Chris Pratt Says ‘I Put My Foot Down’ on ‘Parks & Rec’ Set Against Mean Jokes That ‘Went Too Far’; Co-Star Jim O’Heir: ‘You Checked in on Me’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jim O’Heir’s new book “Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation” includes a conversation with co-star Chris Pratt in which the latter recalls putting his foot down over mean jokes during their time on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.” O’Heir and Pratt starred in all seven seasons of the popular sitcom as Jerry Gergich and Andy Dwyer, respectively. “I remember you, particularly more than some others, being worried about some of the Jerry bits being…mean,” O’Heir tells Pratt in the book. “I remember you saying, ‘Jimmy, you okay with these?’… Do you remember that feeling at all?” “I do, I do,” Pratt responds. “I was concerned in some of those moments because I care about you and I love you, and I knew that there were some jokes that were, like, mean.

But meaner than they were funny. If it’s a joke, it’s funny. But if it’s mean for the sake of being mean, well, I’m not a huge fan of mean-spirited humor, and I just wanted to check in on you.” O’Heir’s character Jerry was the show’s straight man and was often the butt of jokes.

The character’s colleagues couldn’t even bother to learn his name, so he was frequently called Gary, Larry, Lenny or Terry by others. “There was one time where I put my foot down on something,” Pratt says in the book.