Parks and Recreation aired on NBC on April 9, 2009, and ran for seven seasons. It followed the mockumentary type of show that the Office also did and had a group of unique characters brought to life by some great actresses and actors.
One of those characters who ended up being my favorite is one that wasn’t even in every episode, actually, he was only in 18 out of 125 episodes! Even though he was not on the show a lot, every time he was his presence was very unforgettable.
He is a man of no shame, Tom Haverford’s friend and regular business partner and a guy every father would not want their daughter to date. He’s this guy:
Jean-Ralphio Saperstein
Jean Ralphio played by Ben Swartz in Parks and recreation. Photo Source: Complex.com
Jean Ralphio was born on March 12, 1986, and lives in Pawnee, Indiana. When he is not working at Ladies Footlocker he is usually working with his friend Tom Haverford on opening a new business or trying to get someone to invest with them in Pawnee’s nightclub. He is the proud owner of his pre-owned Acura Legend and can only be seen in the latest fashion. Jean Ralphio likes to talk big and brag but doesn’t have a lot of admirers especially with the ladies. He does, however, consider himself a major player and pickup artist. His special talents include the ability to make up raps on the spot and speaking in slang. His most popular talent and the one everyone he knows personal favorite is his “sing” talking.
If you ever find yourself having money problems, here’s some advice from Jean Ralphio on how to make your bank account become “Flushed” with cash:
Jean Ralphio’s secret to getting rich. Photo Source: dailyoftheday.com
- A baby tuxedo clothing line.
- A department store with a guest list.
- Eclipse nightclub. A club only opened for 1 hr 2 times a year with a cover charge of $5,000.
- Cell phones that smell good.
- Condoms that have pictures on them. In their defense they could prevent many unwanted pregnancies and STD’s because the condoms would be mood killers.
- “Sparkle suds”, glitter infused laundry detergent.
- Contact lenses that display text messages.
- “Sparkle dairy”, glitter infused butter.
- Snake juice – a new high-end Kahlua style liquor. Made by mixing a bunch of different alcohol together, adding sugar, coffee and some other junk and it turns out tasting kinda like Kahlua.
- Entertainment 720, A premiere high-end, all media conglomerate. This was an actual business that the two opened, it did however have nothing to do with public relations, marketing and communication. The business was short lived and eventually went bankrupt.
Entertainment 720 Photo Source: Trendhunter.com
Besides Jean Ralphio, on Parks and Recreation, there are many other great characters, all with their own unique qualities you can’t help but fall in love with. This is a show that quickly became one of my favorites and always will be. You get a cast that includes the talented Amy Pohler, funny guy Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt a.k.a Star Lord, Nick Offerman and that amazing mustache, beautiful Rashdia Jones, Aubrey Plaza and her dry humor, nerdy Adam Scott, handsome Rob Lowe, the fly Rhetta and Jim O’heir who plays good old Jerry. If you have not had the opportunity to watch the show yet please do.
I’m sure that now you know who Jean Ralphio is, you’re already streaming it right now anyway!
I will leave you with some words of the great Jean Ralphio:
Photo Source: Robertlearmouth@ Redbubble
Jean Ralphio trying to convince Donna to invest in the nightclub with them.
Donna’s face says it all! She did not invest with them. Photo Source: Javiperez@Pinterest
Yes yes yes! One of my all time favourite shows too!! What a great writing and acting and directing!
And I think it’s so great that you focus on the character that was not one of the “main” ones. As they used to say in my art school: “There are no small roles, only small actors””
Good luck!
Thanks sararauste. I believe that way to. Even though Jean Ralphio wasn’t a main character he was definitely an unforgettable one.