Show Notes
This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we are introduced to Peebo the Ping-Pong Playing Panda! Ben unveils the new city website for Pawnee, featuring an online poll for the new town slogan. Just after this happens, Leslie meets with Grant Larson, Director of the Midwest Branch of the National Parks Service, to further discuss the details of the job offer he made in the last episode. Grant tells Leslie her new role will include overseeing 200 people and be mainly focused on creative, big picture stuff ... and as a result, will no longer involve the everyday minutiae, which she currently does, and loves very much. A bit later, Ben is ready to go live with the slogan poll, and comments the website will do all the work for them. Perhaps drawing a parallel between what Grant told her, and the website, Leslie reacts to this by insisting that they still need to manually do stuff, such as door-to-door promotion, handing out flyers, canvassing, and even holding a press junket. A bit later, the aforementioned press junket starts, with Leslie meeting with notable town icons such as Perd Hapley, Joan Callamezzo and Crazy Ira and The Douche to try and get them to promote the slogan poll. Unfortunately, Crazy Ira and The Douche get their listeners to bombard the poll with votes for "Pawnee: Welcome To Douche Nation". Upon finding this out, Leslie takes it upon herself to go on their radio program in an attempt to get their listeners to vote for a less-douchy-and-more-elegant slogan. Meanwhile, Tom is trying to find the perfect (and affordable) place for his restaurant venture, Tom's Bistro, and calls upon Donna and Regal Meagle Realty to help, with April tagging along to give her opinions on the available properties. For the next two days, Donna, April, and Tom visit a variety of places, but all of them seem to have inherent flaws (e.g. too expensive, too far from City Hall, too small). At the end of the 2nd day, Tom is at his wits end, and laments that ... maybe Tom's Bistro wasn't meant to be ... and plans to inform his investor that he can't find a suitable property. Finally, Andy has been driving all over Indiana looking for bands to play the unity concert, but has been largely unsuccessful. When he asks Craig for any advice, Craig mentions a couple of locations in Eagleton that do pretty well, including Cozy's Bar. Willing to try anything, Andy goes to Cozy's to check it out. There he finds a throng of excited middle-aged women waiting for ... the one ... the only ... Mr. Duke Silver. Noticing how much Duke resembles Ron, Andy goes into Ron's office the next day to tell him about his visit to Cozy's. Seeing now way out of it, Ron admits he is Duke Silver, but insists Andy keep it a secret. Andy, however, is too excited at this news, and insists on booking Ron/Duke Silver to play at the Unity Concert. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... How will Leslie do on-air with Crazy Ira and The Douche? Can Donna find a suitable property for Tom? Will Andy really book Duke Silver to play at the Unity Concert? Will Leslie ever be capable of delegating work to others? Does April ever provide positive feedback? Will Duke Silver actually PLAY at the Unity Concert? What will be Pawnee's new town slogan? Will Tom's Bistro ever become a viable up-and-coming business, or will it go the way of Entertainment 720? Does Ron do anything to keep his alter ego, Duke Silver, a secret? Loyal podcast viewers, last episode witnessed the largest scoring gap Mark and Allen have ever had. Will this week be better? Tune in to find out! Many thanks to our wonderful sponsor, "Cozy's Bar".
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