"Parks and Recreation" is a funny show with a big heart, and some of the series' bloopers
are just as hilarious as the show itself. From improvised lines to physical comedy,
here are just a few bloopers that give the show's best jokes a run for their money.
If you've watched enough "Parks and Recreation," you know the town of
Pawnee is filled with cantankerous townspeople, none of whom seem happy
with most of Leslie Knope's efforts to make the town a better place to live.
"Uh, you could resign, if you're up for it."
As Leslie, played by Amy Poehler, tries to turn Pawnee into a Midwestern paradise,
she faces off against the townspeople at every turn. To help control her department's messaging,
Leslie often makes appearances on the local television show "Pawnee Today,"
run by unhinged anchorwoman Joan Calamezzo.
The callers who reach out to "Pawnee Today" often have pretty far-fetched concerns,
but in a blooper from season two, the caller's query is
so ridiculous that even comedy veteran Amy Poehler can't keep a straight face.
In the bloopers for the season two premiere episode "Pawnee Zoo," after a caller asks
Leslie about her work with animals, they get to the surprising crux of their question.
"I love animals."
"What is it about cats that makes them think they're so much god damn better than we are?
I'll take my answer off the air."
"Parks and Rec" fans know about Pawnee's other animal issues, but apparently,
the town's citizens hate cats as well.
Parks and Recreation has an amazing roster of ridiculous supporting characters,
but there's nobody quite like Jean-Ralphio Saperstein. Jean-Ralphio is a ball of disturbing,
erratic energy who seems to exist only to party and cause chaos. In one of his first appearances,
actor Ben Schwartz really pushes the limits during a season two scene with Retta's character Donna
Meagle. In the season two episode "Woman of the Year," Jean-Ralphio and Tom try to
convince Donna to join them as investors in the town's local upscale club, the Snakehole Lounge.
In the original scene, Jean Ralphio says such invasive,
unsettling things to Donna that she declines to invest.
"Whatdya say, sexy?"
"I'm out."
"Why?"
"I hate that guy."
But in the bloopers, Schwartz takes the whole interaction even further. Between his awkward
improvisation and complete obliviousness to personal space, nobody can keep from laughing.
Jean-Ralphio is always hilarious, but in the blooper, Schwartz doubles down on his
strangeness, turning his character's most off-putting tendencies up to 11.
As a devoted public servant, Leslie is dedicated to following every rule in the book, whether it's
Pawnee's ridiculous town charter or the rules of polite society. In a season three blooper,
Poehler uses a simple physical gag to show Leslie's adherence to observing the letter
of the law. It also demonstrates her sweet, earnest nature, which makes the whole room laugh.
In a season three blooper, when Tom Haverford, played by Aziz Ansari,
bursts into one of the Parks department's offices to make an announcement,
Poehler takes him extremely literally.
"Okay, cover your ears, because your head's about to explode."
As soon as Ansari looks back over at her, he can't help but laugh,
which sets off the entire group. Poehler has plenty of improv comedy training,
and in little moments like this, it pays off perfectly.
Ron Swanson might not be much of a prankster in "Parks and Recreation," but he does love to make
his co-workers nervous. During a meeting in the season 3 episode "Andy and April's
Fancy Party,"​ he mentions that he's been having some tooth pain. Rather than go to the dentist,
he whips out a pair of pliers and seemingly pulls his tooth right then and there.
However, he then reveals to the cameras that he had the tooth pulled the day
before and was just re-enacting it to frighten his colleagues.
In the outtake for this scene, however, Offerman ends up pulling out an entire
set of fake teeth instead. Offerman will go to some pretty great lengths for a joke,
but even he didn't plan on going quite this far.
Rob Lowe has been gracing the big and small screen for several decades,
and has plenty of friends in high places. That becomes evident in season three,
when a scene is interrupted by Lowe's real phone ringing in his pocket, startling everybody on set.
"That's not good at all."
"Who is it though?"
"Former NBC topper Scott Sassa, if you must know."
Sassa is an executive who oversaw shows like "The West Wing" during his tenure at NBC. So of course,
Poehler and co-star Adam Scott act appropriately impressed as Lowe mugs for the camera.
Though it used to be the norm for sitcoms,
canned laughter has largely fallen out of style in televised comedy.
[laughing]
However, if you watch the season three bloopers for "Parks and Rec," you may
be surprised to hear a lone laugh track make an unplanned appearance.
The episode "Jerry's Painting" sees Ben trying to teach childish Andy and his wife April,
played by Aubrey Plaza, how to live like adults. In one scene, Ben is horrified to
learn that the couple has been washing their laundry with bubble bath instead of detergent.
"You wash your clothes in bubble bath?"
"Bubble bath, clothes soap, same thing."
"No, it's not."
"Well, they both make bubbles, so…"
While the televised scene ends there, in the blooper,
Adam Scott, who plays Ben, hits play on a small speaker, playing a laugh track.
"Well they both make bubbles."
[laugh track]
"No."
Neither Pratt nor Plaza can hold it together, even though Plaza tries her best to maintain April's
deadpan demeanor. Laugh tracks are definitely out of place on "Parks and Rec," but when it comes to
the bloopers, they fit right in -- especially if the other cast members don't see it coming.
Throughout the run of "Parks and Recreation," Chris Pratt proved that he'd do just about
anything to get a laugh. And one of his best physical bloopers is
a result of a super physical scene he performs in the show's fourth season.
In the episode "Born and Raised," Leslie tries to prove that she was born in Pawnee and not the
neighboring town of Eagleton, in order to promote her memoir during her run for city council. Andy,
operating as his FBI alter-ego "Burt Macklin," attempts to steal her birth certificate to help
her prove her Pawnee citizenship. However, when he also brings back a stranger's briefcase, city
manager Chris Traegar, played by Rob Lowe, tells him to return it. But in the outtake, that part
doesn't go as planned, with Pratt accidentally destroying part of the set in the name of comedy.
"[BLEEP] hilarious."
"That's not something that props can fix. I'm out!"
As Andy, Chris Pratt always played the perfect dimwit, and his extraordinary skill at portraying
a simpleton is on perfect display in the season four episode "The Trial of Leslie Knope." After
her secret relationship with her superior, Ben, is revealed, Leslie must defend herself in court,
proving that their tryst hasn't affected their professional lives.
Her friends, including Andy, scramble to help her win the case.
In the scene, Leslie tells Andy that she needs help procuring evidence,
and tells him to go to her office and look for a picture of a female politician, Bella Abzug,
next to her desk. She says the photo will help lead him to where she's hidden some
documents. However, Andy is still stuck trying to figure out who Bella Abzug is.
"Is that scary face, funny hat, gap tooth, or Bill Clinton's wife?"
"Funny hat."
"Funny hat!"
After Leslie clarifies which photo she means, she starts to describe a complicated procedure
involving locating a hidden key. However, while she's talking, Andy completely loses focus,
sending Poehler into mild hysterics at the idea
that he'd already gotten bored with planning their office heist.
Out of all of "Parks and Recreation's" notable improvisations, few landed quite as hilariously
as Chris Pratt's risque play on words during the season four episode, "The Comeback Kid."
During the episode, Leslie tries to bounce back from poor polling numbers and launch
a campaign for Pawnee's city council. She and her best friend, Ann Perkins,
try to rally the troops by announcing that the campaign's theme will be centered around
"great comebacks" like Seabiscuit and Robert Downey Jr. Without missing a beat,
Pratt also suggests reality star Kim Kardashian, which he rationalizes with a
highly inappropriate interpretation of the word "comeback," sending his costars into hysterics.
"Kim Kardashian." "Well…" "In the video she gets [BLEEP] on her back I think."
[laughter]
Though Ann Perkins might seem like a sweet, unassuming person,
she has earned herself a devoted nemesis within the Parks department:
April Ludgate. April bears a longstanding grudge against Leslie's closest friend thanks to Ann's
previous relationship with Andy. As a result, April seizes any chance she can to antagonize Ann,
including a blooper in which she uses her own dog in a twisted ventriloquist act.
During a meeting during season four's "The Comeback Kid," April tries to
irritate Ann by hiding behind her three-legged rescue dog,
Champion, and pretending to be him. However, in the outtakes,
Aubrey Plaza takes the already amusing schtick to a new level. As Champion, April jokes,
"Ann, I'm in love with you,
because you're just like me... you're a dog. Date me, Ann. I'm single."
The joke doesn't end there, though; in the next blooper,
where Ron agrees to construct a stage for Leslie's campaign event,
he suggests that they involve the "talking dog." Plaza takes the bait, saying,
"Ann, will you go out on a date with me? You're the prettiest dog I've ever seen."
There's no doubt that Chris Pratt is an excellent improviser, but there's also
something seriously impressive about how far he'll go to get his co-stars to break.
And when it comes to the seemingly inscrutable Nick Offerman, who, like Ron Swanson,
seems to always remain expressionless, Pratt sometimes has to go the extra mile.
In the season six episode "New Slogan," Andy tries to convince Ron he'll keep his secret by
confessing all of his own. But in the bloopers, Pratt goes off-script, revealing some pretty
unusual medical details to his stone-faced boss. He starts out by telling Ron that his head weighs
"upwards of 85 pounds," that he was a "sixteen pound baby," and that his mother carried him
"to full term plus eight months." When none of that manages to crack Ron's stoic expression,
Pratt keeps going, until not even the unflappable Nick Offerman can manage to hold it together.
"I was born at 17 months with a full head of hair, a full head of teeth."
[laughter]
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