The series finale of Parks & Rec airs tonight at 10 pm on NBC.
I will keep this relatively short, as I have not been able to begin to process many of the emotions I am feeling right now. Parks & Rec writer and all-around comedy powerhouse Harris Wittels passed away last week at the age of 30. It is indescribably horrible. Being on a writing staff is not like a normal job. You spend countless hours every day with these people, laughing with them and laughing at them and fighting with them and crying with them and loving them. It was a family that also paid me. When Harris died we lost a relative.
It’s hard to find the joy in the shadow of his death, but I can safely say that writing for Parks is the most momentous thing I’ve done with my life so far. If anything, this tragedy has made me realize how insanely special my job is and how wonderful my friends and coworkers are. I fucking love Parks & Rec.
I am so grateful to have written for a show like this. It’s inconceivably difficult to make any public piece of art or entertainment, let alone one that you deeply, deeply believe in, let alone one that has truly made people’s lives better. I have been given the singular honor of working on such a show with a group of the kindest, funniest, smartest, sharpest, physically prettiest people I’ve ever met. This sort of team is one in a million (or, One in 8,000).
I hope that you have the chance to be a member of such a team someday.
