STOKED to bring you all a special edition of Park It today: a conversation with the one and only Jennifer Keishin Armstrong! Jennifer writes two Substacks — Culture Trip and Ministry of Pop Culture — and is in the middle of writing her 9th book, which just so happens to be a book about the making of Parks and Rec. Previous topics of her books include Sex and the City, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Seinfeld, and Mean Girls (amongst others). She’s a long-time pop culture reporter and a total expert on sitcoms.
Jennifer’s deep in research mode and has been interviewing everyone from Mike Schur to Amy Poehler to Paul Rudd. She ever so generously agreed to chat with us here on Park It. Obviously, we gib gabbed for hours, so it was an effort of Herculean strength cutting this down to a reasonable length of time. It’s actually my first time editing a video podcast (even though I spent many hours in Garage Band back in college to edit mash-ups for an annual dance competition …. very Pitch Perfect of me. This was a similar skill), SO apologies for any rough transitions.
Jennifer and I chat about everything from the Parks origin story to Leslie’s feelings on Harris/Walz to what it’s been like interviewing Rob Lowe, Aubrey Plaza, and Nick Offerman. She also let slip that this is her first. ever. interview about Parks and Rec. Boooyyyy are we lucky!!
Can’t wait to hear what you fools think about this. Enjoy and subscribe to Jennifer’s Substacks!
Just really good, special people