Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: Jim O’Heir, parks and recreation

Parks and Recreation: Jim O'Heir on 2020 Special, Reunion Talk & More

Parks and Recreation star Jim O'Heir spoke with Bleeding Cool about his favorite Jerry Gergich moments, chances of a reunion, and much more.

Jim O'Heir has an impressive filmography that most would be envious of. Since his debut in the TV adaptation of The Untouchables in 1993, the actor's appeared in some of the biggest shows in a career spanning three decades, including ER, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Ellen, The Drew Carey Show, Diagnosis Murder, Ally McBeal, Working, Star Trek: Voyager, Just Shoot Me, Boston Legal, Bosco, 9-1-1 among his over 200 projects. His biggest series, which is also his most successful, is the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, playing Gerald "Jerry" Gergich for all 124 episodes across all seven seasons from 2009-2015. Created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, the series follows the misadventures of local government staffers at Pawnee's Department of Parks and Recreation. While promoting his series book Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation, O'Heir spoke to Bleeding Cool about his favorite moment as Jerry, keeping up with his castmates since the series' end, the 2020 pandemic special, and the possibility of another reunion project.

Parks and Recreation Star Jim O'Heir on Revival/Reunion Possibilities

Bleeding Cool: What's your favorite Jerry moment?

There are so many. The day that always sticks in my head, not only for the character but for Jim O'Heir, was in the final season. We're wrapping up the show and my character gets to become the mayor of Pawnee. That day, I always say this to people like, "Who has this kind of day?" At the beginning of the day, I was shooting in a limousine with Amy Poehler, and we were laughing our butts off, having a great time. Then I get out of that limo for the next shot, and I'm being carried by centaurs or whatever these big burly guys were called; they're carrying me across the land and drop me off in front of a hot air balloon. In the next shot, I'm in the hot air balloon going up into the air; that is a crazy day. That can only happen in showbiz, and a day that will stick with me forever. It was one of my favorite things.

Who among your cast do you regularly keep up with?

We all keep up. We have a thing called the "Parks Family Text." Never two weeks go by when someone hasn't started to chatter about something. The other day, Amy sent us a thing about her kid and Mike Schur's kid was heading to the same summer program. Amy's boys are so big now, which makes no sense because she was pregnant with them when we started. Now they are teens and pre-teens, and so everybody is still tight. Everyone's lives are crazy in a wonderful way, Chris Pratt's all over the world. Amy's in New York and L.A. Everybody's everywhere, but the one I see in person would be Retta, who played Donna Meagle. She's one of my besties. I love her so much, so through technology, we're all still tight. Everybody gave me a blurb for the book, every one of them. They were so gracious and open. Chris Pratt's schedule is crazy when you hear him tell you and he still gave me time. He said, "This would be a fun trip down memory lane." I'm so grateful to all of them.

This leads me to my next question. During the pandemic, you all did the 2020 special, and there's this interest from streamers with reunion specials where casts come together and talk amongst themselves. Then there are special episodes or limited series revivals and movies, like with 'Community,' they're trying to work something out now. I imagine everyone's schedules are busier now, did you have any discussions with Greg, Mike, and anyone else about possibly doing a future project, reunion-wise?

Here's how it's gone down because Mike has always said he would only want to do something if there was a reason to do it. He wouldn't do it just to do it, but if some amazing story had to be told, like even the reunion special we had during the pandemic. We did it because of the network – and I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here – called Mike and Greg. I could be wrong about how this all happened, but they got word to them that we were looking to raise money to help homeless shelters and feed people. That is what sparked Mike to go, "Yeah, we can do this," and so he reached out to all of us and asked, "What do you guys think?" Every one of us, within 45 minutes, because it was all the text chain, were like, "Absolutely! Let's do it! Let's make it happen!"

We did that one and it was weird the way we had to shoot it. We weren't together. We did a table read over Zoom. I shot my stuff over Zoom, they sent cameras, then they got directors on computers, and it was all crazy. We talked about whether there would ever be the possibility of an in-person reunion, another short one, or whatever. All I can say is if Mike Schur and Greg Daniels called us and said, "Listen, we have this great idea, here's why we want to do it." I am speaking for everybody, and the schedules would all have to be worked out. That would be the toughest part.

I'm speaking for everybody because we've all talked about it. We would absolutely do that; everybody would. If you talked to everybody individually, they would say it was some of the best times of their career. I've heard Rob Lowe say that. I've said it, Pratt, Amy…It was a special place, and you have a chance to relive that. If it was the right time and schedules could be worked out, for sure there would be interest.

Harper Collins' Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation is available to preorder and release on November 19th. Parks and Rec, which also stars Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, and Adam Scott, is available to stream on Peacock. Check out part one here.

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