Star Wars’ The Book of Boba Fett has arrived, which means viewers are back to dissecting various parts of episodes and looking for connections to other stories in the franchise. It appears that search has unearthed a random connection to Parks and Recreation, specifically, a memorable scene by a fan-favorite guest star on the series, Patton Oswalt. The actor recently saw the connection and had a great response to it and the Mandalorian spinoff as a whole.
The town hall citizen filibuster rant from Patton Oswalt’s Garth Blundin has remained a meme since Parks and Rec’s ended its run in 2015. So many were pleasantly surprised to see it become relevant again, thanks to The Book of Boba Fett. After LightsCameraPod pointed out a section of his town hall speech lines up really well with a scene that shows how Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac Pit, the actor had this to say:
To say I’m touched is putting it lightly. And yeah, #BookofBobaFett ROCKS. YOU’RE WELCOME. https://t.co/gmmjVNCtS4December 30, 2021
I appreciate Patton Oswalt taking credit for The Book of Boba Fett scene, even if he’s doing so in jest. After all, it’s not like his character could’ve called it any better, though it’s worth noting the iconic filibuster rant Oswalt’s character used was actually his pitch for Star Wars Episode VII. Disney had only just recently acquired the rights to the franchise, so this was long before the live-action shows or even Disney+ were around.
Still, it’s kind of shocking just how similar that one chunk of speech is and how well it lines up with that scene from. It’s almost as if someone deliberately made an effort to script the scene out exactly the same way the actor's character described it as a nod to Parks and Recreation. The chances of that are unlikely, but it would be pretty cool if that’s the case.
To be frank, the only real impressive part is that the shot is described in the same way at the very beginning. As far as the rest, Patton Oswalt’s character only generically described Boba Fett’s escape from the Sarlacc, and there’s really only one direction to go when swallowed by the Star Wars beast. Despite this, it's still gratifying to finally see how the character escaped his grim fate following the events of Return of the Jedi.
The scene is another win for Hollywood’s resident geek actor Patton Oswalt, who revealed that the Parks and Recreation team actually didn’t script anything for his citizen filibuster rant (via Observer). Oswalt alleged he hadn’t prepared anything for the scene as the script only called for 10 seconds of a rant before the scene cut. It just goes to show what happens when one's fandom permeates their work.
New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett drop Wednesdays on Disney+, and you can also stream Parks and Recreation on Peacock.
