"Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing."

These wise words spoken by Ronald Ulysses Swanson in the 16th episode of season four of NBC's Parks and Recreation seem to exemplify the career of Michael Schur, who, upon leaving Saturday Night Live in 2004, made sitcoms his one thing. After working as a producer and writer on NBC's The Office, Schur co-created both Parks and Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Sunday nights 8:30/7:30c). With season three of Brooklyn now in full swing, Schur is constantly adding to his already extensive stable of memorable and hilarious scenes. We recently talked to Schur about some of his favorite moments from his three TV shows.

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The Office, Season 2, "Christmas Party"

THE SCENE: Dwight and Jim talk Christmas present trade, and Dwight drops a Billy Zane Titanic reference.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "I loved so much that the character in Titanic that Dwight most identified with was Billy Zane's character, like, the worst, shittiest dude in the world. In Dwight's mind, Titanic is the story of a righteous uber-mensch, played by Billy Zane, who gets royally screwed over by ruffians, and it's a terrible tragedy for that reason. What I remember from The Office is these tiny nothing moments that were just personal favorite jokes."

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The Office, Season 3, "The Job"

THE SCENE: After returning from a job interview in New York, Jim asks Pam out on a date for the first time.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "That moment that Jenna Fischer had—I think it's one of the most beautiful acting moments I've ever seen in a comedy show, or any show, really. She's so good in that moment."

The Office, Season 4, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity"

THE SCENE: Dwight describes his attempt to visit his grandparents.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "I remember those big moments, but most of the ones that I remember fondly and laugh about are these tiny little moments. I wrote an episode in season four, where Dwight talks about how people in his family live a long time, and that his grandparents are still alive, they're in their 90s, and he said, 'They're still kicking around down in Argentina.' And that was part of this very long, subtle thing that we did over the years that implied that Dwight's maternal grandparents were Nazis, and so he mentions that his grandparents are in Argentina, which is of course where a lot of Nazis fled to escape the ramifications of losing the war. I wrote this joke that said that he tried to go visit them one day, but his visa was protested by the Shoah Foundation. It's a total throwaway joke, which isn't even about the main story of the episode or anything, but when you really lay out the details of that in your brain, it makes me laugh so hard. It really has no purpose being in the episode at all. I had to fight so hard to keep it in, because it was my favorite joke at that time."

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The Office, Season 4, "Money"

THE SCENE: As Jim and Pam arrive at Dwight's farm, his Cousin Mose—played by Schur—appears and runs alongside the car.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: Okay, this might not be one of Schur's favorite moments, but it is pretty great. "You have Paul Lieberstein to thank for that. Paul Lieberstein loved Mose. I hated Mose. I hated doing it. I hated every second of it. It was so uncomfortable. It was a thousand degrees, and I was wearing wool clothes and a fake neck beard. It was awful. And I never even talked, and if I did talk, they would cut the lines, because they were like, 'It's funnier when he doesn't talk.' And I was like, 'Great.' But he wrote that episode, and I think he even directed it, and I remember the script said, 'Mose emerges out of nowhere and runs alongside of the car like a dog.' And then, by the way, if you watch it, I had to run for a long time. I ran for like a hundred yards, and we did take after take after take, and it was so hot. It was 100 degrees, I was wearing old work boots, wool suspenders and overalls, and a wool shirt, and had to run a dead sprint for 100 yards, over and over and over again. I was so sore the next day. It was miserable. I hate to peel away, and remove the veil for what it is, but it was terrible. I hated every second of it."

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Parks and Recreation, Season 4, "The Comeback Kid"

THE SCENE: During one of Leslie's first big campaign moments, she and her whole team attempt to make their way across the surface of an ice rink to get Leslie to the podium, as "Get on Your Feet" by Gloria Estefan plays, over and over and over again.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "I mean, it was so long, just them trying to get to the stage. It was the hardest we ever laughed watching them. I think through them performing it, and also then watching it, it was my favorite comedy moment."

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Parks and Recreation, Season 5, "Halloween Surprise"

THE SCENE: After a long stay in Washington, D.C., Ben surprises Leslie at home and proposes to her.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "Part of the reason I loved it is because it has become incredibly hard to keep anything a secret on TV. There's just so many sites dedicated to spoilers, and people leak stuff all the time, and I really wanted him proposing to be an actual surprise to people. I wanted that sense that you got as a kid when you watched TV, when things happened and it was a genuine shock. That feeling, I think, is really great, as a fan of TV shows. It's really exciting when things happen that you didn't see coming. We worked really hard to keep that scene a surprise. We didn't even include it in some of the drafts of the script that were printed. We kept it super-quiet, and I think the effect that it had was great. It was really what I was looking for, but also I just think it was the best acting that Adam Scott and Amy Poehler ever did on the show. It was so moving, and sweet, and funny, and when I think of the show, I often am thinking of that scene even though it's not a huge comedy scene. It felt like the culmination of something, like a real milestone for the characters. "

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Parks and Recreation, Season 6, "London"

THE SCENE: Ron Swanson explores the Scottish countryside.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "We went to London because [Chris] Pratt was shooting Guardians of the Galaxy, and so we decided to use that as an excuse to travel to London. That episode has a lot of great stuff in it. My favorite is that there's a long sequence where Leslie has sent Ron on a scavenger hunt as a thank-you wedding present to him. He doesn't know this, but it ends at the front door of the Lagavulin distillery, the distillery that makes his favorite whisky, and there's a long sequence, and it's really Nick Offerman in the Scottish countryside with a bunch of sheep behind him, at the Lagavulin. We actually went to Scotland and shot all this stuff. As part of her scavenger hunt, he sits on these cliffs overlooking the water and reads aloud a Robert Burns poem, one of the great Scottish masterworks. It's so absurd. It's like the weirdest thing that's ever been on TV, and it always makes me smile when I think about how crazy that was that we were able to do that on a network sitcom."

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 1, "Pilot"

THE SCENE: Captain Holt, the new leader of the 9-9, has just entered the precinct, and has his first big address of his new squad. He delivers a monologue, telling everyone his backstory—he's worked his way up in the system as a gay, African-American man in the NYPD.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "It's the reason you have Andre Braugher on your TV show. He's an amazing actor, and you can give him these moments where he really gets to sink in, and he was so good in that moment, it was like, 'Okay, we know we have this incredible weapon in our disposal, and the trick is, now, to figure out how to give him comedy that's also worthy of his acting ability.'"

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 2, "The Mole"

THE SCENE: Schur's hope for Braugher came full circle in the second season when Holt, sitting at a bar and pondering a potentially troubling situation, was asked "Is everything okay?" by resident "dopes" (Schur's word) Detectives Scully and Hitchcock. Holt fires a "Shakespearean" monologue at them, as the camera cuts back and forth.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "I remember when they shot that, and I looked at it for the first time, I remember thinking, 'This is the comedy result of seeing that scene from the pilot.' Like, he's so good in those acting moments, and it's like, now we've figured out how to take that acting ability and make it truly, deeply funny in that same way."

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 1, "The Pontiac Bandit"

THE SCENE: Going undercover with Doug Judy (guest star Craig Robinson), Jake emerges from a house, in slow motion, wearing one of Judy's oversized, all-white suits. "I sure don't look like a cop," Jake says, proud of his getup. "No. You look like a Boyz II Men Easter album," Detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) tells him.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "I remember non-stop laughing at the table read, in the cut, at every moment. Her delivery of that line is one of my favorite moments on the show."

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 2, "Beach House"

THE SCENE: In what Schur calls "one of the best episodes the show's ever done," Holt, Jake, and the rest of the squad get ready to smoke cigars, when the captain begins to tell stories of his old partner, Dan Hammer, a man with a name so cool he doesn't need a nickname but he has one anyway ("Snake Eyes"). Holt goes on and on about his amazing, ultra-tough former partner, and all the detectives are into it (he died giving the middle finger). What could have possibly defeated the mighty Dan Hammer? Holt's answer: "He died of cancer of the mouth, lip, tongue, and cheek," as all the detectives slowly lower their arms, cigars in hand.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "The best episodes of Brooklyn, like any ensemble show, I think, tend to be when the premise of the show allows for there to be giant scenes where everyone is present, everybody has an attitude, there's a lot of different dynamics flying around, and that episode is really good for it."

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 3, "New Captain"

THE SCENE: Jake and Amy, after admitting their feelings for each other, decide to fully dive into their new relationship despite all possible obstacles. Jake goes to find Amy, and as soon as he opens the door, she's waiting on the other side to tell him the exact same thing.

WHAT SCHUR REMEMBERS: "We had ended last season with them kissing, and not knowing what the future held, but going into this season we knew, all right, we're going to do this. We're making this leap that every comedy show makes at some point, where two of its main characters get together. You just never know what's going to happen to the central dynamic of the show. Directing that scene made me feel very optimistic, because I think they were both really good, and they were funny but also kind of romantic, and they had good chemistry."

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