Jim O’Heir had a good career as a working TV actor and he was grateful for it. Then he landed a small role on a new NBC comedy called “Parks and Recreation” and everything changed.
O’Heir, whose previous credits included appearances on shows including “Malcolm in the Middle” to “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” would go on to become a “Parks and Recreation” series regular as the sweetly buffoonish Jerry Gergich, acting opposite a cast that also included Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman. Jerry was often the butt of jokes at the show’s fictional Pawnee, Ind., government office, but was also happily married with kids and a wife who looked like a supermodel. (She was, after all, played by Christie Brinkley.)
In “Welcome to Pawnee,” O’Heir pays tribute to the series that transformed his career. He mixes personal memoir with stories from key players on the show — including creator Greg Daniels, showrunner Mike Schur and co-stars such as Chris Pratt, Adam Scott and Retta — throughout the book available Nov. 19. The celebrated miniature horse, L’il Sebastian, is not heard from, but he gets talked about. A lot.
“I’ve had a lucky career and done a lot of wonderful things, but ‘Parks’ was so above and beyond anything else, and I feel like I owe so much to this show,” says O’Heir, who appeared on the series throughout its 2009-15 run. “This book is my love letter to these people.”
O’Heir, 62, is as affable as Jerry but is definitely more opinionated during a recent video conversation from the gazebo in his backyard. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
That swimming pool looks nice. Do you use it?
Swim is an incorrect term. I stand in it and read. I float. I put my computer on a floaty. I’ll put snacks on a floaty and I’ll eat snacks while they’re floating by me. There’s absolutely no exertion happening in this pool.
Why did you include all the other voices in your book?
I’m an adult. I can write about whatever the hell I want to write about. But I still felt that I wanted Amy’s, Mike’s and Greg’s approval. But also what I learned from doing this book was that we have our own stories in our head. I have my own memories of how something went down. But Retta, who’s one of my besties, corrected me on some things so I wanted people to have other views.
Mike and Greg were there when it all started. This is not the definitive book on the show but I learned all these stories I never knew. I didn’t know that Aziz was the first person on board, he was cast before Amy. Or that Nick Offerman had auditioned for “The Office” and didn’t get the part but there was something special that hit Mike Schur so he put his name on a Post-it on his computer to keep him in mind. And now Nick is Ron Swanson.
They’d tell me these stories and I’d say, “Are you kidding me?”
One tough part is I interviewed a lot of the recurring guest stars and they had such wonderful things to say, but there’s only so many pages, so many words, so their voices weren’t heard in the book.
The show obviously changed your career. Did it change you too? Did you take any of Jerry with you?
If you ask the cast, they will tell you I’m the most different than the character I’m portraying of any of us. Jerry’s this loving, sweet man and I think I’m that also, but Jerry is also a little too naive too: “Oh, golly gee,” while my humor is dark and blue. But I hope I’ve taken a little more humanity from Jerry.
But I’ve also changed because I have always been a people pleaser, I think to my detriment in many cases. But I have gotten better about that.
Amy Poehler taught me so many lessons, and one was the word “no” in this business means a lot. She had me turn down a film that I thought might be interesting, where I would have played a pedophile, and she was 100% right. It was a character that I would not have wanted to be known for.
After being on “Parks,” directors on other sets treat me differently but also I now would stand up for myself more. I’m not a yeller and I’m not demanding, but I will push as much as I can to get things right, to get that moment where you mesh with the other actor. So now if a director’s getting impatient, I would say, “I need one more take to get it right.”
You’ve gotten to break free of Jerry in shows like “Better Call Saul.” Have you actively sought out parts like that?
My fear was, “Am I Jerry the rest of my life?” In many ways that would be okay — I will wear Jerry as a badge of honor — but I was afraid I wouldn’t get other work. But I have. I just wrapped a short film in Barcelona called “El Rebote” that was unlike anything I’ve ever done.
And not just because they had me running through the streets. It’s an emotional film and there’s no comedy involved. There are scenes where I’m sobbing and a scene with a bar fight — I’ve never been in a bar fight in real life, let alone on-screen. This is the project I’m most nervous to see.
In the book, you make clear you revel in revisiting the series. What’s the one episode you’d tell someone to watch if they have never seen “Parks and Rec”?
“The Harvest Festival.” In it you got to see us work as a group. And you get to see the love that our characters have for our town and the care we had for each other. Plus you get to see a little mini-horse. And I’m telling you, Stuart, when you’ve got a little mini-horse, you’ve got it all. You need nothing else.
