Last night I was pleasantly surprised to download Marc Maron’s WTF podcast and discover that Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, the husband and wife duo beloved by the masses as Ron and Tammy, were Maron’s guests on the show. While the whole thing was entertaining, the best part of the interview, for me, was the one in which Nick touched on the Ron Swanson internet phenomenon. Hilariously, Offerman and Mullally are not, as it turns out, internet people, which sort of makes the web’s fascination with his character all the more funny. They seem absolutely baffled and perplexed by it, at a loss for words even.
Megan: Nick has the most unbelievable, unbelievably rabid online fan following…Oh my God, I mean, just every blogger, everybody is so slavishly devoted.
Nick: …It’s worth mentioning that we’re sort of purposely Luddites. We got out first computer in 2003 and to this day we share one original email address. And as social networking, as all that has developed, we’ve just eschewed it because we don’t have enough time to spend with our friends as it is…just answering emails is a huge drag. But like on our show, I’m very aware that Aziz, as part of his stand-up career, really works Twitter and Facebook and it’s a big part of his business. So somebody like Aziz…has a major sort following. What’s going on with Ron Swanson seems different in that he seems to inspire weird, outsider art pieces…What it comes down to is I’m really glad my work is getting to an audience and they’re enjoying it.
“Weird, outsider art pieces” you say, Nick? Hmmm…we haven’t noticed that.
Additionally, the two also discussed: 69ing, how they destroyed a table at a diner in Burbank for a Parks and Rec sex scene, how Megan flashed her boobs to the Parks and Rec crew during an improv moment, and how Chris Pratt is guy on the show who cracks Nick up the most. You can listen to the whole thing here or download it on iTunes.