As Parks and Recreation sadly draws to a close tonight, I thought I’d pay tribute to everyone’s favorite thankless city planner, Mark Brendanawicz. Whether or not you care to admit it, when Brendanawicz left after the second season due to a combination of his character having nothing left to do and Paul Schneider, the actor who played him, wanting to move onto other things, he left a Brendana-shaped hole in our hearts. Brendanawicz’s name was never mentioned again going forward, but his memory lives on in dudes everywhere who expertly rock button-down shirts and khaki pants.
So, let’s hear it for the guy who amazingly bedded half the women in Pawnee despite having the personality of plain toast. That’s actually quite an amazing feat! This is the man who managed to nail down Ann Perkins for nearly an entire season. (Ann was not all that picky, come to think of it.) And just think of all those times that a potted plant would have worked in a scene, but no. Don’t bother the props department because Brendanawicz has got this.
Makes you wonder what Brendanawicz is up to in 2017. I’d like to think he’s still a swinging bachelor, living in another small to medium-sized town somewhere in Indiana and working as a manager of a Lowes Depot (they’ve since combined) after giving up on local government. His Gryzzlebook account would show that he’s still doing okay with the ladies, who aren’t getting any older, sadly, and his shuffleboard team crushed it coming first in the league in 2016 after getting narrowly beaten out the previous year.
Before leaving Pawnee, Brendanawicz said:
“I’ve been thinking about maybe leaving this job, but I felt like maybe I needed a sign. And then Ann broke up with me the week that I was gonna propose. The government got shut down. And yesterday, one of those pigeons took a sh*t on me. And I was indoors, so…”
On that last note, let’s honor the memory of the most boring man in Pawnee with this “Mark Brendanawicz Appreciation Video” because… somebody made this. Godspeed, Brendanawicz.
