I worry what you just heard was: give me a lot of bacon and eggs. What I said was: give me _all_ the bacon and eggs you have.

February 25, 2011 10:43 AM

Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson.

Yeah, it's another single-theme Tumblr. But it's Ron Fuckin' Swanson. Also, Nick Offerman picks his favorites.

posted by kmz (43 comments total)

11 pages of cats that look like Ron Swanson??




Yeah, that sounds about right.
posted by squared at 10:47 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cats with mustaches are awesome.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:49 AM on February 25, 2011

Oh my god yes.
posted by padraigin at 10:50 AM on February 25, 2011

For the others who didn't know who the hell Ron Swanson is .
posted by Daddy-O at 10:54 AM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

This kind of knocks all the wind out of my plans to start CatsThatLookLikeWilfredBrimley.tumblr.com
posted by adamrice at 10:56 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not as compelling as Cats that look like Duke Silver
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:57 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best. Show. On. Television.
posted by jefficator at 11:00 AM on February 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm glad to be with you, metafilter, here at the end of all things.
posted by joecacti at 11:03 AM on February 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

All I see are eleven pages of Wilford Brimley.
posted by katillathehun at 11:03 AM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

In other words, Persians and Exotic Shorthairs. Pretty much all of them look like Ewoks/Oscar the Grouch/guys with mustaches.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:08 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best. Show. On. Television.

I am starting to agree. When I saw the first few episodes of the first season when they aired, it seemed like a basically unfunny version of The Office, and I stopped watching. Season 2 eventually popped up on Netflix streaming, so one night I started watching them, and got completely hooked. Now it's definitely my favorite TV comedy. I don't always find it laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it's got more than enough charm to make up for that.
posted by notmydesk at 11:10 AM on February 25, 2011

Offerman's commentary is terrific! Totally in character too.

It's a shame that NBC has some of the funniest shows on TV at such a low point in its history.
posted by codacorolla at 11:16 AM on February 25, 2011

This is amazing.

Parks and Recreation and Community are the best things on television right now.
posted by NoraReed at 11:17 AM on February 25, 2011 [8 favorites]

Hah - I didn't know that Ron and Tammy are married in real life!
posted by jpdoane at 11:18 AM on February 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

All I see are eleven pages of Wilford Brimley.

My thoughts exactly. It's like NBC bought out a cats-that-look-like-Wilford-Brimley blog and hastily repurposed it for viral advertising.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:19 AM on February 25, 2011

Some of those cats also look like Philip Seymour Hoffman.
posted by analog at 11:19 AM on February 25, 2011

Next: Dogs that look like Matt Haughey.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:19 AM on February 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

I guess the cats-who-look-like-nobody-in-particular theme is still open.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:37 AM on February 25, 2011

Parks & Rec. is one of the best shows on TV now. Start at the end of Season 1 or just go for Season 2.

As a sci-fi nerd, I adore the amount of thought and consistency that goes into the world-building. You can really see the care that goes into every episode.

Sepinwall:

There's a reason TV shows don't usually make more than 22 episodes in a season (24 at most), and that's because the process of making a weekly TV show is so all-consuming that most of the people involved turn into zombies by the end of each year. And that often shows in some of the episodes you see late in a network season. But while everyone's friends from "The Office" or "30 Rock" or "Modern Family" were off recharging their mental batteries, everyone at "Parks and Rec" was still hard at work, trying to tap into their reserves long enough to create six more episodes of television.

And that challenge seems to have brought the cast and crew together in the same way that Leslie's project sends the parks department to a new level, because those six episodes represent perhaps the strongest, funniest, most purely entertaining stretch the show has had so far. And considering how terrific most of season two was (after the show had a brief, underwhelming debut season), that's kind of remarkable(*).

And that's for episodes that may never have seen the light of day.
posted by Eideteker at 11:37 AM on February 25, 2011

What the fuck are you doing, Perd Hapley?
posted by electroboy at 11:44 AM on February 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

And Ron Fucking Swanson is one of the best things about one of the best things on TV. Seriously, if Hank Hill was the gold standard for the American Male in the 90s, Ron Swanson fills that role for the current decade. He's the real man's man, who knows how to hunt, fish, turn wood, groom a fine mustache, and build a shelter in emergency. He's exactly the kind of person you want in your corner when the things go wrong and he's someone no one wants as an enemy. He's old school. He's a man of honor. He's an extension of the zeitgeist, and while this site itself isn't that great, there's so much instant lore about him precisely because he's this mythological extension of something we're all at least vaguely familiar with. He's a reflection of our imaginary ideals and values that we can hold up on a weekly basis and laugh with. Not at. Like Hank Hill, he's not an object of ridicule (and that's something Offerman really sells; the man is a genius at it, born to play this role at least). He's a reflection of the heart of the nation, for better or worse. He is us, and how you perceive him says as much about you as it does about him or about America as a nation.
posted by Eideteker at 11:46 AM on February 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Ron Fucking Swanson mentioning Lagavulin 16yr on last night's episode totally sealed the deal for me on whether to buy a bottle this weekend.
posted by misskaz at 11:50 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I do like P&R, and I do like Offerman as Swanson. But that role seems like it was tailor made for Stephen Root.

(Don't even get me started on Jack Donaghy vs. Jimmy James.)
posted by Sys Rq at 12:03 PM on February 25, 2011

"If I wanted to bring a large number of deviled eggs, but I didn't want to share them with anyone else, can you guarantee fridge space?"
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:06 PM on February 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

Does anyone know where I can get a large poster of breakfast food for my own office?

"Why would anybody ever eat anything besides breakfast food?"
"People are idiots, Leslie."
posted by giraffe at 12:09 PM on February 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Whatever you're take is on Ron Swanson, dude's got mad woodworking skillz. He builds a range of things, mostly nautical. Boats, and custom-made oars fabricated from various exotic woods. He outlined this hobby recently on the "Ace on the House" podcast hosted by Adam Carolla.
posted by Gordion Knott at 12:12 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

that role seems like it was tailor made for Stephen Root

Not coincidentally, I was just thinking that P&R is probably my favorite sitcom since Newsradio.

Yeah, just skip to Season 2 and give it a go. Lots of great episodes there.

And as much as I like Swanson/Offerman and the other characters (sad to see Mark Brandanowicz killed off), Knope/Poehler is the lifeblood of that show. Time and time again, you'll get a so-so show that is saved purely by Poehler. Her riff last night on bad breakups is a great example.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:13 PM on February 25, 2011

Whatever you're take is on Ron Swanson, dude's got mad woodworking skillz.

This chair is practically caning itself!
posted by mrgrimm at 12:13 PM on February 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

I do like P&R, and I do like Offerman as Swanson. But that role seems like it was tailor made for Stephen Root.

On the contrary, Nick Offerman has been on Adam Carolla's podcast a few times, and I find it hard to tell him and the character apart. Also of note he is a pretty skilled wood worker.
posted by Big_B at 12:15 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

which Gordion Knott just mentioned...
posted by Big_B at 12:17 PM on February 25, 2011

This is the best blog in the world, because it's about the best man in the world. And cats!
posted by estherbester at 12:22 PM on February 25, 2011

The highest praise I can think of for Parks & Rec is that if it was a Fox show, it would've been cancelled by now.
posted by AugieAugustus at 12:23 PM on February 25, 2011 [7 favorites]

It's amazing how different, and how much less housecat like Nick Offerman looks when he's not wearing Jim Bob Duggar's hair and Burt Reynolds' mustache.

I want to call myself a Ron Swanson fan, but his fondness for Ayn Rand prevents that.
posted by Leta at 12:30 PM on February 25, 2011

Wasn't quite as awesome as I thought it'd be. But this. There needs to be hard documentation of anything that looks like Ron Swanson.
posted by killtheliterate at 12:52 PM on February 25, 2011

Speak for yourself; I nearly peed myself at Perd Hapley's "Have You Heard? With Perd"
posted by Madamina at 1:22 PM on February 25, 2011

More like Turd Crapley.
posted by grubi at 1:41 PM on February 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

I do like P&R, and I do like Offerman as Swanson. But that role seems like it was tailor made for Stephen Root.

I love them both, but I can't see Stephen Root as a grouchy public-servant libertarian. He will forever be in my mind a jovial, rich, Republican.
posted by hampanda at 2:57 PM on February 25, 2011

I was thinking the jovial, rich, Republican boss crossed with Milton.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:02 PM on February 25, 2011

Like this blog, love Ron
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:03 PM on February 25, 2011

Nick Offerman is pitch perfect as Ron. Honestly, I wouldn't want to see anyone else play him. A lot of the other characters/actors are like that, too. Aziz kills it.

And Amy Poehler has always been awesome. I've been a huge fan since the UCB days.
posted by defenestration at 4:18 PM on February 25, 2011

I don't think any other show could make such a vile libertarian "shut down government services and let private industry run the parks and roads and police"-type of douchebag into such a lovable and hilarious character. Well, maybe 30 Rock. I suppose it all comes down to the charisma of the actor behind the character. It's certainly good that Leslie is such a balancing force against him job-wise and philosophy-wise.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:26 PM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is an excellent post. Now post all of the bacon and eggs that you have. All of them.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:46 PM on February 25, 2011

You know, back at the time it was hard to imagine a larger misstep that P&R season one could have taken. Back then, Ron Swanson wasn't funny, just brutish. He had no definition, really, he was just a straight out asshole.

Then season 2 rolled around and...a rich, savory scent filled the air, the smoky sawdust cleared, and Ron Fucking Swanson emerged from an undisclosed location, met our gaze, and never let it go. It was an amazing transformation.

(DOES ANYONE WANT TO BETA MY RON SWANFIC?)
posted by greenland at 8:37 PM on February 25, 2011