I know my last couple of articles has been me complaining about comedy and what I find wrong with it. So this next article I wanted to celebrate something I love in comedy. So along with examining what’s wrong I promise to bring you weekly doses of all that’s going great in comedy right now; first up is my favorite show Parks and Recreation.

If you aren’t watching it then you are really missing out on one of the strongest shows on television that is guaranteed to make you laugh. Okay that last part sort of sounded like a salesmen so I apologize. I know a lot of people think the show is a bit of an Office clone but trust me it isn’t. A lot of people were soured by the initial mini first season of six episodes. First off just become a show uses that faux documentary format doesn’t instinctively make it a clone of The Office. Just like The Office wasn’t a clone of Spinal Tap, or British version of The Office, Parks is its own comedic monster and finds new ground to dig with the faux-doc format. As for those initial six episodes I was soured too. They were pretty awful and unoriginal. But then a good friend convinced me to go back and give it a look.

I couldn’t be more pleased with what I found. The characters were changed and more fleshed out. It’s as if overnight they realized every character needed more layers and responded by doing just that. From the first episode of the second season the show just takes off. Leslie Knope played by Amy Poehler is a truly great character full of empathy and good nature that keeps getting her into trouble. It’s rare you get to see fleshed out female characters and Parks and Rec doesn’t just have one it has three. All with there own comedic energy they can bring to scenes.

I could go into detail and describe each of these great characters but that takes away all the fun of you discovering them. But that brings me to one of my other favorite things about Parks and Recreation is that has the deepest comedic roster of characters since the Simpsons. Seriously this show has about nine main characters they can follow and give a strong episode to. This gives them plenty of characters to bounce into each other creating great scene after great scene. Not to mention the amazing B-Team of strange wacko characters they can trot out at any moment for a great little scene. It’s a testament to this show that it can wield this many characters without it ever seeming to cram the main storylines. They exist in the fabric of this world without ever seeming to just be there for a laugh. And in the end that’s what makes Parks and Recreation my favorite show on television. That after it’s over you felt like you just hung out with friends. I am well aware how cheesy that line sounds but it’s the truth. It’s a show so fully realized that at some point you just imagine the characters lives going while the camera are off and you just happen to be looking in. It’s also impressive that is a funny as this show is it never goes for the easy laugh. I am someone who typically finds the most shocking and subversive thing you can say funny. It’s what I expect from my show except somehow Parks sneaks in there with it’s sweetness and downright moral characters and they still make me laugh. If a bitter comedy cynic is watching this show for both the laughs and the warmth you know it’s doing something right.