If there is indeed a zone, then Nick Offerman seems to be living in it these days.
I love stories about artists who succeed later in their career, and I think in Offerman's case, one of the reasons that Ron Swanson clicked is because there was a sense of authority that Offerman gives off that might not have been there in the same way if he was fifteen years younger. I look at him in something like “Sin City,” and I can't imagine that guy as the same person who is giving one of the most amazing comedy performances on TV every single week right now.
I wrote about his new concert film on Valentine's Day this year, and the other night on the red carpet, when I heard him use the word “delicious” during an answer, it made me smile. He has this enormous zest for the life he's living right now, and a big part of that is his blatantly passionate relationship with his wife, actress Megan Mullally. He is certainly not shy about discussing just how passionate, either.
For example, when I was at SXSW, I talked to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg about the new film they produced, “Neighbors,” as well as director Nicholas Stoller, and all three of them mentioned a sequence that was shot for the film that they cut before they even showed it to the MPAA's ratings board. They knew there was no way they were getting an R if they left that in, and it required them to do surgery to lift Offerman and Mullally completely out of the film. That really surprised me, and sure enough, there's not a hint of them in the finished film.
So when I got a chance to ask Nick Offerman a grand total of one question on the red carpet at the PaleyFest “Parks and Recreation” panel the other night, I asked him point blank, what could they have possibly had in that sequence that would have scared Rogen and Goldberg that much?
His answer is offered up here in not one but two forms for you. Embedded above is the safe for work version. Embedded below is the uncensored and decided not safe for work version. You can have your Offerman any way you'd like here at HitFix.
God bless this man. He is a national treasure. May Ron Swanson live forever.
“Parks and Recreation” airs Thursdays on NBC.
“Neighbors” will arrive in theaters, 100% Offerman-free, on May 9, 2014.