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Actor Nick Offerman is on a remarkable creative streak, and Portland audiences can catch the full range of his talents across two Portland performances this month.

He’s also an Emmy winner, for his 2024 guest actor role in the third episode of the first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us.” The episode, titled “Long, Long Time,” is among the hit show’s most highly regarded.

Long before that, Offerman became a household name playing the deadpan, mustachioed Ron Swanson on NBC’s hit mockumentary sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” which aired for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015.

Beginning April 15, Offerman appears in the Apple TV series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” playing a former professional wrestler. The ensemble cast also features Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Pfeiffer and Greg Kinnear.

In June, “Iceboy!” opens at Goodman’s Albert Theatre in Chicago. The musical stars Offerman’s wife, Megan Mullally, with Offerman in a supporting role.

Nick Offerman in his woodworking workshop. (Photo by Nicki Sebastian)

The Illinois native is currently on tour with his woodworking friend Lee Buchanan in support of the book “Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery.”

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The show is called “An evening of comedy with woodworking and bookish mirth,” with two performances on April 16 at Merrill Auditorium.

We chatted with Offerman from his Los Angeles home on the many facets of his career.

Unpack a little bit of what the Portland shows will look like.

I love to give the audience a show, rather than just come and read a book. So in this case, we’ve sort of combined all of the forces. What I figured out is that there’s a great sort of comedic tension, because we’re presenting this really wholesome material, this woodworking book that’s ostensibly for grown-ups to teach young people woodworking, but it’s a thinly veiled anti-AI screed. To that end, Lee comes out and we talk about the book, we read from the book and Lee actually then starts performing some woodworking on stage. It’s absolutely delightful and wholesome, but I can’t rest with that. I have to also be a smart ass, and I play some songs and things get a little too adult. It’s just a blast. Lee is so charismatic. By the end of the show, they’re happy if I leave, they just want Lee to stick around.

What do you think about Maine furniture making?

Christian Becksvoort is a hero of mine, and there’s a tool making company called Lie- Nielsen Toolworks. They are two examples of fine woodworking adherents that I just really admire because they’re pioneers. They keep exploring a way to try and make a profit while keeping employees engaged and happy.

Have you ever been injured in your woodshop?

One night I was working way too late. There’s a tool that’s like a big coffee can that’s called a router. The whole tool is a motor and it spins a bit, so you would use it to shave off or to curve the edge of a counter. I plugged one in and the switch was on so it leapt off the table. I tried to catch it and it took off half of a finger tip. I had to go to the hospital. It really was like a small rat had taken a chomp off the end of my finger.

Nick Offerman. (Photo by Joe Carrotta)

You do a lot of things that you seem to really love. How do you experience them on an emotional level?

It’s a good question. I always had a penchant to become a performer. I grew up in a cultural vacuum, so I didn’t make the connections in the ’70s into the ’80s of like, how do I get to “Saturday Night Live?,” how do I get to be on “Taxi” like Christopher Lloyd? I just watched Harvey Korman and Jackie Gleason and was like ‘I would also like to make people feel or laugh.’ But I grew up in such a small town that it wasn’t an option, you couldn’t get there from here. So everything else that I do, they all came about while I was trying to get good acting work.

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To come back around to answer your question, I’m hugely gratified in different ways when I get to do these different things. But when I perform for an audience, whether it’s on screen or on stage, I am delivering something medicinal. There’s an exchange; the audience is giving me their attention and their laughter or their tears, and I’m giving them my mugging or my slow talking. That is a recompense that feels different than anything else. So I wouldn’t hesitate if somebody said, ‘you could only do one thing,’ I’d say I wanna perform live on stage in plays. That would be my choice.

How excited are you about ‘Iceboy!’?

I’m incredibly excited. I’m so excited for the world because Megan Mullally, my incredible bride, has a quiver full of sublime talents, far surpassing anything I’ve got. She has this Ethel Merman generator inside her. When she comes on stage, she flips on the Ethel Merman and this 20,000 kilowatt klaxon light and sound come out of her. That’s what “Iceboy!” is like. I have a supporting role that fortunately doesn’t require a lot of singing. I feel like I’m getting away with something. I’m riding shotgun with all of these insane Broadway magicians. I think it’s gonna be a huge hit.

‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ looks like a wild ride.

It’s a crazy thing to say, but I think it might be the best show I’ve ever been a part of. First of all, Rufi Thorpe, who wrote the novel, is so incredible. It’s so good and funny and pithy and dramatic. It’s such a great role. I’m a former pro wrestler, so I got to learn a whole new skill set. I got to put on a bunch of muscle. I’m so grateful to be a part of that collaboration.

Was there a period of time when your role in ‘The Last of Us’ was commented on more than Ron Swanson, or is it still always Ron?

The role of Bill with that script by Craig Mazin, that was a truly exceptional episode of television. Among other reasons, I was glad that I finally had something that people would maybe want to talk to me about as much as Ron Swanson. Of course I love Ron Swanson, but I wear more hats than that, so it’s nice when people want to talk about other things too.


IF YOU GO:

7 and 9:45 p.m. April 16. Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland, $38-$68. porttix.com.

Aimsel Ponti is a music writer and content producer for the Portland Press Herald. She has been obsessed with – and inspired by – music since she listened to Monkees records borrowed from the town...

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