Parks and Rec creator says Chris Pratt improvised the funniest line on the show
Topics: Film and TV, Chris Pratt
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: NBC / Image Press Agency / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Film and TV, Chris Pratt
One of the creators of Parks and Recreation has revealed that Chris Pratt improvised what he described as 'the funniest line ever spoken' on the show - and it made him 'furious'.
Hear the line in question below:
A show featuring Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and Rashida Jones was always going to be funny, but over its six years on TV Parks and Rec really knocked it out of the park with the lines it delivered.
Advert
From Ron's absolute love of bacon to Leslie's enthusiasm, April's deadpan comments to Jean-Ralphio's utter chaos, the show featured a whole host of hilarious moments, for which we have both the cast and the writers to thank.
The show was created by two of the people behind the US version of The Office, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur; creators who have well and truly proven their ability to bring us funny content.
But through all of the years of Parks and Rec, all of the jokes and funny scenes, Schur has admitted his anger that the best line wasn't one of his own.
Speaking at a PaleyFest panel in 2012, Schur drew fans' attention to one line featured in the season three episode Flu Season.
The episode sees Leslie suffering from the illness, so Andy (Pratt) takes to the internet to look up her symptoms.
"Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here and it says you might have 'network connectivity problems'," he says.
Pratt delivers the line without a smirk, which is a very impressive feat considering, according to Schur, he made it up completely on the spot.
“The funniest line ever spoken on our show was improvised by Chris Pratt,” Schur said during his appearance on the panel.
"And I’m not kidding, as a writer, it made me furious. I’m still really upset and angry — I think it’s the funniest joke that’s ever been on our show. It’s my favourite joke.”
Pratt has previously been open about the improvisations he came up with on Parks and Rec, and it sounds like the line about the symptoms is actually one of the tamer things he threw into the mix.
He reflected on his time as Andy as he appeared on the Literally! podcast hosted by Rob Lowe, when he admitted: "My whole thing on Parks and Rec was just to cause destruction and break s**t that they didn’t know they were going to have to pay for at the beginning of the day.
“I loved just breaking stuff," he added.
Though it sounds pretty chaotic, Pratt's destruction on the show obviously wasn't enough to put his job in danger - after all, you can't fire the guy who came up with the funniest line on the show, can you?