World News – UA – Jim O’Heir Celebrates’ Parks and Recreation ‘on Treat Yo’ Self Day

For fans of NBC Parks and Recreation, « Treat Yo’ Self » might as well be a daily motto, but the annual event started with Donna (Retta) and Tom (Aziz Ansari) from Pawnee has its own official date – October 13

To celebrate Treat Yo ‘Self Day 2020, Peacock honors essential workers across the United States in special celebration The streaming service has partnered with the National Recreation and Parks Association to recognize real Leslie Knopes and Ron Swansons who epitomize the cuteness of the show with the help of star Jim O’Heir (otherwise known as Jerry / Larry / Terry / Garry / Barry Gergich)

The actor interviewed the five award winners – Carlos Garcia, Erica Perez, Jody Becker, Kurt Wolf and Skot Latona – to learn more about their roles in the parks system made available to fans for viewing on the platform, interviews join Parks and Recreation on Peacock just in time for Treat Yo ‘Self Day 2020 (you can see the cute video below)

Parks and Recreation, which started in 2009, followed the parks department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana and operated for seven seasons. Most recently, the cast reunited for a virtual episode in April 2020, five years after the series finale, to raise charitable funds amid the ongoing pandemic. Below, O’Heir discusses the winners, the impact of Parks and Rec, and what Jerry’s Treat Yo ‘Self’s day could look like.

Jim O’Heir: It’s exciting because they go to the source, they go to the parks and recreation people who are out there doing this job every day I know when Parks and Rec came in for the first time at the idea stage, they interviewed a lot of different people from a lot of different places These are the people we celebrate on Treat Yo ‘Self day and they have great stories

These are just amazing people who work so hard and with COVID they must have turned everything upside down They are still trying to make it work because our parks are so important and because it’s actually a place people can still go We celebrate the people who still do it every day

Well, Parks and Rec’s fan base has been just amazing We just got more popular than when we shot the series, which I still find very wild Every character has their own special thing that people love to about it, and Jerry talks to a lot of people – he’s the goofy guy, but also just a wonderful guy I think he’s just one of the really good guys, and so they wanted to hear a bit from me

I would say one thing I learned from all these different interviews is that 100% of the time these people would never take any credit They would always say, « Well, this is the team , this is my group, these are the people that I work with « I was blown away by this because we gave awards to these people, and I was like, » Oh, you should be so proud because out of thousands of people we could have considered you were chosen « Immediately 100% of people said: » I can’t take credit for myself It’s teamwork « 

It blew me away because I believe in life everything is teamwork, be it your family – certainly Parks and Recreation was a team effort when we were working on it As they were humble, it really affected me I already knew they were decent, but it really proved that they [were] good people

Oh my God, so simple First of all it’s with the family – it’s with Gayle (Christie Brinkley) and her beautiful daughters It’s a no-brainer I guess they would go to the Jerry sundae store would have their cone that would probably fall off They would replace it Probably sit down, read a good book And sure enough the ultimate Treat Yo ‘Self day would be if that happened while they were in Muncie at the timeshare cause nothing is better than that And Lord Sheldon would be there It would definitely be a family day out It would be about Jerry doing something with the people closest to him

It’s his world, although I still don’t understand why Ben [Wyatt] couldn’t understand why they were together I don’t understand [Laughs]

Parks and recreation are seen as comfort television, especially right now What does it mean to be a part of something like this?

I have my comfort shows, when I might be in a bad mood or whatever and even though they’re just in the background, they calm me down And to think that I ended up on a show that has an effect on me. the others just blows me away I consider it a huge giveaway because it’s that kind of show Everyone’s seen all the episodes a few times before, but even though it’s just in the background you know who these characters are and they bring you a sense of calm I just love that I’m a part of this

You met the members of your Parks and Recreation cast for a virtual episode. How was this experience?

Well it was amazing, but we never went our separate ways We have this thing called the Parks family text and it has been going on since we did the show All the big events we’re still face to face Our boy [Chris] Pratt just had a baby girl and Amy [Poehler] recently celebrated her birthday We’re still in each other’s lives because it was just too special a place to suddenly be gone

But to be able to do the reunion special, which came out of nowhere, then Mike Schur said to us, « I have an idea Everyone, I’m going to put you all on hold for a day or two while I finds something « Then he came back to us and within minutes we were all okay because he said, » Why not do a new episode? « We were like, » Hell yeah!  » was incredibly exciting and a lot of laughs because there is a love out there that will be there until the day we all die

You mentioned the fans earlier Is there one particular reaction that you get the most from fans, like a line or a quote that you can’t go a day without hearing?

I get « damn, Jerry » 100 times a day on social media, literally 100 times a day In person, it was weird because I never really understood what was going on with the popularity of the series until once we were filming in Indianapolis and they had a big Winnebago so we would all hang in between shots And I walked out of Winnebago and there was a bunch of people there and they started singing, « Jerry, Jerry » And I’m like, « What’s going on? » And that’s it. was charming and shocking

Parks and Recreation, NBC, Jim O’Heir, NBCUniversal, Jerry Gergich, Leslie Knope, Pawnee