The Meanest Prank Pulled On Jerry On Parks And Recreation

Poor, poor Jerry Gergich.

Parks and Recreation followed a group of goofballs who just wanted to try to make the little town of Pawnee, Indiana a little nicer. While there personalities didn't always mesh, such as Leslie Knope's overeager attitude to take on any project and April Ludgate's refusal to even do the smallest modicum of work, these government employees learned to love each other over the course of seven seasons ... unless of course your name is Jerry Gergich. 

For pretty much the entire show's run, Jerry's coworkers bully and torment him, which is a shame because he seems like a really nice guy. He truly seems to enjoy working at the office, even coming out of retirement to help his old friends when they need an extra set of hands. He's friendly to everyone, and aside from the fact he's a bit of a klutz and farts at inopportune times, he's not a bad person by any means.

Still, that didn't stop his coworkers from pulling a litany of pranks on him. It's hard to single out one as the absolute meanest. On season 5, Leslie and Ann scared him so badly he had a heart attack while farting incessantly ... a "fart attack," if you will. While that's pretty severe, it hardly qualifies as "mean." Leslie and Ann had planned on scaring Tom and obviously didn't anticipate the stunt causing a major medical issue.

In terms of pure meanness, there is another prank that really hits home.

In the season 3 episode, "Time Capsule," the folks at the Parks and Rec office try to figure out what to put in the town's time capsule. It's a big responsibility, and the whole thing soon erupts into chaos as everyone in the town fights over what's going to be preserved. 

The only person who has a legitimately good idea for what to put in the time capsule is Jerry. He suggests putting in his mother's diaries. Since she lived in Pawnee all her life, the diaries basically provide a record of everything that happened in the town. It's a sweet moment, and Jerry managed to get through the entire meeting with mispronouncing a single word. 

It's at this point April takes one of the diaries and reads a segment describing how Jerry played Tinkerbell in his school's production of Peter Pan. Naturally, everyone in the office proceeds to laugh at him as he tries to explain that he went to an all-boys school.

This moment just seems particularly devastating because for once, Jerry was the big man in the office. He had something genuinely great to put in the time capsule that no one (not even Tom) could make fun of while everyone else submitted silly drawings and restaurant menus. April could've just let Jerry have this one, but she had to use the moment to turn Jerry into a big joke. She even translates for her new boyfriend, Eduardo, who points and laughs as well. 

There are a lot of pranks at Jerry's expense throughout the show, but this one definitely seems the most mean-spirited. There was nothing for April or anyone else to gain by taking away Jerry's big moment.