If you are a fellow film and television nerd, you have certainly stumbled upon a blooper reel somewhere — video compilations showing outtakes where actors break character while filming and get everybody to laugh. Blooper reels used to be among the extra features in DVDs and physical media releases, and nowadays, they are getting harder and harder to find, but some shows and movies still have bloopers available on the internet, like Parks and Recreation, for example, via their official channels. They are not the only ones, but, as general shows mostly don’t bother with that nowadays, we need to praise them for doing God’s work and keeping this tradition alive.
It may sound like a stretch, but the bloopers in Parks and Rec are among the best things about a show that’s damn near perfect already, containing some of the best jokes made naturally by the cast. The thing is, most of them are wildly inappropriate to make it to TV, so if they hadn’t been made available to the fans somehow, most of us would never have even known about their existence, and that would be a major shame, given how brilliantly funny they are. With blooper reels becoming ever rarer, Parks and Rec makes the perfect case for why they should be brought back and made a tradition once again.
Blooper Reels in ‘Parks and Recreation’ Are Comedic Gold
Watching the blooper reels of any sitcom is always fun, but in Parks and Rec‘s case, they are simply a treat. The series had such an amazing cast that it feels like any scene had the potential to become hilarious, regardless of how serious it could be (which was rarely the case, let’s face it). What makes a blooper great is usually how actors break character for some reason, which in sitcoms is usually about another cast member inducing them to by making a joke. The cast of Parks and Rec excelled at both breaking character and making others break, and watching it shatters the illusion that comedians always know what to say or do, or that actors only take a couple of tries to nail a scene.
The best cast member in that sense is Chris Pratt, by far. The man is a wizard at improv, and some of his best jokes are in the blooper reels, since he would often take things too far with some of them. In Season 4, for example, he broke the whole cast by referencing a certain “comeback story” in an Episode 11 outtake. His use of physical humor is also unmatched, like in another Season 4 outtake when he breaks a light switch by accidentally throwing a briefcase onto it. Just seconds before that, he smoothly slides over a counter and impresses everyone, only to break the switch immediately after. That’s such an incredible moment that even the camera operator follows it, as if by instinct. We’re truly blessed to have it.
Speaking of breaking stuff, Nick Offerman was probably the cast member to break character the most to laugh at other actors’ jokes and mistakes. Ron Swanson’s cute and hilarious giggles? That’s Offerman’s actual laugh, if you can believe it, and, apparently, the man sure loves to laugh. It’s interesting how his exaggerated angry face is often moments away from completely breaking, too, as if it was a defense mechanism. It’s like the more contorted his face, the more effort he makes not to break. Aubrey Plaza was also prone to breaking character constantly, which is hilarious given the deadpan persona she’s built over the years, but, apparently, that’s just how life on that set was.
The Bloopers Are Part of What Makes ‘Parks and Recreation’ Such a Special Series
Fans of Parks and Rec all agree that it was a pretty special series. It’s hopeful, wholesome, and hilarious. Frankly, in days like the ones we’re currently living in, it’s like a warm hug and a reminder that everything will be okay. As strange as it may sound, the bloopers are part of what makes this series so special, providing us with a window into the environment where the series is made. Again, artists rarely get it right the first time, and jokes may also take a while before they fit into a scene. With a comedic roster as sharp as theirs, the bloopers make it feel like the Parks and Rec set was naturally lighthearted, a place where the cast could experiment and, if it didn’t work, at least it was a great laugh.
Such was the case that, sometimes, even the crew would lose it and become part of a blooper, like when Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman began improvising in one scene, and a camera operator ran into a door jamb laughing. Guest stars also got to go as far as they wanted, too. Kathryn Hahn, for example, made the whole set break with a joke that just went too far to make it into the final cut, but is golden in the blooper reels, when her character, Jen Barkley, is competing with Leslie Knope (Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) in terms of public obscenity in a bar. Henry Winkler also breaks when facing Ben Schwartz‘s shenanigans as Jean-Ralphio, and, frankly, who wouldn’t? All that is only possible because these actors and comedians had the room to try their jokes, and we can’t imagine Parks and Rec any differently.
We Need To Bring Blooper Reels Back!
Thankfully, all the Parks and Rec bloopers we’ve mentioned so far are available somewhere on the internet. Other great shows still keep up with this tradition, like The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which compile their bloopers by season, while Parks and Rec has videos compiling bloopers according to actors, for example. But reels like these are getting harder to find in the age of streaming, and some of the most iconic sitcoms ever, like Modern Family, don’t even have an official channel on YouTube, for example. There are channels that specialize in compiling and posting bloopers, of course, but it’s a shame that official channels for shows like these still feel like asking too much.
Back when physical media was still dominant, bloopers and gag reels were always made available among the extra features. Regardless of whether it was a film or a series you were watching, a DVD felt incomplete without such features. The problem is certainly how the streaming landscape works. With films and series always moving around between platforms because of who owns the rights to what, bloopers and extra features are simply not a priority. It certainly makes no financial sense for them to invest in such features for a series that is not original content and could be off their catalog within months. In this sense, it’s better to push you towards watching something else that they won’t ever lose the rights to.
How to deal with blooper reels and extra features is still something most media companies need to figure out, because there is always a high demand from fans for more content about their favorite shows. These features are invaluable to anyone who wants to know more about how things are made, or simply laugh at silly stuff, something everyone should be doing more of nowadays.
- Release Date
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2009 – 2015
- Directors
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Dean Holland, Ken Whittingham, Troy Miller, Craig Zisk, Morgan Sackett, Randall Einhorn, Michael Trim, Nicole Holofcener, Tristram Shapeero, Wendey Stanzler, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Jason Woliner, Charles McDougall, Daniel J. Goor, Nick Offerman, Tucker Gates, Alan Yang, Alex Hardcastle, Jorma Taccone, Seth Gordon, Adam Scott, David Rogers, Jaime Eliezer Karas, Jeffrey Blitz
- Writers
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Harris Wittels, Aisha Muharrar, Dave King, Katie Dippold, Joe Mande, Megan Amram, Matt Murray, Donick Cary, Mike Scully, Rachel Axler, Alexandra Rushfield, Chelsea Peretti, Matt Hubbard, Greg Levine, Sam Means, Jen Statsky, Emma Fletcher, Rachna Fruchbom, Emily Kapnek, Emily Spivey, Greg Daniels, Tucker Cawley, Nate DiMeo
