Paul Rudd: Where his ‘Parks and Recreation’ character and movie roles meet

Paul Rudd, newest star of “Parks and Recreation.” (Danny Moloshok - Reuters)

Paul Rudd made his debut on last night’s “Parks and Recreation” in the role of Bobby Newport, Leslie Knope’s Pawnee City Council opponent and clueless, entitled heir to the sugary Sweetums fortune.

Rudd is scheduled for a multi-episode arc on the NBC comedy — he’ll be featured in at least three, and possibly more, episodes, according to Vulture. So presumably we’ll get to see more of the layers hidden within the man who had the audacity to ask Leslie (Amy Poehler) to suspend her campaign in exchange for VIP access to his election celebration.

After this initial meeting, though, it’s definitely easy to see where Newport and some of the characters Rudd has previously played intersect. At the moment, this is how I see Bobby Newport.

Obviously, he’s got a dash of Ned from “Our Idiot Brother.”

After last night’s episode of “30 Rock,” I am not sure it’s P.C. to use the word “idiot.” But it seems fair to call Bobby a little dim, at the very least, and not unlike the character Rudd recently played in the film that, along with “The Artist,” Quentin Tarantino dubbed the 10th best movie of 2011.

In terms of being a jerk, Bobby Newport has the potential to channel Andy from “Wet Hot American Summer.”

If Janeane Garofalo asked Bobby to clean up a cafeteria table, I feel confident that he would respond much the way Andy did.

On the handsomeness spectrum, he has the dreamboat potential of Josh from “Clueless.”

His charms already have won over Donna and, seemingly, many of the voters in Pawnee.

And in terms of inarticlateness, I see shades of Peter Klaven from “I Love You, Man.”

He hasn’t said “laters on the menjay” yet. But it’s really just a matter of time.

Would I vote for Bobby Newport? No way. But do I elect to see more of him on “Parks and Recreation”? Yes, please.

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