These awe-­inspiring moments, like Rob Lowe

walking on set, can happen to any of us. Whether you’re a family

member visiting a soundstage show for the first time or you’re me,
on set every day, it’s hard not to be impressed by the characters
(and actors) you’ve grown to love.
As a huge Will & Grace and Megan Mullally fanatic, maybe
the hugest, I was graced by the presence of the queen herself
whenever she did guest spots on Parks. Megan had made her
debut on season 2, episode 8, “Ron and Tammy,” which spurred
a follow-­up episode in season 3 entitled, you guessed it, “Ron &
Tammy 2.” By season 4, Megan’s Tammy 2 would be recruited
by Leslie Knope to help eradicate Tammy 1 because Leslie
believes that Tammy 1 has turned Ron into a proper wimp. If
only he could gain back the snarl, the type that led him to say
of Tammy 2, “Tammy is a mean person. She’s a grade-­A bitch.
Every time she laughs, an angel dies. Even telemarketers avoid
her.” I’ve always loved that line. Megan’s Tammy 2 did a lot in
terms of character development of Nick’s Ron: She softened
Ron. She made him more vulnerable—­desperately so. The dam-
age is so vast that come season 7’s “Ron & Jammy,” Ron and
Leslie must stage an intervention for Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser)
to try to break the spell Tammy has on him. Ron is the only
person who can understand the depraved damage she’s caused.
He’s haunted by it.
By the time we were filming season 3, Megan had become a
regular around Parks’ set because she is, of course, married to
Nick. She would appear at screenings and wrap parties, which
made her part of our family. That familiarity didn’t stop me from
geeking out whenever I’d run into her. I’d first seen her years
earlier while filming an audition and was heading back to my car

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 98 Jim O’Heir

at the CBS Radford lot. Megan drove by me in a new Porsche

gifted to her and her fellow cast members by the producers of
Will & Grace to celebrate their success.
On the Parks set, it was so hard to see Megan as someone
other than Karen Walker. I had to mentally check myself once
or twice before addressing her as Karen.
Megan was cool, though. She’s someone who played one of
the most iconic characters on TV, to say nothing of her other
work, and is probably asked about Will & Grace two hundred
times a day. That didn’t prevent her from addressing my occa-
sional questions about what it was like to work with Sean Hayes
and Debra Messing or do a burlesque performance in one of the
episodes, though I was careful to control my fanboying, remind-
ing myself that Megan was like any other person visiting their
partner on set. She was there to be present for and encouraging
of Nick . . . but, oh my God, no way, it’s Karen Walker!
One day, I brought a friend to set because she wanted to meet
Nick. I took her to Nick’s trailer, and I could see my friend’s an-
ticipation building. “Are you sure he won’t mind? He’s probably
pretty busy,” she said.
I had a little fun with this one. “Well, he usually doesn’t like
visitors, but he likes me, so . . . worth a shot?”
“No, no, no, Jim. No way. I don’t want to upset him.”
“You won’t be. I’m the one bringing you here. He’ll probably
be nice to you but yell at me. After the fact. Probably. No, most
likely.”
“You’re joking, right?”
I knocked. My friend took two giant steps backward. I knocked
again.
Coming!

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 Welcome to Pawnee  99

That was strange, I thought. Nick sounds different.

The trailer door opened and out came Megan.
“What the fuck!”
That was my friend shouting. She had lost her cool after Me-
gan greeted her. “What the fuck, it’s Karen Walker.”
At least it wasn’t me who said it.
Megan smiled and gave my friend a big hug.
I have to admire Megan because any actor who has spent sig-
nificant time on a sitcom or drama faces a beautiful challenge:
the part for which they’ve garnered fame and attention can also
become a burden. Both Megan and Sean have handled that bur-
den with, um, grace.
I had my own encounters
with fans. During season
3’s “Indianapolis,” the other
episode we filmed in Indy, a
lovely young woman stand-
ing in the crowd asked if she
could show me some draw-
ings. “Of course!” I replied.
Note to self: whenever
somebody asks to show you
drawings (plural), you know
you have, shall we say, a pas-
sionate fan in your vicinity.
“I drew these,” she said.
“They’re . . . all of you.” And
that they were: drawings—­
not exactly Picasso’s but de- Happy birthday, Megan! And
yes, I
cently sketched. A for effort. agree. I am number one.

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