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Everything to Know About Tammy 1 and Tammy 2 from Parks and Recreation
The ex-wives of Nick Offerman's character showed viewers a very different side of him.
Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) didn't often share much about his personal life with the rest of his Parks and Recreation office, so the appearances of his first two wives always offered a peek into a completely different side of him.
Tammy 1 (Patricia Clarkson) and Tammy 2 (Megan Mullally) both had ways of manipulating Ron to do the things that they wanted, and he often required intervention in order to release himself from their grasps.
Revisit all of the times the two Tammys came in and out of Ron's life.
Tammy 2's First Appearance on Parks and Recreation
The first time audiences met a Tammy was in Season 2, Episode 8 (“Ron and Tammy)." It was revealed that Tammy 2 worked at the Pawnee library, which was gunning for the lot that Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) wanted to use for a park. The crew had to team up to try to convince the library to not open the new branch, which required Ron’s assistance.
“The worst person in the world works at the worst place in the world,” Ron said upon learning about Tammy 2’s job. He told the cameras, “On my deathbed, my final wish is to have my ex-wives rushed to my side so I can use my dying breath to tell them both to go to hell one last time.”
Tammy used her powers of seduction to convince Ron to give her the lot for a library, and he fell back under her spell. “Haven’t you ever messed with a man’s head just to see what you could get him to do for you? We do it all the time in the library department, you should come join us sometime,” she told Leslie.
After much convincing from Leslie, Ron finally broke it off with Tammy 2 again, though he left her office with part of his mustache missing and a push pin in his forehead.
Tammy 1 Attempted to Steal Ron's Gold
Tammy 1 came into the picture as an IRS agent helping Ron prepare for an audit in Season 4 Episode 2 ("Ron and Tammy"). She walked into the office and immediately intimidated everyone, leading April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) to call her "the cold, distant mother I never had."
When Ron returned to work after meeting with her, he had no mustache, was dressed in a colorful polo shirt, and had began talking differently, using phrases like "anywho."
"We have to talk," Leslie said to him, inviting him to lunch. "Let me just call Tammy first to get permission," he said, and declined lunch when she denied said permission.
"When Ron falls for Tammy 2, he turns into a demonic sex maniac. But this? Neutered wimp? This is worse," Leslie told the cameras after witnessing his behavior.
She went to find Ron's mother (also named Tammy, played by Paula Pell) who challenged the first ex-wife to "an old-fashioned prairie drink-off." Leslie joined the competition, vying for Ron to stay at the Parks Department, until Ron chugged the bottle and took his own autonomy back.
"I got what I came for anyway. I found your underground safe, I stole half your gold," Tammy 1 told Ron when he said she needed to go "back to hell."
"That's decoy gold," he replied. "You think I'd leave my gold in a locked safe buried underground where anyone could find it? You don't know me at all."
Tammy 2's Continued Manipulation of Ron
After first proving once that she could get Ron to do just about whatever she wanted, Tammy 2 continued to appear in Ron's life every now and again. In Season 3, Episode 4 (“Ron and Tammy Part 2”), she reached out to Ron via a debt collector, claiming that he had a book about micropenises overdue from the library.
“My ex-wife Tammy likes to check in every so often and make sure I’m doing okay. And if I am, she tries to fuck everything up,” Ron explained to the cameras.
When he didn't take her bait, she began dating Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), and convinced Ron to get a coffee with her to "bury the hatchet."
The next morning, Leslie had to go to the Pawnee jail to bail Ron out, but found him married to Tammy 2 and under the spell yet again. Even a video message from himself couldn't get Ron back to normal, until Tom confronted him in front of Tammy 2 and she tried to bully him away.
"Seeing you pick on this pathetic, defenseless little man reminded me what kind of a monster you really are," Ron told her.
In Season 6, Episode 21 ("Moving Up"), Tammy 2 attempted to lure Ron in again, so he instead set her up with Councilman Jeremy Jamm (John Glaser). The plan worked and in Season 7, Episode 2 ("Ron and Jammy"), the councilman was subject to the Tammy manipulation that Ron had faced.
Ron and Leslie ended up working together to pull Jamm out of the funk — using things like a Pavlovian method to get him to dread the scent of her perfume until he finally broke up with her.
Watch all of the Tammy shenanigans by streaming Parks and Recreation on Peacock.
