Outside of some of the kids from “The Wire,” I can think of few characters in primetime in recent years who have suffered as consistently and profoundly as Jerry Gergich on “Parks and Recreation.” For starters, “Jerry” isn’t even really his name (it’s Gary), but no one cared enough to learn it properly. Nothing he does is good enough for his co-workers, and no one quite appreciates his many awesome traits, including a healthy and loving marriage, a fine artistic talent, and, as the doctor in the clip below explains, a tremendous anatomical gift.
Tonight’s episode celebrates Jerry’s 16th birthday – sort of. As Leslie explains early in tonight’s episode, “Sweet Sixteen,” Jerry was born on Leap Day, so his birthday technically only falls every 4 years. (This also makes Jerry significantly older than actor Jim O’Heir, but he’s a good sport about so much, so why not this?) So to celebrate this milestone birthday, NBC has put together another one of its “Parks and Rec” character highlight reels, which is exclusive to HitFix for the next few hours.
Enjoy the malapropisms, the stumbles, the pants splitting, and all the other misfortunes that befall poor Gary/Jerry over and over and over again, and my “Sweet Sixteen” review will be up at 9 Eastern.