Leslie arranges for a reporter to do a story about her park project, but she and her committee have the worst time staying on topic. She then calls Mark to help her save the story, but it ends up hurting more than helping. Meanwhile, Tom does all he can to suck up to his boss.
Early-season awkwardness: 66 jokes in 23 minutes, but cringe outweighs laughs consistently.
Directed by Jeffrey Blitz · Written by Daniel J. Goor
WAR
16.2
Wins Above Replacement
“The Reporter” ranks #96 of 98 Parks and Recreation episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 69.1 — Mixed. The episode packs 66 scored jokes at 2.8 per minute, averaging 6.6 on craft and 5.9 on impact, with Leslie landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
Get weekly comedy rankings
Join comedy fans getting new analyses, score drops, and the funniest moments each week. Free, no spam.
Top Jokes
Ron: Tom is lazy, incompetent, and has no integrity whatsoever.
Ron: Which makes him the perfect government employee.
Ron Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Leslie: I'm still being haunted by that graffiti removal failure. Every night I see it in my dreams.
Leslie: But now it's worse. I'm being haunted by one penis in particular.
Leslie Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Shauna: One person said the park is 'worse than a dumpster fire.' Another said it's 'worse than that time a sinkhole swallowed a bus.' Someone compared it to 'the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.' And then this one person just wrote, 'worse than my marriage.'
Leslie: Well, at least the asteroid part was factually accurate.
Leslie: That doesn't even make sense! A blanket is nothing like a government!
Leslie: And another thing - you can't just compare taxes to ice cream cones!
Leslie: That's... that's not how logic works! A pothole is not a metaphor for democracy!
Leslie: Okay, you know what? Fine. A sandwich is exactly like city zoning regulations. You happy now?
Leslie Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Mark: Her first question is gonna be about the silent K in 'knife.'
Leslie: Actually, there is no silent K in 'knife.' The K is completely silent. It's just the word 'nife.' I've checked multiple sources.
All Jokes — 66 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jerry: You can't eat a plant with spikes because it's poisonous.
Jerry: It would hurt.
Jerry Deadpan/Understatement Observational Leslie: We used to do teenage nature hikes, but we switched to pre-teen because the teenage ones kept getting rained out.
Leslie: Apparently, once you hit puberty, you attract lightning.
Leslie Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Jerry: You don't eat honeysuckle.
Leslie: I'm eating it.
Leslie: This is all your fault, Jerry!
Jerry: What? I told you not to eat that!
Leslie: Well you should have been more convincing!
Jerry: You're like a dog that's been hit by a car. You just keep limping along, hopeful but clearly broken.
Leslie: Did you just compare me to a dog that's been hit by a car?
Jerry: Yes.
Leslie: Well, I've been hit by a car, Jerry. And I'm still here. Still fighting. Still believing in this town.
Leslie: The Pawnee Journal is basically the Washington Post of small-town Indiana newspapers. Which means it's nothing like the Washington Post.
Leslie Observational Character Comedy Leslie: We need to treat the press like weapons in an arsenal. Some are sniper rifles - precise, deadly, efficient. Others are howitzers - loud, destructive, but effective at clearing a path. And some are just... regular guns. They shoot bullets.
Leslie Character Comedy Absurdist Leslie: So the mural was supposed to be a beautiful representation of our town's history, but apparently the artist interpreted 'founding fathers' very literally, and now we have a giant penis on the side of the Parks Department building.
Ron: I don't see the problem.
Leslie: Ron, it's a municipal building. We can't have cartoon penises as our public art.
Tom: I think it really brings the space together.
April: I've seen worse things in the parks.
Leslie Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Leslie: I'm still being haunted by that graffiti removal failure. Every night I see it in my dreams.
Leslie: But now it's worse. I'm being haunted by one penis in particular.
Leslie Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Leslie: You can't have more than one styrofoam cup per person per day. And you can't have more than one styrofoam cup per person per day.
Ann: I've learned so much working in government, and I feel like I've really made a difference in this community. I've helped with so many initiatives and programs, and I'm really proud of the work we've—wait, did I ever get my recycling bin?
Ann Character Comedy Observational Leslie: This diner is where all the political elite gather to discuss matters of great importance.
Leslie: It has plastic booths, a counter with spinning stools, and a handwritten menu taped to the window.
Leslie Visual Gag Character Comedy Mark: So you have any media experience?
Leslie: Well, I was interviewed by the middle school newspaper once.
Mark: Oh yeah? What about?
Leslie: It was a total smear job. They said I was 'overly enthusiastic' and 'didn't understand the concept of recess.'
Mark: Her first question is gonna be about the silent K in 'knife.'
Leslie: Actually, there is no silent K in 'knife.' The K is completely silent. It's just the word 'nife.' I've checked multiple sources.
Mark: How much did you prepare for this?
Leslie: I made a list of thirty questions I'm going to ask you.
Mark: Of course you did.
Leslie: Mark and I have been through a lot together. We've seen each other at our worst. I once threw up on his shoes at a Sweetums party, and he never said a word about it. That's friendship.
Leslie Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Leslie Knope: And this is our storage closet. We keep all our important documents here.
Jerry Gergich: Oh no! Who left this door open?!
Jerry Gergich: The raccoons are going to get in! The raccoons are going to get in!
Unknown Physical/Slapstick Escalation Callback Leslie: Yes! Nature's bandits! That's exactly what they are. They're like little masked criminals, but instead of robbing banks, they're robbing our garbage cans. Which, honestly, is kind of adorable when you think about it.
Leslie Callback Character Comedy Callback Leslie: This mural depicts the founding of Pawnee. See, there's the river, the native peoples, and then over here is where the settlers brutally murdered them all. It's a beautiful piece of our town's history.
Leslie Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Shauna: This mural is pretty controversial.
Leslie: Yeah, we get complaints about it every single day.
Ron: No comment.
Shauna: I haven't asked you anything yet.
Ron: I work fast.
Ron: Tom, you can't spell a three-letter word. You're an idiot.
Ron Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Tom: Ron and I have this beautiful thing where I'm constantly trying to impress him, and I'm constantly failing. It's like a dance. A dance that I'm losing. Every single time. But I keep dancing.
Tom Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Leslie: This is Tom Haverford, our department's... entrepreneur.
Tom: I'm smooth like milk chocolate.
Unknown - presumably someone reacting to Tom: That's a weird way to describe me.
Leslie: This is April Ludgate. She's our new parks department secretary, and she chose to work here, which means she has terrible judgment.
Leslie Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Reporter: Can I record this?
Leslie: Yes! Absolutely. I love being recorded. I have a very recordable face. It photographs well from all angles. My voice is also very record-friendly. It's a warm, mellifluous tone that really translates well to audio formats.
Leslie Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Reporter: So you're heading up this new committee?
Leslie: Actually, it's a subcommittee. There's a very important distinction.
Leslie Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Andy: So I was in this band called Four Skin, and we were pretty good. We had like a really solid following in Pawnee. But then our drummer got arrested, so we had to change our name to Three Skin.
Andy Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Andy: I went into the pit because there was this illogical desire for a random toaster at the bottom of a pit.
Andy Absurdist Character Comedy Shauna: Why would you put a toaster in a bathtub?
Andy: I was drunk.
Andy: You knew I was drunk?
Ann: What? No!
Andy: Oh my God, you knew the whole time?
Ann: I didn't know anything!
Ann: Andy, you could die. You have a serious medical condition.
Andy: Ann, I'm not going to die. I'm just going to get blackout drunk.
Andy: Look, I didn't eat the last waffle. Ask Ann, she'll tell you.
Ann: Andy, why would I—
Andy: Because she's on birth control, so she's used to keeping track of things!
Andy Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Andy: I've been struggling with my sexuality since I was a kid.
Ann: Thanks for sharing that with a reporter, Andy.
Ann Irony/Sarcasm Reaction Beat Leslie: You know what? The press is like a shark. It can smell blood in the water from a thousand miles away. And once it does, it circles. And circles. And then it attacks.
Leslie Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Callback Leslie: We have a crisis on our hands. The interview revealed several major problems: the pothole on Ramsett Street, the crumbling infrastructure at City Hall, and Ann's birth control.
Leslie Cringe/Discomfort Escalation Tom: Do you think I'm in the top five best-looking Indian guys in Pawnee?
Tom Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Tom: Am I in your top five best-looking guys?
April: No.
Tom: Top ten?
April: No.
Tom: Well, who's ahead of me?
April: Literally almost everyone.
Ron: Tom can't play Scrabble. He doesn't have the intellectual capacity. Last week he tried to use the word 'Q' as a standalone tile. When I told him that wasn't allowed, he argued with me for twenty minutes about the rules of a game he's played since childhood. He's an idiot. His mother's an idiot. His father's an idiot. And his ex-wife Wendy is a bitch.
Ron Escalation Character Comedy Ron: She's a bitch.
Ron: A serious bitch.
Ron Escalation Character Comedy Leslie: She wears her lanyard on the outside of her shirt. She microwaves fish in the office kitchen. She refers to herself in the third person. She once told me that she doesn't believe in email. And most damning of all, she's dating Mark Brendanawicz.
Leslie Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Shauna: What's the lot size?
Leslie: I don't know, maybe like... a lot? A regular lot? It's got the lot things on it, you know, dirt and trees and... molecules.
Tom: I just played 'qi' on a triple word score. That's 47 points. I am dominating this game.
April: Yeah, about that. Ron and I have a thing where I let him win at games so he doesn't get angry and fire us.
April: You just ruined six months of work.
Tom: Wait, what?
Tom April Character Comedy Escalation Callback Leslie: I would never hire someone just because they're family. That would be nepotism, and nepotism is wrong.
Leslie: Also, my sister starts Monday.
Leslie Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Leslie: The interview went really well. I think we really connected. She asked me about my vision for the Parks Department, and I talked about some of the initiatives I want to implement.
Leslie: Oh, and apparently Mark and Shauna have been having sex. I don't know when that started, but good for them, I guess.
Andy: I called it! I knew Mark and Shauna were gonna hook up!
Leslie: You did call that.
Ann: Yeah, you totally did.
Andy: It's like, we got a head and a butt, and just enough blood to run one of them at a time.
Andy Wordplay/Pun Cringe/Discomfort Andy: So Mark and Shauna, huh? I wonder if they use protection.
Ann: Andy, that's not really something you should be wondering about.
Andy: I'm just saying, Mark seems like the type of guy who'd be into like, helmets and knee pads and stuff. You know, for safety.
Mark: Leslie, I'm just saying, don't take this the wrong way.
Mark: But you're being kind of dorky right now.
Mark Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Leslie: Hi, yes, I know I've been acting strange all day. I found an old burrito in the back of my desk drawer and I think it gave me food poisoning.
Leslie: No, I don't know how long it's been there. No, I'm not going to a doctor. I'm going to ride this out with ginger ale and determination.
Leslie Absurdist Character Comedy Leslie: I'm not saying I have food poisoning. I'm saying that burrito was not a Mexican burrito.
Shauna: What does that mean?
Leslie: It means it was a burrito made by someone who hates Mexican people.
Leslie: The odds of this park getting made? I'd say... 100%.
Ben: Leslie, that's not how odds work.
Leslie: You're right. 150%.
Leslie Character Comedy Absurdist Shauna: One person said the park is 'worse than a dumpster fire.' Another said it's 'worse than that time a sinkhole swallowed a bus.' Someone compared it to 'the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.' And then this one person just wrote, 'worse than my marriage.'
Leslie: Well, at least the asteroid part was factually accurate.
Leslie: That doesn't even make sense! A blanket is nothing like a government!
Leslie: And another thing - you can't just compare taxes to ice cream cones!
Leslie: That's... that's not how logic works! A pothole is not a metaphor for democracy!
Leslie: Okay, you know what? Fine. A sandwich is exactly like city zoning regulations. You happy now?
Leslie Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Leslie: Who said the park would never happen?
Shauna: Mark did.
Leslie: Mark? Mark Brendanawicz?
Mark: Those quotes were off the record.
Leslie: Mark, that's not how journalism works. Once you say something to a reporter, it's on the record.
Mark: Well, nobody told me that.
Leslie: It's like... basic journalism 101.
Mark: I went to journalism school for a week.
Mark: I said, 'I'm not interested in talking to you about your problems.' She thought that was romantic because I was being honest.
Mark: And when I told her, 'I don't think you're very smart,' she said it was the most vulnerable thing anyone had ever said to her.
Mark: Even when I said, 'You're kind of a disappointment,' she took it as a sign that I cared enough to be critical.
Mark: We're not romantically involved. We barely know each other. I mean, I know her name is Shauna, but that's about it. We've never even been on a date.
Mark Cringe/Discomfort Escalation Tom: Lexicon is totally a word. It means like, a dictionary or a book of words. It's from Latin.
Tom: Wait, no. Lexicon is a Lexus. A Lexus is a fancy car. So lexicon is a fancy book of words.
Tom Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Ron: Your vocabulary is abysmal.
Tom: Well, my vocabullairy is just fine, thank you very much.
Ron Tom Character Comedy Escalation Ron: Tom is lazy, incompetent, and has no integrity whatsoever.
Ron: Which makes him the perfect government employee.
Ron Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Mark: It's over.
Tom: Wait, what? You slept with her?
Tom: Mark's like the human equivalent of a participation trophy. Nobody wanted him, but the system made us keep him around.
Tom Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Leslie: It says here that you spit on a police officer.
Ann: I didn't spit on him, I threw up on him. There's a difference.
Leslie: "We'll see." Oh! That's so encouraging! That means they're definitely going to do it!
Leslie Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch ⏩ The part you fast-forward
Our scorer flagged 03:10-04:01 mostly setup and character introductions as the stretch with the fewest or weakest comedic moments. Everything else lands harder.
Top Episodes — Parks and Recreation
