Flu Season (S3E2)
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Parks and Recollection. Come on, podcast, spread your wings and fly. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Parks and Recollection. One of my favorite episodes. If I had to pick one.

If I had to pick one, it's this one. This might be the one. It's got to be the one. This might be the one that goes in the time capsule. I know the next episode is called Time Capsule, but this might be the one that goes in Time Capsule. It's possibly the best episode. We'll see. I know that when we had to pick a show to show it to the Television Academy...

i.e. the Emmy people, this was the one that was picked. And it is none other than an episode called Flu Season that was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Wendy Stanzler. The original air date was season three, episode two, January 27th, 2011. And of course, this is the episode where Leslie gets the flu right before an important fundraising pitch at the Harvest Festival and Christmastime.

chris tries frantically to avoid catching the bug and ron hires andy to replace april while she is out this is before covid what would what what would what would this episode have been like if covid had been in our vernacular do you think it's a trip watching it man it's all of this shit that happens this episode is triggering triggering thank god that we're doing a little bit better now people are vaccinated all that stuff but watching this god if i if i had to watch this like

March 2020, I would have maybe killed myself. Because it's all people. It's my symptoms, my symptoms, my cough, my cold. Like, I got a fever. You're wearing an N95 mask at a certain point. It's like, oh my God. Like, we didn't know, man. This was 10 years before. But yeah, it's very...

It's very triggering. It's a great producer. Greg just texted. It's the comedy version of Contagion. Did you watch Contagion after after COVID started? Because I did. I don't know why I did that, but it's it's it's very prescient. I had I had Steven Soderbergh on my other podcast, literally, by the way, if you haven't listened to it, check it out. We have fun people on. But I had I had Soderbergh on it and we talked about Contagion and how that.

They predicted it. They literally, it turns out Gwyneth Paltrow is patient zero. Who knew? Yes, it's chilling. Gwyneth was in the wet market in Wuhan, apparently. That's right. It's just eating pangolins and bats. Pangolins. By the way, pangolin is my favorite word, favorite name for it. It's, it's,

Pangolin's got a lot more love after COVID Not a lot more love People knew what the fuck they were after COVID happened Alright so Let's do some notes quickly For this wonderful wonderful episode This episode features the first appearance of JJ Of JJ's Diner

with Brent Briscoe playing the eponymous Pancake and Waffle Wiz. Brent Briscoe, the late, great Brent Briscoe, also from Toon Peaks, a lovely actor. And like you said, this episode was Poehler's Emmy submission for her eventual nomination from the Emmys. And during the Emmys that year, a clip from this episode played.

So it got some love. Got some love. Yeah. All right. Let's jump into the synopsis here. Flu season has hit Pawnee hard, leaving nurse Anne caring for April along with many other sick citizens at the hospital who constantly mistreats Anne in retaliation for kissing Andy. Leslie also has the flu but refuses to admit it and attempts to continue working on an important presentation to the Pawnee Chamber of Commerce about the planned harvest festival.

This is a hot one. This is a hot one. It's one of the best episodes of the whole series. There's just so many memorable moments. It just feels like everything's firing on all cylinders and you bounce around and it's just great pairings. And there's great improvs in this one, including network connectivity problems. I'm Leslie Monster. This is Nightline. You had me at Meat Tornado. Stop pooping. We'll get to stop pooping. But I also want to shout out, there's a great Ron talking head near the beginning who

where he says, I once worked with a guy for three years and never learned his name. Best friend I ever had. We still never talk sometimes. It's just, it's one of the, it's amazing. And then I know, I know who wrote this one and it was Harris Whittles. So I still, I remember who wrote that one. And it's just, it's a masterclass in writing and also writing on character because that's who Ron is. You know, it's super, super funny. It's, yeah, this is one where

Every minute of this episode, not only is just working on every level, but as you allude to are some are classics that are, you know, memes and gifs to this day per capita. Most of them come from this episode flu season. Yeah, it's it. And again, it's.

pandemic wise, I actually watching it was like, I was, it was a little bit less chilling than I thought. I was a little bit, but, but you know, they're, they're isolating from, from Leslie and like, there's, there's, there's some, but you know, ultimately like it's still fun to watch guys. You can still watch it. It's not gonna, it's not gonna trigger you too much. It'll be all right. This is one of those, uh, we talked about this earlier in a different episode about how,

You guys had to build a hospital set for Ann Perkins. Yeah, that's a set. That's a set. We're not yet. That's a hospital set, very expensive set built to service Ann at work. Nobody really cares. It's called Parks and Recreation, not...

And at the ER. And you guys have to build this set for it. And I remember because I had to do this scene where I come in and meet her. And I thought, wow, they really went all to town on this thing. Did you guys think... I'd ask you, Alan, was there a world in which you were like, you know, half of it's going to be in the hospital? Was that ever a thought? I mean...

I think you're like, we don't know. Like, how much is it going to be? Like, this episode did take advantage of it, but I think there's a combination of two things. I think people don't know this, but it's difficult to shoot in hospitals. Like, they don't typically love for you to do that as opposed to some other places. Like, it turned out, like, the City Hall Courtyard we were able to shoot in, but an actual hospital is difficult to shoot in. But you're right, it's

It's also expensive to build a hospital set. We built the whole, it's crazy. We built the hospital. How often were we going to the hospital after this episode, which is about people going to the hospital? It's like, I don't think it got used that much. I think the set came down pretty quickly and we replaced it with like the city council chambers or whatever. But in what was already a sprawling set, the Parks and Rec set is massive. It was massive.

And we would add on to it every year. Every season, we'd add more stuff. This season, I guess we decided to build a hospital. I just don't know how useful that would be. Go ahead, Greg. Well, do you remember? I think one of the things was we had two sound stages at this point, right? And so one stage was the whole city hall, which was sprawling. But at some point, we filled it up.

And so this sound stage had so much space. So I think you had the ability to build a little more. I want to throw in just one factoid I think that is interesting, just my own personal professional experience. My first job was as a production assistant at John Wells Productions.

that did the West Wing and ER. And one of the things was as a major fan of both shows is I would give tours of both sets to like VIPs that would come in. And I started them at the West Wing set and it was like, oh, here's the Oval Office and the briefing room and the Roosevelt room and all the fun stuff, right? And then they were like taking pictures and having a blast. And then we go to the ER set. And after about a few minutes, you start to realize people are like, oh, so it's

It's just the hospital. You know, and I'm like, yeah, you know, those bloodstains are there as part of the set deck so that people think it actually have like it's not a gleaming, perfect hospital. And I started flipping then the order of the tour. So like we're going to start at the ER. So it feels like a hospital, but you're going to end up at the Oval Office. Yes, it's it's a little bit more special. And it's having shot in all of them. It's you know, you're affected by your work environment, even if it's a fake work environment.

And, you know, the ER set was depressing and you're like, and conversely to walk it, particularly when they would light the Oval Office in sort of that magic hour sunset light and you'd walk into that Oval Office, the hair would stand up in the back of your neck.

No matter how many times you walk in there. You feel great. It's totally true. And you, you know, this show I'm working on right now is about a billionaire. So it's a lot, it's mansions and private jets and yachts. And then we did, it's nice. It's frankly, it's like, it's nice to be in those sets. And then, you know, recently we shot in essentially a police station slash jail set. And the holding for the actors was a jail cell set.

So I went to go talk to Maya Rudolph and Netflix, and they're in a jail cell. It's like, oh, this is not as nice. This is not as nice for the actors. But that aside, in this episode, I believe we built this hospital set on the same stage as Anne's house. So she had that sort of stage. And we can talk a little bit about Anne dating Chris. In her previous relationships, Anne was a little bit more in control.

because of Andy's immaturity and Mark not having had serious relationships. Now we got to have Anne play a little bit more awkward and nerdy and, and, and, and sure would say like, you know, this is the first time she's losing herself and falling for a guy super hard. And that gave her more things to play. What was it like for you with Rashida? Did you know her beforehand or, and, and, and what, what was that like? So I knew Rashida and her sister, Kadada, uh,

Um, it's, it's kind of complex, but I, I was dating a long time girlfriend named Melissa Gilbert was in the little house in the Prairie. Her little sister, Sarah Gilbert of the view fame and Roseanne and the Connors fame. That's was, I went to school with Rashida and Kadada.

So I remember them as like, like, like my girlfriend's little sister's friends. And then fast forward to all these years. And now I'm on parks with, uh, with Rashida. And, um, so we kind of had a shorthand. Um, and I was, I was just so lucky to have her as, as my romantic interest. Cause she's, there's no, no one's smarter. Well, that's not true. This show is full of people like that. Honestly. I mean,

Every single person on this show was a joy. And like, you couldn't wait to talk to them. They're all super. I find most actors not interesting. If you're acclaimed and established, you're going to be interesting because you have that to talk about. So there's always that fallback. Tell me about making the revenant. So you always have that. Yeah. In spite of the fact that you might be adult, but the, the,

But by and large, most I just don't find most actors that interesting. This cast, every single person's fascinating, smart and a joy. Like if you pulled up your chair in the holding room in the jail cell, if you're with Rashida or Nick or Amy or Adam or Retta or didn't matter, everybody was super, super cool. But that said.

Having Rashida as my, the person I did my most work with was, was amazing because she always made me laugh. She always, she was very much like Adam in that they, their dryness, like Adam's good Lord made me laugh every single time. And Rashida had, what was her move? Cause I think I say in flu season, I say, I vomited somewhere in this room. Oh wait, I think it might be in that drawer.

And she was like, oh my God, or something. She just made me laugh.

Yeah. And, and she's like, you know, Rashida is awesome. She's just so chill. Like you said, she's really smart. Obviously she, she actually went to school with Mike Shore and Dan Gore. She went to Harvard with them and she was around there their year. So they knew they had an existing relationship with her, but that's one of her strengths as an actor is, is, is just, just a full understanding of the story, the scene, the character, all that. So obviously she's a writer as well. You know, she's written a bunch of movies and produces a bunch of stuff. So,

You're totally right in the sense that you treat every actor sort of specifically to who they are. And with her, it's like, yeah, there's no sort of – you don't have to –

talk down to anyone or explaining it's just like it's it's just like a total understanding of everything and also just like a really relaxed person that i felt like anyway and and i've gotten to know her a lot better outside of the set and and we became friends so it's kind of uh yeah it was it's it's always nice when it's like that man it's not like that on every show we know that it's like sure we can rave about all these people we're not making that up like it is it was a joy and so um yeah that's kind of cool it's

It's interesting that you knew her before. And you guys, you know, it's like you guys are in that kind of world. It's like she, you know, obviously she's been around...

celebrities or whatever her whole life and yet she's super normal I don't know how they pull that off but good parenting good genes I guess super super super normal one of the most like grounded people you're ever gonna meet Rashida for sure no bullshit there's some of that's in the character right like you said it's like a straight man she can be funny without with with playing it real

All right. With Leslie's symptoms worsening by the second, Ben takes Leslie to the hospital where she's admitted with a dangerously high fever and dehydration. Much to the chagrin of Leslie, Ben and Tom decide to do the presentation themselves. But Tom immediately abandons Ben to hang out with a group of older men at the spa. Okay.

we can go on and on. I also, it was, it was cool for me to see the scene with Aziz and Adam because it's like, God, they were just, they were just kind of meeting, you know, it's like I was meeting you, you know, Aziz was meeting Adam, like, and they're like really good friends now. Like, I was just thinking, like, I've been seeing ads for Severance, this new show that Adam's doing with,

with Ben Stiller directing and I remember seeing Adam in New York and he was staying at Aziz's place and I went out to dinner with Adam and it's like they were just meeting. It's kind of like looking at a yearbook. It's like they're meeting each other and they're really funny in the scene together and you can see this is where people started meeting their friends. That's kind of cool. It's a decade ago. So that's just a personal note I saw while they were doing a scene together. But yeah, it's just cool. Ron, in the

at the spa stirring a memory for me. Um, I wonder where did we shoot that?

it's called well the fake name is spawnee i'm trying to remember where the actual location is the thing well the other thing that made me laugh about the scene where he's like yeah i'm just going to the spa like aziz is just like is like aziz did like going to the spa like he he and i used to go to a spa there was a spa in koreatown that it would be like yeah let's just go to like i don't think he does it so much anymore but but it was like yeah let's just go to this spot like relax and like go sit in the hot tub or go to the sauna i was like i never i would never think of that like i don't on vacation like

you know, my girlfriend likes to go to the spa, getting massaged. I was like, I don't, I don't, I don't ever do that. So I'll go play golf or something. But, but, uh, yeah, he just like loved going to the spa and like, God, there's, I think a Russian spa in Koreatown we used to go to. And then there was another one. So like, I was like, yeah, that rings true. Like he actually liked it. He was, he was, he was a huge, like jacuzzi fan.

He told me about going to your house, getting in the jacuzzi over at your old place. I remember that. He was like, it doesn't get any crazier. He was like, Rob's house is amazing.

Amazing. But yeah, he likes creature comfort. So we kind of bled that into the character. It's funny. It's funny how we take inspiration from the real people. I also love the scene where it starts where Andy has the super straw and he's put a bunch of straws together. And Ron is like, hey, what's up, Andy? What's new? And Pratt is like, a lot. He's made a straw out of like 10 different straws. And boy, like this Ron and Andy scene.

C story or whatever is like, it's so fun. It's just like, it's just like a, it's just like a romp. Well, like you said, when, when the C story is working as well as the A story, you know, you're onto something, you know, the, the, the scripts are always divided into the A story, the B story and the C story. And, you know, the theory is that the, obviously the A story is more important and, and you go down the scale. So when you get to the C story and it's Andy making a straw,

And it's as funny as anything else. You know, you're, you've got a tight script. It really is. It's a testament, you know, it's a testament to, you know, how simple a story can be and still work if the characters and the actors are, you know, that story is literally like him getting him a burrito, them throwing a football in the parking lot, them like learning about government together. It's like, it's great. It's like really fun and funny. And it's really the performances and the jokes and, and, and, and all the character work. So, um, really, really, uh, really fun stuff.

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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. Back at the hospital, to Anne's surprise, a very sick Chris has been admitted to the hospital with the flu. Because of his extreme health and 0% body fat, he's ravaged by the flu.

which lets Anne see him in a less intimidating light. Leslie escapes the hospital and heads back to City Hall to deliver the presentation herself. Tom returns from the spa, revealing his new friends are the owners of several car dealerships, which have agreed to lend vehicles to the festival. Although delirious with fever and anxiety,

High on flu medication, Leslie delivers a flawless presentation, wildly impressing Ben. She's immediately brought back to the hospital where Ben tells her 110 businesses have agreed to help with the festival, surpassing the minimum of 80 needed, and brings her waffles and homemade chicken soup. Wow, that's a lot. Amy with the flu is one of my favorite. Well, that's why she was nominated for an Emmy that year.

It's one of my favorite performances. Chris saying your computer has connectivity issues in this episode. I think we asked Mike Schur his two favorite. What are your favorite ad libs and I think connectivity issues? Yes, it's Andy the computer. Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the search bar up here and it says you could have network connectivity problems. I think that was just an ad lib that person...

that Pratt made up and is also a really amazing joke. And you had an ad lib in this one. Let's talk about this ad lib. What was what was that like? What set the scene for us? So you have to understand this is we I'd made a deal to do six episodes. That's it. And the thought being that if it works out, if I like it, if Mike sure likes it, if everybody likes it,

mutually, then maybe, you know, it would become a thing. And, you know, we would be a permanent character. But that was in no way decided. So this is my fourth episode. So, you know, we're getting to the point where we're thinking about

you know, do we like this, whatever. And I'm shooting the scene where I'm looking in the mirror, it's talking head. And I don't remember what the actual dialogue was. It might've just been as simple as me looking at myself in the mirror and you can see that I'm super, super sick, but I had the instinct to, to, to, I don't know where this ad lib came from, but I looked in the mirror and was like, stop pooping. And I remember everybody laughing around the monitor and,

And that was a moment where at least I felt like this is a real special place for me to be able to do stuff like that, that I'm not going to be able to do anywhere else. And I also think that from the perspective of Mike and people making the show, they were like, oh, this dude's willing to go for it.

And it was a very seminal moment. I remember it like it was yesterday. Yeah, I mean, there must be such a joy in being able to be silly, have it fit in with the show, have it not be about vanity. You know, I think that's a big thing, right? Where it's like, oh, I think, you know, Mike and everyone, you know, watching the dailies and watching the cuts, like, oh, yeah, this guy's willing to have fun. And he's not, you know, it's not about him looking good or being a hero or whatever. It's actually the opposite of that. And it's more fun for...

for him to be silly and to, you know, did they put makeup on you? Were they making, they were actively trying to make you look worse, right? It's like, they're trying to make you look sick. Yeah. Yeah. Look, the sicker, the better. And, you know, the, I can remember, uh,

You know, it's like the script says Chris is sick in the bed or Chris is sick on the floor and like really trying to figure out what's the most awkward position I could lie. Like, what's the most disgusting, like gross version of this? Where my my face is on the hospital floor. There's one where I'm actually bent over those weird, like portable, like desk things that they slide up to the bed.

And also I have that gown on. Yes, the gown is doing a lot of work. You know, the hospital gown, we all know it, open in the back. There's nothing down there. Do you have any tricks? Because this is sometimes, this is two things we ask actors to do. They either have to play sick or they play drunk or whatever. Do you have tricks for playing sick? Is there a facial strategy? Is there a sinus thing? Like, do you have strategies for all the budding actors out there? For me, it's just...

It's like the more slack my jaw and mouth can be like the more like breathing through your mouth. Cause your nose is closed up and like maybe some drool. Um, I, it's all, it's all, it's all about the slack, the slack mouth. No, no tension in the face, no tension in the face, just no energy to keep your muscles taught. That's right. For sure. No. And one other thing that, um,

That that is in this episode that people it's it's fun. One of things I love about parks is when I'm out and about, people will quote lines. So people talk about stop pooping, but they also talk about the microchip has been compromised. Yes. And that's a big one. And that's in that's that's that's in this episode. And that that always made me laugh. My body is a microchip. Also was something I feel like in the writer's room.

was kind of unlocked a little bit of the episode. He was like, yeah, this guy's so healthy. Why would he get sick? Believe it or not, we actually talked about that. I was like, does that make sense? How do you justify that? But then we came up, I think it's a pretty funny thing, which is like, yes, someone whose body is...

perfectly, perfectly calibrated and balanced and does not, like, clearly this guy has a habit, right? He has a routine. Every day is the same workout. He's probably eating the same shit every day. Like, but if that changes by a little bit, if a piece of dust gets on that microchip, like, everything breaks down. So we felt like that was both a funny explanation and somewhat reasonable. And so it's like, yeah, that my body's a microchip, like,

I don't know who came up with that, but it really made us laugh. And also, again, was kind of seminal for the character. It's like, okay, this, and you start getting the quirks. It's not just that he's healthy and that he's fit or whatever. It's like, okay, what is the comedic version of that? And I also like when Anne is like, my body's like a potato chip. No, that's nothing. No, it doesn't work. It's nothing. It's truly, truly nothing. But yeah, and also, by the way, there's also a little bit,

of a thing near the end of the episode where you're talking to Ben and you're like, yeah, I'm going to go, I got to put a like 15 K and I missed yesterday. And you're talking about your heart as well. And it's kind of funny because you talk about it with Ann, you know, you're saying, yeah, my heart could like pump like jet into like fuel into a passenger jet or something. And it's like, Oh, actually later on when you talk about your heart condition, it's like, maybe that could fit as well. Like maybe that all works. Like it, maybe it's an overcompensation. It's all, it's all part of a beautiful tapestry. So, well, I just wanted to call out a

about Stop Pooping, one thing which is that I think about this, Rob, which is like, you know, as an actor doing, you know, drama shows or movies, you must like dream to have like, to get to be so lucky to have a scene like in West Wing, like in Galileo and you're talking to Mallory outside and be like, why go to Mars? And it's like, because it's what's next or whatever. You get this amazing, or like playing chess in Hartsfield's Landing, right? To do these amazing moments, like I get that. And then on the comedy side,

to say I get to stare at myself in the mirror and with all sincerity dripping with sweat to say stop pooping and that you get to do like two of these like Mount Rushmore type moments of acting is incredible. So I had to call that out.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I and I'm I am super aware of how rare that is. And those opportunities don't come around very often and for very many people. And, you know, they're they're opposite ends of the acting spectrum, which at the end of the day, as an actor, that's all you're hoping for is to be able to to play a range of of characters.

Yeah. And just so it doesn't get boring, too. You know, I think that's really fun. I think, you know, as a writer, director, same thing. It's like, you know, you don't want to do the same thing over and over again. Let's try to push yourself. And so that must be fun. It's variety, man. Variety is the spice of life. You know, it's shifting gears a tiny bit. It always makes me laugh when...

we clearly just go outside and shoot on the studio lot next to the parking structure. Like we do that like every other episode. It's like, there's a scene where Ron and Andy are throwing a football and it's like, that's just clearly a studio lot parking lot. When there's no parking structure, there's no, I mean, what do you,

I mean, we have a parking lot. We're going to shoot it there. Like that scene is there in Freddy's spaghetti. There's a scene where Andy is with showing off his motorcycle. Inexplicably, that's also in front of the parking structure. It's like, yeah, we're just sitting there's an episode where where Adam Scott's eating soup on a bench. Also parking lot like just they're all parking lot like, you know, you just go outside. That's right outside the writer's offices. That's like literally like we would park our cars in that structure and

walk to the office. So I have a soft spot in my heart for any scene where there's like a talking head or whatever that just like in front of a parking structure, because we all know where that is. That's where I parked my car for seven years. Here's my favorite little factoid is before we moved in was Malcolm in the Middle. Yes, that's right. Yeah. It's really, you know, just to geek out a little bit, like, you know, you...

it's the same stage, you know, we're on Paramount for a show now and it's like, we're shooting this fun comedy there, but there's all kinds of historic movies from 70 years ago, the past, you know, seven years of movie making. And, and there's usually a list of shows and movies that have, have shot there. It's like,

wow, they shot whatever. So I'm like at a hot here or whatever. It's just insane. It's the same building. So that's kind of cool. All right, onwards. Back to the Parks Department with April absent from work. Ron asked Andy to fill in as his assistant to bond over the course of the day and Andy begins to tell Ron about his problems with April for whom he still harbors romantic feelings.

Although initially not wishing to get involved, Ron reluctantly tells Andy she's at the hospital and he should visit her. Meanwhile, Anne remains pleasant throughout her nursing shift despite April's constant abuse. The second her shift ends, however, Anne immediately loses her temper and curses at April. Anne apologizes for kissing Andy but insists it was a mistake and that April should stop taking it out on Andy. Later, Andy visits April, who pretends to be asleep but smiles, revealing she's happy he came.

Again, it feels like, again, these are the B and C stories, but they're just working. It's what you want, right? It's you want Aubrey kind of being a dick to Anne. You want Anne being a straight person, but kind of sucking it up. You want her exploding at the end. And the way the stories dovetail at the end is kind of nice. You know, it's Ron having this fatherly moment. You know, look, we saw him be fatherly towards April.

In 94 meetings, and he's fatherly towards Andy in this one. And he kind of breaks his own personal code and makes a little bit of a sacrifice by starting to care about his coworkers. And it's really adorable. It's him kind of caring for Andy at the end and thereby facilitating his relationship with April. So, you know, was it hard navigating these new relationships in this third season? It was more like...

It was exciting. It was exciting to sort of, you're almost like putting puzzle pieces together in the writer's room, right? It's like you have these new puzzle pieces, where do they fit? You know, what are pairings that we really love? And what are new pairings that you haven't seen as much? Like, I don't think Ron and Andy have been in scenes together. It's like, let's put them together and see what that's like.

And, you know, it bore really great fruit in this episode. And the same thing for April and Anne. It's like you don't see them together on an island necessarily that often. You do it here and you get comedy out of it and you get new sort of wrinkles in their relationship. And Tom and Ben are in it. It's really like four stories almost, you know.

It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. But really fun. You know, we talked about again and again about how we shot these episodes, wrote them and shot them immediately after season two. But one of the benefits, I think, is that we're kind of coasting on the energy that was set up in these storylines and these dynamics. Yeah.

And so that the pause we had as a writer's room actually happened after episode six, which then launches, we'll get to the harvest festival and the weddings and all these things. But these early episodes almost feel like, like they belong. It's like, like cousins almost to those last two of season two, because of how intertwined they were because of the people making them were so in their heads, thinking about the episodes that just came before it. Yes. And just to touch on that even more, it's,

Keep in mind, this is the second episode, and obviously this is largely about... It's called Flu Season, right? It's about this flu... But you know what's really... It's also part of the Harvest Festival plot arc. So the Harvest Festival arc gets set up ultimately kind of in Master Plan, where it's the budget being slashed. Then in Go Big or Go Home, it's like the budget's shut down. How do we save the thing? We're going to take this huge risk, and we're going to throw the Harvest Festival. And then in the ensuing episodes between Go Big or Go Home and the actual Harvest Festival episode...

there's always kind of a something, some connective tissue. So in this one, she has to go to the Chamber of Commerce and get vendors. And Tom is getting those guys at the spa to contribute their vans. And so like the framework of the plot of the Harvest Festival allows you to have this story engine to have all of these sort of

you know, cover stories, we call them, right? Not the emotional stories, but there's something that the characters have a goal, you know, that they want to achieve. And so you lay that on top of the existing characters and then you lay that on top of the romantic relationships and you lay that on top of the growing, budding friendships. Like all of that is what

contributes to making the show feel rich and connected and somewhat serialized but also enjoyable on their own so this is an episode you can just turn on and watch and it's super funny you could it could be the first episode of the show you ever watch but if you watch the previous 30 episodes and are about to watch five more it's also super you know sort of satisfying in that way so those are the things that we're talking about yeah it's it's a little serialized a little episodic

I like them when they have that. My favorite episodes of West Wing were the same, where they were almost bottle episodes. You know, you could just...

I get intimidated by, well, it's season five, episode two. And you're like, oh, God, really? Jesus. I just want to watch an episode of television. Is that too much to ask? And you don't have to. It's like there's no like buy in that you have to have. And what I what I like about this episode in particular is it really it's a standalone. It's a true standalone, but with enough, you know, connective stuff that people who are super fans can like it, too.

Yes, exactly. And, you know, you get that she's basically overcoming the flu and giving a big speech at the end. You don't have to know a ton of context, but if you're following the overarching story, you get what that speech means in the larger context. So at the end of the episode, Chris tells Ben they've been called back to Indianapolis for a new assignment, but both of them agree to seek an extension to stay in Pawnee longer. Although they both claim they want to help organize the harvest festival, it's hinted they really want to stay because of Leslie and Anne.

They say something like, yeah, there's a couple of loose ends to tie up. Right. It's kind of like casual, casual, like, you know, kind of implied. And it's it's kind of sweet watching that hearing you talk earlier about, yeah, you're there for six episodes. I'm sure Adam had a similar deal where he's like, you know, let's see if this is working, if you guys are having fun, you know, if the writers are enjoying it and, you know.

You know, it's kind of a sweet moment because there's kind of a metatextual element where it's like, yeah, the actors are having fun. And seeing you guys say like, yeah, I think we want to stick around. You know, it's kind of it's gratifying. It's really gratifying. It was real. It was real. That was that's exactly what was happening.

And I think we almost never see like Chris and Ben like in scenes, just the two of them together. I was thinking about this, watching this episode again, I was like, there's something really fresh about this. It's like, oh yeah, the two characters who came in together rarely have scenes, just the two of them. And that's also the power of the characters that they activated so many other characters we already had on the show. But there's something really refreshing about seeing these two people who knew each other have like different takes on Pawnee and the world that we've gotten to know.

You know, it is funny. We walk in the door together, literally make our entrance together. And then from that moment on, we've had relatively very few people

scenes together and but when we did they were always so fun and so notable i mean and i can't wait till we get to start talking about ben's locale calzone zone uh episode uh coming up uh that's one of my favorites but um yeah it's true that you you rarely see them kind of go off into a corner and like i mean they're they're a team but yet you you rarely saw them do that so when you did it was fun

Yeah, I think it's almost like a testament to the fact that we immediately established these pretty strong relationships with you and the other characters. You know, you do scenes with Amy, you do scenes with Rashida, and it's so interesting. But it is fun to see you guys together. I saw there was actually a nice profile of Adam in the New York Times, and they mentioned the Calzone Zone and the claymation that he did. It's like, this guy has range. It's like, this dude has range. He's playing, he's in this like dystopian thriller right now. And he also can be goofy and...

and listen to letters to Cleo on this show. Um, but yeah, I mean, final thoughts on this episode. I, this is an all timer. I mean, this is probably on the Mount Rushmore of episodes, you know, so, uh, of parks episodes, I think fans often say it's one of their favorites. So, um, yeah, pleasure to rewatch this one. It's just, it's just humming along, man. It's just humming along. Any final thoughts from you, uh, Rob, you know, again, one of my favorites. Um, I remember, like I said, showing this to the, as a cast with Mike, we all took it to, to the television Academy, uh,

Um, and then did a panel afterwards. And that was, that was a great, a great evening. Um, and, uh, yeah, this is, if I had to pick one episode to show people of Parks and Rec, this is the one. It's a good one. If you've got skeptical friends for, uh, you've been trying to get them to watch the show for 15 years. Uh, this is a good one to show them. Uh, it's very accessible. It's got all the, uh, the characters you love and it's super funny. So show it to your friends and then listen to this episode afterward. All right. Some oops moments. Uh,

This is a borderline. I'll say it anyway. Ben compares Leslie to a flu-ridden Michael Jordan at the NBA Finals. Michael Jordan more likely had food poisoning and not the fluid playing in the 1997 Finals. That was kind of a fact from The Last Dance. I don't know if you guys watched The Last Dance, the documentary series. Also, by the way, speaking of COVID, it's so funny to me that, you know,

we did so much testing and stuff, all that stuff. The NBA did a ton of testing and obviously if you tested positive, you couldn't play. Meanwhile, one of the most glorified games, heroic games in NBA history was the legendary flu game. It's like Michael Jordan has the flu. He shouldn't be out there infecting other people. He's like a hero. People were lionizing him. He's going to give Scottie Pippen the

flu man he's right he's right on scotty yeah you can't do that he's gonna give the refs the flu he's gonna give the courtside patrons the flu and like no it was fine at the time but i guess it's different look it's apples and oranges but it just made me laugh because like that guy was just all over the place he shouldn't be people flu he was a super spreader not only was the mvp of the game he was a super spreader super mvp for the flu but yeah he uh the the legend now is that someone in utah gave him a bad pizza or something but right i don't know i don't know

the cases but that's an oops moment that's an oops moment it's amazing episode mvp most valuable ponian oh boy character moment in this episode sticks out what is what are your uh what are your thoughts on this rollo it's got to be i mean look like i said there between stop pooping and connectivity issues those might be the two most famous might be a co-mvp might be a the old uh

East and West co-MVPs. I'm trying to think of a classic co-MVP situation. There's got to be one in an All-Star game. I just watched the NBA All-Star game, so I'm stuck on that. But I feel like one year was it Shaq and Kobe or something? It was Shaq and Kobe this episode. Are those two moments? Yeah, I think Chris and Andy...

take this episode, I think. Yes. Levine wants to put in a vote for Anne. What is your Anne vote here? Well, here's the reason. Yes, we have network connectivity issues and stop pooping and Leslie Monster and all the schmoozing from Tom. But I think at the end, numerous scenes and storylines...

happen and converge in the hospital right and ann is a key player in all of them and i think the hard thing in comedy sometimes is being the straight man and activating so many other great comedy pieces and she pretty much plays that in all these scenes and she sets up so much comedy and so much of the episode would not have actually worked without ann so my call out for this episode is ann it's it's a it's an art to be the straight person and and she's crushing it in this

She's a glue guy. The episode starts with her. She's like, it's the flu, whatever, flu season, whatever. And then she's dealing with April. She's dealing with Andy. She's dealing with everybody. So shout out to Anne. She's the Draymond Green of this episode.

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All right, let's take a trip to the town hall. Today it's a town howl. You know, I feel like we got to do this town hall at the hospital. The legendary hospital set. We got to do it at the hospital. The super expensive hospital set. Yeah.

Does the hospital have a name, Greg? Do they get named? What is it called? I got to tell you, it does have a name. One of the joys sometimes as the writer's assistant before I became a writer was getting to name some things. And so I named characters after some people I knew. And this is Pawnee's St. Joseph Hospital. It's the same hospital my younger brother had to be rushed to when he slammed his finger in the door. And I did it in honor of him. Great. St. Joe. There you go. There you go. Okay, so this...

This question comes to us from James from ABQ. What's ABQ? Albuquerque? What is that? Yeah, Albuquerque. Okay, so James from Albuquerque. Shall we play this clip from James? Yeah. Hi, guys. My name is James. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Huge fan of Parks and Rec. I watch it annually, and I'm really enjoying the podcast. My question has to do with Season 2, Episode 10, The Hunting Trip. I was recently watching The Mandalorian.

And in episode one, season one of The Mandalorian, he is fighting an alien race called the transdoshans. And while they're in a gunfight, you hear bula, bula, bula several times in the background. I was wondering if that is because Dave Filoni is a Parks and Rec fan. Like, what's the story on that? Thanks.

Great question. Very specific question, James from Albuquerque. I do enjoy the Mandalorian. Have you seen the Mandalorian, Rob? Yeah, it's great. Yeah, I'm a fan. I've seen both seasons. And, you know, I feel like you're going to have to ask Dave Filoni. I actually had dinner with Jon Favreau not that long ago, who does the Mandalorian as well.

And he was so funny talking about it because obviously it's a massive show with a massive budget and it's like the biggest Star Wars TV show. And he's done so many big, big budget movies. He's like, yeah, you know, it's nice to just have this little TV show. They just let me do what I want. It sounded like he was talking about like a $1 million, like a $200,000 indie movie. I'm like, John, this is like a massive show. He's like, yeah, but they kind of let me do what I want. I don't have to deal with like all this studio bullshit or whatever. And it's like, I mean,

I mean, it's an insane thing. Is Bula Bula Bula something people say just during hunting in general? I'm not a big hunter. I don't know if you are. You wouldn't know this because you're a Harvard guy. You know, Bula Bula is Yale. It's a Yale thing, right? Okay. It's Yale.

Well, then why do they say Bula Bula in the hunting trip episode? Because they went to Yale. Maybe the hunters were Yalies. Because Swanson went to Yale. I don't think he went to Yale. No, he did not. Went to both states. Yeah, exactly. Tweet at Dave Filoti. Ask him if you've seen the Parks and Rec episode or if he just likes the Yale fight song. But yeah, I love The Mandalorian and...

it's a fun show and I don't know, it would be nice to do a crossover. Let's do a crossover episode. Well, hopefully this episode that we just recorded is as classic as the episode it was about because if so, then we've just done the best episode we're going to do of Parks and Rec Collection. Wouldn't you say? It's up there. It's up there.

I think, I think, well, listen, you listeners will be the judge and you can do that by giving us, um, five star review on Apple. Um, you know, I think you need to, cause this was a really good episode. Um, thank you all for listening. Schulte, Greg, as always. Thank you. And, um, Mr. Yang, thank you for being you. Thank you, Rolo. Thank you for being you. And as always stop pooping and goodbye from punny. Stop pooping.

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 Rat, a.k.a. Mark Rivers.

with additional tracks composed by John Danik. 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.

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