美国国家公共电台 NPR Nick Offerman Shares His Love Of Woodworking In 'Good Clean Fun'

Nick Offerman Shares His Love Of Woodworking In 'Good Clean Fun'

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:57repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: 

Comedian² and Actor Nick Offerman stole scene after scene as the Libertarian man's man Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom³ "Parks And Recreation."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "PARKS AND RECREATION")

NICK OFFERMAN: (As Ron Swanson) I have a joke for you.

AMY POEHLER: (As Leslie Knope) OK.

OFFERMAN: (As Ron Swanson) The government in this town is excellent and uses your tax dollars efficiently⁴ (laughter).

MCEVERS: He's also a best-selling author and a woodworker. His latest book is about that. It's called "Good Clean Fun." He writes about how he grew up working with wood and only later got into acting⁵, which he likes to call clowning.

For Nick Offerman, woodworking is more than a side job or a hobby even. It's kind of a way of life. And that's what he wants to share with this new book, along with practical, do-it-yourself instructions. Offerman runs a shop with a crew of craftsmen⁶ and women here in Los Angeles. He came to the studio the other morning to tell me about it.

OFFERMAN: Well, it's really fun. We have six woodworkers at Offerman Woodshop, and while I'm here talking to you, they're in the shop, making all this stuff. And there's a lot of really nice, affordable⁷ gift items at offermanwoodshop.com. But...

MCEVERS: (Laughter) At low, low prices.

OFFERMAN: It's really fun. Everybody makes their own products. So one guy, Matt Micucci, makes a wooden kazoo. Chris makes just coasters and pencil holders⁸. So there are basic items and then crazy massive custom tables and beds. And we're able to kind of cover the waterfront.

MCEVERS: Are beards are required at your wood shop?

OFFERMAN: Not at all.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) I'm just joking.

OFFERMAN: My brother has a magnificent beard. His beard makes me look like a girl scout⁹.

MCEVERS: OK, 'cause you've got a pretty bushy situation going on there.

OFFERMAN: Thank you. I - you know, people ask me if it's for a role and I say no, if you see me with a huge beard it means I don't have an acting job.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) Right.

OFFERMAN: I always wish I had a big beard.

MCEVERS: You know, this whole idea of, like - I mean, it sounds like you didn't, like, set out to, like - I need something to support my other thing. It's really something that you've just been doing, like, all your life.

OFFERMAN: It is. It's kind of the opposite. This other clown job is really cramping¹⁰ my style at the woodshop. You know, I've become a writer of books inexplicably¹¹. I had a wonderful couple years traveling around between my acting jobs and touring and my wife Megan Mullally's acting jobs. And so I said if I do this book about woodworking then everybody has to go to hell and I just get to go to my shop for four months.

MCEVERS: Nice.

OFFERMAN: And it worked like crazy.

MCEVERS: I feel like there are a lot of people out there listening who have spent exactly zero days being handy, like, their entire lives. Is there hope for people like this, and does your book provide it?

OFFERMAN: I think so. I mean, a lot of my own woodworking education comes from books and periodicals like Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking magazines. They're great teachers, but they're very somber¹². They're very sober. So it was important to me for this book to be really friendly and gentle and fun to let you know that whether you're getting into woodworking or making anything with your hands, it's really important to know going in that you're supposed to make mistakes. You're supposed to screw it up.

And not only do I think this is a very friendly introduction to woodworking, but I really have become a little bit of an evangelist to encourage - find something to make. If you make stuff for your house or your loved ones, you're curating your life in a way, saying, I don't have to just limit my choices to what I can buy at Amazon. I can also choose to make a table myself. And even if it looks crappy, it's still so much more charming because you've made that gesture.

MCEVERS: I understand you and Jeff Tweedy have written songs about woodworking with each other. Is this true?

OFFERMAN: Well, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

OFFERMAN: Not just randomly¹³. We're good buddies¹⁴. And when we decided¹⁵ to do an audiobook of this book, my editor thought it would be a good idea to create some music for woodworking.

MCEVERS: OK. Any - you want to sing us an example, or should we just listen to the recorded version?

OFFERMAN: I - given the early hour, I'd be happy to recite for you the bridge to the radio hit...

MCEVERS: Yes, please.

OFFERMAN: ..."American White Oak."

MCEVERS: (Laughter).

OFFERMAN: The Latin which - the Latin name of which is Quercus alba. Great for beds, for sleep or reproduction, Quercus alba has a closed cell construction that makes it ideal for watertight vocations¹⁶ like barreling whiskey or floating wet locations like Atlantis or with Gandalf to the Grey Havens¹⁷.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) And you wrote that?

OFFERMAN: I did.

MCEVERS: Nice.

OFFERMAN: I'm terribly proud of it. It's some of the geekiest work I've done.

MCEVERS: You had a lot of success with Ron Swanson. That's your character from "Parks and Recreation." He's this Libertarian government-hating Midwestern guy. And this book could sort of reinforce that character. You know, do you worry about being typecast in some ways? Like, oh, I love that Ron Swanson woodworking book. You know, like (laughter)...

OFFERMAN: It's funny....

MCEVERS: ...People won't be able to tell the difference?

OFFERMAN: Yeah, people ask me that a lot. And I guess I feel lucky because if I had to make a deal where I could never work in TV and film again in exchange for seven years of getting to play Ron Swanson, I would sign that in a second. If I just had a life of woodworking and live theater, that'd be perfectly¹⁸ fine with me. Being Mr. Megan Mullally is also a gig that I really relish¹⁹. So sure, I would vaguely²⁰ worry about it, but it doesn't seem to be crimping my style in any way.

(LAUGHTER)

MCEVERS: That's Nick Offerman. His new book, a seriously funny guide to woodworking, is called "Good Clean Fun." Thank you very much.

OFFERMAN: Thank you for being gentle with me.

MCEVERS: (Laughter).

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

4 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

9 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

10 cramping   

图像压缩

参考例句：

• The bleeding may keep my left hand from cramping. 淌血会叫我的左手不抽筋。
• This loss of sodium can cause dehydration and cramping. 钠流失会造成脱水和抽筋。

11 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

12 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

13 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

14 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 vocations   

n.（认为特别适合自己的）职业( vocation的名词复数 )；使命；神召；（认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的）信心

参考例句：

• The term profession originally denoted a limited number of vocations. 专业这个术语起初表示数量有限的职业。 来自辞典例句
• I understood that Love encompassed all vocations, that Love was everything "." 我明白爱含有一切圣召，爱就是一切。 来自互联网

17 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网

18 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

19 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

20 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。