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Welcome to Parks and Recollection. I am Rob Lowe, joined by the wonderful Alan Yang. How are you doing, Alan? I'm good. How are you, Rob Lowe? Well, I'm very excited about this episode, as you can imagine. Why is that? It's been a long time coming because today we are doing The Master Plan. The episode was written by Mike Schur himself.
And directed by the great Dean Holland. The original air date was Season 2, Episode 23, May 13th, 2010. This is the episode where everyone is excited about celebrating April's 21st birthday, except Leslie, who is preoccupied with the prospects of her budget being cut by the state auditor's representatives. And who might those be? Who might they be?
Well, if you could cast anybody, if you could cast any two people to come out of the bullpen at this point in the show's life, Adam Scott and John Stamos. Stamos, David Hasselhoff, you know, the options are endless. Adam Scott and...
Jason Bateman. Jason Patrick. Adam Scott and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. But no. Yeah, I have your answer for you, Rob, in our notes section. K-N-O-T-E-S. The master plan marked the first appearance of soon-to-become regulars Adam Scott and Rob Lowe. Yes, Rob.
Rob's your first. Are you excited? It's your first appearance in the show, Rob. We got there. We got there. We got there. I've been so waiting for this. Don't forget this. I also laugh at my credit in the episode, which is it says Adam Scott.
And then it says, and introducing Rob Lowe. Yes, that's our second Nope's Note. If you see the credits, take note of that. It's a little in-joke because Rob has done a few shows and movies before this one. So introducing is not traditionally the credit for him, but that's what we did. It was a little in-joke for the audience. Yeah, new kid on the block. You know, you did me a solid credit. Welcome to the world. Welcome to the showbiz. Welcome to showbiz, Rob. Yes.
And two more notes. Andy refers to John Ralphio as Ralph Macchio. Ralph had his breakout role in The Outsiders, 1983, alongside Rob. That's some meta shit. That's some meta shit. Ralph Macchio can currently be seen in Cobra Kai. There he is. And then the final notes note. In this episode, six characters meet their eventual spouses.
They are. Anne and Chris, Leslie and Ben, and Tom and Lucy talk about a master plan. Look at that. Look at that writing. Was that by, you guys couldn't have known that? No, I think it's a little bit coincidental, but it's also a little bit by design because we wanted, you know, we'll get into a little bit more in terms of the construction of the episode, but certainly, you know, we had something in mind for Leslie and Ben, and
we felt like, Ooh, Rob Lowe's in the show. It makes sense for him to have something maybe burning a little even hotter than that other one. Cause that was a slow burning romance, right? We were playing the long game with that one. So we're like, Oh, it'd be fun if we, you know, hooked Chris up with Ann and, and that, that didn't come about till later in the process. I believe that came up after the table read. And then Tom and Lucy, you know, I think we were at a point where like, let's stop making Tom so pathetic and let's start, you know, working on his character arc. And so he meets Lucy played by the wonderful Natalie Morales, very talented, uh,
actor and director as well. Directed two movies in the last year, I think. I thought she was so funny in this. Shall we get into this episode? It's so exciting. We have a lot to talk about. We have a lot to talk about. So Leslie excitedly prepares to present the Parks Department's budget proposal or master plan.
This is a real thing, by the way. The master plan's a real thing. However, the city manager announces that due to Pawnee's huge budget deficit, all proposals will be postponed indefinitely. State auditors are on their way on orders from the governor to solve the impasse. Leslie has sheer terror over the likelihood of severe cuts, while Ron is as delighted as Ron gets. So, you know, we kind of talked about the genesis of the episode in the writer's room earlier.
a lot and and you know at the time it was kind of ripped from the headlines because a number of states were shutting down schools parks and other services due to the global recession for those of you old enough you know the government was always kind of on the verge of shutting down it was like it was it was a real thing to save money i remember there you know i don't know if you remember that rob but sometimes there would be almost like a congressional shutdown like a national government shutdown so this was kind of inspired by that in some ways
Yeah, it's a story that happens in cycles, shutting down governments. And it's funny because the notion that two bean counters would show up and shut everything down is only in Pawnee, right? Yeah, it's so funny because it's like, on paper, it's like the most boring setup possible, but it just...
It just works, right? That's sometimes the ethos of the show. It's like, let's take something that shouldn't work. It's like, instead of like two cops coming in or two like FBI agents, it's like, what if they're auditors? And like, it's like, that shouldn't work. But there's something, you know, something about that makes it funnier than it has any right to be.
And I think before we knew it was going to be you guys, I think it was like, should it be one person or two people? I think all of that kind of got discussed. And we really, you know, Mike really shaped the characters around who we cast. And so that's kind of how that came about. You know, Rob, do you remember, you know, coming in and meeting the writers and meeting the staff of the show? Yeah.
Yeah. So it's a sort of interesting long story, which I'll make brief. I had just finished doing a show called Brothers and Sisters, which is successful, ran for like seven seasons or whatever the hell it did. And it was super, super fun. But it was like a like it was like a version of This Is Us, like super straight.
super like you know overwrought family stuff and and not a laugh to be found anywhere and i i really was like i like i needed to move as far away from that as i possibly could and there was a minute where there was talk that i was going to come on to 30 rock and do something as alec baldwin's
brother, whatever the hell it would be. And that very quickly did not happen. But the network said, would, would I be interested in coming onto parks and rec? And, you know, there's always two sides to every story. I'm sure what was going on in the network, talking to Mike and Mike talking to the network was probably a,
a different iteration of it, but on my end of it, that's how it all played out. And I was like, oh, I love Parks and Rec. I would, that could be really cool. So we had a get to know you meeting and I came in and I met with Mike and I remember Amy was made a surprise appearance, which was awesome. I'd never met her and she was super sweet and just, you know, delightful. And Mike, there was no character. There was no idea what I would be.
It was like, would you come on? Do we want you to come on? What do you think? What do you like? It was sort of for Mike and I both to decide how we felt about it. But there wasn't an idea at all. I'm sure Mike had an idea. And somehow we started talking about Tom. I don't know how we started talking about Tom Cruise, but we did. And I did an impersonation of Tom, who's super enthusiastic, super positive.
And super specific and super focused. And I did this thing of him a bit. I do of him, but it's based on him actually doing it one time on the set of The Outsiders. And he was a kid. This isn't even Tom movie star powerful guy. This is Tom first movie. And he was ordering a water at a restaurant. And he was like, the waiter came up. He's like, I'd like a water. I'd like it in a glass. And I'd like with a lemon. I'm like cold.
And like, like super focused. Yeah. And Mike loved that so much. And that was the beginning of Chris Traeger. Then later on, I threw in elements of Kenny G of all people. You got to tell more of that. You got to talk more about that. What elements of Kenny G? Kenny G is a longtime family friend.
And Kenny is the most positive person I know and only really interested in what goes on within six inches of outside of his own body. So he's he's very, very he's very he's very excited about everything. Oh, like I remember at one point I did. I had a line about raisins in the show and I said it was raisins, nature's candy.
And I was like, that's, that would be what Kenny G would say. Like, like he's that kind of guy. He's excited about it. Oh, raisins. I like raisins. Ooh. Um, Oh, it's sunny out today. Hello. It's sunny. I like that.
And that's so I just used that little bit of Kenny, that little bit of Tom Cruise, you know, and layered it over what what Mike wrote as as Traeger. I love that. The classic Tom Cruise, Kenny G synthesis. You know, it's that old thing. The thing you do as you do with your two close friends. But well, you know, you know, the fame of the most famous synthesis story just quickly ever was they asked Anthony Hopkins.
was asked how he came up with Hannibal Lecter. You know what his, my synthesis was Tom Cruise, Kenny G. You know what his synthesis was for Hannibal Lecter? The computer Hal from 2001 with Catherine Hepburn with Olivier as the entertainer. That's insane. That's like, it's crazy. It's crazy. Like if you know those references, it's crazy.
You go, oh, yeah, you can do the math. You can do the math. And, you know, that that impression, I love to do the impression of you doing the impression of Tom Cruise, because it's this cadence. And it really is the Traeger cadence, man. It really is. It's it's and it's so funny to hear, you know, you talk about it from your point of view as the as the actor.
right? As the performer and how you shape the character and how you're pulling from your personal experience. Cause that's always the best stuff, right? It's like, you know, these people, you know, you know how they see the world and how they phrase things and their, their rhythm and their cadence, like we said. And then from the writer's perspective, um,
what we're introducing and what we're incorporating into the part. And always it builds, like you said, like you're putting Tom and Kenny together and we're putting together, you know, things from our lives. Right. So I remember, you know, it's funny that I say I impersonate your impersonation because sometimes at the table reads, if you weren't able to do it, I would read Chris Traeger at the table reads. And there was an element also early on where, where,
Mike was like, oh, I think Chris should be a health nut. You know, he's very positive, all this stuff. And I had brought in a pull-up bar into the writer's room office and I had it, my office adjoined the writer's room where everyone met. And so I had this pull-up bar and I put it up
in my doorway and just do pull-ups all day because it was like, you're in the register room for 12 hours a day. You're not exercising. So I would do pull-ups while people, I'm sure this was so annoying, people were pitching and people were talking about the story and I would just be doing pull-ups. And so we gave that trait to Chris Traeger as well. So literally in his first episode, in this episode, he's doing pull-ups in the background while Leslie's talking to Ben. It was kismet.
Because I, at the time, was training for the cover of Men's Fitness. Yeah, so you could do those pull-ups. He's really doing the pull-ups. Every guy knows when they were in their most peak shape of their lives, particularly when they get to be in the mid-50s. That was it. I'll never forget it. It was this episode. This episode is me at my absolute peak. I was 47. I was...
training for the cover of Men's Fitness, which I did while we were shooting this. And it just so happened that you wrote a scene where I do continuous pull-ups in the background because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it. You're doing them so effortlessly. It looks like it's CGI. It looks like someone is lifting you up because I'm like literally in the background like, I still do pull-ups. By the way, Rob, I still do pull-ups every day. I try to do like 100 pull-ups a day. But you're doing them really effortlessly. I do sets of 20. It's not that impressive because I'm not a super heavy guy. But yeah, it's...
yeah, it's really great. And, and I don't know, we have a lot more to talk about this episode. Let's keep going with the synopsis and, and we can talk about you and Adam and all that. Go ahead, Greg. Yeah, guys, before we move on, I have to tell you, Rob, you talking about your first time in the room inspired me just now to open up my notes from that first time you came in to see what we talked about. Um, and not just that, but before when we knew you were going to join the show, what your character could have been if it wasn't, uh,
Oh, man.
or a new city manager my favorite one that got a lot of traction was that you potentially were going to be the director of the library department uh where you and tammy swanson um had like a history together um and all the library people are going to move into the parks offices but then what was great is i get to see my notes and what really settled on at the time is that uh
you come in and you are just a good person. And the one of the things is that people are going to say is, you know, your character would say, I'm here to do this job. It's not personal, but I have to do this. And I think from there is when most of the notes then spawn, like that was the genesis for so many people in the room. If how do we then build a character around that notion of like, I'm a good guy who has to do a job.
And so I then get to look at my notes from when you came into the room to meet with us. And the day before someone pitched that your character should be extremely intense and focused like Tom Cruise tends to be. And the very first thing brought up when you came in was that because I have in my notes that morning.
Rob Lowe loves that the character is a can-do positive Tom Cruise-like. And then you went and you did the ordering of a glass of water bit. And you came up with, by the way, that your character should live to 150. And you said, my genetic age is nothing close to my actual age, which I think is incredible. Yeah.
Wow. I love that you have those notes. I know. That's like Christmas morning. It really is. Those are great presents. Rob, have you ever heard any of this information? No. This is amazing to hear for me because, A, because you think of what might have been. Like what would, if there was...
Well, anything other than Chris Traeger as we know him is heartbreaking because we all love, I mean, including me, I love Chris Traeger. So the notion of some guy from the library go, but that means there's no Chris Traeger is sad. But it's also like super like, what would I have done with that? I wonder what I would have come up with. Wouldn't have been Kenny G and Tom Cruise. I can tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. Or you being Tammy Swanson's ex or you being the mayor or you being the city manager. I mean, the city manager is like, you know, it's a whole different job. It's just a whole different, you know.
I'm going to give you one last bit just to put a bow on that, Rob, because you said there could have been no Chris Traeger. I have here what your name was decided to be. And for the longest time, your name was supposed to be Chris Melm. M-E-H-L-M. Chris Melm? What? And it's a classic Mike Schur moment. Okay.
There you go, bud. That's well, I remember I remember getting a script where it was where I remember getting a script where it was Chris Yeager. Yes, it was Melman Yeager. And then Yeager didn't clear, I believe, legally. Yes. You know, for those out there, if you name a character on a TV show, you have to go through a whole legal process. You just can't make up a name and.
Bingo, it goes on TV. So we ended up with Chris Traeger. But man, Chris Melm, you lucked out, man. Chris Traeger is much more the character, in my opinion. It could have been Chris Melm, the head of the library. Yes, exactly. Instead, we got Chris Traeger, who is going to live to be 150 years old. Yes, yes.
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April's turning 21 and is having her birthday party at Tom's favorite nightclub, the Snake Hole Lounge. Andy debates whether to ask April to be his girlfriend, but worries about the age difference because he's 29. Ann has broken up with Mark and they meet for lunch to discuss the end of their relationship. Mark is confused as to why Ann has decided to break up with him because they never fought and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Ann explains their lack of fighting was actually a bad thing because it meant their relationship had no passion.
We can talk a little bit more about how Mark actually... This is insane. Adam Scott originally auditioned to play Mark. So he had been on Greg and Mike's radar for a while. And that's another fascinating thing where we got to watch some of these auditions. And like, for instance...
you know, for, for, for the Ron Swanson character, Michael Malley, who's a great actor auditioned to play, to play Ron. And we watched Offerman's audition and Michael Malley's audition. They were both great, but of course they ended up casting Nick and, and, you know, as similarly Adam auditioned to play Mark and they ended up casting Paul Schneider. But what a, what a crazy, you know, if, if, if Adam got cast as Mark, we'd never have been Wyatt and it would have been totally different. You know, it just would have been a different show.
I really like, it's so interesting watching this episode because Adam looks like such a baby. So Adam, spoiler alert for this new show that I'm doing. I'm doing a new show with Maya Rudolph for Apple and Adam's in that show. So I've been editing Adam and it's like, man, he just looks like a little kid in this one. His hair is so funny. You look the same, Rob. But Adam,
Adam looks like a baby. Adam just like he's got that like bedhead and like he's just adorable in this. I found his... When you guys walk in, it's just a great moment in the show. You know, it's like you guys are just... It feels like you guys know the characters already and it's so early on, you know? It's so funny you say that. I just watched the show before we came into the studio to record this. And what I was struck by is those characters...
Not so much. Ben is, it's not that his character isn't formed because he's given an actual turn. You guys write a turn for him, but Traeger is fully formed.
Like, he walks in, he's like, oh, there's fucking Chris Traeger. His first line is like, it's an iconic line. He's saying people's names. It's the first thing he does. It's pretty crazy. And then he's super positive, right, in the first scene. Well, the point was a Tom Cruise thing. Interesting, as we, so, as the character developed, we moved away from
Tom Cruise of it all. The super gnarly intensity, that kind of went away. It's funny, as actors, sometimes the key that gets you into a character is not what you need to sustain a character. And that helped me find it, but in the end, it wasn't the most interesting thing to play. So the pointing thing
Which is makes me laugh. It really made me laugh. I am pointing in the background of a talking head in it, which makes me laugh. And in this episode, we got we moved away from that pretty quick, but it was a great way to introduce the character was good physical bit. Yeah. And let's just get into that. You know, that scene. It just it's in the it's in the conference, not the conference. It's in this sort of bullpen area. State Auditors Chris Traeger and Ben White arrived. They're finally in the show.
The extremely cheerful Chris paints an optimistic picture of how they'll fix the budget, but leaves the details to the more serious Ben. When Ben explains they'll need to slash the budget of every department by nearly 40 to 50%, Leslie angrily lashes out at Ben who responds to her that it's their poorly managed government that is to blame. And you know, you're exactly right. When you guys walk in, it's like you have that Tom Cruise intensity. And then over time, it felt like that Kenny G positivity took over a lot of it. And a lot of our jokes were just like about how
how you could spin everything in a positive way and mean it and be genuine. And then I love, I almost forgot about the, the sort of element that you're so positive because you have this, you know, you had this heart condition and, and that I felt like really humanized the character. And, and so, you know, that comes down the road, but man, it's, it feels like it's all kind of, you know, falling into place already in this episode. Adam is so funny and dry. Yeah.
In this where I go, where I look up. Okay. And I am going to bolt bail. And then you cut immediately to me. Okay. So we're going to talk about how we're going to cut it. I got physical agita watching him. I feel like I've been in that. I've lived in that moment, whether it's, you know, sitting down with the studio executive, who doesn't like the script I've written or whatever, or the, we like, oh, this is not going to go well. Adam is so funny. He's so dry. And so like,
We all know that guy in a meeting, right? And to me, it's a testament to Adam. His range has how small he can be and be funny at the same time. And then you see him in Step Brothers, and he's super douchey and broad and big and hilarious. And then he can play a super dry character who's also funny in Ben. And man, it's a treat to watch him. And I think, again, kudos to Mike. A lot of credit has to go to Mike because...
the way he built these two characters in opposition to each other, using two very talented and very different performers in you and Adam, that all takes forethought. You know, that's sort of the way it all sort of coagulates and coalesces and you two coming in. It's really effective. And as you said, we'll get to the turn later in the episode for Ben, but
man, you don't see it coming. And then he also gives you great stuff with Rashida later on. So it's really like, you know, really, really kudos to Mike for that because I remember, you know, Greg's notes were wonderful. And I also remember being in that room, you know, what do we do? You know, it's introducing two new characters in the show is not trivial. And we really thought about it a lot. And there was a lot of spirited debates. You know, I remember, um,
you know, because man, it's a huge thing for a show. It's a huge thing for a show. And, you know, and I would defy anyone to say it didn't work because it works so well. And it just worked really well. And it was almost like you guys, this is, we talked about it before, but it's almost like this is the version of the show everyone kind of remembers and loves, right? Yeah, exactly. It's you guys coming in, you know? And there are other shows out there in TV where you remember specific years.
I mean, I think if you look at ER, you remember the years George Clooney was on ER. And then, you know, the show ran forever without him. But when you think of ER, you think of those times. And it's like this team was the team. This was, and I think it's for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is when you guys had really had the time to learn together.
what show you were making. You know, I mean, we've done a bunch of these episodes and if you, you guys, listeners, you've been with us to the beginning, you remember these, the initial episodes, my comments were, it felt like, like a, like a Richard Linklater movie. It didn't feel anything like Parks and Recreation to me. And, and,
And now it's Parks and Rec. Yes. And I would say, you know, I love a lot of the season two episodes. I think the show is really hitting its stride. And then we hit this run where you guys come in near the end of season two. And this run from Master Plan until the Harvest Festival episode in season three, like that run is to me probably the show peaking, right? The show just kind of firing in all cylinders. And it starts, it kicks off with,
With this episode, essentially, I mean, this starts that story arc. And then we then again, we banged our heads against the wall trying to figure out how it resolves, man, I can't wait to talk about those episodes, too. But, but, you know, this run the end of season two in the beginning of season three, that includes flu season, it includes, you know, the Harvest Festival includes Go Big or Go Home, all these episodes, you know, that felt like the show clicking on all cylinders to me.
Question for you, Rob. How long was the process from the offer on the show to acceptance to you joining the cast? Well, I knew after the meeting with Mike, I wanted to be on the show. And I think Mike knew that he wanted to have me on the show. So there was no hesitation, I don't think, on either part. But what we all did do was...
Because as you say, it's a huge thing. I mean, you know, nobody knows what the chemistry is going to be like. I mean, you hope and you just don't know. And it's a really cohesive team. Everybody's been working great together. And then you bring in, you know, people, you just don't know what the effect is. So they made a deal where I would do six episodes. And at the end of the six episodes, we would all sort of, you know, sit down and go, how do we like it? And we sort of could mutually go or whatever. And, um,
I know I'm getting ahead in the episodes, but there was a moment in flu season, which is coming up, where I knew and Mike knew I was staying. And it was way before the sixth episode. Yeah. And I'm not even joking. It's fascinating to hear. I remember that sixth episode, kind of whatever trial run on both sides, you want to call it. I literally, I just had lunch with two of my college friends who I hadn't seen in 10 years or something. And I mentioned that I was going to record with you later today. And
They were like, when are you getting to the stop pooping episode? Because I say it to my kids. Like, when everyone's pooping in our house, when everyone's sick, when anyone, you know, it's like, they're like, remember the stop pooping episode? It's like, yeah. So, it's definitely a moment that, you know, it kind of all came together. The pooping moment, it all came together. But yeah, I mean, and kudos to you and Adam both for really coming in. And, you know, aside from the jobs you guys did in the show, I
you know, you're right. You didn't fuck up the chemistry in the show. Cause it was, it's a good vibe. So it's a good vibe set. And you guys, you know, you've been the lead of shows. Adam had, you know, had a great career and it's like, you guys both came in and, and, and really it was seamless. It felt like to us and you guys were, you know, on your best behavior and, and, and just really, really killed it. So there's, I, I think it's super important for all actors to know what instrument they're playing in the orchestra is like, is, and what, what the music is. And,
You know, like you said, I, you know, I can be a lead in a show. I can be supporting in a show. It doesn't matter to me as long as the work is good. And but there are different. We talked earlier in the last episode about Amy Poehler and how she sets an example. She's number one on the call sheet. Right. And Chris Traeger is not. And so it's a different job like Amy's job.
you know, is different than Chris's. My job now on 911 Lone Star is different than Chris's because I'm number one on that. And I like to be able to do both of them. And they both are equally satisfying, but they could not be more different. Yeah, they're both fun. I mean, and I think from my side, it's like there's a difference between being the showrunner and being on the staff, being part of the team. You know, it's like they're vastly... And they're both fun. You know, they're both really enjoyable. So...
Let's press on with the episode because it's a great one. At April's party, Tom desperately tries to pick up women but to no avail. Meanwhile, Leslie and Anne get extremely drunk together. Extremely drunk. Extremely. One of the great. Extremely drunk. Yes. A great trend in Parks and Rec episodes is people getting drunk. And this is kind of a harbinger of things to come.
Andy and April appear to be getting along, but when he goes to the bar to get a drink for April, a drunken Ann flirts with him. Upset and eager to make Andy jealous, April flirts with over-the-top and annoying Jean-Ralphio. It works, and Andy's bummed, believing he misread April's signals all along. Of course, April later regrets what she did, then arrives at the party and tries to smooth things over with a drunken Leslie, but she again angrily lashes out at him. The next morning,
Anne fears she made out with someone at the party but can't remember who it would be. Anne eventually learns it was Chris, who shows a romantic interest in her. Anne Perkins, he says. Tom returns to the snake hole lounge to close his tab where he meets Lucy, the bartender, played by Natalie Morales. When Lucy makes fun of his efforts to pick up women, it's evidence these two have a flirty chemistry and Tom gets her phone number.
I realized watching it, this is the first time I said, and Perkins, I go, how did that become a thing? How did and Perkins become a thing? And I realized it's because of that scene where, you know, we're not, she's trying to figure out who she might've made out with. And I come in and give her the finger guns.
and say in Perkins. And it has a story purpose. Yeah. Has a story purpose. It's a revelation and it's the performance. It's got a little Tom Cruise. It's got the cadence. You know, there's a reason things become, things don't come to me. It's like, things don't really become popular by accident. You know what I mean? It's like it's because it hits, it hits the first time we're rewatching this episode. Like, yeah, it hit. That's why it's like, that's why I treat yourself hit or whatever. It's like, it's still, it's up. It's like, yeah, that's catchy. It's like, there's something fun about it. It's so, you know, that, that,
Chris Traeger catchphrases, that's one of them. And it holds up to me. I remember coming to this set. Why was I on the set on a scene that I wasn't shooting? All I remember is two memories of being on the set the first time. The first is after the meeting in the writer's room, Alan, you took me and showed me the set.
And I'll never forget it because the set is spectacular. It's a spectacular set. It's so real. It's so well done. It's so finely detailed. And I got to see the murals for the first time, which is, we know, make me laugh. And you are so great and so nice to me. And I remember that really well. But then the first time I was ever on the set when they were working...
Was it snake hole on this episode? And I watched Rashida do her talking head where at the end of it, she's trying to get the straw into her mouth. I can't find the straw. And, um, I just will not, I'll never forget it. I'll just never forget her doing that. And I just remember also, uh,
how many takes they gave her to do it and like gave her, you know, to try new things. And I thought, oh, this is going to be super fun. Yeah. I mean, you know, these, these actors get to play. Yes. Because, because now having worked on parks and then going on to direct and all this stuff, it's like, we're not doing dolly shots. We're not doing inserts. We're not, you know, it's, it's just, we're just shooting people, right? It's handheld. We're shooting people. And that's why you can get 10 takes of a scene instead of two.
You know what I mean? And that's when you get some gold, too. You get people improvising, you get people being loose and having fun, and Rashida adding her trying to find the straw and the glass or whatever. But yeah, I remember, I think Mike assigned me to give you a tour of the set because he's like, yeah, this guy's a writer, but he's not scared of talking to people, so he could go talk to Rob and he won't be intimidated. But I was like, yeah, this is cool, man. It's just like a fun thing. He's like, this is the dude in Wayne's World. I was like, I remember all this stuff, right? It's like...
But yeah, it was really fun. And, you know, I'm seeing here in the notes, this is actually interesting. You know, Rob Lowe's kissing scene, this is the information, Rob Lowe's kissing scene with Rashida Jones took place on March 17th, which was his first day of shooting and also his birthday. Do you remember that? I do. I do. I do because I remember...
It was, you know, it's always fun to have your birthday. And Amy said, oh my God, it's your birthday and you're shooting. Isn't that amazing? Have you ever? And she goes, have you ever shot on your birthday before? And I was like, yeah. 50 times. And he was like, Amy immediately did the math. She's like, oh, fucking of course he has. It was so sweet. I remember 200 credits on his IMDB. He's probably shot before. Yeah.
She was so sweet. That's so funny. And I remember, oh, I know the other thing is I kiss Rashida. I'll never forget this. Well, first of all, the first time you kiss Rashida Jones, you're going to remember it, A. And B, it was a nighttime exterior and I was still getting used to how you shoot Parks and Rec. And sometimes you didn't even know where the cameras were.
And I'm coming from a traditional TV show, Brothers and Sisters, but that camera's right up in your mug. Yes. It's on a dolly. I mean, the camera work on Parks is so amazing because it's like a documentary. People are everywhere. And I did not know where the camera was.
There was a camera down the street. There was a camera in the back of the cab. There were cameras everywhere and yet nowhere. And I thought, this is insane. These people are nuts. And so I just remember kissing Rashida out in the street and going, are they filming this? Where's the camera? That's fantastic. And like, that is the ethos of the show, right? And the camera ops in this case, you know, I believe this season was probably Tom McGill as the A-cam and Shauna Hagen as the B-cam. You know, they...
They become like DPs. They become cinematographers because they're making a lot of creative choices. And I think of the best scenes like the cameras aren't up in your face. You know, it's like you're playing it like a documentary because it's a mockumentary and you want the actors to feel like they're actually in it. So I think that's actually a boon to the actors, you know.
You know, a little background about why Chris and Ann even started getting together. You know, after the first table read we had of this episode, it was clear that Amy and Adam had some chemistry and we kind of had a plan in mind for a long-term arc romantic storyline between the two of them. But we also knew that that was going to be a slow burn and it wasn't going to ignite immediately. So in the rewrite leading up to the shooting draft,
We developed the romantic storyline between Chris and Anne. And it was another way, by the way, of tying you into the show and just having more spokes on the wheel and having us have the ability to have Chris storylines and Chris and Anne storylines because, you know, again, you just want to tie people in the show as much as possible and have there be a reason why people are together. So I thought that was a smart decision to make. For sure. Back to the synopsis. Back at the Parks Department, Leslie apologizes to Ben.
who in turn invites her out for a beer. I want to talk about this because I think this is a great piece of acting on his part. Truly talk about a guy who can do it all. I mean, that look, I know I'm not supposed to stop at the middle synopsis, but you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm taking control. He, his look where he goes, you want to go for a beer is that's people won't talk about acting. That's,
amazing acting. Yeah. He's the math that he does in his head to come up with the fact that he's going to do, ask her this question out of nowhere. It's, it's one of Adam's best moments. It's, I love every time I watch this episode, I'm, I'm always struck with that, that moment. It's phenomenal. And I'm, I'm glad you brought up that moment. I'm going to interrupt the synopsis as well. Fuck it. We're doing it. Let's go. We're getting crazy. But, but I, I, it's so funny that you flagged that moment because I also noticed it. And, and,
it's super relevant. I just directed Adam in a scene and he asked me a question. He's like, does the character, am I thinking, am I remembering this in the moment or do I know it before? And I was like, let's try one where you remember in the moment. And you know how hard that is to say like, hey, I'd love to do that. Oh shit, wait, I'm supposed to be in Sweden. The line was something like that. Like I'm going to Sweden tomorrow, whatever it was. And he was able to do it
totally effortlessly and sell you. Like seeing someone think of something, that is not easy. I challenge you, all you actors out there and non-actors alike,
Look in the mirror and convey that you just remembered something. It's not easy. It's not easy. So, yeah, I love that. And it's all facial acting. It's all in the eyes. So kudos to Adam. So they go out for their beer and Leslie realizes that she actually knows who Ben is only by reputation because he was the 18 year old mayor of the small town Partridge, Minnesota, that he promptly drove into the ground. So Ben became a state auditor to prove that he can be responsible and restart the
his political career. Later at a meeting, Chris and Ben revealed to Leslie and Ron that Pawnee's budget crisis is worse than they previously thought and that, effective immediately, Pawnee government will be shut down until further notice.
horrifying leslie and ron and creating a ginormous cliffhanger that will propel us through into the next season absolutely and and it's an amazing it's just it it again i love the backstory for for adam's character you know it's it's the town mayor so funny and and that's i think that's credit to mike he was like yeah he was fascinated by kid mayors and like what a funny backstory that he's kind of it's a redemption story
right? He's like, he, he, he screwed up a town, his hometown. He was younger and now he's doing that. So yeah, it's really great. I mean, your backstory with the, with the heart condition and then Adam's backstory with this, it's just really rich. And I, and I think we don't get to Chris's backstory for, for actually quite some time. Yeah. And that they, you guys were able to organically get to a character's backstory slash subtext within three scenes of the guy making his appearance. Yes. Is, is,
really a serious writing sleight of hand. And without it feeling gratuitous or exposition. No, not at all. Exactly. That's the really tough thing is, you know, when you learn to write or whatever, when you're sort of taking, you know, classes or whatever, like, yeah, get the backstory. And it's not always about backstory. That's actually an interesting point you make, Rob, because for your characters, like, we kind of know who he is. We get it. We don't need the backstory immediately. For Adam's character, it just happened that this, oh, this will liven up his character a little bit. And so there's two different paths.
And I think they're both effective. And again, a lot of it is the writing. A lot of it is the performance. You know, it's just like he seems like a real dude. He seems like a real dude. Yeah, this in particular seems super performance driven. It's like, you know, Adam's doing it totally different. It's almost like...
I mean, the truth of it is I almost felt sometimes that that Adam and I were in different shows because we're working in really different gears. And and it was a good lesson for me that that's OK. Yeah. Do you mean like there's.
There's a world in which I could look at Chris Traeger as one note. And there were days when like when I was maybe not as confident as I would like to have been or tired rather like am I just playing is am I just going to the same well over and over again with this character? And then the answer is no, you fucking idiot. Shut up. This is great. He's hilarious. Do your thing. And by the way, it's fine because what I realize is.
There's only one choice for Chris. Positive. Literally. There's not a seventh way to do it. There's not shades to it. And that's fine. There's a time and place for those characters. This is not it. You're playing a human exclamation point. Yeah.
Yeah. And you're totally right. Like everyone serves a different purpose in the show. And it's and Chris Traeger is a pretty hard comedy character, right? It's a hard comedy character. And that's how we wrote him. And that's how you perform it. And that's what people love about it, you know, and it's a different character from from from Ben Wyatt. And that's a different character from Ron. You know, it's all different. And for me to play a hard comedy because I usually get like the sort of romantic lead. I get the Ben Wyatt. Yeah, usually. Yeah. And then some gnarly comedy hitter.
would come in and crush as Chris Traeger.
And we, so that's what, what I ended up being happy to do is just come in, get my laughs and leave. It was, it leave the romance to somebody else. I mean, that's super fun. It truly feels that way. I can't speak for you, but it feels like a lot of time leading men or guys who are good looking. It's like, I want to do something, you know, it's like, I want to do something. I want to be known for something else. And it's like, how fun, how fun to, to come in and just be this comedy character. Like it's, it's, it's, and by the way, kudos to you for being able to do it. Cause I,
you know, a lot of them good-looking guys are not funny. So I'll leave it at that. I'll leave it at that. It's hard, man. That's the hardest thing to find in Hollywood is good-looking and funny, right? It's like that's pretty hard. So kudos, kudos. You're only as good as your writing, and that is true. It's a good one. Well, we're pretty done with the synopsis here. Any final thoughts on this episode, Rob? Yeah, watching this episode, it just made me super...
happy that I got to be a part of this show. Like just, it just like, I'm just so glad that I, that I got to be a part of this and, um, that people will, you're listening to the podcast about it right now. And it made enough time has gone by that. I, I can kind of look at it. And this sounds nuts. And I hate when actors talk like this, they talk about their characters in the third person. It's usually such a bullshit and so pretentious, but the fact of the matter is like, I love Chris Traeger. I love that character. And, um,
Um, I haven't played the character in so, in so long and it's, it's become such a thing that I can look at it and go, ah, I just like spending time with Chris. I'm glad he's in the show.
Yeah. I, it brought a lot of nostalgia back to me as well. And to me, like, this is, you know, it's, it's like revisiting a decade of your life, you know, this is my twenties and it's like, man, it's, it's just so fun to see because they all become your friends, you know, yourself included. So I was like, wow, this is, this is the team coming together. This is the vendors before the vendors and the comedy Avengers. And it's like,
So, man, this is a fun one. I can't wait to do more episodes that Chris is in. You ready to move to the oops moment in the town, Hal? Yeah, what's our oops moment? And what do we got going on in oops for this episode? We got a couple.
Party people, Ben says, when he was 18, he chose, whoop, there it is, to play at his inauguration ceremony as mayor of Partridge, Minnesota. However, according to the newspaper article from February 18th, 1993, he was elected mayor on November 7th, 1992. Whoop, there it is, was not released until May 1993 and became popular later that summer. How can you get over this gaffe? Maybe cancel the show. Cancel the podcast. That's a gaffe. That's a serious gaffe. Yeah.
I mean, if you can't remember the exact date of Wump, there it is. You were not listening to the radio. Tag team. Tag team back again. And one more oops moment. The interior of JJ's Diner is different in this episode from when it's seen in Summer Catalog. And that is also different when it's seen in The Reporter. So, yes, in all three episodes, a different interior is used for JJ's Diner. Come on. By the way, how many town howls have we done at JJ's Diner, not knowing that we could actually do...
Three different JJ's diners. Is it the reporter JJ's? Is it summer catalog JJ's? Or is it a master plan JJ's? It's really funny. That's actually very funny. I feel like I've been to some of these diners. Like one of them is in Studio City. It's like, Oh, I pass it all the time. Yeah. All right. Now we have for our episode MVP, most valuable Pawnee. And it's, it's,
I think it's, you got to give it co, you know, co, co winners to Chris and Ben. That's it, man. Butch and Sundance. It really is the moment when they walk in and you're like, Oh, this is the show. And like, it's, it's, it's, it's well-written and well-performed. It really is. Like when those two guys walk in, you know, first it's, it's those, uh, those ghoulish looking people that, that, that Leslie sees. And then you guys walk in, it's like, Oh, it's Rob and Adam. And,
And it's very rewarding because, you know, if you've rewatched, if you're rewatching, you know what it's about to come. And it's like you just it's exciting to see them. So that's it, man. That's that's definitely the MVP. Greg Levine message from producer Greg. He says runner up MVP April for having the birthday party that sets up the whole rest of the episode. So runner up runner up is April. It was my birthday when I shot it. And it was an episode about her at her 21st birthday. See, it's just kismet all around. It's adorable. It really was.
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Terms apply. Learn how to get more out of your experiences at AmericanExpress.com slash with Amex. Do you want to go to the town hall? I think you do. Shall we take a trip to the town hall slash town hall? And this, I'm demanding that we do it in the third set for JJ's Diner. Yeah, this is it. Master plan. This is the third JJ's. JJV3. It's like a...
There's so many. It's like the number of Rocky movies. All right. The town howl comes to us from Natalie from England, from jolly old England. Hi, this is Natalie from Rotherham in England. Short time, first time. Thank you so much for making this podcast. This is literally one of the most exciting things to happen this whole year. So thank you, Team Cocoa.
and Aled and Rob. My question is, were there any kind of initial ideas for like romantic interest or for like love interest or like romantic storylines that kind of didn't then pan out as the characters evolved? Just kind of wanted to know if the people that we know may have ended up with somebody else. Anyway, love the show. Love to everyone. Can't wait for the rest of the podcast. Bye. Bye.
Great question, Natalie. Thank you for listening over there in England. Very exciting. The one that we've talked about before is Ron and Leslie, but I feel like at some point in the writer's room...
you've kind of jokingly or otherwise paired up literally every couple in the entire show. So it's literally like, you know, it was like, what about literally? I remember Greg, Greg Daniels, the co-creator be like, should Tom and Ann get married? Like literally like, like just the crazy, like literally the craziest stuff. I guess they ultimately did date, but it's like, it's, it's, it's, it feels like because you're talking about a show for seven years, like,
And romantic storylines are always fun and people like them. You're just pairing up everybody. Greg, do you remember any other ones? I mean, we did Tom and Anne, so that doesn't even technically answer the question. But do you remember any weird, wacky ones? Well, I was going to say when you do a storyline, a run where Tom and Anne do get together, the answer I think is no. You haven't left any...
on the floor. They're all in there. It's truly crazy. It's truly crazy. Oh, Ron and Ann was another one. I feel like Ron and Ann got pitched at some point. It's like, no, we don't want to do that. Wait, did somebody just have a thing for wanting to see more sex with Ron Swanson? Because that's kind of what I'm picking up from my end. I think it literally is like, you're just...
You know, if you think about each episode having two to three storylines, at a certain point, you've done 300 storylines. So you just are like anything, man. Should Jerry date Donna? Like you're just like, you're just throwing anything at the wall. But yeah, Ron and Anna was a hilarious one. We never did that. But God, I forget who pitched that. But that's like, yeah, let's not do that. It's bad.
All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for the town howl. And thank you all out there for listening. I hope you had a good, this was fun. We've been waiting a long time for, for this one and it's here and I'm happy about that. And so if you enjoyed it, please subscribe where you get your podcast. We would love a five-star review on Apple. And thank you to Schulte and Greg, the, the, the brain trust behind in our ears, telepathy,
telling us all the smart things to say. If it was dumb, we made it up. And if it was smart, you told us to say it. And I don't know about you, Alan, but I say, good day, sir, from Pawnee. Goodbye from Pawnee.
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 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.
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