- Leslie: Every year, Pawnee Cares teams up with the local cable access station to raise money for diabetes research. And it's important because Pawnee is the fourth fattest town in the US. It goes us, Dallas, Tulsa and certain parts of the Mall of America.
Leslie has volunteered to work on the 24-hour "Pawnee Cares" diabetes telethon and orders everyone in the office to work the phones for multiple shifts. Tom is assigned to pick up retired basketball player Detlef Schrempf, the special guest for the telethon, from the airport. Leslie is excited because she has been allowed to program her own four-hour block, but her co-workers are upset to learn it runs from 2 AM to 6 AM. Additionally, Leslie has already been up for 24 hours creating T-shirts for her staff to wear for the telethon.
During lunch, Mark tells Leslie that he is going to propose to Ann. Ann suggests that Leslie get some sleep, but she plans on consuming Sweetums bars to stay awake for another 24 hours. As the telethon begins, Leslie is already exhausted and is falling asleep. With time to kill, Tom brings Detlef to the Snakehole Lounge, but the owner, Freddy, refuses to let him go because Detlef is bringing a lot of business, delaying Leslie's big headliner. Andy's band, Mouse Rat, is asked to replace Detlef, but when they complete all of their songs, Leslie has nothing else to put on the air. Ron volunteers to demonstrate how to cane a chair, but his presentation is so boring that the telethon actually starts to lose money.
Desperate for something to put on, Leslie tells Mark that he should propose to Ann in front of the camera and he agrees. Not long after, however, Ann confides in Leslie that she wants to break up with Mark, admitting that she has realized the relationship hasn't been satisfying her. Meanwhile, April tries to make Andy jealous by flirting with someone over the phone, but it backfires when it turns out to be Joe from the Pawnee sanitation department. Andy is forced to kick Joe out of the studio when he actually arrives to bring April to his van.
The telethon's talent pool becomes so low that Leslie is forced to flip a coin in front of the camera and talk about her favorite episodes of Friends. Jerry is allowed to play the piano, but everyone dismisses his skilled playing as a racket. Mark finally returns to propose and walks on the set with the ring, but Leslie stops him by mooning the camera. Detlef Schrempf and Tom finally arrive at the end of Leslie's programming block. Detlef presents a check for $5,000, allowing the telethon to bypass its $20,000 mark. Despite being awake for two days straight, Leslie goes to Ann's house so they could talk about Mark. She then promptly falls asleep on Ann's couch for more than 22 hours.
Tropes
- Acrofatic: Perd Hapley is rotund, but can do "The Worm" smoothly.
- A Friend in Need: Even though she's exhausted, Leslie still goes over to Ann's to help her through her break up with Mark before passing out.
- Call-Back: When Leslie tries to moon the camera, Joan Callamezzo references the time Leslie dropped her pants on live TV on her own show.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Tom is drunk after just two light beers.
- Continuity Nod: Nutri-Yums come back in this episode, and they're as unhealthy as ever.
- Face Doodling: Ann may love and appreciate Leslie, but she can't resist doing this to Leslie while she's passed out.
- Heavy Sleeper: Leslie at the end of the episode. Justified, as she had been awake for two days straight and is crashing hard from eating the sugary Nutri-Yum bars. She stays asleep for a whole day.
- Hidden Depths: Jerry can do magic tricks and can play piano well, but no one gives him a chance.
- Informed Attribute: Pawnee is called the "fourth fattest city in America", and while there are some fat people seen around the series, none spring to mind as morbidly obese, which is generally how the characters talk about them.
- Irony:
- Ann has realized that Mark just simply isn't the one... right as he was planning to propose to her.
- Leslie offers the whole team to volunteer the telethon for diabetes research. How does Leslie plan to survive the whole event? With lots of Nutri-Yum bars, aka blocks of sugar.
- Operation: Jealousy: April tries to make Andy jealous by flirting with someone over the phone, but it backfires when it turns out to be Sewage Joe and he comes down to take her out. Thankfully Andy saves her by calmly menacing him into leaving.
- Precious Puppies: The Cold Open shows the crew fawning over a golden lab puppy. Ron isn't as taken in by the Cuteness Proximity as the others.
