Hey, everybody, it's Jeff Bennett, and welcome to another episode of our PBS News podcast, Settle in.

Nick Offerman is best known as the mustachio deadpan libertarian Ron Swanson on the old NBC sitcom Parks and Rec.

Since then, he's deliberately avoided typecasting from playing a grizzled survivalist in HBO's The Last of Us to most recently President Chester Arthur and Netflix's Death by Lightning.

He's also much more than an actor. He's a writer and longtime woodworker.

And his latest book, Little Woodchucks, aims to get kids excited about DIY and building things.

He recently joined me on his phone during a break on set. So for those watching,

the video may wobble here and there, but we talked about the lessons he's carried from woodworking

and what it takes to resurrect a president largely forgotten by history. So settle in and enjoy our

conversation with Nick Offerman.

Nick Offerman, thanks for being with us.

My pleasure.

So this book, Little Woodchucks, it is such a joyful, mischievous guide to working with your hands.

What made you come up with this idea to write a woodworking book specifically for kids, but also their parents who might be learning alongside them?

Well, I've had my wood shop for 20 plus years, and I ran the shop with my co-author, whose

name is Lee Buchanan.

And before, I mean, we both came from families where we were taught to use tools and make

things, whether it was sew buttons on our clothing or make things in the kitchen or make

things with tools in the shop.

And it has just made our lives better.

And so over the years, we talked about different ideas for passing along this knowledge to families.

Because it's funny, you know, the book is designed for families to learn to make things together.

But it's kind of a gentle way of saying, hey, parents, you can teach your kids to use tools, but also, I know a lot of

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