Show Notes
It’s all about the Cones! This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we are first introduced to the legendary game, "The Cones of Dunshire"! With Leslie's time on the City Council soon coming to a close, as her final task, she seeks to guarantee the longevity of the project that started it all ... the "Sullivan Street Pit", which after getting filled in became "Lot 48", and finally became the intended site for the architectural park design that is now referred to as "Pawnee Commons". Specifically, the money set aside for Pawnee Commons is in a discretionary fund. Leslie wants to move this money to a lock box to ensure it is used for that project. Unfortunately, once again seeking to thwart Leslie, Councilman Jeremy Jamm moves to table any decision on the money until Leslie is out of office. Determined to succeed with this final action, Leslie (assisted by Chris as mediator) confronts Jamm at his house and insists on hashing things out. Jamm agrees to have her and Chris stay the night, with the goal being to begin negotiations the next morning. Negotiations continue while Jamm makes them breakfast, and for some while afterwards, but Jamm continues to play hard ball, and Leslie has to think on her feet regarding her next move. Meanwhile, Ron has purchased a new cabin that will provide a more friendly environment for Diane and the kids. As a result, Ron decides it is time to sell one of his four (I mean TWO) cabins. Reluctantly realizing he might need help, he enlists Donna (and by proxy, Tom) to assist him as realtors, with April tagging along out of pure interest and curiosity. As one might imagine, Ron does not like or understand Donna and Tom's frou-frou approach to sprucing up his cabin. Making things worse, Ron very much dislikes the types of people looking to buy it, such as one bidder who wishes to buy the property purely for the land, and will thus end up demolishing the cabin. Finally, Now that Ben is no longer working for Sweetums, he had to make a decision as to his next job ... and decided to take the offer from the accounting firm that Barney Varmn works for, Tilton and Radomski. However, he had a week off until he started there, so he used his spare time creating a very nerdy and complex board called "The Cones of Dunshire" ... which I think Leslie mentally categorizes along with some of his other strange short obsessions, like clay-mation. On Ben's first day, Barney is overjoyed to see him, as always, but an employee named Frank Mann is not impressed with Ben, or his legendary status around the office, and is looking to see him fail. Ben gets put to the test on his first day, when Barney apologetically gives Ben their toughest case. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will Jamm continue to play hardball? Can Ben crack the case, or will Frank end up gloating in his face? Will Donna give Ron the friends and family discount? Will Ron ACCEPT the friends and family discount? Can Chris figure out what is really driving Leslie to do this? Can Tom leverage this opportunity to become the mogul he's always dreamed of? Does Ben break the "Barney Curse", and finally keep his job with Tilton and Radomski? Does Leslie succeed in ensuring the future of Pawnee Commons? Does Ron end up selling his cabin, and if so, to who? Will Ben ever find a worthy home for "The Cones of Dunshire"? Who is Jamm's best friend? Loyal viewers, this one will decide the future of the Sullivan Street Pit / Lot 42 / Pawnee Commons! What will happen? Tune in to find out! Many thanks to our fantastic sponsor, "Pawnee Community Theater" ... now performing the famous musical and Hollywood sensation, "Grease"!
More from Live from Pawnee: A Parks and Recreation Fan Rewatch Podcast
Leave it to Mark and Allen to wait until the podcast is almost done to deliver an interview like this. It was so great to meet with Mike Scully - what a nice guy, a great conversationalist, and a good sport! Not only is his body of work fascinating, but he doesn't mind when we accidentally add credits to his resume that don't even exist (keep your ears peeled to hear Mark make a royal screwup, LOL). The boys were extremely lucky to get a chance like this to talk with Mike around late September 2024. We got to hear about Mike's work on big shows such as Everybody Loves Raymond and The Simpsons (and Parks of course), what he thought about acting as Pawnee citizen Pearl, concerns he had about Champion the 3-Legged Dog, his start in stand-up (and two famous people he met in the process), and many, many other topics. Please tune in and listen to a thoroughly interesting and tremendously entertaining conversation with writer/producer Mike Scully.
You know, true professionals wouldn't hold out until the very end of their podcast series to deliver the "big guns" like this ... but Mark and Allen have never been accused of being true professionals, have they? Oh my gosh ... Talking with Jim O'Heir was truly a pleasure, and an outright blast! He was so easy to talk to, so friendly, that we probably could have gone on for another half hour if we really wanted to. The boys were extremely lucky to get this chance to talk with Jim around mid-September 2024. We got to hear about Jim's upcoming book, how they filmed the 2020 Special, his thoughts on the series finale, and LOTS of other things, including his opinions on Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Retta, Ben Schwartz, and many others. Please tune in and listen to what ended up being a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable time with Jerry Gergich himself, Jim O'Heir. Perhaps our best Pawnee Spotlight ever.
This week Mark and Allen continue (and finish) the Episode where we see what ultimately happens ... to everyone. TO RECAP: As Leslie and the gang face their last day together in Pawnee before everyone goes their own ways, one final little job crosses their path ... fixing a broken swing. Mundane though it may seem, Leslie throws herself into it with her typical level of gusto, convincing the rest of the gang to band together to do this one last task. In the process of going through the necessary motions to get the swing fixed, we do deep dives into every single person, including time jumps into their futures, so we can see how things turned out for them. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will they get the swing fixed? Will everyone get the story they want? Can Mark and Allen make it through this last episode review? How many times will Mark break down? What will the boys do with Robonstantine? Will we ever hear from Constantine and Harvey again? What is WITH that stupid f**king Stargate portal and the post-it notes? Everyone ... hold hands, smile, laugh, and be grateful for the good things in life ... of which this series was certainly one.
This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we see what ultimately happens ... to everyone. As Leslie and the gang face their last day together in Pawnee before everyone goes their own ways, one final little job crosses their path ... fixing a broken swing. Mundane though it may seem, Leslie throws herself into it with her typical level of gusto, convincing the rest of the gang to band together to do this one last task. In the process of going through the necessary motions to get the swing fixed, we do deep dives into every single person, including time jumps into their futures, so we can see how things turned out for them. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will they get the swing fixed? Will everyone get the story they want? Can Mark and Allen make it through this last episode review? How many times will Mark break down? What will the boys do with Robonstantine? Will we ever hear from Constantine and Harvey again? What is WITH that stupid f**king Stargate portal and the post-it notes? Everyone, this is it - the series finale. So buckle up, buttercup. It's going to be a bittersweet journey.
Once again, Mark and Allen were extremely lucky to spend time with another fantastic guest during a Pawnee Spotlight interview, this time around the middle of May 2024. It was fascinating to talk to Jim about not only his take on the always entertaining M.C. Martin Housely, but also voice overs and impressions, his childhood growing up as the son of Marion Ross, and many other interesting topics. Jim was a tremendously kind and gracious guest on our show, and we are proud to have one of the only occurences in the world of an honest-to-God "Swanson-Off"! If you're confused at this (and you should be), tune in to see what we're talking about! We've said it before, and will say it once more here, this was yet another in a stream of incredible guests we've had the privilege to have on our show ... A fantastic Pawnee Spotlight featuring a tremendous multi-talented guest! We hope you all enjoy this as much as we did. Visit Jim at https://jimmeskimen.com/ and on Instagram @jimpressions