During a visit to the White House, actress Aubrey Plaza quietly took some notes belonging to then Vice President Joe Biden, an incident she recently shared on a podcast. The moment occurred when Plaza toured the West Wing after Biden appeared on the show hosted by her former Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler.
Biden had made two guest appearances on Parks and Recreation, once in season five and again in the series finale. The notes Plaza took included a Vice President-branded notebook page with three facts about her, including the shared connection that Plaza and Biden both come from Wilmington, Delaware.
Behind-the-Scenes Reaction to the Note Incident
Plaza revealed that she was reprimanded by the showrunner Michael Schur for taking the notes, with Schur warning her,
“you cannot steal from the vice president’s desk.”
“I was like, ‘Oh, shut up, Mike,’”
Plaza recalled,
“And he was like, ‘We’re literally in the White House.’ And I was like, ‘We are?’”
Poehler mentioned that despite the reprimand, Plaza never truly got into trouble and that the White House itself seemed to have surprisingly minimal security in its rooms. The friends joked about the unexpectedly plain and somewhat “janky” environment inside the historic building.
“It is weird how janky the White House actually is,”
Poehler commented.
The Significance of the Encounter and What It Reveals
This playful and candid exchange sheds light on the human side of the White House, revealing that even high-profile settings can have an informal atmosphere. It also displays Plaza’s mischievous humor, echoing her iconic April Ludgate character, which adds a humorous twist to her real-life interaction with a former vice president. As public figures from politics and entertainment intersect, moments like these highlight the familiarity and unexpected personal connections that can arise within such spaces.
