Leslie Knope And April Ludgate Visit Saturday Night Live To Discuss The Joys Of Government Work

In an unexpected turn of events, April was actually more enthused about government work than Leslie during their appearance on the Weekend Update desk. Ms. Ludgate offered handy tips like “be a dog catcher and just say you couldn’t find any” and “drive a bus, you don’t have to be on time.” (As a regular bus user, the accuracy of that one hurts.)

Leslie, it turns out, is a “Saturday Night Live” superfan — so much so that Colin Jost’s efforts to get her to actually talk about her job at the Parks Service didn’t yield much success (though her lust for Joe Biden did make a reappearance). Poehler is no stranger to the Weekend Update desk, having been a co-anchor for several years alongside Tina Fey and Seth Meyers, but fortunately she maintains the integrity of the Parks and Recreation Cinematic Universe by emphasizing, “I used to watch this when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else.”

“Parks and Recreation” wrapped up its seven-season run in 2015, but the cast and writers returned for “A Parks and Recreation Special” in 2020 as a charity fundraiser during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this may only have been a brief return, it’s always good to see Leslie and April again.