Nick Offerman — Working with Wood, and the Meaning of Life

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Society, Spirituality, Society & Culture, Sociology, Culture, Science, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Social Sciences, On Being, Arts

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2023

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nick Offerman has played many great characters, most famously Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, and he starred more recently in an astonishing episode of The Last of Us. But he is driven by passionate callings older and deeper than his public vocation as an actor and comedian. He works with wood, and he works with other people who work with their hands making beautiful, useful things. And this, it turns out, is also a primary source of his tethering in values. It's a source of a spiritual thoughtfulness that runs through this conversation with Krista. So is his love and study of the farmer-poet Wendell Berry, whose audiobook The Need to Be Whole Nick just recorded. This is a moving and edifying conversation that is also, not surprisingly, a lot of fun.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Being with Christa Tippett is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation,
0:04.6	funding research and catalyzing conversations that inspire people with awe and wonder.
0:10.2	Discover the latest findings on neuroscience, cosmology, and the origins of life at Templeton.org.
0:17.8	Full disclosure, I wasn't really a parks and recreation person, though lots of people around me were.
0:23.7	Still, I have loved the actor Nick Offerman in roles large and small. He stars in an astonishing
0:31.3	episode of the current HBO series, The Last of Us. I've enjoyed how his many characters,
0:37.6	whether macho or mild mannered, often use big, juicy words with great penache and even it has
0:44.6	seemed to me with great care. But what really compelled me to pursue the conversation that follows
0:50.6	here is learning about Nick Offerman's passionate collings that are older and deeper than his
0:56.7	public vocation as an actor. He works with wood and he works with other people who work with their
1:03.6	hands making beautiful useful things out of wood. And this, it turns out, is also a primary source
1:11.6	of his tethering in values. And it's a source of a spiritual thoughtfulness that I really enjoyed
1:17.6	drawing out. Nick Offerman's five books include The Delightful Good Clean Fun,
1:24.7	Misadventures and Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop. And that's a business he founded in Los Angeles in 2001,
1:32.1	which has been his livelihood at times. It's organized as a collective that creates handcrafted
1:38.2	items from spoons to canoes to ukuleles. They work with fallen trees from around urban LA,
1:46.3	as well as greater California and Oregon. He also wrote Winsomely about his love of the natural
1:52.4	world and his reverence for the farmer poet Wendell Berry, who we of course also love hear it on
1:59.2	being. When we spoke, Nick had just recorded the audiobook version of Wendell Berry's 2022 book,
2:05.8	The Need to Be Whole. I found this conversation edifying. That's a word,
2:11.6	Nick and I both overuse at times. And I also found it not surprisingly, a lot of fun. I hope you
2:18.2	will too. I'm Krista Tippett, and this is on Beeing. Nick Offerman grew up on a three-acre homestead,
	...

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