Nick Offerman’s role in ‘Parks and Recreation’ boosted reputation as a comedian

TORONTO – Nick Offerman, known for his role as an anti-government bureaucrat on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” never aspired to work in television.

“Television is not my favourite medium by a long stretch,” the actor said by phone from Los Angeles. “I still prefer theatre, then film and then TV in general because in many ways TV is the fastest produced and the most disposable.”

But playing the macho, moustached woodsman with deadpan delivery is “the luckiest job a boy could ever dream of,” he said.

“My favourite thing to perform is really good writing,” said Offerman. “The writing on ‘Parks and Recreation’ and the incredible cast and crew has made it the most incredibly rewarding experience of my professional career.”

Offerman, 44, landed the role of Ron Swanson in 2009 on the show that also stars Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza and Aziz Ansari. Going into its seventh season, the series has boosted Offerman’s reputation as a comedian — he performed at Just For Laughs in Montreal in July and will take to the stage Saturday during Toronto’s run of the comedy festival.

“Even once I had begun working in TV and film, I still never would have dreamed I would become a humorist and try to make an entire crowd chuckle with just the shirt on my back and a guitar,” said Offerman.

Or a ukulele in the case of his upcoming show in Toronto.

“I’ve written a song called ‘The Ukulele Song,’ which I will play upon the ukulele I built out of mahogany,” he said.

Like his character on “Parks and Recreation,” Offerman is a talented carpenter and owns his own woodworking shop in Los Angeles.

“I became obsessed right in my late 20s and I have not become any less besotted with fine woodworking since,” he said.

The carpentry skills he learned while growing up on a farm in Minooka, Ill., have served him well beyond the hobby of creating fine woodwork that he indulges in today. Offerman framed houses to pay for college and built sets to make ends meet while working in Chicago. He moved to the Windy City after graduating from the University of Illinois to work in independent theatre and co-founded Defiant Theatre.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1997 but quickly became frustrated with how theatre actors were typecast.

“The town of Hollywood simply has very narrow vision and they want everyone to specialize so when they looked at my resume, they said, ‘Oh, he’s from the theatre. He must just do Shakespeare,’” he said. “I’ve been playing comedy my entire career. It just took me awhile once I moved to Los Angeles to convince them that I could make an audience laugh.”

He had a string of trying years — he had to continue woodworking, learning to build cabins since there was no set-building work similar to what he was able to find in Chicago. His stubborn nature told him to hold on, and three years after his move a chance to work in theatre again turned his luck around.

“Even though Los Angeles isn’t known as a theatre town, it was finally doing a play that saved me,” said Offerman. “After a couple of depressing years, I met my wife doing this play and everything has been rather peachy since then.”

Megan Mullally was just off the first season of the hit series “Will and Grace,” but Offerman — who had been without a TV for 10 years at the time — had never seen the show.

“I knew by word of mouth she was on this new popular TV show,” he said. “At the time I was very elitist and considered that information beneath my notice.”

When he finally caught a rerun of the show that summer, it dissipated some of his disdain for television.

“I thought, ‘Oh, hey, apparently there’s some decent material on TV as well,’” he said.

The pair married in 2003 and have done guest spots on each other’s shows — “Will and Grace” and “Parks and Recreation” — and have worked on a number of independent films together. Offerman has also been busy working in film on his own, with roles in “21 Jump Street,” “We’re the Millers,” and voicing a part in “The Lego Movie.”

The Just For Laughs festival in Toronto starts Thursday and runs until Sept. 27.