The Possum (S2E18)
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Welcome, everybody, to Parks and Recollection. Alan Yang is here. I am here.

Uh, that means we're going to do this. It's going to happen. And we have a particularly good, funny episode. They're all funny. They're all good. I don't want to make it sound like, well, listen, I'll be very clear about the ones that I think are like super deep, but they're all good. That's why we're doing this show in the first place. Wouldn't you say? It's a pleasure to watch. It's a pleasure to watch. We got the personnel here today, Rob. We're going to do the show. It's, it's, this is a fun one. What, uh, what do we got in the, in the barrel today?

The episode is called The Possum. Episode 18 of Season 2 first aired March 11th, 2010. Written by the legend Mike Scully, former Simpsons showrunner, one of the funniest human beings on Earth. Directed by Tristram Shapiro, the elegantly named Tristram Shapiro. Tristram Shapiro.

Tristram. Tristram Shapiro is a British man. He's a British director. And to me, the writer and director of this episode, their names sort of embody an American name and a British name, right? The American dude's name is Mike Scully. The British dude's name, Tristram Shapiro. Yeah.

And by the way, he might as well be named Benedict Cumberbatch. It's the most British name I've ever heard. His last name is spelled, by the way, S-H-A-P-E-E-R-O, not I-R-O. So it is a—I'm basking in Tristram's name. Every time I see it, it makes me laugh a little bit. It's a great name. It's a good name. Shall we get into the synopsis, Rob? Yeah, because I love—here's the thing. Is it opossum? Opossum?

Or possum, because in the show, when you're dealing with the possum, because you're about to read the title, that's why I'm just checking here. Yes. And I don't want you to be wrong. Yes. What the fuck? What the possum, oh possum? Can somebody just tell, what's going on with that? So, I have your answer. Okay. I have your answer. Both possum and oh possum correctly refer to the Virginia oh possum frequently seen in North America.

In common use, possum is the usual term. In technical or scientific context, opossum is preferred. Opossum can be pronounced with its first syllable either voiced or silent. That's very complicated. Wow. Wait, so you could actually say, that is, you know what, Merriam-Webster, that is so complicated. Read it again. It's really good. What is it?

Opossum can be pronounced with its first syllable, that's the O I guess, either voiced or silent. Now that makes no sense. How can you pronounce it silently? Now, it feels like Merriam-Webster is playing a joke on us because that doesn't make any sense. So, I have a different take here, by the way.

Possums... The opossum... I'm just laughing because this is totally different. The opossum is a mammal belonging to the family of marsupials located in North America. Possums, on the other hand, are marsupials of Australian origin. What? So this is a different take. The possums were given that name because of their close resemblance to the opossums of North America. Okay.

You know, I feel like now I feel like one of those people who's researching like a controversial topic on the Internet and just getting bombarded by misinformation. Yes. Now I'm being gaslit. Yes. So I'm looking at actually photos. If you look up at opossum, that's what you think about. Opossum, there's an Australian animal called the possum and looks totally different. But I do agree with Merriam-Webster in the sense that if you say possum, people think you're talking about opossums.

It's so I've now gotten so lost in the logic. I feel like we've both in the process of this conversation gotten dumber. Like, I feel like we now know less than we did before. And that is kind of what happens when you read too much Internet. So I feel I feel very confused. And so there we go. By the way, I was a biology major. I still don't know what the hell just happened. But yeah. Tell me what happened in the episode.

Let's go to the synopsis. All right. Buckle up, my synopsisters and brothers. Here we go. After the infamous possum Fairway Frank bites Mayor Gunderson's dog Rufus at a golf course. You got to love that intro to an episode. Mayoral Representative Evelyn, played by Judith Moreland, asks Leslie to form a task force to capture the animal. Task force? Task force? A task force. She's very excited about that. Leslie, Tom, and Andy, and two incompetent animal control workers, Harris and Brett. Yes.

played by Harris Whittles and Colton Dunn, go to the golf course and quickly find the animal. The animal control workers are useless and Tom immediately runs away, but Andy dives toward the animal and captures it. Evelyn is impressed with Leslie and promises her a special favor from the mayor's office. However, Leslie sees a second opossum and fears they have captured the wrong animal.

She later finds out that the mayor doesn't care about catching Fairway Frank, but rather about securing a trophy animal for his bathroom. Meanwhile, back at the department office, reporter Shauna Malway-Tweeb, Alison Becker, interviews Andy for the newspaper article. After he brags about the capture, the reporter suggests his heroics might win him back the affections of Anne. April overhears this and leaves upset. Evelyn demands delivery of Fairway Frank, and Leslie refuses.

She creates a ketchup blood diversion, that old thing, so that April can escape with the caged animal. Leslie and April take the opossum to Anne's home, where April has been paid $50 to house it. April lets the opossum out of its cage, and it causes havoc. While hiding from the animal, April reveals her feelings about Andy to Leslie for the first time. Andy, still oblivious...

Delivers coffee to April, as well as the day's newspaper containing a story which credits April for providing moral support to Andy. It is later revealed that Leslie has donated the opossum to the Pawnee Zoo. Meanwhile, we're not quite done. The B story. Ron plans a woodshop expansion in his home and seeks the approval of city planner Mark.

Mark informs Ron that his inspection is needed during the inspection. Mark finds numerous code violations and helps bring the wood shop up to city code. Ron thanks Mark at the end of the episode by building a wooden canoe and leaving it in his office. Wow. That is packed. That is packed. One of the longer synopses I've ever read. And that's, and that's a, hopefully the listeners are still with us. Um,

No, that's not an indictment of your reading of it. It's just a very long synopsis on a half an hour show. It's a long, it's a long sys. I call them syss now. It's a long, shortening synopsis so that we have time for the rest of the episode after that long sys. It was a long sys. The name Fairway Frank made me laugh. I don't know

Yeah. So it's, were there a lot of pitches for, I imagine those the kind of things where you guys pitch five billion different names. Yes. Yes. I mean, the alliteration is pleasant and it just makes you think of like a, it almost makes me think of a hot dog because it's not a hot dog, but it sounds like one. It's like,

A ballpark Frank. Yeah, but that's the kind of thing. It also fits the Venn diagram of a little bit funny and a little bit cute. It's a little bit adorable. It's kind of, that's the Parks and Rec target, right? It's like a little bit funny, a little bit cute. Yeah, a little bit adorable, all those things. It also sounds like something, if it has a name like that, that I'm not so sure. Yeah, I know it bit the mayor's dog, but like Fairway Frank is kind of a...

legend at that golf course, it feels like. I know. It's almost like they're hunting little Sebastian. Oh, no. Don't even say it. Don't even say it. I mean, that's brutal. But yeah, this Fairway Frank sounds like a mascot. It's like, have him around. But it's also like kind of in the tone of the show that there is this possum that has a name and they just like...

it's known. It's like that possum is a celebrity. Oh yeah, Fairway Frank. It's like they know it. That's very bizarre. I can't imagine that's the case in very many real towns, but yeah, it works for this show. There's so many funny things in this episode. I mean, you know, Aziz and his golf outfits.

It's pretty dope. Classic. The fact that Aziz has no idea, clearly no idea how to play golf or putt. There's a scene where he's putting and he's like, his body's contorted into putting positions that no human has ever seen before. He really truly doesn't know how to play. I don't think he's played golf in his life. So he's just in it for the outfits. He's just in it for the outfits. By the way, that's as good a reason as any.

I mean... There's also some great guest appearances in this one. Obviously, Harrison Brett from Animal Control. Also, their boss...

uh, played by Paul Rachi. I believe his name is nominated for an Oscar for sound of metal. So there's an Oscar nominee in this episode. It's one of my favorite things of all time. He, which is what, you know, not to get too highfalutin or model or whatever, but like, what's great. We, as you know, I, I have a complicated relationship with, with the business. If you've listened to my podcast or read my books or spend any time, you know, like I love to knock the shit out of it. Cause there's a lot that deserves it. But on the other side of it,

You've got this kind of amazing story. And here's an actor who's been around forever. He's got two lines in a Parks and Rec episode. And within a few years, he's going to be nominated for an Academy Award.

And that's the kind of stuff that really is great about our business, truly. It gives you goosebumps because think about how long he's been acting. You know, he's just been kicking around, going to auditions. It's a grind. It is a grind to be that kind of actor who was like, maybe you're not the leads of shows or movies. Maybe you're not even a series regular on a show.

And you're just going to these auditions every day of your life, every day of your life. And then you get, and then, you know, later on in your life that, like you said, you're nominated for an Oscar and you, you know, roles are probably starting to come your way and it can happen at any time. It's really wild. It's like life is long. Life is long in that sense. I always say don't, don't, don't become an actor unless you can help yourself. Like of the Screen Actors Guild, 97% of the members cannot support themselves.

97% of the members.

Because look, from my side of it as a writer, yes, you experience a lot of rejection, right? Especially early on in your career. For an actor, it's a whole other level because they're rejecting you. You are driving around town. Honestly, you are driving around town. It's your face. It's your voice. It's your body. It's everything. And they experience that rejection constantly, like constantly until you're literally like a movie star and you're getting straight offers. Yeah.

to bring it back to Paul Rachi, yeah, he has two lines in this episode, you know? And it's like, you just never know. You just, it's, and, but by the way, roles like this sustain you and residual sustain you too, right? Every time this episode airs, Paul Rachi gets a little bit of money, you know? He'd pay a little rent. And if you haven't seen him in The Sound of Metal, it,

It's by far my favorite performance of the year. Like, not even close. Not even close. He's phenomenal. His scenes with Riz, and I know Riz a little bit, Riz Ahmed, who was also nominated for an Oscar in that movie, is phenomenal.

the scenes with him and Riz are unbelievable. They're so good. Um, so kudos to Paul. Congratulations. And, and, and, uh, glad to have you as part of our Parks and Rec family. Very proud. Very proud to claim him. You know, this was a somewhat difficult one to break in the room. It's, it's, it's, it's,

kind of tangentially about the death penalty, right? That's like weirdly, like it's a very strange, like, you know, it's not a very serious show in general, Parks and Rec. You know, it's not, we don't take on super, super weighty issues generally, but I think the origin of this one was kind of like

She's not sure whether she should, you know, send this animal to its death, basically, which is kind of, you know, it's a dark topic, but, you know, we kind of just made it a wacky episode instead. So, you know, it was one of the ideas early on in the show was can we take these kind of, you know, more serious political issues and do our sort of silly version of it? And I think this is one of the episodes that resulted from those conversations. And, of course, the animal control. I mean, you know, there's DJ Roomba.

Animal control. We're talking about my favorite things on the show. Those two, why are they... And they don't say a ton in this episode. And they don't do a ton. Why are they so funny together? What is that? It's that thing of...

You know, it's hard to top just... In terms of comedy, it's always hard to top. These two guys are clowns. They're just silly and they're just, you know, they're idiots. I mean, Harris saying, stop hanging yourself is so funny. And it's like, this is...

And by the way, I think we lucked out a little bit because I believe we at some point cast Harris earlier in the show as a pizza delivery boy. And he literally had a hat that said pizza on it. And then his scene got cut. So he didn't appear in that episode. And so he was able to be this character, which obviously became a recurring character. And so...

That was kind of a blessing in disguise. And these characters would keep coming back. And again, Harris, one of the most important writers on the show and, you know, sadly passed away a few years ago. But, you know, it just... So every time I see him, you know, in the show, it makes me smile. And of course, he's so funny. And Colton Dunn, who was one of the... Yes. I... After...

My time on this, I was developing a show, a comedy for NBC, and I immediately stole him. And he was in it with me. And then he went from that to Superstore. Superstore. Many, many, many seasons on Superstore. And Colton Dunn is, yeah, he's made it. He's one of those people you keep grinding. You know, he was over at UCB grinding, working in comedy. And then now he's here. He's regular on shows. So Harrison Brett, Animal Control.

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Andy with the opossum. Yes, the North American Virginia opossum. Yeah, crawling all... I wrote the same thing. It's crawling all over him. It's insane. It's... You...

He's not squeamish about it. I mean, look, we chose the right actor to do that. Like, there's some other actors in the show who would have been game to touch it, but it is crawling all over him. All over him. And you know that it's on my neck! And that's just him saying, you know, that's him doing what's happening. Yes. I mean, I don't think I'd want that crawling on me. It's...

It's a... It's... You ever had an opossum like in your garage or anything? Oh, yeah. And had to like scare it away? Yeah. Oh, when I... They're weird looking. They're weird looking. They got those like white faces. It's like... They have those like ghostly white faces. Yeah. Particularly when you see them at night because you just see that white face. Yes. Your car headlights or something illuminate their faces and it's like... It's like a...

They're kind of cute in some ways, but also kind of repulsive. It's kind of both, right? So the duality of possums, right? But, yeah, you got to get a broom, get them out of your garage. Yeah. And just the cutting to him. Anytime you cut to a silly animal in parks, it has always been when she goes, there he is. And you rip pan. It makes me laugh. Yeah. We do that with raccoons earlier, right? It's like, I mean...

It always makes me laugh to have animals in shows, and it's... You know, they're very unpredictable, right? It's like the... I mean, we had possums on. We obviously had dogs on at some point, and then we had raccoons on. And... Because it's... Something funny to me about the animal wrangler who comes with the animal, and it's like they...

sometimes it seems like they're not trained in any way. If you're dealt with animal wranglers, you're just like, hey, can the animal do this thing? And they're like, yeah, he can do it. And then you just, he can't do it at all. Like, you're like, are you just lying? Because he clearly can't do it. That always made me laugh. And I did a movie called Behind the Candelabra and Matt Damon's character was, wanted to get into Hollywood. And so he was an animal trainer at the beginning of it.

And Matt Damon is the animal trainer in the beginning of Behind the Cantaloupe. It tells you everything you need to know about animal training. It's so good, man. That was a Soderbergh film, right? Yeah. I just want to add this, that Joanna brilliantly has given me a piece of information on the opossum that I definitely need to share. Because it might be the grossest thing ever.

that I've heard in a long time. Newborn opossums are about the size of a grain of rice.

That's got to be the grossest thing ever. Can you imagine them like mealing around like 10 of them? It's troubling. Oh, my God. It also says they gestate more quickly than any other animal. The opossum gives birth to 16 to 20 babies only 12 to 13 days after mating. Oh, the whole thing. Now, it feels like the opossum is part baby.

marsupial part insect the way it's being spoken about here. It's like 12 days after mating? A grain of rice? You're giving birth? Now, I kind of wish I hadn't learned that information, Joanna. I told you. That is very troubling.

Normally not squeamish, but that is bad. That is bad. It is what it is. It's very funny that we use Nick's real woodshop in this one. So that is the woodshop. Nick Offerman has a woodshop. Yes, that is his woodshop. And we visited that workshop early on in the run of the show, and we decided to, you know, Mike decided to make him into woodworking, the character. So...

We ended up shooting here for this episode, and that's kind of cool. I remember in later episodes, Chris Traeger shows up at the wood shop, and I was blown away that this was Nick's real place. It's like, well, now it's a total business. He has whatever Offerman Woodworking, and he has employees, and it's a little factory. It's a real, real deal thing.

Yeah, he is the real deal too. He can do, and I don't know if you ever got into this, but at a certain point, he was making little things for people in the cast and they would request, you know, like a table from him. And then he got so backed up. He's like, it's going to be, he's like, I'm sorry, it's going to take several years. He just, so many things in the pipeline. He's like, I'd love to make you a table, but it's going to take, so yeah, he made, he made a couple of tables or little, little stools and stuff for friends and cast members.

When Chris's time on the show was over, Nick made me this gorgeous wooden box, big box that housed all of the other wrap gifts that I was given. And it's got a plaque on it with everybody's names, characters' names. And then I think right at the end was at the time we realized that Jerry's name was Gary and not Jerry. Yeah.

In fact, I think the box might be in the show. I think it is in the show. When we get to it, we'll find out if that's the box that I ended up getting to keep. But Nick made it, and it's gorgeous. There's something so satisfying about being able to make something with your hands. He's like, I made this. And it's like, if that's your hobby, it's just like, oh, wow, you made this thing, and you can give a physical object to people. If your talent is something...

more ethereal it's like it's like i wrote this script for you it's like this is nothing somehow not as satisfying it's like it's an fdx file it's a final draft file you can open it up on your computer i remember um one of my reoccurring nightmares is i remember woodshop as a kid in malibu park junior high mr pool's woodshop and i

I can't make anything with my hands. I mean, nothing. And, and, but I'm imaginative and I'm a creator. So I had in my mind what I wanted to make vividly, but no way to do it.

And I remember how frustrating it was. And it was like depressing and aggravating. And I had to figure out a way to maneuver my way through that class, knowing full well, I was never going to be able to deliver a final project. It wasn't even an issue. That's very frustrating. Are you, are you handy around the house? Do you fix things around the house? Hell no.

I love that answer, man. I love that answer. I find a small pride. I wouldn't say I'm handy necessarily. Yard work. Watering the lawn, mowing the lawn, doing some gardening. That I do enjoy and I feel like that pride of work doing it. But I'm not changing light bulbs even.

My house is really dark because all the light bulbs have not been changed. It's like, hope this one lasts a long time because I ain't changing it. That's right. No, I find certainly during pandemic times also, like I was buying some stuff and just kind of enjoyed putting them together. And it wasn't a huge project. It was like, I bought a weight bench and I put together a weight bench. Oh, no, no. And then I bought some like heaters for outside. No, wing nuts and fucking bolts and like the A thing goes into the B thing. Oh.

I kind of like it. I kind of like it. My girlfriend came home and I was like, you know, she was like, you just like building this thing. I was like, kind of. I mean, I don't do it all the time, but it's kind of fun. I have, you know, I'm a big believer in therapy. I've been in therapy forever. And I, along with my therapist, we've, I think, coined a phrase. I have what is called an IKEA complex.

Okay. And that is, it's, it's a fear of not knowing how to do something. Like, cause for me, I keep, when I pass and I like, that's a living hell for me and Ikea, like, you know, having to put together like my son's bookshelves at his dorm at college. Like that's honestly for me, that is just an abject impossibility.

And something that gives me, just even talking about it gives me agita.

that, that's so, I, I think I have something of an Ikea complex too. I was talking to my therapist, Rob, and, and, and, and, you know, I think we have something in common, which is that I know this sounds kind of obvious, but I, I really like things I'm good at. I think growing up, it was like, I was good at, right. I was, I was a good student. I was pretty good at sports and like, you know, like I played music and I was like, Oh, I, I excelled at stuff. And that's, you know, not to get too therapeutic with our speak, but like with our talk, but, uh,

You know, you got love from that, right? It's like you achieve and you get some love and then later in life, you know, you don't ever want to be afraid to try things that you're not necessarily good at. You know, like I think that's something that maybe both of us can work on, you know? And, you know, you double down on the things you are good at because nobody is good at everything. Exactly. Yes. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Well, that was there. I feel like we just went through a little bit of therapy. That's so much better. That said, I'm still not going to Ikea and buying a bunch of shit I got to assemble. That's not happening. Yeah, you can get a task rabbit to do it. You get a task rabbit or a task possum. That's right. What is the character's name that works for the mayor? Evelyn. Really believable. Super believable. Judith Moreland. But yeah, and it was like, obviously, we didn't want to see the mayor for a long time. So she's just kind of playing his emissary.

But yeah, I thought Judith did a great job. Yeah, she was great. I totally believe it. And then who is it that screams at the end, you're going to fry! Is it her? It's her! Yeah, I think so. It's her!

Oh, man. Did you notice also that Anne is not really in this one until like the last two seconds? I don't think she's in the episode until the very end. I know. That was interesting, too. She's probably doing, listen, everybody on the cast had side hustles going 24-7. Yes.

And, you know, wouldn't be surprised me if she was in the cutting room on Jesse and Celeste. What was the name of that amazing movie? Yeah, I remember. Yeah, I heard Celeste and Jesse. That was her and Andy Samberg. By the way, that movie is fucking brilliant. That movie is so good. Yeah.

So good. Yeah, it was great. And I think she wrote that movie, didn't she? She wrote it and started it. She wrote it with Will? Yeah, yeah. She's a very talented writer. In addition to being a talented actress and she can sing, what can't she do, you know? What can't she do? Everybody on the show is like that, though. Really, truly. I know. Well, that's what you're saying, this side hustle thing. Well, again, I don't know if we've talked about it on the show before, but if you look at the cast of this show...

And everybody went on to do pretty amazing things. It's like, you look back, it's like, oh my God, all these people went on to star in stuff. Good guy with two lines won the Academy Award. What more do we need to say? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or was nominated. It's a charmed cast. And same with the writing staff. A lot of the writers went on to create shows and write movies and stuff. So, you know, it's...

You know, you go back in time and you couldn't, you know, you couldn't assemble this cast today. It would be too expensive. It would be too expensive. Not only would it be too expensive, everybody is so busy that you just literally could not do it. I mean, it's amazing that we were able to put people back together for the little retrospective thing we did for COVID. Yeah.

That reunion thing was really fun. And remember the thing we did at the Paley Center thing? Oh, yeah. You were at that, right? That was really fun, too. It was kind of a reunion like 10 years or, I don't know, five, six years after the show ended. But we did a little panel thing at a Paley Festival. It was at the Kodak Theater, I think. And it was crazy. It was like sold out, like thousands of people. And then we had a party afterwards. That was really fun.

Just for one second, I think we should talk about Mike Scully. We've talked, we've referred to him a bunch in the past, but anybody who's, who's watched the Simpsons sees his name on every single episode. And I've actually worked with Scully on other shows as well. He's, he's such a comedic genius that he has a career where he will just come in and

you know, on one day a week on a show and just pitch jokes. And they are always so killer. I think he's got it. Don't you think he's probably the single best like joke guy around?

I don't disagree with that. He is one of the funniest people who has ever lived. He's so funny and also one of my favorite people. Just like the nicest guy. And I loved having him in the room. He just has this warm energy. And he was always like, in terms of career-wise, such an idol because...

you know, comedy writing is, is, is, is tough. It's even tougher as you kind of get older. Right. Cause it's like, as you get older, you're like, Oh my, it's a, it's in some ways a young person's profession. Like I look at my writing staff now, um,

And it's kids in their 20s and 30s, right? That is like, that's generally the demographic. And Scully has been around and he was, you know, an older guy in the room, but no one faster, no one funnier. He would come in the morning, pop open a Diet Red Bull and just start pitching jokes. And it's like this guy, you know, he, I don't know, I can't say enough good things about him. I really felt like I made it

I made it in the world when I was helping to run the room and I would be typing at the computer. And Mike Scully was pitching jokes to me. And I was like, oh, man, like, I have so much respect for this guy. And this is like, I just couldn't say enough good things about him. It's funny. You touched on something that I, why is it that comedy is, and it's true, it's a young man's game. And

There's some... Like, what is that about? I mean, and then why is it that there are guys, unlike Mike Scully, and it's another thing that makes him so special, that guy has not lost one mile per hour off of his fastball. Not one. It's... I think some people are unicorns, and I think it's like Tom Brady playing football at 44, LeBron playing at 37. It's like...

If you're really, really, really good to start with, then you can sort of get through. But I think for me, comedy is tricky because it very much has to do with the climate of the country in some ways and sort of like being in touch with...

what society is like. I know those sound like really, really grand proclamations. No, it doesn't. It's, this is making perfect sense because we get more out of touch. The older we get, we just do, we have to fight to remain. You do. And, and, and stay, stay clued in. And you think about, you know, we've talked before about how, you know, comedy, it age, it's tough for it to age. You know, it's like a comedy from the nineties, the eighties, the seventies, the sixties, you know,

it's kind of more of its era. You can watch a drama from a long time ago and those themes are often the same. Comedy is a little bit more specific to a time and a place and a society. And so I think when all of those things are factored in, it's tough to keep your fastball, like you were saying. But Scully is the rare exception. And he was so good in the room that we had jokes that we termed Scully jokes, where it was like the most efficient, the most sort of...

concise, the most like very quick turns, very sort of surprising ending of a sentence. Like, like he was able to, that's just the way his brain works. And he's also an example of, you know, one more thing about him, you know, he didn't have family connections or, you know, he didn't know anyone in the business. He, he was, he told us the story. He was a custodian at like a community college, I believe in, in, in the Boston area. And he just moved out to LA, started, uh,

doing stand-up and writing jokes for Yakov Smirnoff and became a writer and became like one of the most important writers of The Simpsons, which is arguably the greatest comedy or show of the last 50 years, right? And so you can come... That's another... By the way, another showbiz story. We're talking about Paul Rauchy. Think about Mike Scully. You know, you move out to Hollywood, you have nothing, you're writing jokes on the back of a napkin, and then, you know, 20 years later, you're running The Simpsons. So that's pretty cool. Yeah.

It's pretty cool. I mean, there's nothing more to add after that. I think on that note, we go to the town hall.

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While you still can. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. At participating McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last. Do you want to go to the town hall? I think you do. All right, it's time for a Parks and Rec town hall, but this is very exciting. We're actually going to hear one. This isn't just going to be reading an email, I'm told, by our crack staff, so...

We're going to actually hear from a listener. So let's do it. A very special town hall. And since it's an audio town hall, maybe we'll do it from the radio studio where Crazy Iron and the Douche occupy their radio show. So we're doing it from their studio. And let's hear the clip. Hey,

Rob Allen and the Parks and Rec family. This is Rachel from California, and I am literally your biggest fan. I've always wanted to know who in the cast was the most prepared and who would mess up their lines the most. Thank you. What a great question, because I actually I can tell you, I got I got your answers. Amy Poehler was raising two kids, producing the show.

you know, very much involved in the writing, sometimes directing, and sometimes she actually was writing, and she's basically in every scene and had been doing years and years of the show. So a lot of times Amy would literally be on set and kind of looking at it for the first time. So you'd often get, you'd often get two or three takes where it's clear Amy is working her way into being comfortable, right?

Aziz, now everybody stares at their phones, right? But if you look at, if you look at

parks and rec phones they're dated there's like literally the ones with the pearls pearl ball that rolls around so this is pre it's hard to imagine everybody having an iphone and staring at it every five seconds which now everybody does but in those days aziz was the trailblazer and he was always on his phone he'd be on his phone during takes when he wasn't talking it's in character and and

And there were times when I would, particularly when I first arrived and didn't really know Aziz's deal. I was like, does he know we're shooting? He knows we're doing a take, right? He was so addicted to his phone that he knew it was a problem. So he was trying to quit using the phone so much. At one point...

I believe he went to a hypnotist to try to get him to stop using his phone. And then at some point he's so, this is really wild. He bought a cookie jar. It's a special kind of cookie jar that you can lock and put a timer on so that you don't eat cookies. But instead of cookies, he put his phone in it so that he couldn't use it for a certain length of time. Now he has essentially a burner phone. So he doesn't carry around a smartphone a lot of the time. He uses a brick phone that doesn't connect to the internet. And,

And it has like, you can just make calls or something and you can't browse the internet. And he doesn't have email anymore. So he's really like trying to quit all that stuff, which is really, I mean, he realizes it was a problem. He realized it was a problem for sure. That's so funny. I had no idea. But yeah, it was. And then you had actors who...

We're as prepared as they were ever going to be and by choice didn't want to be that prepared. And that would be Pratt. Yes, that sounds very accurate. Right. And then I would say I fall under the prepared category along with Nick. Super duper prepared. Maybe it's because we're both Midwestern people.

pleasures to have in class boys. He actually is from Indiana. Dutiful, dutiful teacher's pets. But no, I was definitely, yeah, Nick always comes from theater, just...

really had his lines down to the word, you know? Yeah. And then, and then I think the rest of the cast falls somewhere, somewhere in, in the middle, but no one ever had quote unquote trouble with their lines. Cause to me, what that means is somebody who literally can't or won't get the lines right. And they're out there. Those people are for sure out there and not, but not on this show.

Our cast was pretty good about that. And it's, you know, it's not an easy show necessarily. There's, you know, but it certainly, it felt easy when everyone was prepared, which they generally were, you know. It was always like, you know, it was just a smooth shoot almost always. And that was a joy. Yeah, I've been on shows where

Ensembles where you go, it's a little bit like hot potato sometimes where, you know, particularly if the pace is like on a Parks and Rec, it's funny, it's comedy, it's got to be faster. West Wing, it's Aaron Sorkin, the faster, the better. And you're you throw the potato, the potato, the potato. And then, you know, it's about to get to somebody and, you know, they're going to drop it. You just know it.

And then even when they don't drop it, the fact that you're thinking they are going to drop it fucks you up. It's just a nightmare when you have one person who can't toss the hot potato.

It is agony. I've been on sets where it's 10, 12 takes and they just can't get it right. And you're like, oh man, this is, and I feel bad for all the other actors. I feel bad for the crew. And the other corollary to that, which didn't happen that much in our show, is people who can't stop breaking. So they're just laughing and it's just like, they're just busting takes left and right. You're like, oh my God, we're 12 takes and you have got to stop laughing. You have got to stop laughing.

Really good question. Thank you so much. I love the voicemail idea. Let's do more of them. Send in your voicemails. Yeah, let's bring it. Thank you all for listening. This was a particularly good one. I had a great time, as always, and a lot of that is because of my partner, Alan Yang. Thank you, Alan. You're a genius, as always. Thank you, Rolo. Pleasure to do the pod with you. And thank you, Producer Schulte. Thank you, Joanna. And bye from Punny.

Parks and Recollection is produced by Greg Levine and me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Alan Yang for Alan Yang Productions, Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn are our talent bookers. The theme song is by Mouse Ratt.

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.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply. Grimace box. Hello Kitty keychains. Teeny beanies. For a limited time, your favorite McDonald's collectibles filled with memories and magic are now on collectible cups. Get one of six when you order a collector's meal at McDonald's with your choice of 10-piece McNuggets or a Big Mac. Come get your cup now.

While you still can. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. At participating McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last.