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Parks

Confirmed   105,603

Part of a series on Parks and Recreation. [View Related Entries]


Straight to jail meme depicting Fred Armisen as Raul on Parks and Recreation.

Straight to Jail

Part of a series on Parks and Recreation. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jul 15, 2025 at 04:52PM EDT by Zach.

Added Oct 28, 2020 at 02:07PM EDT by Matt.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

About

Straight To Jail or You Go To Jail is a memorable quote uttered by the character Raul (played by actor Fred Armisen) on the American situational comedy Parks and Recreation. People online use screenshots and GIFs of Raul saying the line in reaction and audio clips of the dialogue in TikToks.

Origin

On October 15th, 2009, the episode of Parks and Recreation entitled "Sister City" aired in the United States. In the episode, a delegate from Pawnee's sister city visits.[1] After watching a dysfunctional town hall meeting, the delegate, Raul (portrayed by Fred Armisen), tells the camera:

This is outrageous. Where are the armed men who come in to take the protestors away? Where are they? This kind of behavior is never tolerated in Baraqua. You shout like that they put you in jail. Right away. No trial, no nothing. Journalists, we have a special jail for journalists. You are stealing: right to jail. You are playing music too loud: right to jail, right away. Driving too fast: jail. Slow: jail. You are charging too high prices for sweaters, glasses: you right to jail. You undercook fish? Believe it or not, jail. You overcook chicken, also jail. Undercook, overcook. You make an appointment with the dentist and you don't show up, believe it or not, jail, right away. We have the best patients in the world because of jail.

On April 22nd, 2011, YouTuber wilsontieu shared a clip of the scene. The post received more than 16,000 views in less than 10 years (shown below).



Spread

Over the next decade, the clip inspired several memes, including some reaction images and image macros. On September 15th, 2016, Redditor Lives4Glitter shared a three-panel image of the scene in the /r/PandR[2] subreddit. The post received more than 5,300 points (92% upvoted) and 245 comments in less than five years (shown below, left).

In 2020, this format saw increased usage on Reddit, with people replacing the specifics of the dialogue for various situation and themes (examples below, center and right).


YOU ARE STEALING-- RIGHT TO JAIL. YOU'RE DRIVING T00 FAST? JAIL. YOU'RE PLAYING MUSIC TOO LOUD--RIGHT TO JAIL. in YOU ARE STEALING-- RIGHT TO GULAG YOU'RE DRIVING T00 FAST? GULAG YOU'RE PLAYING MUSIC TOO LOUD--RIGHT TO GULAG Pink Umbrella? Gas. Small plastic water bottlebottle? Gas. Staying inside in nearby apartments? Also gas.

TikToks

On March 31st, 2020, TikToker stretch_pad shared the clip with the caption "What quarantine will be like." The post received more than 700,000 views, 119,000 reactions and 780 comments in less than one year (shown below, left).

Months later, on September 12, TikToker @@the.weasel.business shared a video of a weasel with the audio clip as the soundtrack. The post received more than 2.9 million views, 587,000 reactions and 2,200 comments in less than two months (shown below, center).

Following the post, others began sharing videos with pets set to the sound from Parks and Recreation.


https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6810471412600458502
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6871638144832392454
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6873989687766191365


Various Examples


https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6872812793620450566
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6886963207915736325
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6876191718299962630

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6875013285419207942
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6878293410189528321
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6872858594644069637


Search Interset

External References

[1] IMDB – Sister City

[2] Reddit – /r/PandR


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