With all of the mystique surrounding Ron Swanson, television’s favorite local parks department director, it can be easy to forget there is a human being behind that mustachioed representation of bacon-and-whiskey Americana. But a human being there is, one named Nick Offerman, who will be taking the stage at the Memorial Union Theater at 8 p.m. Wednesday as part of his American Ham tour.
Offerman is one of those actors who seems to play less of a character as much as he simply is himself in the company of other actors on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.” That’s saying something, too—Ron Swanson is a favorite of critics and fans alike, and is popular for some of the same reasons that will make Offerman’s show Wednesday a delight to “Parks and Rec” fans (as well as anyone who appreciates turkey legs and quality woodcraft).
Not unlike his character, Offerman seems to be an embodiment of tongue-in-cheek, outdoorsy American masculinity. He works with his hands, crafting the likes of mahogany dining tables and mustache combs from salvaged wood for the Offerman Woodshop, and is married to Megan Mullally, who plays Swanson’s she-devil ex wife, Tammy II, on “Parks and Rec.”
That means Ron Swanson fans don’t need to worry about showing up Wednesday night to find out their hero has been a vegetarian homebody this entire time. But what they will find isn’t so easily pinned down.
The show is not strictly stand-up comedy, nor will it be Offerman “in character” as Ron Swanson. According to the Des Moines Register before a show at Iowa State, the nationwide tour of college campuses is “part comedy, part acoustic songs, part Q&A and part woodworking tips,” so attendees at the show should expect to leave with a new, oak barrel-aged outlook on life.
Tickets went on sale earlier this spring, and eager fans gobbled all of them up. But WUD Music, the group putting on the show, has said that a “limited number” of tickets will be on sale at the Union Box Office at 11:30 Wednesday morning, so if you’re still looking for a way in, you might be in luck.
We should be seeing an excited Offerman as well, as it’s been a big year for the actor. “Parks and Rec” has consistently been in the conversation as one of the best (if more under-viewed) comedies on the air, and after a mid-season hiatus, the show is coming back Thursday.
He’s also coming off of a role in the well-received comedy “21 Jump Street,” and recently bantered with fellow NBC comedian Craig Robinson in a series of Cubs vs. White Sox-themed commercials for New Era. (Brewer fans may be saddened to know Illinois-native Offerman was representing the Cubbies).
Baseball allegiances aside, Nick Offerman’s show Wednesday night should offer up a look at the man behind one of television’s funniest characters. We can assume his legend, not unlike hist immaculate mustache, will only grow.
