‘Parks & Rec’ Star Jim O’Heir on Reliving the Series With New Book ‘Welcome to Pawnee’

Meaghan Darwish November 18, 2024, 7:15 pm

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When it comes to comfort television, no show quite captures the warm and fuzzy feelings better than Parks and Recreation, and former star Jim O’Heir is delivering those nostalgic vibes in spades with his new book, Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation.

“I never thought about writing a book,” the actor known fondly as Jerry, Garry, Larry, Terry, etc. admits to TV Insider. When asked about the possibility of doing so, the actor reveals it all started with a meeting. O’Heir was asked to recount stories from his time filming the former NBC comedy, which ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015. “That is kind of what got the ball rolling. And then at the same time, this happens with Parks from Recollection, the podcast because Rob Lowe was leaving and they needed a replacement host.” O’Heir currently co-hosts the rewatch podcast with Greg Levine, Parks‘ writer and script coordinator.

Harper Collins

“It’s really been like nonstop Parks for two years, even though the show has been off the air for 10,” O’Heir remarks. “It’s still a huge part of my life.” And that’s good for fans wishing to gain a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of this TV favorite. “Someone said to me once, ‘Is it too much Parks for you? Are you tired of it?’ And I don’t know if it makes me a crazy person, but I’m not, I could talk about this show every day, all day… I’ve done a lot of work over the years, but I know when something is special… I couldn’t compare it to anything else I’ve ever done.”

When it comes to his onscreen colleagues and real-life friends, O’Heir adds, “I’m so proud that they’re my friends, number one, and that I got to spend seven years with them so I could talk about it all day.” For O’Heir, hearing that Parks and Recreation is people’s comfort show “rocks my world to know,” he says.

While Welcome to Pawnee gives voice to O’Heir’s own behind-the-scenes stories, it also gives a platform to his costars as they provide excerpts and entries for fans to enjoy various perspectives. Throughout the pages, readers will encounter never-before-revealed casting stories, anecdotes about shooting iconic episodes, and much more.

Chris Pratt, Nick Offerman, Retta, Aubrey Plaza, Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Jim O'Heir, and Aziz Ansari for 'Parks and Recreation'

Mitchell Haaseth / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

Originally, O’Heir went in for a different role than the one he landed, auditioning for Ron Swanson, the part that later went to Nick Offerman. “My goal was to do a good enough audition that down the road they’ll think, ‘Hey, remember that guy? He was funny or whatever,’ and they’ll give me a guest spot. I just wanted to impress them. Never in a million years [did I think] I would ever get Ron Swanson or that they would say, there’s going to be this other character,” O’Heir shares.

In the book, O’Heir offers insight into how his character Jerry was introduced to him, initially as a recurring role before he eventually became a series regular. When it came to his costars, O’Heir says, “I don’t know if a lot of people realized Adam Scott auditioned for Mark Brendanawicz, who Paul Schneider ended up playing.”

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“So you never know how things are going to play out. But then what I love about this book, and I’m so excited for the diehard fans to read, they’re going to learn things they never knew. And the reason I know they never knew it is because I never knew it, and I learned it when I was writing this book, when I interviewed Mike Schur and Greg Daniels,” O’Heir muses.

O’Heir notes that he was surprised to learn Amy Poehler wasn’t the first star cast in the show; it was Aziz Ansari. “[Amy] was pregnant, so they were going to move on because of timing. They just didn’t think it could work out. Aziz was the first one cast,” O’Heir reveals.

To learn even more fun facts, make sure to pick up a copy of Welcome to Pawnee as it lands on bookshelves in stores and online beginning Tuesday, November 19th. Let us know if you plan to pick up a copy in the comments section below.