I don't want to see this show up on one of those stapling fetish websites

November 26, 2011 1:18 PM

Planking with Nick Offerman. (MLYT)

Previous steps.

A tour of Nick's workshop.

Bonus 42 minute interview with the man behind Ron #&$%ing Swanson.

posted by yellowbinder (24 comments total)

There was an episode of Parks and Rec in which Ron Swanson gave Lesley Knope a canoe. That canoe was actually made by Nick Offerman.
posted by explosion at 1:21 PM on November 26, 2011

"So far it's working," *giggle*

I know that feeling! It's a great feeling.
posted by beau jackson at 1:25 PM on November 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

I read that as "That canoe was actually made of Nick Offerman", and I thought, wow, that guy must be really good at planking! Then I watched the video, and sense was made.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:26 PM on November 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love me some Nick Offerman, these videos almost look like Ron Swanson cut scenes from the show, so it's clear Offerman is just going a bit farther than he normally is.

I recently met someone that studied acting with him in college. They worked together a lot and eventually Nick decided to live the dream and move out to LA looking for acting work. He couldn't get parts at first so took up extra work to make ends meet in the form of selling pot. One of his best customers was a woman named Megan. He eventually married her.
posted by mathowie at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2011 [18 favorites]

Is there a follow on video to the first link? I'm very keen to see how one finishes off the canoe!
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 1:52 PM on November 26, 2011

I'm surprised somebody at WGBH isn't camping out at his doorstep to have him do "The New New Yankee Workshop". (You do know that Norm Abram retired his Workshop show a couple years ago... he still hangs out at "This Old House", and I can still rewatch his guest starring role on the last episode of "Freakazoid" part1 part2 leading an all-star cast of Ed Asner, Jonathan Harris, David Warner and Ricardo Montalban - now that's good TV! - but I digress)
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:03 PM on November 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Offerman Woodshop. He has some pieces for sale, including moustache combs.
posted by jedicus at 2:03 PM on November 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

I would donate money to PBS for a full tv series of this.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:35 PM on November 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

OT, but Offerman shows up (as the blue smurfs guy) in the Slacker 2011 (http://www.austinfilm.org/slacker2011) homage/remake.

Mwhybark will feel as struck by this as I was.
posted by esinclai at 3:09 PM on November 26, 2011

It's practically planking itself.
posted by dirigibleman at 4:15 PM on November 26, 2011

There was an episode of Parks and Rec in which Ron Swanson gave Lesley Knope a canoe.

He actually made the canoe for Mark Brendanawicz. As a thank you for getting his workshop up to code.
posted by lumpenprole at 4:26 PM on November 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

A slightly different approach: Ray Mears - Birch bark canoe 1/7
no staples, no glue, no tape measure! - finished canoe
posted by Lanark at 5:24 PM on November 26, 2011

I always think it's interesting to see actors not in character, because it helps me understand a tiny bit more about the way acting is done. I would have figured that Offerman would be pretty close to Swanson, simply because the character of Swanson is so deadpan and normal in his presentation. But no, Offerman the person is somehow very different in presentation than Swanson, although I can't figure out how. The voice is the same, and it's mostly things Swanson would say, but the delivery is very different.

This was a great post.
posted by winna at 6:01 PM on November 26, 2011

Wow, that first redwood root table is amazing!
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 6:20 PM on November 26, 2011

I'm surprised somebody at WGBH isn't camping out at his doorstep to have him do "The New New Yankee Workshop".

WGBH has rolled out their Norm 2.0. They hybridized with the trunk of Matthew McConaughey.
posted by Diablevert at 6:22 PM on November 26, 2011

That was pretty good, although I would take exception to his use of the term "gap-age". I prefer the more technically correct "gap-osis".
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 6:38 PM on November 26, 2011

The voice is the same, and it's mostly things Swanson would say, but the delivery is very different.

The way he talks in this video is the way he talks at the end of an episode, when he's being nice to Leslie. That's his real self.
posted by roll truck roll at 8:31 PM on November 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

But no, Offerman the person is somehow very different in presentation than Swanson, although I can't figure out how.

It's the mustache. I knew you'd hate me telling you.
posted by dhartung at 8:41 PM on November 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

He seems like he knows what he's doing, but -- a craftsman working with his wedding ring on?

That was, like, grade school shop class Day 1. How a lathe will crank your finger around and off because of your stupid affection for emotional trinkets. Do you love your girl, or do you love having a full set of fingers?

Credit to Offerman's skill as a lover, but not as a workman, I suppose.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:46 PM on November 26, 2011

WGBH has rolled out their Norm 2.0. They hybridized with the trunk of Matthew McConaughey.

Tommy Mac is a likeable enough guy, and he clearly has some woodworking skills, but right now he doesn't seem to be as good a teacher as Norm Abram.

Norm is good at explaining things step by step, and his director & camera people always provide useful visuals, with a good mix of angles, close-ups, and so on, so that you can really get an idea of what he's doing and how a project would come together. In contrast, the "Rough Cut" segments often seem to rush through or give short shrift to one or more portions of any given project. Also, thanks to a combination of 1) what I assume is a Boston accent, 2) a faster cadence, and 3) a tendency to interject a lot of "OK"s and other verbal chaff when he talks, Tommy is a bit harder to understand when he speaks.

I think he and the "Rough Cut" crew can improve over time; Norm certainly had many episodes of "New Yankee Workshop" and "This Old House" to polish his presentation skills.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 9:41 PM on November 26, 2011

Forget to say that I definitely would watch a woodworking show hosted by Nick Offerman and/or Ron Swanson. The linked tour of his shop was an eye-opener - quite an impressive layout, and I really like some of those pieces he makes using large slabs of wood...
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 9:44 PM on November 26, 2011

He seems like he knows what he's doing, but -- a craftsman working with his wedding ring on?

He talks about shop safety here, including a note to take off your ring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zHHyAr0Ir-w#t=89s
posted by Ike_Arumba at 6:33 AM on November 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

He mentioned "staple fetish sites". Was that deadpan humor, or are there really enough people with a fetish for staples to have sites?

Capt. Renault: The wedding ring thing is amazing. It's TV. Sometime take note of how often male models (especially TV commercials) move in such a way as to display a wedding band.
posted by Goofyy at 9:09 AM on November 27, 2011

I think this is the third or fourth time that I've "realized" Nick Offerman is fucking Tom Mason from Deadwood.

Was that deadpan humor, or are there really enough people with a fetish for staples to have sites?

You know what, I was just lying in bed last night thinking and getting really mad about how Rule 34 is total bullshit.

"If it exists there is porn of it" - literally impossible. This seemed as good a place as any to get that off my chest.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:59 AM on November 28, 2011