Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: 'Parks and Recreation' - 'Ron and Tammys': If you have diabeetus...

Ron faces off against two ex-wives and his mom in a riotous episode

By Alan Sepinwall Thursday, Sep 29, 2011 9:00 PM

Ron (Nick Offerman) faces his past on "Parks and Recreation."

Credit: NBC

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A review of tonight's "Parks and Recreation" coming up just as soon as I make toilet wine in the federal prison in Terre Haute...

Earlier today, I published a two-part piece - here and here - on some of the stories and jokes that the writing staff pitched at the start of pre-production this season. (If you want a glimpse of how smart people come up with ideas, I highly recommend reading them.) You'll note that there were no Tammy One pitches there, mainly because no one at the time had any idea what the character would be like and/or who would play her. Ron marrying his Sunday school teacher was actually one of the first pitches anyone made in the room, and though they toyed with other types of women (and actresses who might play them), everyone ultimately kept coming back to the idea of Tammy One as a repressed ice queen and temperamental opposite of Tammy Two. (Tammy Two would have been the ultimate, polar opposite rebound from Tammy One.)

And that brought us to who and what we saw tonight, with Patricia Clarkson as a woman who triggered all sorts of unsettling Oedpial impulses in Ron Effing Swanson. And though it will be hard for the show to ever quite top both the surprise and hilarious grossness of the first "Ron and Tammy" episode, I thought the different side Tammy One brought out in Ron, coupled with the presence of both Tammy Two and Tammy Zero(*) helped keep this specific formula from growing stale. A clean-shaven, neutered-bordering-on-childlike Ron gave Nick Offerman a hilarious, unsettling new side of the character to play, and I thought Leslie stepping into the old-fashioned prairie drink-off was the most amusing example so far of the moment where one of Ron's friends snaps him out of a Tammy-induced trance.(**) I don't know exactly how the show tops itself next season, short of introducing a Tammy Three, but I was laughing pretty hysterically from start to finish of this one.

(*) Throwing off a very Mags Bennet vibe, no?

(**) It also gave Amy Poehler a few great reaction shots, as well as another chance to show just how funny she is at playing drunk.

And where it would be easy for the writers to just put the other characters on the sideline and let Offerman go crazy, "Ron and Tammys" had not one but two damned funny subplots involving the rest of the cast.

For anyone worried that Ben Schwartz being cast in Showtime's "House of Lies" would represent the last we'd see of Jean-Ralphio for a while, I hope you were both relieved and pleased to see him continuing to douche it up at Entertainment 720 HQ, this time not only with Detlef Schrempf, but current Pacer Roy Hibbert (who has a lot of free time on his hands at the moment). This story was in some way a rehash of the Ben/Andy/April story from "Jerry's Painting" last season, but forcing Ben to play the incredulous adult to a pair of immature lunatics is never a bad thing, in my mind, especially given the scale of lunacy that the Entertainment 720 set-up allows for.

The Chris/Ann subplot was also a familiar kind of gag, but Rob Lowe did a great job playing Chris as perfectionist actor, and the whole story nicely led its way to the moment where Ann is reminded of why she liked Chris so much in the first place. Many of you are speculating that Ben and Leslie will ultimately reunite because Chris will rescind the no-fraternization rule so he can reunite with Ann. I don't know if that's where this is going, but if so, this was a plausible step on the road back to that, and also a reminder that there's such a fine line between perfection and madness, one that Chris Traeger figuratively, if not literally, walks each and every day.

Great, wickedly funny episode.

What did everybody else think?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Rob Lowe, Aziz Ansari, Mike Schur, Alan Sepinwall

Next 93 Comments

arg1918

April spitting out the liquor did it for me as well.
September 29, 2011 at 9:13PM EST Reply to Comment
arg1918

April thinking she could handle the liquor, "because she's Puerto Rican" and then spitting it everywhere did it for me as well.
September 29, 2011 at 9:14PM EST Reply to Comment
Mike

Outstanding episode tonight. The Ron and Tammys stuff was all great from Ron's transformation to every part of the drinking game(April's Puerto Rican heritage failing her, Drunk Leslie, and Ron explaining the uses and effects of the alcohol), and episodes with Jean-Ralphio are already improved at least ten-fold, especially given that the entire Entertainment 720 storyline is pure gold.
Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on.
September 29, 2011 at 9:16PM EST Reply to Comment
- Emma "Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."
  
  Yes. This.
  September 29, 2011 at 9:25PM EST
- amg An episode of Ben reading a stack of increasingly ridiculous receipts, looking incredulously at the camera after each one? Sign me up. It should at least get an extended tag...
  September 30, 2011 at 1:11AM EST
- "Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."
  
  Even better: get Detlef, Roy, and Ben together at the Snakehole and just film them discussing the insanity that is 7wenty.
  September 30, 2011 at 3:21AM EST
- PY "An episode of Ben reading a stack of increasingly ridiculous receipts, looking incredulously at the camera after each one? Sign me up. It should at least get an extended tag..."
  
  Are we having fun yet?!
  September 30, 2011 at 3:47AM EST
- AL Forget episode...E720 should be it's own spinoff series (especially given the current state of NBC's comedy schedule).
  September 30, 2011 at 12:45PM EST
- Trilby I would also watch an entire episode of Ron listing things that that moonshine could melt.
  October 1, 2011 at 1:05PM EST
Benjamin Birdie

What was the "***" note about J-R?
September 29, 2011 at 9:18PM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall A vestige of an earlier draft. Deleted now. Thanks.
  September 29, 2011 at 9:27PM EST
thegoche

Good grief, how amazing would Margo Martindale have been as Tammy 0. Sure it would have been basically a direct ripoff of Justified. It also would have been 100% perfect.

I'm actually kind of disappointed now. Alan you've set a Tammy 0 bar that can never be achieved.
September 29, 2011 at 9:26PM EST Reply to Comment
- Tina That was Paula Pell as Tammy 0, yes? She's not old enough to be Ron Swanson's mother, but makeup helped pull it off. And of course that she's very funny.
  September 30, 2011 at 9:07AM EST
- Tina That was Paula Pell as Tammy 0, yes? She's not old enough to be Ron Swanson's mother, but makeup helped pull it off. And of course that she's very funny.
  September 30, 2011 at 9:07AM EST
- thegoche She was plenty good. I'm sure she'll do a great job.
  
  I just miss Mags, and the thought of the funniest Mags moments, replacing Coover with Ron Swanson... wow would that be great.
  
  That's basically up there my fervent hope for Omar in a The Wire themed Community paintball episode (with guest spots from McNulty, Deangelo and Stringer) in my TV elitist nerd-topian dreams.
  September 30, 2011 at 10:59AM EST
Sean

I've watched many episodes of comedy in the last 2 weeks, both new shows and returning, and this was by far the most consistently hilarious half hour. I laughed loudly very often, especially during the back half. Agree that both the Ann and Tom subplots were worthwhile with very funny moments. And trying to name an MVP? Too hard.... Poehler, Clarkson, and Offerman were all sublime, while Mullaly's short first scene with Poehler was a fantastic use of that character. Love love love this show
September 29, 2011 at 9:29PM EST Reply to Comment
Justin

My friend's mom IS Margo Martindale, and apparently she was contacted to play Tammy Zero before signing up for "A Gifted Man." So, uh, yeah, Mags Bennett vibe makes sense.
September 29, 2011 at 9:34PM EST Reply to Comment
- Chris There's nothing I want in life more than to believe this. Would need to hear Margo confirm it, though.
  September 30, 2011 at 8:47AM EST
thegoche

I went nuts over the clear Mike Shure/Ken Tremendous and Alan Yang/Junior influence with the "mom's basement" reference.

Amazing call back to their previous life fisking bad sports journalism.
September 29, 2011 at 9:37PM EST Reply to Comment
- thegoche *Schur, not Shure.
  September 29, 2011 at 11:20PM EST
- stephen Please also note that Dave King/dak (also of Comedy Central's "Workaholics") is now on the writing staff this season.
  September 30, 2011 at 6:33PM EST
Zach S

Loved this episode. And I love how they have built up the character of April so much, that when she takes a drink of that stuff that Ron's mom brought, you truly know its nasty. She has a hardest mentality to break, and when she spits up the stuff, it is so believable that the stuff is truly the most impure thing ever made. Then, as a result, the reactions of everyone else become that much funnier. Great episode.
September 29, 2011 at 9:38PM EST Reply to Comment
- steph and then that much respect for leslie for willing it down. impressive stuff.
  October 1, 2011 at 3:51PM EST
Alex

Fabulous spitting bit from Plaza! I like the explanation for why Tammy 1 is older than Ron. It's just creepy enough to work. The nitpick-y part of me wonders how Ron could ever get away from Tammy 1 in the first place, considering the hold she has over him. I chose to believe that Tammy 0 talked some sense into him, and said "Go far, far away, son." It was odd that there was no Ben/Leslie interaction, but at the same time, it makes sense. I'm sure they're both too upset to really interact with each other at this point.

The real takeaway from this episode? Rob Lowe's horrible hair. What happened there?
September 29, 2011 at 9:44PM EST Reply to Comment
- Pennywise Seriously, that hair. God.
  September 29, 2011 at 11:00PM EST
- Cheruth Agree on the hair.
  
  I think Tammy 2 implied that he broke away because he got caught up in his crazy sex fueled relationship with her. And she has an acid foot to tell the tale.
  September 30, 2011 at 12:41AM EST
- ECG Yes! Did he anger the hair stylist somehow?
  September 30, 2011 at 12:55AM EST
- LJA Andy asking to see Tammy 2's acid-maimed foot absolutely killed me.
  September 30, 2011 at 2:07AM EST
- Dezbot I'm wondering if the state of his hair has to do with Chris unraveling a little bit because he's pining for Ann, but won't admit it? I guess if it gets worse each week, we'll know. Or, Lowe's starting to thin out and is trying to hide it.
  September 30, 2011 at 11:52AM EST
Alex

Write a comment...Fabulous spitting bit from Plaza! I like the explanation for why Tammy 1 is older than Ron. It's just creepy enough to work. The nitpick-y part of me wonders how Ron could ever get away from Tammy 1 in the first place, considering the hold she has over him. I chose to believe that Tammy 0 talked some sense into him, and said "Go far, far away, son." It was odd that there was no Ben/Leslie interaction, but at the same time, it makes sense. I'm sure they're both too upset to really interact with each other at this point.

The real takeaway from this episode? Rob Lowe's horrible hair. What happened there?
September 29, 2011 at 9:44PM EST Reply to Comment
kronicfatigue

This felt like a real miss for me. My problem with Tammy 1 is that they showed too much of her. They built her up as a devil, but was she THAT intimidating in the tax meeting? What I liked about Tammy 2 was that she'd appear, Ron would attempt to resist her, and then they'd cut to Ron completely destroyed. If you're going to build up Tammy 1 as a complete monster, you can't show her being "normal-mean"
September 29, 2011 at 9:48PM EST Reply to Comment
- Where's the appeal I actually thought the 720 subplot missed the mark and widely at that, in that it was not funny in the least.
  September 29, 2011 at 11:49PM EST
- kronicfatigue I agree, WTA. It's probably the least realistic plot they've ever had. There's a way to make "living beyond their means" funny w/o resorting to handing out ipads and paying 75% of NBA salaries.
  September 30, 2011 at 12:49PM EST
- Joseph I agree as well, I'm surprised by how much everyone enjoyed this ep. I thought it was OK, but all the plotlines felt like rehashes of earlier ones (and they were funnier the first time). The episode was only saved by drunk Leslie Knope, which I will never get tired of watching.
  September 30, 2011 at 1:34PM EST
DonBoy

Neutered Ron looked a LOT like a younger Steven Root.
September 29, 2011 at 9:50PM EST Reply to Comment
Sam Seaborn

What's up with Rob Lowe's hair and stubble this season? It's distracting for a guy who's supposed to be a high-ranking civic government official.
September 29, 2011 at 9:54PM EST Reply to Comment
Blaze Domingo

This didn't do it for me. I loved the Entertaiment 720 plot, but at this point, I'm tired of the Tammys. It's starting to get repetitive. And weird. First clunker in a while for me.
September 29, 2011 at 10:16PM EST Reply to Comment
M

I also felt like this was the first clunker in a long time. The Tammy storyline was funny, but probably funnier in concept than in execution. The other two storylines really didn't make me laugh at all.
September 29, 2011 at 10:52PM EST Reply to Comment
downbound

Patricia Clarkson deserves a Guest Actress Emmy just for how she said "na na na" in the restaurant. Brilliant.
September 29, 2011 at 10:53PM EST Reply to Comment
- Ballroom Pink Oh, she'll get it. She got one of the few awards for Six Feet Under, if I recall correctly ... She deserves all the awards (well, the ones Amy Poehler isn't up for at least). The fact that Emmy favorite Megan Mullally can't get nominated for Tammy 2 in seasons past is mind-boggling.
  September 29, 2011 at 11:12PM EST
M.A.Peel

Never tire of the wisdom of the last few generations, when you have a Godzilla, there's nothing to do but bring in Mothra.
September 29, 2011 at 10:58PM EST Reply to Comment
- Dezbot I see Tammy 2 more as King Ghidra, though.
  September 30, 2011 at 11:53AM EST
Afromotha

I know it's a super easy gag but when Ben pressed the stop button (aka the party switch) I laughed out loud. Also I agree drunk Leslie is always a goldmine.
September 29, 2011 at 11:01PM EST Reply to Comment
- LoopyChew That was pitch-perfect hilarity. Either you saw it coming, or you completely understand why that's EXACTLY what it would do after it was hit.
  
  I may have blown a little snot at that.
  September 30, 2011 at 7:30AM EST
Ballroom Pink

Last week's scandal was a reference to Anthony Weiner. Was the relationship between Tammy 1 and Ron a reference to Newt Gingrich and his first wife?
September 29, 2011 at 11:10PM EST Reply to Comment
Karyn

Every single scene of Adam Scott at Entertainment 720 was great. This was a fabulous episode.
September 29, 2011 at 11:26PM EST Reply to Comment
Ander

I just wanted to put forward that I thought the entire Chris/Ann C-story was an excellent piece of meta-commentary on Lowe's character. I've seen plenty of people say they're tired of his enthusiasm schtick, but this episode made a great point: as long as he's the lovable and kind person he is, his constant obsessions are more than easy enough to deal with.
September 29, 2011 at 11:28PM EST Reply to Comment
Jeremy420lowe

Wow. Funniest part to me was Tom saying how easy it was to get Ben to help, Ben saying I can hear you, and Tom saying I know, that's how easy it is. Andy running and grabbing the Rolodex he thought was a calculator was classic Andy too.
September 29, 2011 at 11:29PM EST Reply to Comment
J

Alan, do we think that Chris Traeger and Alexander "Tig" Traeger are somehow related? THAT would be a crazy crossover. SAMPAW chapter on Season 5 of SOA?
September 29, 2011 at 11:36PM EST Reply to Comment
- Branderson Dude (or lady), you just blew my mind.
  September 30, 2011 at 7:51PM EST
echos myron

Really weak episode tonight. I know that these characters aren`t meant to behave realistically, but aside from Ben, they all felt like cartoons. And I`ve had more than enough of this stupid Entertainment 720 subplot.

Also, it looks like they aren`t even going to bother giving us an explanation for Rob Lowe`s stupid new haircut.
September 30, 2011 at 12:13AM EST Reply to Comment
- Ireneinidaho IAT about the E720 subplot. Dumb and dumber!! And WTF with Rob L's haircut?? But the drinking contest was pure gold, because of Leslie's and April's reactions.
  October 2, 2011 at 1:55AM EST
Cheruth

I really loved how genuinely disturbing the Tammy 1/Ron dynamic was not in a cartoon way like with Tammy 2. You see that Ron and Tammy 2 will be circling each other forever because they are literally crazy about each other even if she is evil. Tammy 1 is just so cold and calculatingly evil. She would never choose to be Cleopatra.

Am I the only one who thought that the backstory there where Tammy 2 was also in Tammy 1's Sunday school class and was once attacked with acid almost made the Ron and Tammy 2 relationship seem a little bit romantic and touching?

I like Tammy 2 the best when there isn't an entire episode around her but she just pops up.

"She is the cold distant mother I never had. I love her."
September 30, 2011 at 12:38AM EST Reply to Comment
Ballroom Pink

I need a judge's ruling. Did Leslie say "Pants Pants Pants Pants" or "Prance Prance Prance Prance"? My TV captions said Prance. Sepinwall?
September 30, 2011 at 12:56AM EST Reply to Comment
- LoopyChew Pants. I don't care what your captions say, it's pants. It's always pants.
  September 30, 2011 at 7:33AM EST
- Sun Was the song "Everybody Pants Now!"?
  September 30, 2011 at 3:42PM EST
Joe

Sorry, Alan, this is probably the first Parks in over a year that seemed like a bunch of decent ideas and botched execution. There were so many plotlines, each of which could have (should have?) been fleshed out into an entire episode, and the Tammy build-up was just...ridiculous. I don't think anything Ron Swanson did this episode made me laugh.

I totally want an E720 spin-off, however. Detlef Schrempf never ceases to amuse me.
September 30, 2011 at 1:04AM EST Reply to Comment
Cody

Hilarious stuff. This episode seems like a perfect opportunity for Nick Offerman to be nominated for an Emmy.

Though that would be under the assumption that the Emmys actually pay close to attention to this wonderful show.
September 30, 2011 at 1:12AM EST Reply to Comment
snowlarbear

loved the running joke about the gold (swanson gold is my new favorite gold, beating south park's jewish gold), and also april's admiration of tammy1.
September 30, 2011 at 1:27AM EST Reply to Comment
- Bruce But is it better than Swanson Decoy Gold?
  September 30, 2011 at 1:47AM EST
- sepinwall Ron's incredulous line about just burying his gold where anyone could find it was maybe my favorite non-moonshine joke in the episode.
  September 30, 2011 at 7:14AM EST
- I think I laughed so hard at the "decoy gold," line not only because of Offerman's incredulous delivery but also due to the fact that I've grown to completely accept and understand the character of Ron "effing" Swanson.
  I love the fact that this show has built a universe where Ron has multiple tiers of backwoods security measures.
  September 30, 2011 at 10:37AM EST
- albatross What took that joke over the top for me was that the fake gold was buried in a *locked safe*. Now, that's being thorough.
  September 30, 2011 at 1:08PM EST

Next 93 Comments

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Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

arg1918 April spitting out the liquor did it for me as well.

arg1918 April thinking she could handle the liquor, "because she's Puerto Rican" and then spitting it everywhere did it for me as well.

Emma "Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."Yes. This.

amg An episode of Ben reading a stack of increasingly ridiculous receipts, looking incredulously at the camera after each one? Sign me up. It should at least get an extended tag...

"Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."Even better: get Detlef, Roy, and Ben together at the Snakehole and just film them discussing the insanity that is 7wenty.

PY "An episode of Ben reading a stack of increasingly ridiculous receipts, looking incredulously at the camera after each one? Sign me up. It should at least get an extended tag..."Are we having fun yet?!

AL Forget episode...E720 should be it's own spinoff series (especially given the current state of NBC's comedy schedule).

Trilby I would also watch an entire episode of Ron listing things that that moonshine could melt.

Benjamin Birdie What was the "***" note about J-R?

sepinwall A vestige of an earlier draft. Deleted now. Thanks.

thegoche Good grief, how amazing would Margo Martindale have been as Tammy 0. Sure it would have been basically a direct ripoff of Justified. It also would have been 100% perfect.I'm actually kind of disappointed now. Alan you've set a Tammy 0 bar that can never be achieved.

Tina That was Paula Pell as Tammy 0, yes? She's not old enough to be Ron Swanson's mother, but makeup helped pull it off. And of course that she's very funny.

Tina That was Paula Pell as Tammy 0, yes? She's not old enough to be Ron Swanson's mother, but makeup helped pull it off. And of course that she's very funny.

Justin My friend's mom IS Margo Martindale, and apparently she was contacted to play Tammy Zero before signing up for "A Gifted Man." So, uh, yeah, Mags Bennett vibe makes sense.

Chris There's nothing I want in life more than to believe this. Would need to hear Margo confirm it, though.

thegoche I went nuts over the clear Mike Shure/Ken Tremendous and Alan Yang/Junior influence with the "mom's basement" reference.Amazing call back to their previous life fisking bad sports journalism.

thegoche *Schur, not Shure.

stephen Please also note that Dave King/dak (also of Comedy Central's "Workaholics") is now on the writing staff this season.

steph and then that much respect for leslie for willing it down. impressive stuff.

Pennywise Seriously, that hair. God.

Cheruth Agree on the hair. I think Tammy 2 implied that he broke away because he got caught up in his crazy sex fueled relationship with her. And she has an acid foot to tell the tale.

ECG Yes! Did he anger the hair stylist somehow?

LJA Andy asking to see Tammy 2's acid-maimed foot absolutely killed me.

Dezbot I'm wondering if the state of his hair has to do with Chris unraveling a little bit because he's pining for Ann, but won't admit it? I guess if it gets worse each week, we'll know. Or, Lowe's starting to thin out and is trying to hide it.

Where's the appeal I actually thought the 720 subplot missed the mark and widely at that, in that it was not funny in the least.

kronicfatigue I agree, WTA. It's probably the least realistic plot they've ever had. There's a way to make "living beyond their means" funny w/o resorting to handing out ipads and paying 75% of NBA salaries.

Joseph I agree as well, I'm surprised by how much everyone enjoyed this ep. I thought it was OK, but all the plotlines felt like rehashes of earlier ones (and they were funnier the first time). The episode was only saved by drunk Leslie Knope, which I will never get tired of watching.

DonBoy Neutered Ron looked a LOT like a younger Steven Root.

Sam Seaborn What's up with Rob Lowe's hair and stubble this season? It's distracting for a guy who's supposed to be a high-ranking civic government official.

Blaze Domingo This didn't do it for me. I loved the Entertaiment 720 plot, but at this point, I'm tired of the Tammys. It's starting to get repetitive. And weird. First clunker in a while for me.

M I also felt like this was the first clunker in a long time. The Tammy storyline was funny, but probably funnier in concept than in execution. The other two storylines really didn't make me laugh at all.

downbound Patricia Clarkson deserves a Guest Actress Emmy just for how she said "na na na" in the restaurant. Brilliant.

Ballroom Pink Oh, she'll get it. She got one of the few awards for Six Feet Under, if I recall correctly ... She deserves all the awards (well, the ones Amy Poehler isn't up for at least). The fact that Emmy favorite Megan Mullally can't get nominated for Tammy 2 in seasons past is mind-boggling.

M.A.Peel Never tire of the wisdom of the last few generations, when you have a Godzilla, there's nothing to do but bring in Mothra.

Dezbot I see Tammy 2 more as King Ghidra, though.

Afromotha I know it's a super easy gag but when Ben pressed the stop button (aka the party switch) I laughed out loud. Also I agree drunk Leslie is always a goldmine.

LoopyChew That was pitch-perfect hilarity. Either you saw it coming, or you completely understand why that's EXACTLY what it would do after it was hit.I may have blown a little snot at that.

Ballroom Pink Last week's scandal was a reference to Anthony Weiner. Was the relationship between Tammy 1 and Ron a reference to Newt Gingrich and his first wife?

Karyn Every single scene of Adam Scott at Entertainment 720 was great. This was a fabulous episode.

Jeremy420lowe Wow. Funniest part to me was Tom saying how easy it was to get Ben to help, Ben saying I can hear you, and Tom saying I know, that's how easy it is. Andy running and grabbing the Rolodex he thought was a calculator was classic Andy too.

J Alan, do we think that Chris Traeger and Alexander "Tig" Traeger are somehow related? THAT would be a crazy crossover. SAMPAW chapter on Season 5 of SOA?

Branderson Dude (or lady), you just blew my mind.

Ireneinidaho IAT about the E720 subplot. Dumb and dumber!! And WTF with Rob L's haircut?? But the drinking contest was pure gold, because of Leslie's and April's reactions.

Ballroom Pink I need a judge's ruling. Did Leslie say "Pants Pants Pants Pants" or "Prance Prance Prance Prance"? My TV captions said Prance. Sepinwall?

LoopyChew Pants. I don't care what your captions say, it's pants. It's always pants.

Sun Was the song "Everybody Pants Now!"?

Cody Hilarious stuff. This episode seems like a perfect opportunity for Nick Offerman to be nominated for an Emmy.Though that would be under the assumption that the Emmys actually pay close to attention to this wonderful show.

snowlarbear loved the running joke about the gold (swanson gold is my new favorite gold, beating south park's jewish gold), and also april's admiration of tammy1.

Bruce But is it better than Swanson Decoy Gold?

sepinwall Ron's incredulous line about just burying his gold where anyone could find it was maybe my favorite non-moonshine joke in the episode.

albatross What took that joke over the top for me was that the fake gold was buried in a *locked safe*. Now, that's being thorough.

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Parks and Recreation is updated

arg1918

April spitting out the liquor did it for me as well.

arg1918

April thinking she could handle the liquor, "because she's Puerto Rican" and then spitting it everywhere did it for me as well.

Emma "Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."

Yes. This.

"Speaking of E720, I would watch an entire episode solely consisting of Ben Wyatt cataloguing ridiculous things Entertainment 720 spends money on."

Even better: get Detlef, Roy, and Ben together at the Snakehole and just film them discussing the insanity that is 7wenty.

PY "An episode of Ben reading a stack of increasingly ridiculous receipts, looking incredulously at the camera after each one? Sign me up. It should at least get an extended tag..."

Are we having fun yet?!

Benjamin Birdie

What was the "***" note about J-R?

thegoche

Good grief, how amazing would Margo Martindale have been as Tammy 0. Sure it would have been basically a direct ripoff of Justified. It also would have been 100% perfect.

I'm actually kind of disappointed now. Alan you've set a Tammy 0 bar that can never be achieved.

Justin

My friend's mom IS Margo Martindale, and apparently she was contacted to play Tammy Zero before signing up for "A Gifted Man." So, uh, yeah, Mags Bennett vibe makes sense.

thegoche

I went nuts over the clear Mike Shure/Ken Tremendous and Alan Yang/Junior influence with the "mom's basement" reference.

Amazing call back to their previous life fisking bad sports journalism.

Cheruth Agree on the hair.

I think Tammy 2 implied that he broke away because he got caught up in his crazy sex fueled relationship with her. And she has an acid foot to tell the tale.

DonBoy

Neutered Ron looked a LOT like a younger Steven Root.

Sam Seaborn

What's up with Rob Lowe's hair and stubble this season? It's distracting for a guy who's supposed to be a high-ranking civic government official.

Blaze Domingo

This didn't do it for me. I loved the Entertaiment 720 plot, but at this point, I'm tired of the Tammys. It's starting to get repetitive. And weird. First clunker in a while for me.

M

I also felt like this was the first clunker in a long time. The Tammy storyline was funny, but probably funnier in concept than in execution. The other two storylines really didn't make me laugh at all.

downbound

Patricia Clarkson deserves a Guest Actress Emmy just for how she said "na na na" in the restaurant. Brilliant.

M.A.Peel

Never tire of the wisdom of the last few generations, when you have a Godzilla, there's nothing to do but bring in Mothra.

Afromotha

I know it's a super easy gag but when Ben pressed the stop button (aka the party switch) I laughed out loud. Also I agree drunk Leslie is always a goldmine.

LoopyChew That was pitch-perfect hilarity. Either you saw it coming, or you completely understand why that's EXACTLY what it would do after it was hit.

I may have blown a little snot at that.

Ballroom Pink

Last week's scandal was a reference to Anthony Weiner. Was the relationship between Tammy 1 and Ron a reference to Newt Gingrich and his first wife?

Karyn

Every single scene of Adam Scott at Entertainment 720 was great. This was a fabulous episode.

Jeremy420lowe

Wow. Funniest part to me was Tom saying how easy it was to get Ben to help, Ben saying I can hear you, and Tom saying I know, that's how easy it is. Andy running and grabbing the Rolodex he thought was a calculator was classic Andy too.

J

Alan, do we think that Chris Traeger and Alexander "Tig" Traeger are somehow related? THAT would be a crazy crossover. SAMPAW chapter on Season 5 of SOA?

Ballroom Pink

I need a judge's ruling. Did Leslie say "Pants Pants Pants Pants" or "Prance Prance Prance Prance"? My TV captions said Prance. Sepinwall?

Cody

Hilarious stuff. This episode seems like a perfect opportunity for Nick Offerman to be nominated for an Emmy.

Though that would be under the assumption that the Emmys actually pay close to attention to this wonderful show.

snowlarbear

loved the running joke about the gold (swanson gold is my new favorite gold, beating south park's jewish gold), and also april's admiration of tammy1.

albatross What took that joke over the top for me was that the fake gold was buried in a locked safe. Now, that's being thorough.

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