Nick Offerman is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the ultimate 'manly man,' Ron Swanson, on the hit sitcom Parks and Recreation. Offerman has since starred in numerous TV shows and films, and now he's on a tour that showcases his love of woodworking and humor. It's called "Big Woodchuck: An Evening of Comedy With Woodworking and Bookish Mirth." The show will be making a stop at the Golden State Theater in Monterey on Monday, Feb. 7. I spoke with Offerman ahead of the event, and he told me what it's all about:
"I put out a new woodworking book for families last fall with my co-author, a woman named Lee Buchanan, who used to run my woodshop for about 10 years. Now we're touring the book, so she actually does some woodworking on stage while I sing about her doing woodworking, and I do a handful of comedy songs. Initially, it was kind of a more family-friendly book tour. The book is called Little Woodchucks. But I wanted to open it up because I missed playing to big adult audiences, so we've added a bunch of dirty material. We vacillate between woodworking and singing about people's butts."
Click the audio player at the top of this story to listen to the interview or read the highlights below.
Offerman on how he got in to woodworking:
"When I started theater school, I was actually very bad. It took me about five years to begin to figure out decent acting. And in that time, I still had to stick around and make a living, and everybody said, we'll pay you to build the set. And so just naturally, organically, it became how I made my living while I was trying to make my dream come true of getting work as an entertainer. And that turned into woodworking. And it remained such a huge part of my life, especially now that technology and AI are sort of — the tech companies are suggesting that we give up our human ingenuity and let the robots have all the fun. And so that's a big part of this book, Little Woodchucks, is saying, let's make things with your kids. We have the ability, the magic to be able to use our brains and our coordination to make all manner of things, and that's so much more valuable and fun than anything software can do for you."
Offerman on his Emmy-winning role in HBO's The Last of Us:
Dylan Music: In The Last of Us, you played a survivalist who falls in love with this guy who trespasses on your property, played by Murray Bartlett. And it happens during what is kind of like a zombie-mushroom apocalypse. I was surprised by this role. You're tender and loving, vulnerable in a way that I feel like I've never really seen you before. And it ended up being a very much beloved and talked about role for you. You won an Emmy for it.
Nick Offerman: I was so grateful to get that script. We just knew when we read that that it was going to be beautiful if we didn't screw it up. I actually really love roles like that because they're scary.
It's taken me a long time to learn to sort of expose that soft side. But I love to do it because people equate me sometimes with a certain brand of masculinity or virility. And I think it's important in our country in this moment to show that what we think of as 'surface masculinity' is just performative. And the more you wear a mask and beat up innocent people, the more you're probably saying, I'm a crybaby who just needs a hug. So I'm glad to be on the positive side of that, letting people know it's okay to cry. It's that simple.
DM: You also sing "Long, Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt [in The Last Of Us] which I'll never hear the same way again after that episode. "
DM : It was a nice surprise. But I guess you do music, and you're going to be doing music at the performance."
Offerman: I love playing music. In the show, I play guitar, and I play a ukulele that I made. And so it's all of a piece. One of the things you can make with your hands is an instrument, and then you can make music on that instrument. And I do love writing funny songs, just dumb A-B rhymes. And they really seem to work. People really laugh at my songs. So I'm looking forward to trying some of those out around the Bay."
Actor, humorist, and woodworker Nick Offerman will be bringing his comedy and woodworking tour, Big Woodchuck, to the Golden State Theater in Monterey on Monday, February 9th.