Random Things You Didn't Know About Parks and Recreation (21 items)

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  (#1) Nick Offerman Really Does Run a Woodworking Business

  Nick Offerman is not stretching his range very much when he discusses woodwork on several episodes of Parks and Rec. In fact, it's Offerman's own hobby, and actually a business that he runs on the side. This inspired the writers to turn Ron Swanson into a wood aficionado.

  Offerman has talked about this on CONAN as well as in his book.
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  (#2) Chris Pratt Improvised Michael Schur's Favorite Line

  While Amy Poehler insists that every episode of Parks truly comes from the script, the show's creator Michael Schur remembers one exception. In his opinion, the funniest line in the history of the series came from an ad-libbed moment by Chris Pratt. In the episode "Flu Season," Pratt tried to help Leslie determine whether or not she has the flu, which was taking Pawnee by storm. The line?

  "Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here and it says you could have network connectivity problems."

  Thanks, Andy!

  (Source)
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  (#3) Andy Dwyer Was Supposed to Be a Guest Star

  The character of Andy Dwyer was only ever supposed to be a guest starring, six or seven episode role, as Ann's jerk boyfriend. But viewers couldn't resist the great Chris Pratt!

  Bonus trivia: Pratt's character on Everwood was also only supposed to be a guest star.

  Source: Pajiba
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  (#4) Nick Offerman Can Really Play the Saxophone

  It's not just Duke Silver with the saxophone skills. Offerman is actually quite skilled on the sax, though the writers weren't aware of that fact until after they'd written his character's alter ego.

  Source: No Glitter No Glory
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  (#5) Nick Offerman's Favorite Guest Star is Tammy Two

  Which is a good thing, because she's played by Megan Mullally, Offerman's real-life wife.

  Source: Indiewire
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  (#6) Aubrey Plaza's Character Was Written for Her

  When Aubrey Plaza met casting director Allison Jones, Jones called the Parks and Rec producers. She told them Plaza was the weirdest person she'd ever met and, according to producers, that was indeed the case.

  Her awkward and borderline rude stares inspired Mike Schur to write a scene based on Plaza herself. April Ludgate was born.

  Source: The Paley Center for Media
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  (#7) Tom Haverford Is Not His Real Name

  Aziz Ansari's character Tom Haverford isn't really named Tom Haverford. Tom's real name is Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani. In one episode, he tells Leslie, "I changed it to Tom Haverford because, you know, brown guys with funny-sounding Muslim names don't make it really far in politics."

  Source: Indies Unchained
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  (#8) Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza Have Something in Common

  These two fan favorites, who star as Ron Swanson and April Ludgate, share a birthday!

  Source: IMDb
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  (#9) The Theme Song Was Selected Via a Contest

  The Parks and Recreation theme song is notably cheery and perfectly captures the sitcom's tone. You can thank BMI, the music royalty and management leader for the awesome tune. In an unusual move, BMI sent out a mass email to composers saying they had five days to submit an entry.

  The prize? $7,500. The winners? Gaby Moreno and Vincent Jones.

  Source: Movie Music for Dummies
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  (#10) When Amy Poehler First Met Nick Offerman, She Was Very Scared

  That's because it was 1993, and he had his hair shaved into red horns. He had a part in a stage version of A Clockwork Orange at the time.

  Source: Pajiba
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  (#11) The Original Pilot Was Almost 50 Minutes Long

  Those original 22 minutes were, at first, a solid 48. On the Season 1 DVD commentary, Amy Poehler and show co-creator Michael Schur explain that they had to cut at least 25 minutes from their episode because it bordered on being an hour-long show.

  Source: IMDb
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  (#12) Chris Pratt and Aubrey Plaza Pretend They're Stoned

  Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate) appeared in an episode of comedian Doug Benson's webseries, "Getting Doug With High." While stoned on the show, Plaza revealed an insider's acting tip from within the Parks set.

  According to Plaza, on occasion, she and her TV husband Chris Pratt (Andy Dwyer) will get ready for a scene by imagining that their characters are high on marijuana.
   
  Source: Getting Doug With High
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  (#13) Ryan Gosling Might Have a Crush on Aubrey Plaza

  Plaza has reportedly shot down everyone's pretend boyfriend more than once. The first time was at a Jamba Juice, when she supposedly didn't recognize him, and the second time when he invited her to a magic show(!).

  She couldn't go because she already had plans to attend a charity event for Amy Poehler.

  Source: Jezebel
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  (#14) The Sweetums Explosion Was Based on a True Story

  That Sweetums giant molasses vat explosion Ben mentions in Season 5 was based on the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, which took place in Boston, MA. After a tank at a North End factory busted its rivets, molasses began flowing (at speeds up to 35 miles per hour!) into the streets.
  
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  (#15) Pawnee Parks is Based on New Zealand

  Christchurch, New Zealand, is not just the most absurd name for a town of all time. It is also the source of the actual map for the so-called Pawnee Parks. If you look closely at a Pawnee Parks Map, which Ron Swanson surely doesn't, you will see that it is the same as the Christchurch map, without all the street names.
   
  Source: Reddit
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  (#16) The Show's Creator Is Dwight Schrute's Cousin

  Michael Schur, executive producer and co-creator of Parks and Recreation was not just a writer on The Office (and a couple episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine), but he also had a role on the workplace comedy.

  Schur played  Dwight's odd cousin Mose Schrute, of Schrute Farms fame.

  Source: Vulture
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  (#17) Pawnee City Hall Is the Pasadena City Hall

  Pawnee, IN, does not exist, but Pasadena, CA, does. The Los Angeles-adjacent city is also home to an iconic city hall building, which serves as the exterior for Pawnee's City Hall, one of the show's main locations.
   
  Source: Los Angeles Magazine
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  (#18) Leslie Knope's Life Comes From The Contender

  According to the show's producer, The Contender is a comparison that the writing staff will often note. They frequently reference that movie because Joan Allen plays a dramatic character similar to the Amy Poehler's comedic Leslie Knope. Much like The Contender, the NBC sitcom centers around a female politician who is under scrutiny and "trying to make her way in a man's world."
   
  Source: Hitfix
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  (#19) Ellie Kemper Was Almost Ann Perkins

  Greg Daniels's The Office made a rising star out of Ellie Kemper. Kemper, who played Erin Hannon on the NBC sitcom, auditioned for Parks as well, for the role of Ann Perkins. It ultimately went to Rashida Jones, who also had a recurring role on The Office.

  Source: Uproxx
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  (#20) Ben Schwartz and Aubrey Plaza Studied at Amy Poehler's School

  Ben Schwartz and Aubrey Plaza represent the younger generation on Parks and Recreation. On the show, they play Jean-Ralphio Saperstein and April Ludgate, respectively, but their humble beginnings were studying improv.

  They both trained and took classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in both New York and Los Angeles, all founded by original UCB-er Amy Poehler.
    
  Source: Complex
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  (#21) It Started As a Dunder Mifflin Spin-Off

  The Office executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur set out to produce a spin-off from the world of Dunder Mifflin. They hired Aziz Ansari and other stars for this untitled Office spin-off, but realized soon after that Parks and Rec stood on its own.

  They abandoned plans to center the show on Dwight Schrute's beet farm or Jim and Pam's growing family. Instead, the people and town of Pawnee were born.
   
  Source: Today

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