The wonderful Parks and Recreation is reaching a milestone this week, as it airs its 100th episode Thursday night. To celebrate the occasion, NBC held a press event while the episode was in production, complete with a cake that Ron Swanson would greatly approve of.

What it Feels Like Reaching the 100th Episode

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What is it that Fans Love About Parks and Rec?

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The Parks and Rec gang in the 100th episode.

At the event, I spoke to Parks and Rec co-creator/executive produce Michael Schur and the show’s entire cast -- Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Rashida Jones, Rob Lowe, Retta and Jim O’Heir -- about what it felt like to reach 100 episodes, what it is about Parks and Rec that appeals to fans, their favorite moment or episode from the show so far and what to expect in the big 100th episode.It feels really great. I know it's a hard accomplishment, because we have put in so many hours and so much time together. It takes a long time to make 100 episodes. It took us four or five years. So it means that your show has been able to tell a lot of different stories, and it means your characters have been on TV for a long time. I don't take that lightly. It's a privilege to be on a show for as long as we have. It's nice that we're still on.It's bizarre. I think it still hasn't quite sunk in. It seems like so many!I don't have enough money in the bank to equal 100 episodes! I don't know what happened.It feels really good. Mike [Schur] summed it up - it's not a miracle, because we've got a lot of good people working very hard. It feels... Mostly, I just feel tired. [Laughs] But it's like a marathon, you know what I mean? We're just working. This has become like our regular job. I came home and I'm really happy to be here. People are like, "Are you working?" I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm working on Parks and Rec," so it's like seven minutes from my house, it's part of my life. It's been a major part of my life and I love that we've done 100 episodes and I hope we do 100 more.It feels incredibly lucky. Jim [O’Heir] and I both have been bouncing around in the business for many years, and we feel lucky when you just get a job. You're like, "Well, this show's not that great, but I've got a job. I'll retain my benefits. I can finally get this molar fixed." So to jump from that situation to this, where someone says, "100 episodes. How do you feel?" I'd say we feel pretty tall and pretty lucky. The writing of our show is such a high quality, and it continues to grow somehow. It's been said to the administration of our show this fall, "Season 6, you're not supposed to be trying this hard. If you're still on the air, you're supposed to coast at this point. But you guys are still improving and striving and trying to be creative and fresh." So as the recipients of that material, we just feel incredibly lucky. It makes us mind our manners so that we'll hopefully be asked back for the next hundred.It's weird! It's so weird. It's kind of great, but because of all the vicissitudes of our schedule, since the very beginning, we've always been a little bit, like, not comfortable and just trying to enjoy all the moments that we have together. Now, we can't deny the fact that we have this foundation. We've made 100 episodes! There's no turning back. Those will exist forever, for eternity, which is great.Surreal is a word that is overused but is accurate in this case. I'm extremely proud of it and I think everybody who works on the show is proud of it. It feels like a thing. There aren't many "things" after you get on the air until you get to 100 episodes for some reason! I feel very, very proud of the whole team of people who've worked on it. It's a very rare thing. It doesn't happen all the time. So I feel good.As crazy as we are, it's still kind of set in reality. and the friendships and the love is honest so I think that people get that. And we're really funny!I think everyone just loves all the characters and the show. They’re all pretty unique and different characters that you don't normally see on TV and I think it pretty much boils down to that and just liking to see those people every week.I think that maybe the energy of the cast and the love between us kind of is palpable and I think people like that. It's a very uplifting show and I think people respond to that.You fall in love with the characters and then you see them go somewhere. Fans of the show watch the show differently than someone who's never seen it the show before, because you have the whole history of the show informing you each episode, you know? So it's like The Simpsons. You watch an episode of The Simpsons and you've been a fan of The Simpsons for a long time, then all you need is for Milhouse to come on and you already know who Milhouse is. We don't have to keep re-introducing new people. You know this world a lot. I think Pawnee is a lot like Springfield in that way. You just go back and you check in on the characters and you see this funny, little half an hour arc that goes on and several stories going on and that's why people like it.I think the feeling of community. When you watch the show, it's very apparent that one of the main themes of the show is, "You can't do anything by yourself." It takes a village, in a sense. I think that it's a show that's very warm.I think it's the writing. I think the writing is so good that they care about the characters. You want to come and back watch those characters. I also think our show feels a little discovered by people, because it's had such a slow build. Our fans feel like they're really part of it, because they are. They are a part of it. They're the reason why we're still around.Well, as we've always said in my household, "If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage." So we have a crew of about 150 people making the show, and they've all been chosen for their talent, but also because they're not a**holes. That goes a really long way in this town, creating a community of people who work together out of a sense of love. We know that our show tickles people, but it also hugs people, and that's a gift. It's medicinal. So all kidding aside, it feels really good to make the show. There's no power, greed or fear. Somehow, we continue to survive on the air even though we don't bowl anybody over with our Nielsen ratings. I feel like we're sort of Santa's elves. We know we're bringing the toys to the kids, and as long as Santa will keep us around, we're happy to make trucks... and dildos... It was so nice! It was going so nice. [Laughs]There's so much heart on this show. We don't have to go to a commercial break on a laugh, because life isn't always, "Setup, setup, laugh."I think the cast is a large part of it, honestly. It's like 10 of the most lovable and warm human beings you could ever watch. I think TV, at some level, is just wanting to spend time with the people you're looking at. It seems really fun to just spend time with these people and I think that's part of the reason. They just seem like they're good people. Not the characters -- I mean the characters too -- but also the actors just seem like they're nice, funny people. I love Cheers. I've said this a million times, but the reason Cheers lasted for 300 episodes was because everybody wanted to be in that bar talking to those people. I would never favorably compare the show to Cheers, but I think our cast has that same feeling and I think it engenders that same feeling.I think the nice thing about Mike and Greg [Daniels], and I think what made The Office so great for so long, is they are really not interested in this comedy that floats away and is not deeply connected to the relationship of the characters. There's so much heart in the show, and it's so uncynical. It's about doing things together and "no man's an island," and your friends and your coworkers and loving each other, something really kind of Americana about the show, in a way that feels kinda diametrically opposed to the way people feel about their country right now. I think it's just a really tiny glimmer of hope. I think people connect to that. And it's also really f**king funny, you know -- side note!I think the characters are so original and specific. So then the comedy comes out of a specific, original, honest place. There's a lot of comedy, for me, on television where the jokes could come from any character. There's not one line of dialogue ever in any episode that comes out of Chris's mouth that could come out of anybody else's mouth, and not a line that comes out of Ann's mouth that could come out of anybody else's mouth. If you really think about that, that's really, really rare in television comedy. I think that's what this show does better than any show.

Learn the cast's favorite moments from the past and what to expect in episode 100 on Page 2.