Google Play presents: Parks and Recreation

OLIVER CHIANG: I'm Oliver Chiang and I'm from
the Google Play team.
I'm really excited to have these guys here.
We have some of the cast of NBC's hit sitcom, now going
into its fifth season.
We have Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, and
Chris Pratt.
AMY POEHLER: Hi, guys.
OLIVER CHIANG: Welcome, and thanks for coming.
ADAM SCOTT: Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
OLIVER CHIANG: Unfortunately, we couldn't get Aziz Ansari
and Michael Schur here today, but we're glad to have you
guys and excited to have you guys here.
AMY POEHLER: Mike is busy working on the next script and
sends his regrets that he couldn't be here.
OLIVER CHIANG: So let's just jump right into the fan
questions, because the fans are here.
They're excited to talk with you.
We're going to have fans in the Hangout ask you guys some
questions, and we'll also take some questions from online.
OLIVER CHIANG: Let's start with Anne Royce, who's from
Washington DC.
And she has a question about season five.
ANNE ROYCE: Hi, guys.
So my question is now that Ben and April are in DC in season
five, and Leslie's going to start working at city council.
And [INAUDIBLE]

was going to keep proceeding towards them working in more
of a bigger government sense, or if it was going to stay
true to kind of the local small town government.
AMY POEHLER: I think you were asking is the show going to
deal with big-time politics or still stay with--
ANNE ROYCE: Yeah.
AMY POEHLER: I think that the show--
I think I'm safe to say-- is always about Pawnee and people
coming in and out of it, and what they do when
they leave and stay.
So we visited DC, but I don't think there's any big plans to
take the show to DC permanently.
But you never know.
Because if you can count on anything in this show or in
life, it's that change is happening all time.
So I don't know.
Anyone else want to answer?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, it's interesting being--
April and I are in DC, and we're still there.
I have no idea.
We may just be there for the full season,
for a couple seasons.
We have no idea.
So it's interesting having these two different worlds
simultaneously.

AUBREY PLAZA: And you do get to see a contrast between
small-town Pawnee government stuff with the DC world.
It makes it funnier, I think.
AMY POEHLER: There's always a threat that Leslie's ambition
will take her away from Pawnee, so that might be
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

OLIVER CHIANG: Thanks, Anne.
We have a question next from Ryan Wenstrup-Moore who is
from Glasgow, Scotland.
She has a question about [INAUDIBLE]
RYAN WENSTRUP-MOORE: Hi.
That's me.
I'm actually from Cincinnati, but I live in Glasgow,
Scotland now.
My question is if you could have anybody
guest star on the show--
forget about budget restrictions, forget about
scheduling conflicts--
who would you have guest star, and who would they play?
OLIVER CHIANG: Anyone.
AMY POEHLER: I'd like Bill Murray to play the mayor.
AUBREY PLAZA: Me too.
ADAM SCOTT: Me too.
CHRIS PRATT: Not me.
AMY POEHLER: I know he loves to hang out.
He loves Google Hangouts.
CHRIS PRATT: Hey, Bill.
Did you get Bill?
ADAM SCOTT: I believe Bill has a question.

AMY POEHLER: And then if we don't have to worry about the
budget, then I'd like to try to use that new cheetah robot
that NASA just developed that runs faster than Usain Bolt.
I'd like to try to get that on our show as a cameo.
OLIVER CHIANG: And what character would that play?
AMY POEHLER: It doesn't matter.
I was told money's no object, so we could just keep it in
the background.
OLIVER CHIANG: Just running around all the time.
CHRIS PRATT: I would like Harrison Ford to come in in
some sort of capacity, just because I would freak out.
AMY POEHLER: What if he was dressed like Han Solo?
ADAM SCOTT: That would be crazy.
OLIVER CHIANG: Great.
We have Savannah Harvey.
Let's bring her into the conversation.
And she's from Clemson, South Carolina.
She has a question about the filming of the show.
SAVANNAH HARVEY: Hey.
I'm from Greenville, South Carolina, and I go to Clemson
University.
I'm a sophomore here in food science.
I was going to ask what everyone's favorite part of
the whole filming process is.

CHRIS PRATT: For us, it's a little different.
It might be hard to explain without having to fully
explain all the different types of filming.
But sometimes shows--
hour-long dramas, for instance-- are
shot on a film camera.
You have one camera.
They really focus on making it look beautiful.
They set a lot of lights.
The process itself takes a very long time.
It can be quite tedious.
Then you take something like our show.
We use these really light, handheld broadcast cameras,
similar to what, say, a news guy would use if they were
covering a storm or something.
And we light it so it looks fine, but we're really trying
to make a documentary.
And so it's very loose.
And for me, that's my favorite part, because it allows for us
to just A, say the lines a lot more and run the scene more
times than you would if you were doing something that was
so focused on the picture.
There are these things called dolly tracks, which is like a
little temporary railroad track that you set up, and you
set the camera on it with big wheels, and you do these slow,
dramatic push ins.
You see this in these dramas.
We don't deal with any of that crap.
We just get three camera guys, slam the cameras on their
shoulders-- it's really as close to a bunch of preteen
friends making a movie in the back yard as anything on TV,
and it has a sense of just fun.
So for me, that's the best part of
filming on this project.

AUBREY PLAZA: After we do a bunch of takes of the script,
sometimes we do this take called the fun run, which is
what we call it, where we mess around and try to make each
other laugh.
And that's one of my favorite parts is when we
get to do a fun run.
Because it's fun.
OLIVER CHIANG: Any particularly fun fun runs?
AMY POEHLER: No.
No.
They're all real serious and sad.
ADAM SCOTT: They usually end up being longer and less funny
than [INAUDIBLE].
AUBREY PLAZA: Usually they end up being the
take where Chris will--
instead of just punching a wall, he'll destroy the entire
wall, or he'll destroy something or hurt himself.
CHRIS PRATT: Yeah.
It's fun for us.
But still, I don't think it's that fun for everyone else
who's like, I need to go home.
OLIVER CHIANG: Good question.
Let's have a question from DeeDee Baldwin, who is
currently from Starkville, Mississippi.
DEEDEE BALDWIN: Hey, y'all.
I'm DeeDee.
I'm an evil librarian at Mississippi State.
AMY POEHLER: Ah, boo!
CHRIS PRATT: Boo!
Libraries!
Down with the libraries!
DEEDEE BALDWIN: I'm a book jockey.
AMY POEHLER: You're a punk ass.
DEEDEE BALDWIN: Are we ever going to find out what Leslie
did in her 20s before she took the job in Parks?
And what do you think has taken her so long to really
start pursuing her political ambitions?
ADAM SCOTT: Like a prequel.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
Well, it's just like a librarian to ask
such a smart question.
Congratulations, librarian.
Everybody loves your questions best.
Such a brown-noser.
No, thank you for that great question.
We talk about it a lot.

There's a little bit of stuff coming this season where you
find out, actually, a moment you learn about when Leslie
first started working with Ron.
And you learn a little bit about that.
But we should just do "Parks and Recreation" babies, where
we just have kids play little baby versions of ourselves.
ADAM SCOTT: Like "Muppet Babies."
AUBREY PLAZA: I'd like to see Leslie in college.
Like "Saved by the Bell College Years."
AMY POEHLER: I think she kind of ripped it up a little bit.
That would be my theory.

ADAM SCOTT: You did see Leslie in
elementary school last season.
AMY POEHLER: That's right.
We had a wonderful young actress play her.
And that was really fun.
And not very dissimilar from what I was like as a kid.
OLIVER CHIANG: With the campaign video on YouTube.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
We got to see her when she shot a video of herself.
Yeah.
And then your other question is--
I don't know.
You only get one question, Library.
CHRIS PRATT: And any other librarians can go ahead and
just close your computer.
Get the hell off our Google Hangout.
AMY POEHLER: We don't need your well-educated,
well-thought questions.
ADAM SCOTT: Go sort out some books.
Yeah.
AMY POEHLER: Give her to somebody else.
CHRIS PRATT: We're just kidding, by the way.
We love you, and that was a great question.
OLIVER CHIANG: Let's bring [? Kelly Hearsten ?] in from
Pullman, Washington.
CHRIS PRATT: Hey.
Wazoo.
RYAN WENSTRUP-MOORE: I think Kelly didn't
make the switch over.
KELLY: I'm another Kelly.
OLIVER CHIANG: Oh, OK.
We'll go to the other Kelly first.
[INAUDIBLE]
[? Kelly Hearsten ?]
comes back, we'll get back to her at the end.
So Kelly, why don't you go ahead?
KELLY: I'm Kelly.
I'm from Ottawa, Canada.
And my Burt Macklin code name is Probably Going to Think
About It Later.
[LAUGHTER]
KELLY: I was wondering what each of your guys' favorite
episodes were of the whole series.
AMY POEHLER: That's a good question.
I mean, I always like the ones where we
all get to be together.

AUBREY PLAZA: Yeah.
I really like the ice skating episode when
we're all on the ice.
ANNE ROYCE: Oh, my gosh.
I love that one.
AUBREY PLAZA: A lot of group physical comedy.
AMY POEHLER: I'm a sucker for any time
it's a Christmas episode.
The last Christmas episode was really special, I
thought, for me.
So that was a big one.
CHRIS PRATT: In season four, we did a debate episode.

Amy wrote and directed that episode--
and that is not why it was my favorite episode--
no, but actually, that's one of the reasons it was such a
great episode.
But I got to kick a TV.
I got to do a Rambo impression.
And I remember it being a really fun episode.
Amy has a very contagious laugh, and when you're making
a comedy, hearing a laugh is like--
I'm like a rat at the feeder bar.
If someone laughs, I'm like, oh, yes, oh, please.
And she's very generous with her laughter.
So from behind the monitor, to hear Amy laughing--
it's all the time as a director, because when she's
not directing, if she's not in the scene,
she may not be there.
So when she's directing and has written the episode, then
she's there to laugh the whole time.
And that just makes it such a fun experience.
So that was probably my favorite.
AMY POEHLER: I watched the gag reel.
There was a scene with Adam and Louis, and I was just in
the background laughing the whole time.
And Louis's like, shut up.
[LAUGHTER]
AMY POEHLER: We're recording sound.
KELLY: Cool.
Thank you.
OLIVER CHIANG: Let's bring in Ross Fowkes
from Nottingham, England.
He has a question for Amy.
ROSS FOWKES: Hello.
My name's Ross.
I'm from Nottingham in the UK.
This question is for Amy.
Leslie Knope, the character, has a load of
heroes and role models.
And were they the writers' choice for the character, or
are they your personal role models?
AMY POEHLER: Oh, that's a good question.
They were mostly the writers' choice, although I probably
myself would agree with most of them.
But that was a combination of the writers and the art
department working well together.
Because I think we just showed up one day in the office, and
they had put up women.
And we had to OK whether or not we thought they were
suitable women to hang on the wall.
And what I like about it is it's very nonpartisan.
There's Condoleezza Rice, and there's Madeleine Albright,
and there's Nancy Pelosi, and Bella Abzug, and there's a
picture of me as a little kid.
And then there's some funny things that we don't
know who they are.
There's like some random suffragettes
that we can't identify.
And so I think it really was a combination of the art
department and the writers, and I know that, for example,
a couple months ago, I said to Schur can I put Mary Pickford
in my office?
And he was like, sure.
[INAUDIBLE]
forgot.
ROSS FOWKES: [INAUDIBLE] the office.

Cool.
So who is your personal favorite?
AMY POEHLER: Of the women in the room there?
ROSS FOWKES: You don't have to say Margaret Thatcher.
That's fine.

AMY POEHLER: I wasn't going to.

I would probably say either Posh Spice or Mel B. Either
Mel B or Posh Spice.
OLIVER CHIANG: Great political figures of our time.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
Or someone from Take That.
ROSS FOWKES: Makes sense.

AMY POEHLER: I'm trying to think.
Who else you have over there?

Jodie Marsh.
[LAUGHTER]
ROSS FOWKES: Good choice.
Thanks very much.
AMY POEHLER: Thanks.
OLIVER CHIANG: Next question is from Ashley Blevins, from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and she has a question about
your characters.
ASHLEY BLEVINS: My question is how do you hope your character
comes across to the people watching?
Do you want them to be inspiring, or silly?
I don't know.

Silence.

ADAM SCOTT: I don't know.
I think, first and foremost, on our show, we're trying to
get laughs.
We want to be funny and stuff.
But I think the show also has a lot of heart, which means a
lot to all of us.
And so I guess we want the audience to care about these
people as much as we do.
That's part of it, and then we want to be funny as well.
AUBREY PLAZA: I want people to be confused by my character
and also have a feeling of not knowing whether you want to
strangle me to death or kiss me real hard.
ASHLEY BLEVINS: So you're dead on.
Yeah.

AMY POEHLER: And I think you accomplish that every week.
AUBREY PLAZA: Thank you.
OLIVER CHIANG: Oh, great.
Sorry.
And did I get everyone in the Hangout?
Or let me know if I've missed you.
I know [? Kelly Hearsten ?]
couldn't join us, but she really
wanted to ask this question.
She's from Pullman, Washington.
And she asked if you could do any crossover episode with any
TV show in the history of television, which [INAUDIBLE]
would you choose, and how do you want the
episode to play out?
ADAM SCOTT: In the history of television.
AMY POEHLER: In the history of television.
OLIVER CHIANG: Going back to the Stone Ages.
AMY POEHLER: Oh, wow.
I know what comes to mind. "Cheers." I would want to go
to the bar in "Cheers." I don't think they'd leave the
bar, so I think we'd have to go to "Cheers."
ADAM SCOTT: I think our show would mesh really well with
"West Wing." That would be cool.
And then Rob's character could see his character from "West
WIng," and the universe could explode.
[LAUGHTER]
ADAM SCOTT: But then our show would end, so
that would be a bummer.
AMY POEHLER: It would end on a really good note.
It would end on a well-written note.
CHRIS PRATT: I would like us to go--

maybe we could take a--
as a cast, the group of us could go on "The Price Is
Right." And be in the audience, and Leslie could go.
Or maybe we could go to submit a video to "America's Funniest
Videos." What crossover show to where we're not--
AMY POEHLER: We're contestants.
CHRIS PRATT: Where we're contestants
on something, somehow.
OLIVER CHIANG: It's like a show within a show.
ADAM SCOTT: "Real Sex" on HBO.
CHRIS PRATT: "Real Sex." Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That's it.

OLIVER CHIANG: All right.
Now we're going to take some questions from online from our
Google+ page.
People who are watching.
[? Todd Encoals-- ?]
and sorry if I'm butchering names here--
asks, how are you guys going to treat yourself this season?

AMY POEHLER: Gosh, I feel like Aziz and Retta
should be here for--
I mean, because at the very least we're going to buy
ourselves some fine leather goods.

At the very least, we are going to get some
fine leather goods.

And you're going to wear your Batman jacket.
ADAM SCOTT: And I'm going to wear my Batman [? suit ?]
again.
I wore it for Halloween last year, for real.
I borrowed it [INAUDIBLE].
KELLY: No way.
OLIVER CHIANG: It was a pretty amazing Batman costume.
ADAM SCOTT: It was.
It's super uncomfortable.
AUBREY PLAZA: April gets to treat herself by wearing some
fancy power suits in the DC office.
She gets to snazz it up a bit.
It's really fun.
It's real snazzy in the office.
She wears heels.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah, that's right.
It's a big deal.
CHRIS PRATT: It's a big deal.
And that's how Andy gets to treat himself.

It's the power suit [INAUDIBLE].
[LAUGHTER]
CHRIS PRATT: He takes them off.
AMY POEHLER: He treats himself every night after [INAUDIBLE]
OLIVER CHIANG: All right.
We had a question from [? Lauren Jiggers. ?]
She asks, who inspired you all to become actors, and who
inspires you all to keep being actors today?

AMY POEHLER: Well, so many people.
Right?
AUBREY PLAZA: Yeah.
So many people.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
So many people continue--
I know I can speak for all of us.
We're all really big fans of a lot of TV that's on right now.
One of the cooler things about being included in any awards
ceremony or getting any kind of recognition is that you get
to meet and be around people whose work you really admire.
We've gotten to do that the past couple seasons, which is
such a perk of getting to be on the show, is getting to
talk to people who are on shows we like.
ADAM SCOTT: People from "Game of Thrones," "Breaking Bad."
It's crazy to get to talk to them.
Especially "Game of Thrones"--
you don't think these are people living
in the modern world.
So it's crazy to talk to them.
AMY POEHLER: Well, Adam just met Catelynn Stark.
ADAM SCOTT: Yep.
Yeah, that was amazing.
And, also, Louis's show is really great.
And he was on the show, and that was amazing.
Louis C.K.
AUBREY PLAZA: I was a big Christopher Guest fan growing
up, and those movies were always really inspiring to me.
I always loved Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey.
And it was really cool when she was on our show because I
got to talk to her.
And she was a big one for me growing up.
CHRIS PRATT: I'll say "SNL." Amy, of course, was on "SNL,"
and that's not why I'm saying it.
I'm coming across as a library person here.

But probably Amy Poehler.
[LAUGHTER]
CHRIS PRATT: Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler.
They were huge icons of mine.
But the biggest was Jim Carrey, his career and also
his performance when he was on "SNL." It was, to me, just--

I was in high school, and I loved it.
And I stole it and did, word for word, his bits as if other
people hadn't seen "SNL" as if it was my own.
So that would be my tip.
Steal material.
Who gives a shit?
Don't let anybody tell you you're not funny.
OLIVER CHIANG: Our next question from Google+ comes
from Emma Hitchcock.
And she asks, if you did not play your character, which
character would you want to play, and how
would you play them?
She wants you to show us.
I don't know if you want to [INAUDIBLE] or
just talk about it.
AMY POEHLER: Well, the problem is that we're
stuck to these seats.
We're taped to these seats.
On the show, who would we want to play?
ADAM SCOTT: I know who you would want to play.
You would want to play April.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
AUBREY PLAZA: Really?
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
AUBREY PLAZA: I wouldn't want to play Leslie.
[LAUGHTER]
AUBREY PLAZA: [INAUDIBLE]

I would not want to play [INAUDIBLE].
What about you guys?
CHRIS PRATT: Mark Brendanawicz.

AMY POEHLER: There we go.
Well, you know what--
OLIVER CHIANG: Is he ever going to
come back to the show?
AMY POEHLER: Maybe.
Paul's doing such great stuff and working all the time.
And I just saw him doing something recently that I just
read about.
He's working on some new show.
CHRIS PRATT: "Newsroom," yeah?
AMY POEHLER: Yeah, but he's doing something else too.
He just signed on to some-- yeah.
So he's a great actor.
We loved working with him.
OLIVER CHIANG: Great.
Let's also talk a little bit about the upcoming season.
What can you guys tell us about what to expect in season
five that's spoiler-free, or if there's spoiler alerts,
just let the internet know.
ADAM SCOTT: Well, Ben and April are in Washington DC
working on a congressional campaign.
And so that's happening.
And then, also, Leslie is a city councilwoman now.
AMY POEHLER: Yeah.
We were kind of joking, but not really joking, that season
five is about lost bearings.
That everybody is a little all over the place and spread out
and trying to figure out what's important to them.
So we find Leslie having her job, but not really knowing
how she's going to be in it and how she should vote, how
she should act, what she wants.
Same with Ben in DC.
He's got this job, and he doesn't know if it's the right
fit for him.
Same with April.
And Andy's trying to figure out where [INAUDIBLE].
So it's kind of like--
[SIDE CONVERSATION]
OLIVER CHIANG: OK, we just had [? Kelly Hearsten ?]
jump on, actually.
AMY POEHLER: Oh, cool.
So blah, blah, blah.
KELLY HEARSTEN: Hi.
[LAUGHTER]
OLIVER CHIANG: Yeah.
Anything else about season five?
AMY POEHLER: No, I just said it.
OLIVER CHIANG: Oh, that was everything?
AUDIENCE: What about Jean-Ralphio?
AMY POEHLER: You'll see Jean-Ralphio.
He's coming back.
Yes.
The great Ben Schwartz.
And he's actually growing his hair.
He sent me a picture of his hair to be like, look, I'm
getting ready to come back.
And his hair is crazy.
KELLY: He's a hipster now.
OLIVER CHIANG: So Kelly, I actually already asked your
question for you, but I know you wanted to say hi, so just
introduce yourself and say hi to these guys here.
And then we're going to have to actually wrap up,
unfortunately.
KELLY HEARSTEN: OK.
Hi.
I'm [? Kelly Hearsten. ?]
I live in Pullman, Washington.
And I love you so much, and "Parks and Rec" is keeping me
alive in graduate school.
So thank you so much.
CHRIS PRATT: That's amazing.
Hey, I'm from Washington state.
KELLY HEARSTEN: What part?
CHRIS PRATT: I'm from a little town called Lake Stevens.
It's near Everett.
Earlier I said--
I was stupid--
I said WSU when they said Pullman, but that's Pasco.
Where is Pullman geographically?
KELLY HEARSTEN: WSU is in Pullman.
And it's right on the border of Washington and Idaho.
So on the far, far east side.
CHRIS PRATT: Yeah.
Sweet.
OK, sweet.
AMY POEHLER: What are you studying in graduate school?
KELLY HEARSTEN: English literature.
AMY POEHLER: Who's your favorite writer?
KELLY HEARSTEN: That's a tough one.
I think my favorite contemporary
writer is David Sedaris.
But I'm also a big Margaret Atwood fan.
AMY POEHLER: Cool.
Excellent.
OLIVER CHIANG: Glad you could finally make it, Kelly.
And unfortunately that's all our time we have for today.
But I do really want to thank you guys for coming here.
Want to thank you, Adam, Amy, Aubrey, and Chris for coming
to our LA offices and for hanging out with us today.
RYAN WENSTRUP-MOORE: I Thank you.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]
OLIVER CHIANG: And for everyone watching, make sure
to treat yourself to some episodes of "Parks and
Recreation," which we have on our Google Play store.
Thanks, everyone, and bye.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]