"Philly Justice"

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Philly Justice" Episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Release Date: May 20, 2025

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Introduction to "Philly Justice"

In this special episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Amy delves into an inside joke from the set of Parks and Recreation—the creation of a fictional TV show titled "Philly Justice". Responding to fan demand, Amy premieres a 1½-minute trailer of this mock show and brings on Mike Schur, the mastermind behind Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place, to discuss its origins.

"Philly justice is a fake TV show that we made up. This small inside joke on set laugh grew into a beast that is still discussed today."
— Amy Poehler [00:30]

The Importance of Creative Systems

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the importance of structured systems in fostering creativity. Mike Schur emphasizes that strong systems provide the foundation for creative freedom, allowing teams to produce their best work without falling into chaos.

"I believe that people do their best work when there's a strong system that also allows for freedom within the system."
— Mike Schur [11:26]

Amy agrees, highlighting their collaborative experience on Parks and Recreation as a testament to maintaining creativity without disorder.

The Genesis of "Philly Justice"

"Philly Justice" originated during the fourth season of Parks and Recreation, amidst the depiction of Leslie Knope's political aspirations. A behind-the-scenes photo of the cast in formal attire sparked the humorous idea of a legal drama set in Philadelphia. This playful concept was embraced by the writers and gradually evolved into detailed scripts and character backstories.

"We were all in the mode of that kind of show... and by the way, this is very important for everyone to understand."
— Mike Schur [45:01]

Character Naming and Development

Mike Schur shares his passion for inventive character names, inspired by Monty Python's penchant for quirky nomenclature. He strives to create unique names that avoid real-life associations, ensuring originality and preventing legal issues.

"I decided that every character who appeared on the show was going to have a first and last name... I go for the weirdest names."
— Mike Schur [35:01]

Examples include:

• Trod Frankenstein – A local reporter with a peculiar name.
• Tyrion Fonzarelli – A blend of iconic TV characters.
• Ophelio Pippepipepi – An entirely unique creation.

Production and Execution

The trio explains how the fictional "Philly Justice" was not intended for public release but grew organically as the writers enjoyed creating elaborate backstories and scripts. Utilizing existing sets from Parks and Recreation, they clandestinely filmed scenes, giving life to the mock show without formal announcements or plans for distribution.

"There was not a point to this. It wasn't like, we're gonna put this on the DVD or we're going to."
— Mike Schur [49:23]

Premiere of the "Philly Justice" Trailer

The episode culminates in the premiere of the "Philly Justice" trailer, a tongue-in-cheek courtroom drama that satirizes traditional legal shows. The trailer, lasting approximately one and a half minutes, features witty dialogues and exaggerated character archetypes, embodying the playful spirit of its creation.

[Trailer Transcript Highlights]
"The show that broke all the rules."
"Of course, they're never going to let me in their little club and experience."
"Pink, John, Adam Poehler, Rashida Jones, Kathryn Hahn, and Dylan McDermott. I'm a judge now, and you're guilty."
"Welcome to Philly, bitch."

Guest Interactions and Reflections

Alongside Mike Schur, the episode features appearances from Rashida Jones, Morgan Sackett, and Adam Scott, who contribute anecdotes about the playful production process and the camaraderie among the cast. They reflect on the seamless blend of humor and creativity that made "Philly Justice" a beloved behind-the-scenes project.

"We decided every character needs a first and last name, so no more 'man in crowd'."
— Mike Schur [35:01]

Looking Forward

Amy teases future collaborations and potential expansions of "Philly Justice," hinting at more episodes or projects inspired by this creative venture. The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks to the guests and a final viewing of the "Philly Justice" trailer.

"Thank you, Mike and Morgan, for making Philly Justice a reality. Let's get Philly justice back together."
— Amy Poehler [73:47]

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Notable Quotes:

• "I'm just going to have this Kate can do it. This isn't gonna work. We're gonna give up the Super Bowl slot."
  — Mike Schur [32:12]

• "Everyone in New York already knew you. And I was just like that."
  — Mike Schur [22:24]

• "Rashida said, someone had said we look like we're in a legal drama. And I think Rasheeda maybe just said Philly justice."
  — Mike Schur [46:35]

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Conclusion

This episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler offers an engaging glimpse into the creative processes behind beloved TV shows and showcases the enduring friendship and collaboration between Amy Poehler and Mike Schur. By unveiling "Philly Justice," listeners gain insight into the spontaneous and joyous moments that fuel successful television productions.

Transcript

[Mike Schur]

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[Amy Poehler]

Welcome everyone to a very special episode of Good Hang. This is kind of an episode for our listeners. For fans of Parks and Rec, for fans of Good Hang, we have been kind of teasing this thing called Philly justice, which is a fake idea of a TV show that was created on the set of Parks and Rec that we made a 1 1/2 minute trailer for. And we've been talking about the existence of it for a while and we've been listening to you. Your comments have been saying things like, Amy, you cannot be gatekeeping comedy at this at a time like this, or the entire world is in shambles. Amy, please give us Philly justice so we have a reason to live. Or in the name of Lil Sebastian, please. So people are asking to see this dumb thing that we did and we thought why not premiere it only on Good Hang. It's the only place you can see it slash hear it is on this podcast. And who better to talk about the creation of this particular little inside joke that was on Parks and Rec than the creator of Parks and Recreation, the wonderful, amazing Mike Schur. Mike Schur is a producer of all the shows that you love. Mike helped work on the American version of the Office. He went on to create Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 9 9, the Good Place. He's in his second season of a Man on the Inside at Netflix. He is just an incredible writer, friend, person in the world, and I love him dearly and owe a lot to him. Nothing pleases Mike more than this kind of dumb joke and idea. So Mike is my guest today. We're gonna talk about Philly justice, the creation of it, and we're gonna all watch it together. We're also gonna talk about other things. We're gonna talk about the beginning of Parks and Recreation. We're about meeting at snl. We're going to talk about systems and how important they are to both of us. That work is a place of joy. We're going to talk about all the crazy names he likes to come up with for his characters and we're going to be visited by some very Special actors Rashida Jones, Adam Scott. We're going to hear from a bunch of people who were in Parks and Recreation and in Philly justice, but who are telling us about how we made it, including the great Morgan Sackett, who is a producer on a lot of the shows Mike and I work on. He's an incredible producer and he's gonna let us. He's gonna remind us how we got away with making this dumb trailer. So there's a lot of things going on, but basically. Interview with Mike Schur. We're gonna talk to the cast of Philly Justice. We're gonna watch this minute and a half trailer for the, hopefully the first and only time here on Good Hang. And this one is for. This one's for the fans. This one is for the fans. We heard you loud and clear. We're giving it to you. We don't like to tease around here. We. We like to please and we like to squeeze, and we like to do it with ease. Is this sounding any less gross? Okay. All right, let's get started. Welcome to Good Hang. This message is brought to you by Apple Card calculators make complicated things simple. Like finding the square root of PI, figuring out how long you should tan, whether or not you should cosign for a car, and whatever those other buttons mean. What's not complicated? Earning daily cash back with Apple Card. You earn up to 3% daily cash on products at Apple, 2% on all other Apple Card with Apple Pay purchases, and 1% on anything you buy with your titanium Apple Card. See simple as 3, 2, 1. And Apple Card made it even easier by building a calculator. Love a good calculator. Visit Apple Co Card calculator today and see how much daily cash you can earn with Apple Card. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and [e-mail] I'm sure. I realize I'm with probably the most accomplished podcaster I've interviewed yet is you.

[Mike Schur]

That just means you haven't interviewed.

[Amy Poehler]

No, I have not talked to a lot of podcasters because I realized on the way over here, I'm like, you've had a podcast. The pause cast correct for many years.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, for like an absurd number of years.

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, you were ahead of the game.

[Mike Schur]

I don't know if it's. If the first seven years even count, because it was. We were like, we're barely recording it. We were just screaming into our computers. We didn't have microphones.

[Amy Poehler]

Who's the we that you speak of.

[Mike Schur]

Joe Posnanski and myself. Sportswriter, award winning sportswriter Joe Posnanski and me. And we started it a million years ago, but we haven't really. It hasn't been like anything approaching an actual extant, like, enterprise for more than like, five years.

[Amy Poehler]

I would say the word extant really lets us know that we're with Mike Scher, Harvard educated writer and creator.

[Mike Schur]

Pish posh.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm so thrilled to have you here and we're going to talk about something very exciting today. But I do have you in the studio, so I do want to talk about us a little bit and our work together before.

[Mike Schur]

I love us.

[Amy Poehler]

I do love us. Oh, this is us. One of another great show from NBC. But before I do that, when I plug this thing into my laptop, it goes weird.

[Mike Schur]

Nothing happens.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, like, so, you know, I don't know if, you know, Bill Simmons told me in the very beginning. We love Bill.

[Mike Schur]

Sure.

[Amy Poehler]

Boston. One of Boston's greatest.

[Mike Schur]

One of Boston's most.

[Amy Poehler]

One of Boston's most.

[Mike Schur]

One of the most Boston people there is.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, that's very true. I mean, and I think of you as a Boston person. You're not. You're a Connecticut person.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, but I identify full Boston.

[Amy Poehler]

You do identify.

[Mike Schur]

I'm literally wearing a Celtics sweatshirt right now because it's. The Celtics are playing a playoff game right now. I can't watch it because I'm here with you. And so I wore this as like a shield to protect myself against evil and the city of Boston, for that matter.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, you. And you're a huge Red Sox fan.

[Mike Schur]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

And I do want to talk about sports because this is a podcast.

[Mike Schur]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

But before I do. So Bill told me.

[Mike Schur]

Not on Bill Simmons's network.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And you really should.

[Mike Schur]

I assume it's a law.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, you have to. You do have to. 10% of sports. Sports talk. Or you get.

[Mike Schur]

If you don't mention Jim Rice once, you're canceled.

[Amy Poehler]

But Bill said, maybe not. Don't use the laptop. And I kind of have fought to keep it. And what's happening now is it's going cuckoo when I plug this thing in.

[Mike Schur]

Don't use the laptop for what? For, like, notes?

[Amy Poehler]

Just for, like, referencing. He was like, why do you need the laptop? And I was like, hey, you know, what's it to you? You know? And he was like, I'm just giving you a suggestion. And I was like, by the way.

[Mike Schur]

This is a very Boston exchange. Just someone offering advice and the person coming back at them hard with, like, what like, let's fight.

[Amy Poehler]

I gotta get Bill on the podcast. Because you're right. It is like.

[Mike Schur]

You once described to me. Do you remember this? You once described to me the. At the. That. The. You said to me that this city motto of Boston should be must be nice. Remember this?

[Amy Poehler]

Must be nice.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. And you described a situation in which when we were at snl, you would go home and see your friends or people that you grew up with, and you would go out for drinks and if you paid, the attitude to be like, oh, must be nice. Got a big Hollywood show, whatever. And if you didn't pay, it was like, oh, must be nice. Make all that money in Hollywood and still get your friends to pick up your drinks. Like, you can't win.

[Amy Poehler]

You can't win.

[Mike Schur]

You can't win.

[Amy Poehler]

You know what they say about Boston? You don't even have to put a net over the traps when you catch the lobsters, because with Boston lobsters, if one tries to crawl out, the other one will just pull them back down.

[Mike Schur]

I've been pulling back down.

[Amy Poehler]

But I love my city. I do love my city.

[Mike Schur]

Can I tell you one quick thing, Please. That is going to be of vital importance for this podcast?

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

I found out a piece of shocking information today.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, exciting. Is this breaking news?

[Mike Schur]

Breaking news.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay.

[Mike Schur]

Your dad.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, no.

[Mike Schur]

And my mom go to the same barber. What? Yes. My mom lives in bed for mess. Went to her barber today, got her haircut. Barber said, you know who comes in here?

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, boy.

[Mike Schur]

Do you know Amy Poehler? Amy Poehler's dad comes in here. And I guess your dad recently switched barbers for reasons I don't want to get into that are very, very private.

[Amy Poehler]

You can tell me off the air.

[Mike Schur]

I'll tell you off the air. But my mom said, you're not gonna believe this to her barber. My son and Amy Poehler are friends and used to work together. And you can imagine the fireworks that happened in that barbershop.

[Amy Poehler]

That is so cute.

[Mike Schur]

Isn't that adorable?

[Amy Poehler]

That's really. That's a really nice thing.

[Mike Schur]

I'm very happy. It's literally breaking news as of, like, 2:00pm Pacific time today.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. My father, Bill Poehler, he'll want me to say his first and last name. And you should say your mother's first and last name.

[Mike Schur]

Anne Herbert.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep. So, Ann. Bill and Ann, thank you for keeping your hair tidy, number one.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. First of all.

[Amy Poehler]

And two, for raising us. Yeah, we appreciate that. But my dad likes to start most conversations in the Boston area with going up to Random people and saying, do you like TV and movies? And they go, yeah. And he goes, oh, well, my daughter is Amy Poe.

[Mike Schur]

What a coincidence.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, my daughter. My daughter. And they go, oh. Because they're like, okay, how?

[Mike Schur]

What percentage of people say no to that question? No.

[Amy Poehler]

My dad used to rent apartments as like a side hustle, you know, he was like. He was in real estate renting because he was a public school teacher. Both my parents were, and they would have summer jobs. And he used to ask me for a stack of headshots so he could hand them out when he was renting apartments. And after many years of therapy, I realized that was a boundary that maybe I should set. So.

[Mike Schur]

So you gave them to him?

[Amy Poehler]

I did at first, yeah. Because it's Boston, you know, like, must be nice. Like, oh, you don't think. You think you're so. You can't.

[Mike Schur]

Oh, you want people in Boston looking at your headshot.

[Amy Poehler]

Your father's proud of you. Oh, boo hoo. Mike Schur is here. And all this will be cut, right?

[Mike Schur]

All will this be cut?

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, literally the. I mean, all it will be is just very slow typing on this laptop.

[Mike Schur]

That's all this. Well, I just sip water and wait for you to find whatever you're looking for.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh. Can I ask you, though, because you like organizing, you like systems.

[Mike Schur]

I do. You love a good system, Love rules, love systems.

[Amy Poehler]

And I would say overall, being in your simulation, and I know I can speak for many people, is kind of the best feeling in the world. You have great systems.

[Mike Schur]

Thank you.

[Amy Poehler]

You take pride in them. People that are in your systems are very well taken care of, very well considered. And in my case, like, it changed my life to be in your system. And I love a good system too. And what I love about your systems is you think long and hard about what would be the best way or approach to do things. Like, you are not a strict person who doesn't take feedback about your system, but you like your systems, love them.

[Mike Schur]

And I believe that people do their best work when there's a strong system that also allows for freedom within the system. That is why I love working with you and people like Andy Samberg, people who are like, from the SNL world specifically because they're roll with the punches people. Yeah, but. And all you have to do is like, set up the boundaries. You put out the gate, you put lay out the fence, and you're like, anywhere in here is fine. And then. And this is actually very appropriate for what we're going to be talking about today, once you've, I believe, set up a sort of, like, boundary and, like, a mechanism, and, like, you're going to be in the yard from 2 to 4. You hear your toys, you can do anything you want from two to four, and then you're back inside that. And then you get the funniest people you can who are the most comfortable and happy. And you say, like, don't worry. Everything's taken care of, rules are in place, fences in place, go crazy, and you let people do their best, most fun, most joyous work. I really believe. And this isn't, like, revelatory, but I really believe that is the best way to work creatively in a group. And the reason this is relevant. And I don't want to jump the gun here, but the thing we're going to be talking about today very much came out of a world where, because we had this really great system in place and then went out and just found the funniest people we could find to come make this thing with us. Crazy things happen, like, wonderful things happen that are just the result of just creative juices flowing and people feeling happy and free. Someone said to me once, and I believe this is true, that in creative enterprises, everyone is either in survival mode or creative mode. And if you're in survival mode, like, you're worried about your job, you don't feel safe in your place of work, there's a threat somewhere, you feel like you're not being listened to, whatever. No one can be creative. And your job as, like, a manager of any kind at any level is to, like, flip that switch and get people back into creative mode where they feel, like, comfortable and warm and happy and safe. And that's when people do good work. And I think maybe the defining principle of Parks and Rec was that everyone was in creative mode all the time. We were in survival mode with outside forces like, are we gonna get canceled? Is this it? Are we done? But that's over there, like, that. We can control that. Within the fence that we put out for the show, we worked at all times to make sure everybody was in creative mode, and that's why crazy things like this happened.

[Amy Poehler]

God. So well said. Thank you for setting that up. I often and always speak about you and our experience on Parks and Rec as the perfect example of what it's like to be creative and not chaotic.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And I think you and I both have worked in all kinds of different areas where chaos was kind of part of the deal. And, you know, there is certainly an energy that comes from that. But one does not have to have a chaotic or dysfunctional experience to have a creative experience.

[Mike Schur]

That is correct and for a very long time in Hollywood, I think, especially. But it's not. This is not located only in Hollywood. This is everywhere. I think there's a belief sometimes that, like, if something good results from a chaotic atmosphere, then there's like a weird response where it's like, well, this is the only way that something good can happen. Like, we got this good thing, and the process was chaos, so we better not try to fix the chaos. When, like, a rationale person would think, let's fix the chaos, and then there will be more opportunities for more creative things that will also cause less pain and suffering. That's what I just can't stand about, though, about Hollywood specifically. I think it's weirdly gotten better. I don't know if this has been your experience.

[Amy Poehler]

I think so. I think it's just like, there's a little bit more, like, diverse gatekeepers and a little bit more push from, frankly, generations behind us.

[Mike Schur]

Oh, yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Who have just, like, reminded us that we don't need to put up with behavior that we were used to putting up with and just a little bit more quality of life stuff where people are just a little bit less okay with having their lives ruined at work.

[Mike Schur]

I mean, like, when you and I were coming up, it was like whatever the system was, you were just like, okay.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Schur]

You just, like, grit your teeth and you, like, put your head down and you try to survive.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And the generation behind us, and especially the ones behind that generation.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

Looks at chaos and goes like, oh, then no, thank you. Like, then, no. Like, I don't. I don't want to. They just. They have a. They don't have the, I think the sort of like. Like structural fear that we had of just like, if this is what's going on, then I will just suffer and tolerate it. And I think younger folks are just like, oh, then I won't be a part of it.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, my bad. Standup about it is boomers are all about money. Gen X is like, is it all about money? Millennials are like, where is the money? And Gen Z is like, what is money? That's my bad. Stand up about it.

[Mike Schur]

Not bad. It's good.

[Amy Poehler]

Thanks. I have been doing that on stage. Okay. So we could talk forever. I mean, we could do two, three, four podcasts. Maybe someday. We will. And I'd love to have you back as a guest to talk to dig in even deeper with, like, park super fans and all the other projects that you do. But those to me are like other wives that you have, and I'd rather not discuss them.

[Mike Schur]

I understand.

[Amy Poehler]

I am very.

[Mike Schur]

It's painful for you.

[Amy Poehler]

Congratulations on the success of Hacks and the success of Good Place and congratulations on second season of A Man Inside.

[Mike Schur]

Thank you.

[Amy Poehler]

But right now you are with your family and I need you.

[Mike Schur]

And this is Thanksgiving, and we are going to put on nice sweaters and God damn it, we are going to sit down and have a nice meal. That's right. And at 6pm that's right. Your new girlfriend will come and pick you all up and drive you away from me.

[Amy Poehler]

And that's fine. Fine with her. And I'm very happy for you. But. So we're going to talk about Parks. But to do. Do that. Let's talk about. So you went to Harvard.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Which, by the way, great, great month for Harvard. You know, I've talked some shit about Harvard on here already, but I'm a big flip flopper now. I love Harvard.

[Mike Schur]

I'm gonna say first truly good month for Harvard since its founding in 1636. I was like, when? How far back do I have to go? Oh, maybe all the way.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Good job, Harvard.

[Mike Schur]

Listen, we took it on the chin. We have our share of Jared Kushners and Ted Cruzes. And also I'm everyone on the Supreme Court and all that sort of stuff. And it's been. And Zuckerberg, don't. You can't forget about Zuck.

[Amy Poehler]

I never do.

[Mike Schur]

But Facebook, finally, Harvard is like, hey, we have all the money.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And so we'll say no to the bully. And people were like, oh, my God, you can do that.

[Amy Poehler]

It's exciting. But you came from Harvard and we met. Do you remember when we first met?

[Mike Schur]

No, I remember when I saw you for the first time, which was at a UCB sketch thing that happened at fez.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Schur]

I've told this story before. I don't know if you want. I don't know how in depth you want to go here, given.

[Amy Poehler]

I'd love to go in depth because we don't get.

[Morgan Sackett]

We.

[Amy Poehler]

We're. We're going to talk Philly justice. But we have some time.

[Mike Schur]

Great. So I. I moved to New York right before I graduated. 97 and 98. I was working for Jon Stewart. No, late 97, I was working for Jon Stewart. He was writing a book, and I was pitching my ideas for the book, and he used none of them and gave me $3,000. And it was amazing. It was my first professional job. Thank you, Jon Stewart. So we.

[Amy Poehler]

So he gave you that money to go away?

[Mike Schur]

That's right. He looked at my ideas and was like, oh, no.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. He was like, you're making me nervous. Please go away.

[Mike Schur]

He was like, does three grand get you out of my office? So I went to. I heard about all these comedy shows that happened, and I was very excited to see comedy. Went to Fez to see John do standup. And so you came out on stage. I did not know who you were. And you said, hey, everyone, I know you're excited to hear the standup John Stewart and all these other comedians. My name is Carol Johnson. I'm from hbo, and I'm casting a pilot. And so before, if you don't mind, with your indulgence, I'd love to just do some. And I was like, oh, there's a nice woman from HBO here who is casting a pilot. This is so interesting. This is how show business works. I 100% bought it hook, line, and sinker. I did not understand that I was at a comedy show and that this was probably a piece of comedy. And then you announced that you were doing this pilot, and you asked if anyone. You said that someone needed. I don't remember exactly, but it was something like, someone needed to be able to do a Bill Cosby impression. This shows you how long ago this is.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, sure.

[Mike Schur]

And Matt Besser, another person I did not know, was like, volunteered. And you're like, oh, yes, sir, please come right on up here. And then he proceeded to do, like, the worst Bill Cosby impression of all time. You, in the role of straight person, were just like, ah, boy. I'm not sure if that really fits the bill. And he kept doing it and kept doing it. And then I think Matt Walsh was like, I can do one. And he got up and did it. And you were. It was even worse. And you were like, yeah, this isn't really what we're looking for. And I. I remembered this so clearly. I was like, this poor woman from HBO is just trying to cast her pilot, and these guys are terrible. These guys are. And when I was having that thought, I was like, this is a sketch, I'm pretty sure. But there's a reason I tell this story, which is your performance was so real and grounded. I legitimately was blown away. I was brought three minutes into this incredibly stupid premise before it occurred to me that you were not really Carol Johnson from hbo.

[Amy Poehler]

No.

[Mike Schur]

And then I remember going. I remember talking to someone after the show and being like, who was that? And they were like this group called ucb. And I was like, that woman was incredible. And they were like the straight woman. And I was like, yes, she was incredible. Who is that?

[Amy Poehler]

I was like, how does she have time to be in a sketch group when she works at hbo?

[Mike Schur]

She's a multi talented person. But I remember then repeating that, like they were so funny and everything. And then someone was like, that's Amy Poehler. Like, everyone in New York already knew you. And I was just like that. That you just like, you just like burrowed into my brain. And then when you joined the show, I started working at SNL a few months later.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep, that year was. What year did you start SNL?

[Mike Schur]

I started January. 98.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes, 98.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. So you came. Whatever.

[Amy Poehler]

2001.

[Mike Schur]

2001. So September 2001.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And I don't remember where we interacted between those dates, but I remember that when you auditioned, you came to my office and we smoked cigarettes in my office. Cause I was running Update.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, remember cigarettes? Let's just take a minute. I mean, I know they're bad for you.

[Mike Schur]

They're so bad for you.

[Amy Poehler]

There's. And like, you know, they're, they truly are bad for you. They shorten your life. They make your skin terrible. But they're. Remember them.

[Mike Schur]

They're really, really terrible.

[Amy Poehler]

They're terrible. So terrible. And I, I looked so cool doing that terrible thing. And we would smoke cigarettes and we would, we, you know, at, at 30 Rock, you could just kind of open your window and look at the Empire State Building.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, SNL was like grandfathered into all rules everywhere. And you could just like, no one except us was on the 17th floor and you opened your window and smoked out the window. And it was terrible.

[Amy Poehler]

And it was terrible. And then you were eventually. When did you start running Update? Weekend Update.

[Mike Schur]

Your first show was my first Update show.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right. So, gosh, I forget that that was your first.

[Mike Schur]

I took it. So Robert Carlock was running it and he left. And I remember talking to Mike Shoemaker, beloved producer at the time, now runs Seth Meyers show. And I was like, boy, I'm not sure I can do this job. Like I don't really know what I'm doing. And he was like, it's super easy. Like you just choose the best jokes and whatever. And I was like, okay, like it sounds fun. And then 911 happened. And so my first show running the like funny fake news was 9 11. And it was your first show on the show.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And so. Right. So I was this new cast member and you were running Weekend Update at a time when comedy was declared over.

[Mike Schur]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

And when we'll never laugh again.

[Mike Schur]

That's right. And the first thing that happened on the show for your first show, and my first show writing Update was like Rudy Giuliani. Pre Insanity Rudy Giuliani. And like cops and firefighters and MTA workers standing at home base and talking about like resilience and the power of humanity. And then Paul Simon singing the boxer.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And then it was like, okay, and you're Britney Spears. Go. Remember? That was your sketch. You had a snake.

[Amy Poehler]

You were a snake. Rifle didn't make it. It got cut.

[Mike Schur]

Did it really?

[Amy Poehler]

I thought it's good that it did. And by the way, I was not Britney Spears.

[Mike Schur]

You were the snake wrangler.

[Amy Poehler]

I was the very sapphic snake wrangler.

[Mike Schur]

Who was Britney Spears? Was it Reese Witherspoon?

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, Reese Witherspoon. She was the host. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

So then Mike says to us, I'm going to go work on a show. I'm really excited. I'm going to leave snl. I'm going to move. And you know, everyone always wants to kind of like launch away from snl, hopefully with some kind of project or something. And you told us the idea and we were like, oh, this is a bad idea.

[Mike Schur]

This is a bad idea. Yeah. It was the American adaptation of the British Office.

[Amy Poehler]

And we had watched, we had all watched the British Office together, including the very special Christmas episodes that we watched in your office.

[Mike Schur]

Seth got early from his friend in England and we watched them in my office and we all like laughed and cried. And when dawn came back and kissed him.

[Amy Poehler]

Spoiler alert.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, spoiler for a 20 year old British show. We all like jumped up in the air and we were celebrated like we won the Super Bowl. And then a couple months later, I was like, I'm gonna go turn that into. Well, help turn that into an American show.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And I remember us thinking like, oh, no, this is never gonna work. We were really like, oh, this is terrible. Perfect show. How can you redo it? And then of course, we heard a couple things. We heard Steve Carell, who was a Second City guy that we knew in Chicago. We were like, that's a good idea. That' pick. And we were like, we knew that you were working on it and others who are genius writers. And so, and Greg Daniels, we thought, well, look, you got a good team. You're going to Go down in flames. But it's going to be fun.

[Mike Schur]

It'll be like a cult classic thing or whatever. Yeah. I mean, I signed on for two reasons. Number one, it was only job offer I got. But more importantly, because I met with Greg and my wife. J.J. philbin had worked on Coupling, which was another British show that had been adapted and had not worked out. And Greg was like so scientific about it. He was like, what do you think went wrong and what did they do and what did they not do? And we ended up talking in his office for like three hours. And I was like, this isn't gonna work. It's a bad idea. Everybody thinks it's a bad idea. But this guy is so smart and has thought about this so carefully that this will at least be an incredible. Like he's gonna teach me things about writing. And so I was not expecting it to work. I don't think anyone was, except maybe Greg. But it was like, this is gonna be an education for me. And going from sketch writing to real or a half hour writing, you know.

[Amy Poehler]

And then on that show you are on for how many years?

[Mike Schur]

Four. The first four. First four plus.

[Amy Poehler]

And then decide with Greg to create a new show. And it might be fun to talk about just the, like, the all the kind of. I think it's always a good reminder. I think you and I are very much like this. Like, I think it's kind of important to show your work. Like, I think people think that ideas are these like fully formed things that are just realized instantly. And in my opinion, people that are less secure tend to pretend that they are. But secure people, I think, tend to kind of talk about all the ways that they approached something and how they had to re. Approach, I guess. But in the very, very beginning, the idea for the spinoff of the Office, or was it even an idea for spinoff was what?

[Mike Schur]

Well, so Ben Silverman became Parks and Rec. Ben Silverman was running NBC and they asked. He asked Greg to like do a spinoff. And so Greg's response, typically thoughtful and considered, was, I would love to do another show. If the best idea that I have for a show is a spinoff, then I will do a spinoff. If the best idea I have is something else, I'll do something else. Greg is a real. One of the main things that he gave me in terms of how to do this job is best idea wins. Doesn't matter who it comes from. If it's staff writer or a 25 year veteran co ep or a person who works in Costumes or whatever, best idea wins. That's it. And there is no corollary to that. In every situation that you're in creatively, best idea wins. And so that's what he said basically to Ben. And he was like, it's very important to me that you understand that if the best idea I have is not a spinoff of the Office, then we're going to do something else. And Ben was like, totally hear you, buddy. And the next day in the Variety, it was like, office spinoff is coming. Ben just totally ignored him and just announced an office spin off.

[Amy Poehler]

Sure.

[Mike Schur]

So Greg and I started meeting. Greg asked me to do it with him. So we started meeting. We would go to Norm's Diner in the Valley, like, twice a week for breakfast, and we would just think of ideas and we would talk about what interested us and what was going on. And we would inch down a little path and then hit a dead end and then inch back and we would. We just met constantly over showing your work. We met all the time, forever, and eventually came up with the idea of, like, you know, and by the way, just to. Some of the ideas we talked about were office spinoffs. There were, like, Craig Robinson and Rainn Wilson and all these people on the show who could clearly be in their own show. So we talked about family shows with them or whatever. Greg was, I think, wary of taking assets away from a show that was very successful in part because of its large, rich cast. We stumbled upon this idea of, like, okay, Dunder Mifflin on the Office is a fake company, and it's a way to satirize the private sector. What if we create a whole fake town and satirize the public sector? And as we're having that idea, the world economy goes kablooey and they're talking about, like, massive government bailouts. And we start to realize that, like, the government, obviously federal, really, but also state and local, was, like, going to be very present in people's lives. Like, people were going to be, like, looking to the government for help. So we started getting excited about that. I had this idea for an abandoned lot that would be turned into a park over the course of the entire run of the show. Very Wire y idea. I was obsessed with the Wire, as were you.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, we share that data that we.

[Mike Schur]

And I thought, like, the way that the Wire portrayed, like, calcified systems and how slow gears grind and stuff was fascinating to me. And I thought it would be really funny where if you did a show that ideally lasts for a long time and in the pilot, it's like, we're gonna do this. And then it literally doesn't get done until the very end of nine years later. So that was the idea that I really liked. Greg then was like, what if it's not a lot? What if there's like a giant hole in the ground? What if it's a pit? And I was like, that's so much better. And so that idea of all the 73 ideas we had started to, like, fizzy fizzy up. And it obviously is not a spinoff of the Office. And Greg, true to his word, was like, this is what we want to do. At some point. We called you because we heard you were leaving, and you were like, I'm theoretically interested in this. Let me know. The show was given a guaranteed 13 episode order, which now is very commonplace at the time was like, insane. And the Office was going to be on after the super bowl that year, and this show was going to launch after the Office. Then you called us back and said, actually, sorry, prego. That's exactly what you said.

[Amy Poehler]

Prego.

[Mike Schur]

You said, prego.

[Amy Poehler]

Prego. I sent you a telegraph. Prego, stop. Show's off. Stop.

[Mike Schur]

And it was like, well, you're gonna give birth, like the week we have to shoot this, so no go. And then, like, I remember very clearly two weeks later, I went into Greg's office and I was like, you know, there's no. Like, we were working on the show at that point pretty strenuously. And I was just like, I just don't think there's anyone but Poehler who can do this. And he was like, I had the same thought last night. And very quickly, we made a phone call to NBC and said, if we can get Amy for this, we will give up seven of the 13 guaranteed episodes. Cause we'd only be able to make six.

[Amy Poehler]

Dang.

[Mike Schur]

And give up the super bowl slot.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, you guys were. And I'm so appreciative you did that.

[Mike Schur]

I mean, the thing was, it was actually a very simple decision because we were like, you know, getting Amy Poehler on your show is a long term decision. Like, that's a decision you make for, like, this, what you hope will be a very long chunk of time. Like the super bowl slot is a short term decision. It's like, yeah, you'll get this, like, frisson of energy, but, like, it doesn't last. Like, no one ever. Like, very rarely does that determine the fate of a TV show. And so we then called you back and said, what if you could start shooting Three months after you give birth. And then we made the show, and.

[Amy Poehler]

It proved to be the most satisfying creative experience I've ever had. And I like more than this podcast. No, this is my number one.

[Mike Schur]

Number two.

[Amy Poehler]

It's number two.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

This is. I mean, besides this. This episode is brought to you by Degree Cool Rush deodorant. I'm a big fan of people owning their mistakes, like how last year, Degree changed their Cool Rush formula and men were mad. One guy even started a petition so Degree listened, admitted they messed up, and they're now bringing the OG Cool Rush scent back. It's clean, crisp, and fresh. No wonder it's been the number one men's antiperspirant for the last decade. And it's in Walmart, Target, and other stores now for under $4. Just look for the light blue one. Degree Cool Rush is back, and it smells like victory for everyone.

[Mike Schur]

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[Amy Poehler]

Now, one of the ways, like, very concrete ways, that is, I feel like an example of what I'm talking about, which is, like, the joy in the details is the way you like to. To name characters.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And I think you gave me. I think you allowed me to use this in my book, actually. But you gave me, like, a list of possible names instead of Leslie Knope, the character I played on Parks direct. Like, you gave me, like, a bunch of different alternative names. But you also love to name characters left and right. What is it? What is fun about names for you and naming?

[Mike Schur]

Okay, so it's two things. The first is growing up. First, major comedic influence. Monty Python. Monty Python. Experts at silly, stupid names, like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. You can go look them up in their sketches. But the actual. The actual thing that's going on here is different. So I would go to actors IMDb pages to see what they had been in when we were casting them in the early days of the show. And you would see, like, woman number two or, like, man in crowd or guy with sandwich. And it really bummed me out because I love actors. I love them so much. I think that their job. People will scoff when I say this. I think they have the hardest job of any job when it comes to, like, making a show. It is so hard. Anyone who doesn't believe this should try it. By the way, try acting.

[Amy Poehler]

Our buddy Ted Danson gave me the best line, which is, acting is embarrassing.

[Mike Schur]

It's embarrassing. It's hard. You have to summon something. Comedic timing or dramatic performance or tears or anger or whatever, like, instantly, with cameras on you and lights on you, wearing makeup and clothes that aren't yours, and a hundred people staring at you and a big dude holding a microphone four inches from your face. And when it's. When people can do it, well, I think it's like a. It's like a miracle worthy of beatification at the Vatican. And so I would see these people on IMDb and it would be like, man in crowd. And it would be like that person, like, auditioned for this and booked this gig and drove all the way across town and, like, put on fake clothes and put on makeup and whatever and had to stand in a certain place, follow a million instructions, say a line or two, and then they yelled cut. And then that person drove all the way home and they got paid like $600 for, like a week's worth of work. And they should be. There should be something better than man number two or man in crowd. And so I decided at that moment, this is early in season one, I think, of Parks and Rec, that every character who appeared on the show was going to have a first and last name. So when you saw instead of if it says man in crowd, you're like, oh, well, that doesn't really count as an acting gig. But if you see Marv Vavma, which is a name I gave a character once, you're like, who the hell is Marvavma? What was Mar Vavavna up to? So I. And it has been that it started with that intention and has become one of the great. Truly, one of the great joys of my life is to give every. Because here's the other thing. Sorry, you can cut all this out. But the other thing is if you name a character Jack Smith, yeah, you can get away with it because there are 10 trillion Jack Smiths. But if you name a character anything even mildly interesting, like Winona Cooper, there's going to be like four Winona Coopers in the state that you're setting the show in. And then the legal comes back and says you can't name your character that.

[Amy Poehler]

A lot of people don't know that. You have to get names cleared, be.

[Mike Schur]

Cleared, and there have to be either none or so many that not any one of them could be. Could think that you're saying anything about them. So I go for none.

[Amy Poehler]

None.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. I go for the weirdest names. We had a character recently on the show on a man on the inside named Ophelio Pippepipepi. There's no Ophelia Pipepeppies anywhere in the continental United States, so you get to use that name. That has been. My goal is to have none have the Google search come up empty with every name of every character.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. With that in mind, will you please read some of these names that you have invented?

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Like, just a few here on the bottom of this page.

[Mike Schur]

Okay. Mona Lisa Saperstein.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Mike Schur]

Jenny Slate's character.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes. Do you remember all these?

[Mike Schur]

Do you think?

[Amy Poehler]

Amazing.

[Mike Schur]

Trod Frankenstein.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, tell us about Trod.

[Mike Schur]

So Trod Frankenstein was a local reporter, or he had a. Like, almost like a little show like this in Pawnee where he would interview political people like Leslie Knope. A great way to come up with a name that doesn't exist is to take a normal name like Todd, and then just stick another letter in there somewhere, and then Frankenstein is just Frankenstein with a p at the end. Tyrion Fonzarelli. Tyrion Fonzarelli. Obviously a combination of two characters from TV history. Tyrion Lannister and Arthur Fonzarelli. This name goes to Matt Murray. Matt Murray did this.

[Amy Poehler]

Ah, Panther.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, Panther. Tyrion Fonzarelli was a writer on Parks.

[Amy Poehler]

And Rec, among other things, was a.

[Mike Schur]

Guy in a jewelry store who was buying an engagement ring for his future to be betrothed when Anne and Chris Traeger were shopping for rings.

[Amy Poehler]

Great.

[Mike Schur]

Leslie Knope. We know who that is. Gretzky Susan Pellegrino. Okay. This. So Gretzky Susan Pellegrino was, like, the fourth in a series of names that, for some reason, all involved the last name of the greatest hockey player who ever lived. Wayne Gretzky. I don't offhand remember who Gretzky Susan Pellegrino is. Also, it should be noted, hyphens. Huge part of my naming process.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. I'm so excited.

[Mike Schur]

It's a way to get another name in there.

[Amy Poehler]

Another name. And also, there's no way that someone's gonna have this name.

[Mike Schur]

No one's first name is Gretzky. Susan Gretzky. Hyphen Susan Typhoon Montalban.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, I love Typhoon.

[Mike Schur]

Typhoon was Donna's hairdresser.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep.

[Mike Schur]

Typhoon. Also Matt Murray, I believe named gave Typhoon the first name. Typhoon. We needed a last name. Where do you go for the last name? Ricardo Montalban. Typhoon Montalban. Cassandra Sessasnorp. Okay. Cassandra Sisassnorp was. I believe I could have this wrong. Was just Sandra. It was like Sandra Snorp.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay.

[Mike Schur]

And then the legal was like didn't clear. We found a Sanskrit.

[Amy Poehler]

We found a Sandersnorp.

[Mike Schur]

So guess what you do. You add five more S's. Now you're good. Summer Oli. Kraken. Frog. Frog. Okay. This is a Monty Python ripoff straight up.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay.

[Mike Schur]

Olay O L E with an accent. And. And I guess just that part in There's a. There's a Monty Python sketch called I think Election night Special where they're just going through election election results and local elections all over the country. And there's a. There's a. A silly party and a sensible party. So all the people in the sensible party have names like John Smith. And all the people in the silly party have very crazy names. And there's also a very silly party and a slightly silly party. If you want names, go watch that sketch. It'll sate you. Summer Olay. Kraken. Frog. Frog. That's a good one. Frog. Frog is a great last one.

[Amy Poehler]

Great one. Yeah. And then this one. Do you have. Are you involved with this one with hacks?

[Mike Schur]

No. CC Homo.

[Amy Poehler]

I thought that wasn't. Sure.

[Mike Schur]

CC Homo.

[Amy Poehler]

And you know what? I don't want to talk about hacks.

[Mike Schur]

That's fine. They'll be here at 6am Jenna made me do that. CC homo. H O M E A U X was all Jen Statsky and Lupin and Paul Downs. I don't know which one of them came up with it, but.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes, but said. But spelled differently than it said.

[Mike Schur]

It's a very funny moment in the show because she introduced herself as CZ Homo and Jean Smart goes spell that.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. Oh, and you know we're gonna. Let's get into Philly Justice. Cause we have some special guests that are gonna be joining us to talk about Philly justice. For those listening, stand by. Cause we have very, very exciting guests.

[Mike Schur]

Probably should have mentioned this so long ago.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Schur]

Can you do me a favor and go back and record that?

[Amy Poehler]

We often record the beginning after the interview so I can talk about what we talked about.

[Mike Schur]

Please don't make people sit through Summer Oleic cracking Frog frog before they get to the famous people.

[Amy Poehler]

And I and a lot of people don't know though we record the interview after the person leaves. So. Yeah. So this is just not being recorded. No.

[Mike Schur]

This is just to capture the AI modulation of my voice.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Mike Schur]

And then you make me say whatever you want me to say.

[Amy Poehler]

Of course. I mean, it's just so hard.

[Mike Schur]

Honestly, it's a relief at this point.

[Amy Poehler]

AI is a relief. I keep saying that.

[Mike Schur]

It really is.

[Amy Poehler]

And we might also want to do a little teaser, too, to say that you and I are thinking when this comes out, we will have announced that we're working together again on something exciting.

[Mike Schur]

Very exciting.

[Amy Poehler]

So we're back together again. We are renewing our vows, if you will.

[Mike Schur]

I. I had my fun.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right.

[Mike Schur]

I ran around town.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Mike Schur]

And I realized that what I really needed was under my nose the whole time.

[Amy Poehler]

Yoko knew that John needed a break. Okay. And she let him wander and he came back. So, you know, everyone needs a break sometimes. But you're back, back when we're back. And we're very, very excited to work together again.

[Mike Schur]

We'll have to. That's a whole separate podcast.

[Amy Poehler]

I think it is. I think it is, but it's just a little teaser. Okay. So we will do another episode on Parks, we promise, for those listening. But in the meantime, we need to get to, I think, a more important TV show by far, and that is called Philly Justice.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Now, to explain to people listening, what the heck is this? I don't know about a show called Philly Justice. Well, you shouldn't. It's not real, but I'll just set it up and then I need you to tell us the history. So very briefly, Philly justice is a fake TV show that we made up. A few cast members made up on the set of Parks and Rec one day because we looked at a picture of ourselves and we laughed and we said, oh, we look like we're in a TV show called Philly Justice. That small inside joke on set laugh grew into a beast that is still discussed today. So what do you remember about the beginnings of Philly Justice?

[Mike Schur]

So this is like season four of Parks and Rec. I think you're running for Lesnep's running for office. And we have in this season, incredible regular guest stars on the show. Kathryn Hahn played a campaign manager, high powered campaign manager from D.C. who was running the campaign of Bobby Newport, played by Paul Rudd.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

And Bobby Newport was the moron son of a wealthy businessman who didn't want the job at all, but was running against Leslie. And it's Leslie's greatest dream. And Bobby Newport does not care at all. And in fact, in the finale of the show when he loses, there's a brief clip of him on TV being interviewed. And he says, honestly, this is a huge relief. Which is one of my favorite. It's an incredible Paul Rudd moment. So in this episode we were shooting, you were all in like campaign mode, which meant you were maybe uncharacteristically wearing like a very smartly tailored suit.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep.

[Mike Schur]

And Rasheeda was. Ann Perkins was also wearing something like that. And Jen Barclay, Catherine's character, is always high powered suit lady. And Paul Rudd is there and Adam Scott is there, who usually wore ties and suits and stuff. And so this is what I remember is that someone came running up and said, look at this picture. And it was all five of you. And I think it was just a wardrobe picture. It was like, let's get a picture. They take pictures of characters all the time. Just to say, like, okay, this is what they look like. In case we have to recreate this and that. I think maybe Rasheeda had said, someone had said we look like we're in a David E. Kelly show, like a legal drama. And I think Rasheeda maybe just said Philly justice, and we'll put the picture.

[Amy Poehler]

Up here, but we're just kind of nailing it.

[Mike Schur]

You're just in the mode of that kind of show.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right.

[Mike Schur]

So then what I heard, and this stuff was like bleeding up to me in the writer's room, is that you guys had started kind of just. You were like, this is the thing we're doing now is we're coming up with like characters and scenes and like moments of dialogue for our characters from this fake show that you had invented called Philly justice, which was a David E. Kelley show from like 2005 that had shot the pilot and had never aired. And you were all goofing around and improvising. Right. Like improvising just like who you were and what the show was about. So it just kept wafting up to the writers room that, like, everyone was really enjoying this bit. Great. Fantastic. Then I think we all collectively blacked out. And when we woke up, the writers had written scenes for Philly Justice.

[Morgan Sackett]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

Like a 20 page script.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. Like writers, it should be noted in comedy rooms, will take any excuse not to work.

[Amy Poehler]

Of course, writing is the worst.

[Mike Schur]

It's the worst. And it's. And if there's like a fun. A more fun thing. Yeah, great.

[Amy Poehler]

Totally.

[Mike Schur]

I do remember at one point divvying up scenes for Philly justice the way that a good showrunner would be like, okay, why don't you guys take act one of the next episode and you take act two and whatever. And instead I was like, okay, you guys write the scene where Adam Scott and whoever are, like, fighting, and you take the scene where Rasheeda's doing this. And we just started writing scenes, fake scenes for a fake show that didn't exist for you in character while we.

[Amy Poehler]

Were making another show.

[Mike Schur]

Correct. Now we have. In season four of the show, we have built the city council chambers where Leslie was hoping to work someday. The city council chambers looked kinda like a courtroom if you squinted.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

So it was like, okay. And then at some point, I remember Morgan Sackett.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep. Who we're gonna talk to today coming.

[Mike Schur]

In and saying, like, I think we can shoot all of this stuff in the. In the city council chamber. And I don't remember when we decided to shoot it. I like that. Again, we blacked out.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

But suddenly we were just gonna do this. We were going to make. We were gonna use NBC resources while we're supposed to be making the show.

[Amy Poehler]

They paid for, which never suffered.

[Mike Schur]

Never suffered. And we were going to take some of those resources and divert them without anyone knowing, to a different part of the same set and then shoot the scenes from Philly Justice. And by the way, this is very important for everyone to understand to no end. There was not a point to this. It wasn't like, we're gonna put this on the DVD or we're going to. This is like a backdoor pilot, or if this works, we could really do X, Y, and Z.

[Amy Poehler]

And it wasn't like, viral. It wasn't like, we're gonna make a viral thing or we're gonna be talking about it 15, 16 years later.

[Mike Schur]

No, it was because it was fun. And really, the thing that I think is the most important thing to get across is that that show was so fun to work on. Everyone was almost singularly devoted to the concept of having fun. And this just seemed fun. And we didn't question it. We didn't ask why we were doing it. Morgan's job, basically, is to, like, make the show that we're making. He was as gung ho about this as anyone. He was like, yeah, of course we. Of course we have to do this. Like, we have to do this. And then next thing I know, well, then a bunch of stuff happens, and I don't want to go too far.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I think this might be a good time to jump onto our zoom. Perfect time, actually. Because we're going to be joined on our Zoom with the cast of Philly justice, basically. And what we'll figure. What we'll discuss when we get everybody is there was a casting change.

[Mike Schur]

I forgot about that.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. And also what we'll talk about is this small joke became hours of emails, character descriptions, tons of scripts, an actual shoot day, a trailer that we're gonna show at the end. And nobody has seen this particular trailer.

[Mike Schur]

It's very exciting.

[Amy Poehler]

Now, we did put on the end of one of the blooper reels, like a small kind of like fake trailer of Philly Justice.

[Mike Schur]

We did, yes.

[Amy Poehler]

But we never showed the real deal. And not only are we gonna show it to our on this podcast, but we're also a lot of the people here today have never seen it. And we're gonna watch them watch it in real time.

[Mike Schur]

Very exciting.

[Amy Poehler]

And just like those video games. And we're gonna play video games over them watching the video.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. And then I'm gonna twitch. I'm gonna do a Twitch stream that has that in a small square while I play Castlevania.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And then me and Kai Snat are gonna go out and give out Nintendo. We're gonna Philly Justice.

[Mike Schur]

And then that whole thing will be on a video on a phone that Mr. Beast is holding at the NBA Slam.

[Amy Poehler]

Dunk Contest when he jumps out of the hell. Okay, so let's see. Do we have anyone on yet? Oh, my gosh. This is exciting. This episode is brought to you by Degree Cool Rush deodorant. I'm a big fan of people owning their mistakes, like how last year, Degree changed their Cool Rush formula, and men were mad. One guy even started a petition so Degree listened, admitted they messed up, and they're now bringing the OG Cool Rush scent back. It's clean, crisp, and fresh. No wonder it's been the number one men's antiperspirant for the last decade. And it's in Walmart, Target, and other stores now for under $4. Just look for the light blue one. Degree Cool Rush is back, and it smells like victory for everyone. So joining us now, Rashida Jones, Morgan Sackett, and Adam Scott. Welcome, everybody.

[Rashida Jones]

Thank you so much.

[Adam Scott]

Thanks. Thanks for having us.

[Amy Poehler]

Where is everyone zooming from?

[Rashida Jones]

I'm upstairs. A barbecue. Family barbecue.

[Amy Poehler]

Great.

[Rashida Jones]

In la.

[Amy Poehler]

Morgan?

[Morgan Sackett]

I'm at home in la.

[Amy Poehler]

Adam.

[Adam Scott]

I'm in New York and I'm. I happen to be in Aziz's apartment right now.

[Amy Poehler]

And is Aziz there?

[Adam Scott]

No, no, he's. I locked him out. He's downstairs he can't get in.

[Mike Schur]

Banging on the door.

[Adam Scott]

That's right. He's furious.

[Mike Schur]

Wait, Sheeta, Upstairs at a barbecue?

[Rashida Jones]

Yeah, not mine. I'm in a. I'm in a. A person's home. I asked them where their office was. This is where I am.

[Amy Poehler]

So thank you.

[Adam Scott]

That's always the best place at a barbecue is just upstairs by yourself, away.

[Rashida Jones]

From in, like, a stranger's office. It's great.

[Mike Schur]

Just going through their stuff.

[Rashida Jones]

There's Emmys up here. Just telling you guys.

[Mike Schur]

Dang.

[Amy Poehler]

Whose barbecue is this? Can we guess whose barbecue it is?

[Mike Schur]

It's also a barbecue.

[Adam Scott]

And he's not allowed in.

[Mike Schur]

He's also not there. He's not in either place.

[Adam Scott]

By the way, guys, where's Aziz?

[Rashida Jones]

Yeah, I haven't heard from him in years.

[Mike Schur]

If Aziz walks through the background of Morgan's zoom right now, it'll be the greatest moment in the history of podcasting.

[Amy Poehler]

I guess we wanted to just start Morgan, if we could. We were talking about how this picture on set then became a private joke that then became a show that then was written by the writers while we were actually doing a real show. So what do you remember about the first time you heard about it? And could you talk to us about the email that you sent?

[Mike Schur]

And also, how were you this irresponsible that you allowed this to happen on your watch? Yeah, really?

[Morgan Sackett]

It just sort of floated around for a while.

[Mike Schur]

Everybody.

[Morgan Sackett]

I don't know, I thought Colleen, who was our photographer forever, took it, but I talked to her this week. She didn't. I don't know who snapped that, but little did they know, it was just.

[Adam Scott]

With one of our phones.

[Rashida Jones]

It was on my phone, and we got somebody to do it. I don't remember who did it, but.

[Mike Schur]

Okay, so you commissioned the photo yourself because you were enjoying how you all looked in your smartly tailored suits. Okay.

[Rashida Jones]

We were enjoying ourselves.

[Mike Schur]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

The photo was commissioned like actors do. We were like, look at how cool we look. Let's take another photo. We were like, we've been photographed all day, but yet it's still not enough, Right?

[Mike Schur]

Not enough cameras.

[Rashida Jones]

I don't feel satisfied somehow, while people.

[Adam Scott]

Around us are doing work, like setting up the next shot, carrying cameras and equipment stuff, we're like, look at us in front of this, you know, Just like.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. We were like, rashida, somebody take a picture with Rashida's camera. How cool we look.

[Mike Schur]

And Rashida, do I have it right? I thought I remembered that you were the one who first said the words Philly justice As if it were a fake show. Do I have that right or do you remember?

[Rashida Jones]

I mean, I'm not going to take credit, but it's probably right because I mean, I spent two years on a David Kelly show and like a, you know, in Davy Kelly land. And I think I was like, this is a procedural. This is like a legal procedural. Maybe. I don't know. My memory's not great, but I'll take credit.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, if you pay attention. Everybody is facing one way except for Adam and that really did end up informing his character. Yeah, everybody. Yeah. So Adam is the rebel.

[Adam Scott]

Nick something, right?

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, Nick. Yeah, we'll get to Nick. So Morgan, you are busy working on a show and you hear this stupid thing and you're like, you just hear us talking about it. When did you realize that you wanted to be part of making it into a trailer?

[Morgan Sackett]

I don't know.

[Amy Poehler]

I think we.

[Morgan Sackett]

It just kept coming up and it's like. And I. I feel like it was when we had that. The city council chambers, you know, that Leslie. And we're like that courtroom. And then we knew the Barclay group was coming up, which was Hans characters like high end DC lobbying firm. And it's like that looks like a law office. So I said we just talked about it forever and noodled around scripts and you guys had a very active chat going on about it. And I sent out an email. We. I have the email.

[Amy Poehler]

Can you read? Morgan, can you read us the email?

[Morgan Sackett]

Sure. Dear cast of Philly justice, we're planning to shoot Wednesday, September 19th. The brief storyline is that there's an EPK for Philly justice pilot shot in the spring of 2002. We're talking to Dylan McDermott and it looks like we'll work it out to have him join us. We also may get an interview with David E. Kelly, which we really thought we were going to get. We should decide what angle we want to take with him. He wrote it, he saw it, he hated it, he advised Dylan not to do it, et cetera. We're planning to convert the Barkley Group set into the offices of Billy justice team. We're also going to set up a courtroom set. The plan is to shoot a couple of short scenes for the pilot and then interviews with the cast. Most of these will play out in the interview segments. The plan is to dress and groom everyone as 2002 lawyers. That need from everybody is character names and backgrounds. Any bits you want to try in a name for the law firm, please respond. And at the end I said, thanks, Morgan. Sackett, assistant to the associate producer of Philly Joe.

[Mike Schur]

Okay, Morgan, why?

[Rashida Jones]

I just want to know why, Morgan, why. Why did you. Why did you let this.

[Morgan Sackett]

I remember emailing David Kelly's people, and he was in, and then I got a call, like, two days before he was going to come, and it's like, I'm sorry. From, like, some big ca. Agent or something. Like, I'm sorry, what is this?

[Adam Scott]

Of course. And they killed it.

[Morgan Sackett]

That went away very quickly.

[Adam Scott]

I remember getting that email and being so. Because there were, like, rumblings like, we're actually. I think we might shoot something and the writers might be coming up with something. And then getting the email and knowing for sure Morgan was on board meant that we might actually be doing this.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Adam Scott]

If he puts his brain on it, time will be carved out. And it was. I remember just being so excited that we were gonna get to do it.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Because we'd been talking about at that point maybe for, like, six months or so. I don't know. Did we figure out how long from when we had taken the picture to.

[Mike Schur]

When we shot this?

[Amy Poehler]

How long?

[Mike Schur]

I don't think it was that long.

[Morgan Sackett]

It was at least most of a season. It was, like, in between.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, I thought it was a while.

[Amy Poehler]

Rashida, do you have any memory of that early part?

[Rashida Jones]

I can't believe how long it was. I'm, like, in shock that we spent. I do remember there was a lot of. We talked a lot about our backstories, not just as characters, but as the people playing the characters and how we interacted with each other on the set of Philly Justice. So it was like meta, meta, meta. Like many, many levels of Inception.

[Amy Poehler]

Had.

[Rashida Jones]

Been crafted to really support the truth of this experience.

[Mike Schur]

I feel like you two and Han and whoever and Amy who were on the chat had gotten. You had done so much work in just, like, in texting and, like, doing the bit of the show that you had accidentally created this very elaborate backstory. And one of the pieces of the backstory was that Dylan McDermott had been in the pilot. He, of course, a veteran of the Practice and of other shows like that. And then at some point. And this is where we need Morgan, when did we reach out to. To Dylan McDermott to say, we're doing this insane thing for no reason. Do you want to be a part of it? And how did that go exactly? Do you remember?

[Morgan Sackett]

I think that we wanted to do it, and we're like, we have these sets and we can shoot it. And Rudd was doing a movie or something was not available.

[Amy Poehler]

Right. That should be clear that Paul Rudd was not available. So instead of killing the fake show within the real show, we said, let's recast with Dylan McDermott, who very, very nicely said, yes, I'm in. He didn't even. He said. I don't even think he said, what is this? He just said, I'm game. I'm in.

[Mike Schur]

Well, also. So then the. But the lore in the meta, meta, meta world became that Paul Rudd had been that character and had been recast after the table read and been replaced by Dylan McDermott, which is why he was gonna be in it and not Paul.

[Amy Poehler]

And during that time, we started talking about our characters and if we have a second. Cause I know I don't have everybody for very long. If we could read the character descriptions of our characters. Bones, now you're in a car. I see you're in a car.

[Mike Schur]

Fleeing the.

[Amy Poehler]

Now you're driving.

[Rashida Jones]

This is a real active zoom here. I'm gonna. Yes, yes, I'm here.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, I'm sending you the character description. Are you actually driving or is someone driving?

[Rashida Jones]

No. Wouldn't that be terrible?

[Amy Poehler]

No. Okay. Okay, so if I may have our actors here, and then we'll fill in with Hans and Rudd, McDermott's character.

[Mike Schur]

Sure.

[Amy Poehler]

Rashida, would you mind telling us the character you came up with for Filly Justice? So when we watch the trailer, we know what kind of stuff you were working with.

[Rashida Jones]

Yeah, yeah, you got it. Okay. So I was. I was playing Joey Martinez, who was a first year associate. She had a really rough background. Like, she came from a hard family background. She doesn't like to talk, but she's the one that gives it to you straight when you don't ask for her opinion. And that's the beauty of Joey, is that even when you don't ask, she's gonna tell you what she thinks.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, that's Joey.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, that's Joey.

[Rashida Jones]

That's Joey. And women don't like her in the Firm. Like, especially Holly, but women in general don't like her in the Firm because.

[Amy Poehler]

She'S, you know, And Holly was my character. And it was fun for us to play enemies.

[Mike Schur]

I'm sorry, I just got the text that Polar sent with these descriptions. They are so long. They're so long.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Mike Schur]

There's hundreds of characters. There's more work put into this than there was into the actual characters from Parks and Rec.

[Rashida Jones]

Yeah, well, that's what. That's when it makes sense that we spent six months. That's when it really really makes sense.

[Amy Poehler]

All right, Adam, do you want to talk to us about your character?

[Adam Scott]

Sure. Nick Bellows. He's a district attorney. He rides his motorcycle to work. Leather jacket with a tie, was one of the fastest rising attorneys in Manhattan, and was being groomed for partner at Powers, Cooper and Powers under the tutelage of his mentor slash father figure, Blaine Powers.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh.

[Adam Scott]

But the morning of September 11, 2001, Nick was late to work because he was in bed with a woman he'd been secretly seeing. Melina Powers. Blaine Powers, wife.

[Mike Schur]

Whoa.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The location of Powers, Cooper and Powers offices. World Trade center, north tower, 67th floor. Bellows is the only survivor from his firm.

[Mike Schur]

Wow. Unbelievable backstory.

[Amy Poehler]

This is quite a backstory.

[Adam Scott]

It's crazy. I mean, think about the guilt.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, I can't imagine.

[Adam Scott]

Just below the surface, you know? So Bellows went off the grid. He was believed to have perished along with his colleagues. But in fact, he grabbed his suitcase, leather jacket, and a.357 Magnum and found his way to Afghanistan, determined to fight for justice in the one place, the only place that truly needs it.

[Mike Schur]

Good Lord, that's also not true. There's a lot of places that need justice. Yeah, quite a few.

[Adam Scott]

Bellows has more demons than he can count. Now that he's back, he's on the right side of the law. He cares about only one thing. One thing and one thing only. Justice.

[Amy Poehler]

Wow.

[Mike Schur]

So just to be clear, he's a district attorney who works at this law firm. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

For some reason, he is at a private law firm.

[Rashida Jones]

We didn't know. We didn't know know.

[Mike Schur]

You know, he went. Wait, see? 9, 11 made him get. Grab a pistol and go to Afghanistan.

[Adam Scott]

Get his leather jacket and a gun and go to. I guess, independent of the armed forces.

[Mike Schur]

He's just over there.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, but he just went over there on his own.

[Mike Schur]

Hey, guys. Hey, guys. How can I help?

[Amy Poehler]

So I'll. I'll blaze through the other fast ones. So then we had Katherine Hahn, who was Valerie McNeil, partner, criminal prosecutor. A machine. And no kids, never married. She isn't here. She also is very tough. She cares about the case over everyone else. And in the trailer, there's a moment where you and Catherine kiss. Adam.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm not sure why, but I always remembered it, like, what's the Mandela effect? I always remembered it as Rashida and Catherine kissing.

[Mike Schur]

Oh, wait, no, you're not wrong. There was a joke, and this is now coming back to me. I think there was a joke that we were gonna Do a scene where, like, Adam and Catherine kissed, and then Adam and Rashida kissed, and then Catherine and Rasheeda kissed, and it was. It was like everyone is. Is, like making out with everyone.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. I remembered it as such, and I even said it on the pod, and a lot of people were excited to see that. And I just want to let everybody know that doesn't happen in the trailer. I'm so sorry.

[Adam Scott]

There is no footage of that.

[Mike Schur]

All right, what's your character?

[Amy Poehler]

And very quickly, mine is Hollywood. Let's see. Holly McIntyre, Jr. Partner, head prosecutor, stiff and quick to anger. Doesn't make friends easily. Everybody doesn't make friends.

[Mike Schur]

Everyone's the same.

[Amy Poehler]

Her dad is Cameron McIntyre, owner of the firm. Oh, she's the daddy's girl. Yeah. And she's really worked her butt off to be taken seriously. She's a tough litigator. Her father, played by Corbin Bernson, thinks that she cares too much. She does.

[Mike Schur]

Wait, I'm sorry. Read the one right before that.

[Amy Poehler]

Holly became a lawyer after a bunch of kids in her town died from lead poisoning.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah, sure.

[Mike Schur]

Jesus.

[Amy Poehler]

She's hard on Joey Martinez, but only because she sees a lot of herself in her. Yeah. And she tends to go for married men who are older and a little mean. And then we also have Shane Chains. His name is Shane Chains.

[Mike Schur]

That's Dylan's character's name.

[Amy Poehler]

Also, let's not forget Nick Offerman played the judge. Yeah, Nick. He says he remembers nothing other than he was just hanging around and someone said, can you play the judge? Do you remember that, Morgan?

[Morgan Sackett]

Yeah, I remember. We were talking about the next day we were doing it. It's like, you guys don't work tomorrow? And Nick's like, I'll come in tomorrow.

[Mike Schur]

What do you. What do I do?

[Morgan Sackett]

And I said, we need a judge.

[Amy Poehler]

All right, well, we are very excited. We're going to have a world premiere.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And, you know, it's really exciting. I mean, there's not a lot of things that we've just kept in a vault for all this time.

[Mike Schur]

No. We threw almost everything we did and then wrote new stuff for the gag reels that we would release just to let people enjoy the goofiness of the show. But this has remained locked in a vault. So this would have been made in what, Morgan? 2011. 2012. Wow. So it's 13 years old.

[Adam Scott]

It's been 13 years.

[Amy Poehler]

That's pretty wild.

[Rashida Jones]

I just want to say a lot of people have asked me, like, what the life. What the what the future life of Philly justice is. Yeah, I mean, we got to. You know, it's. It could be nothing, but I think that people are very interested and, you.

[Mike Schur]

Know, or it could be. It could be rebooted.

[Morgan Sackett]

Made me called about doing this. I'm like, this is going to end with us shooting more Philly justice.

[Rashida Jones]

This is what I'm saying is that that's what I hope happens. Like rebooting a show that never happened. I mean, there's nothing better than that, Rashida.

[Amy Poehler]

Philly has never needed more just than now. I mean, justice is needed. So I think it's time to make it.

[Mike Schur]

I mean, if there's ever a time, it's now.

[Rashida Jones]

Couldn't agree more.

[Amy Poehler]

I will say that people that are listening to Good hang. We hear you. You have been demanding to see this. It is released. Philly justice. Now, that has been many of the comments. The comments are like the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards Philly justice. Show it to me. Amy, Parentheses, Rachel, release the tape. Or accidentally group text it to all of us, which is another great one. Please, please, please, please. In the words of Leslie Knope, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. So we are listening. We're learning, we're sharing, we are going to play and. And will they be able to see it on the zoom? Okay, you guys ready to watch it?

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, here we go. Yes.

[Adam Scott]

Really exciting.

[Mike Schur]

Amy, are you gonna play it from your.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, I am supposed to play it. I'm supposed to play.

[Rashida Jones]

There we go.

[Adam Scott]

Oh, my God.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm in charge. Oh, no. Oh, no.

[Adam Scott]

You have to keep that. 17 seconds of silence.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. So sorry about that, guys. Thank you for waiting. Here we go.

[Mike Schur]

For the first time ever on dvd, the legendary courtroom drama that no one has ever seen.

[Amy Poehler]

Any more witnesses, counselor? Just one, your honor. Just Joey Martinez, the defense attorney.

[Mike Schur]

What?

[Rashida Jones]

This is preposterous. Your honor, you can't possibly.

[Amy Poehler]

Overruled.

[Rashida Jones]

I hope you know what you're doing, McNeil.

[Amy Poehler]

Just follow my lead.

[Mike Schur]

The show that broke all the rules.

[Adam Scott]

Your honor, I only have one more witness.

[Mike Schur]

It's you. You can't do that. The courtroom drama that revolutionized television forever.

[Adam Scott]

The hell are you doing here?

[Mike Schur]

What the hell are you doing here?

[Adam Scott]

I work here now.

[Mike Schur]

I work here now.

[Adam Scott]

So do I.

[Mike Schur]

So do I.

[Adam Scott]

Well, we'll see about that.

[Mike Schur]

Well, we will see about that.

[Amy Poehler]

Keep your history in your pants, boys. These lawyers play by their own rules.

[Adam Scott]

Permission to treat the witness as beautiful?

[Mike Schur]

Granted. And they play for keeps.

[Adam Scott]

Counselor, will you marry me?

[Amy Poehler]

She can't she's already married to her job.

[Mike Schur]

Brief it home for the first time.

[Amy Poehler]

Sh.

[Adam Scott]

You're a playboy and a social climber. I'm a rebel and an outlaw who plays by his own rules. Of course, they're never going to let me in their little club and experience.

[Mike Schur]

What no one else has ever had the chance to experience. Let there be justice in Philadelphia once again. Amy P. Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Kathryn Hahn, and Dylan McDermott. I'm a judge now, and you're guilty. Your Honor. Philly justice coming this spring on dvd.

[Amy Poehler]

Welcome to Philly, bitch. Wow.

[Mike Schur]

Wow. Yes, wow.

[Amy Poehler]

Wow.

[Morgan Sackett]

I feel like whoever rode Perfect wrote, heard Happily's intros, wrote the text for that trailer.

[Mike Schur]

Wait, Morgan, I have an important question for you, and I don't want to get too inside baseball. Is that Steadicam? That is right.

[Morgan Sackett]

Maybe.

[Mike Schur]

Did we hire a Steadicam operator? We never used Steadicam on the show once. Probably. We hired a Steadicam operator to shoot that.

[Adam Scott]

It looked like Steadicam to me.

[Morgan Sackett]

Yeah, it probably was.

[Mike Schur]

Do you remember? Did we. I think it was. We built a rig.

[Morgan Sackett]

We were gonna do these walk and talks down the hallways. I think.

[Amy Poehler]

You know, it really is shorter and less exciting than we really built it up to be.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's. It's.

[Rashida Jones]

We shot more. That was just. That was the trailer.

[Amy Poehler]

That's the trailer.

[Mike Schur]

That's the trailer. Right. Somewhere there. Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

We were shooting, like, an episode.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah, essentially.

[Adam Scott]

Right.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

We never finished it.

[Morgan Sackett]

And we were shooting an EPK to go around the pilot.

[Rashida Jones]

It.

[Mike Schur]

Right. Yeah, There's. There's definitely. My guess would be that we looked at all of the footage and we're like, this is a trailer. The way to do this is a trailer. Not like long scenes or something. I. My favorite part of it is when, Adam, when you say you're a social climber and a playboy. I'm a rebel who plays by his own rules. You're just, like, speaking the bios of the characters out loud. That's right. Right. But in character.

[Amy Poehler]

And you bring your motorcycle helmet to court.

[Mike Schur]

Yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Also, I'm confused as to who is able to object. There's a lot of objecting.

[Mike Schur]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I mean, I feel like it. As Mike said, it was an example of how much fun we were having and how much fun we were allowed to have. So thank you, Mike and Morgan, for making Philly Justice a reality.

[Mike Schur]

I mean, our absolute fun.

[Amy Poehler]

Thank you, Rashida, for naming the show.

[Rashida Jones]

Oh, my pleasure.

[Amy Poehler]

And, Adam, thank you for your work in Afghanistan. It Seems like. Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Scott]

Thank you. No, thank you. Thanks for creating space for me to go to Afghanistan with your pistol. With a gun. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And I know. I'm sure Aziz is right off frame out of frame there, so tell Aziz I'm sorry he wasn't in it.

[Adam Scott]

Aziz, everyone says, hey, sorry you weren't in Philly Justice. Oh, he just walked out.

[Mike Schur]

Oh, he's in Rashida's car now.

[Rashida Jones]

Oh, he's here. Aziz, everybody says thank you.

[Amy Poehler]

All right, thank you guys so much for jumping on. It means a lot, and I think this will be a very special episode.

[Adam Scott]

Thanks for doing this. So fun.

[Mike Schur]

Bye, y' all.

[Amy Poehler]

Love you guys. Love all of you.

[Adam Scott]

Bye, guys. Love you.

[Amy Poehler]

Love you, Morgan. Let's get Philly justice back together. Let's get a call sheet. Morgies. All right. Thanks, all. And thank you, Mike, for joining and talking about this. It was the best.

[Mike Schur]

It was so fun.

[Amy Poehler]

So fun. Love you.

[Mike Schur]

Love you too.

[Amy Poehler]

Bye, all. That was amazing. We got to see the trailer of Philly justice, which really was the only thing we ended up making, and. And we got to talk to the great Mike Scher, who we need to have back to talk more about Parks and Rec, because there's just so much to talk to him about. And if you want. If you're listening to this podcast and you want to watch it, you can go to Spotify or YouTube and see it there. It's only there on our podcast, but, you know, also, it might just be fun hearing it described and never watch it. But either way, thank you to everybody who joined us. And I think there's one person that's just joining our Zoom right now that we were trying to get. Let's see if we can. There she is. Catherine Han. Catherine, you missed it. Catherine, I'm sorry. We. We did talk about your character, though, and we're. Thanks, Katherine Ahn. Zooming in. Zooming in. I love you so much. Zooming in. Muted.

[Rashida Jones]

Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, bye. Thank you so much, man. I love my friends. Okay. Better late than never. I'll take her any way I can get her. Okay. Thanks, everybody. See you soon. You've been listening to Good hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by the Ringer and Paper Kite. For the Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, cat Spillane, Kaia McMullen, and Alaia Zaneris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy Miles. I ever wanted was a really good hay. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Summer is almost here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats Eats. What do I mean by almost? Well, you can't get a summer blockbuster delivered, but you can get a block of cheese, a cabana that's a no. But a banana, that's a yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost. Almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now for alcohol. You must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. C App for D this episode is brought to you by degree Cool Rush deodorant. I'm a big fan of people owning their mistakes. Like how last year, Degree changed their Cool Rush formula and men were mad. One guy even started a petition so degree listened, admitted they messed up. And they're now bringing the OG Cool Rush scent back. It's clean, crisp, and fresh. No wonder it's been the number one men's antiperspirant for the last decade. And it's in Walmart, Target, and other stores now for under $4. Just look for the light blue one. Degree Cool Rush is back and it smells like victory for everyone.