The show’s co-creator says it turned out to be one of his ‘great joys’ in life
Trodd Frankensteip was the name of a local reporter on Parks and Recreation(Image: NBC)
The beloved show’s creator shared there are two main reasons behind the decisions.
Fans of Parks and Recreation are still discovering some behind the scenes secrets. This includes the reason behind some of the names used for both key characters on the show, as well as some who only appear briefly in an episode.
For those unaware, the series follows the parks department in the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee. They are lead by the overly enthusiastic Leslie Knope, who rallies her colleagues and friends to do the best for their community, including their attempts at creating a new park.
Co-created by former writers of The Office, Mikes Schur and Dan Goor it is described by some fans as one of the best comedy series ever made. Despite it being more than 10 years since it finished airing, its dedicated fan base are still learning secrets of the show.
Schur appeared on Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang where he revealed some of his own. At one point during their conversation, Amy notes that Schur enjoyed coming up with character and names. He even had a long list of alternate choices for her role of Leslie Knope.
Asked why he put so much thought into names of every character, he explained it was for two reasons. One was that he was heavily inspired by Monthy Python, who would often utilise silly names in their sketches.
He decided that the fictional town of Pawnee would also be a place that contains almost limitless people who happen to have ridiculous sounding names.
However, he also explained another meaningful reason. He said: “The actual thing that’s going on here is different. 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 they have the hardest job when it comes to making a show. It is so hard. Anyone who doesn’t believe this should try it, by the way. Try acting.”
Schur continued: “That person auditioned for this and booked this gig and drove all the way cross 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 that person went home and they got paid like $600 for like a week’s worth of work.
“They should be something better than man number two or man and crowd. So I decided early in season one of Parks that every character who appeared on the show was going to have a first and last name. So instead of man in crowd, you’re like, ‘Oh, well that it 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 Marv Vavma? What was Marvma up to?'”
The writer described the decision as one of ‘great joys’ in his life to give every actor a character name. He added that there is also a legal issue, with names used on the show needing to be cleared in case they used the name of a real person. As a result he would opt for the ‘weirdest names’ as there would be a chance that no one else has that name.
Some of Schur’s favourite names they created for the show include Mona-Lisa Saperstein, who was played by Jenny Slate and Trodd Frankensteip who was a reporter who only appeared briefly.
There was also a Tyrion Fonzarelli, which was a combination of Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones and Arthur ‘Fonzie’ Fonzarelli from Happy Days. Coincidentally, Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie, also starred in Parks as Dr. Lu Saperstein.
One fan discovering for the first time commented: “I never knew about this and I love it!” Another added: “These names are just incredible.”
Parks and Recreation is streaming on Paramount+, Channel 4 and U.