White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

When Ms. Knope Came to Washington

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For the third time in the history of the televised image, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on screen in a semi-fictional universe. While Leslie Knope may have the traditional reaction when it comes to being in the presence of VP Biden, we know it’s all in fun for the councilwoman from Pawnee, Indiana.
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After The Election, Biden Heads to Parks and Recreation

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Vice President Joe Biden and David Axelrod

Now that the election is over, we can get Vice President Joe Biden to where he really needs to be–meeting  Leslie Knope.

Or, to be more precise, Amy Poehler on the set of Parks and Recreation for their upcoming episode. The fifth season premiere featured Poehler (who plays the recently elected city councilwoman Knope) in D.C. with cameos from Senator John McCain, Barbara Boxer and Olympia Snowe. But for the November 15th episode, Vice President Biden shows up in the cold open according to Entertainment Weekly.

It’s no secret in the show that Knope has a crush on Biden, but it turns out the cameo was harassed by Beltway politics:

Once the producers committed to shooting an episode in D.C., the process of landing Biden was “so much less difficult than we ever possibly imagined,” says Schur, noting: “His staff really loves the show, and he apparently had watched the show with his family and his family liked it… The hardest part was keeping it secret for so long because there’s all these FEC rules and equal-time rules. We couldn’t air it before the election because it was the equivalent of a campaign contribution to advertise for one candidate.”

This is far from the first time that the vice president has appeared on TV. He’s read the Top Ten on Letterman, shown up constantly on Hardball, Meet the Press and The Daily Show. But this is the third time that he’s ever appeared on a scripted television show. The second was Robert Altman’s sequel to Tanner ’88, the Sundance Channel mini-series Tanner on Tanner. But the first? Way back in 1993, then Senator of Delaware, Biden appeared as himself on the PBS game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to offer the host some support:

Greg: Hello?
Joe Biden: Greg, Senator Joe Biden here.
Greg: Oh, hey, Senator.
Joe: I just wanted to let you know that I proposed a Congressional resolution naming you “The Best Detective of the Year”.
Greg: Why thank you, sir.
Joe: But some people were more comfortable with “Best Detective of the Month”.
Greg: Uh-huh.
Joe: And a few preferred “Best Detective of the Work Week”. Then someone suggested “best” is an awfully strong word, so we decided to name you “The Somewhat-Notable Detective of the Next 12 Minutes”. Congratulations, Greg.
Greg: Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. Good-bye. Thank you.

We can only hope he suggested the same when the episode airs next week.