6 best Nick Offerman movies and TV shows

1. Nick Offerman as…Ron Swanson in Parks & Recreation

Yeah, there’s no other choice for the top spot. Nick Offerman has gifts that work with any number of parts, but it was like the role of Ron Swanson was made specifically for him. Offerman is so closely associated with this part that several times when writing this article I started writing out “Ron Swanson” before I realized I meant “Nick Offerman.”

Ron Swanson runs the Parks and Recreation department in the small town of Pawnee, Indiana. This is despite the fact that, as an ardent libertarian capitalist, he loathes the government. He spends his time trying to make it as inefficient as possible, which causes all kinds of conflicts with his boundlessly optimistic devoted public servant of a coworker Leslie Knope, played by Amy Phoeler.

The great thing about Parks and Recreation is that it depicts people with completely different views on politics finding ways to coexist and find common ground. Ron Swanson is a hardass who probably has some conspiratorial beliefs in common with Bill from The Last of Us — Ron would do just fine in a zombie apocalypse, I’m sure. But he’s also a hard worker, and open minded in a way that allows us to love him despite his harder edges.

Ron Swanson leverages all of Nick Offerman’s best traits as an actor — his authoritative demeanor, his independent streak, his razor-sharp comic timing — and does it for seven straight seasons. It’s the best showcase of what he can do.

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