Parks And Recreation Fans Agree They'd Hate This Character In Real Life

"Parks and Recreation" gave us a loveable cast. By the series' end, fans were downright sad that they likely wouldn't get another chance to visit with this mismatched gaggle of Pawnee's Parks Department employees. Even critics had to admit that the finale bordered on heartwarming perfection.

But good comedy doesn't always come from likable characters. Oftentimes, watching someone go beyond the boundaries of acceptability in a film or TV show is hilarious to watch because we know they would never get away with it in real life. And let's face it: Even good-hearted people and good-hearted characters can do some pretty nasty stuff occasionally, which, again, doesn't stop it from being funny.

As for the characters on "Parks and Rec," pretty much all of them have their hearts in the right place, even people with often sour dispositions. April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), who are known for their grumpy personas, are still shown to have a deep well of care for their co-workers. But there's one highly beloved character in the world of "Parks and Rec" that fans are sure they would hate if they had to deal with her in real life.

In a "Parks and Recreation" subreddit, u/amy_michelle6 posted, "I think I would hate Leslie in real life," and added, "Love her on the show so much, but if she were an actual person in my life I probably would not be able to handle it lol." This is a fair take. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) has many positive attributes: a passion for her job, faith in government, loyalty to her friends, and tenacity at work. But this kind of extreme optimism also makes for some grating behavior.

What's more, she doesn't like taking "no" for an answer, especially when doing something for a friend. "She has no sense of boundaries at all," wrote u/cory-balory, pointing out that Leslie even applied for a job on Ann Perkins' (Rashida Jones) behalf in the Season 3 episode, "The Fight." Most others on the thread seemed to agree that they would find a real-life Leslie insufferable. 

Still, u/digitalvagrant argued, "She's too nice to really hate though." What's more, it bears wondering if Leslie would have been able to reach such an admirable place without her particular collection of attributes. "I think what she represented was this person in a job that felt like it had a low ceiling, but she had a lot of big hopes and dreams," said Poehler in an interview with CBS News. "And she was trying to figure out how to work the system or have the system work for her, without losing her sense of joy, spirit, without it crushing her." That, admittedly, is pretty admirable.