Joe Mande: Emergency Response (S5E13)
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Then we'll send it up into the sky.

Hawks in recollection Come on, let's cast Spread your wings and fly

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Parks and Recollection. I am one of your hosts, Jim O'Hare, the guy who played Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry, Barry on Parks and Recreation, which is in the Recollection part. But anyway, and I have something like that. Yeah, sure. There's a co-host with me that I know you guys tolerate, but you stick around for the love of me. Thank you. He is... That's interesting because I barely tolerate myself. It's Greg Levine. This is awesome. We're back between

doing another episode of our favorite show, Jim. This is so fun. We have writer, actor, producer, and comedian who's written for The Good Place, Kroll Show, and Delocated, just to name a few. Starred in his own Netflix comedy special, Joe Mandy's award-winning comedy special. I think you know who this is by this point. Most importantly for us was a writer on the final three seasons of Parks and Recreation. And my favorite fact about him from our show is that he appeared in five episodes of Parks as

Morris Lurpis, the internet-loving roller rink worker who was terrified of his teenage boss. Let's give a welcome to Joe Mandy. Joe Mandy! We're so excited you're here. You specified I was a special guest, so that's huge for me. You are very special, and we're going to get into all sorts of things, but I also have to tell you, I didn't know when we were doing Parks, when you were with us, that you were also doing acting work. Yes.

And then one day I'm at home and I'm watching Modern Family. Yeah. You weren't just like a co-star who dropped in for a couple lines. Yeah. You were a recurring character. Yes, that's right. Important character to the show. That's right. Yeah. It turned into a big role. A big role. That was amazing. Because I didn't know. So I'm always blown away when I see that. There is a Parks link. I got the email to audition for that part.

while I was in the Parks and Rec writer's room and I had to ask Mike if it was okay for me to leave work a little early. To leave your current job. To look for another job. To then go do this other job. Yeah. And then once the good place started, it was a huge issue because I was missing like two days a week of work to act on a

On a different show. Oh, my gosh. It was a lot. It was a lot. So when you got that gig with Modern Family, it was not intended to be recurring. It was just going to be one episode. Happy to get it. Yeah, it was like I worked at this closet company. Yeah, Claire's Closet. Yeah, and then I became her assistant. And then I became her...

daughter's boyfriend. Boyfriend, yes. Yeah, he just got out of control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but anyway, I just had to jump in because I just love that. Yeah. Is acting your thing? Have you seen me act? Absolutely not. Yes, I think you're doing it. I'm not an actor, yeah. I don't know. But then why would you have auditioned for that? Great question. I mean, I'll...

No, I don't know. I mean, Mike encouraged me. He was just like, yeah, go for it. And I tend to get parts on shows I write for, which is always fun because I'm familiar with the scripts. Yeah, but of course, but they're not handing acting roles just to hand them out. No, no. You had to have shown your worth because you wouldn't have got the gig. You know, you do well at table reads and then people sort of just start seeing you as that person.

Oh, that's interesting. As you're creating characters, one person maybe starts to pitch to somebody, or maybe it's developed based on the way a certain writer has been in the room. On this show specifically, more than most, writers were on the show as characters, and they were often sort of like...

hyper elevated versions of the person in the role. So it was Harris and myself and Dave King is literally a rabbi. You know what I mean? So I know it's like- For people who don't know, when we do a table read, it's normally the cast, producers, and the network people, all that kind of stuff and department heads. But there's also a lot of roles that have to be read and they either haven't been cast yet or whatever.

So the writers take over those roles and sometimes it is amazing how great it is. Yes. And then sometimes not so great. Well, I mean, most writers are very introverted widows who don't want to read in front of anyone, you know, out loud. Although we talked about this, Harris Whittles has famously said that a writer could act as good as any actor. Hey,

Yes, he had a lot of pronouncements like that. That was one. That was one. That was Harrison there? Yes, yes, yes. That's great. But anyway, I just had to throw that because I was blown away. Oh, that's cool. I thought you did a great job. Yeah, and you know, I've never been asked to be on a Modern Family podcast, so...

There you go. Screw them. This means more to me. Screw them. We should talk about our episode because we're going to have a lot to talk to you about. But I also want to just speak about Morris Lurpus. Of course, yeah. We did an episode just recently in which Aziz's character, Tom, has to go on the internet detox on a phone detox. And he has to give up his phone because of a car accident. And at one point, he is holding a...

cell phone that he has made. And I said this on the podcast. I knew you were going to come in. I think you made that. I did make that. I think you made it in the writers' time. I physically made it because... But not for this. Not for this. While we were writing this episode, we wanted to experience what Tom was going through. So for, I think, a full day, Mike confiscated our phones

Holy cow, that's awesome. And I sort of, as a bit, half bit, I was kind of going crazy without my phone. I made one.

out of note cards. Yes, it's like several note cards taped together and then like drew the screen and everything. And then the props department was just like, oh, we'll just use this because this shows like a mental illness in the way that we can't replicate. And if anybody serves me, I feel like Mike

didn't give up his phone, but he's like, I do need this. Yes, right. Yeah. It's like, okay, so we're all going through this social experiment. Except you. Right. But I kind of think that moments like that's kind of where Morris kind of began. Yes, right. And I mean, I'm sort of famously internet poisoned. So I like the Morris character sort of came out of

dynamic in the room of just like, everything's on the internet, everything's for free. Like, you know, what are we fighting about? We can just find the answer right now. In fact, in that episode, there's a run in which Tom is just talking about the internet to Ron, just like get it all out of his system. And it's scene after scene of just Reddit is this and Tumblr is this. And I feel like that was just you on autopilot. Absolutely.

Yeah, totally. Is that still your world? I've since gone to therapy and my therapist sort of reeled me in. She convinced me to quit Twitter pretty early on. I quit Twitter like 2015, 16, something like that. And I'm more selective about what I... Although, I mean, I'm fully addicted to TikTok. My TikTok... Me too. I love it. Do you do them? I haven't seen you on them. I'm not really a TikTok

I'm a TikTok watcher. TikTok-y. Yeah, I just... And like the more... The thing is like once it figures you out, it really... It's amazing. If they make it illegal in America, I will raid the Capitol. I will.

by myself. I'll be with you. Me and like a bunch of 12 year olds are going to raid the Capitol. Yeah, yeah. January 6th. This is way TMI as they say, I have sat on the toilet where I can barely get up because my legs are numb because for an hour and a half I've been watching TikTok. Actually, I've been there. Both of my legs have fallen asleep. And then you're like, what?

Yeah. And when I grew up, when I grew up, my grandma used to say to us, if your legs, you're not, never stand up, they'll break. Now I know that's not real, but because it's in our head from a hundred years ago, I sit on that toilet and then I have to maneuver to try to get. Oh, sure. The shift. Yeah. She's not wrong. I mean, like they won't snap, but like I almost fell down.

Well, you could fall easily. Yeah, yeah. But it's kind of exciting. Yeah, what's going to happen? To feel gravity again? You know what I mean? Absolutely, yeah. But see, at my age, it's not so exciting because if the hip goes, let's face it, that's the beginning of the end. It's bad. So I do not want that. Yeah, yeah. But no, that damn TikTok has sucked me. That's why you should start...

standing on the toilet. Okay. All right. And just, okay. I was going to describe it, but I don't know if we need to. Yeah. Well, let's talk because this sounds like a shark tank. You built a better mousetrap. Okay. This episode is called Emergency Response. It was written by Norm Hiscock and Joe Mandy, directed by Dean Holland. I call that the dream team, people.

The Dream Team. The Dream Team. And originally aired on February 14th, 2013. Just a lovely Valentine's Day episode. And Jim will give us a little blurb. The Pawnee Commons Park Project is in jeopardy of becoming a paunch burger unless Leslie can raise $50,000 fast.

To raise money, she and Ben decide to host a fundraising gala. But with the town of Pawnee infected with a hypothetical avian flu, Leslie's hands are tied, leaving the rest of her friends to plan the party without her. Meanwhile, after failing the police entrance exam, it seems like Andy, oh, this is heartbreaking, may not be cut out to be one of Pawnee's finest. Here's what's interesting. The blurbs...

over the seasons. You know, in the beginning, there's this simple, quaint episodes, an A and a B story. But the B story collects a lot of people. And now we're the 12th, 13th episode into the fifth season. And you have a park project in Jeopardy becoming a Ponch Burger. That's fascinating. And then there's just a raise $50,000, which at the time we would have built an entire

an entire season around. And then, you know, there's a hypothetical avian flu emergency response. And at the same time, Andy may not become a cop. Yeah. It's just... It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot to cover. It's a lot for 21 minutes. Yeah. And we did it somehow. We did it. Yeah. This episode features Matt Walsh as Leonard Cholm. Yep. T-C-H-U-L-M. The no-nonsense head of the Indiana Department of Emergency Preparedness.

Who's impotent, we find out. Yes, as we find out. Yes. And we get a cameo from Colton Dunn as Brett Hull. Love that. I'm reading the note and I forgot his name was Brett Hull. I didn't remember his last name. Yeah, that's incredible. Is this the first episode you were with us? This was the first episode my name was on.

So how long have you been with us at this point? This was my first season there, yeah. So 13 episodes in, I got to share an episode with Norm. So you're comfortable in the room at this point? That's arguable. No, yeah, by that, by, yeah, yeah. I don't know if everyone's ever comfortable in the room. But you knew people coming in. Yeah, no, it was an easy transition. It took me a couple weeks to, it was an intimidating room for sure. I mean, I had sort of like made a name for myself already with like stand-up and had a couple,

TV writing jobs before this, but this was...

this was it really felt like being in the big leagues you know going from like adult swim and comedy central to to nbc and i'm basing it all just on the quality of the snacks and the kitchenette walking into the snack room 50 cereals yeah this is this is big it was an amazing pantry it really really really was a hundred years ago i did one of the episodes of drew carey and the first day i got there for the first episode drew said jim let me show you something

And this is when the show was, Drew Carey was huge. And he walks me into the food section and he goes, look at this. He was so excited. They even had a chef there who was making beef and turkey. Like it was incredible. And he said, you know, a show's doing good when it's, you know, this. And he goes, and then as the show does worse, this stuff starts going away. And then I did Drew Carey again years later. No beef guy. And things weren't, there was no chef any longer. Yeah.

But anyway, he was, of course, as always, such a wonderful, wonderful dude. But yeah, there's nothing like walking in like, oh, this is good. Yeah. So, yeah, but this was my first like network writing job. So, yeah, it was it was kind of scary. Can I I know we're going to get into the episode. Do we can we get into how you got the job?

Yeah. So, um, you've heard of the Illuminati, right? Jim actually did a play for them. No, I, um, give me the code. Give me the sign. Yeah. I, I had been writing for a Kroll show. I lived in New York at the time and, uh,

I was here in LA working on Coral Show for a couple months. And I think it was like my last day in LA. I got asked to come in and talk to Mike and Morgan and Dan Gore about a possible writing job. But did you pitch to them to even get in the room or your agents did? I just got an email being like, yeah, they want to meet with you. And so I walk in and like, you know, I went to college with Harris Whittles. We were in a sketch group together. So we go way back. I had become friends with...

Alan Yang and a few other people who were there. And at the time, I was also, I was opening for Aziz a lot on the road as a stand-up. So I was, you know, friends with some of the cast members as well. And I walk into the room for what I assume was like an interview. But what it really was, I immediately found out, was Mike and Dan just grilling me for embarrassing stories about Harris. Ah!

which I was like happy to provide. So like, like we spent the entire hour, I was just like giving them dirt on hair, you know, cause they just wanted to make fun of him. And I was like, yeah, that's fine. You know, I was like, I don't care. I'm on board with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then I flew home to New York and just like went back to my life. Um, and then, yeah, it was like a couple months later, I got a call being like, uh,

You're hired. We start on Monday. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it was crazy. I feel like interviews, I've heard that, you know, especially with Parks and I know Mike and Greg and Dan too, that once they've read you and they, you know, hear about you from your agent or your reps, whatever, they're like,

They kind of have an opinion of you as a writer. What I've been told... Can you hang? Yes. What I've been told is that by that point, if they're meeting with you, they already like you. They just want to see, are you going to be the type of person we want to hang out with for 14-hour days or whatever? Because if your personality is abrasive...

or off in some way, it could ruin the dynamic, the chemistry in the room. So, yeah. So I, you know, but at the time, I just thought like, oh, this is, you know, this is just a funny meeting mostly about my friends. So, yeah. Yeah.

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Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash parks. That's linkedin.com slash parks to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. All right. In our synopsis, the ultimate showdown for Lot 48 has begun with Leslie and Councilman Jeremy Jam presenting their proposals to Pawnee's Planning Commission. Leslie presents a well-thought-out case for her park project, while Jam reveals his plan to sell the land to Ponchburger.

As the meeting concludes, a member of the council confides in Leslie that the board won't support an underfunded project and the final decision will rest on Leslie's ability to raise the extra $50,000 needed to finance her proposed park.

I mean, honestly, I read that. I'm like, season two, season three, that would be a 13 episode. Right. That's an arc. That's an arc. Yeah. But it's a testament also to the, you know, this being a character comedy and the more you spend time with your character, the more you like them, but the better they get at what they do. Right. You can sort of, you understand their abilities. Yeah. The Leslie now is different than the Leslie three years ago.

So, I mean, right off the bat, we have Leslie and Jam's presentations and their approaches couldn't be more different. Leslie has the scaled model, looks amazing. And we only catch the end of her PowerPoint, but it ends with Dynamite, which we realize is an acronym for daring, youth-friendly, natural, amazing, merry, inviting, tourist, attraction-y, eco-friendly. Yeah.

Leslie loves her acronyms. She does, yeah. Damn, she loves her acronyms. And then Jam has this showman, you know, selling of trying to sell a Ponch burger. He presents the greasy lard bombs and fries. And I love this, you know, Jam, he's such an in-your-face, obvious jerk. Yeah. So that when no one's standing, he says, like the record show, there was a standing ovation.

Which is obvious to everybody. There's no standing ovation. It is not a psychic. And a lot of time is spent on this little joke. Yeah. Well, it also, you don't realize there for some reason is like a court reporter in this tiny meeting. Yeah. Taking notes, official notes. For that joke. For that joke. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, but just to go on with it, he goes, I love the work I show. There was a standing ovation. And unless they know there's not jam history will decide. Yes, history will decide. No, no, it's been decided. There's no standing ovation. But in his mind, it's on the physical record. It's the record that counts. Damn, he's an ass, but we love him and hate him. Yes. Um,

All right, that was our cold open. Let's keep going. In our synopsis, Ben and Leslie decide to throw a fundraising gala for Pawnee Commons, and they get to work right away setting things up at Lot 48. But their gala prep comes to a screeching halt when Chris bursts onto the scene in a cop car telling everyone a disaster has occurred. Let's start with that, even though there's another scene before it. When Chris comes screeching up. Screeching up? Yes. Two things struck me. One, in a post-COVID...

COVID world, how...

oddly traumatizing. I know. It was like weirdly official. Yeah. The triage stuff in the episode is like, yeah, very reminiscent. Yeah. And you can imagine a city from a Pawnee to a New York to whatever are going to have things like this now and probably five years ago, they didn't. They probably, yeah, they have versions of the protocol, the Leslie Knope protocol. Yeah. Yeah.

And two is when Jerry says, Gail, my kids, and starts running off. Can you take us to that moment? Yes. First of all, let's back up in Jerry's behalf. The way Chris presented it,

It was scary. Yeah. Like he... Yeah, I think Jerry has the only appropriate response to this moment. I really believe he did. He had the only appropriate response. But then, and let me give you a background. So he's panicked. He's got to get to them because something terrible is happening. So he just runs off. And then as he's running, he falls, blah, blah, blah. So there was a whole big discussion about the fall because they wanted to bring in a stunt dude. And I'm like...

It's a fall. My God. Because he's going up a curb. Yeah, he trips over a curb. Jim O'Hare can, believe me, just let me walk outside today, I'll trip over a curb. People were concerned. They were concerned. And I had to convince them to let me do the damn thing. But it was super fun. I had to watch it a few times to make sure I was right. Jerry farts, too, on landings.

Oh, wait a minute. I did not know that. Did they put a noise in there? Yes. No, they mic'd your ass. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, that whole run would have been a fart then. Yeah, right. Like, Jim, if you're sure you want to do it, we know you're going to fart when you land. That's right. I did not realize that. It's like the littlest...

Oh, I got to go back. I got to go back and see it. Okay. I didn't know that. I guess once you've had a fart attack, you just have farts. Why not? No, no. It's a great thing. Yeah. I was there for the fart attack thing and I couldn't have been more adamant that we had to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was a debate in the room. It was. Can we do this? Should we do this? Is this too much? And I think very few people said it was not too much. And you know, Amy. I was like standing on my chair. Like we have to do a fart attack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I will leave.

But of course, because Amy being who Amy is, says to me after the table read, are you okay with that? Right. Of course I'm okay with that. Yeah. My life's been leading up to it. Yes. I have worked 40 something years at this point to do this. I need to go back and hear that for myself. Oh, it's so funny. I did. I turned the volume up. I watched it. And it's just enough that you notice it, but it doesn't, it's not too much that it

you have to build a whole story around it. You know, what's just a little interesting fact about that scene is, you know, that episode takes place in December or January. I forget because the next episode to start snowing. Yeah, we had jackets on during that scene. It was 105 degrees. And you guys were wearing jackets. That was like seasonally appropriate. But it was like,

there was a medic there being like, they're gonna die. Like, they can't be wearing jackets. It was so, so hot. And I was running in that jacket. Yeah, so it was like a debate. Right, exactly. So, like, Dean was just like, it's an unseasonally warm day in Indiana. Like, we're not gonna do this to the actors. So if you look around, like, everyone's wearing, like, just normal, like, t-shirts and dress shirts. Yeah, it gets... When we did the Harvest Festival, I thought, I'm dropping today. Today's the day I go down. Because we were shooting at the same location as the pit. Right.

which is just like in the van eyes or whatever. 105 degrees, no shade. Yeah, it was crazy. It was hot for so many of those days. So yeah, and it is like a testament to just...

people who've worked in TV long enough, it's like no one's going to care or notice that they're not wearing jackets. Like, you know what I mean? There is like a continuity thing, but at a certain point, it's like no one's going to care. Sure, some people will pay attention to it. There are trees that are not native to whoever you're shooting. The street signs are a little different. At some point, you just, everything looks the same. And then the thing what people say, like they say, if that's what they're focusing on, then you're not bringing the goods anyway. I know.

think about that. I give Greg a lot to think about when he leaves here. Mostly, why is he doing this? Most of it's stuff for therapy. That's the main thought he has every time we do this. Most of it's stuff for therapy. Okay, let's jump back quickly to a Macy's

First of all, another thing that was jarring for me, you see the exterior of a Macy's in this town of Pawnee that has places like Ponch Burger to a Sweetums and food and stuff and everything. It's kind of weird, but...

to see Macy's, but also, I guess, it also makes it normal. Tapani's just like everywhere else. There's a Macy's there and what are they doing? They are registering for their wedding. Macy's paid for that. Really? Yeah. Really? Well, there you go. That's why we have Macy's. Yeah. This is why we have the podcast to learn things like this. Macy's paid for that. Sometimes they're in a Volkswagen car. Right. Yeah. And that helps us get a...

giant tent for the party later. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because they only have an X amount for budget every week. Exactly. Yeah. But when you're doing a big episode. Right.

And I have the feeling, I mean, Morgan Sackett was our line producer. And if there's a better one out there, I've never met a better line producer than Morgan. He made magic happen, but you can only do it. The money is only what the money is. Exactly. This is sort of like the nitty gritty of making a TV show is that to your point, oh, I guess they have a Macy's in this town. Like, I don't think anything on this show in particular felt egregious when we would integrate stuff like that, which was like, uh,

a relatively new thing on like TV shows like this was like, can we do this without it being like gross and distracting? Right. There are great YouTube clips of soap operas that pretty much go from a really intense relationship drama and it's the morning and they're having breakfast and it's like a 30 second cereal commercial. Right. Talking about the beauty of the cereal, how good it is. But I think about that when I'd watch like, I remember watching 24 and

And being like, wow, it's interesting. Before I worked in TV, I was like, it's interesting that the good guys and the bad guys all drive Audis. Yeah, right. Right? What a coincidence. I think on our show, we generally always had iPhones for everyone. But then one season, I think it was Samsung. No, no, it was all Microsoft Surfaces. Microsoft Surfaces. And everyone, I guess at that year was like, I guess we're all going to use the same thing.

New technology, but then we're back the next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the stuff that pays the... Not to like get off topic, but I'm working on a show right now that takes place in like the NBA. And the NBA in real life is just so like immersed in branding and there's corporations on jerseys and on the floor and stuff that like...

we have to do that or else we're going to just like have to make up corporations. You know what I mean? Right, right. So it is like, it's a weird world right now to like, to make it seem real and genuine. You have to integrate stuff. But I would imagine they almost have the upper hand because you need them more than they need you. Right, right. Oh,

Oh, yeah. Right, but he was saying that it's natural to the world, right? It's natural to the world. That's what I'm saying. So if you were to do this other thing, it would stand out in a way. Right, right. And you probably didn't even notice it for this episode because the joke in this scene is that they're setting up their wedding registries. So that's where you go for that kind of thing. Right, right, right. To me, it's a...

here as we're doing this podcast and looking at the nitty gritty of it, it's like, oh, a Macy's. It's interesting. Well, I love as they're registering. And it all just goes to a very good joke about citrus reamers and it's the only way to ream your citrus. Yeah.

But it's so funny to see and to come up with either a bit or a storyline that feels so right for the character. We don't have to figure out and have a line or two of exposition to understand why they have an opinion about this. And it just makes total sense that Tom would be there with this and that he would...

would absolutely love it. And he's just so excited to be there. And he says, love, love fades away, but things, things are forever. He is so super. Yeah, so good. So good.

Let's push on with our synopsis. Yes. The disaster preparedness drill is in full effect at City Hall, and with Leslie fighting against a hypothetical avian flu, as Pawnee's emergencies are, there's no way she'll be able to continue planning the gala scheduled for later that night. Meanwhile, Andy is full of nerves as he waits to take the police entrance exam.

Ah, yes. Meanwhile. Meanwhile does a lot of work. Okay, so speaking of that, the episode devotes only three scenes to Andy's police exam narrative. We kind of needed it. We've been building it for many episodes. We kind of had to, you know, this is episode, what,

12 to 13 of the season that's generally when the first arcs end and you push on to another one. So it makes sense to kind of wrap it up. But it's three scenes but it feels so full. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And...

One of my favorite Andy Dwyer scenes of all time is the lie detector. Oh, yeah. It's like sometimes they're just like scenes that are so good that they feel bigger than what they actually are. And that's one of them for sure. Did he riff on that or was that? I mean, he riffed a lot. So I'm sure he added stuff to it. But I remember when we were coming up with that in the room and the joke of

you pull your father over for speeding. Like, what do you do? And dad, you're alive. You know where my mitt is? I remember just laughing so hard at that. That's so Andy. That is so Andy.

But the one that really got me too re-watching it is when they said, you know, a kid wants to see your gun. What do you do? Like, I give it to him. And then he tells the story. He's like, you know, because that's what I would have wanted. I've always wanted to hold a cop's gun. Yeah. But it's a great comedy game, right? It's just like, you know it.

he's going to have terrible answers for it, but really genuine, sweet Andy answers, which makes them, it's very endearing. And when you have a character like Andy, who you love, but is a dope, you're like, he should not be a cop. No, no, no, no, no. The streets are safer without him. So it's like, he has to fail this to find his correct path. But I will say as a viewer,

your heart breaks a little because you know he can't do this. You know that, you know, we all have our capabilities that Andy should never have a gun in his possession because someone's going down. But there was time, there was a fair amount of time in the room devoted to how do you end the storyline in a satisfying way? Because yeah, as Joe's saying, how do you do this without making it seem like Andy failed?

Right? And so I know we're getting to the end of it, but when the chief talks to Chris and says he gave 100% written, it also shows how dedicated he was and how hard he tried at this and that he's not a complete failure in a joke. Like the 13 episodes of this have not been for nothing. Oh, that's an interesting interpretation. Because I always thought it was like, oh, like...

all cops are as dumb as Andy. Oh, that's funny. It didn't seem odd. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. I thought it's like it's a win for Andy that he's not just a complete failure, but I like the other side of it. Well, that's what makes great art. Yeah. We can all interpret it in a different way. But also what was funny because when Andy's talking to April about, you know,

there's the personality taste Google that. I think I, you know, that I'll pass for sure. Cause people are always like, Oh, but he has such a nice personality. Cause he doesn't get that. They're saying, yeah, that's all that's going on. So he thinks he's going to nail that. And it turns out to be just the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

Okay, so guys, let's talk about this disaster preparedness drill. So Leonard Cholm. We've had a lot of crazy names on this show, but Cholm is a hard one to decide how to pronounce. And to spell it with a T, like Y. Yeah. Other than to be perfect. Yeah, it reminds me of Chance Frulm. Watching Mike Schur come up with, you know, day player character names is like watching a great

jazz musicians. He really gets into like a flow state and just starts typing random letters and he's like, that's the name. Yeah, it's like John Nash in A Beautiful Mind, right? Like his mind goes somewhere and all of a sudden he's figured this out. But I also remember he would come up with

silly names, but then not be happy enough with those names. Yes. Really? Yeah. Yeah. But that is a fun game actually to go on the IMDB to the cast section of Parks and Rec and go down to the bottom and just look at the names. They are insane. So Chom. So Chom. Little Chom. It's all business. His mother is having a colonoscopy that day. He doesn't know if anyone's there to drive her home. Yep. Uh,

and doesn't have a great relationship with her as mother, but that's okay. And, you know, Leslie, I love this bit where she thinks the whole thing might actually be a nightmare. And it's a sweet thing where I think the joke, I think a lot of people, oh, she's going to pinch herself or something. But no, the Leslie Knope version is trying to see if she can fly. Right. Um,

Which indicates that she is a lucid dreamer. That she can choose to fly out of her dreams. Which is cool. No pun intended. It is a dream for me to be able to be a lucid dreamer. I think it'd be so fun. Well, you can buy tea off the internet from a shaman.

I've done this once. Really? I did not have a good experience. Yeah. See, that's what scares me. I would do it, but I'm afraid of the bad experience. I had a lucid nightmare. Yeah. So I was running, someone was chasing me, and I knew I was yelling at myself, like, wake up.

Oh, no. I don't want that. It's awful. This is a dream. Wake up. I'm having a lucid dream. This is awful. Yeah, it was bad. To be so aware of the nightmare. Yeah, it was bad. But to be stuck in it. But yeah, I can get you the shamans. Yeah. Yeah, I have a delicate system. I think it would kill me. Yeah, you would be bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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The comedy game of Leslie's DVD and her emergency preparedness that we then end the episode in the tag with even more of it is just a perfect setup for Amy Poehler. So good. It's so funny. And the little bits of like you see her holding her mic to...

to someone and then you cut to that person talking. You see them holding the mic themselves. So it's not perfect. No, but she understood the continuity. So she was also, yeah, placing the mic in the right place. It is like, it is why Amy is who she is. That's why she was amazing on SNL. That just screamed SNL to me. Those great characters. And, you know, as TV has changed just from

2013 or what was yeah 2013 tags don't exist anymore right and like that was so fun to do like a true tag which is the episode's over in fact it's a to be continued oh that's a good point yeah after the to be continued we still did a tag to let her do like five more characters because it was just such a fun game for her yeah I remember Greg Daniels would talk about cold opens and tags this way which is like it's this extra little tiny show

Yeah. That you get to start an episode before. He loved cold opens that were not connected to the narrative. The office did that all the time. It had nothing to do with the story. Right. And we did that for a time being until I think our stories just became so massive. You'd write cold opens that would then just get cut away because we didn't have the time. But it is. It's like this little extra, like you're going to watch a 20-minute show. We're going to give you another minute show. It's a sketch. A little sketch. A little three-act sketch. Yeah. I love thinking about it.

I love tags. Yeah. I just always have. I had forgotten we had that tag at the end of the episode. Me too, yeah. It delighted me. I was like, oh, gosh. And we shouldn't forget the name she gave herself during that whole mess was Willow Tremaine. Willow Tremaine was the anchor. The anchor. Donatella Breckenridge. Dr. Donatella Breckenridge. She didn't go to a fake medical school for nothing. Winifred Mayreese or Maypiece? Great question. Who knows? Isabella Winchester and then Jessica...

RABBRIT. RABBRIT. RABBRIT. It doesn't even roll off the tongue. It's like RABBRIT. Yep.

That's like Mike being... That's like, you have a problem. This is an addiction. This is a character coming up with seven more character names just to get your fix. At like 10 o'clock at night. And remember, she's done these type of DVDs for every different emergency. And she's so happy. Every folder she has, every binder has a DVD inside. That's the great thing. Yes. Yeah, and she's so happy it's Avian Flu. She's got this. It's Mission Imponiable.

Nope protocol. That's right. All right, let's push on in our synopsis. With Leslie tied up at City Hall, the group bands together to pull off the event. Ben takes the lead, assigning Donna to find chairs and Tom to source catering.

And with Jerry still MIA, Ron is left to stand in for Leslie on Pawnee today. Meanwhile, back at City Hall, the flu has infiltrated the walls of Command Central, and it becomes clear Councilman Jam is quietly sabotaging the drill in order to derail Leslie's gala. Mm-hmm.

Okay. We have a classic storyline where we have this B story that offshoots from the A story. It's like a very special way that I think we do story at parks where everyone's together for a while and the B story doesn't really take off until the second act when everyone kind of splinters. And what I loved about this one is you have a

silly two-scene or two-line runner, really, for Donna, which she's terrible at finding chairs. And I love when she comes back out of breath with a chair. I found one chair, got a lead on it. And it just sort of walks off. It just walks off like that.

I'm in a hurry. I'm going to do my best here to get chairs. Donna was never in a hurry. No, no, no. There was no hurry for Donna. So we have that. Great. Donna's taking care of it. Donna's got the chairs. Right. And then we have Tom. Tom meets with a very sassy chef from Orlando. Played by Paul Vogt. Yes. I know Paul. Oh, no. Yes, I do. Yeah, he is great in that part. Yes. Very strong take on Tom and knows exactly why he's here.

And I don't think we even have a scene again until he comes up with a solution. That's right. That's how jam-packed the episode is, but also how you don't need to step that one out. Exactly. And then we have Ron on Pawnee today. Oh my gosh.

Whoever came up with the thought to put him. I know. That is so funny. So wrong and perfect at the same time. And then Joan Calamezzo. Oh, my God. Just an absolute wreck. Yeah. Joan Calamezzo played by Mo Collins, who has already done our podcast. I had lunch with her last week, just coincidentally, and we happened to be talking about a bunch of different things. And that episode came up. Oh. And she credits Dean Holland, who directed the episode, because she said it was so over the top.

Because he pretty much said to her, do what you want to do. And she said, she really credits the editing. Because she goes, otherwise you'd be like, this is too silly or too whatever. I was worried. She was worried too. She was planking. She was on the floor. She was drinking. With her feet. She dragged the thing with her feet.

Trying to pick up a juice box or whatever. Yes, with her feet. I think we got it both ways where she was just in the same position for the whole thing, but then she also was just going nuts. And it is...

like just a very effective comedic game just like popping back in and each time he takes a phone call she's in another insane and it is insane not just like she's flunked a different direction no she's playing yeah right yeah but the the the secret i think to that being so good is that the counterpart to that is ron who is so stable so stable he is the same every time we cut back ron is there

sitting the same way, and Joan is the one who's crazy. And she's saying, what is she saying? I have allergies? Well, that's the thing we talked about in the room. Do you remember this? Where I think it was Mike's take, maybe Dan, someone was talking about how whenever someone is hungover or whatever, they don't want to say that. They don't want to say they made something up. So she just says she's been on a week-long booze cruise, but she has allergies. It's like, I had shellfish, or I have allergies. We know what this is. We know what this is.

Ron taking these calls is so funny. I like what he says. Please call now if you have questions about tonight's gala or one of my other interests. Woodworking novels about tall ships meet today.

That sort of thing. You kind of see a twinkle in his eye that he likes this. He's having fun. He likes talking about the things he likes. He tells a caller how to fix wood scratches with a walnut. Gives advice on how to deal with the dog. We watched like an hour of YouTube clips of that being like a real thing. It was fascinating. I also love this one little bit where he says, your house isn't haunted, you're lonely. Yeah.

Just really, really good advice. That's really damning. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

Guys, before we push on with our synopsis, we should also just call out when Leslie finds out that the entire exercise is a sabotage tactic, how Jam just holds up a paper reading your move. Oh, he's such a dick. And then Leslie, it is with a heavy heart that I say this. We have been jammed. We have been jammed. Because she hates that saying so much. One of my favorite lines in the episode, maybe my whole time there, is you've been ghost jammed.

That's when they're all dead. And just the way he kind of jerks his head when he says ghost jammed. I had to rewind that. Even ghost jammed. Yeah. All right, let's move on with our synopsis. Realizing they've all been jammed...

Leslie decides to sacrifice the town in order to save the gala, instructing any remaining vaccines be flushed down the toilet and all infected birds be given CPR. You know, her plan works. And after announcing the city has been hit with a tornado quake, which reminded me recently of our hurricane in Los Angeles, Pawnee officially fails the disaster preparedness drill for the 13th time in a row, ending the lockdown just in time for the gala to begin.

Meanwhile, back at police headquarters, Andy's personality evaluation is not going well. Let's just pause and give Colton Dunn his flowers for...

So I'm going to kill these birds. Liz is like, no, no. One of the funniest deliveries. But I'm going to kill these birds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a plan. He's got a plan. Which is amazing because he works at animal control. Well, yes, he has two plans. He's like, I can use a gun or I can just drown them in a bathtub, which means he knows how to catch them. He's thought about this. Yes, yeah, it's so good.

Anytime him and then with Harris doing that animal control. So good. So we've talked about Andy's exam, but

But later, we have Chief Fugelberg revealing that he failed the personality exam. Now, we used to have a Chief Trumple, right, who had retired. And so we got Fugelberg. I came up with that name. Oh, that's a man. Yeah. My best friend in high school. That was his last name. Really? Yeah. Perfect. Do you do that when you write? Do you try to sneak in friends' names, last names? Yeah, usually I do it. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so Leslie realizes the only way out of the drill is to level the town. Pretty much, we have to get to game over. Right? So we can end this thing and I can go on with the other project I need. Which, you know, kills her because, you know, she wanted, like everything, she wants 100%. She wants this to be nailed. Yeah. But she also...

has to make the big decision. What is for the greater good? Right. It reminds me of the Model UN episode in the previous season in which she's so excited about something she knows she would be great at. Like any other day, this would be her favorite day of the year. Yes. Right. And it kills her, but her other selfish need, or in this case, her selfless need takes over the normal way that she as a character has to be.

And it's because this episode is so jam-packed that there was a whole sort of added layer to this storyline that she was still trying to ace this test while this is all going on. And we had to sort of just like remove that element because we just didn't have time, I think. But in the end, it's like you don't really need it because you know her personality.

She wants to... You get it. You don't need to emphasize that part of it. I think it might have been a different situation had they, for the past 12 years, got 100%. But she was like...

She wants to do it. She wants to nail it. But I think then when she gave it up, it was like, oh, 13 years. Okay, whatever. Next year. That's such a good point, Jim, that if Leslie had always run these and she has a perfect record, it's like she's about to be the best city in Pawnee, in Indiana. I have to fuck this one up. But it's oddly more satisfying for Pawnee that they're terrible at it. And they continue to be terrible at it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so they flush the vaccines down the toilet. She orders the officers to give CPR to the remaining infected birds. And then at the end, bummer. Well, thank you for your time. I think we're done here. I will see everyone at the gala and I will see you in hell to jam. And the way she said it and the way Amy delivered it, it was so like pure. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It was like action movie. Yeah. She really feels this way about it. And it's fun. Yeah.

It's very satisfying. Yep, I agree. In the next episode, he literally is, he's saying like, I hate parks. Parks are stupid. So it is like, he is a personification of her nightmare. And we've talked about it. There are very few characters in the series who don't get redeemed in some way. Like, Jam will wind up

feeling for him in the seventh season with storylines with Tammy and everything. And it was Manzoukas, Jason Manzoukas, who pointed out that Dennis Feinstein is pretty much one of the only characters who's just purely unredeemed. You never see the good side of him. But Jam, we will eventually. Jam, we do down the road. Right.

All right, well, let's wrap our episode up in our last synopsis. With the emergency drill over, Leslie emerges from the lockdown to realize her friends have pulled things off in her absence and the soiree is in full swing. Leslie makes a toast to the town and with mouse rap playing in the background, she and Ben have another idea. Perhaps they should turn the gala into an impromptu wedding. Which, you know, is so sweet.

That scene is really sweet. I loved how Adam delivered it. So excited. Right? Yes. Yeah. Endearing. You see Ben legitimately get excited for this idea. Yeah. And that

oh, I'm not... Sometimes people tease like, oh, we should drive to Vegas today. We should whatever, do something crazy. He's suggesting their wedding. And that idea goes from a silly thing to, I really want this. We should do this tonight. And he knows she wants the whole town there for her wedding. It's very sweet. It's kind of all perfect. These people are all there. They've gotten their money. They've raised their 50 grand for the park. So it really is the perfect night. Yeah. And

We took a problem and made it a joke, which was that we were discussing like, well, if it's a wedding, like, won't they be upset that their family isn't there? And so instead, we just made it like, that's perfect. You know, our parents aren't there. Great. That's a bonus. Well, especially his. Right. Right. Right. Ben's parents are...

Yes, exactly. We've met his parents and they're tough. Yeah, it's so lovely and it just gets you so excited for this next episode. Even the wide shot of the tent is purposeful. It's not just they succeeded, but we're setting the stage that this isn't a terrible idea. Especially because the soiree goes from such a disaster to such a beautiful, ridiculous

I have to say in Jerry's behalf, because I got to talk about this. So, you know, Jerry was told early on that there's this horrible thing that's happening. He just wants to protect his wife and his children. He runs off. He falls. He's gone. He farts. He farts. Yes, which I will be checking out soon. But then he's back in the mix. He's helping get things done. But

but he has not had time to put, he doesn't know what's even going on to put on a tux or anything. And this whole thing is wonderful. And they're all heading in. And Leslie says, thanks for dressing up, Jerry. Now that is the perfect kind of line that when the fans come up to me, we always felt so bad. Because really, what do you say? And Jerry just gives a look like, what?

He wants to explain, but there's nothing to explain. It is what it is. It's a perfect Jerry moment. It's also a fun picture. So Jerry says he made it all the way to Muncie. I don't know why, but I picture Jerry ran over there. Yes, I picture the same thing. And then ran back. Yeah. Yeah.

tripping and falling all the way. Yeah. God bless that big man. Well, we've come to the end of our episode, but not the end of our podcast because Jim has a great segment of Jim's crap. It's the stuff we didn't get to. I will tell you, we hit so much of the stuff. I love Leslie's talking head,

And she says the number one selling burger at Paunch Burger is the greasy lard bomb. Yeah. Well, right. The scene before that, she sort of dismissively says, no one wants your greasy lard bombs. And it cuts to her saying that is their best selling. That is their best selling. And just so you know, I would be thrilled to try a greasy lard bomb. Absolutely. I think that would sell very well at a

Yeah. And then finally, you know, great things have happened. Leslie wants to thank all of us for all your hard work this week. Give yourselves a hand and everybody applauds right away. But your applause are premature. We're all like, she's built us up. No, do not accept that. Yes. And Joe, that's some of the

crap that we didn't get to. That's good crap, Jim. Thank you for your crap. Yeah. My favorite segment, gifts, parties, and jobs. Yes, I was going to mention this. Yeah, perfect. Every episode of Parks generally has a gift given, a party thrown, or a new job. Or not a job. In this case, the gala. We have a party.

Leslie takes a new job as I guess it's it's it's her acting job as emergency czar and he fails the police exam a rare not job not job yeah and for gifts I'm gonna say that they're looking for gifts for their wedding right they're registering for gifts it's valid we got all three right

Final thoughts on our episode. I'll start with our awesome guest, Joe. I mean, I fondly look back at this episode as being sort of like my...

my initiation. I got to write this with Norm Hiscock. Shout out to Norm. And he really guided me through the process of writing an episode. We split the story lines up and we each wrote half the episode. And then we met at Nate and Al's diner with our computers and combined our script and then emailed it to you, I'm sure. And then, yeah, I remember being at the pit

104 degrees outside and Amy, you know, I'm just like munching on snacks and then Amy coming to Video Village being like, this joke's not working. I need a new one. And then being like, oh, that's your job. That's my job. I was like, I didn't really even think like, why am I here on set? And she's like, I need you to write a new joke right this moment. And then that, you know, trial by fire and then sort of understanding like what my role was. Did you do it? I did it. Yeah. And, uh,

I know we've said this before, but people listening, the writers of the episode were on set with us during the shoot. Yeah. And Norm, for whatever reason, he might have been in the bathroom or something, but I was by myself. And Amy was like, give me a new joke. And, you know, and and then yeah. And then personally, Jeremy Jam, John Glazer, he sort of gave me my first.

job in TV. I wrote for Delocated and so like having him there was kind of special. That's awesome. Yeah. That's amazing. So those are the things I look back on. I love stories like that. Yeah. Oh.

Well, for me, it was just another great episode. There's so much, so much going on in this episode. You could never go, well, I'm bored here. A little heartbreaking for Andy, but I know, you know, just because I know what happens down the road, it will all work out. Right. It is heartbreaking because there is no one sweeter or dumber. And...

You don't want someone like that to be hurt. But he's got April who's got his back at all times. So it'll be okay. Oh, and we just want to acknowledge a perfect April joke as well, which is for a good luck charm. She gives him a rabbit she found and chopped off all the feet. So it's a footless rabbit. You normally get a rabbit, but she gave him a footless rabbit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very creepy. And a cool skill she has, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

I guess taxidermy. Yes. Yeah, it's another great episode. But what I like about it is thinking about it in concert with the one that's about to come. So you have this one, which is a crazy Pawnee city storyline with these fun runners of people working hard towards something. And then the next episode is going to be this sweet,

family story in a way. Well, yeah, that's interesting. I didn't think about it that way because most episodes we always talked in the room about like they're needing to be a work story and an emotional story. Right. And this episode's almost all work story. Right, right. Until the very end and the whole next episode's all emotional. Yeah. Interesting, yeah. Yeah.

We also do MVP. Do you have an MVP for this episode? Who you think would be like the stand? It's like a character moment. There's so much going on in this episode. I think I already said my end. Colton Dunn. Colton Dunn, yeah. Just not understanding what he's being told. Seemingly about to go out into the real world and kill all the birds.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's my favorite. That's great. It is great. I mean, Joan, for our guest stars, Joan Calamezzo is so funny in this. Not saying much at all, but just the energy when she first starts. You know it's going to go crazy from there. But seeing Ron do those calls was so funny. Because it was Ron doing Ron, which is straightforward, blunt advice and blunt takes on things. But when he enjoyed it,

It was very satisfying. Yeah. Yeah. I loved, again, all of it. Joan and Colton and all that. But I have to call out, and she had very little in this episode, but when Donna does a hit and run. Yeah. That's what I call what Reda does. A hit and run. Just a one-liner. And you're like, that is hysterical. Her delivery. I have one chair. Yeah, one chair. And I have a lead on another. And just saunters off. Doesn't run. She's not in a panic.

So anyway, but it's hard, you know, again, because I know she wasn't in as much as others, but I love any time Red is on screen. I'm surprised you don't make yourself MVP each time. That's a funny bit you should do. I think we all know underneath that that's what's going on. Would you agree to that, Greg? Yeah, absolutely. Sure. Yeah. What?

Well, listeners, let us know who your MVP is by tweeting at Team Coco Podcasts or by using the hashtag, hashtag Parks and Recollection. Joe, thank you so much for joining us. This was amazing, Joe. I was excited coming in and it was as awesome as I wanted it to be. Oh, that's awesome. That's great.

Well, thank you, Joe. It's been a pleasure. Thank you all for listening. Text this episode to your group chat. Start group chats. If you don't have group chats, it's kind of fun. Five-star reviews, please, wherever you're listening. And from all of us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye from Punny. Bye-bye. Bye.

Parks and Recollection is produced by me, Lisa Berm, and engineered by Joanna Samuel. The podcast is executive produced by Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, and Nick Liao. Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kahn are our talent bookers, along with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Our theme song is by Mouse Rat, a.k.a. Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danek. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time

on Parks and Recollection. This has been a Team Coco production.

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