"We're totally doing this. It's hilarious"

The producer had just sent the e-mail to Rob Lowe and was a little nervous. "Look, we wrote this crazy thing, I totally understand if you don't want to do it," he wrote the actor.

Michael Schur and the writers of "Parks and Recreation" had come up with a promotional bit for the NBC comedy, on which Lowe is now a series regular. The script called for the 46-year-old actor to be a full-on diva; he'd arrive on set and, after being told that "Parks" had actually been on hiatus, would then launch into an expletive-filled rant about how his handsome face needed to be on television.

"No one's been on the show before me," he would also snarl to his less-famous cast mates. "There was no … show before me." He'd throw coffee in someone's face. And punch someone else.

Ten minutes after he'd sent the e-mail, Schur's phone rang. It was Lowe. "Are you kidding me?" the actor said. "We're totally doing this. It's hilarious."