Which Parks And Rec Character Are You?

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In the beginning, Parks & Recreation was a silly show about local government official trying to get a big landfill, or pit, filled after a nurse’s boyfriend breaks his leg by falling inside it. By the end, it was one of the warmest and most emotional shows on television, creating countless laughs while bringing viewers ever closer to a brilliantly written, expertly performed cast of hilarious characters.

To many fans and critics, the greatest character Parks & Recreation created wasn’t the firebrand Deputy Director of Parks turned City Councilwoman turned Governor of Indiana Leslie Knope, nor her friends in the office she starts her career. No, the best character on Parks & Rec was the town of Pawnee itself, TV’s strangest and silliest location since Springfield, filled with quirky characters from top to bottom. Of course, included in that is indeed Leslie and her friends, who may in fact be some of the most absurd people in their outrageous town.

Naturally, we mean absurd in the absolute best way, as that’s exactly how fans of Parks & Recreation wanted it. Leslie championed countless social causes in her day, and though keeping America weird was fairly low on her list, it might have been her greatest success. To find out whether your eccentricities are the same as hers, or maybe one of her coworkers, take our quiz and find out which Parks & Recreation character you are.

Question 1

How do you feel about the concept of government?

Okay, so this might look like a pretty weighty question to kick off a silly quiz about a sitcom. On the other hand, just about every character on Parks & Rec has some involvement with the local Pawnee government at one point or another throughout the shows run, so it seems wholly appropriate. That said, working for the government in and of itself doesn’t necessary mean an endorsement of the concept.

Question 2

What’s your dream job?

Although most of the characters on Parks & Rec are working in government, few of them are all that enthused about the concept. If anything, Pawnee Town Hall is merely a stepping stone to a much more bombastic career, or at least one that could serve a little more profitable than working for the state. Of course, others are exactly where they want to be, slowly climbing up the ladder they hope will lead to Washington.

Question 3

Which of the following describes your sense of humor?

Despite a common misconception that politics are stern, serious, and devoid of all entertainment, Parks & Rec somehow used the concept to create one of the funniest shows on TV. This dichotomy was accomplished almost entirely through the character’s incredible personalities, all uniquely hilarious in their own ways. If you were to make your way into the Pawnee government, what type of comedy would you bring to the table?

Question 4

What’s the weirdest thing about Pawnee?

As we mentioned already in the intro to this quiz, in many respects, Pawnee is the weirdest and best written character on Parks & Rec. No other town in the world would paint a massive mural of their inhabitants gleefully placing Jewish people in zoos on the walls of City Hall, nor punching women for graduating high school or slaughtering Native Americans for being Indians. Of course, those are negative commemorations of Pawnee’s past. What’s the weirdest thing about the place today?

Question 5

Do you consider yourself smart?

Ron Swanson will readily inform anyone who asks the mere fact a person works for the government in no way implies any level of intelligence. In fact, the only correlation may well be negative, with most governments both real and fictional generally filled with ineffective incompetents. That said, the cream occasionally rises to the top, and some smart people have made their way into Pawnee City Hall, as well. Would you be one of them?

Question 6

What’s your favorite Mouse Rat song?

Music plays a pretty big role in Parks & Rec, from Ben’s obsessive love of ‘90s alt rock like R.E.M. and Letters to Cleo to Ann teaching April all about Cyndi Lauper during their bonding session. However, those alleged icons of sound all take a backseat to the real greatest band in the world, Mouse Rat. Leader singer Andy Dwyer never wrote a bad song, but which of their classics is your favorite?

Question 7

How do you act when you get drunk?

By and large, politicians are supposed to appear straight-laced and professional in public, basically the exact opposite of the drunken mess that every Parks & Rec character would inevitably become at one point in the show or another. Hey, it’s not like we blame them—working in the government can be incredibly difficult, and nothing makes it easier to take a load off than a giant jug of pure grain alcohol. What happens to you after you drink it, though?

Question 8

Which of the following is your favorite US President?

Hopefully we can get through this question without starting any sort of political debate. In today’s wintery governmental climate, it’s almost impossible to talk about how a person feels about one President or another without it turning borderline violent, which to be fair, is probably how it’s always been down in Pawnee. Though the characters rarely mentioned real world current events, we could get a grasp on how they felt about actual leaders based on how they acted in the role, so which President did you like the most?

Question 9

What’s your favorite Parks & Rec show within a show?

For the many reasons Parks & Rec was one of the funniest shows on TV, let’s face it—the series was almost nothing compared to Ya Herd? With Perd, the local Pawnee news show hosted by everyone’s favorite ultra-literal reporter. In all seriousness, the countless local news programs and various other series populating Pawnee were often as funny as the larger series they existed within, and Hapley’s ability to plainly state exactly what he was doing was merely one of countless reasons why.

Question 10

Who are your least favorite people in Pawnee?

This quiz has already done a fair amount of talking up Pawnee as a wonderful place to watch on television, yet there is a downside to the town’s weirdness in that we’d never actually want to live there. In many respects, Pawnee is schadenfreude to the ultimate degree, with viewers laughing hysterically at normal people like Leslie and Ron’s attempts at dealing with an utterly insane populace around them. What part of that public do you dislike the most?

Question 11

What’s your favorite breakfast food?

While the Parks & Rec department typically rallied against the general public of Pawnee and their backwards ways, there are a few things all human beings can agree on. For example, breakfast is an amazing part of the day to anyone with the time to enjoy it. That said, we all have our own tastes and proclivities when it comes to exactly which breakfast treats are our favorites. What’s yours?

Question 12

Who is your favorite Parks & Rec supporting character?

Being one of the biggest and strangest towns in all of television, Pawnee is also home to more characters than we could possibly list in the results of our quiz. Therefore, we regret to inform you no one will find themselves declared a Jerry, Donna, or even Chris, even if you might be more like them than some others. To make up for this discrepancy, we’ll just ask for your favorite supporting character and use it to decide which main cast member you’d be.

Question 13

Are you a people person?

Theoretically speaking, anyone working in government should have some level of interest in their fellow human being. The whole point is to lead in a manner that makes the most people happy, creating the best possible solutions for all concerned individuals. Unfortunately, government doesn’t always work that way in the real world or in fiction. Would you be a politician ready to serve the public, or are you in it for selfish reasons?

Question 14

How would you decorate your office?

Whether one works in government or any other regular job in the world, their office can quickly become a sanctuary away from all the crazy coworkers they’re forced to deal with every day. Because of this, people like putting up lots of pictures, posters, and various other decorations to make their four walled cells feel just a little bit more like home. The Parks & Rec department is the same as everyone else, so what would you put in your office?

Question 15

What style of music is your favorite?

In addition to the iconic sounds of Mouse Rat, the citizens of Pawnee love listening to music of all varieties, as seen in bombastic performances during the Harvest Festival and especially their Unity Concert. In the span of a single evening, the town heard the best pop, rock, indie, rap, R&B, soul, and jazz had to offer, and everyone joined together in the end for one huge sing along fans of all genres could join in on.

Question 16

Which governmental position are you best suited for?

Even if you’re one of the few Parks & Rec fans who watch the show and thinks government is the sort of career for you, there are many branches of politics all requiring wildly different skill sets. To a go getter like Leslie Knope, this is barely a challenge, as it merely means a difference in studying material on the path to the career you desire. Others would be better suited making a decision early on about what they believe could pull off, and work from there.

Question 17

Are you patriotic?

Ultimately, there are a million reasons why a person would want to get into government, either on a local platform or a larger scale. No matter which reason you choose, though, chances are you love either your country or the city you live in if you’re trying to work for it. Unless, that is, you’re more of a Ron Swanson type, and the sole reason you’ve gotten involved is spite. Always a valid choice.

Question 18

How emotional are you?

Regardless of where they work, what sets the characters of Parks & Rec apart from those on any other silly sitcom is their huge hearts. Rarely does a TV show make viewers feel so strongly about its cast, who in turn feel incredibly strongly about their coworkers and friends. Leslie Knope in particular loudly screams every emotion she feels with glee and we all love her for it, though some of the people around her get annoyed by it. Are you the same way?

Question 19

What would you buy on Treat Yo’ Self Day?

Aside from the thousands of laughs, arguably the greatest gift Parks & Recreation gave to the world was a very special day that comes once a year, with the most beautiful and simple reason to celebrate imaginable: treating yo’ self. Everyone wants to make at least one big, unnecessary, absurd purchase with money they may or may not even have, and you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that, so go ahead and treat yo’ self. So long as you confine this behavior to one day of the year, of course.

Question 20

What kind of movies do you like?

When they aren’t slowly making the world a better place through their positions in government, the characters of Parks & Rec are extremely pop culture savvy. In addition to constantly makes jokes and references to their favorite real world TV shows, or rapping about how Parents Just Don’t Understand like their favorite golden age hip hop artists, the cast has at times simply sat together and watched movies. Or watched Andy act them out when the TV wasn’t working. That’s just as fun.

Question 21

Could you work with someone you hate?

No matter how hard Leslie Knope and those of her ilk work, the unfortunate reality of government is that the best case scenario is rarely true progress, but rather simply compromise. This is because people working in politics generally tend to strongly disagree with one another, and they never back down from their divergent stances. Leslie faces this practically every single episode, as do her friends. How would you deal with such a scenario?

Question 22

Were you a good student in school?

Ever the overachiever, we can assume Leslie Knope was a straight A student from kindergarten onward. After all, she had to be—how else was she going to become the first female President? Not all of her friends were the same way, though, with some paying almost no attention with school in the slightest. Where on the scale did you fall?

Question 23

Do you care about animals?

Government is ultimately about making choices that effect people you may never actually meet, entered because people believe they’re better suited to do so than those people themselves. Ideally, politicians and government officials also care very deeply about the people they make choices for. Of course, if you don’t care about people all that much that’s fine, because animals are a whole lot better, anyway. Why would anyone get into government if they could play with a dog or cat instead?

Question 24

How much do you prepare for important meetings?

To Leslie Knope, planning for a big government debate means not sleeping for three days straight and creating a gigantic binder’s worth of facts and information about the subject to ensure she perfectly understood the subject at hand. To everyone else on earth, this is an insane level of overkill that makes us wonder how she possibly had the time. Are you anything like Leslie, or are you a normal person who prepares a regular amount?

Question 25

Which of the following TV shows is your favorite?

Unfortunately for fans of the show, Parks & Recreation ended its hilarious run at seven seasons in 2013. Since then, it’s been a lot harder to catch the show on an actual TV, though it’s legend forever lives on at various streaming platforms. For anyone stuck watching cable, though, it may be a little harder to find our favorite show, so we’ll be stuck with an alternative. If for some reason one of these programs was on and Parks wasn’t, which would you choose?

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