S2E6: The Pit works in mysterious ways
"This is the best TV show I'll ever be on"
Amy Poehler was already stuff of comedy legend before she made it big on Saturday Night Live. SNL established her as one of the funniest comedians in the mainstream and Parks and Rec arguably is the thing that cemented her legacy, but she was well-known in the improv circles before she auditioned for Lorne Michaels.
(Side note: I was just listening to Amy on Armchair Expert and she talks about how she doesn’t love the term “comedian” because she doesn’t necessarily think she’s funny enough to deserve it. Celebrities …. they have imposter syndrome just like us.)
(Another side note: I’m reading Gilda Radner’s memoir and just finished a book called Girl in the Show about Gilda, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and similar early comics. They were formerly known as “comedienne-ballerinas.” You know, just in case they didn’t make it big in the humor department. They’d always have ballet to fall back on.)
There are a few big breeding grounds for improv and sketch comedy in the US: the Groundlings, in LA; Second City, in Toronto and Chicago; and UCB, or the Upright Citizens Brigade, in New York. The Groundlings is responsible for people like Will Ferrell and Lisa Kudrow and Kristen Wiig. Second City is responsible for the training of old-school legends like Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara and Gilda Radner and Chris Farley. It’s also where Tina and Amy first met, back in the 90s on one of Second City’s touring improv teams in Chicago.
A few years into their time at Second City, though, Amy fell in love with a guy called Matt Besser, who was involved in something called the Upright Citizens Brigade. UCB was pioneering a new style of comedy based on a mixture of improv and outrageous performances – their vibe was get the audience out of their seats and into the performance, which sometimes meant the performance would consist of leading the audience on a virtual-reality tour of Chicago. It was very early-Steve Martin inspired, who was known to lead crowds of hundreds of people through the cities he toured in as a bit.
After a few years of juggling Second City and UCB, Amy, Besser, and two other comedians moved to New York to build UCB out into the early seeds of what is today: one of the most popular comedian training programs in the world and a comedy hub in NYC.
I was just reading Paul Scheer’s new memoir, Joyful Recollections of Trauma — which is incredibly fitting, because he also happens to be a guest star in this episode of Parks and Rec. He’s cropping up all over my fave 2000s shows and movies!! I was just rewatching Bride Wars and saw this:
Paul was also an early member of UCB in New York. The comedy world is ever so small. He describes the first moment he saw their show, ASSSSCAT:
“A distorted voice blasted from the speakers: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the Upright Citizens Brigade.”
The ‘UCB 4’ — Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Matt Besser charged the stage. ‘Welcome to ASSSSCAT!’ As they introduced the show, they were casual but confident, if not downright cocky. They were dressed in ratty tees and jeans and carried beer in their hands. I had never seen anything like this; I came from performing improv for the whole family in slacks and a mandated ‘shiny’ button-down shirt. But that was not the vibe here. This was like seeing a rock show.”
By the time Amy auditioned for SNL a few years later (coincidentally, on the same day as Paul), she had already done a few seasons of the UCB show on Comedy Central.
It’s really cool to me, thinking about someone knowing how good something is when they’re seeing it live. Paul knew the minute he saw the UCB 4 that he was witnessing something special and wholly unique and he knew he needed to be on that ship.
The Parks and Rec cast also knew they were building something special while they were doing it too. On the same Armchair Expert episode with Amy from a few weeks ago, she talks about how they knew how lucky they were during the entire show. Dax asks Amy what in her career she’s done that she’s the most proud of, and Amy says:
“Parks was an example where I had the wisdom, the age to know this is not coming around. This is it. This is the best, probably TV show I’ll ever be on. We’re getting the plane to land on our own. The people are incredible. This was a dream come true.”
And Rashida Jones (Ann! Perkins!) was just on an episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, where she talks about how the show almost got cancelled sooooo many times, but kept hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Because the cast and NBC execs knew there was just something special about little old Parks.
It’s pretty amazing now, seeing how many comedians UCB has trained — like Ellie Kemper and Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer and Aubrey Plaza and Kate McKinnon!!! Stacked alumni list!!! — and how much of a huge impact Parks and Rec has made on comedy and just culture more broadly, to know that the people involved had a bit of a gut sense while they were doing the thing. They knew they were funny people who had an obligation to future funny people!! And honestly, a lot of it really stems back to Amy Poehler.
Telling a bit of Amy’s history distracted me from the plot of episode 6, which is kinda messed up because: Leslie finally fills in the Pit!! She gets a liiiiiitttle shady doing it but it pays off. Leslie’s inspired by the can-do attitude of local org slash Ponzi scheme slash professional pranksters KABOOM!, run by Paul Scheer, who build parks in under 24 hours. Mark gives her some iffy advice and basically tells her to cut corners, hire a dump truck, and fill in the Pit herself. Things are going great until the dump truck, when filling in the Pit, starts to dump dirt and rocks on Andy, who’s still living the Pit (even though he claims not to be). He goes to the hospital and threatens to sue because he’s broke as hell until Leslie talks him out of it. His one stipulation to the city’s DA to get him to drop the case? Fill. In. The. Pit. So Leslie’s making moves people.
One of my favorite parts of episode 6 is that it has some SERIOUSLY funny writing in it. Truly, it’s one of those episodes where it’s bar-for-bar perfect, which actually isn’t something I think Parks get praised for enough. Sure, it has a rockstar cast (let’s not forget the Poehler Rule), but it also had a seriously stacked writers room. This is a TIGHT. SCRIPT.
Cold open. Leslie’s on the phone with her credit card company about what they deem abnormal activity on her bill.
Credit card lady (CCL): “$20 to Netflix?”
Leslie: “Yep.”
CCL: “$20 to Blockbuster Online?”
Tom: “Both?”
Leslie: “I needed all 11 discs of Gossip Girl at the same time.”
CCL: “$120 in tuition to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?”
Leslie: (grinning)
Tom: (grinning)
Leslie: “They give you a little wand and a diploma…You know, I’m gonna take you off speakerphone.”
(Tom takes over the call, it’s still on speakerphone)
CCL: “Jessica Simpson clip in hair extensions?”
Leslie: “No, okay, uuhhhh…I wore those once.”
CCL: “Man pillow, the pillow shaped like a man?”
The beginning of the Jerry jokes!! "Mark’s going to help me, so thanks for nothing Jerry.” (He’s said nothing at this point in the meeting.)
“There was a girl at my prom who was known as a backhoe….She’d let anyone massage her back.” (Ann)
(After Leslie and Ann accidentally dump dirt on Andy in the Pit). “We should’ve checked before to see if you were home.”
Andy: “Oh no, I just went back because I forgot my headphones. I laid down on this really comfy tarp, and then I saw an old cereal box I hadn’t read before so….I must’ve drifted off.”
Annnnd here’s my reading, listening, and watching list at the moment for the curious:
Finishing Gilda’s memoir, It’s Always Something ( My esteemed colleague @ also found this SICK vintage Roseanne Roseannadanna shirt that I’m fighting a splurge on)
I always circulate between Wiser Than Me, Smartless, Armchair Expert, Handsome, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, and a few other podcasts just based on which guest seems interesting, BUT I’ve recently discovered the podcast Normal Gossip and I can’t stop listening. Readers who remember my Portuguese journey to Lisbon’s sardine festival may have having an aha! moment right now - it IS the same festival from this episode!!
Just found this new cute little show called The Bear. Haven’t heard much about it anywhere, loving it so far. Kind of stressful tho
Bye !!
Hell yeah - love the UCB detour! You should make a low ball offer on that shirt!