Parks And Recreation’s Michael Schur talks about directing the Decemberists’ new Infinite Jest-themed video

Because it’s our custom to track down Parks And Recreation co-creator and executive producer Michael Schur and get him to talk in depth about his most recent creative projects, we called him up today to talk about the great new video he directed for The Decemberists’ “Calamity Song.” The video has already gotten plenty of media attention, due in part to its clever references to David Foster Wallace’s weighty 1996 literary epic Infinite Jest. As Schur discussed with the New York Times, he was a devoted fan of Infinite Jest when he was a student at Harvard. He wrote his senior thesis on the book, and met Wallace after inviting the author to campus to receive an award from The Harvard Lampoon.

Schur was approached to direct the “Calamity Song” video because he went to school with the brother of the Decemberists’ manager, who remembered his affinity for Infinite Jest. Decemberists' frontman Colin Meloy came up with the video’s concept—which involves teenagers playing the fictional game Eschaton—and got acquainted with Schur by talking about the book for an hour over the phone. Schur, who calls the Decemberists his favorite band, was thrilled to discuss his favorite book with Meloy. “If that’s where it would’ve ended, that would’ve been great for me,” Schur told the A.V. Club. “That’s something I’d bid $10,000 at a charity auction for.”