Parks and Recreation

Season 2

Pawnee Zoo

1. The rap that Leslie performs in the first scene is the second verse from The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Parents Just Don't Understand" (1988).
2. The episode in which Leslie accidentally marries two male penguins won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode in a Series without a Regular LGBT Character.
3. The storyline involving the male married penguins reflects real life, as the state of Iowa had legalized same-sex marriage (though obviously for humans and not penguins) when the episode aired. The movie Cedar Rapids would later have a scene that referred to the same legislation.

The Stakeout

1. It is revealed that Tom's birth name is Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani. This is actually the real name of Aziz Ansari's cousin Darwish, whom he mentioned during Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening (2010).
2. Leslie finds marijuana growing in the community garden she started in the pit. They stake out the pit, hoping to find the culprit, but go home empty handed. However, later in the season Leslie hosts a picnic for the former parks department directors, during which one of them states that he's planted marijuana in various community gardens, suggesting he's the criminal Leslie sought but could not catch.

Beauty Pageant

1. NBC set up a website for the event at misspawnee.com, with biographies of the contestants and judges, lists of previous winners and a downloadable version of Leslie's custom scorecard. According to the website, emcee Martin Housely owns his own tuxedo and PA system but "will need a ride to the event, due to pending legal action regarding DWI."
2. According to the producers, the character Trish was modeled after former beauty pageant contestants Caite Upton, who gave a rambling response at the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, and Carrie Prejean, who stated she was against same-sex marriage at the Miss USA 2009 pageant.

Practice Date

Sister City

1. April (played by Aubrey Plaza) says that her mother is from Puerto Rico, which is also where Aubrey Plaza's father is originally from. She also speaks fluent Spanish in this episode.
2. Like his character Raul, Fred Armisen is Venezuelan.
3. The insignia on the Venezuelans uniforms is mostly from the US Navy, the Surface Warfare Officer pin is most noticeable.
4. Raul says his hometown has the "Parque del Este". This is the most famous park in Caracas, Venezuela's capital. It was renamed "Parque Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda".
5. Raul says Venezuela is "blessed with oil." This is true: Venezuela has the first confirmed reserves of oil in the world.

Kaboom

1. There is an actual non-profit called KaBOOM!, founded by Darrell Hammond in 1996, that helps communities build and renovate playgrounds and playspaces.
2. While kambooming Leslie says they are in Eagleton two towns over. Eagleton is one town over. It is Pawnee's rival town and there is no way that Leslie would volunteer in Eagleton as she has a deep seated resentment for the town and it's inhabitants.
3. H. Jon Benjamin plays Scott in the episode. He also plays Sterling Archer in the show Archer. In the episode, Andy creates a prank voicemail, a reference to a long running joke in Archer.
4. The scene where Andy shows up at Ann's house naked and Leslie opens the door was partially improvised. Chris Pratt was supposed to be wearing flesh-toned underwear that would be pixelated later on. After a few takes, he took them off to surprise Amy Poehler to get a better reaction. This was the take used in the final cut. Pratt later got a stern letter from NBC reprimanding him over the stunt and warning him to take the letter seriously. He framed the letter.

Greg Pikitis

1. This is the first appearance of Burt Macklin, Andy's alter ego.
2. Ron Swanson dresses as a pirate for Halloween. He is the voice of a pirate in The Lego Movie (2014) which also stars Chris Pratt (Andy)
3. In Ann's first talking head (around 2 minutes in), Jerry is seen in the background, scratching the back of his neck with his hand, then an object, then sniffing it.
4. First time Andy plays Burt Macklin F.B.I. It later becomes his go to character.

Ron and Tammy

1. Ron's ex-wife Tammy is played by Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman's wife in real life.
2. When Amy Poehler first visits Tammy at the library, if you look closely at the bookshelf to the left of Amy, at 5 minutes 17 seconds in, you'll see a book entitled "Sperm Suicide."
3. While Nick Offerman has said that he admires many positive qualities of his Ron Swanson character (especially his work ethic and intolerance of people who lie or are lazy), he has also said that fans often wrongly assume he shares all of Ron's beliefs, and in fact he is more liberal than the character. Offerman also said that Ron Swanson would abhor President Donald Trump because Trump wasn't a good or hard-working person and had no real morals or ethics.
4. The scene with the diner called Frank's Restaurant is the same restaurant used in the movie Larry Crowne (2011).

The Camel

1. Another Indiana native features on Donna's mural is actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Hunting Trip

1. This episode marks the beginning of the running gag throughout the series in which Leslie runs into Councilman Howzer while doing something foolish or immature.
2. The characters follow Indiana law during their hunt, by the fact that they all wear at least one item of orange clothing.
3. When Tom says "man is the most dangerous game" it is a reference to the short story and movie of the same title "a most dangerous game" about a man who hunts other men on his island.
4. Ron meantions his brothers in this episode when he is barading Leslie for allegedly shooting him in the head. Yet in the final season of the show, Leslie is surpised when Ron's brothers make appearances at 'Very Good Contruction'

Tom's Divorce

1. When Andy and Mark are playing pool they start out with a bet for $25. When Andy loses, he demands a rematch with a bet of "double or nothing". The next shot shows Mark winning, revealing that Andy owes him $6,400. That amount means Mark won a total of 9 consecutive games with "double or nothing" stakes.
2. Looking at the back of Ron's head shows that his hair hasn't fully grown back from an injury in the previous episode
3. Leslie has to go to the DMV office on the fourth floor in order to avoid paying a late registration fee. Coincidentally, the real Indiana DMV state offices are located on the fourth floor of the Indiana Government Center. However, Indiana doesn't charge a late registration fee.
4. In this episode the Parks and Recreation team go and eat at Jurassic Fork. Later in 2015 Chris Pratt (Andy) will go on to star in Jurassic World.

Christmas Scandal

1. Mo Collins, who plays Joan Callamezzo, also played Starla the Secretary on Arrested Development (2003). Starla had an obsession with the musician Quincy Jones, whose daughter is Rashida Jones, who plays Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation.

The Set Up

1. Leslie's blind date, Chris, is played by Amy Poehler's real life-husband at the time, Will Arnett. They separated in 2012.
2. This is the second time Amy Poehler and Will Arnett play characters romantically interested in each other. This first happened in the Arrested Development episode, Arrested Development: Altar Egos (2004).
3. When Ann and Mark are talking about Ann's close relationship to Justin, played by Justin Theroux, they are watching Marley & Me (2008) starring Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston is married to Justin Theroux in real life; however, they didn't start dating until over a year after this episode aired.
4. While Leslie is on her date with Chris, he compliments her "oven", remarking that she's got ample room in her uterus and "could [have] triplets right off the bat". In Parks and Recreation: Flu Season 2 (2014) it is revealed that Leslie is pregnant, and that She and Ben are, in fact, having triplets.

Leslie's House

1. This is John Balma's first appearance as Barney, the accountant.

Sweetums

1. Tom says, "Justin's my savior; he's like an issue of GQ that's come to life". In reality, actor Justin Theroux is a frequent model for the well-known men's magazine and is often featured in the articles.

Galentine's Day

1. Amy Poehler's character references Jennifer Aniston in her list of people who deserve to be happy in a relationship, stating, "Stay away from John Mayer." In May 2011, guest star and boyfriend of Poehler's character, Justin Theroux and Aniston began dating, a year after this episode aired, not to mention Jennifer Aniston's previous relationship with John Mayer. The two happily married in 2015.
2. Leslie asked Frank if he was ever a lawyer. Frank answers that it never worked out, and adds that he did act as his own lawyer once. Frank was played by John Laroquette, who also guest-starred as Joey Heric in The Practice from 1997-2002, representing himself against several charges of murder. He also previously played Dan Felding, a prosecutor in Night Court from 1984-1992, and Carl Sack, a senior partner at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt, in Boston Legal from 2007-2008.
3. Arrested Development reference: When John Larroquette lifts up his suit jacket and says "you'll never see this body again", just like Kitty does to Michael on AD.
4. In 2015, Jennifer Anniston and Justin Theroux (who plays Justin) got married.

Woman of the Year

1. After Andy mentions that every song he writes has the lines "Spread your wings and fly" or "You deserve to be a champion," every Mouse Rat song on the show has one of those lines.
2. Leslie mentioned that Camp Athena was her "brainchild." In the Greek legends, Athena sprouted from Zeus's mind, making her a literal brainchild.
3. Tom says he wants to open a place called Tom's Bistro. Tom does eventually open a restaurant called Tom's Bistro after many other failed ventures.
4. Ron says the project is named Camp Xena instead of Camp Athena. In season 5, Ron marries a character played by Lucy Lawless, who is Xena warrior princess.
5. This episode contains the first mention of Tom's idea to own a bar called "Tom's Bistro".

The Possum

1. Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson, has a woodworking business on the side of his acting career. Offerman's real woodshop was dressed up and used as Ron's fictional woodshop.
2. First appearance of Harris Wittels as Harris and and Colton Dunn as Brett, Pawnee's perennially stoned animal control officers.

Park Safety

Summer Catalog

1. In Episode 2.2 "The Stakeout", Leslie never finds out who planted the marijuana in the pit. In this episode, Michael mentions that he has planted marijuana in community gardens throughout Pawnee.
2. April lies and says that she is 25 in this episode. Aubrey Plaza was really 25 when this aired.
3. Leslie asks Ron if they will hate each other someday. In the final season we find out that Leslie and Ron hate each other for a short time.

94 Meetings

1. Second episode where Andy pretends to be FBI-agent Burt Macklin.

Telethon

1. The piece that Jerry plays during the Telethon is Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 39 No. 15 by Brahms.
2. The show Leslie describes to entertain the audience is the season 4 Thanksgiving episode, "The One with Chandler in a Box", of Friends.
3. Leslie asks April how her and Andy are doing, and April tells her that they are going to get married and have babies. They eventually do both.

The Master Plan

1. Andy mistakenly calls Jean Ralphio, Ralph Macchio. Ralph starred in "The Outsiders" with Rob Lowe who was introduced to Parks and Rec on this episode.
2. In this episode, Shauna Malwae-Tweep says that she is 25 years old, while Andy is 29. In real life Alison Becker (Shauna) is two years older than Chris Pratt (Andy).
3. In this episode, 3 of the main characters (Leslie, Anne, and Tom) meet their future significant others.

Freddy Spaghetti

1. After his departure, Mark Brendanawicz is never mentioned again in the show.
2. Paul Schneider's last episode.