Originally posted Tuesday, December 3, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Pleasantly deadpan Nick Offerman is a man of many deep-seated passions: his wife Megan Mullally, woodworking, being on stage and on TV, .
He hasn’t quite indulged all three at the same time but he’s frequently engaged in one of them at any given time.
Recently, he has been taking several days a month away from woodworking and his wife to hit the road for his third staged comedy show called “All Rise.”
And given its spiritual underpinnings, he is thrilled to do it in a converted church: two dates at The Tabernacle on Sunday, December 8, 2019. (Tickets available here.)
“The show is encouraging us all to keep trying better than we are,” Offerman said in a recent interview. “Cos we’ll never be done cooking. Human beings will always have foibles. Let’s all rise up and get to a place where we’re cool with everyone in the country - except the Nazis. I will have to draw the line.”
Here are excerpts from my conversation with the "Parks and Recreation" actor, currently co-hosting season 2 of the NBC craft-building competition show "Making It" with Amy Poehler. He was driving between Detroit and Columbus, Ohio.
Q: I know you do a lot of driving between concert dates. How do you fill the time?
Offerman: I listen to books. That's my favorite jam. I'll do a podcast now and again. But right now I'm just finishing "The Uninhabitable Earth.' It's a very bleak book about the true science of climate change and all of the true inaction that we humans are undertaking. Its raising a lot of alarms. It's not great comedy fodder at all. By the time I get to the gig, I'll be so desperately in need of a laugh, it really juices up the audience.
Q: How do you and Megan handle time apart like this?
Offerman: We have a two-week rule. Although we hate to get to the full two wees. It’s horrible. I strategize my tours. She’s stuck in Los Angeles shooting ‘Will & Grace.’ While touring, I never go more than five days. I’m on a 38-city domestic tour. I’ll do two or three weekends, then take a weekend off. I pick the structure of my schedule and it allows me to maintain a healthy marriage, my top priority.
Credit: David Livingston
Credit: David Livingston
Q: You are planning a podcast with your wife. What’s it about?
Offerman: We were inspired to do it from the book we wrote together ‘The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.’ People responded to positively to it. I guess what we feel is unique about us is that our marriage has lasted 20 years in Hollywood. That’s like 138 years for other people. There is some inspiration to be gleaned with our rapport, our candor, the sincerity in which we address each other that makes each of us laugh. We also talk straight with one another.
Q: Will you have guests?
Offerman: About two thirds of them. And each episode is recorded in our bed. It's 90 minutes of absolute hilarity or gripping conversation. We've taped about a half-year's worth. It's like at the end of a party when everybody is gone but a couple of random friends. You just flop down somewhere and talk. We are no longer worried about someone spilling wine on the white couch. It has a nice casual feel. [The first episode just came out and features Bill Hader.]
Q: How is “All Rise” different from your previous two shows?
Offerman: I’m a theater actor by trade and training. I started touring as a comedian and humorist just six or seven years ago. I don’t feel like I’m as good at this as I am at acting. I probably never will be. Not that I’m all that great as an actor. This piece of writing feels like the best piece of writing I’ve done on the comedy stage. Touring is very time consuming. If you want to get the Tabernacle, you have to book like a year in advance. Last fall, I had to tell my agent to take me off the books for four months this year. It’s a bit of a conundrum. But there’s spiritual malaise I feel in our country since the election of Trump. This show makes fun of the behaviors that led us into this terrible trouble we’re in. I make fun of homophobia and racism. I do an anthem about Brett Kavanaugh and beer that seems to get people’s toes tapping. The audience eats it up. Everybody leaves pretty happy except a few Kavanaugh fans. They leave grumbling.
Q: I hear you play several songs along with stories.
Offerman: I do seven new songs and a couple of encores. It's always been a dream of mine to play funny songs with custom lyrics since I was young. Steve Martin did it... I got a guitar when I was 19, 20, started learning to write music. But I don't have much talent there. I work with a talented guy Mark Rivers. I write some lyrics and he puts it to music.
Q: You also have NBC’s “Making It” back for a second season. How did that go?
Offerman: We have a wonderfully large and enthusiastic audience, many whom are families who watch together. We get a wonderful amount of feedback. They love how good-hearted and optimistic the show is. They will turn off the TV and make stuff together. Hearing that in line at the grocery store is as good as it gets.
Q: What are you working on in the woodworking shop?
Offerman: I’m feverishly finishing a batch of 12 ukuleles, which are really beautiful. They are going to some friends and acquaintances. I’d like to do guitars at some point but it’s good to start with ukuleles.
Q: What’s the challenge?
Offerman: It being smaller you’d think it’s easier. But curving the wood without splintering it is difficult. We experimented with different woods, sycamore, maple, oak. The traditional wood for ukuleles is mahogany. It turns out that’s not an arbitrary choice. After my in-depth experimentation, I will agree with centuries of instrument makers before me: mahogany it is.
Q: With “Parks & Rec” on Netflix, it seems your character Ron Swanson is as popular as ever.
Offerman: I don’t receive reports on popularity for that character. But I am aware that young people who were six years old when the show started have seen it on streaming services. They tell me they’ve watched the series multiple times. Many aren’t aware we are no longer making it. They ask if I wear a fat suit on the show. I have lost some weight since then. Ultimately, it’s been a wonderful thing to be saddled with, a gift that keeps on giving.
IN CONCERT
Nick Offerman
5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday, December 8, 2019
$55-$95
Tabernacle
52 Luckie St NW, Atlanta
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