0:00

Hey Cam, mind sending me over our

0:02

new Wi-Fi password? Oh sorry, Mitch, you

0:04

can't be trusted. What's your phone? It's

0:06

different than mine. Cam! And I thought

0:08

I was a judge-y one. No, it's

0:10

just messages between different devices aren't encrypted.

0:12

Okay. Since when do you know

0:14

about encryption? I know what encryption is, and

0:16

it's because I'm the last line of defense

0:18

against any would-be Wi-Fi thieves. Cam, come on.

0:20

Okay, fine. I'll send it somewhere more private.

0:22

Thank you. Safely

0:25

send messages between different devices on

0:27

WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone.

0:31

It sounds like you could use a

0:33

break, and I am not talking about

0:35

a regular boring break. I am talking

0:38

about four delicious pieces of chocolate, three

0:40

crisp wafers, two layers of sweet KitKat

0:42

filling, one incredible break. Yes,

0:45

I gotta tell you, KitKat bars have

0:47

been, in our, my favorite candy bar.

0:50

I love chocolate. I like sweets. Here's what I always loved

0:52

as a kid. I love saying

0:54

to my parents, I want to get a

0:56

candy bar. And they said, okay.

0:58

And I thought I have a secret because

1:00

I'm getting a candy bar that actually is four

1:02

pieces. Four, yes. And they

1:05

are none the wiser. It was so fun. There was

1:08

a joy in just like breaking off a piece of

1:10

that KitKat bar. That's right, Jim.

1:12

Have a break. Have a KitKat. Hey,

1:24

everybody. Welcome

1:52

back to another riveting, I

1:54

hope, episode of Arts and Recollects. Well,

1:56

that's entirely up to you and me.

1:58

Exactly. The pressure is on. That

2:01

was more like an internal like, I hope I can

2:03

do this. I think we can though. I said it

2:05

because let's put the pressure on us. I think we

2:07

have it in us. Yes.

2:09

I am Jim O'Hare. You know

2:11

me as Gary, Larry, Jerry, Terry,

2:13

even Barry, Johnny Karate from Parks

2:15

and Recreation along with again. Yes.

2:18

The best part about bits is the more we do them. The

2:21

funnier the thing. It's Greg. Hello.

2:24

We're back together. Jim, you and I are back

2:26

together. And I do love that. And you

2:28

said it was such conviction. I do

2:30

love every moment with you. And

2:32

later we have Jamie Denbow who

2:34

joined us for conversation. She plays

2:37

Kim Turlando in this episode. So

2:39

stick around for that interview. It's

2:42

amazing. No, also total sideline.

2:44

So somebody mentioned to me, I think it was

2:46

Greg about, oh, there's, you know, you can read

2:49

reviews of the podcast, blah, blah, blah. And overall,

2:51

they're like wonderful. Wait, hold on a second. Yeah.

2:54

Just a quick, there's a little side story. Someone

2:57

told me, I think it was Greg, me, the person

2:59

sitting across the room. It was you. That

3:01

you could read reviews of our podcast. I never

3:03

knew that. No, no, because I'm not a review

3:05

person. I really generally never look at

3:07

over anything I've ever done. Like whatever

3:09

it's done. And if people want to

3:11

sit at home and rip it apart, they're welcome to do

3:13

it. Generally our reviews are lovely, which

3:16

is great. But some I did because you mentioned it,

3:18

I looked and one of them said I'm too mean

3:20

to you. And so I

3:22

just want to put it out there. I love

3:24

Greg and yes, I do have a very sarcastic

3:27

tone at times, but it is not

3:30

mean. I hope I don't want it to come

3:32

across mean because I love you, my friend. Thank

3:34

you. I appreciate that. I have

3:36

added an extra therapy session every

3:38

week, but I appreciate that. No, but I, because we

3:41

have, I mean, we're just having fun. That is what

3:43

goes on here. Anyway, the other thing I want to

3:45

say, and there's no way to say this without sounding

3:47

like I'm just throwing it in your face, you know,

3:49

bragging, but yesterday I had

3:51

a colonoscopy. Oh,

3:53

good times. Can I tell you something? Good

3:55

times. I actually think they are a good time.

3:58

Oh, I disagree. Oh. Okay. Tell me

4:00

your experience. I'll give you mine. Well, the procedure is

4:02

nothing. You go in, they knock you out, you leave.

4:05

Got a couple of polyps, we snip snip, and you're

4:07

good to go. No, it's

4:09

the prep. No, the prep is awful.

4:11

Awful. It's awful. You stop being a

4:14

human being. Yes. And for a little

4:16

bit, you're just a pure animal

4:19

who's lost complete control of something that,

4:21

like, you've built your life around having

4:24

control over. Need control over. Right. Yes.

4:27

But the feeling afterwards, whatever

4:29

they give you for the

4:32

procedure, I woke up

4:34

having felt more refreshed than I've had in

4:37

my entire life. My boss at the time

4:39

when I had to have my first one,

4:41

I was going to take some time off,

4:43

whatever. And she's like, honestly, Greg, afterwards, you're

4:45

going to feel amazing. I'm like, well, that

4:47

sounds impossible. It's going to be

4:49

so good. You're going to feel so refreshed.

4:51

And I texted her immediately. Like, I have

4:53

never felt, I felt

4:55

like I'd slept for like a week and

4:58

it'd been about 40 minutes. Apparently I

5:00

was talking throughout it. Oh, wow.

5:03

Oh no, I did none of that. Oh, okay.

5:05

I just did that thing where they say, okay,

5:07

Mr. O'Hare, we're going to put this thing. And

5:09

then they're waking me up. I

5:12

have no memory. And do you tell them when you

5:14

come in for this, like, I want you to refer

5:16

to me as Mr. O'Hare? Yes. I insist.

5:18

You do. Everyone who knows me knows I am

5:20

Mr. O'Hare. Anything medical, I am Mr. O'Hare. I

5:22

am Mr. O'Hare. No, but you know how they

5:24

do it. They get Mr. O'Hare and Mr. O'Hare.

5:26

That's how they did it. And

5:28

as a treat for you, my friend, I was

5:31

able to get the polyps and-

5:33

Oh, did you get them for me? I got them

5:35

for you. They're in a baggie. And for what I

5:37

hear, you cook them at a high heat and they're

5:39

delicious. They are. So- I might just look at them

5:41

for a while. Whatever you want to do, they're yours.

5:43

I have to tell you, we've done a fair

5:46

amount of these episodes together. This

5:49

is easily the weirdest beginning we've ever had. Well,

5:53

I think it's good to talk about our lives.

5:55

It's so much so that I'm

5:57

thinking, what have we done? Dear listener.

6:01

We would like to make an apology video.

6:04

Are still with us. We

6:06

are about to talk about an

6:08

episode of Parks and Recreation. I

6:10

swear to you, in fact, I'm

6:12

gonna capitalize on that to

6:15

say we're talking

6:17

about correspondence

6:19

lunch. It was written

6:21

by Alexandra Rushfield. It

6:24

was directed by and I don't think this is

6:26

a typo. Am I pronounced this right? Nick

6:28

Offerman? I think that's correct. Nick Offerman.

6:30

Nick Offerman directed. It aired January 21st,

6:33

2013. And Jim, please blur.

6:39

Here we go. Realizing your email has

6:41

been hacked by a tabloid reporter from

6:43

the Pawnee Sun, Leslie and Donna set

6:45

a trap to catch the culprit. Meanwhile,

6:47

Ben embarks on his new job as

6:49

head of the Sweetums Foundation. And

6:52

works up the nerve to ask

6:54

Chris to be her sperm donut. Oh,

6:57

God. Yikes. Okay. Well, let's get

7:00

some notes for this super

7:02

fun episode, Jim, because this episode

7:04

aired as the second of

7:07

a double header Parks episode release.

7:09

It immediately followed Season Five, Episode

7:11

14. That was Leslie and Ben.

7:13

That was the wedding. It was

7:15

adorable. And we discussed last week. We

7:17

don't have to get into it, but last week we discussed

7:19

it was kind of written to be a potential series finale.

7:22

So here the series isn't

7:25

finality. Thank God.

7:27

Right. And we just get to have a classic

7:30

fun Parks and Rec episode after

7:32

a very beautiful wedding. It's perfect.

7:34

I have a technical question because

7:36

there are three stories, but would

7:38

this still be called an A,

7:40

B and a C story, even

7:42

though the Chris and Ann story

7:44

was taking place mostly at

7:47

the A story. So would you guys still

7:49

break that up as ABC? Absolutely.

7:52

Our minds were helped by labeling them.

7:54

Right. And we talked to this before

7:56

that certain episode storylines get a little

7:58

more of the time and real estate

8:00

and so sometimes your C story

8:02

is just like a few beats, really

8:04

it's just a beginning, middle and end when you see

8:06

the scenes. In this case, the

8:09

Anne Chris storyline, you know, you

8:11

can move that around like it

8:14

could have happened before one scene, after

8:16

a different scene. Right. And that C

8:18

story being off on its own, it

8:21

doesn't have as much consequence to the other

8:23

stuff. So while it might be at that

8:25

location, it really has nothing to

8:27

do with the story. No,

8:29

other than they were there. Other than being there. They happen

8:31

to be there. Yeah. No, I was just wondering, I didn't

8:33

know if that's how you guys looked at that. And

8:36

also we can't overstate

8:39

how exciting it was that Nick Offerman directed this.

8:41

Oh my God. It was the first time. Yeah,

8:43

tell us about that. And it's a big episode.

8:45

There's, you know, instead of

8:47

this luncheon, which means extras, and we

8:50

had six guest stars. Now,

8:52

granted they were quick in and out,

8:54

but it was Jessica Wicks, you know,

8:56

Susan Yegley, Mo Collins, Joan Calamazzo. We

8:58

had Alison Becker, Sean Amalwe, Tweep. We

9:00

had James Green, Councilman Milton.

9:02

Well, of course I love Jim Meskeman, who

9:05

played Martin Housley. And then of course we

9:07

had our J Jackson, Purd. So there's

9:09

a lot going on. Yes. Now

9:11

here's where I think Nick was

9:13

probably so relieved. By

9:15

this point, we were in season five. We

9:18

have the greatest DP. We

9:20

got, you know, our Tom McGill. We

9:23

had department heads who knew exactly what they were doing.

9:25

So as much as there was still a lot of

9:27

pressure on Nick, because you are the director, it's all

9:29

going to be on you. We

9:32

had such a strong team that I'm

9:34

sure that is what helped him get

9:36

through the day. Right. And it's not

9:38

like this is his first job directing

9:40

and he has no knowledge of the

9:42

crew, of the world, of the characters.

9:44

It's like, hey buddy, come be

9:47

a director. Yes.

9:49

No, it's Nick Offerman who this is home to

9:51

him for years. And I've always said a hundred

9:54

different places. I love them to actor

9:56

directs. They know what we want. They

9:58

know not to. to overstep sometimes

10:00

because sometimes you're like, okay, I get it, I

10:02

get it, I get it. And then an actor

10:04

director knows, don't give you a line read, because

10:07

we ain't looking for that. So I

10:09

love when an actor directs. And

10:11

so to me, this was just nothing but fun. Plus

10:13

he got to be in it too. He had some

10:16

great moments. I just saw this clip of Gary Oldman

10:18

talking about a direction note that

10:20

Chris Nolan gave him once, which was

10:22

like, there's more

10:24

at stake here. And it's

10:26

like, that was an amazing note. That is a

10:29

good note. It's all he

10:31

needed. He didn't need to know the whole thing

10:33

and like, well, like all the pieces, it's just

10:35

like trusting in fact, the actor, this

10:37

person who's working right now, in this case, the other

10:40

actor, be like, I'm gonna give you this thing and

10:42

it's gonna be all you need to know what you

10:44

need to bring here. Probably better than

10:46

the line reading. Definitely better than the

10:48

line reading. No, but that, I

10:51

love that. Yeah, right? Kinda gives you like, oh,

10:53

there's more at stake here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So

10:56

it was great. We had so much fun. And

10:58

of course it was one of those episodes that I particularly

11:00

love because we're all together for a lot of it. We're

11:02

all in a room together. And

11:05

your character gets, you

11:07

know, you're really fucked

11:09

up. You really, well, yes and no. No,

11:12

but for a while you really did. While I'm

11:14

in my place. And you're punished for it. Yes. But

11:17

no, Nick did a tremendous job.

11:19

Great job. And he will go

11:21

on to direct another episode in season six.

11:23

It's episode 19, it's flu season two. We're

11:26

gonna talk about that when we get to

11:28

it. But now we're talking

11:30

about this one. So let's forge on

11:32

and open up our synopsis. Leslie

11:35

and Ben have returned bearing gifts from

11:37

their Hawaiian honeymoon. But there's no time

11:39

to bask in the honeymoon glow. Leslie

11:42

is preparing her speech for the correspondence

11:44

lunch. And Ben is set to begin

11:46

his new job at the Sweden's foundation.

11:49

Meanwhile, Ann is having trouble working

11:52

up the nerve to ask Chris

11:54

to be her sperm donor. Okay,

11:57

the cold open. It's the only reference to the wedding.

12:00

last episode, which is interesting, isn't

12:02

it? Yeah, because that was such a big

12:04

thing. Yeah. And I think that was intentional.

12:06

I remember that being a conscious choice, which

12:08

is we just spent an entire episode on

12:10

the wedding and let's just

12:13

have a parks episode.

12:15

Yeah. Right? Where that isn't

12:17

the serialized arc of our

12:19

characters isn't on the

12:21

main stage. Yeah. Because now if you

12:23

think about it, other than the Andy

12:25

storyline, it really could be

12:27

any episode anyway. Well, I mean, we- It's

12:30

very standalone. Right. I mean, we do have

12:32

Anne asking Chris to be sperm donor- Which

12:34

would be very crazy as a storyline if

12:36

we didn't build it out already. Yeah. But

12:39

I guess what I'm saying is that it's

12:41

just a fun storyline. It's just a classic

12:44

parks and rec A story. Yeah. Okay.

12:46

Well, Jim, I'll just say, I think

12:48

Anne's, this character arc she

12:50

has, this awkwardness and finding

12:53

a sperm donor for herself, it

12:56

continues. But I think it works really

12:58

well as an angle

13:00

for her. Do you agree? Yeah. And

13:02

also Rashida plays awkward brilliantly. Yes. It's

13:05

so uncomfortable. Yes. And she's uncomfortable to

13:07

watch her trying to be together. Right.

13:09

Yeah. And that's the brilliance of Rashida.

13:11

And there's something quite humbling, I think,

13:13

about a person like Anne

13:16

being awkward. Yeah. You know? She

13:18

should be not awkward. She's a

13:20

nurse. She's

13:22

working for the city. Yes. She's doing her thing.

13:24

Yes. She should have nothing but confidence. Yeah. Especially

13:26

she trips over her tongue and she gets uncomfortable.

13:30

And the avoidance of Chris is this great

13:32

running gag. I like when she pops into

13:34

Ron's office a few times as in a

13:36

way to avoid him. It's so funny. And

13:39

I'll just say, just watching this episode, Leslie's

13:42

distrust and hatred of the Pawnee

13:45

son. It's so fun, isn't it?

13:48

It's also, it goes deep. She's mad

13:50

at them and she just wants to...

13:52

This is her chance to best

13:55

them because they've been getting her pretty

13:57

much her entire career. I mean, we have

13:59

a lot of people that are have these

14:01

great headlines about the so-duh tax, nope, felicis,

14:04

consumers again. There's nope sucks,

14:06

did porn warp the sheriff's

14:08

future? Nope, grope is last

14:10

hope, right? That's when the

14:14

former city manager has this heart

14:17

attack. So, you know, this

14:19

is her chance. I

14:21

just love the jokes she has

14:23

and in this great scene where she's,

14:25

you know, reading them out. We need

14:28

this. We need a scene of her

14:30

saying the jokes to us so

14:32

that later when they're stolen from

14:35

her and we hear them on stage, we recognize

14:37

them, right? Because it wouldn't be fun if we

14:39

didn't already hear them. It wouldn't make sense. Right?

14:41

There'd be a punch line without a setup. Yeah.

14:44

And so here's this great scene of Leslie delivering

14:46

these jokes and she's so proud and they're all

14:48

very dad jokes, right? But

14:50

then all of this

14:52

is set up for this big reveal

14:54

that the speech has been stolen. But

14:56

it's so fun. The whoop ass. Anyway,

14:59

it's great. Yeah. And the Kim character,

15:01

you know, played by Jamie Dendro is

15:03

so funny because she knows what

15:05

she's got in her backpack. She's got

15:07

Leslie's jokes. Right. So she's just like,

15:09

okay, okay. Right. It must

15:11

be so fun just to hear this

15:13

person just go on like, why are

15:15

you digging your own place? Yes. Yes.

15:17

Because the setup is brilliant. Yes. Speaking

15:19

of setup, with Sweden's facing yet another

15:21

scandal, Ben is tasked with choosing a

15:23

charity for the foundation to fund on

15:25

his first day on the job. And

15:28

after seeing the huge pile of proposals, Ben

15:30

enlist the help of April, Andy

15:32

and Tom to sort things out.

15:34

Meanwhile, the correspondence lunch is underway

15:37

and Kim Turlando has somehow gotten

15:39

ahold of Leslie's speech telling all

15:41

of Leslie's jokes on stage. At

15:44

the same time, Anne chickens out on

15:46

talking to Chris yet again, when she

15:48

sees him hitting it off with his

15:50

ex girlfriend, Shana, Molly, tweet. Well,

15:52

Jim, we are back at the

15:55

super suites. We pawn

15:57

these super suites for the

15:59

correspondence. and it's fun. We

16:02

have Jim Messkeman returning as Martin Housley.

16:04

He's the best. He's Pawnee's favorite Pawnee

16:06

MC. He's also, you know,

16:08

in real life and on our show, he

16:10

does amazing impressions. Impressions, yes. Yes,

16:12

he really is. And you know who his mother

16:15

is? No, but what? This is

16:17

huge. Mary and Ross. Really?

16:20

From Happy Days. Yeah. That is

16:22

his mother. Oh. Yes. Great.

16:27

And they know that about each other. They do. You've

16:30

not just been the middle, okay. They

16:32

have figured it out. Okay, thank God. But

16:34

yeah, that's his mom. Well, he's

16:36

awesome. Yeah, amazing. It's a great story

16:38

of you have a fun character, but

16:40

then an actor brings something extra special

16:42

to it. And then you just want

16:44

to keep bringing that person back. I

16:46

think Martin Housley was not intended to

16:48

be Pawnee's favorite Pawnee MC and

16:51

impersonating MC, but he shows up every time. And

16:53

again, the brilliance of Mike and all of you

16:55

guys who put this all together. And Greg, you're

16:58

making it its own little world. Right, so little spring folks.

17:00

So these people keep coming back. I love that. I

17:02

love when I see the same characters come back. Yes. Also,

17:05

the beginning of the snopes is about, you

17:07

know, Ben being at the foundation. The

17:10

scene with him and Justin Angley,

17:13

Jessica Wicks. She's such

17:15

a delusional woman. She knows

17:17

nothing about the real world. It's

17:19

just money and it's all up, but

17:21

it doesn't matter how the money comes, whether it's rent

17:23

and ride, which you can talk about later, but there's

17:26

all this stuff. But the greatest moment

17:28

is when he realizes there are paintings. You're

17:30

right, the paintings. Naked paintings

17:32

of her and her husband

17:34

in a wheelchair. Even

17:37

though it's blurred out, I'm assuming balls

17:40

hanging like just nasty stuff

17:43

and she couldn't be prouder. Well, we've seen

17:45

those paintings before, right? And she's quite proud

17:47

of that. I mean, she's a pure comedy

17:50

character. Yes. There's nothing real

17:52

about her. She really is only

17:54

there to set up a world for us

17:56

and then just be a jerk machine. Yeah,

17:58

and Susan was... Brilliant.

18:00

Brilliant. Yes. She

18:02

was awesome. Yes. Yes.

18:05

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18:08

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19:38

denim, luxury bags and

19:40

sunglasses. Rack up the deals today

19:42

and save up to 60% on summer at

19:45

your Nordstrom Rack store. Speaking

19:49

of setup, I just want to say

19:51

sometimes, I'm

19:55

about to talk about the B story with Ben and

19:58

his task. Sometimes we do. When you think about

20:00

a storyline too much, you realize how

20:02

insane the setup is. For

20:05

Ben, he swamped with a new

20:07

assignment on a crunch deadline. So

20:10

he asks April, Andy and Tom to come

20:12

and help him. Let me

20:14

just say that again. He asked his

20:16

former coworkers who have other jobs, helping

20:19

him to help him. Now at

20:22

his new job, I'm presuming

20:24

their time off or it's the day

20:26

off or whatever it is, it's

20:29

just hard to imagine asking my former coworkers, even

20:31

good friends of mine, to come help me with

20:33

my job that I paid for. Seems odd. Right.

20:37

It's like, I'm gonna, this is really tough. I could really

20:39

use some help. Hey, friends, come

20:41

work. And also not

20:43

just friends, but these particular friends. Yes.

20:46

Like, yes, you do want to Leslie there.

20:48

Leslie would be amazing. He would never pick

20:50

these three people. If only it

20:52

was the fact that writers on the TV

20:55

show had these three characters left over. And

20:57

we got to put them in for a

20:59

storyline. And listen, I'm not,

21:01

I'm not shitting on it. That

21:03

is what writing is. It is

21:05

a, obviously we're not watching a

21:07

documentary. This is a silly show. It's

21:10

a silly premise. Not silly. It's hardcore funny.

21:12

No, but no, I know what you mean.

21:14

It's this, but ultimately this is theater. This

21:17

is dress up. This is fun and play.

21:19

We're watching the silly little thing here and

21:21

we're all buying into the, the, the

21:23

reality of it. And like, and

21:25

that means you're going to have storylines like

21:27

this. Like we had storylines just a few

21:30

episodes ago where our, where Tom's coworkers

21:32

helped him paint and decorate

21:35

and set up a

21:37

storefront for his other job. We're

21:39

just buying into the fact that

21:41

on shows like this, that are

21:43

work based character comedy

21:45

shows, your work people are

21:48

your friends. They were people are your family. And people

21:50

also buy into it because they want these people around.

21:52

They want Andy there. They want Tom there. It's just

21:54

fun. They want April there. And it's funny to me

21:56

that sometimes it just take a step back to be

21:59

like, Oh yeah. Well,

34:06

Jim, let us finish our synopsis. Yes,

34:08

go for it. Back at the Parks

34:10

Department, Ann is still trying to avoid

34:12

Chris out of embarrassment. Chris

34:15

approaches her with kindness, explaining

34:17

he's honored by her proposal, but just

34:20

needs a little more time to consider

34:22

his answer. Meanwhile, Leslie and Donna have

34:24

set a trap to catch Kim Trilando

34:26

in the act of the hack and

34:29

Kim walks right into it. Yes,

34:32

I love the moment with Ann and Chris because it

34:34

was so human. Yes. He

34:37

shouldn't just say, well, yes or

34:39

no. That is something you got

34:41

to think about. Yes, and he plays it in this

34:43

way. So like, you know, it

34:46

is really lovely. I loved it. And

34:49

she's like, well, of course, no, take the time

34:51

you need. But then she's

34:54

ovulating next Thursday. But

34:56

also, yeah, I'm itching to do this and I'm ovulating and

34:58

blah, blah, blah. And you just see Chris walk off just

35:00

being like, I have something to think about. I got to

35:03

think about this. I have a thing to think about. Yeah.

35:05

Great moment. Yes. Great moment. Leslie

35:08

catches Kim with a Star

35:10

Wars reference. I think this was also a

35:12

great thing, which was, you

35:14

just needed to prove that she was

35:16

hacking the emails. And so whatever she

35:18

said that was unique was

35:21

going to be the gotcha. So

35:23

it's great and silly and stupid

35:25

that is the reference to midichlorians,

35:27

this fictional substance found in the

35:29

blood of Jedi Knights from the movie Star Wars

35:32

Episode One, The Phantom Menace. Which of course she

35:34

got from Ben. And Leslie would never know that.

35:36

And she says, Ben says it's the worst movie

35:38

and it owns the franchise or whatever. But

35:43

it feels good in a way that like the

35:45

early season two and three parks episodes did where

35:49

we found a

35:51

clever solution and we proved our

35:53

point and we won. And

35:56

I love Donna in this big scene too. First

35:58

of all, we're all in the room together. Leslie's like, we

36:00

got to figure out what's going on. Check all my old

36:02

emails. And then Donna, she

36:05

figures it out and she's like, clear the room. Because

36:07

she's got it. And then, but in this, in the

36:09

scene where they get Kim and

36:11

she's, Donna's like so proud to be like,

36:14

I sent Leslie that too, right? She's

36:16

so, I think she's proud to have

36:19

Leslie's back. Yes. Is

36:21

what I'm saying. Yeah. And

36:23

Jim in the tag, Ben

36:26

offers Andy a job.

36:28

He has parties and jobs so much where you

36:31

have a job offer. Ben

36:33

offers Andy a job as his

36:35

assistant at the Sweetums Foundation, pulling

36:37

Andy out of his depression and

36:40

back to his usual lovable stuff. Though it

36:42

took a minute to get there because Andy

36:44

really wasn't grasping what Ben was trying to

36:46

say. And that is one

36:48

of my favorite Andy moments from the

36:51

series. And I say that because I

36:53

forgot about it, but just watching

36:55

him sit back in his chair in the

36:58

patio and Ben is saying, and that person

37:00

is, who

37:04

was it? I was cracking up

37:06

at home watching it. I'm by myself watching

37:09

the show, cracking up. And that just shows

37:11

you, it's a good show. We made it.

37:13

We were in a good show. I

37:16

will say that quite unhumbly. It's a good show

37:18

we made. And

37:20

it's a good episode. Jim, we got to

37:22

the end of the story, but it's not

37:25

the end of our episode because as you

37:27

know, we need some of your crap. I

37:29

got lots of crap. I told you that

37:31

colonoscopy. So anyway, people have different opinions of

37:33

vacations and what they want to do. But

37:35

Leslie is talking to everybody and she goes,

37:37

we went and visited Honolulu City Hall in

37:39

April, of course, totally messing with her. Oh,

37:42

shut up. Leslie, I know April. Oh

37:44

my God. What was it like Leslie?

37:46

Oh, it was amazing. Well, I mean,

37:48

it looked amazing. It was closed April.

37:50

Oh my God. Bummer. And then that

37:52

looked to the camera. Like I

37:55

played her that, oh, just, I

37:57

love me some April moments. And then

37:59

when. Leslie meets Kim, not

38:02

meets her, she knows who she is, they've met before.

38:05

But Amy's performance in, and nice

38:07

to meet you too. There's this just

38:09

great moment, how just Amy's performance just

38:11

stuck out and it

38:14

gave me the happiness that made me smile. And

38:16

then Jessica Wicks, who runs the Sweetums,

38:18

you know, it's her place. There

38:21

has been a rumor that perhaps rats are

38:24

involved in the candy.

38:27

And Ben brings it up to her and she goes, well,

38:29

you know what they say about rumors, they're mostly true. And

38:31

Ben goes, including the rat? And she

38:34

goes, yeah, what are you gonna do? It's where all

38:36

the taste comes from. That is

38:38

disgusting. And you guys think

38:40

about all the crap we've eaten over the

38:42

years that we didn't know about. Okay. I

38:44

know. Anyway, so that's some of my crap.

38:47

That's great crap. I'm gonna give us our

38:49

gifts, parties, and jobs. When we talked about

38:51

one, Andy has offered a new job as

38:53

the assistant slash idea man at the foundation.

38:56

Ben starts his new job at the Sweetums

38:58

Foundation. There are gifts all around from their

39:00

honeymoon in the cold open. I guess Chris

39:02

has sort of offered a job. We'll call

39:04

it a task as a sperm donor. And

39:07

maybe we could say the correspondence lunch, it could

39:09

count as a party. It could count as a

39:12

party. It was, it was. Party-esque. There was dessert.

39:15

Yes. Jerry didn't get any, but there was dessert. Final

39:18

thoughts on the episode, Jim. I

39:20

love the episode. As an episode

39:22

overall, I thought it was great. We move along to Ann

39:24

and Chris story big time. But also

39:26

like you said earlier, the Leslie story, it

39:28

was just back to. Classic

39:31

parks. Back to classic parks. Yeah. And it's

39:33

a bit of like the

39:35

war room style Leslie. Right? Yeah, big time. Where there's

39:37

a problem and I'm gonna get my team together and

39:39

we're gonna figure it out. And we're gonna be in

39:41

the trenches together, but do you know what? We got

39:44

this and we will triumph cleverly. Yes.

39:46

And it's very satisfying. And we got to

39:48

see a Andy

39:50

that we hadn't seen before. Yes. I

39:53

love that. When you get to see a character do

39:55

something you haven't seen before. Totally. That's

39:57

awesome. And I know we're doing a comedy, but. Those

40:00

were some tough moments to watch. Right. In

40:02

a very heartbreaking way. You know, it's tough.

40:04

I was thinking about who my episode MVP

40:06

will go to. I will

40:09

say I really, really, really, really love

40:11

that moment from Andy in the courtyard

40:13

at the end of the episode. And

40:15

when he's really sad earlier on, but

40:18

there's something at the

40:20

end of the day, I'm thinking that it's Han.

40:24

Interesting. I'm thinking that's Ann because maybe

40:26

not the most valuable person

40:28

in the A story, but

40:31

this is a storyline that I've talked about. It's

40:33

like, you know, it's interesting. It's a bit of

40:35

a turn and you have to really

40:37

sell it. And in the same way that like it took

40:39

me a while to really get into it in those in

40:41

the same way you felt about the Ann and Tom relationship.

40:44

But this is the episode that I was like, okay,

40:47

I'm in. Yeah, I'm on board. I think it's

40:49

where she is playing of it and it's Ann.

40:51

So you weren't going to say Jerry, me.

40:54

No, I have a rule with the number. Say, just

40:56

making sure for me, my MVP. I

40:58

see exactly what you're saying, but I think I have

41:00

to go with my boy, my boy,

41:02

Pratt. I just the Andy

41:04

stuff was just special and

41:07

different than what we've seen. And

41:09

I guess I'm also throwing in performance like yeah.

41:11

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was saying. And

41:13

I don't know. I

41:16

mean, I nailed it. So it's a

41:18

tough one. Maybe I'll give it a toss up, but I was leaning

41:20

toward Andy. Great. Yes.

41:24

Well, listeners, let us know who your

41:26

MVP is by tweeting at Team Coco

41:28

podcasts or by using the hashtag

41:30

hashtag parks and recollection. We love to hear

41:32

it. We do love to hear it. And

41:34

I would normally hear say thank you all

41:37

for listening, but you got

41:39

to listen some more because speaking of

41:41

Pawnee-ins and perhaps most valuable

41:43

Pawnee-ins, we have this

41:45

amazing conversation. We recently

41:47

sat down with Jamie Denbow who played

41:49

Pawnee's son's tabloid reporter, Kim Sirlando. The

41:52

one we've been talking about. Here

41:54

is what she had to say. We

42:01

have Jamie Denbow in the house.

42:03

Hello, hello. Hi Jamie. Hello, hello.

42:05

She played Kim Turlando. Now

42:07

for those who remember, she does

42:09

something we don't like. Yeah. She

42:12

screws over our Leslie. Yeah. And we

42:14

can allow a lot of things. Yes.

42:16

But we're not gonna allow that. So welcome

42:19

Jamie. Thank you so much for having

42:21

me. I'd love to tell you it was the one and

42:23

only time I played a bitch on television. Well,

42:26

listen, just the 10 minutes we've been chatting, I can

42:28

see why. Yeah, uh-huh. Oh, I'm

42:30

ready to say that. I'm doing my shtick. I'm doing my shtick.

42:32

Exactly. I just want to say before we even get into the

42:34

thing about you being on our show and stuff, I'm obviously a

42:36

big fan of yours. Recently we ran into

42:39

each other at UCB. Yes,

42:41

we did. Was I in full costume?

42:43

You were. Yes, then I was doing my alter ego

42:45

Beverly. Yes. I think it was for a game show

42:47

that they were putting up. It was definitely a game

42:49

show. Yes, and I was so delighted to see Jim

42:51

back there because I was like, I'm gonna do the

42:53

podcast. Oh, that's so fun. And I was doing the

42:56

monologue for Ask Cat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

42:58

But my question is, so I see you there. And

43:00

I'm like, I mean, you are

43:02

someone who works a

43:04

lot. You have a lot going

43:07

on. You must love it because

43:09

that is an improvisational situation. You

43:12

certainly don't have to be there. And yet there you

43:14

are. I think it was a Saturday night. Of

43:17

course the crowds love it and they love you.

43:19

That I understand. Okay, Jim, I turned down a

43:21

lot of other big deals. Big deals. Things

43:23

to be there. I just want to get that

43:26

out. A lot of Saturday night games. Yeah, I

43:28

was pretty in demand. So I mean, you're right,

43:30

you're not wrong. You know what? I

43:32

do love it. I still love it.

43:34

It is my joy. Improv

43:37

is so many things to so many

43:40

people. It has fueled so much of

43:42

my skillset that I've been using, particularly

43:44

in my latest chapter, which is super

43:46

weird and we can talk about that.

43:49

But I also find that

43:51

it helps keep me, it's

43:54

so obnoxious. It helps keep my sensibility

43:56

relevant because there's always younger and cooler

43:58

people. Like here's... Oh, yeah, baby. Oh,

44:00

yeah. You're talking about the

44:02

cooler part. Certainly not

44:05

the younger part. I'll take the younger part.

44:08

To me, in so many ways, it looks different.

44:10

The scene looks different. In so many ways,

44:12

it's highly improved. But it was

44:14

dangerous back in the day. I mean, we

44:16

would watch Amy Poehler and Ian Roberts and

44:18

Matt and Matt back in the... You

44:21

know, it was like watching a

44:23

masterclass in saving moments. You

44:26

know, that to me was some of the most exciting stuff you

44:28

got to see. I still watch it on YouTube. It's

44:30

all over YouTube. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's fun to do.

44:33

I don't think they taped the

44:35

ones at Solo Arts, which was

44:37

the fire hazard back on 20-something

44:39

street in Chelsea in 1997 and 98, which

44:42

was when I was in the audience for

44:44

them. And dating myself. Whatever. Yeah.

44:47

You'd think I'm called to do this anymore.

44:50

And here I am. But

44:52

yeah, I mean, I was a fan for a long time. Oh, dating yourself, like

44:54

how you're age. I felt like you were on an E! Pray

44:56

Love kind of experience. And

44:59

that is the 37th chapter. Oh,

45:02

I can't wait to hear 38. Oh, really?

45:05

It must have been there for quite

45:07

fun to show up on set at Parks

45:09

and Rec with not just

45:11

Amy there, but I mean, unfortunately,

45:13

Jim being there too. Well, you get stuck with

45:15

some stuff. Well, I mean,

45:18

Nick Offerman and these amazing... Alison

45:20

Becker in the episode of Mo Collins, who I've known

45:22

forever. Susan Yegley, who I've known for. I mean, I

45:25

didn't see her that day, but it's like I was

45:27

rewatching the episode. I was like, oh, yeah, all these

45:29

people are in my phone. It was a big episode

45:31

of guest stars. There was a lot of guest stars

45:33

that episode. And like we

45:36

ladies of the generation.

45:41

So it's like, you know, Mo and

45:43

Susan and, you know, I don't know

45:45

that Leslie Grossman ever did a Parks

45:47

and Rec. I know she was on The Good Place. Jillian

45:50

Vigman also sort of in that. Lots of

45:52

us ladies who are all we all kind

45:54

of were in the same audition rooms. Yes,

45:56

of course. And after a certain point, too,

45:58

like I think the time we all started.

46:00

having kids, like it went from like side-eyeing

46:02

each other in the waiting room to, Hey,

46:05

can you watch my baby while I go on the show? You'll

46:07

get this one. I'll get the next one. And then

46:09

it's like, you just become really good

46:12

friends. Like nothing would make me

46:14

happier than to do a project

46:16

with every one of those people,

46:18

those blonde white women

46:21

in this age group. And just

46:23

like, You only work with white women.

46:25

Isn't that what I had read? Or is that, What

46:28

chapter is that? You can check my Instagram for

46:30

my racism. It's really profound. No, but I know

46:32

what you mean. The thought to do a project

46:34

with those people you competed against. Oh my God.

46:37

And now it's just life is going on. Everyone's

46:39

okay. Everyone's great. We all kind of meet in

46:41

the middle, whatever in our adolescence or careers, whatever

46:43

that is. We all start out with a certain

46:46

level of ambition and racing

46:48

and paranoia that if we don't get

46:50

it, it's not going to, something's not

46:52

going to happen. It is not going

46:54

to happen. This elusive it. It. And

46:57

particularly for women in comedy, I

47:00

came up in the time, I always say

47:02

that there's pre-broad city and post-broad city. And

47:05

I say that because broad city also marks

47:07

the time that Tina and Amy were

47:10

in such good, high positions of power

47:12

that they could then create spaces

47:15

for women to take the lead in

47:17

the comedic. And make sure they did.

47:19

Up until then, there

47:22

was room for one

47:24

or two at a time on a Herald team,

47:26

one or two at a time, and they were

47:28

always white and they were always one brunette, one

47:30

blonde. It was the Betty Veronica syndrome. That

47:32

was the nineties. And it was, it was,

47:35

there was a lot of joy and there was, but

47:37

we were, women were often pitted against each other. And

47:41

I think we all finally feel

47:43

so relieved that that tide has

47:45

turned and that the comedy community

47:47

at large is so much more

47:50

inclusive because it was all unnecessary.

47:53

But it's also how these things grow

47:55

and improve over the years. So it

47:58

was what it was, but it's interesting. because

48:00

you're right. I mean, the joy I have

48:02

now running into these, I saw yesterday,

48:05

Jaima Williamson, you know her. Nice, yes, yes, yes.

48:07

So, I mean, we ran into each other. How

48:09

many times we were in a waiting room together,

48:11

ran into a Starbucks, we talked for 45 minutes.

48:13

Like, it's the greatest. Incidentally,

48:15

she's doing Mike Schur's new show. Oh, that's

48:17

right. Oh, that's right. But she was Wendy

48:19

on that part. Yeah, of course she was,

48:21

yes, yes, yes. Yeah, and it's just like

48:24

the- Mike knew her in college, I believe.

48:26

Yeah, I think they were buddies. Oh, she's super talented.

48:28

So sweet, so sweet. So funny, you know,

48:31

just constantly breaking the, the

48:34

women, beautiful women aren't funny, routine.

48:36

Right. Because, boy, she's a

48:38

beautiful lady. So, did you work with Amy

48:41

prior to doing this episode? Like, had you

48:43

ever done improv with her? Oh, yeah, yeah,

48:45

yeah, yeah. I knew Amy, you know, like

48:47

I said, Amy was, so back when Amy

48:49

was teaching level two, I mean, that was

48:51

the real beginnings of things. She was waitressing

48:53

and teaching. Everybody was, that was really

48:56

back in the day. And I

48:58

was part of that generation of New

49:00

York improvisers who were lucky enough to

49:02

be taught by all four of them,

49:04

and Armando Diaz, and to be coached

49:07

by Kevin Mulaney at the time. And

49:10

we were the first generations of Herald teams. And,

49:12

you know, for me, like my crew is, or

49:17

class comedy grade would have been Paul

49:20

Scheer and Rob Hubel and Riggle

49:22

and Cordry and Ed Helms

49:25

and John Ross Bowie and Daniel

49:27

Schneider and Donna Furman and Jessica

49:29

St. Clair and like all these

49:32

amazingly talented human beings. And,

49:36

you know, we did the first Del Close marathon. People

49:38

wound up on stage together, whether they sort of, you

49:40

know, had planned it or not. So I know I

49:42

worked with her a few times and then the

49:45

most amazing thing, and I still have the postcard and it

49:47

is buried somewhere. I did

49:49

an all woman improv show one time.

49:53

It had Kate Walsh, Amy

49:55

Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and

49:58

me. Wow. That's a lot. Yeah,

50:00

I saved that card. That

50:02

was pretty amazing. That's pretty cool. And I

50:04

had been invited to be part of that. And as

50:06

I recall, I didn't thoroughly embarrass myself, but no one

50:08

knows because we didn't have iPhones. So it could have

50:10

been a disaster. But

50:12

at that time, Tina was already writing

50:14

on SNL, and Amy, they were starting

50:16

to do their show, the Upright Citizens

50:18

Brigade show. So we were all getting

50:20

bit parts on that as well. And

50:24

we became friends. Amy

50:26

and I became pretty good friends at that

50:29

time. Over the years, we

50:31

definitely got the chance to improvise here and there

50:33

doing Ask Kat What Here in LA when the

50:35

theater opened. This

50:37

is now going back 25, 26 years. So

50:42

I, like Kevin Dorff, am one of those

50:44

lucky people where I did not audition for

50:46

Parks and Rec. You just got the phone

50:48

call. Correct. Oh, isn't there anything? There's

50:51

nothing better than that. Look, it's very

50:53

likely someone dropped out. A lot of

50:55

the stuff on my resume is Mindy

50:57

Sterling is sick. So can you come

50:59

be our maid? This

51:03

has happened many times, which by the way,

51:05

I am a reliable pinch

51:07

hitter. I will take that role. Well,

51:10

I could say that we

51:12

often would cast from the

51:15

long roster of UCB. And

51:18

because sometimes casting would send us

51:20

great people, and it just didn't

51:22

work out for that role. And sometimes

51:24

it would be last minute, or the

51:27

day before shooting, you have to find someone and

51:29

we think of who is funny, who knows somebody.

51:31

And we think of the UCB world because

51:34

there was a comedy engine taught there. Well,

51:38

and there was a practice

51:40

of using so many

51:42

of us in these bit parts, whether it was showing

51:45

up at New York, showing up for bits

51:47

on Conan, whether it was showing, and by

51:50

the way, getting notified several hours before, showing

51:53

up being ready, being professional and being

51:55

an improviser in sort of spirit, knowing

51:57

that you're going to have a good

51:59

time. to go with what is presented to

52:01

you. Not necessarily meaning like, and changing

52:04

the lines and making it better. Not that. This

52:06

is last minute, you gotta make it work. Adapt.

52:08

And the other thing to say is that, you

52:10

know, I worked for Alison Jones for a short

52:12

bit, who was a guest on our podcast early

52:14

in the day. Oh my gosh. And something I

52:16

learned in that time is that you're going to

52:18

bring in generally the same type of people and

52:21

the same people a lot because they're great. They

52:23

might be right for this role or they might

52:25

be wrong for this role or they might be

52:27

right for this role, but the director doesn't think

52:29

they're right or whatever it is. It's about the

52:31

alchemy of all the people involved. Right. And

52:34

you shouldn't just pretend like, Oh, I brought them

52:36

in for one role and they

52:38

didn't get it. And therefore I can never

52:40

think of them again, but their names existed.

52:42

Like Adam Scott was auditioned for the pilot

52:44

and he didn't wind up joining until what

52:46

episode 28 or whatever that

52:48

is. But he's in the universe.

52:50

And so your name is in

52:53

our universe. And so here's a great role.

52:55

And the role is someone who

52:57

has to go head to head in a really

53:00

funny new way with Leslie. Oh, so

53:02

fun. And so to bring someone that

53:04

Amy would be comfortable with, and we

53:07

talked about this a lot, we have

53:09

these fun runs that I think have

53:11

now become famous in comedy, TV

53:13

recording, but every episode

53:15

ended with just a fun improv run that

53:17

had to stick to story, but a lot

53:19

of fun. And this gimmick of

53:22

this episode, right? So good. Which

53:24

is all about being funny and

53:26

meanly funny in a way that

53:28

improv is also quite good at. It felt like

53:30

it was the right person. By

53:33

the way, also in retrospect, I

53:36

have a 16 year old daughter and

53:38

she, Parks and Rec was her

53:40

comfort food through the pandemic. I mean, this

53:43

is the only thing she's ever cared that I've

53:45

done. That's

53:47

great. Very happy about

53:49

that. No, but that makes it so you

53:52

keep saying, so what are you working on

53:54

now that we're mentioned? We know, but let's

53:56

have Jamie say it. I

53:58

write on a little. show

54:00

called Grey's Anatomy. I've heard that rings

54:02

a bell. I really hope you guys

54:04

get another season. Jim, have

54:06

you been on it? Well, I'm going to tell you something.

54:09

One of my great embarrassments, because let me,

54:12

here's how it works for actors. If

54:14

you never did an ER, something was wrong. Sure.

54:17

Like why didn't you do an ER in

54:19

LA? If you're in New York and you

54:21

didn't do a law and order, what's wrong

54:23

with you? That show has been tripling people

54:25

by the, so no, I've never done a

54:27

Grey's. Now, there's, exactly. No, believe me, I've

54:29

never done a Grey's and there was something

54:31

that looked like it was going to happen

54:33

and then it just didn't for the show.

54:35

But I'm just saying, so no, but I

54:37

have that. Guess what? We're going into season

54:39

20. I

54:43

think it's time for a Jim O'Hare question mark post-it note on

54:45

your computer. Let me tell you something. There's

54:47

a lot of Parks and Rec fans in that writer's room.

54:50

Trust me. Well, no, but it's funny because I recently said

54:52

to my manager, I'm going, I'm going to be one of

54:54

those people who have never done that show and people will,

54:57

it was on for 51 years. What would they

54:59

say about me at the end of my time?

55:01

Exactly. He's got 200 credits in IMDB, but not

55:03

one of them is Grey's Anatomy. John

55:07

Ross Bowie always talks about the trifecta of

55:09

CSIs for a while. Like it was like

55:11

CSI New York, regular CSI and

55:13

wherever the other CSI was. And it was like,

55:15

if you don't do all three, like you're going

55:17

to see, he still only has two. And he's

55:20

like, yeah. It's the CSI you got. Yeah. But

55:22

it's true. It was ER, then it was law

55:24

and order. And now it's Grey's Anatomy. So you

55:26

have been with them for how long? Three

55:30

seasons. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. I am so

55:32

grateful and so lucky. Can I ask you

55:34

a question about Grey's then? Because in

55:37

my early days of my career, I

55:39

was a PA on ER. Ah, yes. Oh my gosh.

55:41

And there were two writers

55:44

on the show who are also doctors. Oh yeah. And

55:47

so they would do a lot of the

55:49

like medicine. Medical, medical. Medical, medical. And so

55:51

the joke was like sometimes writers just like

55:53

medicine, medicine. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Scripts. Is

55:56

that a thing? Yes. Not only do we

55:58

write medical, medical. Yeah. But

56:00

very often an entire scene in the OR will

56:02

be like, well, what about the medical? Well, I

56:05

medicaled him. Did you medical him? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

56:07

I love that. And very rarely, but it does

56:09

happen, that will make it to a table read,

56:11

which is delightful. Like

56:13

is it as an accident or we haven't gotten

56:15

to this yet? It's an accident. Okay.

56:18

And it's really funny. We

56:20

do have, we have full-time

56:22

doctor consultants that assist

56:25

in the writing. I don't think that they have

56:27

writer credits. They haven't, whatever, but they are definitely

56:29

ever present, thank God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been

56:32

in neurosurgeon once and they had to bring in,

56:34

because I couldn't pronounce the word. No, of course,

56:36

no, we have a pronunciation. I could not pronounce

56:38

the word. We have a pronunciation guide. It was

56:40

crazy. At the beginning of every episode, now it's

56:43

one of the last things before the production draft

56:45

goes out, is our writer's assistants

56:47

put together, or medical researcher puts together

56:49

the pronunciation guide. And we had, listen,

56:53

Jim Pickens and Shondra Wilson have been on

56:55

the show since the very beginning. They are

56:57

absolutely the most solid, stellar human beings on

56:59

this planet. They still need the pronunciation guide.

57:01

Yes, that makes sense. Because they're still actors,

57:03

not doctors. Right, right, right, yeah. You're like,

57:05

if something were to happen, they're not gonna

57:07

bring them here. And also, because you do

57:10

have to know, you have to

57:12

be telling the truth. I didn't

57:14

know what I was saying. And I also needed them

57:16

to guide me as to, I

57:18

need to know what I'm saying and why I'm saying it.

57:20

So if I don't know what that word is or what

57:22

that does, I can't bring the

57:25

truth to that. Well, it's a collaboration

57:27

with those consultant doctors, because very often

57:29

when you complete a scene or a

57:31

draft and you then hand it over

57:33

to whichever doctor is sort of consulting

57:35

on your episode, they will go through

57:37

and write a bunch of medical jargon

57:39

and then really, it's a

57:42

fine tuning, because you'll look at it and

57:44

say, I actually, I know

57:46

what is factually true here, but

57:48

we're trying to convey that this

57:50

person is very

57:53

close to flatlining and that

57:55

also sort of mirrors their

57:57

relationship, which is flatlining. I'm

58:00

gonna just twist it a little bit. We come to

58:02

a place where they can be satisfied with some of

58:04

what we've left that's real. And

58:06

then- They're like, this takes normally about

58:08

two days for someone to- Oh. Well,

58:11

unfortunately, I have about 40 minutes of time. Oh my

58:13

God. How about everybody who has just

58:16

awakened from their massive surgery with completely ready

58:18

for a conversation? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If

58:20

you've ever had a colonoscopy, you're like, yeah.

58:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's like, you

58:24

know, that to me is like, yeah, that

58:26

drives them all nuts. Now let

58:28

me ask just because we are doing a Parks and Recreation- Of

58:30

course we are, of course. How

58:33

awful was your time with us? Was it

58:35

just miserable? Were you hating all of us?

58:37

And rank everybody based, and rank from like

58:39

Amy down to Jim, like in the range.

58:42

Wow, down to Jim. How dare you. Well,

58:44

we have established that I have racial preferences.

58:46

Yes, so we know. No, it was, you

58:48

know what? It's funny, no, we're gonna get

58:50

into it. It was so fun.

58:55

It was on location. It

58:57

was driving me nuts trying to remember where

58:59

that banquet hall was. Because it was so

59:01

old school. I

59:04

mean, it was decorated without

59:06

all of the sort of set dressing. I mean, it really

59:08

did look like it was from 1965 and

59:10

it was about to have a ladies lunch at that pink that

59:12

was there. But I just

59:14

remember, I think I really, it was so

59:16

delightful to see Mo, to see

59:19

Alison Becker. And like, you

59:21

know, I mean, it was really nice. Yeah,

59:23

and we've talked to a lot of our guests and we've

59:25

talked about this a lot, that it was a very loving,

59:28

lovely atmosphere on set.

59:30

In the writers room, there was just this feeling

59:32

of like, we're very lucky, we're no

59:35

assholes, we're just having a good time here.

59:37

And so this must've been just a really

59:39

fun, especially fun

59:41

time on set. Oh, I think it

59:43

was like, you guys had found your

59:45

groove. This thing was a hit.

59:48

So you feel like you're

59:50

getting validation for how fun

59:52

it is. Oh, other people think it's

59:54

fun too. Like they're watching. I

59:56

mean, I definitely feel like it was, you

59:58

were all in your stride. at that time,

1:00:00

and I was just lucky to be there.

1:00:04

But for me, it was like a chance

1:00:06

to, it always is these days. I

1:00:08

think at that point, it's 2013, so

1:00:11

yeah, my youngest is four at that

1:00:13

point. It was prime, he's getting kicked

1:00:15

out of preschool and being a monster

1:00:17

phase. So, I mean, just having

1:00:19

the opportunity to be among hilarious people, I

1:00:22

mean, that's all, and listen, I'm sure you've

1:00:24

talked about the bits. I mean, it's just

1:00:26

bit central. Although, as I

1:00:28

recall, it's so funny, I don't think because it

1:00:30

was such a big set, lots

1:00:32

of background, lots to manage, lots of people

1:00:35

at that mic, lots to cover, less

1:00:38

fun running at that particular one. Because I

1:00:40

think it was too many people. So much

1:00:42

had to get done. I mean, if you

1:00:44

think about just the page count for that

1:00:46

episode in that room, and all

1:00:48

the different things that they had to get. So,

1:00:51

I remember there being fun runs during the

1:00:53

later scene in the press conference, for sure, because

1:00:55

that was a little bit more focused and easy

1:00:57

and two shots and everything else. But

1:01:00

yeah, I mean, I just, to me, it was like,

1:01:02

okay, let's go back to the chairs and catch up.

1:01:05

That's so fun. That is great. Do you love

1:01:07

getting to play a- It's

1:01:09

pretty awesome. Yeah, isn't it pretty awesome to get to

1:01:11

play that kind of snarky- I mean, I definitely fell

1:01:13

into a pattern for a while of playing,

1:01:16

and I swear, I am a nice person.

1:01:18

And what's funny is that my alter ego,

1:01:20

Beverly, for those of you who know Beverly,

1:01:22

she's the sweetest, she's sweetest, she's not a

1:01:25

bitch. But when I take

1:01:27

the wig off, I am

1:01:29

apparently a ball-busting biatch. Because

1:01:32

most of my roles are in a boardroom. I usually have

1:01:34

some kind of pantsuit that's didn't this one. I was

1:01:36

grateful for having a dress. That's such a funny thing to

1:01:38

say. And most of my roles are in a boardroom. Yep,

1:01:42

in a boardroom, in a pantsuit, yelling

1:01:45

at someone who has- You may have seen me

1:01:47

in a boardroom on this show. Or just a

1:01:49

super mean mom. For a while, I was always

1:01:51

in a PTA. There was always a sweater set.

1:01:54

It was a time. The aughts

1:01:56

were a time. There was also a type of character

1:01:58

that we saw a lot, perhaps. Maybe too many. many

1:02:00

times. For sure. But listen, it's good work.

1:02:02

Not from you, I'm saying in general in writing. Absolutely. But

1:02:04

like I definitely filled

1:02:06

that role a lot. And listen, for

1:02:09

me, maybe that's why when I get the chance

1:02:11

to do Beverly or

1:02:14

show up at improv shows, I

1:02:16

take that chance because for a while, yeah, for a

1:02:18

while, I was definitely like, oh, she's good and mean.

1:02:21

Now to be fair, I'm afraid my husband's gonna listen to

1:02:23

this and be like, yeah. Truth

1:02:26

in comedy. Old news, already know this. Thank

1:02:29

you so much. You killed it in this

1:02:31

role. Yes, yes. You killed it. It's so

1:02:34

fun to have people at

1:02:36

Greys admire me for

1:02:38

Kim Turland. I love that. It's

1:02:40

like in specific joy. You're like, I'm your coworker.

1:02:42

I bring something to the table here. Like, yes,

1:02:44

but this other thing you've also done is also

1:02:47

great. Pretty cool. You have over 100, because again,

1:02:49

did my homework. You have over 115 credits. Now

1:02:52

someone told me before, and by someone,

1:02:54

some random actor, wow, if you had a career

1:02:57

with over 100 credits and

1:02:59

high MDB, you made it. So

1:03:02

Jamie Denbow, you've

1:03:04

made it. I knew it. Thank

1:03:07

you so much. Thank you, Jamie. This was a treat.

1:03:09

Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.

1:03:11

And that is Jamie Denbow. She's awesome. We

1:03:13

had a great conversation. I

1:03:16

just don't get it. How can such a nice person

1:03:18

play such a schmuck? Well, you

1:03:20

have experience. How dare

1:03:22

you? How dare you? I

1:03:24

know, it was fantastic to chat with Jamie

1:03:26

and it's fantastic, as always, Jim, to sit

1:03:28

and chat with you and to

1:03:30

speak into the world

1:03:32

about our show. We love it. We

1:03:35

do. So thank you all for listening.

1:03:37

Text this episode to your group chat.

1:03:39

Give us five star reviews wherever you

1:03:41

are listening. And for all of

1:03:43

us here at Parks and Recollection, goodbye

1:03:46

from Pawnee. Goodbye. Parks

1:03:49

and Recollection is produced by me,

1:03:51

Lisa Birm, and engineered by Joanna

1:03:53

Samuel. The podcast is executive produced

1:03:56

by Jeff Ross, Adam Sacks, Colin

1:03:58

Anderson, and Nick Liao. Paula

1:04:00

Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Khan

1:04:02

are our talent bookers, along with

1:04:05

assistance from Maddie Ogden. Our theme

1:04:07

song is by Mouse Rap, aka

1:04:09

Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed

1:04:12

by John Danek. Thanks for listening,

1:04:14

and we'll see you next time

1:04:16

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only text in code. Yes, which I

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created. I created a code. Yes. Which

1:04:46

can, A, be a

1:04:48

little annoying. Wait,

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