Through the Woods with Nick Offerman

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2022

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This holiday weekend, we’re revisiting one of our favorite talks with actor, author, and woodworker Nick Offerman. We begin with his new book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside (5:05), which was inspired by Nick’s upbringing in rural Minooka, Illinois (6:12), the writings of poet Wendell Berry (7:30), and his experiences with the late Sam Shepard at Steppenwolf Theatre (8:08).

Shortly after working with Shepard, Offerman began to find his footing—on and off the stage—as a performer, carpenter, and fight choreographer (9:35). He reflects on his galvanizing role in the film Going All the Way (15:14), the guiding principles of George Saunders (20:00), lessons from his sensei Shōzō Satō (25:26), the start of his nearly two-decade marriage with actress Megan Mullally (26:30), the phone call that changed his life (35:50), and the complicated legacy of Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation (41:45).

Then, before we go, we return to the timely (and urgent) message of his new book (46:47), a piece by Jeff Tweedy (49:50), and words by Wendell Berry (51:58).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	What do you poll dancing AI chatbots and diet culture all have in common?
0:04.0	These subjects have a home on Embodied the award-winning podcast I host from
0:08.0	North Carolina Public Radio W-U-N-C. My name is Anita Rao and you can consider me your personal guide to taking on the taboo.
0:16.0	Join me to explore important questions about our bodies and our society, where nothing is off limits.
0:21.9	So go ahead, listen to Embodied every Friday wherever you get your podcasts.
0:27.0	Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm Sam Forgo, so
0:55.0	welcome to the show. Today we're returning to one of our favorite talks with actor, author, and woodworker, Nick Offerman.
1:16.4	Offerman and I sat down last fall around the release of his new book,
1:21.2	where the Deer and the Antelope play. In its opening chapters, it charts
1:26.1	his journey hiking through the Glacier National Park with author George Saunders and musician
1:31.8	Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco.
1:35.1	At the heart of this book is a love letter to farming, conservation, and the great outdoors.
1:41.4	It's a kind of gentle reminder of what the Earth can do for
1:45.0	anyone willing to step outside of themselves and into nature.
1:49.0	Originally, we thought this would be a fun fitting talk to revisit around the 4th of July, as many of us
1:56.5	venture outside.
1:58.4	On Thursday, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision sided with the fossil fuel industry to severely restrict the EPA's power
2:06.5	to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
2:09.5	One of the biggest sources of planet warming pollution, and with this ruling which all but guarantees to
2:16.0	accelerate the climate crisis I couldn't help but think of Nick and his book which you'll
2:22.3	hear more about in this episode.
2:25.0	Dating back to his days on parks and recreation,
	...

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