List of Parks and Recreation characters

Megan Mullally, Offerman's real-life wife, played his character's ex-wife Tammy Swanson, and Poehler's former husband Will Arnett made an appearance as a man on a blind date with Leslie.

Several of Poehler's past colleagues on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live have appeared on Parks and Recreation, including Fred Armisen, Will Forte and Andy Samberg.

[19][20] Jaded and disillusioned with his job due to government red tape,[21] Mark often pragmatically insisted to Leslie that her ambitions to turn a construction pit into a park were unlikely to succeed.

Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), birth name Darwish Sabir Ishmael Gani, was an administrator in the parks department for most of the show, although he also became a minor investor in the Snake Hole Lounge and quit at the end of the third season to form an entertainment company with his friend Jean-Ralphio.

[39] Ron Swanson has been praised as the show's breakout character,[nb 1] and some of his traits were based on elements of Offerman's real-life personality, like their shared affinity for woodworking and saxophone-playing.

[3][47] April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) is an extremely sarcastic, apathetic and goth-like college student who started the show working as an intern in the parks and recreation department, but is eventually hired as Ron Swanson's full-time assistant.

Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) first appeared in "The Master Plan," along with Ben Wyatt, as an Indiana state auditor who visits Pawnee to help solve their crippling financial problems.

In contrast to his awkwardness at work, Jerry leads an idyllic family life with his gorgeous wife, Gayle (played by Christie Brinkley), and their children, as shown when he hosts a holiday party in the Season 5 episode "Ron and Diane."

The overdramatic Craig often raises his voice to the point of shouting, and frequently blows things out of proportion, although he proves to be a highly efficient employee who is familiar with city politics and a strong negotiator.

[39][92] Introduced in the first-season finale "Rock Band," Wendy is an attractive, outgoing and wealthy pediatric surgeon, and various characters are surprised she is married to Tom, who often brags about her good looks and impressive job.

[93][107] Dave made what seemed to be his final appearance in "Christmas Scandal," when he told Leslie he is in the United States Army Reserve and has been called for maintenance work in San Diego.

Lucy first appears as a bartender in the Snakehole Lounge, and meets Tom after he comes to the bar to settle his tab from the night before, when he unsuccessfully attempted to pick up several girls by buying drinks for them.

Orin was originally mentioned in a throw-away joke in "Time Capsule," but Parks and Recreation screenwriter Katie Dippold liked the idea of the character so much that she worked him into her script for "Andy and April's Fancy Party.

[39] Dexhart was featured prominently in "Christmas Scandal," which began with Leslie portraying him in a satirical holiday skit in which he discussed his an affair with multiple women that resulted in a love child.

When Donna Meagle accidentally sends a sexually suggestive tweet from the department Twitter, Jamm uses this as an opportunity to hold public hearings that put Leslie's ethics into question.

He was first mentioned in "Christmas Scandal," when the parks and recreation department held a satirical holiday skit full of inside jokes about Pawnee, and April declared, "That's crazier than Mayor Gunderson's dog, Rufus.

[172] Paul appeared in several other Parks and Recreation episodes, including "The Master Plan," where he announced the pending arrival of state auditors Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger due to Pawnee's crippling budget problems.

[179] They first appeared on "Media Blitz" when, during an interview with Leslie and Tom about the upcoming harvest festival, they revealed their true motive was to lambast Ben for his failed tenure as a city mayor during his teen years.

Initially disappointed to find no problems, she eventually learned about a supposed Indian curse placed upon the harvest festival by a local Pawnee tribe, which she turned into a major scandalous story.

[52] During scenes cut from the episode "The Master Plan," Shauna and Andy flirted with each other, but he ultimately rejected her due to his feelings for April, prompting her to declare, "I can't even land the shoeshine guy."

[3][204] Lawrence also appeared in a scene that was deleted from "Ron and Tammy," but included in the second season DVD, in which he mocked Andy's new city hall job as a shoeshiner by giving him dozens of soiled shoes to clean.

In "Sweetums," the company formed a partnership with the city hall to run the concessions stands in Pawnee parks, and Nick Newport Jr. unveiled their new, supposedly-healthy energy bars Nutriyums.

"[111][209] Ann and Leslie held public forums to inform people the energy bars are not actually healthy, but the citizenry of Pawnee ultimately rejected their arguments and were won over by the charisma of Nick Newport Jr. and his family,[110][111] particularly when Denver announced they should look under their seats for free Sweetums candy.

Bobby Newport is friendly and superficially charming, but extremely naive and clueless (he at times acts mentally handicapped despite the fact that he isn't), and has been completely spoiled by his privileged upbringing.

When Leslie puts together a viral video that makes him look pathetic and stupid (in lieu of a nasty attack ad she ultimately refused to air), Bobby has a meeting where he complains she hurt his feelings, then asks her to drop out of the election and simply hand the office to him.

[211][212] In Season 4, he remained at Entertainment 720, and was hanging out with Roy Hibbert, who had the free time to work with them due to the NBA lockout; both men roundly mocked Tom and Jean-Ralphio's lack of business sense.

[134][224] He was particularly unsettled by Pawnee's public forums, in which the residents loudly and angrily criticized their government officials; Raul explained he usually holds his meetings in fortresses, citadels or palaces, and that anyone who complains or does anything out of line is immediately thrown in jail.

However, Raul explained a condition of the check was that Leslie must praise Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and insult the United States,[225] revealing they are part of what is called the committee to Humiliate and Shame America.

He appeared in the episode "Sister City," when Raul, Carlos, Jhonny and a delegation of Venezuelan officials visited Pawnee, where they were met by Leslie and her fellow parks department employees.

She appears again in Season 6 ("Second Chunce") to convince Leslie (as a paid favor to Ben) not to run for Dexhart's seat in the city council, but to reach for the stars and to look for a more high-powered job.