Philly Justice on Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Welcome everyone to a very special

episode of Good Hang. This is kind of um

an episode for um our listeners, for

fans of Parks and Wreck, for fans of

Good Hang. We have been kind of teasing

this thing called Philly Justice, which

is a fake idea of a TV show that was

created on the set of Parks and Wreck

that we made a one and a half minute

trailer for. And we've been talking

about the existence of it for a while.

And we've been listening to you. Your

comments have been saying things like,

"Amy, you cannot be gatekeeping comedy

at this at a time like this." Or, "The

entire world is in shambles, Amy. Please

give us Philly justice so we have a

reason to live." Or, "In the name of Lil

Sebastian, please." Um, so people are

asking to see this dumb thing that we

did and we thought why not premiere it

only on Good Hang. It's the only place

you can see it slash hear it is on this

podcast. And who better to talk about

the creation of this particular little

inside joke that was on Parks and Wreck

than the creator of Parks and

Recreation, the wonderful, amazing Mike

Sher. Mike Sher is a producer of all the

shows that you love. Mike helped work on

the uh American version of The Office.

He went on to create Parks and

Recreation, Brooklyn 999, The Good

Place. He's in his second season of A

Man on the Inside at Netflix. He is just

an incredible writer, friend, person in

the world. And um I love him dearly and

owe a lot to him. Nothing pleases Mike

more than um this kind of dumb joke. an

idea. So, Mike is my guest today. We're

going to talk about Philly Justice, the

creation of it, and we're going to all

watch it together. We're also gonna talk

about other things. We're going to talk

about the beginning of parks and

recreation. We're going to talk about

meeting at SNL. We're going to talk

about systems and how important they are

to both of us, that work is a place of

joy. Um, we're going to talk about all

the crazy names he likes to come up with

for his characters. And we're going to

be visited by some very special actors.

uh Rashidita Jones, Adam Scott. We're

going to hear from a bunch of people um

who were in Parks and Recreation and in

Philly Justice who are telling us about

how we made it, including the great

Morgan Sacket, who is a producer on a

lot of the shows Mike and I work um on.

He's uh an incredible producer, and he's

going to let us he's going to remind us

how we got away with making this dumb

trailer. So, there's a lot of things

going on. Um, but basically interview

with Mike Sher. We're going to talk to

the cast of Philly Justice. We're going

to watch this minute and a half trailer

for the hopefully the one first and only

time here on Good Hang. And um, this one

is for this one's for the fans. This one

is for the fans. We heard you loud and

clear. We're giving it to you. We don't

like to tease around here. We We like to

please

and we like to squeeze and we like to do

it with ease. Is this sounding any less

gross? Okay. All right. Let's get

started. Welcome to Good Hang. Woohoo!

What do you say?

All I ever wanted

I'm sure I realize I'm with

probably the most accomplished podcaster

I've interviewed yet is you.

That just means you haven't interviewed

No, I have not talked to a lot of

podcasters

because I realized on the way over here

I'm like you you've had a podcast, the

Pausecast, correct? For many years.

Yeah. For like an absurd number of

years. I mean, you were ahead of the

game. I don't know if it if the first

seven years even count because it was we

like were barely recording it. We were

just screaming into our computers. We

didn't have microphones. Who's the Wii

that you speak of? Joe Pnansky and

myself. Uh, sports writer, award-winning

sports writer Joe Pnansky and me. And we

started it a million years ago, but we

haven't really, it hasn't been like

anything approaching a an actual extent

e like enterprise

for more than like five years. I would

say the word Xant really uh lets us know

that we're with Mike Sher, Harvard

educated writer and creator pitch p.

I'm so thrilled to have you here and

we're going to talk about something very

exciting today. But I do have you in

this studio. So I do want to talk about

us a little bit and our work together

before I love us. I do love us. Oh, this

is us.

One of another great show from NBC. Um,

but before I do that, I when I plug this

thing into my laptop, it goes weird. So,

well, like, so you know, I don't know if

you know, Bill Simmons told me um in the

very beginning, we we love Bill. Sure.

Boston, one of Boston's greatest. One of

Boston's most one of Boston's most one

of the most Boston people there is.

Yeah, that's very true. I mean, and and

I think of you as a Boston person.

You're not. You're a Connecticut person.

Yeah, but I I identify full Boston.

literally wearing a Celtics sweatshirt

right now because it's the Celtics are

playing a playoff game right now. I

can't watch it cuz I'm here with you and

so I wore this as like a shield to

protect myself against evil and the city

of Boston for that matter. Yeah. You and

you're a huge Red Sox fan. Yes. And I do

want to talk about sports because this

is a podcast. Yeah. But um before I do

So Bill told me not on Bill Simmons's

network. Yeah. And you really law I was

a law. Yeah. You have to you do have to

do 10% of sports sports talk or you get

if you don't mention Jim Rice once

you're cancelled.

Um but Bill said maybe not don't use the

laptop and I kind of have fought to keep

it and what's happening now is it's

going cuckoo when I plug this thing in.

So don't use the laptop for what? For

like notes or just for like referencing?

He was like why do you need the laptop?

And I was like, "Hey, you know, what's

it to you?" You know, and he was like,

"I'm just giving you a suggestion." And

by the way, this is a very Boston

exchange. Just someone offering advice

and the person coming back at them hard

with like, "What?" Like, "Let's fight."

I got to get Bill on the podcast because

you're right. It is like

You once described to me, do you

remember this? You once described to me

the as the that the uh you said to me

that this city motto of Boston should be

must be nice. You remember this? Must be

nice. Yeah. And you described a

situation in which we when we were at

SNL, you would go home and see your

friends or people that you grew up with

and you would go out for drinks and if

you paid, the attitude would be like,

"Oh, must be nice. Got a big Hollywood

show, whatever." And if you didn't pay,

it was like, "Oh, must be nice. Make all

that money in Hollywood and still get

your friends to pick up your drinks."

Like it you can't win. You can't win.

You can't win. You know what they say

about Boston?

You don't even have to put a net over

the traps when you catch the lobsters.

Because with Boston lobsters, if one

tries to crawl out, the other one will

just pull them back down. I've been

pulling back down.

But I love my city.

I do love myself. Can I tell you one

quick thing that is going to be of vital

importance for this podcast? Yeah. I

found out a piece of shocking

information today. Oh, exciting. Is this

breaking news? Breaking news. Okay. Your

dad Oh, no. and my mom

go to the same barber.

What? Yes. My mom lives in Bedford Mass.

Went to her barber today. Got her

haircut. Barber said, "You know who

comes in here?" Oh boy. Do you know Amy

Polar? Amy Poler's dad comes in here.

And I guess your dad recently switched

barbers for reasons I don't want to get

into that are very, very private. You

can tell me off the air. I'll tell you

off the air. But my mom said, "You're

not going to believe this." to her

barber. My son and Amy Polar are friends

and used to work together and you can

imagine the fireworks that happened in

that barber shop. That is so cute. Isn't

that adorable? That That's really That's

a really nice Very happy. I was

literally breaking news as of like 2:00

p.m. Pacific time today. Yeah. My

father, Bill Polar, he'll want me to say

his first and last name. And you should

say your mother's first and last name.

An Herbert. Yep. So Ann Bill and Anne,

thank you for keeping your hair tidy.

Number one. Yeah. first of all, um, and

two, um, for raising us. Yeah. Um, we

appreciate that. But my dad likes to

start most conversations in the Boston

area with, um, going up to random people

and saying, "Do you like TV and movies?"

And they go, "Yeah." And he goes, "Oh,

well, my daughter is Amy Poland." What a

coincidence. My daughter. My daughter.

And they go, "Oh." Oh, cuz they're like,

"Okay, how what percentage of people say

no to that question?" No. My dad used to

rent apartments as like a side hustle,

you know? He was like he was in real

estate renting because he was a public

school teacher. Both my parents were,

and they would have summer jobs. And um

he used to uh ask me for a stack of head

shots so he could hand them out when he

was renting apartments. And after many

years of therapy, I realized that was a

boundary that maybe I should set. So I

So you gave them to him. I did at first.

Yeah, because it's Boston, you know,

like it must be nice. Like, oh, you

don't think you think you're so great

you can't Oh, well you you people in

Boston looking at your headsh shot. Your

father's proud of you. Oh, boohoo. Um

Mike Sher is here and um all this will

be cut, right? Oh, this word can't I

mean literally the I mean all it will be

is just very slow typing on this laptop.

That's all this that's all this. Well, I

just sip water and wait for you to find

whatever you're looking for.

Oh, can I ask you though? Um, uh,

because you like organizing, you like

systems. I do. You love a good system.

Love rules, love systems. And I would

say overall

being in your simulation, and I know I

can speak for many people, is kind of

the best feeling in the world. You have

great systems. Thank you. You take pride

in them. People that are in your systems

are very well taken care of. very well

considered and in my case like it

changed my life to be in your system and

I love a good system too and what I love

about your systems is you think long and

hard about what would be the best way or

approach to do things like you're not

you're not a um you are not a strict

person who doesn't take feedback about

your system but you like your systems

love them and I believe that people do

their best work when there's like a

strong system that also allow allows for

freedom within the system. That is why I

love working with you and people like

Andy Samberg, people who are like from

the SNL world specifically because

they're roll with the punches people.

Yeah. But and all you have to do is like

set up the boundaries. You put out the

gate, you put lay out the fence and

you're like anywhere in here is fine.

And then and this is actually very

appropriate for what we're going to be

talking about today. Once you've, I

believe, set up a sort of like boundary

and like a mechanism and like you're

going to be in the yard from 2:00 to

4:00. You here are your toys. You can do

anything you want from 2:00 to 4:00 and

then you're back inside. That and then

you get the funniest people you can who

are the most comfortable and happy and

you say like, "Don't worry, everything's

taken care of. Rules are in place.

Fences in place. Go crazy." And you let

people like do their best, most fun,

most joyous work. I really tr and this

isn't like revvelatory but I really

believe that is the best way to work

creatively with in a group and the

reason this is relevant and I don't want

to jump the gun here but the thing we're

going to be talking about today very

much came out of a world where because

we had this really great system in place

and then went out and just found the

funniest people we could find to come

make this thing with us. Crazy things

happen like wonderful things happen that

are just the result of just creative

juices flowing and people feeling happy

and free. Someone said to me once and I

believe this is true that in creative

enterprises everyone is either in

survival mode or creative mode. And if

you're in survival mode like you're

worried about your job, you don't feel

safe in your place of work. There is a

threat somewhere. You feel like you're

not being listened to whatever. No one

can be creative. And your job as like a

manager of any kind at any level is to

like flip that switch and get people

back into creative mode where they feel

like comfortable and warm and happy and

safe. And that's when people do good

work. And I think the maybe the defining

pro like principle of parks and wreck

was that everyone was in creative mode

all the time. Like we were in survival

mode with outside forces. Like are we

going to get cancelled? Is this it? Are

we done? But that that's over there like

that. We can control that within the

fence that we put out for the show. We

worked at all times to make sure

everybody was in creative mode and

that's why crazy things like this

happened. God, so well said. Thank you

for setting that up. Um

I often and always speak about you and

our experience on parks and wreck as the

perfect example of what it's like to be

creative and not chaotic. Yeah. And I

think you and I both have worked in all

kinds of different areas where chaos was

kind of part of the deal and you know

there is certainly an energy that comes

from that but you one does not have to

have a chaotic or dysfunctional

experience to have a creative

experience. That is correct and for a

very long time in Hollywood I think

especially uh but it's not this is not

located only in Hollywood this is

everywhere. I think there's a belief

sometimes that like if something good

results from a chaotic atmosphere, then

there's like a weird response where it's

like, well, this is the only way that

something good can happen. Like we got

this good thing and the process was

chaos, so we better not try to fix the

chaos. When like a rational person would

think, let's fix the chaos and then

there will be more opportunities for

more creative things that will also

cause less pain and suffering. That's

what I just can't stand about though

about Hollywood specifically. I think

it's weirdly gotten better. I don't know

if this has been your experience. I

think so. I think it's just like there's

a little bit more um like uh uh diverse

gatekeepers and a little bit more um you

know push from frankly generations

behind us. Oh yeah, who have just like

reminded us that we don't need to put up

with behavior that we were used to

putting up with. and just a little bit

more quality of life stuff where people

are just a little bit less um okay with

having their lives ruined at work.

I mean like when you and I were coming

up it was like whatever the system was

you were just like okay. Oh yeah. You

just like grit your teeth and you like

put your head down and you try to

survive. Yeah. And the generation behind

us and especially the one behind that

generation looks at chaos and goes like

oh then no thank you. Like then no. like

I don't I I don't want to they just they

have a they don't have the I think the

sort of like like structural fear that

we had of just like if this is what's

going on then I will just suffer and

tolerate it and I think younger folks

are just like oh then I won't be a part

of it. Well, my bad standup about it is

boomers are all about money. Gen X is

like, "Is it all about money?"

Millennials are like, "Where is the

money?" And Gen Z is like, "What is

money?" That's my bad stand up about it.

Not bad. It's good. Thanks. I have been

doing that on stage. Uh, okay. So, we

could talk forever. I mean, we could do

two, three, four podcasts. Maybe someday

we will. And I'd love to have you back

as a guest to talk to dig in even deeper

with like Park Super Fans and all the

other projects that you do, but those to

me are like other wives that you have

and I'd rather not discuss them all

together. I am very It's painful for

you. Congratulations on the success of

Hacks and the success of Good Place and

congratulations on second season of A

Man Inside. But right now, you are with

your family and I need you. And this is

Thanksgiving and we are going to put on

nice sweaters and god damn it, we are

going to sit down and have a nice meal.

That's right. And it's 6:00 p.m. That's

right. The uh the your new girlfriend

will come and pick you all up and drive

you away from me. Fine with her and I'm

very happy for you. But um so we're

going to talk about parks, but to do

that, let's talk about So you went to

Harvard. Yeah. Um which by the way, a

great great month for Harvard. You know,

I've talked some [ __ ] about Harvard on

here already, but I'm I'm a big

flipflopper now. I love Harvard. I'm

going to say first truly good month for

Harvard

since its founding in 1636.

I was like, when how far back do I have

to go? Oh, maybe all the way. Yeah,

listen, we took it on the chin. We have

our share of Jared Kushner and Ted

Cruz's and also I'm everyone in the

Supreme Court and all that sort of stuff

and it's been and Zuckerberg don't you

can't forget about Zuck. I never do.

But Facebook finally Harvard is like hey

we have all the money. Yeah. And so

we'll say no to the bully. And people

were like oh my god you can do that.

It's exciting. But you came from Harvard

and we met. Do you remember when we

first met? Uh, no. I remember when I saw

you for the first time, which was at a

uh UCB

uh sketch thing that happened at Fez.

Oh, yeah. Um, I've told the story

before. I don't know if you want I don't

know how in-d depth you want to go here

given. I'd love to go in depth because

we don't get we we're going to talk

Philly justice, but we have some time.

Um, great. So, I uh I moved to New York.

Radford, graduated 97. In 98, I was

working for John Stewart. Oh. No, late

'9 I was working for John Stewart. He

was writing a book and I was pitching my

ideas for the book and he used none of

them and gave me $3,000 and it was a it

was amazing. It was my first

professional job. Um, thank you, John

Stewart. So, we he gave you that money

to go away. That's right. He looked at

my ideas and was like, "Oh, no." Yeah.

He was like, "You're you're making me

nervous. Please go away." He was like,

"Does three grand get you out of my

office?" So, I went to I heard about all

these comedy shows that happened and I

was very excited to see comedy. went to

Fez uh to see John do standup and and so

you came out on stage. I did not know

who you were and you said, "Hey

everyone, I know you're excited to hear

the standup the John Stewart and all

these other comedians. Uh my name is

Carol Johnson. I'm from HBO and I'm

casting a pilot." And um so before if

you don't mind with your indulgence, I'd

love to just do some and and I was like,

"Oh, there's a nice woman from HBO here

who is casting a pilot. This is so

interesting. This is how show business

works." I 100% bought it. Hook, line,

and sinker. I did not understand that I

was at a comedy show and that this was

probably a piece of comedy. And then you

announced that you were doing this pilot

and you asked if anyone you you said

that someone needed I don't remember

exactly, but it was something like

someone needed to be able to do um a uh

Bill Cosby impression. That shows you

how long ago this is. Yeah, sure. And

Matt Basser, another person I did not

know, was like volunteered and you're

like, "Oh, yes, sir. Please come right

on up here." And then he proceeded to do

like the worst Bill Cosby impression of

all time. And you in the role of

straight person were just like, "Ah,

boy, I'm not sure if that really fits

the bill." And he kept doing it and kept

doing it. And then I think Matt Walsh

was like, "I can do one." And he got up

and did it. And you were It was even

worse. And you were like, "Yeah, this

isn't really what we're looking for."

And I I remembered this so clearly. I

was like, "This poor woman from HBO is

just trying to cast her pilot and these

guys are terrible. These guys are

And when I was having that thought, I

was like, "This is a sketch." I'm pretty

sure. And but there's a reason I tell

this story, which is your performance

was so real and grounded. I legitimately

was blown away. I was like I was brought

3 minutes into this incredibly stupid

premise before it occurred to me that

you were not really Carol Johnson from

HBO. No. And I and then I remember going

I remember talking to someone after the

show and being like who was that? And

they were like uh you this this group

called UCB and I was like that woman was

incredible. And they were like the

straight woman. And I was like yes she

was incredible. Who is that? How does

she have time to be in a sketch group

when she works at HBO? She's a

multi-talented person. But I I I

remember then repeating that like this.

They were so funny and everything and

then someone was like that's Amy Polar

like everyone in New York already knew

you and I was just like that that I you

just like you just like burrowed into my

brain and then when you joined the show

I I started working as an a few months

later. Yep. That year was what year did

you start as I started January 98. Yes.

98. Yeah. So you came what? 2001. 2001.

So September 2001. And um I I don't

remember where we interacted between

those dates, but I remember that when

you auditioned, you came to my office

and we smoked cigarettes in my office

cuz I was running Update. Remember

cigarettes? Let's just take a minute. I

mean, I know they're bad for you, but

they're so bad for you. They're and

like, you know, they're they truly are

bad for you. They shorten your life.

They make your skin terrible, but

they're Oh, remember them? They're

really really terrible. They're terri so

terrible. And I I looked so cool doing

that terrible thing. And we would smoke

cigarettes and we would we you know at

at 30 Rock you could just kind of open

your window and look at the Empire State

Building. Yeah. SNL was like

grandfathered into all rules everywhere

and you could just like no one except us

was on the 17th floor and you just open

your window and smoked out the window

and it was terrible. And it was

terrible. And then you were eventually

when did you start running update

weekend update? Your first show was my

first update show. That's right. So

gosh, I forget that that was your first

my I took so Robert Carlock was running

it and he left and I remember talking to

Mike Shoemaker, beloved producer at the

time, now runs Seth Myers's show and I

was like, boy, I'm not sure I can do

this job. Like I don't really know what

I'm doing. And he was like, it's super

easy. Like you just choose the best

jokes and you whatever. And I was like,

okay, like it sounds fun. And then 9/11

happened. And so my first show running

the like funny fake news was 911. And it

was your first show on the show. That's

right. And and so Right. So I was this

new cast member and you were running

Weekend Update at a time when comedy was

declared over. Yes. And when We'll Never

Laugh Again. That's right. And our and

the first thing that happened on the

show for your first show and my first

showing update was like Rudy Giuliani.

Yeah. Pre-Insanity Rudy Giuliani and

like cops and firefighters and MTA

workers standing at home base and

talking about like resilience and and

the power of humanity and then Paul

Simon singing the boxer. Yeah. And then

it was like okay and you're Britney

Spears. Go. Remember that was your

sketch. You had a new snake right there.

It didn't make it. It got cut. Oh, did

it really?

It It's good that it did. And And by the

way, I was not Britney Spears. Let me

snake. I was the very uh sappic snake

wrangler. Who was the Britney Spears?

Was it Reese Witherspoon? Oh, she was

the host. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

Yeah. So then Mike says to us, "I'm

going to go work on a show. Um I'm

really excited. I'm going to leave SNL.

I'm going to move." And um uh you know,

everyone always wants to kind of like

launch away from SNL hopefully with some

kind of project or something and you

told us the idea and we were like, "Oh,

this is a bad idea." A bad idea. Yeah.

It was the the American adaptation of

The British Office and we had watched we

had all watched the British Office

together, including the very special

Christmas episodes that we watched in

your office. Seth got early from his

friend in England and we watched them in

my office and it we all like laughed and

cried and when Dawn came back and kissed

him. Spoiler alert. Yeah. For spoiler

for a 20-year-old British show, we all

like jumped up in the air and like like

we were celebrated like we won the Super

Bowl. And then a couple months later, I

was like, I'm going to go turn that into

well help turn that into an American

show. Yeah. And we and I remember us

thinking like, "Oh no,

this is never going to work." We were

really like, "Oh, this is this is

terrible. Perfect show. How can you redo

it?" And then, of course, we heard a

couple things. We heard Steve Carell,

who was a Second City guy that we knew

in Chicago. We were like, "That's a good

idea. That's a that's a good pick." And

we were like, we knew that you were

working on it, and others who are genius

writers. And um so and and Greg Daniels,

we thought, well, look, you got a good

team. You're going to go down in flames,

but it's going to be fun. It'll be like

a cult classic thing or whatever. Yeah.

I mean, I signed on for two reasons.

Number one, it was only job offer I got.

But more importantly, because I met with

Greg and

uh my wife J.J. Philin had worked on

coupling, which was another British show

that had been adapted and had not worked

out. And Greg was like so scientific

about it. He was like, "What do you

think went wrong and where did what did

they do and what did they not do?" And

we ended up talking in his office for

like 3 hours. And I was like, "This

isn't going to work. It's a bad idea.

Everybody thinks it's a bad idea, but

this guy is so smart and has thought

about this so carefully that this will

at least be an incredible like he's

going to teach me things about writing."

And so I was not expecting it to work. I

don't think anyone was except maybe

Greg. But it was like this is going to

be an education for me and going from

sketchw writing to real or a half hour

writing you know. And then on that show

you are on for how many years? Four. The

first four first four plus and then

decide with Greg to create a new show

and it might be fun to talk about just

the like the all the kind of I think

it's always a good reminder. I think you

and I are very much like this. Like I

think it's kind of important to show

your work. Like I think people think

that ideas are these like fully formed

things that are just realized instantly.

And in my opinion, people that are less

secure tend to pretend that they are.

But secure people, I think, tend to kind

of talk about all the ways that they

approach something and how it they had

to reapproach, I guess. But in the very

very beginning, the idea for the

spin-off of The Office or was it even an

idea for a spin-off was what? Well, so

Bencame Parks and Ben Silverman was

running NBC and they asked he asked Greg

to like do a spin-off. And so Greg's

response typically thoughtful and

considered was I would love to do

another show. If the best idea that I

have for a show is a spin-off, then I

will do a spin-off. If the best idea I

have is something else, I'll do

something else. Greg is a real one of

the the main things that he gave me in

terms of like how to do this job is best

idea wins. Doesn't matter who it comes

from. If it's staff writer or a 25-y

year veteran co-EP or a person who works

in costumes or whatever, best idea wins.

That's it. No. And there is no uh

correlary to that. In every situation

that you're in creatively, best idea

wins. And so that's what he said

basically to Ben. And he was like, "It's

very important to me that you understand

that if the best idea I have is not a

spin-off of The Office, uh, then we're

going to do something else." And Ben was

like, "Totally hear you, buddy." And the

next day in the variety, he was like,

"Office spin-off is coming." Then just

totally ignored him and just announced

an office spin-off. Sure. So, uh, so

Greg and I started meeting. Greg asked

me to do it with him. So, we started

meeting. We would go to Norm's Diner in

the Valley uh like twice a week for

breakfast and we would just think of

ideas and we would talk about what

interested us and what was going on and

we would inch down a little path and

then hit a dead end and then inch back

and we would um we just met constantly

over showing your work. We met all the

time forever and eventually

came up with the idea of like, you know,

and and by the way, just to say it, some

of the ideas we talked about were office

spin-offs. There were like Craig

Robinson and Rain Wilson and all these

people on the show who could clearly be

on their own show. So, we talked about

family shows with them or whatever. Greg

was, I think, wary of taking assets away

from a show that was very successful in

part because of its large, rich cast. We

stumbled upon this idea of like, okay,

Dunder Mifflin on the office is a fake

company and it's a way to saterize the

private sector. What if we create a

whole fake town and sadderize the public

sector? And as we're having that idea,

the world economy goes kabooy and

they're talking about like massive

government bailouts and we start to

realize that like the government,

obviously federal really, but also state

and local was like going to be very

present in people's lives.

people like

that. I had this idea for an abandoned

lot that would be turned into a park

over the course of the entire run of the

show. Very wirey idea. I was obsessed

with The Wire as were you. Yeah, we're

we share that. We um and I thought like

the the way that The Wire portrayed like

calcified systems and how slow gears

grind and stuff was fascinating to me.

And I thought it would be really funny

where in the p if it if you did a show

that ideally lasts for a long time and

in the pilot it's like we're going to do

this and then it literally doesn't get

done till the very end of like 9 years

later. So that was the idea that I

really like. Greg then was like, "What

if it's not a lot? What if there's like

a giant hole in the ground? What if it's

a pit?" And I was like, "That's so much

better." And so that idea of all the 73

ideas we had started to like fizzy fizzy

up. And it obviously is not a spin-off

of The Office. And Greg, true to his

word, was like, "This is what we want to

do. At some point, we called you because

we heard you were leaving and you were

like, I'm theoretically interested in

this. Let me know." The show was given a

guaranteed 13 episode order, which now

is very common place at the time was

like insane.

And The Office was going to be on after

the Super Bowl that year. And this show

was going to launch after The Office.

Then you called us back and said,

"Actually, sorry, prego." That's exactly

what you said. You said, "PreGo, prego.

I I sent you a telegraph."

Stop.

Shows off. Stop. And it was like, "Well,

you're going to give birth like the week

we have to shoot this, so no go." And

then like I remember very clearly two

weeks later I went into Greg's office

and I was like you know there's no like

we had we were working on the show at

that point pretty strenuously and I was

just like I just don't think there's

anyone but Polar who can do this and he

was like I had the same thought last

night and very quickly we made a phone

call to NBC and said if we can get Amy

for this we will give up seven of the 13

guaranteed episodes cuz we'd only be

able to make six. Dang. And give up the

Super Bowl slot. Boy, you guys were I'm

so appreciative you did that. I mean, it

the thing was it was actually a very

simple decision because we were like,

you know, getting Amy Polar on your show

is a long-term decision. Like that's a

decision you make for like this what you

hope will be a very long chunk of time.

Like the Super Bowl slot is a short-term

decision. It's like yeah, you'll get

this like fisson of of energy, but like

it doesn't last. Like no one ever like

very rarely does that determine the fate

of a TV show. And so we then called you

back and said, "What if you could start

shooting three months after you give

birth?" And then we made the show. And

it proved to be the most satisfying

creative experience I've ever had. And I

like more than this podcast. No, this is

my number one. Number two, it's number

two. Yeah. This is I mean besides this

now one of the ways like very concrete

ways to that is I feel like an example

of what I'm talking about which is like

the joy in the details is the way you

like to name characters. Yeah. And I

think you gave me um I think you allowed

me to use this in my book actually, but

you gave me like a list of possible

names instead of Leslie Nope, the

character I played on Parks Rec. Like

you gave me like a bunch of different

alternative names. But you also love to

name characters left and right. What is

it? What is fun about names for you and

naming? Okay, so it's two things. The

first is growing up, first major comedic

influence, Monty Python. MontiPython,

experts at silly, stupid names, like

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

them. You can go look them up and their

sketches. But the actual the actual

thing that's going on here is different.

So 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 their job I I people

will scoff when I say this. I think they

have the hardest job of any job when it

comes to like making a show. It is so

hard. Anyone who doesn't believe this

should try it, by the way. Try acting.

Our buddy Ted Dansen gave me the best

line, which is acting is embarrassing.

It's embarrassing. It's hard. You have

to summon

something. comedic timing or dramatic

performance or tears or anger or

whatever like instantly with cameras on

you and lights on you wearing makeup and

clothes that aren't yours and a hundred

people staring at you and a big dude

holding a microphone 4 in from your face

and when it's when people can do it well

I think it's like a um it's like a a

miracle worthy of beatatification in at

the Vatican and so I would see these

people on IMDb And it would be like man

in crowd and it would be like that

person like auditioned for this and

booked this gig and drove all the way

across 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 then that

person drove all the way home and they

got paid like $600 for like a week's

worth of work. And they should be there

should be something better than man

number two or man and crowd. Yeah. And

so I decided at that moment, this is

early in season one I think of Parks

Wreck, that every character who appeared

on the show was going to have a first

and last name. So when you saw instead

of if it says man and 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? So I and it has been that was it

started with that intention and has

become one of the great truly one of the

great joys of my life is to give every

because here's the other thing sorry you

can cut all this out but the other thing

is if you name a character um Jack Smith

you can get away with it because there

are 10 trillion Jack Smiths but if you

name a character anything even mildly

interesting like Winona Cooper there's

going to be like four Winona Coopers in

the state that you're setting the show

in and then the legal comes back and

says you can't name your character that.

A lot of people don't know that. You

have to get names cleared. Be cleared.

And there have to be either none or so

many that not any one of them could be

could think that you're saying anything

about them. So I go for none. None.

Yeah. I go for the weirdest names. Uh we

had a character recently on the show on

a man on the inside named Ailio Pepa

Pepe. There's no Ailia Pipa Pepes

anywhere in the continental United

States. So, you get to use that name.

That has been my goal is to have none

have have the Google search come up

empty with every name of every

character. Okay. With that in mind, will

you please read some of these names that

you have invented? Yeah. Like just a few

here on the bottom of this page. Okay.

Uh Mona Lisa Sapperstein. Yes. Jenny

Slate's character. Yes. Uh

do you remember all these things?

Amazing. Trod Frankenstein. Okay, tell

us about Trod. So Trod Frankensteype was

a local reporter or he had a like almost

like a little show like this in Pawne

where he would interview political

people like Leslie Nome. A a great way

to come up with a name that doesn't

exist is to take a normal name like Todd

and then just stick another letter in

there somewhere. Trod and then

Frankenstein is just Frankenstein with a

P at the end. Uh, Tyrion Fonzerelli.

Tyrion Fonzerelli. Obviously, a

combination of two characters from TV

history. Tyrion Lannister and Arthur

Fonzerelli. This name goes to Matt

Murray. Matt Murray did this. Ah,

Panther. Yeah. Panther. Matt. Tyrion

Fonzerelli was writer Parks and Wreck

among other things. was a guy in a

jewelry store who was buying a um an

engagement ring for his to be betrothed

when an and and Chris Trager were

shopping for rings. Great. Uh Leslie,

Nope, we know who that is. Gretzky Susan

Pellegrino. Okay, this so

Gretzky Susan Pellegrino was like the

fourth in a series of names that that

for some reason all involved the last

name of the greatest hockey player who

ever lived, Wayne Gretzky. I don't

offhand remember who Gretzky Susan

Pellegrino is. Also, it should be noted

hyphens. Huge part of my naming process.

Yeah, I'm so excited. It's a way to get

another name in there. Another name. And

also, there's no way that someone's

going to have this name. No one's first

name is Gretzky Susan. Gretzky hyphen

Susan. Typhoon Montelbond. Oh, I love

Typhoon. Typhoon was uh was Don's

hairdresser. Y uh Ty Typhoon also Matt

Marie, I believe, named gave Typhoon the

first name Typhoon. We needed a last

name. Where do you go for the last name?

Ricardo Monttobond. Typhoon Monttobond.

Ceandra Sassnorb. Okay. Cassandra

Sassnorb was I believe I could have this

wrong. Was just Sandra. It was like

Sandra Snorp. Okay. And then the legal

was like doesn't didn't clear. We found

a Sandra. So guess what you do? You add

five more S's. Now you're good. Sandra.

Cassandra. Sassnor. Summer. Oolie.

Kraken. Frog. Frog. Okay. This is a

Montipython ripoff. Straight up. Okay.

Um, olay o le e with an accent and uh

and I guess just that part in there's a

there's a Monty Python sketch called I

think election night special where

they're just going through election

election results and local elections all

over the country. And there's a there's

a a silly party and a sensible party. So

all the people in the sensible party

have names like John Smith and all the

people in the silly party have very

crazy names. And there's also a very

silly party and a slightly silly party.

It's if you want names, go watch that

sketch. It'll it'll uh it'll it'll sate

you. Summer Olay Kraken, Frog Frog.

That's a good one. Frog Frog is a great

last name. Yeah. Now, and then this one.

Do you have Are you involved with this

one with hacks? No. CC Homo. I thought

that wasn't sure. CC Homo. And you know

what? I don't want to talk about hacks.

That's fine. They'll be here at 6. Um CC

Homo. H O M E- AU X was all Jen Statsky

and Luchian Yellow and Paul DS. I don't

know which one of them came up with it,

but yes, but said but spelled

differently than it said. It's a very

funny moment in the show because she

introduced herself as CZ Homo and Jean

Smart goes spell that.

Okay. Oh, and you know, we're going to

let's let's get into Philly Justice

because we have some special guests that

are going to be joining us to talk about

Philly Justice. Um, for those listening,

stand by because we have very, very

exciting guests. Probably should have

mentioned this so long ago. Oh, yeah.

Can you do me a favor and go back and

record that? Well, we do record. We

often record the beginning after the

interview so I can talk about what we

talked about. Please don't make people

sit through summer crack and frog prong

before they get to the famous people.

And I and a lot of people don't know

though, we record the interview after

the person leaves. So So yeah. So this

is just recorded. No.

Um, this is just to capture the AI

modulation of my voice. Yes. And then

you make me say whatever you want me. Of

course. I mean, it's just so hard.

Honestly, it's a relief at this point.

AI is a relief. I keep saying that. It

really is. Um Um and um we we might also

want to like do a little teaser too to

say that you and I are thinking when

this comes out Yeah. we will have

announced that we're working together

again on something exciting. Very

exciting. So, we're back together again.

We are renewing our vows, if you will. I

um I had my fun. That's right. I ran

around town. Yes. And I realized that

what I really needed was under my nose

the whole time. Yoko knew that John

needed a break. Okay. And she let him

wander and he came back. So,

you know, everyone needs a break

sometimes. But you're back. Back. We're

back. And we're very very excited to

work together again. We'll have to

That's a whole separate podcast. I think

it is. I think it is. But it's just a

little teaser. Okay. So, we will do

another episode on Parks, We Promise,

for those listening. But in the

meantime, we need to get to I think a

more important TV show by far. And and

that is called Philly Justice. Yeah.

Now, to explain to people listening,

what the heck is this? I don't know

about a show called Philly Justice.

Well, you shouldn't. It's not real. But

on I'll just set it up and then I need I

need you to tell us the history. So,

Very briefly, Philly Justice is a fake

TV show that we made up, a few cast

members made up on the set of Parks and

Wreck one day because we looked at a

picture of ourselves and we laughed and

we said, "Oh, we look like we're in a TV

show called Philly Justice." That small

inside joke onset laugh grew into a

beast that is still discussed today. So,

what do you remember about the

beginnings of Philly Justice? So, this

is like season 4 of Parks and Wreck. I

think you're running for Leslie's

running for office. And we have in this

season incredible regular guest stars on

the show. Kathern Han played uh a

campaign manager, high-powered campaign

manager from DC who was running the

campaign of Bobby Newport played by Paul

Rudd. Yeah. And Bobby Newport was the

[ __ ] son of a wealthy businessman who

didn't want the job at all. uh and but

was running against Leslie and it's

Leslie's greatest dream and it's he

Bobby Newport does not care at all and

in fact in the finale of the show when

he loses there's a brief clip of him on

TV being interviewed and he says

honestly this is a huge relief which is

one of my favorite it's an incredible

Paul Redd moment. So, in this episode we

were shooting, you were all in like

campaign mode, which meant you were un

maybe uncharacteristically wearing like

a very smartly tailored suit. Yep. And

Rashida was Anne Perkins was also

wearing something like that. And then um

Jen Barkley, Catherine's character, is

always highowered suit lady and Paul Red

is there and Adam Scott is there who

usually wore ties and suits and stuff.

And so this is what I remember is that

someone came running up and said, "Look

at this picture." And it was all five of

you and I think it was just a wardrobe

picture. It was like let's get a

picture. They take pictures of

characters all the time just to say like

okay this is what they look like in case

we have to recreate this. And then I

think maybe Rashida had said someone had

said we look like we're in a David E.

Kelly show like a legal drama. And I

think Rashida maybe just said Philly

Justice and we'll put the picture up

here but it look we're just kind of

nailing it drama in the mode of that of

that kind of show. That's right. So then

what I heard and this stuff was like

bleeding up to me in the writer room is

that you guys had started kind of just

you were like this is the thing we're

doing now is we're coming up with like

characters and scenes and like moments

of dialogue for our characters from this

fake show that you had invented called

Philly Justice which was a David E.

Kelly show from like 2005

that had shot the pilot and that had

never aired and you were all goofing

around and improvising, right?

improvising just like who you were and

what the show was about. So it it just

kept wafting up to the writer that they

everyone was really enjoying this.

Great. Fantastic. Then I think we all

collectively blacked out. Mhm. And when

we woke up the writers had written

scenes for Philly Justice. Like we like

a 20page script. Yeah. Like writers, it

should be noted in comedy rooms will

take any excuse not to work. Of course,

writing is the worst. It's the worst.

And it's And if there's like a fun a

more fun thing. Yeah. Great. And I I do

remember at one point divying up scenes

for Philly Justice the way that a good

showrunner would be like, "Okay, why

don't you guys take act one of the next

episode and you take act two and

whatever." And instead I was like,

"Okay, you guys write the scene where

the Adam Scott and uh and whoever are

like fighting and you take the scene

where this and we just started writing

scenes, fake scenes for a fake show that

didn't exist for you in character while

we were making another show." Correct.

Now, we have in season 4 of the show, we

have built the city council chambers

where Leslie was hoping to work someday.

The city council chambers looked kind of

like a courtroom if you squinted. Y so

it was like okay and then at some point

I remember Morgan Sacket Yep. who we're

going to talk to today talk to today

coming in and saying like I think we can

shoot all of this stuff in the in the

city council chamber and I don't

remember when we decided to shoot it. I

like that again we blacked out. Yeah.

But suddenly we were just going to do

this. We were going to make We're going

to use NBC resources

while we're supposed to be making the

show they paid for which never suffered.

Never suffered. And then we're going to

take some of those resources and divert

them without anyone knowing. Sure. To a

different part of the same set. Yeah.

And then shoot the scenes from Philly

Justice. And and by the way, this is

very important for everyone to

understand. To no end. There was not a

point to this. It wasn't like we're

going to put this on the DVD or we're

going to this is like a backdoor pilot

or if this works we could really do XYZ.

And it wasn't like vir it wasn't like

we're going to make a viral thing or

we're going to be talking about it 15 16

years later. No, it was because it was

fun. And and really the thing that I

think is the most important thing to get

across is that the that show was so fun

to work on. Everyone was almost

singularly devoted to the concept of

having fun. Yeah. And this just seemed

fun. And it we didn't question it. We

didn't ask why we were doing it. Morgan

Morgan's job basically is to like make

the show that we're making. He was as

gung-ho about this as anyone. He was

like, "Yeah, of course we of course we

have to do this. Like we have to do

this." And then next thing I know, well

then a bunch of stuff happens and I

don't want to go too far. Well, I think

this might be a good time to jump onto

our Zoom. Perfect time actually because

we're going to be joined on our Zoom

with some the cast of Philly Justice

basically. And what we'll figure what

we'll discuss when we get everybody is

there was a casting change. I forgot

about that. Okay. And also what we'll

talk about is this small joke became

hours of emails. Yeah. Character

descriptions, tons of um scripts, an

actual shoot day, a trailer that we're

going to show at the end. And nobody has

seen this particular trailer. It's very

exciting. We now we did put on the um

end of one of the blooper reels like a

small kind of like fake trailer of

Philly Justice, but we never showed the

real deal. And not only we're going to

show it to our um uh to on this podcast,

but we're also a lot of the people here

today have never seen it, and we're

going to watch them watch it in real

time. Very exciting. And just like those

video games, and we're going to play

video games over them watching the

video. Yeah. And then I'm going to

Twitch. I'm going to do a Twitch stream

that has that in a small square while I

play Castlevania. Yeah. And then me and

Kai Snat are going to go out and give

out Nintendo. We're going to And then

that whole thing will be on a video on a

phone that Mr. Beast is holding at the

NBA Slam Dunk contest when he jumps out

of the helicopter.

Okay, so let's see. Do we have anyone on

yet? Oh my gosh, this is exciting.

This episode is brought to you by Degree

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back. And it smells like victory for

everyone. Woohoo. So joining us uh now

uh uh Rashidita Jones, Morgan Sackett,

and Adam Scott. Welcome everybody. Thank

you so much. Thanks for having us.

Thanks for having us. Um where is

everyone zooming from? I'm I'm I'm

upstairs at a a barbecue. A family

barbecue. Great. in LA. Morgan, I'm at

home in LA. Adam, I'm in New York and

I'm I happen to be in Aziz's apartment

right now. H And is Aziz there? No. No,

he's I locked him out. He's downstairs.

He can't get banging on the door. That's

right. He's furious. Wait, Sheeta

upstairs at a barbecue. Yeah, not mine.

I'm in a I'm in a a person's home. I

asked them where their office was. This

is where I am.

So, thank you. That's the That's always

the best place at a barbecue is just

upstairs by yourself away from in like a

stranger's office. It's great. Just

going through their stuff. Yep. Emy's up

here just telling you guys. Dang. Whose

barbecue is this? Can Can we guess whose

barbecue it is? It's also Aiz's

barbecue.

And he's not allowed in. He's also not

there. He's not in either place. By the

way, guys, where's Aiz? Yeah. Don't I

haven't heard from him in years. If Aziz

walks through the background of Morgan

Zoom right now, it'll be the greatest

moment in the history of podcasting.

I guess we wanted to just start um

Morgan if we could. Um

we were talking about how this picture

on set then became a private joke that

then became a show that then was written

by the writers while we were actually

doing a real show.

So, what do you remember about the first

time you heard about it? And could you

talk to us about the email that you

sent? And also, how how were you this

irresponsible that you allowed this to

happen on your watch? Yeah. Really?

It just sort of floated around for a

while. Everybody I don't know. I thought

Colleen, who was our photographer

forever, took it, but I talked to her

this week. She didn't. I don't know who

snapped that photo, but little did they

know, it was just with one of our

phones. It was on my phone, and we got

somebody to do it. I don't remember who

did it, but Okay. So, you you

commissioned the photo yourself cuz you

were enjoying how you all looked in your

smartly tailored suits. Okay. We were

enjoying ourselves. Yes. Right. The

photo was commissioned like like actors

do. We were like, "Look at how cool we

look. Let's take another." We were like,

"We've been photographed all day, but

yet it's still not enough, right? Not

enough. I don't feel satisfied somehow.

While people around us are doing work

like setting up the next shot, get

carrying cameras and equipment stuff,

we're like, "Oh, look at us in front of

this, you know, just like Yeah. We were

like, "So, Rashidita, somebody take a

picture with Rashidita's camera. How

cool we look." And Rashida, do I have it

right? I thought I remembered that you

were the one who who first said the

words Philly Justice as if it were a

fake show. Do I have that right or do

you remember? It's probably I mean I I

I'm not going to take credit but it's

probably right because I I'm I mean I

spent two years on a David Kelly show

and like a you know in David Kelly land

and I think I was like this is a

procedural this is like a legal

procedural maybe I don't know my memory

is not great but also credits. Well if

if you pay attention everybody is facing

one way except for Adam and that really

did end up informing his character.

Yeah. Everybody's Yeah. So, Adam is the

rebel. Nick something, right? Yeah.

Nick. Yeah. We'll get We'll get to Nick.

So, Morgan, you are busy working on a

show and you hear this stupid thing and

you're like, you just hear us talking

about it. When did you realize that you

wanted to be part of making it into a

trailer?

I don't know. I think we it just kept

coming up and it's like and I I feel

like it was when we had that the city

council chambers, you know, that Leslie

and we're like that courtroom and then

we knew the Barkley group was coming up

which was Hans characters like high-end

DC lobbying firm and it's like that

looks like a law office. So I sent I we

just talked about it forever and noodled

around scripts and you guys had a very

active chat going on about it and I sent

out an email. We I have the email. Can

you read Morgan? Can you read us the

email? Sure. Dear cast of Philly

Justice, we're planning to shoot

Wednesday, September 19th. The brief

storyline is that there's an EPK for

Philly Justice pilot shot in the spring

of 2002. We're talking to Dylan

McDerman, and it looks like we'll work

it out to have him join us. We also may

get a interview with David E. Kelly,

which we really thought we were going to

get. We should decide what angle we want

to take with him. He wrote it, he saw

it, he hated it, he advised Dylan not to

do it, etc. We're planning to convert

the Barkley Group set into the Office of

Billy Justice team. We're also going to

set up a courtroom set. The plan is to

shoot a couple of short scenes for the

pilot and then interviews with the cast.

Most of the piece will play out in the

interview segments. The plan is to dress

and groom everyone as 2002 lawyers. That

need from everybody is character names

and backgrounds. Any bits you want to

try and name for the law firm, please

respond. And at the end I said, "Thanks,

Morgan Sacket, assistant to the

associate producer of Philly Jo."

I Okay, Morgan, why? I just want to know

why, Morgan. Why? Why did you Why did

you let

I remember emailing David Kelly's people

and he was in and then I got a call like

two days before he was going to come and

it's like, "I'm sorry." from like some

big CA agent or something like, "I'm

sorry, what is this? Did he come?" Ah,

of course. And they killed it. that went

away very quickly. I remember getting

that email and being so because there

were like rumblings like we're actually

I think we might shoot something and the

writers might be coming up with

something and then getting the email and

knowing for sure Morgan was on board

meant that we might actually be doing

this. Yeah. If he puts his brain on it,

time will be carved out. And it was I

remember just being so excited that we

were gonna get to do it. Yeah. Because

we'd been talking about at that point

maybe for like six months or I I I don't

know. Did you figure out how long from

when we had taken the picture to when we

shot this? How long? I don't think it

was that long. It was at least most of a

season. It was like between Yeah, I

thought it was a while. Rashidita, do

you have any memory of that early part?

I can't believe how long it was. I'm

like in shock that we spent so I do

remember there was a lot of we talked a

lot about our our backstories

not just as characters but as the people

playing the characters and how we

interacted with each other on the set of

Philly Justice. So it was like meta meta

meta like many many levels of Inception

had been had been crafted to like really

support the the the truth of this

experience. I feel like you two and Han

and um uh whoever were on was and Amy

who were on the chat had gotten you had

done so much work in just like in

texting and like doing the bit of the

show that you had accidentally created

this very elaborate backstory and one of

the pieces of the backstory was that

Dylan Mcder had been in the pilot. He of

course a veteran of The Practice and of

other shows like that. And then at some

point, and this is where we need Morgan,

when did we reach out to Dylan McDermott

to say, "We're doing this insane thing

for no reason. Do you want to be a part

of it?" And how did that go exactly? Do

you remember? I think that we were we

wanted to do it and we're like, we have

these sets and we can shoot it and Rudd

was doing a movie or something was not

available. Right. That should be clear

that Paul Rudd was not available. So

instead of killing the fake show within

the real show, we said let's recast with

Dylan McDermott who very very nicely

said yes I'm in. Yeah. What? He didn't

even he said I don't even think he said

what is this? He just said I'm game. I'm

in. Well, also so then the but the lore

in the meta meta meta world became that

Paul Rudd had been that character and

had been recast after the table read and

been replaced by Dylan McDermott which

is why he was going to be in it and not

Paul. And during that time we started

talking about our characters and if we

have a second cuz I know I don't have

everybody for very long. if we could um

read the character descriptions of our

characters. Um if if Bones, now you're

in a car. I see you're in a car.

Fleeing fleeing the Now you're driving.

This is This is a real active Zoom here.

I'm going to Yes, I Yes, I'm here. Okay,

I'm sending I'm I'm sending you the um

character description. Are you actually

driving or is someone driving? No.

Wouldn't that be terrible? No. Okay, I'm

I'm No. Okay. So, um if I may, um uh uh

have our our actors here and then we'll

we'll we'll fill in with Hans and um and

Rud/ McDermott's character. Sure. Um

Rashidita, would you mind telling us the

character you came up with for Philly

Justice? So, when we watch the trailer,

we know what you know what kind of stuff

you were working with. Yeah. Yeah, you

got it. Okay. So I I was um I was

playing Joey Martinez who was a first

year associate. She had a really rough

background like her she had she came

from a hard hard family background. Um

she doesn't like to talk but she's the

one that gives it to you straight when

you don't ask for her opinion. And

that's that's the beauty of Joey is that

even when you don't ask she's going to

tell you what she thinks. Yeah. That's

Joey. Yeah. That's Joey. That's Joey.

And women don't like her in the firm,

like especially Holly, but women in

general don't like her in the firm cuz

she's, you know, and Holly was my

character and it was fun for us to play

enemies. I'm sorry. I just got the text

that Polar sent with these descriptions.

They are so long. They're so long. Yeah,

there's hundreds of charact There's more

work put into this than there was into

the actual characters from Parks and

Wreck. Yeah. Well, that's what that's

when it makes sense that we spent six

months doing this. That's when it really

really makes sense. All right, Adam, you

want to talk to us about your character?

Sure. Nick Bellows, uh, he's a district

attorney.

He wrote rides his motorcycle to work,

leather jacket with a tie, was one of

the fastest rising attorneys in

Manhattan and was being groomed for

partner at Powers Cooper and Powers

under the toutelage of his mentor/f

father figure Blaine Powers. Cool. But

the morning of September 11th, 2001,

Nick was late to work because he was in

bed with a woman he'd been secretly

seeing.

Molina Powers, Blaine P. White. Whoa.

Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, the location of P Cooper and P

offices, World Trade Center, North

Tower, 67th floor. Bellows is the only

survivor from his firm. Wow.

Unbelievable back story. This is quite a

backstory. It's crazy. I mean, think

about the guilt.

I mean, you can't imagine. Just below

the surface, you know. So, Bellowos went

off the grid. He was believed to have

perished along with his colleagues. But

in fact, he grabbed his suitcase,

leather jacket, and a 357

Magnum and found his way to Afghanistan,

determined to fight for justice in the

one place, the only place that truly

needs it.

Good lord. That's also not true. There's

a lot of places that need justice. Quite

a few. Yeah. Uh Bellows has more demons

than he can count. And now that he's

back, he's on the right side of the law.

He cares about only one thing. Uh one

thing and one thing only, justice. Wow.

So he's just to be clear, he's a

district attorney who works at this law

firm. Yeah. for some reason. Yeah, he is

at a private network. He didn't know. We

didn't know. You know,

he went in. Wait, see 911 made him grab

a pistol and go to Afghanistan. Get his

leather jacket and a gun and go to I I

guess independent of the armed forces,

he's just over there. Yeah, he just went

over there on his own. Hey guys. Hey

guys, how can I help? So, I'll I'll

blaze through the other fast one. So

then we had Katherine Han who was

Valerie McNeel partner criminal

prosecutor a machine and no kids never

married. She isn't here. She also is

very tough. She cares about the case

over everyone else. And in the trailer

there's a moment where you and Catherine

kiss Adam. Yeah. I'm not sure why, but I

always remembered it like um uh um

what's what's the um the Mandela effect?

I always remembered it as Rashida and

Catherine kissing. Oh, wait, no, you're

not wrong. There was a joke, and this is

now coming back to me. I think there was

a joke that we were going to do a scene

where like Adam and Catherine kissed and

then Adam and Rashidita kissed and then

Catherine and Rashidita kissed and it

was it was like everyone is is like

making out with everyone. Okay, I

remembered it as such and I even said it

on the pod and a lot of people were

excited to see that and I just want to

let everybody know that doesn't happen

in the trailer. I'm so sorry. There's no

footage of that. All right. What's your

character? And very quickly, mine is

Holly McIntyre. Let's see. Holly

McIntyre,

junior partner, head prosecutor, stiff

and quick to anger, doesn't make friends

easily. Everybody doesn't make friends.

Everyone's the same. Her dad is Cameron

McIntyre, owner of the firm. Oh, she's

the daddy's girl. Yeah. And she's really

worked her butt off to be taken

seriously. She's a tough litigator. Her

father, played by Corbin Bernson, thinks

that she cares too much. She does. Wait,

I'm sorry. Read the one right before

that. Holly became a lawyer after a

bunch of kids in her town died from lead

poisoning. Yeah, sure.

Jesus.

She's hard on Joey Martinez, but al but

only because she sees a lot of herself

in her. Yeah. And she tends to go for

married men who are older and a little

mean. And then we also have um Shane

Shains.

Shane. That's Dylan's character's name.

Also, um let's not forget Nick Offerman

played the judge. Yeah, Nick. He says he

remembers nothing other than he was just

hanging around and someone said, "Can

you play the judge?" Do you remember

that, Morgan? Yeah, I I remember. We

were talking about it the next day we

were doing it. It's like, "You guys

don't work tomorrow." And Nick's like,

"I'll come in tomorrow. What What do I

do?" And I said, "We need a judge." All

right. Well, we are very excited. We're

going to have a world premiere. Yeah.

And you know, it's really exciting. I

mean, there there's not a lot of things

that um we've just kept in a vault for

all this time. No, we we threw almost

everything we did and then wrote new

stuff for the gag reels that uh that we

would release just to just to like in

have let people enjoy the goofiness of

the show. But this has remained locked

in a vault. So this would have been made

in what Morgan 2011

2012. Wow. So it's 13 years old. 13

years. That's pretty wild. I just want

to say a lot of people have asked me

like what the life what the what the

future life of Billy Justice is. Yeah. I

mean we got to you know it's it's it

could be nothing but I think that people

are very interested and you know or it

could be re it could be rebooted. We

could reboot. made me called about doing

this. I'm like, this is going to end

with us shooting more Philly justice.

This is what I'm saying is that that's

what I hope happens. Like rebooting a

show that never happened. I mean,

there's nothing better than that.

Rashidita, Philly has never needed more

justice than now. I mean, justice is

needed. So, I think it's time to make

it. I mean, if there's ever a time, it's

now. Couldn't agree more. I will say

that we we people that are listening to

Good Hang, we hear you. You have been

demanding to see this. It is release

Philly justice now. That have been the

com that has been many of the comments.

The comments are like the ark of the

moral universe is long but it bends

towards Philly justice.

Show it to me Amy parenthesis Rachel.

Release the tape or accidentally group

text it to all of us which is another

great one. Um please please please in

the words of Leslie note please please

please please please please please

please please please please please

please please. So, we are listening,

we're learning, we're sharing. We are

going to play and and will they be able

to see it on the Zoom? Okay. Are you

guys ready to watch it? Yeah. Okay. Here

we go.

Yes. Really exciting.

Amy, are you going to play it from your

supposed to play it? I'm supposed to

Here we go. Oh my god. I'm I'm in

charge. Oh no. Oh no. You have to keep

that

17 seconds of silence. Okay. So sorry

about that, guys. Thank you for waiting.

Here we go.

For the first time ever on DVD,

the legendary courtroom drama that no

one has ever seen. Any more witnesses,

counselor? Just one, your honor. Joey

Martinez, the defense attorney. What?

This is preposterous. Your honor, you

can't possibly overruled. I hope you

know what you're doing, McNeel. Just

follow my lead. The show that broke all

the rules. Your honor, I only have one

more witness.

It's you.

You can't do that. The courtroom drama

that revolutionized television forever.

The hell are you doing here? What the

hell are you doing here? I work here

now. I work here now. So do I. So do I.

Well, we'll see about that. Well, we

will see about that. Keep your history

in your pants, boys. These lawyers play

by their own rules. Permission to treat

the witness as beautiful.

Granted, and they play for keeps.

Counselor, will you marry me? She can't.

She's already married to her job.

Bring it home for the first time. [ __ ]

You're a playboy and a social climber.

I'm a rebel and an outlaw who plays by

his own rules. Of course, they're never

going to let me in their little club and

experience what no one else has ever had

the chance to experience. Let there be

justice in Philadelphia

[Music]

once again.

Amy Poland, Adam Scott, Rashidita Jones,

Catherine Han, and Dylan McDermott. I'm

a judge now, and you're guilty, your

honor. Philly justice.

Coming this spring on DVD. Welcome to

Philly [ __ ]

Wow.

Wow.

Yes. Wow.

Wow. I feel like whoever wrote per wrote

per Happy's intros wrote the text for

that trailer. Wait, Morgan, I have an

important question for you and I don't

want to get too inside baseball. Is Is

that steady cam? That is right. Maybe.

Did we hire a steady cam operator?

We never used steady cam on the show

once. Probably. We hired a steady cam

operator to shoot that. It looked like

steady cam to me. Yeah, it probably was.

Do you remember? Did we I think it was

we built a rig. We were going to do

these walk-in talks down the hallways. I

think

you know it really is shorter and less

exciting than we really built it up to

be. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's it's we shot

more. That was just that was the

trailer. Somewhere there. We were

shooting like a an episode essentially,

right? Yeah. I never finished it. and we

were shooting a EPK to go around the

pilot, right? Yeah, there's there's

definitely my guess would be that we

looked at all of the footage and we're

like, "This is a trailer. The way to do

this is a trailer, not like long scenes

or something." I My favorite part of it

is when Adam, when you say, "You're a

social climber and a playboy. I'm a

rebel who plays by his own rules."

You're just like speaking the bios of

the characters out loud. That's right.

But in character and you bring your

motorcycle helmet to court. Yeah. Yeah.

Also, I can't I'm confused as to who is

able to object.

It's a lot of objecting.

Yes. Well, I mean I feel like it, as

Mike said, it was an example of how much

fun we were having and how much fun we

were allowed to have. So, thank you Mike

and Morgan for making Philly Justice a

reality. mean

our thank you for naming the show. Oh,

my pleasure. And Adam, thank you for

your work in Afghanistan. It seems like

Yeah. Yeah. Thank No, thank you. Thanks

for creating space for me to go to

Afghanistan with your pistol with a gun.

Yeah.

And um I know I'm sure Aziz is right off

frame out out of frame there. So tell

Aziz I'm sorry he wasn't in it. Aziz

everyone says hey. Uh, sorry you weren't

in Philly just to Oh, he just walked

out. Yeah. Oh, he's in Rashidita's car

now. Oh, he's here. Everybody say thank

you. All right. Thank you guys so much

for jumping on. It means a lot and I

think this will be a very special

episode. Thanks for doing this. So fun.

Bye y'all. Love you guys. Love all of

you. Bye guys. Love you. Love you.

Morgan, let's get Philly Justice back

together. Let's get a call sheet.

Morgis.

All right. Thanks all and thank you Mike

for joining and talking about this. It

was the best. It was so fun. So fun.

Love you. Love you too. Bye all.

That was amazing. Um we got to see the

trailer of Philly Justice, which really

was the only thing we ended up making.

And um and we got to talk to the great

Mike Sher who uh we need to have back to

talk more about parks and wreck because

there's just so much to talk to him

about. And um if you want if you're

listening to this podcast and you uh

want to watch it, you can go to Spotify

or YouTube and see it there. It's only

there uh on our podcast. But um you

know, also it might just be fun hearing

it uh described

then never watch it. But either way,

thank you to everybody who joined us.

And I think there's one person that's

just joining our Zoom right now um that

we were trying to get uh let's see if we

can There she is.

Catherine on

Catherine.

Catherine. Catherine, you missed it.

Catherine, I'm sorry. We we did talk

about your character though and we're

thanks Katherine on zooming in. Zooming

in. I love you so much. Zooming in.

Muted. Okay. Okay. Bye.

Thank you so much, man. I love my

friends. Okay. Better late than never.

I'll take her any way I can get her.

Okay. Thanks everybody. See you soon.

You've been listening to Good Hang. The

executive producers for this show are

Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman, and

me, Amy Polar. The show is produced by

The Ringer and Paperkite. For The

Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Cat

Spalain, Kaia McMullen, and Alia

Xanerys. For Paperkite, production by

Sam Green, Joel Levelvel, and Jenna

Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy

Miles.