Amy Poehler, Rashida, Jones, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Aubrey Plaza, and Aziz Ansari. These are just a few of the stars of Parks and Recreation who didn’t bother talking to Jim O’Heir for this book.
In both title and jacket copy, Welcome to Pawnee bills itself as a comprehensive, behind the scenes account of the beloved NBC sitcom, which ran for seven seasons and garnered a small but fervent fanbase. O’Heir was, of course, the actor behind sad-sack office punching bag Jerry Gergich. As a cast-member for all seven seasons, O’Heir seems like someone perfectly positioned to cover the show from pilot to finale. However, perhaps due to a lack of cooperation from his co-stars, Welcome to Pawnee is much closer to being The Jim O’Heir Story. I think even the most ardent fans of the Jerry character and O’Heir’s performance would be pretty disappointed by this bait and switch.
O’Heir’s story is fairly standard struggling character-actor stuff. Years of struggle, parents who don’t understand why he doesn’t get a real job, failed auditions, mistreatment from bigger stars, etc. Even after his breakthrough on Parks, he isn’t exactly a household name. An incident where an entertainment magazine commissioned a photoshoot on “the men of Parks and Rec” but failed to include him really seems to have stung.
Only a few other people who worked on Parks took the time to talk to O’Heir. By far the most extensive of these conversations is with Chris Pratt, whom O’Heir venerates quite a lot, considering Pratt’s iffy reputation of late. Apparently, Pratt treated O’Heir well on set and O’Heir really appreciated it. Big whoop. (One slightly disorienting note about the audiobook: O’Heir narrates the book himself, but the quotes from others are read by audiobook narrators, and not the people themselves, which is especially weird when O’Heir reprints a whole conversation with Pratt.)
There aren’t many juicy details on offer, really. Apparently, Aziz Ansari didn’t memorize his lines ahead of rehearsal and that annoyed Paul Schneider a lot. O’Heir hints at Rob Lowe initially being a bit of a diva before realizing Amy Poehler was the top dog on set. That’s about it.
Parks and Recreation was a show I really loved, and it deserves a better book than this one.