Fuck Yeah, Louis C.K.

•  Posted: 02/17/2012

When last we saw Dave, played with awkward charm by Louis C.K., he was the sweet and slightly uncomfortable police officer she was dating. But then he went to California and apparently went a little crazy without her. This week, he returned to “Parks & Recreation” (Thu., 8:30 p.m. EST on NBC) where he not only ran into the woman he still loves, but her new boyfriend.

To say that Dave didn’t handle this very well would be an understatement. He was never comfortable doing the faux interview segments on-camera, but he was even worse this time around. The more flustered he got, the more he seemed to be making up words. Add to that Ben’s admitted fear of policemen, and it was just two baskets of awkward fighting over Leslie.

It culminated in the bathroom — after a long discussion over who was going to get to talk to whom and in what order — where Ben said he wasn’t going to step aside to let Dave try and win Leslie back. So Dave, in a clear moment of desperation, handcuffed Ben to the urinal. Only he didn’t take his phone away, so Ben just called Leslie.

He may not have handled himself very well at all, but there’s still something charming about Dave’s earnest sincerity. With his admission that he was also interviewing for the retiring police chief’s position, there’s always the chance his character could come back. With C.K. finding so much success with his own show “Louie,” where he has complete creative control, it would be interesting if he should choose to recur on “P&R.”

Episode description: Leslie and Ben run into Dave (Louis C.K.) while meeting with the Chief of Police. Andy searches for a song to represent Leslie’s campaign.

• By Rick Porter, January 9, 2012

When we talked to Schur in December, “Parks and Rec” had just wrapped shooting the episode in which Louis C.K. makes a return appearance as Leslie’s old boyfriend Dave, who left midway through Season 2. He comes back to Pawnee for the police chief’s (Eric Pierpoint) retirement party (the episode is likely to air in February), and Ben and Leslie run into him.

“Part of the fun of it is Ben — this has already been established on the show — is not super-comfortable around police officers,” Schur says. “So you can imagine when he’s around a police officer who’s also Leslie’s ex-boyfriend, it doesn’t go super smoothly.”

“Parks and Rec” returns at 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday on NBC

Even though he may be busy for much of the year now thanks to his own show “Louie,” Louis C.K. has found a way to take out enough time to guest-star in yet another episode of “Parks and Recreation.”

According to TVLine, The actor is set to come on board the show for an early 2012 episode as Dave — the police officer who has a romantic past with Amy Poehler’s Leslie. He previously left the show in the past to take a job in San Diego — so it will be interesting to see not only what brings him back, but also how he interacts with Leslie’s new main squeeze Ben.

“Parks” is in the middle of what some are calling its creative peak, so we can only hope it lasts for as long as possible.