Parks and Recreation: The 25 Funniest Lines of the First Three Seasons

Earlier this week, I mentioned that one of the two shows I’m most excited to see come back to TV this fall is NBC’s Parks and Recreation. In fact, I was so excited that I decided to compile the 25 funniest moments from the first three seasons. If you like what you see, then tune in for tonight’s season premiere at 8:30. If not, then watch anyway–I left off a lot a of great stuff:

Monday Medley

What we read while Oprah commenced Phase Two…

• Bob Dylan celebrated his 70th birthday last week, and John S wasn’t the only one to mark the occasion. The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and American Songwriter were among those to rank his best songs. Time also included a list of his worst. The Independent listed 70 reasons why Dylan is the most important figure in all of pop culture. All Things Considered even examined Dylan’s role in legal writings.

• On the more depressing side of the music front, Gil Scott-Heron, the “godfather of rap,” died. Known mostly for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” (and now, for young folk, for being sampled by Kanye West) Heron was a prolific artist of all sorts despite problems with drug addiction noted in Alec Wilkinson’s profile of him last year.

• Jeffrey Toobin tries to pinpoint Fred Wilpon’s role in Bernie Madoff’s theft and manages to get Wilpon to criticize all of his star players in the process. Tom Verducci, on the other hand, manages to get Wilpon to discuss how much he’s going to cut the team’s payroll. Across town, Jorge Posada’s recent antics don’t change his place among the greatest catchers ever (something John S highlighted last year). And David Cone talks about his love of advanced statistics.
• Tyler Cowen continues to be the man of hour, getting a glowing profile in this week’s Business Week.
• Do conjoined twins share a mind? There is video demonstrating that they do. While the conjoined twins’ parents were faced with a challenge, another set of parents created their own challenge by choosing to raise their child genderless.

• Stop blaming Facebook for your online behavior… and start spelling your status updates correctly.

• Wright Thompson tries to get to the bottom of Harvey Updyke, the man who may or may not (well, he almost certainly did) have poisoned the Toomer’s Corner oak trees at Auburn. L. Jon Wertheim takes a look into the sordid legacy of Tiki Barber, including the best Anne Frank reference since Arrested Development went off the air.

• How accurately does Parks and Recreation portray small-town politics, and (in the comments section of aforelinked article), does it matter? Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler gives Harvard’s 2011 Class Day Speech mentioning that Boston College (her alma mater) is the Harvard of Boston.

• Lester Freamon as Othello and Jimmy McNulty as Iago? Sign us up, even if it does require a Transatlantic flight.

Monday Medley

What we read while believers got their comeuppance…

• With the end of television season, New York Magazine published a “showrunners” issue, including interviews with Dan Harmon of Community, Louis C.K. of Louie, and Amy Poehler of Parks and Recreation. Another Parks & Rec star talks about his most famous television role. Meanwhile, the show’s co-creator, Michael Schur, talked to Alan Sepinwall about the show.

• This 1993 profile of Lenny Dykstra was a watershed piece of sports writing that now seems eerily prescient.

• Hendrik Hertzberg makes an insightful point about Obama’s tiff with Netanyahu. Also in the New Yorker, some musings on the ominous possibilities of the Bradley Manning case.

• A profile of Facebook’s less-famous COO.

• Legal writing superstar Bryan Garner has released interviews he had with eight Supreme Court justices on legal writing. District Court Judge Weinstein, on the other hand, should not be offering writing tips after his 400-page sentencing opinion.

• A famous fellow Duke alum talks about being a Cameron Crazie.

• Black & white pictures of New York City never get old. Nor do the vocals of Beatles’ songs: here’s Paul McCartney’s isolated vocal of Helter Skelter.