EVERYONE’S FAVORITE MANLY MAN, NICK OFFERMAN, HAS A FEW THINGS LINED UP POST-PARKS AND RECREATION. BY MARK YARM. PHOTOGRAPHED BY BEN RAYNER
Whatever you do, don’t call Nick Offerman a lumbersexual. True, immediately following his photo shoot for this story, the comedic actor changes out of the suit and tie he’s been modeling and into his own outdoorsy ensemble: a tin cloth workman’s jacket over a blue flannel shirt, paired with a knit hat, blue jeans, and work boots. But Offerman, who runs a woodworking shop in real life, has been dressing this way forever. Also not helping his case: an impressive chin strap of gray-flecked facial hair— the inverse of the robust moustache he sported as manly libertarian Ron Swanson for seven seasons on the beloved NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. But the beard is for a role. Plus, the idea of Brooklyn hipsters growing hair on their faces, wearing pricey flannel, and accessorizing with axes strikes him as, well, weird and stupid. “A few months ago, a publication was doing a thing on lumbersexuals and asked me if I’d like to weigh in,” recalls Offerman, sitting in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room post-shoot. “When a fashion magazine calls me and says, ‘You’re one of the top lumbersexuals. Can we get a few comments?’ I say, ‘Please lose my number.’” People tend to conflate Nick Offerman and Ron Swanson, which in a way he considers a great compliment: “That means the show worked really well.” On the other hand, “It’s rather silly,” says the 44-year-old actor. “Yes, I’m a woodworker, and yes, I enjoy steak and Scotch, and perhaps I’m a man of few words. But everything I do is much more rounded than Ron Swanson. Ron Swanson was crafted by a team of genius writers, and I’m just a guy.” He lets out a goofy, by-no-means-macho laugh.
