Leslie Knope is the antithesis of the stereotypical politician. Played by Amy Poehler on the beloved NBC sitcom Parks And Recreation, she is one of the most dedicated civil servants in pop culture history, as she regularly goes to some extreme lengths in order to improve the city of Pawnee, Indiana, and support its residents. In most cases, her efforts are admirable… however, there are certain instances where she inarguably goes a bit overboard.
Whether she is helping her friends, advocating for new city policy or expressing her unique brand of love, “trying too hard” is a big part of Leslie Knope’s brand as sitcom character, and we’ve put together this feature celebrating 32 of the best instances in Parks and Recreation’s seven season run.
Polls A Little Girl About Parks As She Plays In The Sandbox (Season 1, Episode 1)
Parks And Recreation wastes no time letting the audience know exactly who Leslie Knope is. Her very first scene in the show has her hanging out with a young girl attempting to poll her about her park experience.
Gets A Terrible Political Haircut (Season 1, Episode 5)
In the first season of Parks And Recreation, Leslie makes a lot of extra effort to try and fit in among the higher-ups in the Pawnee government – which is a group that happens to be mostly populated by men. There is an episode where she bends her personal ethics to fit in with the government’s “boy’s club,” but that pales in comparison to her going to an all-male barber for a haircut prior to a big local event.
Tries To Kaboom The Pit, Ends Up Dumping Dirt On Andy (Season 2, Episode 6)
Given how frustrating government bureaucracy can be, one can empathize with the “don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness later” philosophy that Leslie tries to employ while trying to turn Lot 48 a.k.a. The Pit into a park. In “Kaboom,” she goes as far as to personally rent construction equipment to get the job done… but that plan almost instantly backfires after the start of work when a bulldozer dumps a load of dirt on Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer (who was secretly living in The Pit).
Tries To Make Peace Between Ron And Tammy (Season 2, Episode 8)
By the end of Parks and Recreation’s run, it’s well established that the combination of Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) and his ex-wife Tammy II (Megan Mullally) is toxic… but Leslie has to learn that the hard way in Season 2’s “Ron And Tammy.” She makes the mistake of trying to reunite them as a couple, and the consequences are serious (and ridiculous).
Tries To Fit In With The Boys On The Hunting Trip (Season 2, Episode 10)
Leslie’s desire to be a part of the government boys club returns in Season 2 when the men of the Parks and Recreation office plan their annual “trail survey” a.k.a. Hunting Trip. Leslie gets way too intense about the whole thing, not only inviting herself and all of her co-workers along but using chewing tobacco and pantsing Tom (Aziz Ansari).
Hires Teachers As Party Performers While On A Date (Season 2, Episode 14)
Leslie doesn’t make a habit of abusing her powers as a government employee, but she definitely does so in “Leslie's House.” In order to try and throw the most fun dinner party possible for the man she is dating (Parks and Rec guest star Justin Theroux), she ends up personally employing Recreation Center teachers as entertainment.
Tries To Reunite All Of The Former Park Directors For A Park Catalogue Feature (Season 2, Episode 20)
While she isn’t deluded, Leslie likes to think that there are at least some people in government who are as passionate as she is… but she is sorely disappointed to find none of that attitude when she brings all of the living Parks and Recreation Department Directors together for a picnic. Ron, as ever, is antisocial and aggressive and the other three prove to be sexist, crotchety, and airheaded.
Chains Herself To A Gate To Stop The Bulldozing Of A Gazebo (Season 2, Episode 21)
The attempt by Leslie to stop the bulldozing of a historic gazebo in “94 Meetings” would be a lot more heroic if she had planned it out better. She tries to impede contractors by chaining herself to a gate, but the gate isn’t the kind that opens in the middle, so she finds herself helpless as machinery rolls by.
Hosts A Four Hour Block From 2am To 6am If A Telethon For Diabetes Awareness (Season 2, Episode 22)
There is nothing wrong with volunteering to host four hours of a telethon for local diabetes awareness, but it becomes too much when that time block is in the middle of the night and you expect all of your co-workers to help you out.
Tries To Orchestrate The Engagement Between Mark And Ann (Season 2, Episode 22)
As though it weren’t bad enough that Leslie ropes Ann (Rashida Jones) into helping with the telethon, she crosses a whole lot of lines when she hopes to orchestrate her best friend’s engagement to Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider) while live on cable access television.
Takes Her Staff On A Camping Trip To Come Up With Post-Harvest Festival Ideas (Season 3, Episode 8)
Leslie expects a lot out of the people around her, and that tends to get a bit worse when she is feeling insecure. Hence, when she can’t think of a big idea to follow up on the success of the Harvest Festival, she forces all of her co-workers to join her on a brainstorming camping trip.
Tries To Pressure Ann Into A Job At The Health Department (Season 3, Episode 13)
Leslie and Ann have a deep and loving friendship, but there are occasions where the former’s efforts to improve said relationship drift into selfish territory. This is a major storyline in Season 3’s “The Fight,” which sees Leslie try to get Ann to leave her job as a nurse and take a job in the city hall health department.
Gets Ben So Well Prepared For A Meeting With Her Mom That Her Mom Flirts With Him (Season 3, Episode 15)
Anybody in a relationship wants their parent to like the person that they are dating, but results clearly show that Leslie takes things too far when it comes to preparing Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) to meet her mother (Pamela Reed). Marlene Griggs Knope doesn’t just end up liking Ben – she ends up aggressively flirting with him.
Founds The Pawnee Goddesses, And It’s Way More Fun Than Ron’s Pawnee Rangers (Season 4, Episode 4)
In creating the Pawnee Goddesses, Leslie creates an awesome group for young girls that is full of fun activities and candy… but it’s an act of revenge against sexism that gets too out of hand. Ron tries to teach useful skills to his group of Pawnee Rangers, but the fun that the Goddesses have proves to be far too alluring.
Tries To Keep Ben Away From Shauna Malwae Tweep After They Break Up (Season 4, Episode 6)
Nobody likes to see an ex start dating after a breakup, but Leslie takes things to a very strange place when she tries to prevent Ben from going to a party with Shauna Malwae Tweep (Alison Becker) by taking him to a gas station that she wildly speculates was once owned by Mick Jagger.
Takes Over A High School Model UN As She Gets In A Fight With Ben (Season 4, Episode 7)
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the extreme passion Leslie has for Model U.N. in Season 4’s “The Treaty” – but where things get out of control is when she tries to take over the high school activity and use it as a weapon in a fight that she is having with Ben after they end their relationship.
Starts A Citizen Committee During Her Suspension From Work (Season 4, Episode 10)
Leslie Knope isn’t a person who is wired to stop doing work even if they are legally required to do so, and the City of Pawnee learns that the hard way in “Citizen Knope.” It turns out that if Leslie didn’t have her Parks job, her time would be dominated by harassing politicians while leading her action committee known as the Parks Committee of Pawnee (P.C.P. for short).
Tries To Run A “Pro” Campaign Ad Instead Of A Negative Ad Against Bobby Newport (Season 4, Episode 12)
Ever the optimist, Leslie Knope is not the kind of politician who would run a negative campaign ad… but her attempt to make an all-positive TV spot proves to be disastrous. She makes a lot of her opinions and policies clear, but she completely forgets to mention the fact that she is running for a seat on the local city council.
Becomes Fixated On A Single Focus Group Guy And Bowling (Season 4, Episode 13)
During her campaign for city council, Leslie is meant to try and appeal to the most number of voters possible, but she loses sight of that goal in “Bowling For Votes.” Following a focus group, she becomes obsessed with getting the approval of a single person (Kevin Dorff), which proves to be a fool’s errand because the guy is a through-and-through jerk.
Sets Up A Crazy Scavenger Hunt For Ben On Valentine’s Day (Season 4, Episode 14)
Leslie Knope loves to love and to express that love, but she has a history of doing far too much. In Season 4's “Operation Ann,” she puts together a ridiculously ornate and complicated scavenger hunt for Ben to solve on Valentine’s Day, and it’s only by getting help from Ron and Andy (and by doing a bit of cheating) that he is able to find her before the end of the night.
Adopts A Full Animal Shelter’s Worth Of Animals During A Budget Crisis (Season 4, Episode 19)
Even the most passionate animal lovers reading this list would hesitate before adopting dozens of would-be pets from a closing local shelter, but that’s exactly what Leslie ends up doing in “Live Ammo” when the budget of the parks department is threatened.
Tries To Unite Ben’s Parents (Season 5, Episode 6)
Leslie’s confidence is one of her superpowers, as it regularly pushes her to move heaven and earth to complete her goals… but there are occasions when it drives her to run into a brick wall. One such example is in Season 5’s “Ben’s Parents,” which sees her try to create peace between Ben’s mother (Glenne Headly) and father (Jonathan Banks), which proves to be an impossible task despite her awesome Knope/Wyatt Unity Quilt.
Buries Wamapoke Artifacts In Lot 48 To Stop Paunch Burger Construction (Season 5, Episode 10)
It’s obvious that a local park would be better for Pawnee than a new fast food restaurant, but Leslie goes about trying to force that issue in a bad way in “Two Parties.” While she typically tries to show a lot of compassion for the local Wamapoke Native Americans, she does a dumb thing when she scatters artifacts on Lot 48 to stop plans for the construction of a Paunch Burger.
Made Special Videos For All The Emergency Preparedness Drills (Season 5, Episode 13)
Leslie loves to create complicated binders and scrapbooks, but she really goes the extra mile when it comes to emergency preparedness drills. Not only does she map out all necessary protocols, but she even produces fake news reports where she plays both the journalists and the interview subjects.
Overwhelms Ann And Ben With Special Anniversaries And Great Gifts (Season 5, Episode 19)
It’s nice to be friends with someone who is great at buying presents, but not to be ignored is the pressure that such a talent transmits to the recipient. Leslie Knope is one of these gifted gift givers, but as we learn in Season 5’s “Animal Control,” it’s behavior that drives Ben and Ann somewhat bonkers as they try and keep pace with her.
Tries To Give Jerry A Perfect Last Day At Work (Season 5, Episode 20)
To be kind, Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir) is a goofball and not a particularly talented government employee, but that doesn’t stop Leslie from trying to give him the best last day possible as he plans to retire. She ends up ruining her own day off, and it doesn’t even end up mattering that much to him because he cares more about his family than his work.
Tries To Get Parks Department Employees To Sign Loyalty Contracts (Season 6, Episode 4)
One of the downsides of Leslie loving hard is that she finds it terrifically hard to let things go, and she is forced to confront that personal flaw in Season 6’s “Doppelgängers” when she learns that Ann is planning to move to Michigan. In addition to being emotionally devastated, her knee-jerk response is to try and demand forever friendship from her Parks & Rec co-workers with 50-year loyalty contracts.
Battles With Ben Over Censoring Saucy Vegetable Promotion At The Farmers Market (Season 6, Episode 12)
Whether or not Leslie is right to stop the provocative promotion at the Pawnee Farmer’s Market is up to individual viewers, but what can’t be denied is that it results in her relationship with Ben getting a bit unstable. Serving as the new city manager, he refuses to discuss the issue outside of work, but that just leads her to hunt for loopholes and get-arounds.
Gets Too Involved Trying To Manipulate A Poll For A New Town Slogan (Season 6, Episode 16)
In Season 6’s “New Slogan,” Leslie puts a lot of trust in the citizenry of Pawnee when she opens a poll to let people pick the new city slogan. There’s nothing wrong with that… but she does engage in problematic behavior when she tries to manipulate the vote and access people’s contact information.
Tries To Cast A New Ann In Her Life With A Galentine’s Day (Season 6, Episode 17)
I don’t think anybody would recommend auditioning as a means of finding a new best friend, but that’s exactly what Leslie tries to do on “Galentine’s Day” after Ann moves away.
Fights With Ron Over The Summer Employment Of A Promising Teen (Season 6, Episode 18)
Leslie sees a lot of potential in teenager Allison Gliffert (Kelly Washington), but she has a bad habit of ruining important events for her. First, she accidentally sabotages the Model U.N. (which Allison presides over) and then she ends up ruining prom night when she gets in a battle with Ron over Allison’s summer employment.
Tries To Get April To Live Out A Five Year Plan In Politics That She Has Planned (Season 7, Episode 8)
Leslie only wants the best for April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) as she matures from a cynical teen into a motivated adult, but her personal interest in the young woman’s future blinds her to April’s own interests. In Season 7’s “Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington,” it’s revealed that Leslie has a full five-year plan for her protégé in politics, but it’s not a path April wants to pursue.
