In all seriousness, good comedy (i.e. comedy I like) is full of great language. Parks and Recreation takes it up a notch, deploying metaphor for character development even as they earn a laugh.
Killing two birds with one stone, you could say. If you were obnoxious.
So how do the ways some of the funniest characters on TV speak show us the who they are?
CHRIS TRAEGER
The title quote of this post comes from the show's exercise-crazy city manager, literally the most affirmative personality on TV ever. His conversation consists almost entirely of descriptions of his own physical health and blithe encouragements of other people. He powers on down the path of life. Really. The show practically declares his obsession with running a metaphor for his worldview and personality. Chris, whose goal is "to run to the moon," becomes increasingly aware of the parallel.
The man who, early-on, happily announces "The world's my gymnasium!" begins to question the validity of his perfectionistic, body-cenetered goals. At the same time, he reveals (and realizes?) their origin: a lifelong fear of death. As he acknowledges the lonely and emotionally thin lifestyle his focus on self-preservation have created, he applies the language of physicality and extremes to his psychological state: "I was dying earlier today. Now I'm dead."
TOM HAVERFORD
The trendy, materialistic, presumptuous rank-and-file government official's speech is, like every other character's, I suppose, wonderfully unique. Besides Twilight-loving, promiscuous Donna, Tom is the only character in the world of Pawnee City Hall who seems to keep up with the times. He values novelty way over tradition, personal gain over service, and entertainment over wisdom. In other words, he's hilarious -- and not for being unidentifiable.
There's something refreshing about the honesty and self-awareness of his otherwise sleazy, offensive statements. They take the edge of outrageous comments like, "I have never taken the high road. But I tell other people to 'cause then there's more room for me on the low road." The way he talks leaves me with the impression of a smart, sweetly desperate little kid stifled by pretentious Armani suits and gold chains with an earbud glued to his head. Who else could joke by asking "On a scale from one to Chris Brown, how pissed off is he?"
RON SWANSON
I recently learned that the show's writers drew inspiration for this die-hard libertarian, whose belief that his own department should cease to exist makes him a unique parks department director, from an actual government official. Life truly is stranger than fiction. What makes Ron so hilarious and lovably bizarre, besides the irony of his position, is his bold use of imagery and hyperbole to defend his unusual convictions. "It's never too early to learn that the
government is a greedy piglet that suckles on the taxpayers teat until they
have sore, chapped nipples," he says of a nine-year-old girl he ultimately converts to libertarianism.
Ron's passion against government is matched only by his appetite for meat (red meat -- fish "is practically a vegetable") and sex. Ron's ideas are all consistent with his intensified rustic ideal of manhood, according to which he chooses his hobbies, maintains his relationships, and does (or doesn't do) his job. This ideal even dictates his opinion on pets, and the rhetorical violence with which he expresses it: "Any dog under 50 pounds is a cat, and cats are
pointless."
LESLIE KNOPE
Amy Poehler's stubbornly optimistic, blatantly ambitious protagonist is probably the most dynamic and complex character. Well-educated, binder-crazy, and having read and herself written vast numbers of formal documents, her speech often has a smart ring to it, aided by the fact that she's almost always talking about government. Except when she's giggling about her boyfriend's butt or ranting against Eagleton. Still, even her jokes (or are they just sincere comments?) are about government: "Well, our budget has been slashed to zero. I tried to buy fertilizer the other day for the soccer field. Request denied. We literally can't buy [bleep]."
Leslie's intelligence, with which she constantly evaluates and re-evaluates her own and others' statements, more than makes up for her bleach-blond hair. And just as her enthusiasm for waffles and whipped cream adds sweetness to the daily grind of her work-dominated life, the goofy comments that bubble out of her occasionally buoy up a fierce, single-minded, feminist personality. She is unashamedly feminine and hilariously sharp when she says of a symbolic, diplomatically intended "unity" quilt, "Of all my metaphorical art projects, this
is by far my coziest." Leslie is somehow fully sincere and self-aware at the same time. Paired with an appreciation for metaphor and a command of language, these qualities lead her to both put herself in hilarious situations and draw out every ounce of comedy in them.
"What am I going to do?" she cries when a woman steals her jokes and, in sudden anxiety, she reaches for a drink relabeled as a prank against her antagonist. "I just opened up a can of Whoop Ass on myself!"
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Do you know any other good quotes from Parks, or from another TV show with creative, intelligent, or plain ol' humorous examples of metaphors? They lurk everywhere. Catch some and bring them to share!
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