Watch Joe Biden's cameo on Parks and Recreation

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"Happy warrior" Joe Biden made his long-awaited cameo on Parks and Recreation last night, handling a starstruck Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) with aplomb.

"You're very handsome," she says.

"You're very nice," the vice president responds.

Show creator Michael Schur took to Twitter to tamp down the inevitable conspiracy theories over the timing of the episode.

Multi-tweet clarification, re: VPOTUS on #ParksandRec. It's being reported in some places that we did not air it pre-election...(1)

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) November 8, 2012

...because we "did not want to offer equal time to Paul Ryan." Ryan had not even been selected when we shot it. We didn't air it b/c... (2)

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) November 8, 2012

...there are complicated (and warranted) election rules governing any exposure for any candidate during a campaign. That's why...(3)

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) November 8, 2012

...the senators who appeared in the premiere were all either not running or retiring. It was not in any way a partisan decision. (4)

— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) November 8, 2012

It's no secret that Leslie loves Joe Biden, and the cameo was intended as payoff for the longstanding gag:

The Veep's office and the White House both got in on the enthusiasm, tweeting behind-the-scenes photos of the filming.

VP Biden makes a guest appearance on @parksandrecnbc tonight. Pic: @vp & Leslie on set at the @whitehouse: twitter.com/VP/status/2691…

— Office of VP Biden (@VP) November 15, 2012

Tonight Vice President Biden makes a guest appearance on #ParksandRec Pic: @vp chats w/ cast & crew @whitehouse: twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…

— The White House (@whitehouse) November 16, 2012