Before Chris Pratt was a major movie star — one of Marvel's coalition of jacked guys named Chris — he was part of the ensemble for NBC's Parks and Recreation, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. During the first season, Pratt's Andy Dwyer was something of an antagonist. However, Pratt was just so lovable that he was kept on the show and became a lovable goofball. Here are some of our favorite Andy moments.
Who can forget Andy's infamous alter ego, Burt Macklin, FBI agent? Macklin will show up a few times on this list. But let's start with his introduction. Andy introduced the character to try and intimidate local teenage vandal/criminal mastermind Greg Pikitis. Macklin ended up crying, so it didn't go all that well.
One of Andy's most beloved lines was improvised by Pratt. While Leslie was suffering from the flu, Andy took it upon himself to look up her symptoms online. His conclusion? She was suffering from "network connectivity problems."
What's 5,000 times better than a "Candle in the Wind"? "5,000 Candles in the Wind," duh. That's why Andy wrote a song by that name for Li'l Sebastian, Pawnee's favorite tiny horse. It was a fitting tribute to a beloved animal and maybe the best song Andy ever wrote.
Some, mostly Leslie, thought Andy and April were rushing into their wedding. They went ahead with it anyway, and it was alternately sweet and funny through and through. Plus, as the series finale showed us, Andy and April made it work.
Andy Dwyer is a classic "dumb" TV character who can say and believe anything, and it seems plausible. That allows writers to put some memorable lines into a character's mouth. On one occasion, Andy reveals a bunch of secrets to Ron, including the fact he doesn't know who Al Gore is and is afraid to ask. He also doesn't know what the other 98 percent of 2 percent milk is.
Though the adventures of Ron and Andy coaching rival youth basketball leagues are known primarily for introducing the "Swanson Pyramid of Greatness," Ron's fastidiousness wouldn't have worked without Andy providing a foil. Andy is not unlike a giant kid, which means he lets his team do what it wants, much to the chagrin of the Bobby Knight-admiring Ron. It's obvious which team would be more fun to play for.
Thanks to a local cult, everybody in Pawnee is thinking about the end of the world. Andy and April decide to do everything on Andy's bucket list in one day. While the big finale is a trip to the Grand Canyon, the best moment is when Andy becomes an action star, which includes jumping through a plate glass window as his alter ego, Burt Macklin. And beating up Jerry, of course.
There were several Johnny Karate moments once Andy began his career as a children's musician. Instead of singling out one, why not single out an entire episode? "The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show" dedicated almost an entire episode of the titular show starring Andy. We get karate, music lessons, and John Cena being accosted by a tarantula.
It was truly troubling when Andy discovered that Mouse Rat had continued without him under the name Rat Mouse. Of course, the reason for the split was that Andy had stopped practicing or answering calls. For a brief moment, this drove Andy to retire from music, but fortunately, Mouse Rat was able to mend the fences, and Burly even got promoted from backup singer to co-lead singer.
Andy may not be book smart, but he's sharp when it counts. While shopping with Leslie, she tells him he can get "two" candies. He picks up a giant container full of gummy bears and declares, "This counts as one." Game, Andy Dwyer.
Andy was never educated, so when he decided to go to college, it was a bit of a surprise. His final decision to take a women's studies class is fine, but the journey to that point sticks in our memory. First, he takes an intro to guitar class to get an easy A but quits in a huff — it's boring because he was a guitar hero all along. Then, most enjoyably, he takes a science course about lasers but is seriously bummed out when he discovers it's about how lasers work and not about using lasers to blow stuff up.
Lord Edgar Covington, played by Peter Serafinowicz, is incredibly rich, incredibly British, and not terribly bright. So naturally, he and Andy hit it off when Andy joins Ben in an attempt to get the Lord to give money to their charity. Because Andy and Edgar love goofing off and playing with toys, they get the money. Andy stays in England for three months so Chris Pratt could shoot a little film called Guardians of the Galaxy (which also featured Serafinowicz).
Running is good exercise, but Andy knows the truth about it. As he angrily stripped down to his underwear to lay face down on the track out of exhaustion, Andy declares, "Everything hurts. Running is impossible." That's an unmitigated fact.
Andy was so proud when he found three differences between two pictures in a kid's magazine while in a waiting room. Then Ron had to spoil the fun by pointing out they were two entirely different pictures. That doesn't mean he didn't find three differences, though.
When Leslie gets hit with a pie while campaigning for the city council, Burt Macklin is on the case. Part of his research involved recreating the moment, using poor Jerry Gergich as his stand-in for Leslie and pressing pie after pie into Jerry's face. To be fair, he solves the mystery, even if Jerry had to suffer a lot of pies to the face to make it happen.
You would think somebody would know not to eat M&M's painted silver. Andy is not one of those people. He tried to deny it, but the silver paint on his lips gave him away.
There were a lot of significant performers at the big Unity Concert, including Kay Hanley, Ginuwine, and Yo La Tengo as Knight Ranger, a Night Ranger cover band that dresses like Bobby Knight. However, the conclusion of Day 1 featured Mouse Rat reuniting (yet again) and being joined by just about everybody in a performance of "5,000 Candles in the Wind." That includes Duke Silver, a.k.a. Ron Swanson, who has decided to shed the secrecy of his alter ego for good.
It was a big day when Andy learned that the food you eat becomes energy. He displays that for everybody by jumping around and explaining what each bit of energy was fueled by, be it a cookie, nachos, or spaghetti.
Andy has a history of misidentifying notable places. When he went to the Grand Canyon, he wondered where all the giant faces were. He thought the Washington Monument was a giant statue of a...well, you know. In one particularly great moment in London, he assumed he was at Hogwarts until April told him they were looking at Buckingham Palace.
What do you say if somebody asks you if you want to be in Iceland for a mock United Nations meeting? Well, if you're like Andy, you say no way. They were the bad guys in Mighty Ducks 2. Do you want to represent Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson's country? Of course not.
When bees swarm and attack the gathered populace of Pawnee and its rival, Eagleton, it's nice of Andy to protect April from getting stung. He felt he was immune to bee stings because he got stung as a kid. For a few brief moments, he got to haughtily taunt his bee foes, but we all know how reality will turn out for Andy.
Mouse Rat is a fine "so bad it's good" name for a band, but it's not surprising that Andy and his friends had trouble settling on that moniker. Early on in the show's history, it was known as Scarecrow Boat before resettling on the name Mouse Rat.
When the cable goes out at a viewing party for the big debate between Leslie and Bobby Newport, somebody has to keep the gathered audience entertained. Andy takes it upon himself to do just that by enthusiastically recalling the plots of films. That includes a credit scene where he describes the plot of Rambo, which keeps the audience rapt. How could it not, given Andy's spot-on Sylvester Stallone impression?
Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the books The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and The Ash Heap of History. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisXMorgan.
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