Interviews

PARKS & REC: Nick Offerman & Michael Schur on Working with TV’s Funniest People

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Parks and Recreation is one of the best breakout comedies in recent years, and the show’s writing, acting and multiple Emmy nominations only supplement that fact. It’s no secret, then, that when I had the chance to speak on a conference call with star Nick Offerman and executive producer Michael Schur, I jumped at the opportunity to interact with two individuals who were part of such a stand-out series.

The duo spoke primarily about their upcoming fourth season, and although Parks and Recreation has had one of the best receptions from critics and audiences, the creators and cast are clearly still surprised by the show’s success.

“I know that you can never expect anything to break out in television, especially in this very crowded landscape,” Schur notes. “I think if you asked me to lay odds on someone, one character breaking out before the pilot had aired, I might have, if I were a betting man, bet on Ron Swanson, only because he is played by Nick Offerman and has a big bushy mustache. And as far as predictions go, that’s about as good as – of information as you can have.”

Offerman speaks with similar pride when talking his enjoyment of working on the series, adding, “One of the hardest things about the job, when you are working with a cast of ten home run hitters, is simply tolerating their skill without busting out laughing. For me especially, when Ron is supposed to be unmoved, which is quite frequently, especially in the face of Andy or Leslie just being the most amazing clown right up in my face it can be really difficult. But at the same time, that’s what makes the job so fun, when we do have a moment to break out and laugh at each other because we’re watching the funniest work going today.”

Naturally, after four years of being on the air with some of the funniest actors in the television industry, I was personally curious what both Offerman and Schur would pick as their most memorable moments, both on and off set. “My favorite…oh boy, you know, it’s tough,” Offerman muses. “When they shut the lights off at the end of 12 hours of shooting I’m still sitting at my desk hoping they’ll come back and we’ll get to work some more because I love the job so much. So really the whole thing is my favorite. If I had to choose probably the first Ron and Tammy episode because it was so much fun to do in and of itself but also getting to work as a comedy team with my hero, Megan Mullally, was such an incredible gift that it allows it to win by a nose in the race of favorite episode.”

As for Schur? “The cheesy but true answer is that my favorite episode is always the one we’re about to shoot, because it’s really fun to make the show and I’m always excited to see what happens next. I have a weird – not a weird, a specific affinity for an episode called ‘Woman of the Year’, which we made in Season 2. And the idea was that Leslie thought she’d won an award from a women’s group and instead the award was given to Ron for these various political reasons that were stupid. From the moment we had the idea to the moment we locked the edit, it was just delightful because it was just Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman going at it head to head. It was just two giant comedy grizzlies attacking each other. To me it was a perfect comedy story. It was a huge conflict between the two main characters of the show.”

Nick Offerman with wife Megan MullallyWhile there’s much to look forward to this season, it’s clear that the biggest excitement is centered on the show’s big-name guest star – Patricia Clarkson as Tammy 1. While Schur couldn’t say much in the way of what Clarkson’s story would be, he did hint at some of what we could expect.

“I would only say with a desire – a heartfelt desire not to spoil too much about the character – I would say that she’s is very different from Tammy 2’s character,” Schur says. “The relationship she has with Ron is not a sort of hedonistic, animal attraction, pure and simple that we’ve seen before. They have a much different, more complicated, more kind of rich back story that we get into and delve into. I mean, the point of casting Patricia Clarkson was to let her be Patricia Clarkson, and I think we accomplished that. And we just wanted to do something very different from Megan’s character and I think we accomplished that as well. So we’re very excited for people to see it.”

So does that mean we’ll we be seeing Tammy 3? “I think if it were up to Ron he would probably never meet another woman named Tammy as long as he lived,” laughs Schur. “But, you know, Ron’s love life to this point has been mostly about the past. It’s about his ex-wives and his past loves. And I mean he’s had a – he did date Wendy, Tom’s ex-wife for a while and there have been some other romantic interludes, maybe a reference or something. But, you know, after the first two episode of the season air we will have met both of his ex-wives. At some point want to do some kind of romance story with Ron down the line.”

Don’t miss the season premiere of Parks and Recreation, airing September 22 at 8:30/9:30c on NBC.

Andrea Towers is a freelance writer and self-professed television junkie based in New York City, where she contributes her voice to several entertainment-based websites. A forever dedicated LOST fan, her favorite shows include The X-Files, Community, Fringe, Chuck, Game of Thrones and Parks & Recreation. Follow her on twitter @atvgeek82.