Parks and Recreation is easily one of the best sitcoms of all time, especially given all the hilarious characters each of its main cast remain known for today. This time around we’re giving flowers to Chris Pratt’s role as the lovable Andy Dwyer throughout the run of the NBC comedy. While Pratt at the time had not yet become the movie star known for Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World and voiceover roles in LEGO, Super Mario Bros. and Garfield movies, he sure proved he had hilarious comedic timing over the years with the character. Here are a ton of moments that showed off his A+ ability to make us (and surely the cast) laugh hard.
“Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here, and it says you could have network connectivity problems.”
This one is a legendary improvised line on Parks And Recreation. In the Season 2 episode “Flu Season,” the office is dealing with a huge flu outbreak, including the show’s resident try-hard Leslie Knope. While Andy is filling in for April during the episode he says the above line. Of course, what he’s seeing is that the wi-fi doesn’t work on April’s computer. Classic Andy. The series’ creator has called it the “funniest line ever spoken on the show” which Pratt thought up on the day.
“By day, Andy Dwyer: shoe-shinist. By different time of day, Andy Radical: possum-tackler. And by night…do whatever I want. No job.”
In Season 2’s “The Possum,” Andy Dwyer joins Leslie Knope on her mission to catch an infamous possum living on a golf course in Pawnee. In a funny scene in the episode, Dwyer catches the animal himself before sharing his pride about it by saying this line. It’s a spin on the vigilante lifestyle, but how Andy decides to say it is just too good.
“What’s 5,000 times better than ‘A Candle in the Wind?’ This song is called ‘5,000 Candles in the Wind.'”
Who can forget the Li’l Sebastian episode? Andy Dwyer and his band, Mouse Rat, get the honor of performing an original song after the celebrity mini horse dies. While Andy is trying to write the tribute, it never gets old how he decides upon the title. He takes a note out of Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind,” but sings of so many more candles! Mouse Rat is definitely one of those fictional bands we wish we could see live.
“No blood orphans. I don't know what that is.”
One massive highlight of Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation is his relationship with Aubrey Plaza’s April Ludgate, especially because of how different their energies are with one another. In the Season 4 episode, “Meet ‘N’ Greet, Andy and April are telling the camera about their upcoming Halloween party. While April is talking about the morbid, spooky things they’ll have, Andy offsets them with wholesome features at the party. And, then he draws the line at blood orphans. The scene has also gone viral from fans contrasting Halloween Horror Nights with Disney’s spooky season celebrations.
“I’m not crying, okay? I’m just allergic to jerks!”
One of the great early episodes of Parks and Recreation was Season 2’s “Greg Pikitis.” In the episode, Andy ends up helping Leslie with a troublesome kid who vandalizes the park every Halloween. After Leslie claims that Andy has worn Greg down with an interrogation in the conference room, she opens the door to find Andy crying. The way Andy brushes off Greg’s bullying is simply iconic.
And I am Mother Nature’s brother, Brother Nature, but you can call me Andy or Brother Nature. Your call.”
In Season 4’s “Pawnee Rangers,” Andy joins Ron on his boys-only wilderness group. As Ron first addresses the guys about the weekend ahead, Chris Pratt’s Andy has a very funny moment where he calls himself Brother Nature. While he gives the kids the option, when Ron thanks Andy, he corrects him with “Brother Nature.” His dry humor is the best.
“For the last time, it’s Princess Rainbow Sparkle.”
In the Season 5 episode “How A Bill Becomes A Law,” Andy accompanies Ron on a side quest to fix a pothole for a member of the Pawnee community. While Ron immediately gets to work on the issue, Andy gets sidetracked by the homeowner’s two young girls, who invite him to play with him in their princess playtime. When Ron calls upon Andy to help him, he only answers to “Princess Rainbow Sparkle.” Little did Pratt know he was training in this scene to later become the proud girl dad he is now.
“April, you're like an angel with no wings.”
In the early days of Andy and April’s relationship, the pair of employees working at Pawnee’s city hall begin to spend more and more time together. In one scene in Season 2’s “Woman of the Year,” April offers to help Andy find a new place to live after taking up residence in the pit. To thank her, he says the quote, to which April points out… “So, like a person.”
“Just remember, every time you look up at the moon, I too will be looking at the moon. Not the same moon, obviously. That’s impossible.”
Thankfully April and Andy’s romance lasts throughout Parks and Rec, because if not then quotes like this may not have ever been said. In one scene in Season 6’s “Filibuster”, Andy and April are saying goodbye to each other ahead of Andy going back to London. As he leaves, he tries to comfort her by referencing the permanence of the moon in the sky. But he gets it all wrong as we learn he doesn’t know there’s one moon.
“Did you know that the food you eat becomes energy? Boom! That’s spaghetti. Nachos. That’s a cookie.”
In Season 3’s “Soulmates” episode, Ron and Chris go head-to-head with a burger cook-off. As Andy assists Chris, Andy makes a random comment about his realization that food equals energy. As he says the quote, he punches and kicks in the air enthusiastically which leaves Ron and April with reactions as dry as ever.
“Burt Macklin, FBI. Thought I was dead? So did the president…’s enemies.”
Throughout Parks and Recreation, Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer continues to bring out a second identity, Burt Macklin, where he simply puts on sunglasses and pretends he is in the FBI. In Season 4’s “Born and Raised,” Andy takes up the mantle once again to do security for Leslie. While back in the sunglasses, Pratt’s comedic timing is impeccable as he reintroduces Macklin with this line.
“I didn’t actually sell my last car. I just forgot where I parked it.”
Season 6 episode “New Slogan” involves a really funny scene between Andy and Ron where the Chris Pratt character decides to tell him all his secrets. He confesses a lot of things, including how he doesn’t know what the other 98 percent of milk is when it's 2 percent. But this car story… Now that’s priceless.
“I definitely have more lions than any other country in the whole world right now.”
Parks and Rec ends up helping a high school class with their Model U.N. during Season 4’s “The Treaty.” It’s happening on the heels of Leslie campaigning for city council while not dating Ben anymore, and their attempt at friendship failing. In the middle of the event, Andy starts to get involved and trades a bunch of countries with lions… just to have a bunch of lions.
“Where's all the faces of the presidents?”
In Season 4’s “End of the World,” the Parks and Recreation department hosts a local group that believe the apocalypse is imminent for their big end of the world blowout. Meanwhile, April and Andy decide to complete a bunch of entries on Andy’s bucket list – one of them being the Grand Canyon. April takes the two of them on a super long road trip just to see the great site, but once they get there Andy communicates he mixed it up with Mount Rushmore.
“Aw, babe…you had a crush on me? That’s embarrassing.”
In the episode “Pie-Mary” from the final season of Parks And Recreation, Ron and April take part in a scavenger hunt. One of the clues is that Donna shares a story of the one time she took April to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon right after she had her wisdom teeth removed. During the story, Donna shares that April had a “real bad crush” on Andy at the time. Andy, who is present, tries to make her feel embarrassed, to which she says plainly: “We’re married.”
“There’s an old saying in show business: ‘The show must go wrong.’”
In the Season 2 finale “Freddy Spaghetti,” the Parks and Rec crew are counting on Andy to perform a children’s concert when the original entertainer cancels on them. But Andy is hit by a car while driving his motorcycle home to fetch his guitar. Amidst his injury, Andy says the above quote, which leads Leslie to pull a total Jim Halpert and cry for help by looking into the camera.
“You’re the greatest wife ever. I wish I could marry you all over again. Let’s get divorced!”
Andy and April are always a chaotic duo when they are together, but a very lovable one. In one Season 6 episode, “Moving Up,” Andy hilariously suggests they should get a divorce just so they can get married again. The line delivery is hilarious and happens right before he lets an entire bar know they are getting divorced enthusiastically.
"All my favorites foods have butter on them. Pancakes, toast, popcorn, grapes... (Gasps) Butter is my favorite food.”
Season 5’s “Article 2,” sees Leslie Knope attempting to get some outdated laws removed from the town charter. In order to do so, she ends up in an agreement with a citizen (played by one of the best Parks and Recreation guest stars, Patton Oswalt) to see who can survive living primitively at the Pawnee Historical House the longest. During the episode, they are making butter the old-fashioned way and Andy makes a hilarious realization.
“I was reading an encyclopedia and I tripped or ‘fell over’ and hit my head… or brain helmet.”
In “Campaign Ad” from Season 4, Andy Dwyer ends up in the hospital getting checked out after hitting his head on the wall from a sneeze. But while he’s talking to the doctor, he tries to sound more studious and cover up what really happened. Andy… I don’t think a “brain helmet” is a thing.
“You’re what keeps me going. You’re my Verizon-Chipotle-Exxon.”
In Season 7 of Parks and Recreation, Andy has his own children’s TV show called Johnny Karate, but he’s decided to end it in order to move to Washington D.C. with April. During the show’s taping, April flees the studio in a fit of emotion over its ending and Andy goes after her to talk about how as long as they are together that’s all that matters. It’s a cute line, and a great reference to one of the show’s clever inventions: the Verizon Chipotle Exxon merger.
"Leslie, I tried to make ramen in the coffee pot and I broke everything."
Throughout Season 4, Leslie Knope is running for City Council while secretly dating Ben Wyatt. When they decide to go public with their relationship, her campaign managers drop her and the department decides to help her. In one scene where she’s being visited by her old managers, she assures them she’s got her best minds helping her out before Andy barges in and says the above line.
"Wow, sounds like you're going through some tough stuff right now. Too bad there's not doctors for your mind."
Rob Lowe’s Chris Traeger was literally (as he always says) going through it in Season 5 after his breakup with Jerry’s daughter. And yet he vowed to help Andy with his police physical exam in “Soda Tax.” Toward the end of the episode, Chris is contemplating some serious questions when Andy basically realizes a psychologist would be helpful for him… without knowing they exist.
"Gases fill the volume of whatever container they are in. School."
Leslie Knope is always plotting some kind of fun surprise for her friends, particularly her bestie, Ann Perkins. In Season 3’s “The Bubble,” Leslie, Andy and April surprise Ann with a room full of balloons. While April suggests that she’ll die if she pops the one she filled with toxic poison, Andy dryly pitches in by saying they would all die because of this fact he absorbed in school.
“I can’t believe we’re at Hogwarts!”
Again and again, it’s made clear that Andy was raised by a TV. In the Season 6 premiere, Leslie travels to London to accept an award with Ben, April and Andy. Upon going across the pond and seeing Buckingham Palace, Andy calls it Hogwarts. It leads to a hilarious moment where Ben begs Andy to understand the Harry Potter world is fictional.
“Can we just real quick stop at a place that has free pants?”
In contrast to Tom, Andy isn’t really one to be about the finer things. So when he and April are invited to a fancy Washington D.C. event in the Season 5 premiere episode, Andy causes more chuckles when he asks if they can stop somewhere that has “free pants.”
"You get fired, I’ll quit, we’ll leave together. I’m serious – move to a new city, change our names, burn our fingertips off with acid, swap faces… if we have to."
In Season 4’s “Win, Lose, or Draw” Andy attempts to console his wife April, when she makes an office mistake. As April shares her worries that she’ll get fired, he suggests they do a series of intense things, likened to covering up a murder, if she does get the boot.
“I owe Leslie everything I have… which after tonight will be 39 bucks.”
In the early days of Parks and Recreation, Andy finds himself with the Parks and Recreation staff circumstantially by just being there a ton. In one key Season 2 episode that helped cement his place in the show, “Greg Pikitis,” Andy helps Leslie take down a kid who vandalizes on Halloween. In one scene he says he’s getting paid for the gig, which will be everything he has … once he gets paid.
“I’m going to be here when you wake up. I will not leave your side… You could be asleep for hours, maybe I’ll come back later.”
In Season 3’s “Flu Season” episode, April gets hospitalized for a sickness that’s going around and Andy visits her. While he initially valiantly says he’ll stay with her until she wakes up, he quickly walks back on that and decides to leave right away. It’s really sweet and a great April and Andy early moment.
"Oh yeah, shock wire. I call it that because if you take a shower and you touch the wire, you die!"
As established in Parks and Recreation once Andy and April get together, the couple have a really messy and unhinged apartment. Remember when they ate on frisbees? In one great moment in Season 4’s “Meet N’ Greet” during the couple’s Halloween party, Ron decides to fix their whole house after Andy talks about something called “shock wire,” very enthusiastically.
“As your Prom King, I am your ruler. Silence!"
In Season 6’s “Prom” episode, April really isn’t into going to the high school event with Parks and Rec, but ends up making it date night with Andy. She rigs the votes to make Andy Prom King, which leads to a funny moment where Andy says he’s actually a “ruler” of prom due to the honor. He also takes the crown from the queen and gives it to April as his first “decree.”
“Ahahaha. Sweater swap!”
In “Summer Catalog” in Season 2, there’s a cute little tidbit between April and Andy that has Leslie double-taking at April and Andy, who have suddenly switched sweaters. Andy’s reaction of pride over the low-stakes prank is adorable.
“You’re never gonna need that computer again… because I’m home for like 19 hours.”
Andy is constantly making a mess and forgetting how things work, and it never gets old. In Season 6’s “Filibuster,” Andy surprises April while they are long-distance dating by showing up at the office. The joke is that he says she’ll never need her computer to video chat anymore, even though he’s only there for less than a day. So, she absolutely will.
There are few shows like Parks and Recreation. The entire cast is just too good, but it’s been too fun to look back at Andy Dwyer’s many great moments throughout the series.
