Remembering Harris Wittels

Last night, PARKS AND RECREATION ended its run as one of the most memorable comedies in recent history. And if you stayed for the end of the credits, you saw the special goodbye message to PARKS writer Harris Wittels, who last week died of a possible drug overdose. While nothing can approach the brilliant eulogy Aziz Ansari posted on Tumblr, I'll add that I spoke to Harris over email a few years ago, when PARKS was only a couple of seasons old, to request scripts for our library shelves. Our interaction was brief, but Harris was nothing but kind and generous and quick to help. In response, he gave me "Practice Date" and "94 Meetings," two hilarious second-season episodes. (We've since gotten our hands on a bunch more PARKS eps, and they're available to read in the library.)

Here's the hilarious teaser from "Practice Date," which introduces one of the many, many colorful residents of Pawnee (by the end, Pawnee was basically a live-action Springfield) and ends with a joke you can almost hear coming out of Amy Poehler's mouth:

And here's the catalyst scene from "94 Meetings," in which we find out that April has made a dire mistake. The scene encapsulates April, Ron and Leslie's demeanors perfectly: