One of ‘Parks and Rec’s Most-Memed Moments Was Improvised
Parks and Recreation fans obviously love the show's core group of characters, including the ceaselessly optimistic Leslie Knope, the curmudgeonly Ron Swanson and Andy Dwyer, the dummy with a heart of gold who became inexplicably jacked as soon as Chris Pratt started making Marvel movies.
But one Parks and Rec character who was in no way a lead has since become a huge hit on social media: Jennifer Barkley, the high-priced D.C. campaign worker played by Kathryn Hahn.
Originally hired to help the wealthy Bobby Newport run against Leslie for a city council seat, Jen eventually starts working with Leslie’s husband Ben and even urges him to run for Congress in the show’s seventh and final season.
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In one episode, Jen shows up to their house wearing a waterproof poncho. When asked about the unusual get-up, the happily childless Jen claims that every surface in their house “is sticky.” Her fears are vindicated at the end of the scene when one of Ben and Leslie’s triplets bolts past the table and gets paint on their guest, at which point Jen stands up and shouts: “PONCHO!”
In recent years, the scene has had a second life thanks to apps like TikTok and Instagram, which have embraced the show’s depiction of just how “gross” raising kids can be with the poncho declaration specifically being highlighted.
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Hahn first learned about the poncho scene’s online virality during an interview last fall, and she revealed that the line was, in fact, improvised.
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The Agatha All Along star guested on the most recent episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler, and offered up even more details about the scene.
Poehler praised Hahn’s improvisational skills, and revealed that many of her hilarious Parks and Rec lines were made up on the spot. “I can do it if I know who I am, and like the given circumstances (of the scene),” Hahn said.
As Poehler pointed out, the most-memed Kathryn Hahn improv, by far, is the poncho bit, which Hahn didn’t even think would make it into the show. “In some take, just to make you guys laugh — I didn’t have any idea it was going to be anything, I just swung my arms open and I went, ‘PONCHO! Poncho.’ And it really has become, like, a thing.”
“It has. It’s like Batman’s cape,” Poehler agreed.
Actually, Jen Barkley’s poncho is better than Batman’s cape because there’s no way Alfred would ever be able to get those finger-paint stains out.
