"Oh, goodie." "You're all here." "Now, I know I'm not supposed to talk about my campaign in the office, but last night I made a decision about who should be my campaign manager." "This is a huge job." "This is going to require a lot of late-night one-on-one jam sessions with me, and we're going to bounce ideas off of each other." "You're going to have to take calls from me anytime, day or night." "The person I have chosen is..." "Drum roll, please." "(LESLIE MIMICKING DRUM ROLL)" "Ann Perkins!" "TOM:" "Yep." "Oi!" "Give it up for Ann." "Good choice." "Leslie, I don't know the first thing about running a political campaign." "Ann, you beautiful tropical fish." "You're smart as a whip and you're cool under pressure." "You've resuscitated a human heart in your bare hands." "No, I haven't." "You haven't?" "ANN:" "No." "You will." "You're that good of a nurse." "What about Ben?" "I mean, he ran for mayor at 18 and won." "Ben is poison to my campaign." "Our relationship is the reason why my advisors pulled out." "Ann." "Don't listen to your head or your heart." "Just look at my eyes and say yes." "Okay, yes." "Yes." "I believe in you, Ann." "Thank you." "And your first job as my campaign manager is to start dressing like one." "I don't want to have this conversation again." "Again?" "You just hired me eight seconds ago." "Wow, you're doing a really bad job." "William." "Elizabeth." "Leslie." "Hi." "Hi." "What are you..." "Are you coming to see me?" "Did you hear that I'm re-launching my campaign?" "Actually, no." "Sorry." "We weren't here to see you." "We have been meeting with other potential candidates for City Council." "Oh, really?" "So my campaign ends and, just like that, you find someone else and run theirs?" "Yes, that's our job." "I know." "Good luck." "But I just had a big meeting with my new advisory board, and they're brilliant and amazing." "They're real killers." "ANDY:" "Leslie?" "I tried to make ramen in the coffee pot and I broke everything." "Thank you, Andy." "I'll be right in." "Well, good luck, Leslie." "Honestly." "Well, we don't need luck." "We are a rocket ship." "We are re-launching, and we're going to blast past your..." "Oh, they're gone." "It's true." "I no longer have highly-trained professional campaign managers." "So what?" "Are most murders committed by highly-trained, professional assassins?" "No." "They're committed by friends and co-workers." "That analogy was way better in my head." "(DOOR SQUEAKING)" "(BELL JINGLING)" "Hi." "ANDY:" "Champion?" "APRIL:" "Champion?" "ANDY:" "Champion?" "Oh, my gosh." "There you are, puppy." "That's a good boy." "That is a three-legged dog." "His name is Champion, because he's the Dog World Champion." "Okay, I have to ask this." "I'm sorry, but how many legs did that dog have when you found him?" "Three." "That's what makes him the best." "He can do more with three legs than most dogs can do with four." "Except for digging." "He's really bad at digging." "ANDY:" "And we remembered what you said about making decisions on the house." "You want to be involved." "We get that." "So you just say the word and Champion goes back to the pound where he can be put down and killed forever." "I'm not going to send a three-legged dog to his death." "Yes." "But I'm also not going to take care of him for you." "Well, it would be nice if you helped a little." "Because, unlike you, Andy and I have jobs." "Cruel, but fair." "ANN:" "So Leslie and I have come up with the theme for the campaign re-launch rally." ""The Comeback Kid."" "ANN:" "Everyone loves a good comeback story..." "Rocky." "Robert Downey Jr." "The Terminator." "He said, "I'll be back," and he was." "Also making a comeback, the casual Hawaiian shirt." "Well, well, well." "Look who's ahead of the curve." "I was joking." "You should soak that in bleach and burn it." "Okay." "So the rally is going to be held tomorrow at the Pawnee Sports Building." "April, you finalized the rental, right?" "APRIL: (IN A MANLY VOICE) Shut up, Ann." "I told you never to talk to me." "(GASPS) That was Champion." "Oh, my God." "I'm sorry." "Bad dog." "Yes, everything's fine with the rental." "Ron, you're constructing the stage?" "Yes, ma'am." "Leslie wanted to hire a contractor to build a stage." "I don't want to paint with a broad brush here, but every single contractor in the world is a miserable, incompetent thief." ""Then seal the edges by crimping them with a fork."" "Crap." "(RHYTHMIC KNOCKING AT DOOR)" "Ben!" "What's up, Chris?" "Come on in, man." "I already did." "So how have you been?" "How you doing?" "How are you?" "Great, actually." "I'm just learning how to make... (IN MOCK ITALIAN ACCENT) Calzones." "Or as you Americans like to say, calzones." "You want one?" "No." "I find calzone fatty and unnecessary." "So you've hit a bit of a rough patch." "And I care about you." "So I just want to make sure that you're doing okay." "Chris, honestly, I'm great." "I'm just exploring whatever fun activity pops into my brain." "Look." "Check this out." "I'm teaching myself how to do claymation videos." "Isn't this just so cool?" "(LAUGHING) It is so cool." "Ben is massively depressed." "And he needs my help." "You look like a real campaign manager." "Oh, thanks." "That's because I googled campaign manager and noticed that they wear a lot of dark colors." "See?" "There's more things to look at on the Internet besides naked guys, Ann." "What?" "I need a team update, Campaign Manager." "Okay." "Pistol Pete Disellio will be here in five minutes." "I still can't believe that you got him." "Ann got local hero Pistol Pete Disellio to endorse me at the rally." "In 1992, Pistol Pete's last-second dunk against Eagleton High clinched a comeback victory for the Pawnee Central Drunken Savages." "Team mascot later changed." "Akash, buddy, of course I came to you first." "You're the best carpet man in Pawnee." "But here's my question." "Do your carpets match your drapes?" "(LAUGHING)" "How do you make any event classy on a budget?" "A red carpet." "My entire apartment is red carpet." "On top of that, leading into my bedroom?" "A second red carpet." "Oh, what's this in my shoe?" "Red carpet insole." "Everywhere I go, I'm walking on red carpet." "Is there even enough room for everyone?" "Here." "Sit on my lap." "No, that's humiliating." "Can't I at least sit on Andy's lap?" "No, that's Champion's spot." "He called it." "Tom, we're already late." "Now, be a man and sit on that girl's lap." "Yes, sir." "(ENGINE STARTING)" "Hi." "Pete Disellio." "We can call you Pistol, right?" "I prefer Pete." "Oh." "Okay, got it." "I'm Leslie Knope." "Hi." "We overlapped a year at Pawnee Central." "You probably remember my voice from the morning announcements." "This is my campaign manager, Ann Perkins." "Hi." "Hi." "Nice to meet you." "Come on in." "Oh, thanks." "I'm excited to be here." "Yeah, we're excited to have you." "Ann is killing it." "My campaign team is unstoppable." "This rally is going to be awesome." "Oh, my God." "I'm feeling it." "I'm going to break-dance." "(WHOOPING)" "Hey." "Leslie?" "Coming." "Thank God." "(ANDY LAUGHING)" "Yeah." "Champion is a way better kisser than you are, babe." "Uh-uh." "Yes, he is." "He's even a better kisser than me." "Here." "Try some." "Oh." "Okay." "Stop it." "He's drooling on me." "Oh!" "(HONKING HORN)" "This is unsafe." "Oh, we should do it for the kids." "Kids love it, Ron." "Wait, just for the kids." "(HONKING)" "Hi, kids!" "Hey!" "(SIREN BLARES)" "Oh, look." "The police even love it." "They're sirening back to us." "Wonderful." "(GASPING) That's awesome." "I'm just going to tell him that we heard him." "Heard you, bud. (HONKING)" "And then you come out and you dunk the ball and you say," ""Voting for Leslie Knope is a slam dunk."" "You can still dunk, right?" "Oh, I can." "But I won't." "Sorry?" "Look." "Everywhere I go, everybody always wants me to talk about that dunk and that game." "It feels like I'm living in the past." "But the past is great." "The jitterbug, stagecoaches," "Herman Munster." "Look." "Leslie, I read up on you." "You've done great stuff for our parks system, and I will happily endorse you." "As Peter Disellio, Regional Distributor for Derwin Ham Loafs." "But if this is about who I was or what I did when I was 17," "I'm out of here." "Let's not talk about dunking anymore." "Let's talk about what you want to do." "Okay." "I think you want to dunk." "I'm not going to dunk the ball." "What about a lay-up?" "Officer, I've been operating heavy machinery since I was eight years old." "Now, I respect you and your service to this town and your country." "But what laws are we breaking exactly?" "Well, you've got four people in the front seat." "Nobody is wearing a seat belt." "You were speeding and blasting your horn through the hospital zone." "The rear of the vehicle is open and debris has been falling out." "And you don't have a commercial license to drive a truck." "Okay." "Well, we have a philosophical difference on what constitutes a law." "I need to see your hands." "And could you step out of the vehicle, please?" "Hi." "I just wanted you to know we're about to be arrested." "Oh, my God, April." "That's horrible." "Where are you?" ""My mother's butt." Really?" "That's really helpful." "Let me talk to her." "April, this is City Council candidate, Leslie Knope." "Do not make any trouble." "Sit tight." "I am on my way." "Whoa, you just hung up on her?" "She had already hung up on me." "Okay." "I'm going to go down there and get them out, because men in uniform love me." "You have to get Pistol Pete to make that shot." "Okay." "But if I don't, it's no big deal, right?" "You'll just make your speech?" "He's our surprise headliner." "The whole town loves him." "I'm polling at 1%." "He must dunk, Ann." "Do whatever it takes." "Yeah, anything short of sexual favors." "What?" "I do not..." "I repeat, I do not want you to tempt him with sexual favors." "I wasn't going to." "Good." "I wouldn't, either." "That's where I draw the line." "Although, I am a little offended that you wouldn't do that." "Go." "Right." "So, Ben, why calzone?" "Glad you asked, Chris." "You know, there's fast food hamburgers." "There's fast food Mexican." "There's fast food Chinese." "Blah, blah, blah." "Have you ever wondered why there isn't a fast food option for Italian food?" "What about pizza?" "Pizza?" "Never heard of it." "That's what people will be saying in 20 years." "Because pizza is old news, Chris." "Pizza is your grandfather's calzone." "I never thought of it that way." "What I'm talking about is a portable, delicious meal that is its own container." "It's a whole new spin on Italian fast-casual dining." "Amazing." "And you of all people will like this." "I'm going to use low-fat ingredients." "Game changer." "And I will call my new Italian fast-casual eatery," ""The Low-Cal Calzone Zone."" "That idea is literally the greatest idea I have ever heard in my life." "That idea is terrible." "Len, you're killing me." "They broke about 50 laws, Knope." "And that girl, she tried to get that gimp dog to bite me." "(BARKS)" "Look, I could sit here and fill out all the paperwork, but you and I both know that you'd rather go home to Deborah, have a nice home-cooked meal, and do what comes naturally." "That's not appropriate." "You know that I'm going to pay all the fines." "I'm in the middle of a campaign rally." "And this is my team." "I need them." "Please." "Fine." "But unless one of you has a commercial license, you can't take that truck." "It would just mean so much to us." "I mean, you're a living legend." "(CHUCKLES)" "They still air that game every Friday night on cable access." "Yeah, well, being a living legend is sort of a double-edged sword." "Everybody in this town still calls me Pistol." "Tell me more about that, Peter." "I mean, yes, that dunk, it made me famous." "But sometimes..." "Sometimes, life dunks you." "Hey, man, you want to go for a jog?" "(CAMERA CLICKING)" "Just sort of kick out the cobwebs, get some endorphins going?" "Oh, no, thanks, Chris." "I'm kind of tearing this claymation video a new one right now." "You know, Ben, I really think you need to take a step back here." "I think getting some perspective would be good." "What are you talking about?" "I have known you a long time." "And right now you need help." "With my claymaish?" "With your life." "You are wildly, insanely depressed." "Depressed?" "I'm the furthest thing from depressed." "I mean, look at what I've accomplished." "Do you see him?" "Do you think a depressed person could make this?" "No." "That's all we can fit in here." "No problem." "This is going to be fine." "We're all going to be fine." "Because the team is still together, and there's nothing the team can't do." "Wait, I think Champion has to go to the bathroom." "He shall do it in the car." "Answer your phone, Ann." "But that's what life is like in a strict Roman Catholic household." "(CELL PHONE BUZZING) Of course, my father, he was more stick than carrot, when it came to matters of discipline." "I'm sorry." "But the Ben Wyatt that I know?" "I just don't think he'd be happy sitting here, faffing around." "I'm not faffing around." "I've sunk myself into my hobbies." "Here." "I'll show you my claymation project." "Okay?" "Now, I've been working pretty hard on this, and I think it's really good." "So just hang onto your hat, okay?" "Okay." "Here it goes." "(MUSIC PLAYING)" "Oh, how great." "(MUSIC STOPS)" "Did you pause it?" "No." "Hang on." "(MUSIC STARTS)" "(MUSIC STOPS)" "(SIGHING)" "Oh, my God." "That's the whole thing." "That's three weeks of work." "You're going to be okay." "No." "No, no, no." "I'm not." "You see, in my head, I thought that was really, really cool." "In fact, I..." "I e-mailed Leslie two days ago and I compared it to Avatar, Chris." "And how can it not be longer?" "Okay, look." "What you're feeling right now is regret and shame." "But we are going to get through this." "Okay." "No word from Ann." "April, I need a status report." "How's it looking out there?" "Perfect." "But just one thing." "It's not a basketball court anymore." "It's an ice skating rink." "Wait." "What?" "Why?" "What happened?" "The stupid guy I called to book this place didn't tell me they took off the basketball floor for a hockey game." "Or maybe he did tell me, but he was so stupid and boring that I wasn't listening." "And, either way, it was his fault, because he was stupid and I hated him." "(LESLIE SIGHING)" "Ron, how's the stage coming?" "Well, since we had to jettison the bulk of the wood, this is the biggest I could make it." "Oh, my God." "Good Lord." "What happened to the rest of my face?" "We had to Jetsons most of the poster, too." "But I kind of like it." "Because windows are the eyes to the house." "Wow." "(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)" "Okay." "I've got Pistol Pete." "Good." "Where is he?" "Right now, he's curled up in the back seat of my car, talking about his father, who was a piece of work." "I actually think he did the best he could for a single father, but I may be too close to the situation." "Anyway, the important news is that he's here." "Good." "Is he going to dunk for me?" "I'm not sure." "I couldn't hear through all the crying." "He's crying?" "No, I was crying." "It's been a stressful day, and he's had a really rough life." "Oh, my God." "We should cancel it, right?" "Maybe we should cancel?" "Yeah." "Jerry, you were in charge of getting the crowd." "Please tell me that you pulled a Jerry and no one's here." "Okay, well, first of all, I don't like it when you guys use that term." "And, for the record, I came through." "There are almost a hundred people out there." "Oh, damn it, Jerry." "You just had to do your job, didn't you?" "Yeah, can't you do anything wrong, Jerry?" "I've been looking at our utter and complete lack of experience as a positive thing." "But I'm starting to think it might actually be a problem." "LESLIE:" "Okay, guys." "Everybody, listen up." "I just wanted to say thank you." "You've all volunteered your time." "And no matter what, I am eternally grateful for it." "Now, I am going to go out there and I am going to announce the re-launch, and I'm going to muddle through this thing as best I can." "You should all leave, and when this thing is over," "I'll meet you at the nearest bar." "That would be Hurley's." "Oh, it's karaoke tonight." "Yes." "No." "No." "No, guys." "No." "We're not leaving." "Okay?" "We're the reason Leslie is in this mess." "It's our mess." "We're going to stay here and we're going to go out there as a team." "Or..." "We go as a team to Hurley's." "No." "Ann's right." "We're a team." "We're all going out together." "LESLIE:" "Let's give this crowd a show." "Go..." "ALL:" "Go, team!" "(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)" "(PEOPLE CHEERING)" "LESLIE:" "Tom?" "I couldn't afford enough premium carpet to get us to the stage." "I mean, it was a short walk, but it was pretty luxurious, right?" "(MUSIC STOPS) Okay." "Everybody, smile and wave." "Smile and wave." "(MUSIC RESUMES)" "APRIL:" "Stop leaning on my arm, Andy." "Oh!" "Babe!" "(CROWD GASPS)" "RON:" "I'm holding the dog." "APRIL:" "Are you okay?" "He is peeing." "He is now peeing." "Now, I'm putting him down." "No, Ron!" "He only has three legs!" "LESLIE:" "No, no, no." "Okay." "(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYS)" "TOM:" "I'm scared." "Ron?" "Ron?" "There's no stairs." "How do I get onto the stage?" "(MUSIC STOPS)" "Oh!" "(ENERGETIC MUSIC RESUMES)" "(MUSIC STOPS)" "(ANN GRUNTING)" "Okay." "(GRUNTING)" "(ENERGETIC MUSIC RESUMES)" "Mmm!" "Here you go." "Drink up." "Because it has every herb in my herb belt." "Ugh!" "It tastes like a belt." "(CHUCKLING) I know." "Isn't it awful?" "But it works wonderfully." "So tell me." "(SIGHING)" "Do you admit that you're depressed?" "How did you know?" "I didn't even know." "The Letters to Cleo T-shirt, the unshaven face, the Doc Martens..." "And your hair does not have that normal uptight, rigid, inflexible Ben Wyatt sense of fun." "You can't hide these things from your friends." "I think I'm feeling better." "Herbal smoothie, you have done it again." "As a loyal Pawneean, I've always been proud of this town." "And I..." "Um..." "Sorry, my cards got out of order here when they fell." "Together, we can defeat obese children." "I'm sure that was something positive, originally." "I'm sorry." "Okay." "This is..." "This is just a disaster, isn't it?" "This is the one... (CHUCKLING) This is the worst political event ever in history." "Well, I can assure you people in the bleachers that if you follow my campaign, it will be interesting." "PISTOL:" "It sure will be." "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Pistol Pete." "And around here I'm a Pawnee legend." "(ALL CHEERING)" "I just wanted to say that I fully endorse Leslie Knope." "She's got a great team behind her." "And a vote for her is a slam dunk." "(ALL CHEERING)" "Thanks, Pistol Pete." "Wow." "We're so happy to have you." "Hey." "There he goes." "Come on, Pete." "AUDIENCE:" "Oh!" "Okay." "Stay still." "Stay down." "Pistol Pete, everybody." "Still got it." "(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)" "LESLIE:" "Hey." "Hey." "How was the rally?" "Oh, we nailed it." "No, we didn't." "Ben, my campaign manager and I have made a decision." "We have decided to fire the campaign manager." "Me." "LESLIE:" "And hire you." "But we've talked about this." "I don't care if you're poison to my campaign." "This team has a lot of heart and zero know-how." "You're the only one that can save us." "Please be my campaign manager." "You know, Leslie, Ben's really been going through something." "And he's on a journey, so I don't think he's going to be taking the first job..." "I'll do it." "I'm in." "I've done enough exploring." "I'm good." "Okay, great." "Ann, you're fired." "Oh, thank God." "Oh!" "Don't make out." "It's making Champion sad." "BOTH:" "Surprise." "We felt really bad about the whole "dredging up your past" ""just to be publicly humiliated" thing." "So cookies." "And balloons." "Thanks, guys." "That..." "That's nice." "Look, we feel so bad." "Is there anything else we can do?" "You can let me take you to dinner." "Yes, Ann." "Yes, you should do that." "Oh, I can't, though." "Because I'm married." "You're not married." "She's not married." "This is uncomfortable."