“Perd Hapley is the lynchpin of an unlikely TV multiverse” is the name of the article you’re reading. And it will begin … right now.

NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation features the deepest bench of hilarious supporting characters you’ll ever see outside of The Simpsons‘ Springfield. But even among a murderer’s row of comedic talent like Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins), Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwartz), and Tammy II Swanson (Megan Mullally), there’s one resident of Pawnee who stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Local news broadcaster Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson) is quite simply a TV icon. Blessed with a very distinct vocal style (that the Parks and Rec fandom Wiki accurately categorizes as “semantically redundant”), Perd often turns up on Parks and Recreation to help describe what’s happening … literally.

As the host of venerated south central Indiana TV institutions like Ya Heard? With Perd!, The Final Word With Perd,...