Behind the Episodes: The Life and Death of Li'l Sebastian on 'Parks and Rec'

Writer Dan Goor, director Dean Holland, and songwriter Mark Rivers on the creation of Pawnee's favorite mini horse, pixelating out his private parts, and memorializing him with one great song.

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Welcome to Behind the Episode, a series in which we interview the creative forces behind some of our favorite episodes of television about how they brought those stories to life. 

Dan Goor wrote some of the most pivotal episodes of Parks and Recreation—and also some of the literally biggest productions for the show, like the twin episodes “Harvest Festival” and “Li’l Sebastian,” both of which involve town-wide gatherings and Pawnee’s beloved miniature horse. I talked to Goor, director Dean Holland, and songwriter Mark Rivers (who’s responsible for the anthemic Sebastian tribute song “5000 Candles in the Wind”) about the life and death of Li’l Sebastian for my forthcoming book on Parks and Rec.

We thought it would be fun to give our subscribers a sneak peek here, especially since Parks and Rec—and these two episodes in particular—might be the ultimate post-election comfort watch.

“Harvest Festival” is the culmination of a seven-episode arc in season 3 in which Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her team work tirelessly to put on this major event to save their department from budget cuts. The capstone of the festival is the appearance of Li’l Sebastian, a local legend.

Nine episodes later, in the third-season finale [SPOILER ALERT!], “Li’l Sebastian,” the horse dies, and the town-wide memorial includes some major plot developments—Leslie and Ben (Adam Scott) struggle to keep their workplace romance secret, and Leslie is approached to run for city council, which presents a major conflict for them. “Li’l Sebastian” also includes perhaps the show’s most famous scene, local band Mouse Rat leading a crowd in a singalong to their song “5,000 Candles in the Wind.”

Sebastian appears on the show only in these two episodes, but he’s an essential symbol for the show because of these two episodes. They are quintessentially Parks and Rec, infused with Pawnee town spirit, offbeat characters, silliness, slightly inappropriate humor, romance, local politics, loads of heart, and one great song.

“Harvest Festival”: Introducing a Local Hero, and Dealing with that Hero’s Private Parts

Goor: I have two kids. Each one of them has gone through a Parks binge as they've aged into it. And so I rewatched “Harvest Festival.” It's such a good episode. It looks so good. And you have to give credit to Dean, who directed that. There's that shot where they look back at the maze, and Li’l Sebastian is glowing in the middle of it. It's so good. That was an episode that was such a joy to write to shoot.

Li’l Sebastian was for sure [co-creator and showrunner] Mike Schur's creation. Mike was like, these kinds of towns have weird folk heroes. He’s 100 percent right. And I love the idea that Ben just didn't get it. We always had Ben as kind of like a voice of reason.

Director Dean Holland: Li’l Sebastian changed the show. We knew right away, when we did that cold open of Li’l Sebastian when he comes walking in. And when [Nick] Offerman [who plays usually deadpan department boss Ron Swanson] gives that enormous reaction — that moment, we knew “Oh, this is something, this is something for this small town.” It just was so funny. Because let them go crazy, and let Adam be the one going. “I don’t get it.” Because Adam’s the audience.

He was the audience going, “What’s the big deal with this horse?”

There was a point when we’re shooting the horse, and the horse was … relaxed. And all of a sudden, we were like, oh, boy, that was not planned. So then we were like, oh, this is really funny. Every time we show the horse, we’re going to show the horse relaxed, and we have to pixelate his … his area.

Then we were pixelating when it wasn’t there. And [Schur] was like, “It doesn’t look right. Something needs to be underneath it.” And I remember my post-production supervisor coming to me, like, “Hey, I’m not gonna get in trouble, right? Because I’m having to Google large horse penises on my computer.” It was like, oh, my God, this is what we do for a living. This is the craziest thing. But Mike was right. It made a difference.

“Li’l Sebastian”: Mourning the Death with One of the Greatest Funny Songs Ever Written

Goor: That episode was interesting, because when we wrote it, the cold open was very different. Everyone was in mourning, because Li’l Sebastian has died.

And we were going to start with like the flags at half mast, establishing shots, people walking around with armbands, black crepe paper all over. And we shot it that way. Dean was the director and I was the writer.

We were like, this is just depressing. The joke was supposed to be that they're treating the death of this little horse as if Kennedy had died, or FDR. Those famous pictures, Time Life pictures, of people along the funeral path weeping, but it just read as sad.

So on the spot, we came up with what it ended up being where [Leslie] was like, “Hey, you guys know who Li’l Sebastian is, right?” And then they're all like, “He's the best! We love Li’l Sebastian! Blah blah blah!”

And then she goes, “He just died.” It's like a record scratch. And it really worked. I always liked being on set, and coming up with stuff on set, and the actors are so unbelievable that they can do anything.

Goor on “5,000 Candles in the Wind”: I wrote the first verse, the chorus, I mean the words of them: “Bye, bye, Li’l Sebastian, we'll miss you in the saddest fashion.” I wrote that stuff. It is a good song. I wish I saw some royalties.

Mark Rivers, the songwriter who set this to music to be performed by Andy (Chris Pratt) with his band, Mouse Rat: That’s Andy's most inspired songwriting moment. He really pulled out all the stops for that one, songwriting-wise, inspired by the death of Li’l Sebastian. There are some more clever chords in there. There's a minor chord or two.

[It had] the tempo of “Candle in the Wind.” It had to start with an acoustic guitar, and it was just a big ballad, a power ballad, with the band charging in for the chorus. Just sort of Andy's version of that.

Holland: What a bonus to our show to have Mark Rivers and the writers put together these songs. The writers would write like two or three lines and then Mark Rivers would send us a three-minute song. How often do you really write a really good song that is funny as heck? It’s a 100 percent legit song. If you wrote a shitty song, it wouldn’t be as funny. All those Mouse Rat songs are really good songs and hysterical.

Mark Rivers connected to our show and Mouse Rat. Mouse Rat was Mark Rivers. Andy Dwyer is Mark Rivers. And Mark Rivers was our drummer in Mouse Rat.

And the joy of basically shooting a Mouse Rat concert! With 500 extras, on a big stage. The moment I read that I was like, alright, Andy’s alone on the stage with a guitar, spotlight on him. And then pulling back and reveal the band behind him, because, if I remember correctly, I had a big curtain, and they move it out of the way to reveal the band behind it. It was just big.

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Kirthana: As an author, I can't get enough of reading other people's thoughts about writing fiction. This is what led me to discover Haili Blassingame's Touch Her & Die, which has a wonderful assortment of essays, from her smart lessons on craft to her insightful takes on pop culture. (This piece is on Sally Rooney and literary romance is just so astute and on point.)  Also, if you're writing a novel or thinking about it, you must check out her journal entries about her novel in progress. Haili describes her newsletter as an "internet cottage," and it is exactly the kind of place where I like to spend my time online right now.  

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