Parks and Recreation may have ended in 2015, but the spirit of Pawnee lives on during SNL’s Weekend Update.
Last night’s Saturday Night Live was hosted by Aubrey Plaza, currently starring in the Netflix crime thriller Emily the Criminal. But, no matter how serious Plaza may get on screen, fans who love her best for her deadpan sarcasm as April Ludgate – the apathetic intern from NBC’s Parks and Recreation – were in for a treat during a special Weekend Update segment in which she reunited with her local Pawnee government counterpart Amy Poehler to reprise their beloved roles.
Parks and Recreation aired when Weekend Update was anchored by now-Late Night host Seth Meyers – who previously co-anchored Update with Poehler – before she left the SNL cast to pursue her leading sitcom gig as Leslie Knope.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Poehler-as-Knope made a point to address this head-on:
Colin Jost asked April Ludgate if she could impart any advice to job seekers who may be considering government work during this challenging economic recession, herself having worked for the town of Pawnee, Indiana, for a storied six years while Parks & Rec was on the air:
“I want to pick your brain about this job, about this show, because I used to watch this when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else, and he made it look really easy.”
When prompted for more, she said:
“I will when you stop yelling at me… OK, fine. So, yeah, everybody should get involved where they live. If you’re young, you should get a job as a garbage man or something.”
Parks and Rec Is a Beloved NBC Classic
This marks the first time April Ludgate has made any direct appearance on NBC’s airwaves in many years, not counting those Progressive commercials, which seem to be attempting to can her acerbity. Another star who made it to the big time is Chris Pratt, a fan-favorite character from Parks and Recreation. However, there’s no word on whether his character, Andy Dwyer, will appear on SNL later this year when the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 hits theaters.
“Fine. Drive a bus. You don’t have to be on time. Nobody cares… Work for the water department. You can drain the reservoir and find all the bodies and murder clues, or just be a dog catcher, and just say you couldn’t find any. Because when you work for the local government, doing the bare minimum is doing your part.”
