Parks and Rec airs its series finale tonight. To honor seven seasons of excellence, we’ve compiled and ranked 50 of Pawnee’s most lovable weirdos.
Pawnee, Indiana is in Wamapoke County and has anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 citizens depending on who you ask. It’s about 90 minutes from Indianapolis and has really good waffles. It also is home to some of the most insane, passionate and bizarre people in the United States.
With Pawnee, Parks and Rec has accomplished what seemed near-impossible: created a live-action version of Springfield from the Simpsons. Michael Schur and his writers have done it through casting characters as diverse, colorful and hilarious as a cartoon universe. It’s such an underrated challenge: finding enough talented actors and work around their schedules to create a believable fictional town with a believable number of citizens.
Now that Pawnee is finally closing its borders, let’s rank the 50 best Pawnee-ans and Parks and Rec supporting characters. The vast majority of the people on this list are native Pawnee-ans and even those who aren’t have spent enough time in town to be honorary citizens.
50. Lavondrius (Questlove)
Donna wouldn’t talk to her estranged cousin for years and it turns out it was for a very good reason: he’s a popcorn stealer. He’s also played by Questlove, which is NBC corporate synergy gone right.
49. Garth Blundin (Patton Oswalt)
Garth Blundin may be a lonely, miserable man who fears change but he can also pitch a mean Marvel-Star Wars crossover.
48. Typhoon (Rodney To)
Typhoon is a late addition to the Pawnee universe. He may have made the list for his brief appearance at Donna’s wedding alone, but becoming Ron Swanson’s go-to barber assures him a spot.
47. Tynnyfer (June Diane Raphael)
Tynnfer, with two “y’s” is the worst person April’s ever met. And April loves her. It’s Xanax-o’clock!
46. Marlene Griggs-Knope (Pamela Reed)
Leslie’s mom hasn’t appeared much since season 3 (only as a cameo once in “Operation Ann”). When she did, however, she was a powerful presence in Leslie’s life and made it clear where Leslie got at least 1% of her superhuman tenacity from.
45. Gayle Gergich (Christie Brinkley)
Gayle, along with her beautiful daughters, is the reason why while Jerry may be the unluckiest man in the world at the office, he’s certainly the luckiest man in the world at home. Christie Brinkley is 61 years old, by the way. Figure that out.
44. Councilman Douglass Howser (Yvans Jourdain)
The Pawnee City Council can’t only be filled with creeps and degenerates. There has to be at least one decent man. Councilman Howser is that man, and Leslie only seems to run into him when she’s doing something embarrassing.
43. Diane Lewis (Lucy Lawless)
Ron Swanson went through a lot of crazy and a lot of Tammys to find the love of his life. Lucy Lawless is such a wonderful actress that she makes all the Tammys seem worth the suffering.
42. Lord Edgar Covington (Peter Serafinowicz)
Andy’s one-time boss and forever bro, Lord Edgar Covington is so rich that the Queen of England just lets him knight people as he sees fit.
41. Trevor Nelson (Marc Evan Jackson)
Marc Evan Jackson took what could have been a rather anonymous character and injected him enough dry wit to suggest an unseen reservoir of rage bubbling just below the surface. Trevor’s boss, Dr. Saperstein, tasks him with negotiating with Tom for “Rent-a-Swag” and it’s clear that there is nothing Trevor would rather do less.
On page 2: An aptly named musician and a Pawnee legend
40. August Clementine and Derry Murbles (John Hodgman and Dan Castellaneta)
Derry Murbles is the public radio host for a Pawnee’s version of NPR and August Clementine is his Eagleton counterpart. Despite their near-identical worldviews and soft-radio voices they despise each other.
39. Lucy (Natalie Morales)
Tom had a pretty rough go of it with girlfriends. By season 2 he is getting a divorce from his wife, who only married him for a green card. Ouch. Thankfully, Parks and Rec let Tom get back in touch with Lucy in season 7, who was always his best match.
38. Ginuwine
Donna’s cousin was nice enough to turn up for Pawnee and Eagleton’s Unity concert. Naturally he sang “Pony” in tribute to Pawnee’s dearly departed Li’l Sebastian.
37. Champion
Champion is just that: a champion. He may be a dog with only three legs but he’s got more than enough heart.
36. Councilman Fielding Milton (James Greene)
Councilman Milton is an out-of-touch, racist, misogynist and seems to cling to both life and his council seat through sheer hateful stubborn will. He’s an ideal Pawnee public servant.
35. Tammy I (Patricia Clarkson)
Tammy I is the first of Ron’s ex-wives named Tammy. She’s a monster in a trickier, less explosive way than her successor. She changes everything about Ron to conform to her own liking – which is an obedient man-child sans mustache.
34. Mel (Mel Cowan)
Mel is also credited occasionally as “Red-Faced Man” because he is usually beat-red from the furious screaming he’s just done at a town hall meeting. Mel is indicative of most random Pawnee citizens: under-educated and over-angry at his local government.
33. Dennis Feinstein (Jason Mantzoukas)
Dennis Feinstein is a men’s fragrance magnate famous for scents such as “Attack” or “Sideboob.” His original name was Dante Fiero but he changed it to Dennis Feinstein as that was more exotic for Pawnee.
32. Brandi Maxxxx (Mara Marini)
Brandi Maxxxx is Pawnee’s most famous porn star, and perhaps its shrewdest businesswoman. Unlike the rest of the town, Brandi seems to recognize Leslie’s brilliance and used agreeing with her as a campaign strategy when she ran for office.
31. ‘Pistol’ Pete Disellio (Tuc Watkins)
“Pistol” Pete is a Pawnee legend for his game-winning dunk for the Pawnee Central Drunken Savages against Eagleton High back in 1992. The game still airs ever Friday night on Pawnee cable access though Pete is now a middle-aged man trying to move past from his modest celebrity.
On page 3: A hyper competent doctor and some decidedly incompetent councilmen
30. Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd)
Bobby put up a good fight against Leslie in the City Council race. Well, his campaign manager put up a good fight. Bobby would much rather have played Wii Bowling all day.
29. Craig Middlebrooks (Billy Eichner)
Craig is perhaps one of Parks and Rec’s most polarizing character. Some love Billy Eichner’s loud volume style and some find it grating. It’s okay, he just has an illness: it’s called caring too much and it’s incurable!
28. Dr. Harris (Cooper Thornton)
Speaking of illnesses…Dr. Harris may be a very good doctor but he’s also a very cranky man. Maybe that’s because he seems to be the only doctor in a town of 50,000 people.
27. Tammy Zero (Paula Pell)
Only one woman was man enough to birth Ron Swanson, and that’s Tammy Swanson.
26. ‘Sewage’ Joe Fantringham (Kirk Fox)
Joe works in sewage and just like everyone else in Pawnee’s government is a massive creep. He’s finally fired for sending town hall a picture of his junk. Pretty low for a Sarah Lawrence grad.
25. Councilman Bill Dexhart (Kevin Symons)
Councilman Bill Dexhart is known for one thing and it’s not his sterling record of public service to Wamapoke County. It’s his awe-inducing and very public sex scandals. It was fun to enjoy Dexhart’s escapades from afar for four seasons and even more fun to watch just how incompetent a councilman he was for season 5.
24. Barney Varmn (John Balma)
Poor Barney. All he wants is Ben’s acceptance. Ben comes close to accepting a job with Barney’s accounting firm three times and even works for a couple of days. But each time a better job comes along and trumps it, leaving Barney without his accounting hero.
23. Greg Pikitis (Cody Klop)
Greg Pikitis is the Joker to Leslie Knope’s Batman. He’s a criminal mastermind and he’s only a teen. We hope tonight’s finale reveals he’s an international jewel thief or computer hacker.
22. Marcia and Marshall Langman (Darlene Hunt and Todd Sherry)
Marcia Langman is another one of Leslie’s enemies, whose idea of a good time is ruining everyone else’s. To Marcia and her very, um, flamboyant husband, Marshall, the world is a never-ending cesspool of sin, debauchery and oil painting of public figures as naked centaurs.
21. Ron Dunn (Sam Elliott)
Ron Dunn is Ron Swanson’s Eagleton counterpart. At first Ron loves Eagleton Ron: he’s a rugged, soft-spoken dude. But Eagleton Ron’s rugged charm comes from a love of nature and meditation, not from a dogmatic love for libertarianism. He’s Ron’s terrifying mirror image.
On page 4: Two of ‘Parks and Rec’s most famous guest stars
20. Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.)
It shows what a deep bench Parks and Rec has so to speak that a character portrayed by Louis C.K. just barely cracks the top 20. In an alternate Pawnee universe somewhere, Leslie Knope could be very happily settled down with the somewhat simple but very sweet Officer Dave. That’s not a crack at Ben but rather an appreciation for Leslie’s taste in men.
19. Dr. Saperstein (Henry Winkler)
Dr. Saperstein is good at two things: guiding women through the confusing and stressful ordeal of pregnancy, and crushing his business rivals without mercy. Dr. Saperstein thinks that Tom has corrupted his impressionable children, Mona Lisa and Jean-Ralphio (more on them later) and forces “Rent-a-Swag” out of business. That’s a blessing in disguise as it leads Tom to his successful Tom’s Bistro idea as well as back to Lucy.
18. Ken Hotate (Jonathan Joss)
History was not always kind to Pawnees native Wamapoke tribe. But latter-day member Ken is able to carve himself a nice niche by taking white Pawnee-ans money at his casino and scaring them with bogus curses.
17. Shauna Malwae-Tweep (Alison Becker)
Parks and Rec gets so much mileage out of its characters names alone and Shauna may be the best example. The name “Shauna Malwae-Tweep” somehow describes her meek, perpetually single character better than anything else could.
16. Mayor Gunderson (Bill Murray)
Mayor Gunderson didn’t appear onscreen for nearly the entire seven-season run of the show. And even if he hadn’t, he likely still would have made the list for his “man behind the curtain” awe. The fact that the show eventually secured Bill Murray to play his corpse cements his place in the top 15.
15. Detlef Schrempf
Of all the real celebrities Parks has gotten to appear, former NBA player Detlef Schrempf is the best. His name is perfect and his Indiana ties are ideal but even beyond that he seems like just a normal, intelligent dude who is constantly bemused by whatever Tom and his weird friends are cooking up.
14. Jennifer Barkley (Kathryn Hahn)
Jen Barkley goes from being Leslie and Ben’s rival to their ally and her behavior remains the same either way. Jen doesn’t have any friends or enemies. She just has co-horts and pawns. Her utter contempt for Pawnee is kind of ironic as she fits surprisingly well within it’s zany confines.
13. Mona-Lisa Saperstein (Jenny Slate)
“She’s the wooooooo-ooooo-oooo-ooooooooorst!”
12. Crazy Ira and the Douche (Matt Besser and Nick Kroll)
The most amazing part about Crazy Ira and The Douche is how plausible they are. As far as radio shock-jocks go, they’re actually fairly mild. We should all be so lucky to be a part of Douche Nation.
11. Animal Control guys (Colton Dunn and Harris Wittels)
Brett and Harris are two stoners who have no clue how to actually do their jobs. When they’re eventually hired from the animal control department, they immediately re-apply, not realizing that that’s a weird thing to do. For now they’re still lost somewhere in the catacombs of city hall but hopefully they’ll fulfill their dream of going to Jamaica one day.
On page 5: A very sexy saxophonist and a very important D.J.
10. Duke Silver (Nick Offerman)
Okay, this is cheating a little bit as Duke Silver is actually an alias of a main character but any list of Pawnee’s finest won’t feel complete without the Duke. Sure, he’s found his Duchess now but that doesn’t mean we won’t always have “Memories of Now.”
9. Orin (Eric Isenhower)
The best part about Orin as a character is how aware of his own creepiness he is. When he’s not trying to open a farm where people are the animals he must just be lurking around corners waiting to freak people out.
8. Ethel Beavers (Helen Slayton-Hughes
Ethel Beavers is always an unwilling participant in the main cast’s lives. As Pawnee’s court reporter, she seems to be as much of the fabric of the town as the buildings and racist murals. She’s also a closet freak as we learn at Mayor Gunderson’s funeral.
7. Burt Macklin/Johnny Karate (Chris Pratt)
See: Duke Silver above. Anytime there’s an unsolvable case in Pawnee, you can trust that Burt Macklin, F.B.I. will be on the job. And should he run into any problems, he can enlist the help of his friend, Johnny Karate.
6. D.J. Roomba
R.I.P., little guy.
5. Tammy II (Megan Mullally)
A Tammy II episode was always an event. Parks and Rec was smart to stagger Tammy II’s appearances to only one episode a season (with a few exceptions) and even smarter to hire Nick Offerman’s off-screen wife to play his on-screen ex-wife. Tammy II is a perfect supporting character in that she matches the style of the show but does so in a more extreme way since we don’t ever have to worry about needing to see her as anything other than a cartoon character essentially.
4. Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson)
“The story of this entry is that it’s number four and that the fourth person on the list is…Perd Hapley.”
3. Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins)
There could be a whole separate season of this show merely charting the rise and fall of Joan Callamezzo. Parks and Rec is so good at satirizing the media (“Gotcha Dancers, anyone?) but Joan goes much further than a parody of a TV talk show. By season 7, she’s a parody of a human being: hopelessly narcissistic to the point of insanity.
2. Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwartz)
The best thing that Parks and Rec ever did for Jean-Ralphio was limiting his exposure. He never overstays his welcome. He appears just the exactly correct amount of times to be hilarious and never annoying. The best thing Jean-Ralphio did for Parks and Rec was just be his his crazy old self. The relationship between Tom and Jean-Ralphio is a perfect example of the difference between a main character and a supporting one. Tom eventually grows up, starts a business and falls in love. Jean-Ralphio will be getting hit by Lexus’s for insurance money until he dies. And we love him for it.
1. Li’l Sebastian
“I have cried twice in my life. Once when I was 7 and I was hit by a school bus and then again when I heard Li’l Sebastian had passed.” – Ron Ulysses Swanson
