History Awesome / Parksandrecreation

* Leslie, delirious with flu and barely able to walk, escapes from the hospital to give a ''masterful'' speech to the Pawnee Chamber of Commerce drumming up support for a community project. The awesomeness is in no way diminished by her immediately, upon the speech's conclusion, becoming completely incoherent again. An awed Ben says in a talking head:

* Ron explaining to Chris why the changes he made to the Parks and Rec dept. aren't working and making everyone miserable. Before agreeing to a compromise of staying at the circular desk Chris made him use for a week while the rest change back to normal, Ron demonstrates great insight to his employees.

-->'''Chris:''' Just remember that you're under oath and if you lie I will fire and prosecute you.

--> '''Ron:''' "All of you be quiet. Andy, she's mad because you said "awesome sauce" instead of "I love you too". April, he loves you. Stop being a child. Tom, you're clearly at fault here. Blaming Jerry won't save you. Jerry, we both know you were shotgunning funnel cakes instead of watching Li'l Sebastian. So everyone apologize to everyone else!"

-->'''Ron''': "Tom only performs when there's someone to impress, so marooning him on 'Freak Island' isn't helping anyone. And you made April assistant to everyone? You know who April hates? ''Everyone''. And Jerry can only function when no one's looking. You shine a light on him and he shrinks up faster than an Eskimo's scrotum."

-->'''Chris:''' "Just remember that you're under oath and if you lie I will fire and prosecute you."

--> '''Tammy 2:''' "You're not even a man anymore. Oh, and by the way, last night, I faked four out of the seven."\\
'''Ron:''' "So did I."

--> '''Jen:''' "I wasn't born yesterday. You've got to have an angle. This is a home run for us. We're going to dominate the news cycle for a whole week."
--> '''Ben:''' "Well, you can have this week. We'll take the next one."
--> '''Jen:''' "Oh, yeah? What makes you so sure?"
--> '''Leslie:''' "Because in a week, we have a debate. And your guy, Bobby Newport, is going to have show up, and he's going to have to open his mouth. [[BadassBoast And I'm going to kick his ass.]]"

--> '''April:''' "Ben told you to finish the website, and if you don't do it, I swear to God, I'm gonna murder you in your sleep. I know where you live. 14th Street, right? I'm gonna get a melon baller and scoop your eyes out and eat them, and your congressman uncle is gonna have to buy you a dog to drag your eyeless face around. Do you understand me?"

--> '''Leslie:''' "You have five seconds to get out of here, or I will rip your throats out."

--> '''Ron''': "People who buy things are suckers."

-->'''Jamm:''' ''[On the phone]'' "Yeah, it's me... We got Jammed."

-->'''Ben:''' "Sorry, but this whole thing makes me queasy. I love how independent my wife is and because of that I will not let her speak... {{that came out wrong}}. The point is, Leslie is a great mother, public servant, all-around person and I am tired of everybody constantly telling her that she's making the wrong choice. ''(passes the mic to Leslie)'' You can say whatever you want. I couldn't care less about the political consequences."

-->'''Leslie:''' "I'm sorry that the spotlight is on me and not on Ben, because he's going to make a great congressman. [[ShutUpHannibal Second, the Male Men? You're ridiculous, and men's rights is nothing. Third, I am now going to give you permanent answers to all of the silly questions you’re going to ask me and every other woman in this election over the next few months]]: 'Why did I change my hairstyle?' I don't know, I just thought it would look better, or my kids got gum in it. 'Are you trying to have it all?' That question makes no sense! It's a stupid question. Stop asking it. 'Do you miss your kids when you're at work?' Yes, of course I do! Everybody does! And then, you know, sometimes, I don't."
-->'''Ben:'''" And, by the way, [[DoubleStandard no one's ever asked me that question]]. No one ever asks me "Where's your kids?" or "Who's taking care of them?" ''(Whispers to Leslie)'' By the way who is taking care of the kids?"
-->'''Leslie:''' "My Mom babe, everything's fine."
-->'''Ben:''' "So Leslie doesn't fit your personal idea of what [[StepfordSmiler a candidate's]] [[{{Housewife}} wife]] should be. So what? That's good, because there shouldn't be just one idea anyway."
-->'''Leslie:''' "It's great if you want to bake a pie and it's great if you want to have a career. That's great too, [[TakeAThirdOption do both, or neither]]. It doesn't matter, just don't judge what someone else has decided to do. We are all just trying to find the right path for us. As individuals... on this earth."

-->'''Ron''': (defeated) M'kay.

-->'''Ann:''' [[BewareTheNiceOnes "And just say the word and I will beat her senseless with a baseball bat."]]

-->''Ben:'' Oh, you wanna photocopy? You guys wanna do all the mindless work? Yeah. I didn't think so, (Ben picks up the phone as the camera zooms in) Get me '''[[{{Badass}} Garry Gergich]]'''.

* Creator/PattonOswalt's filibuster about what the new ''{{Star Wars}}'' movie should be like. All filmed in one take, and likely improvised. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBhNkywMJY Observe.]]

-->'''Ann:''' [[BewareTheNiceOnes "And just say the word and I will beat her senseless with a baseball bat."]]

-->'''Leslie:''' And some of them were ''[[TheTrickster tricksters]]''!

-->'''Ron''': Yes, you are right.

-->'''Ron''': (defeated) M'kay.

* Craig gets a small one in season 7 after April discourages a young woman from taking an internship with the parks department, chewing her out for being ungrateful and self-centered.
-->'''Craig:''' "If it weren't for that internship, you'd be a check-out girl at a gas station right now!"
* Great one in Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer goes to Washington; Ben gets together a team of experts to help fix April's resume in hopes of getting her a job they think she might want. This include Donna, Craig and most importantly, in his own words:

* "Two Parties": Leslie and Ken Hotate teaming up against Jamm and Kathryn Pinewood, culminating with Ken using his trademark WhiteGuilt-inducing weapons on Jamm.

* Andy spends the entirety of "Bus Tour" trying to figure out the mysterious figure who attempted to hit Leslie with a pie but hit Jerry instead. He eventually notices how weird it is that someone who hit Jerry with a pie would be aiming for Leslie, who was too far away from him, and that logically, they would in fact have been aiming for someone else. Andy then comes to the conclusion that Ben was in fact the target, and immediately decides to find a list of everyone Ben has ever fired in order to find the culprit. He correctly concludes that it was Joe, the sewage worker who Ben previously fired for texting photos of his privates to the women of the local government. He is unable to stop Joe from finally hitting Ben with a pie later, but still: ''Andy'', of all people, shows actual cleverness, analytics, and deductive reasoning, and figures out the whole thing on his own from the get-go.

* Meta example: Jennifer Barkley, the Political Strategist, defiantly staying a happily unmarried and non-maternal woman as a counterpoint to the tropes of CareerVersusFamily and CareerVersusMan as well as serving as a positive example for characters, especially women, who aren't married with children.

** Loses a little bit of its edge in context, where he's actually telling April he's ready to go to the hospital because he's spent the day in too much pain to move, but still.

* Leslie's speech during her campaign in response to [[spoiler: the Newports threatening to leave Pawnee and take their candy business with them if [[UpperClassTwit Bobby Newport]] doesn't get elected]].
--> [[spoiler:"I'm very angry. I'm angry that Bobby Newport would hold this town hostage and threaten to leave if you don't give him what he wants. It's despicable. Corporations are not allowed to dictate what a city needs. That power belongs to the people. Bobby Newport and his daddy would like you to think it belongs to them. I love this town, and when you love something you don't threaten it. You don't punish it. You fight for it, you take care of it, you put it first. As your City Councilor, I'll make sure that no one takes advantage of Pawnee. If I seem too passionate, it's because I care. If I come on strong, it's because I feel strongly, and if I push too hard, it's because things aren't moving fast enough. This is my home, you are my family, and I promise you, I'm not going anywhere."]]

--> [[spoiler: "Holy shit, Leslie, that was awesome!"]]
* Donna [[spoiler: sacrificing her Mercedes]] to get the senior shuttles for Leslie. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
* When Leslie [[spoiler:wins]].

* Ron [[spoiler: punching Councilman Jamm]] in the face.

* "Ron and Jammy": Councilman Jamm finally [[spoiler: getting the nerve to tell Tammy 2 off and end his relationship with her]]. Also, Leslie repeatedly [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slapping him in the face to snap him out of Tammy 2's hold on him]], purely for the CatharsisFactor.
* Leslie getting in the running against [[spoiler:Ron and his construction company]] despite bidding ''nothing''.

* The Pawnee/Eagleton unity concert in "Moving Up" features Ginuwine (who is, in fact, Donna's cousin), TheDecemberists, a Mouse Rat reunion and LettersToCleo!

-->'''Ben''': Okay, first of all, why does everyone in this town use AltaVista? Is it 1997? And second, I am a budget specialist; I went to those towns ''because'' they were bankrupt, and now they aren't. And yeah, I screwed up when I was eighteen, but who doesn't do dumb stuff when they're eighteen? Joan?

** In a later episode, Jamm tries to sues Ron over it, and Tom and April assemble a file of the lies he told, threaten him with perjury charges, and top everything off by Tom faking an injury in Jamm's office. It may be the only time that Jamm actually admitted defeat.

* During "The Trial of Leslie Knope", Tammy 2 was going to take the opportunity to slander Leslie. Chris then says the following.
-->'''Chris:''' "Just remember that you're under oath and if you lie I will fire and prosecute you."
** Tammy 2 proceeds to leave the room in a hurry.
*** The fact Chris managed to take down Tammy 2 with one sentence. Taking her down is impossible for Leslie, with Ron and Diane being the only ones able to subdue her and/or get her to back down normally, and even then they don't always succeed.

* In "Bowling for Votes", Ben punches out a potential JerkAss voter who called Leslie a "bitch". Leslie even says right afterward that it was "awesome" and kisses him.

* Craig gets a small one in season 7 after April discourages a young woman from taking an intern-ship with the parks department, chewing her out for being ungrateful and self-centred.
--->'''Craig''' If it weren't for that intern-ship you'd be a check-out girl at a gas station right now!

-->'''Ben:''' "Sorry this whole thing, makes me queasy. I love how independent my wife is and because of that I will not let her speak... {{that came out wrong}}. The point is, Leslie is a great mother, public servant, all-around person and I am tired of everybody constantly telling her that she's making the wrong choice. ''(passes the mic to Leslie)'' You can say whatever you want. I couldn't care less about the political consequences."

-->'''Ben:'''" And, by the way, no one's ever asked me that question. No one ever asks me "Where's your kids?" or "Who's taking care of them?" ''(Whispers to Leslie)'' By the way who is taking care of the kids?"

** It's also heavily implied by [[spoiler: Leslie and Ben having secret service at Garry's funeral that Leslie eventually acheives her other dream: First Female President of the United States of America. ]]

* In "Pawnee Commons", two designers from Eagleton came in with a joke model for Leslie's park. Leslie's voice got '''really''' low and her eyes filled with murder.

** In a later episode, Jamm sues Ron over it, and Tommy and April assemble a file of lies he told, threaten him with perjury charges, and top everything off by faking an injury in Jamm's office. It may be the only time that Jamm actually admitted defeat.

** The fact Chris managed to take down Tammy 2 with one sentence. Taking her down is impossible for Leslie, with Ron and Diane being the only ones able to subdue her and/or get her to back down normally, and even then they don't always succeed.

* On a meta-level, Burt Macklin got a final send-off on Twitter...''[[https://twitter.com/FBI/status/570642204399681536 FROM THE REAL LIFE FBI]]''.

* Ron and Ben's father reaching for the last shrimp at the party. Yes, basically Ron Swanson and [[Series/BreakingBad Mike Ehrmantraut]] staring each other down.