'It was Alan who took it and ran with it as far as writing and pitching and producing and putting me in episodes. 'He was the one who is really responsible for Perd Hapley because he wrote all of those crazy lines,' Jackson, who worked as a reporter for a CBS station in Los Angeles before landing the role, tells EW. If you're a fan of Jay Jackson's take on Pawnee's newsman, who first appeared in season 2, you have writer-producer Alan Yang to thank. The subject of this story is a different person: Pawnee television anchor Perd Hapley. Joan was initially described in the casting call as 'not a very good show host - small-town and just not very skilled,' according to the MADtv alum. 'I was thinking at the time, 'None of that will be usable.'' Turns out, all of it was.

Director Dean Holland told Collins to keep shifting into a different passed-out position every time Ron took a call. 'Until somebody says 'cut,' I keep going.'Įxample: The season 5 scene from episode 13 ('Emergency Response') where Joan passed out on air in front of Ron, forcing him to answer viewer calls. 'One thing that happens when you get Mo Collins on set, I tend to improv,' Collins tells EW. Similarly, when Mo Collins was on set, Poehler would say, 'Mo's here, just let the camera roll.' Even when she passed out drunk on the air, her crew knew better than to turn off the cameras. There was no taming self-proclaimed 'legendary newswoman' Joan Callamezzo.

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