Chris Pratt wasn’t a fan of the mean jokes about Jim O’Heir on “Parks and Recreation.”
The actors had a conversation in O’Heir’s new book, “Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation,” about Pratt, 45, speaking out against the way O’Heir’s character in the NBC sitcom was taunted.
“I remember you, particularly more than some others, being worried about some of the Jerry bits being…mean,” O’Heir told Pratt, according to Variety.
“I remember you saying, ‘Jimmy, you okay with these?’… Do you remember that feeling at all?” O’Heir asked.
“I do, I do,” said Pratt. “I was concerned in some of those moments because I care about you and I love you, and I knew that there were some jokes that were, like, mean. But meaner than they were funny.”
“If it’s a joke, it’s funny,” Pratt continued. “But if it’s mean for the sake of being mean, well, I’m not a huge fan of mean-spirited humor, and I just wanted to check in on you.”
Pratt and O’Heir played Andy Dwyer and Jerry Gergich, respectively, on “Parks and Rec.”
The show frequently poked fun at O’Heir’s character. Most of Jerry’s colleagues wouldn’t even call him by the right name.
“There was one time where I put my foot down on something,” Pratt said to his co-star in the book. “There was that time you use the printer and it says something like, ‘Jerry sucks’ on a piece of paper, and I just said, ‘I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know about it.’”
He added, “For the most part, I rolled with it, but there were a couple times where I think it went too far and I was concerned for you.”
O’Heir told Pratt, “Just so you know, that meant the world to me. You checked in on me, [Amy Poehler] checked in on me, and it’s not like I expected everyone to check in on me, but the fact that you did was so special.”
“You have the biggest heart,” O’Heir added.
“Parks and Rec” aired for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015.
Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, Paul Schneider, Rob Lowe and Kathryn Hahn also starred in the sitcom.
Some of the cast reunited in September at the premiere of Hahn’s Marvel show “Agatha All Along.”
Hahn, Scott, Poehler and Plaza all posed together for photos on the red carpet.