(S6Ep7) Recall Vote!

Oh dear, it's Recall Vote day, and we are all emotional. Ben and Ann set up a task force to help Leslie stay distracted, Tom makes some great entrepreneur decisions and we get introduced to Bloosh!!! 

It's so interesting to see the parallels between Tom and Leslie, and the inspiring way they bounce back. And om em squee, we love destructive Ben and Leslie. 

Plus, we hear from Craig Stepp, who played the Eagletonian supporting Leslie (even though they weren't going to vote for her.... ugh) 😂  Thank you so much for the great voice memos, so cool!

Now, go rate, review and subscribe because this podcast no longer is, it was. 

Transcript

Holly Constant (00:11.566)
Alright people, let's do this. What's up? Welcome in. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Park Pals podcast. I am writing solo today as Maddie has some other previous engagements and she's just got a lot going on. So I'm gonna try to hold down the fort for you. Okay, so we are at season six, episode seven, Recall Vote. But just a heads up, I wanna get into some refreshers from last week because we've got some stuff I need to talk about.

First of all, I was very mad about last time Ingrid saying that she was going to run for city council should Leslie be removed. And I was mad because I think in my head when I heard that scene, a part of me thought she was running against Leslie. But that's not necessarily true. She was just going to be the Eagleton candidate. so I was still, mean, I'm still like frustrated about it. Don't get me wrong. But I don't think she's running against nor is she like wishing that Leslie

should be recalled, you know what mean? So I think she's redeemed and, you know, sorry for my outburst, but I was mad because I don't want Leslie to be recalled. Okay. So I guess if someone is going to take it, you know, if Leslie's gone, then I'd rather it be her than like another jam, you know, like an Eagleton jam. So anyway, okay. So that's that.

Last week we also talked about Nadia. That was her last episode. We weren't sure if she came back and we were pretty positive that she didn't. She does not. I think by this time she was filming Orphan Black pretty heavy into that. She was probably in season two by that time.

So that took up a lot of her time because she was playing 9,000 characters and I am continuing to watch it and shit's getting even crazier than what I explained last time. but yes, Tatiana who plays Nadia is fantastic and you guys should absolutely watch it. Okay, the other thing is that our park pal friend B Leslie Thurston who was on Parks, obviously. my gosh, of course.

Holly Constant (02:13.506)
had a brain fart moment there, who was on Parks, is now going to be on the new show, The Paper, which is the new, kind of, not spin-off, but it's the way they pitched it is the same documentary crew that filmed The Office is now doing another business called The Paper. And Leslie Thurston is in it, and she is on episode six of The Paper. So take a look at that, make sure you're watching that.

Check out and support our park pals. Super fun. And then we got some voice memos from our friend Craig Stepp, who plays the Eagletonian that I said had a modeling agent and everything. He is the one that is leading the charge on the recall. Well, he's not leading the charge on recalling, but he's leading the charge of the Eagletonians that come to city council to support Leslie because they want to vote their own person in that's going to support their needs. Blah, blah, blah.

So he sent me some really great voice memos, so let's go ahead and take a listen.

Holly Constant (04:14.654)
I love that. That's so funny. Yeah, you got some improv moments. Lots of people talk about the improv in the audition. So to hear that they were falling over laughing is always such a such a good confidence boost. Love that so much. That's so great to hear. And what a fun like Eagleton person thing to say. I love that. And by the way, I really do love Craig's voice. I think it's really hilarious that I can like totally recall the exact scene you're in by listening to your voice. So I love that very much.

Okay, let's go ahead and listen to the next one.

Holly Constant (06:00.324)
wow. That's so crazy that you had a cold during that time. You couldn't tell and your energy was high and it was great. So still loved it. Wonderful job there. yeah. So glad that you got to see the murals. my gosh. Those are so infamous and I'm so glad that you got to see them in person. I think they're, racist even then, not just now. That is why they had that whole, thing about why they needed to get rid of some of the murals and hide some of the murals. And I talk about it even in that day. So that's,

Worth noting. Okay, let's listen to the next one.

Holly Constant (08:20.91)
That's so exciting. Yeah, I wonder who that actor was. I mean, it could have really been anybody. They're always so good. But yes, I really love the hug moment between him and Rob Lowe of like, formally revoke my hug. Well, you can't, it happened. I just love that tone of like, well, it's too bad. know, that was really fun. Okay, let's listen to the next one.

Holly Constant (09:35.372)
Yay, that was so nice and special. Thank you, Craig, so much. And just as a shout out slash reminder, we had to figure out or I had to kind of explain what to do for the voice memos and how to get that working. So I'm very grateful that you were working with me and patient on how to make this happen. So thank you so much for sending those in. We always love to hear from our guest stars because it just makes our podcast so much better, our fandom so much wider, and it just helps everything. So thank you so much. So exciting.

Okay, so we are officially in season six, episode seven, Recall Vote. So sad, so brave, so bummer. Original air date was November 14th, 2013. So this was around the Halloween moment written by our girl. Well, I call her our girl. She's not actually our friend or anything, but she is a park pals slash Parks and Rec.

Legend Aisha Muharar and I always say this and I'll continue to say this she is the gal who worked at the baby store with Anne at the Same city that and April goes to her. My god, why can't I speak that April goes to her vet school? Moment and Anne's going baby shopping and she says that she's never seen bibs without Dale and her junior on them So and then Aisha's the lady at the store that's working there and it's like

Really? So she is a writer on the show. She's a great writer and has contributed so much. She's done a lot of wonderful Mike Schur shows as well as Good Place and lots of stuff. So keep an eye out for her. This was directed by Wendy Stansler. She has directed so many things, including Parks. We've seen her before. This is her last episode with Parks though. She did four episodes total. The first one was season three, Flu Season, which is amazing because that's the episode.

where we talk about, how we mentioned Flu Season as one of the episodes that people would introduce people who have never watched Parks, which is so true. So love that very much. And then we also saw her work with Meet and Greet, which was the one where Tom takes over to try to save entertainment 720 and there's a hot tub limo and all that stuff. She also directed Leslie V. April.

Holly Constant (11:50.082)
which we love that episode as well. And then this one. So very sad and bittersweet. The show will be, you know, leaving us after this episode, but so glad that she was here and contributed so much. We absolutely are in awe of this team. Side note, she directed so many other shows too. So Help Me Todd, Sex and the City. She directed three episodes of Glee, Shameless, like a ton of shows that you guys would absolutely know. So well done to Aisha and Wendy. Okay.

And so now we have a summary from Maddie. So let's go ahead and take a listen to that.

Holly Constant (13:57.39)
Yay, thanks so much for sending that in. Very much appreciated. Yes, I totally understand what you mean and why you would think that Rent-A-Swag was done because we don't talk about it anymore after that. Tom has been in the office, so I feel like we haven't really mentioned anything about it, but I am glad we get this closure moment and we really see what's happening. I think it's also a really good growth moment for Tom as an entrepreneur, as a business person.

to really go through the negotiations of what he wants to get out of this deal. So that's really cool for me to see personally. But yay, okay, well, let's get into it. So we start this episode with Tom talking to the lawyer guy, as Maddie mentioned in the cold open, totally lying about how Wrench's swag is doing so great. Jaden Smith wants to quit the music industry and come work there with him. For those of you not involved in pop culture, Jaden Smith is Will Smith's singer, rapper, dude.

And Tom is like, no, you can't. The world needs you and your talent. And the lawyer calls his bluff and is like, look, it's only a matter of time until you go out of business. that he says his client has something he referred to as sympathy in air quotes, because he has no idea what that means because he's a lawyer that just cares about the facts. And he's saying this because

I guess Dr. Saperstein had a moment of weakness or sympathy, if you will, and that he's giving Tom a final offer, 40K for Rent-A-Swag and all of its assets. And I love that in order to think this over, he needs a big old mug of hot chocolate and to put on his thinking PJs. That's one of my most favorite things ever. And I really think that we should have more outfits for different vibes slash different events, decisions, mindsets that you have to make.

I should have a podcast research outfit. Can someone please help me figure out what I should wear whilst I research the podcast and reach out to all my little guest stars and all that kind of stuff? Or maybe like a podcast beanie or a podcast poncho. Somebody make that happen for me, please. But I am curious if any of you guys have any different outfits or anything for those different, you know.

Holly Constant (16:20.234)
events that you have in your life or like thinking caps, if you will. But I do love that so much. And I love that this lawyer like immediately gloms on to the fact that he has thinking PJs and wants to get them and that the client would like to acquire them. And Tom is a non-negotiable on this end and saying, you will never acquire my thinking PJs or my YouTube blazer, non-negotiable. And I just would love to hear what else.

what other Tom outfits there are. Like he must have something for watching Beyonce videos, which I guess that would be his YouTube blazer, but you know what I mean. And anyway, the offer is only valid for 48 hours, so he's really got some thinking to do. So Larry, AKA Jerry, I'll never think of him as Larry. That's my least favorite, he's Jerry to me. But anyway, he's coming into the committee meeting late because he was voting for Leslie.

and he's telling them that there was a lot of people at the polls, lots of stuff going on, and she doesn't want to hear any of this news. She wants to focus on what we can control. So they are transforming City Hall into a super fun, massive haunted house, which sounds so fun. I'm sure that cities do this. And I would love to involved slash hear about this so that I can make sure that the community knows.

I know that some of the community events here are trunker treats. If you've seen those, which are so much nicer, I feel than trick or treating these days. obviously trick or treating is great. if you feel safe in your neighborhood and whatever, but trunker treating is really lovely because if you're not familiar, yeah, people that from the community, bring their trunk and they decorate them and then they have candy and you go around to each trunk and get candy that way as opposed, and it's usually always like a vetted organization.

that you can go be a part of as opposed to like going to some randos house. But anyway, so that's Anyhow, okay, so today is recall day and there's really nothing left to do at this point, but wait, they've done everything they possibly can. Leslie is trying to fill her time with literally anything other than thinking about the recall vote. And I really hate that this is happening when she's sitting at her desk and saying like, you know, there's nothing to do but sit here and see what happens. I'm just like.

Holly Constant (18:44.61)
My heart's breaking watching her be like, but there's plenty of stuff to do. It's Kevin Pollack's birthday today. Who cares about the recall? It's Kevin's day. And I'm just like sinking gut feeling that she is having to go through this. Such a bummer. We've worked so hard. Anyways. So now Tom is talking to Ron about what to do for Rent-A-Swag because Ron has always given him sound and sage advice and.

Technically, think Ron is like an investor person. So he is trying to get some information and see what to do. I love these tiny marshmallows. They're so funny. And Ron throwing them in his cup is so cute. I love that. Then we hear a scream from next door. We don't know what the hell is going on. But Donna rushes in all excited, saying that Ron is in something called Bloosh. And Ron clearly has no idea what this is. But Tom and Donna.

do and they are so excited and there's clearly something up with the culture here for them to know about it. And then we find out that Blush is a lifestyle email and newsletter thing that is super popular in Pawnee that tells people what to buy like their own island or what to do like wind therapy and those kinds of things. I love Tom saying that she's legit this lady who runs it.

Annabel Porter, she's legit. She spent four months living in Kate Bosworth's pool house. I also love that her dream was to become friends with a bunch of celebrities. Like that's why she went to Hollywood, not to become a famous actor or anything, but just to be friends with celebrities. That's really great to me. Apparently Ron's chair that he made has gotten into bluish somehow. And Tom says he's been trying to get rent a swag in there forever.

So now Tom thinks that this is his in to save the store. And if we can be in this Blush lifestyle magazine, maybe we'll get some more money, some more customers and not have to shut down or sell, I guess I should say. I love this moment. We have this Tom and Donna diva moment, which is so funny. Ron's in Blush, Ron's in Blush. What? Ron's in Blush. Do it. I love it so much. It reminds me of the

Holly Constant (21:03.488)
Erase all pictures of Ron when they're trying to get him off the grid and Tom and Donna are like, erase all pictures of Ron. It's just hilarious. They have so much fun with it. Someone's getting a new leather jacket. It's not for you, it's for me. This is a great day. Love that so much. And I love that Donna's being utilized in more episodes slash in more scenes.

So, Blush being on the show for me was such a great storyline. I'm so glad they did it. This was before influencers were even as big as they are now, but they were absolutely playing on the Goop trope. I say trope, but it's a business. Goop was a business from Gwyneth Paltrow, because this is right around the time that that was coming out. And she was talking about a lot of pseudoscience stuff, as well as just like stuff she liked, she thought people should buy, you know, some of it. If it works for you, if it works for you, it's great.

but I think the point of this was more of the influencer. No one else can afford anything else that you're trying to sell here and you're going to make people go broke by trying to buy the things that you're saying are life changing and everyone should have. and so that's kind of like, this was before Tik TOK and which is wild to say because you can't really think of a life. Well, I can, cause I love Tik TOK, but like, can't really think of a bunch of lifetimes without

TikTok and the influencers and the TikTok commissions and blah, blah, blah. So, yes, I love that they, they did the blue play. Okay. let's move on here. side note, I think a lot of people did this because modern family. I've been rewatching that and NERP, if you guys are familiar with the show, Haley works at NERP, which is this like failed actresses, lifestyle brand and

I think a lot of people are trying to play on Goop here. But this one's clear because it's Bloosh, which has the OOs in the middle. Anyhow.

Holly Constant (23:06.144)
Okay, so now the team is getting ready for the Halloween party slash haunted house and it looks so great. These decorations are awesome, truly. We're in the courtyard now and everybody's like pitching in. It looks so good. However, Chris notices that April is more sad slash depressed than normal. And so he tries to cheer her up by trying to make Halloween fun for her, but it's not working, at least right now. And this is sad because you don't really think about it until she really says it, but.

you know, Andy's not here and it really was their thing. Not only did they throw, you know, eggs at Jerry's house, Jerry, Larry, Gary, whatever's house, but they got dressed up together. They always threw Halloween parties, which I think is amazing. That was another thing too that I was gonna mention that Wendy Stansler directed the meet and greet episode with, like I said, the E-720 hot tub limo thing.

That was also the episode where Andy and April throw their Halloween party. And Millie is there with Rob Lowe and Jerry's there as a Mr. Potato Head and all that kind of stuff and Ben's living at their house. So it's funny that Wendy Stansler has directed a couple of Halloween episodes. Maybe she requested that, who's to say? But the point is that there have been a lot of Andy and April Halloween moments and it's really special. And so to not have your purse in there,

for the special thing is really heartbreaking. so April's trying, but it's really hard. And it is cute that Roblo slash Chris is trying to make this fun for her. And oh my gosh, Larry does a great job carving pumpkins. This is so beautiful. Love this so much. I would like that more than two triangles and a tooth. Cause Leslie gets mad at him for saying, you you need to only do the...

easiest thing or what I told you to do, but that's really good. So good job, props department. If you actually carved that, great, but I can also see it being a picture that they somehow put on the pumpkin. But I know that's a thing. People do that. It's like sand castles. People build sand castles that are like really intense. They also do this with pumpkins and they carve like really intense pictures into the pumpkin. So that is a thing. Okay.

Holly Constant (25:22.83)
moving on, Leslie is spiraling wondering if any of this is even good. It's very precious that Ben and Anne have created an emotional support task force essentially to make sure that she's distracted and doesn't spiral slash go wild and nuts, you know, overreacting to every little thing. and that, that would have been a good, I don't know why, I mean, I know why Leslie probably didn't think of it cause she was like,

her mind was a million different places, but City Halloween would have been really funny, actually. That's a really good idea. And so she wants to change all the signs and rename everything and Anne says that they should paint their toes like pumpkins, which is so cute. I actually love that idea. I want to do that. That's a really good idea. And like Maddie said in her summary, it's super cute to see Ben and Anne teaming up to make sure that Leslie is safe and supported and distracted from this.

terrible thing that's happening. I love that they make a fake Lilith Fair poster. That is amazing and would definitely buy them some time. Their secret hand signal is a Klingon salute, which Anne says she would not have agreed to if she knew that for the Trekkies. Anne interrupts Leslie, like I said, and says they should paint their pumpkins and I just, I think it's really sweet and a really good

show of how close your friends are and your loved ones and how Anne and Ben are not really friends. They don't really like hang out one-on-one nor that they probably hang out that much with Leslie. Maybe they do, but I wouldn't necessarily see that. But the point is that they banded together for the person that they love. And that was really special to see for sure. Cause I don't think we've seen them have a bunch of scenes together recently.

So I love Ron's response to Tom talking. So Tom comes over and starts saying things like in his, you know, culture slang, whatever. And he's like, start over and speak differently. And Tom says, you know, did you call the PR guy from Bloosh? And Ron said that he didn't want to do what he said, which was go on Joan Calamazzo's show to talk about the chair.

Holly Constant (27:40.544)
Apparently she, the legendary news anchor, wants Ron to go on her show to talk to the Annabelle Porter lady, but he said no. And now he's going to do it because Tom thinks it will work for him, like for his Rent-A-Swag business, not for Ron. And unfortunately, I got to say that's not really how it works to force networking. I don't know, I guess Tom thought that he could just like schmooze his way into making Belouche talk about Rent-A-Swag.

Obviously, but that's on the outside looking in. I think the audience is like, honey, that's not gonna work. Cause she seems so exclusive and weird about that kind of stuff. But anyhow, Ron is being a good friend here, which is really interesting. I do feel like he would not have done this in his previous lives with the parks department people, but Ron feels like he wants to be a supporter of Tom. And so he says, yeah, okay, I'll do it fine.

Tom and Donna wrote out some conversation topics to practice so Ron can try to fit in. I love this so much. Could I be more gels of your low lights? mean, O-M-Squee, talk about bangs, envy. I regret everything. I don't say O-M-Squee, I've never heard that. And I literally hate the word jelly for jealous. I'm jelly, I'm so jelly. I like gels better, I think I like gels.

Could it be more gels of your lowlights? I actually like that a lot more. It's probably more annoying in it. Oh well. I regret everything. Okay, so it's eight o'clock now and Leslie tells everyone to go home because the polls have closed. We're gonna hunker down. It's gonna be a long night. We're gonna try to find the, you know, strength to stay up all night so that we can get these poll results. Tom even made frappuccinos. Larry went to get pizza. It's gonna be a super long night until they call the vote, so.

Leslie is super cute and precious saying that she wants everyone to go home, but they are very nice and supportive as they always have been for her campaign and all the things and says, no, we're staying with you. It's going to be a long night, but we'll get through it together. This all happens so fast. This huge buildup of is she going to be recalled? Who's going to take her place? Is anyone going to like stop this from happening? Like whatever. And then it's just over immediately. It's so sad. And purred.

Holly Constant (30:06.498)
just the way they did this is really hilarious too because they turn on Purd and immediately she's been recalled. I hate it so much, but it was so well done. Like the way that they have this writing of it was just so smart of the writers to say all the phrases that Purd said of like too close to call, you know, like all of that is what we're not going to hear because Leslie and Op has been recalled and it's just so fast. And you're just like, my God.

The who the what? Why? And it's very awful. And I hate it so much. But we were just bait and switched. It's just like. So sad. But we knew it was a possibility, just like Ann says. So anyhow, Ben says Leslie's on her way in on the next day. We're here the next day. And I don't know what what the f Ben is thinking, man. She's like, yeah, she's pretty she's handling it pretty well.

Ben, don't you be lying. But I think he's just trying to be positive for everybody. I love that Ann says she tried calling Leslie a bunch of times and her voice message is just crying and burping. I was also wondering when and why she would change her voicemail during that time, but she probably has her voice message set as City Councilwoman nope, you know what I'm saying? And so she's like, ugh, I gotta change all of that. And I could definitely.

see her doing that. And then she comes in with sweatpants. She's eating a punch burger because if you can't beat them, join them. I mean, this is depression. This is sinking, spiraling misery. And it is so sad to witness. She says, it's so good. Why did I fight this? Her concession speech is, eat my shorts, jabronis.

Nope out. Even a little Sebastian paper mache figure does not get her out of this funk. And I don't even mean like a funk, the whole funk I'm talking about. I wanted or I would have expected maybe a smile, maybe like a nod. Amy Poehler does such a great job here of just like blank face, blank stare. I have no feeling I am numb right now. And

Holly Constant (32:36.642)
That is huge. So it kind of made me want to cry if I'm being honest. And I know that I'm emotional about the show now because I've reviewed every single episode and in extensive detail. But I just really feel for Leslie here right now. I just, I'm just, my heart is being strung out, okay? I'm gonna go fall asleep on a bench.

Okay, so now we're on to Joan and we're on her show She says Annabelle Porter is the only person in this town who is a bigger deal than her and I think it pains Joan to say that but she knows it's true I love how Annabelle Porter plays this. Hello. Hello. It's me. I'm here She even puts on this voice of you know

voiceover, this isn't a real voice, it's my influencer voice, love that very much. And I love that she's saying, I'm here instead of like, you get to see, like, instead of saying like, you know, it's so nice to be here. She's like, you get to see me and I'm here and you're welcome. I love this line, I'm just a simple former phone book model who found her calling. She's so good.

Annabelle Porter is played by the amazing Erin Hayes and I'm sure a lot of people recognize her. I'm honestly not super sure what I recognize her from. I think she's been in so many things that I was just like to be honest it could be anywhere that I'm recognizing her from. She's so good and I think she's been in a couple things that I've seen for sure. She was in We Came Together, the movie with Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. So good.

She was in an episode of The Good Doctor, The West Wing, Goldberg's, Kevin Can Wait, like so many things. She's now on a show called Grimsberg on Fox, which is an animated show, so check that out. And she did such a good job. I'm so impressed with her and I'm so glad that she came back. She knew what she was doing. I'm not perfect. I love this so much. She thinks she can relate to normal people because her nanny is a normal person. Like, normal people worry about what they look like in a bathing suit. So does my nanny.

Holly Constant (34:53.998)
So I get it. Mozambique Cashmere, just like so many buzzwords that we're not really sure what is going on. She describes Ron's chair as deliciously bold. Did she just call my chair delicious? Delicious is such a wild word to use for something that you like. People do it all the time. I don't know if I've used it ever to describe an inanimate object that I know of.

Well, I shouldn't say inanimate object, because food is inanimate. I mean, I've never used it unless it's talking about food. I don't think so. anyhow, OK, so moving on. The haunted house is in full swing. The kids ask where the scary stuff is and if they can have candy. And Leslie is full blown done with it all. She is. This is such a good moment. I love it so much.

The scary stuff is inside you. Broken dreams, disappointment, achieving your goal and having it all fall apart. I'm going to give you something sweeter than candy. The truth. I can also see her and Tina Fey doing this as well. The way that they deliver that she delivers this is so on point for them. I love this. Some of you have already peaked all downhill from here, darkies. And I remember actually it's so funny. my God. This is just coming up for me. I remember when I worked at an acting studio,

I feel like there was someone that was really sad, a kid that was sad and she was trying to like hide it. And I think other people were like trying to figure out what was going on with her. And I just offhandedly said to my coworkers, my friends now who I did not tell the kids this, but I was just like, yep, better learn to bury those emotions now. And.

I think people did not expect that of me. That's a random tangent kind of, but it's just funny to tell kids like adult themes and or the idea of it is not actually doing in practice. So I'm glad that little girl didn't hear me, but yeah, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. I also love this kid, his delivery of can we have some candy? I love the way he says that. And I love that she knows his name too. She calls him by his name when she says,

Holly Constant (37:14.87)
you I'm going to give you something sweeter than candy or whatever. And yeah, I'm guessing that she knows a lot of the kids names that have come to the events for City Hall. So that's super great. yeah, their cute outfit is from the Princess Bride. Love that. She both she and Ben, that's their little couple's costume moment. Also, when she leaves, she says nothing gold can stay. And that is a reference to a poem by Robert Frost.

which was made famous by S.E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders, which we just talked about in our last episode, because Rob Lowe was in that movie as Soda Pop Curtis in The Outsiders in 1983, which was the movie adaptation of the novel. Wow, full circle. So Ron doesn't want Annabelle to touch her. He is not charmed. They're back at the news station. Also, like, ew to her saying that you can use a chair for anything other than sitting in it.

Use it as a focal point. Use it as an accent piece in your solarium because everyone has solariums. What? I love that Ron is just like, no nonsense about this. He's not having it. Use it as a chair to sit at and eat something or whatever he says, you know? And you, don't like this having a food tease instead of a meal. Gross. No, no, I do not accept that.

Joan says that she loves Annabelle's hair, which is great. And I love that she's like, everybody shut up. This is important. Can I just say, I love your hair. Thank you, it's genetic and unattainable. That's such a good line. So good. And my gosh, there is a deleted scene. And I really wish they didn't cut this. It's so good. Where Joan comes to the bluish party later.

and she's dressed like Annabelle. She tries to fit in and she looks so funny and Annabelle then sees a camera so she's like, oop, camera pose and she kisses Joan on the mouth on camera and it's so funny because Joan has taken it back but she's also like, well, I have to fit in, I have to do this, like why wouldn't I do this? But she's also like, what just happened? It's so funny and great. It would have been so awesome to see and I would have loved to see like more scenes of them.

Holly Constant (39:32.268)
like being together or trying to, you know, fit in with, or well, Joan trying to fit in with Annabelle, that would have been hilarious. This is the picture that I'll post. But Joan is wearing like a really hip outfit to try to fit in. It's so cute. my gosh. It's still leopard. So she's still keeping with herself. But she also has like a crop top on. my God. Moving on.

Okay, back at the haunted house, Chris is trying to scare April in the mirror. And it's just, again, not working to cheer April up, but it is nice to see him try. Chris is trying to leave and he can't because of the mirror house, which is hilarious. Also, what is April's outfit? It's a flower, but I was like, you can't just be a flower, I feel. Are you an April flower? Like April flowers bring May showers?

Or is she a Venus flytrap maybe? That seems more brand for her. I don't know. But it's cute. So now Leslie's getting super drunk. She says, accepting that you've peaked is very freeing. And Ben relates. So him and her are at a bar together after he took her away from the kids. He says he was impeached at 18. And...

I never really thought about that, but yeah, he can relate to her deeply on this level of, you did a great thing for your town and they hate you for it, or you tried to do a good thing for your town and they hate you for it. So maybe you just got to keep going. You just got to keep climbing back up the hill and let that's, you know, not what Leslie's thinking at all. Leslie's like, why though? I, why can't you just say like, I peeked. What a great run. Wow. I had a great time and now it's all downhill from here.

and Ben immediately gets sucked in and he's like, oh my God, did I peak at 18? There it is, shots. And then they start getting crazy and I get it. So now we are back at the moment with Annabelle Porter. We are now at the party for Bloosh. Donna is introducing us to all the cool things. There's bird bath salts.

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B13 shots, like actual shots. I thought she was talking about, like, you know, they have those immunity shots. It's like juice or whatever. But no, it looks like an actual syringe. Champagne decanter. This party is wild. And it kind of reminds me of Entertainment 720. I think this is what Entertainment 720 wanted to be in a way. Or they would have thrown this party for her. You know what I'm saying? They probably used that same warehouse. I mean, my God, it looks exactly the same.

Just straight opulence and nothing is necessary. Nothing is needed. We're just here for the lifestyle. So a lady asks Ron for 12 chairs for her craft room. She wants to order them from Ron and Ron says he only makes two a year. So maybe like in a couple of years, which even makes it even more desirable because now there's a wait list and now it's like exclusive and people have to wait for it.

Then another lady comes in saying she wants to be on the wait list too. And then another lady says she does as well unless it was touched by someone who ate refined sugar. And if so, I don't want any of your chairs. And I protest the entire event. That is that writing is so good. That acting was so good. All these guest stars are fantastic. I'm really into them. the first gal who asks for the craft room chairs is played by Kincaid Walker.

Her character name is Averly and she's been on Speechless, Hug It Out, which I believe she created many short films, like Super Cool Things. So great job to Kincaid. The second gal who asks to be on the wait list is played by Elizabeth Ann Weiss. I think it's Ann Weiss, A-N-W-E-I-S, Ann Weiss. Her character name is Mary Marie, which I just love that. I love it so much.

And the amazing crossover for this is that she was on Agatha All Along, the show that Catherine Hahn and Aubrey Plaza were on. She played Lorna Wu, who was the mom of the gal who was the protection witch who created the song, down, down, down the road, down the witch's road. I don't believe she has any scenes with anyone because they're mostly flashbacks, but that was her, so fun.

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And she's played in a ton of other things too. 9-1-1, Grey's, Twin Peaks, Young and the Restless, a ton of stuff. So I'm glad to see her here. And then the last gal with the refined sugar line is, her name is, I'm gonna say, I'm probably gonna say this wrong, but I think it's Trion, T-R-I-A-N Longsmith. And her character name is Franchelle. my gosh, Franchelle is amazing. So we've got Franchelle, Mary Marie.

and Averly as the three guests at this bluish party and just shout out to Mike Schur for creating that if you did create that or whoever the writers were that picked up on the fact that Mike Schur loves to name these characters so good. Anyhow they did a great job with being the guests at this party. Franchelle or Trion, Trion?

God, I'm so sorry. That's the worst. But she, this gal has been in so many things as well. Law and Order, Succession, Blue Bloods, ton of cool stuff. So well done to those three characters. I'm very happy to get to see those people. That was really fun. Okay. And I just think it builds up the, you know, the ambiance, the aura of this party, of Bluche, of who these people are that want to be

you know, in the circle and to buy these things. Okay, so Tom asks Ron to talk him up when Annabelle comes over and Annabelle has no interest in talking about anything else but licensing Ron's chairs, which is news to Ron. So she is saying she wants to put them all over the Midwest. And I love this performance where she keeps looking over and smiling at random people, like, cause she is just wanted at every single corner of this party, which she is.

but I just, love it so much. It's so good. She's just like, hey, hi, as she's talking. Okay, so back with Leslie and Ben, they're mega drunk. They have gone off the deep end. They're like, at least we have each other. And I love this so much. This is real. You're my husband. I'm your wife. You married me in front of people. I did, I was there. That's such a good little runner moment. So Leslie says they should do something to commemorate their love. So they go to get tattoos at

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a pawn shop, which is perfect. I like that this guy in particular is back. is a lurpus and he is played by Howard Birch, our pawn shop, a Pawnee, you know, guy. He's just the guy you go to. And that line, this is a pawn shop, but sure, I can do that. And he's breaking up pens for the ink. my God.

But he does have a needle. I was expecting him to just break up the pins for the ink and like draw with some other instrument. I don't know, but there are needles later on. But Ben and Leslie are so freaking cute. I can't stand it. I just love it so much. They start making out drunkenly after they hurt each other high-fiving. They are really good team. And yeah, like I said, I just had never really thought about how Ben could really relate to Leslie here. So they are sinking low.

All right, so now Tom is talking about Rent-A-Swag and he is talking to Annabel about it and she says, it's an interesting idea. you know, Tom is like, yeah, we're doing so amazing. We're doing so great. It'd be so perfect for Blouche. And Annabel says they could stop by in February because she has scouts going out, but then that'll be too late because Tom will be out of business. And yeah, Annabel hears that and is like, well, I thought you said you were doing well. So.

Clearly that is no longer an option on the table. Bummer. So then she calls Ron Ronnie, which I know he probably hates, and she asks if he's reconsidered mass production and he still doesn't want to, so she ends the party, which is classic. This party no longer is, it was. I wanna start saying that about anything. You know what I mean? I think that's great.

Donna has 9,000 like gift bags. It's perfect. I love that when, so we're back with Ben and Leslie and I love that this guy says no when Leslie's like, are we the cutest couple you've ever seen? Just matter of factly, the guy's like, nope. So good. Ben is playing with like a chainsaw or something, which is crazy. And then there's a pill bucket. I love his excited face though, when he shows us the pill bucket, he's so like,

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in awe and like a giddy little kid. And somehow Ann figures out where they are and comes in to stop them. And I think it's great because someone has to have a clear head on our shoulders. Be respitable for a second. I do wonder if Ann would have gotten sucked in if it wasn't for her being pregnant and like she couldn't drink. You know what I mean? That would have been fun to see too, but I'm glad.

This is totally Anne's character. This is exactly what it should have been. it worked out. Ron is comforting Tom and he's being, you know, such a dad-like fatherly figure here. You know, there's no shame in failure if you gave it an honest effort. And that is so true. The lady in my workout videos says that too. She's like, don't be afraid of failure. Think of it as something to work towards. And I think we have really given the word failure such a terrible stigma.

because it feels so awful in the moment, but it is something to work towards. It is something to look into the future and also learn something, you know what mean? Which I know is similar to going into the future, but you know, in the moment it does suck, which I think is really important for people to understand that you're allowed to feel like you failed. You're allowed to feel shitty, just like with Leslie. Both Leslie and...

Tom have ample reason, valid reasons to feel awful and to feel shitty. And you, I think you need to have that moment. I know Anne is good at pulling her out of this in this time, a little bit later on, which is about to come up, but they, you have to have your sinking moment and your sadness moment. You really do need to feel that because if you don't, it's going to come up somewhere else in your life and it's not going to be pretty. You really need to feel that sadness. You need to feel that sinking. need to cry.

You need to be in your hot chocolate thinking PJs and just have a moment because it's a big deal. for both Tom and Leslie, this was something that was, you know, in their comfort zone in a way, they'd been working towards it, but it was something that was a dream of theirs. And so it's a big fucking deal when it's destroyed for them. Even though both of them, that's so interesting. I didn't really think about the parallels, but even though

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They both kind of saw it coming and had warning. It wasn't out of the blue. tough stuff. Okay. So the only thing that matters is what's on your gravestone, Ron says, which is your name. Your name is who you are, what you stand for. Tom says his gravestone is going to be a touchscreen with a hologram of four Toms singing boys to men. my gosh. But I get your point.

Don't let her get a tattoo is the first rule of the Leslie Knope task force, which makes me wonder, did she ever try to get a tattoo when she was feeling low before, or maybe she's tried to, I could absolutely see her telling this to Ann when they're both drunk, or just her getting drunk or something like, we should get matching tattoos or something as best friends. I could absolutely see that happening. So I definitely wonder if it had happened before.

So this is the part where Anne lays some hard truths on her. And although it is a bit of a harsh tone, she's right that it wasn't all on Leslie. You know, the opponents were well funded. She was down in the polls. Like, you knew this could be a possibility. And I love that Anne wrote a beautiful letter to Leslie, and Leslie has to read it about how Leslie has 30 days left of work. There are a lot of ongoing projects, so use those 30 days to get to work and finish what you started.

And it's a really good best friend moment because she points out tangibly what you can see and how you can move forward from this. And the tangible aspect of it is those, you know, posters in her office. And these are the things that you have going on in your life. This is what you can focus on. Instead of sinking and spiraling, like I know that you needed that, this is what we can, what can pull you out of it. Because guess what? You are still a city counselor for 30 more days. And whether they like it or not,

you are gonna stick to your guns and you're gonna stick to your morals and you're gonna continue working for this town. And I think that it's one of the best Leslie Ann best friend moments because like Ann says, never send a husband to do a best friend's job. It's just really beautiful and it's very cute that Leslie says you're a noble land mermaid. And we are proven that this was an Ann job because Ben comes in and says he flushes his car keys down the toilet.

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Leslie's like, no problem.

So Chris and Anne are now kissing and it's very precious and April says, you guys are cute. And it kind of just comes out of her bubbles up and my gosh, she's being so nice. She's weak because she misses Andy and they're both being very nice to, well, April and Chris are being very nice to her. They have a really cute couples costume, the little red riding hood and the wolf. That's very, very, very cute. Love that.

Okay, so this was where Tom has to go into the negotiating aspect of it. He is going to sell sadly and he negotiates regarding the name and really, honestly, I'm really happy for Tom for accepting that this happened, doing it on his terms, getting his money. And I think that's the best thing that you can do. If you have to sell, he knows that he's in demand and that John Ralphio's dad has the money. So that's good he thought of that on the spot to move forward.

Um, because John Ralphio's dad wants the name Rent A Swag. It's very important to the business, blah, blah, blah. And Tom was like, okay, bitch, I'll give it to you, but cut the check and cut more of the check. Okay. Pay me in equity. Watch me reverse out of debt says Beyonce. So that is what Tom did. He, was a baller move and he thought of it in the moment. It's really important for us to see, I think as well, um, for his entrepreneurial spirit, because I don't believe, well, I personally don't believe he would have done this in his E7 20 days.

He's learned so much and you can see the progression of each business getting better. And even though this is not the way that this was supposed to end, he was in demand. He did build a good business this time. It did build a profit. It was just like you got the short end of the stick with Dr. Saperstein and your terrible friends. So to see how he gets out of this and is looking forward.

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and is saying, okay, well now I got some seed money for my next venture. It's perfect, beautiful. And we can wrap that up with a little bow.

So now we're at the press conference and Leslie is saying she's been recalled but she's still their city counselor and she's going to work for the city as long as she can. She's been so mature throughout this whole thing and this is a really good foreshadowing moment because soon we're gonna see Jen Barkley and she's gonna, you know, give her some advice on what to do for this press conference moment.

I do also love this Ben and Anne moment reminding us that it's very easy to be on the Leslie emotional support task force because she's never down for long. And now she's like a toddler bouncing back from a nap. And it's beautiful. You really see that, like I said, she needed that moment to really sink and come to terms with everything. And now that she has.

She's like ready to go. And I think that's a really good lesson for us all to learn that we still have things to live for. We still have things to fight for. And as long as we're living and breathing, we're going to do our best and that's all we can do. It's so beautiful. She carves her faces into pumpkins, which is so good. Shout out to the props person or whoever did that. It truly is amazing. I love it so much. I don't know. It's just perfect. But I also think it's funny that she was mad at Larry for doing it and then she gets to do it.

just all willy-nilly. But again, it's a really nice way to look forward because I think we started this episode, especially the name of the episode, Recall Vote, where like, no, God, I hate this. This is terrible. I don't want anyone to be recalled.

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I do need to talk to the writers about this as well because maybe someone's available because I want to know how we got to the point of her being recalled because it very easily could have also been like her term is up, what's she going to do next? But now it's like a full on shakeup. like, you know, we didn't, we didn't expect this to happen because we worked so hard to get her campaign up and going to get her in the city council or seat.

And so to not have her be on the seat that she worked so hard for, obviously we know that Leslie is going to move forward in a brilliant way. But I would love to know the thought process behind why did we rip her out of the city council as opposed to letting it peter out and then move forward. Maybe that's like, I mean, I know I'm probably thinking too deep into it, but that's, you know, I know that's happened in my life before where a lot of times, you know, the universe will just make sure like,

that you get on the track that you're supposed to be on by literally pushing you onto it, as opposed to you just like making the decision, going with the steps and doing A plus B equals C. Sometimes it's like, okay, we're skipping B. A equals C now, bitch. Whether you like it or not, the universe has ripped the rug out from under you and it needed to happen. You know what I mean? So I wonder if that was a thought process. I don't know.

Well, you guys, that was Recall Vote. It was kind of a little bit of a shorty, so I'll let you go early. my gosh, I'm actually like I'm on a teams meeting or something. We didn't have a ton of guest stars in this except for the people at the Belouche moment and I didn't hear back from any of them. So if they hope maybe, you know, they get back to me another time. But thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, do all the things. Check out all of the new shows that are coming out that Mike Scherr has a hand in.

post some stuff about that. Thank you to Craig Stepp for sending in voice memos. Please let us know if there's anything else we can research for you. And stay safe out there, you guys. And try your best to keep moving forward. This is really hard. Life is hard. Everything is hard right now. So I hope that we can bring you some joy and laughter in the meantime. Thank you so much again. And we'll talk to you very shortly. Bye, you guys.