why chris traeger is slept on, actually hilarious, and deserves more appreciation: a thread

for the record: this has nothing to do with chris/ann as a ship. ann is a lesbian thank you. but i'm never gonna blame chris for the writers putting them together.

on that note tho: at the very least, at least chris appreciates her. i don't ship them, but at least i know he's good to her. he finds her interesting and hysterical and thank you chris for seeing how great ann is (even if she's totally gay)

chris traeger is, of course, hilarious, and spiraling chris are some of my favorite parks moments

i will never NOT laugh my ass off at Chris DJing the Valentine's Day dance

this may be chris's funniest line and best delivery. makes me die laughing.

he said this line because he ran out of tissues. TISSUES. this man is far more relatable than we give him credit for.

this whole meltdown was iconic

[nervous laughter]

seriously is this man okay

he says, laughing

seriously he's wild but how can he not be considered relatable

and he says it all with a smile on his face we—

and speaking of, let's talk about chris traeger in 4x9 the trial of leslie knope. aka, the episode that makes people kind of hate him.

as people who actively root for ben and leslie, chris is harsh in this episode. he does not tone things down and does not go easy. im not gonna excuse him, but instead try to explain his point of view.

just like Ben, Chris has been on the road for years. the relationships he's had have been shallow and fleeting and he hasn't had a real home or real friends in years. chris and ben really only had each other.

chris and ben were best friends! they were the only family the other likely felt they had. chris absolutely trusted ben with a government rule (one that also makes legal sense) and then found out his closest friend had lied to him.

chris didn't know, at first, that ben and leslie were in LOVE. at first, all he saw was broken rules and broken trust. so he did as chris does— he spiraled. hardcore. but notice how when ben professed his love, Chris changed his tune. he understood and rooted for them.

he came one of the biggest Benslie shippers. in the end Chris is genuinely a nice guy who wants to do good by others.

and can we talk about his dancing please because it never fails to absolutely send me

should we look at some more hysterical iconic Chris moments?

he fully kissed ron on his birthday. we don't talk about this enough.

absolutely relatable

he is part of what MADE flu season as hysterical as it is

i still exclusively call raisins "nature's candy"

the way he smiles and thumbs up every negative sentence— plus any mention of his therapist doctor richard nygard is a win

yes chris, everyone knows that

in the end, Chris is just one of the most genuine characters in the show and he really does just want to do right by others and hype up his friend, everyone's personal "caddy." way to be, duck!