. I went over to Largo. You did? He went out for... Nick went out to do his... He did some stuff, did some stuff. And then...

He goes, maybe. However he introduced it. Yeah, yeah. And he starts singing. And then as he's... Of course, the place goes crazy. Oh, wow. And then as he's singing it, I slowly come out from the side. Oh, wow. I got to my... Anyway, it was... Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Iuorio. Just a bunch of boo. But then everyone started booing, which is weird. Well, it was different. I think it was... Must have been the color of my shirt because it couldn't have been about me. Okay. No, it really, though, the audiences go crazy. Yeah, yeah. They were screaming. Oh, my gosh. It was very... It was a...

a bit of a Beatles moment. Dude, for real. You took this photo of Jeff Tweedy and I on that, on the Pawnee, on the big, that big concert. Yeah. I'm like, Jim, will you take a picture of us? And Tweedy was like, that's the best picture of me I've ever seen. Will you text that to me? So I texted it to Jeff Tweedy. Oh, nice. That was so much. He's such a nice guy. Oh my God. And the best was in that episode,

I play guitar, but I don't know gear very well. And so in between takes, he sort of like adjusted the tone on my guitar. And then the next take in between takes, he asked me about the marks on the floor. So I'm like doing an actor thing. He's doing a musician thing. Yeah, that's nice. I got your back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wow. And marks on the floor. That's a rare thing for Parks and Recreation. Marks are when actors have to hit, you know, for camera angles. But because we were mockumentary, we mostly didn't have to deal with marks. Right. But there were a lot more setups in the big concert. And there were like 50 people on stage, too. Yeah. They had to do that. God, that was fun, too. But I'll tell you, after Parks ended, it was tough to go back into the real world of

of marks. Oh yeah. Because we never had to, I mean, every once in a while you did, but now you're on a set and they're like, Jimmy, you didn't hit your mark. Oh, oh, you walk off that thing again. So sorry. Muscle memory. I just don't do that. You know, on Parks and Rec, we didn't have to do that. I'm not sure where the show Parks and Rec. I would literally walk up to the medium deal there. Yeah. I'd walk up to the director. Do you know who I am? Right. I have done parks and recreation. I don't do marks. Yeah.

But it's been so fun having you. Thank you. My pleasure, you guys. Seriously, thank you for having me. This is so great. It's so fun. The joy of doing this podcast is not just recollecting on the show we love, but also bringing in the people who made Pawnee what it was. That's the fun of the series, that it was a large tent.

Yeah. So thank you. I would say you were one of our busiest recurring characters, right? If you did that many episodes. I was always there for big things. We'd always play at the big events and it was, or, you know, the weddings and the whatnot. When you got a band, you got to use it. It was great. Yeah, I know. So, I mean, you're a big part of the show. No, that's sweet. Yeah. That's sweet. And it's a nice, it's a nice show to have. Oh, I know. To be a part of. I mean, you go to Dodger Stadium, you go random places. Yeah, Mel's right. Mel's right rules. Yeah, yeah. Hey, thanks. For real? Really? Yeah.

I was at a grocery store with a mask on. I asked like, hey, I'm trying to find like sardines or something. And he's like, sure, I think they're over there in Maserat, right? He's like, I'm wearing a mask. That's amazing. Why are you looking for sardines? What the hell is wrong with you? Oh, you don't know what you're missing. It was the pandemic. You don't know what you're missing if you haven't lived in the world of tin fish. It's delicious. Burley, we love you. Thank you. Thank you. We love you guys too. This was so much fun. Thank you guys.

That was awesome. We love Burley. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew Burleson. And hey, thank you for listening, everybody. Text this episode to your group chat, Five Star Review, wherever you're listening. And then we'll wrap it up by saying goodbye from Pawnee. Goodbye, everybody.

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 in association with Stitcher. Want the same expert advice you get from the pros in the store while shopping online at DiscountTire.com? Meet Treadwell, your personal online tire guide that matches you with the perfect tire for your vehicle. Get your best match in one minute or less with Treadwell by Discount Tire. Let's get you taken care of.

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