Ron Swanson
Encyclopedia
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character
played by Nick Offerman
in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
on NBC
. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana
city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope
(Amy Poehler
). Despite holding a government job, Ron is a staunch Libertarian
who believes in as little government as possible and feels the parks department should not exist.
Ron, who has an extremely deadpan
and masculine personality, actively works to make city hall less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, hunting and breakfast foods. He hates and fears his two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy (also his mother's name), one of whom is played by Offerman's real-life wife, Megan Mullally
. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues, and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie.
Conceived by series creators Michael Schur
and Greg Daniels
, Ron has been one of the main characters since the pilot episode
of Parks and Recreation. Offerman had some input into the character's creation, and some aspects of Ron's personality were inspired by the actor, like his affinity for woodworking
. The traits of the character were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official in Burbank
, as well as political appointees of President
George W. Bush
. His views on politics have been compared to that of John Locke
.
Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson has received critical acclaim. The character has developed a cult following
and is widely considered the breakout character
of the series. Schur has called Ron "our cast MVP
." He has been described by some critics as one of the best characters in a situation comedy in decades, and has been called the best comedic character on television since Cosmo Kramer
of Seinfeld
. Ron's platonic relationship with Leslie has been compared to that of Mary Richards
and Lou Grant
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show
. Offerman has received several award nominations for the role, and won the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy
, tying with Ty Burrell
of Modern Family
.
city of Pawnee, a job he has held for six years at the time Parks and Recreation
began. A staunch Libertarian
, with a distinctive mustache, Ron is an extremely strong advocate for small government
; despite working in a city hall job, he believes all government is a waste of taxpayer money. He explains his ideal government as, "One guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he's allowed to decide is who to nuke." Ron believes the park system should be privatized and run entirely by corporations for profit, as exemplified by the business model of the Chuck E. Cheese's
chain of family entertainment centers. He advocates for program cuts wherever possible, and purposely tries to hire people who are bad at their jobs so they will slow the government down. Ron exerts almost no energy into his job, and lets his deputy director Leslie Knope
(Amy Poehler
) do the vast majority of the work at the parks department.
Ron particularly despises talking to members of the public, which is why he deliberately designed his office to be uninviting to visitors, in part by mounting a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun on a swivel atop his desk aimed at the guest chair, so it will be pointed at anyone who wants to speak to him, a claymore mine (front-pointed toward enemy), and Czech hedgehog
. Despite his lack of interest in the job, Ron occasionally demonstrates he is a good manager who recognizes the abilities of his co-workers. He claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him, and that his best friend was a co-worker he knew for three years without ever learning his name. However, Ron cares more about his colleagues than he lets on and often helps them in spite of himself. Despite sharing a nearly opposite view on the role of government, Ron gets along well with deputy parks and recreation director, Leslie Knope, and the two share a strong mutual respect. Although Leslie had considered a job offer in the neighboring town of Eagleton, she stays based on advice from Ron that, no matter how many job offers she gets, Pawnee will always be her hometown. Ron has also developed a grudging, avuncular affection for April's husband, Andy Dwyer, and has even decided to give him the "Ron Swanson Scholarship" ($940) so Andy can attend one college course: Women's Studies, after Andy and April couldn't afford to pay it. In the voiceover while Ron drops Andy off for his first day of class, he recalls his own first day of college when his father dropped him off... at the steel mill. His father thought he shouldn't bother with college, but Ron hitched a ride to the school and went anyway.
Ron speaks in a very deadpan
tone of voice and seldom expresses any kind of emotion. He is an extremely masculine individual; in his entire childhood, he only cried once, when he was hit by a bus at age seven. Ron is an outdoor enthusiast
who loves hunting, fishing, camping and woodworking
. For years, Ron has used a park ranger station in the woods as a lodge for private hunting trips with his male colleagues at city hall. He describes fishing as "like yoga, except I still get to kill something". He is particularly attracted to brunettes and what he describes as "strong, self-possessed women at the top of their fields," with professional athletes Steffi Graf
and Sheryl Swoopes
among his ideal women. He loves breakfast foods and red meats; among the types of food he enjoys are bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried turkey legs inside a grilled hamburger, and bacon-wrapped turkey legs, which are known in Pawnee as "The Swanson". He also drinks heavily but seldom feels the effects of alcohol or gets hung over. He is an extremely private person, going so far as to redact his birthday from government documents to keep others from holding parties for him. Ron knows almost nothing about popular culture
; he recognizes the name Julia Roberts
only as the "toothy gal from Mystic Pizza
". Ron is extremely concerned with the image people have of him and once refused to seek treatment for a hernia, as he instead chose to remain immobile at his desk all day and night; until April offered to take him to the hospital.
Before the start of Parks and Recreation, Ron has two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy, which is also the name of Ron's mother. Ron despises and fears both of his ex-wives, and they are among the few individuals in the world who can break Ron's usually unwavering stoicism. Nevertheless, Ron shares an extremely passionate sexual connection with his second ex-wife; he compared having sex with her to "doing peyote and sneezing, slowly, for six hours", and added, "That woman really knows her way around a penis." Ron is so susceptible to Tammy's sexual temptations that he made a video-tape warning himself about her to play in case he ever got back together with her. Ron plays the saxophone, and secretly performs at out-of-town jazz clubs under the name Duke Silver, which he keeps secret from his colleagues in Pawnee. He wears a fedora and suit jacket while playing, fronts a band called the Duke Silver Trio, and has released such albums as Memories of Now, Smooth as Silver and Hi Ho, Duke. His music is especially popular with older women, who find Duke Silver extremely attractive.
of Parks and Recreation, where he repeatedly denies Leslie's requests to pursue turning a construction pit into a park because he does not believe the parks department should build parks at all. He agrees to green-light the project only when city planner Mark Brendanawicz
(Paul Schneider
) secretly cashes in an unspecified favor in exchange for the approval. In a deleted scene from the episode "Canvassing
", Ron tries to leave government employment for a previously offered job at an Internet
flower company. However, when he finds that business is now doing extremely poorly, Ron sadly realizes he will be in his government job for a long time. In the episode "Boys' Club
", Ron attends a disciplinary hearing with Leslie after she gets in trouble when the underage April Ludgate
(Aubrey Plaza) is seen drinking alcohol on a video on the Pawnee website. Ron interrupts half-way through the review, defends Leslie and angrily berates the panel for aggressively questioning her. Although Ron claims he did it only due to his hatred for bureaucratic procedures, it is alluded that he really did so out of respect for Leslie.
's marriage to the attractive surgeon Wendy (Jama Williamson
) is actually a green card marriage
. Ron promises he will keep Tom's arrangement a secret. Later, Tom discovers Ron playing the saxophone at a bar in his Duke Silver persona. Tom agrees to keep Ron's secret as well. Later in the season, when Tom's divorce with Wendy is finalized in "Tom's Divorce
", Ron politely asks whether Tom would mind if he asked Wendy out himself, and explains, "Looking at her, I feel like she might be the perfect spooning size for me." Tom outwardly claims to be fine with it but, unbeknownst to Ron, is secretly upset because he actually harbors real romantic feelings for Wendy.
Ron's second ex-wife, Pawnee library director Tammy (Megan Mullally
), appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy
", where Tammy tricks Leslie into arranging a reunion meeting with Ron under the guise of wishing to work out her differences with him. In fact, Tammy schemed to get Ron to give her the rights to land Leslie plans to turn into a park, so Tammy can build a library branch there instead. During their meeting, Ron and Tammy start loudly arguing, but eventually have passionate sex and get back together. Unable to resist Tammy's charms, Ron asks Leslie to break up with Tammy for him. When Leslie stands up to Tammy in Ron's defense, he is moved by what he describes as the first time any woman has put his needs before her own, and it gives him the strength to finally break up with Tammy.
In "Hunting Trip
", Leslie insists that Ron take her and the other female parks department employees on one of his private hunting expeditions at the park ranger cabin. Ron begrudgingly agrees, but is frustrated to learn that Leslie is in fact an excellent hunter who overshadows his own abilities. During this trip, Ron is shot in the back of a head by a stray bullet and, although it is not fatal, he becomes hallucinatory and furious after taking multiple painkillers. He initially accuses Leslie of shooting him based on her desire to prove herself, but later learns Tom was at fault and that Leslie took the blame to keep Tom from being arrested for hunting without a license. Ron is strongly impressed that Leslie defended Tom this way.
In "The Set Up
", a new city-wide effort is implemented to make government officials more accessible to Pawnee residents, an idea which Ron condemns as "my hell". As a result, he seeks to hire an assistant who will shield him from the public and allow him to continue doing nothing. After interviewing several candidates, he chooses April Ludgate, convinced her constant apathy and negative attitude will suit him perfectly. Their relationship proves very harmonious until the episode "94 Meetings
", when April accidentally schedules nearly 100 meetings on a single day. April previously kept people who wanted to meet with Ron away by scheduling them for a meeting on March 31, a date she wrongly believed was nonexistent. When March 31 actually comes around, Ron has to enroll help from others in the park department to handle the meetings. He becomes so furious with April that she quits, but Ron later apologizes and hires her back.
In "The Master Plan
", state auditors Chris Traeger
(Rob Lowe
) and Ben Wyatt
(Adam Scott
) arrive in Pawnee and announce that due to the city's crippling budget problems, they have to slash each department budget by up to 50 percent and briefly shut down the government completely. While Leslie is horrified, the anti-government Ron is delighted by the idea, becoming so giddy that he asks the auditors what cuts they will be making and if he can be allowed to "watch while eating pork cracklin's." In the season finale, "Freddy Spaghetti
", Ron is assigned to a committee tasked with identifying budget cuts, a job which he enjoys thoroughly. However, when Ben and Chris reveal they are considering firing Leslie, Ron passionately defends her and insists they should fire him instead. During the final scene of the episode and season, Tom spots Ron and Wendy together in city hall and realizes with horror that they are now dating.
of sorts to April and Andy
(Chris Pratt
) during the third season, despite his insistence that "I'm not interested in caring about people." When April is hospitalized with influenza
in "Flu Season
", she starts to explain her relationship problems with Andy, but Ron insists he does not want to know about her private affairs. However, after Ron hires Andy to be her temporary replacement, the two spend the day bonding and Ron, against his better judgment, tells Andy that April is in the hospital and that he should visit her. Later in the season, in "Media Blitz
", Ron gets even further involved by chastising April for leading Andy on, and urges her to either forgive Andy or move on. His advice ultimately helps April decide to forgive Andy.
Ron finds himself very happy in his relationship with Wendy, although it creates tension between he and Tom. This tension culminates in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two
", when Tom brings Tammy to a party as his date simply to aggravate Ron. This occurs, however, the same day that Wendy and Ron break up, after she decides she must move back to Canada to care for her ailing parents. Ron and Tammy end up having a wild night of drinking and sex, in which Ron gets cornrows, he and Tammy get re-married and the two end up in jail. The parks department employees hold an intervention to try to convince Ron to leave Tammy, but their efforts are unsuccessful. After Tom reveals that Tammy only went to the party with him to make Ron miserable, Tammy brutally beats up Tom. This makes Ron remember how horrible Tammy is and he leaves her, thus ending their marriage for a second time, and Ron and Tom later reconcile.
Shortly after Leslie successfully relaunches the Pawnee harvest festival, she struggles to find any new ideas for future parks project. She becomes so stressed that Ron, in the episode "Camping
", locks her in a room and refuses to let her out until she gets some sleep. She awakens the next day refreshed and full of ideas. Ron attends Andy and April's wedding in "Andy and April's Fancy Party
", where he has the first dance
with April. When Leslie grows concerned they are rushing into their marriage, Ron insists it is not her place to say what works for them, and offers the advice: "Who's to say what works? You find somebody you like, and you roll the dice." In "Eagleton
", Leslie discovers Ron's birthday, which he previously kept secret, and he fearfully suspects Leslie is planning an extravagant party for him. However, her surprise party for Ron is instead a quiet, private one more appropriate for Ron's personality: an evening alone with a steak, scotch and copies of his favorite movies.
When city manager Chris Traeger tries to remove red meat
from the city hall cafeteria as part of a government-wide health initiative in "Soulmates
", Ron intervenes by challenging Chris to a cook-off. Chris agrees to abandon his plan if Ron's regular hamburgers are deemed better than his lean meat turkey burgers. Although Ron exerts little effort compared to Chris, his burgers easily win the contest. In "Road Trip
", Ron reluctantly agrees to be interviewed by a young girl for her school assignment, during which he explains his libertarian beliefs about small government, and illustrates the concept of taxes by eating 40 percent of her lunch. The two bond, and he ends the day by giving her a claymore landmine as a gift. Ron gets in trouble the next day when the girl's mother explains her daughter's assignment was "Why Government Matters", and that Lauren simply wrote "It doesn't."
Ron learns in the third season finale, "Li'l Sebastian
", that Leslie and Ben are secretly having an affair despite Chris' ban on workplace romances, and he warns them they are risking a political scandal that could cost them their jobs. Later, at the funeral of Pawnee's celebrity miniature horse
Li'l Sebastian, Ron is nearly killed as a result of Leslie and Ben's affair. When their efforts to hide their relationship accidentally cause Li'l Sebastian's eternal flame
to be filled with lighter fluid instead of propane, Ron creates a massive fireball when he lights it, which burns off his eyebrows and part of his mustache. The season ends as a horrified Ron learns that his first ex-wife, Tammy, has arrived to see him; the news is enough to make his second ex-wife, also named Tammy, run away in horror.
and Michael Schur
, although Nick Offerman himself had some input into the character's creation. The character's traits were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official that Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur
encountered in Burbank
while researching for the show, who favored as little government interference as possible and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job. ... I'm aware of the irony." Ron is also partially inspired by political appointees of President
George W. Bush
who were perceived to be opposed to the branch of government they were overseeing. Ron's signature mustache was one of the first ideas conceived for the character. Offerman said the deadpan style of humor he uses for Ron Swanson was cultivated during his youth, when he was an altar boy
: "I would read things with the utmost sincerity, and my cousin would be cracking up because he knew I was full of shit."
Many aspects of Ron's character are based on those of Nick Offerman in real life, such as his woodworking abilities; Offerman runs an independent carpentry business called Offerman Woodshop. Offerman also plays saxophone in real life, just as Ron does, although the Parks and Recreation writers did not know this when they wrote this element of his character. Offerman's real-life training in stage combat
and Kabuki
dance were the partial inspiration for self-defense classes Ron offered his parks department colleagues in "Park Safety
". Ron's second ex-wife Tammy, who first appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy", was played by comedienne and actress Megan Mullally, Offerman's real-life wife. The idea of Ron hating his ex-wife Tammy was established early in the creation of the character, and it was Schur who conceived the idea of casting Mullally, which Offerman was extremely responsive to the idea.
Ron became more heavily involved in Parks and Recreation storylines during the second season, and Offerman largely credited Schur with the development of the character. Schur has described Offerman as a "once-in-a-generation comedic performer", and "our cast MVP
, and in many ways our cast leader". He compared Ron to a "19th-century rugged individualist", and said of creating the character, "A lot of the credit has to go to Nick Offerman. In real life, he's an incredibly interesting guy, and at the very least, it's much easier to play an interesting guy when you're an interesting guy." Offerman said his own sense of humor fuels much of the character, along with those of Schur, Greg Daniels and the writing staff; he added: "I never dreamed that I could prosper with my perverse sense of humor on a network show." Schur said the writers like writing for Ron because "he's a great mix of a superhero, and also a deeply flawed, and very human and vulnerable person".
and is widely considered the show's breakout character
. Joel Keller of TV Squad called Ron "one of the more inspired sitcom characters of the last decade", and Zap2it
writer Joel Keller called him one of the best sitcom characters since Cosmo Kramer
of Seinfeld
. Gabriel Perna of International Business Times wrote, "Offerman's Ron Swanson is one of the main reasons to watch, Parks and Recreation. Considering how funny the show is and the scope of its cast; that says a lot." Likewise, Gail Pennington, television critic with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, called Nick Offerman "the funniest guy on TV", and, TV Fanatic writer Eric Hochberger said, "There's certain character I watch this show for: Ron Swanson." Jonah Weiner of Slate.com said Ron "has regularly stolen his scenes" and that Offerman has "a gift for understated physical comedy", and Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
said Offerman was not only funny, but capable of expressing a surprising range of emotions.
During the second season, HitFix
writer Alan Sepinwall called Ron "easily the show's best creation so far", and during the third season he wrote, "Ron being both awesome and hilarious is something Nick Offerman and these writers can do in their sleep by now". Sal Basile of UGO Networks wrote, "How anyone can make Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation likable is beyond us, but Offerman does it effortlessly. Before we knew it we couldn't wait to see Swanson's reactions to the slightest of problems." Matt Fowler of IGN
was critical of Ron at the start of the show, and called him "a bit of the dud (who) offers little to the show, and almost just stand to sour the whole thing." However, by the second season, Fowler said the character had improved and became "an absolute stand-out in the series". Several reviewers have praised the platonic relationship between Ron and Leslie, which has been compared to that of Mary Richards
and Lou Grant
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show
.
The second season episode "Ron and Tammy", which predominantly featured Ron and his second ex-wife, is widely considered one of the best Parks and Recreation episodes. Offerman was particularly praised for his subtle minimalism and facial expressions, particularly the use of his eyebrows. Based on a line from "The Stakeout
", when Ron says, "I was born ready. I'm Ron fucking Swanson", he is often referred by reviewers and fans as "Ron Fucking Swanson". The term "Ron Swanson" and the misspelling "Rob Swanson" were so commonly discussed on the social-networking website Twitter
after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired that they were listed among the site's trending topic
s, which are indicative of being the most popular topics being discussed on Twitter at a given moment. Fans created websites based on him like "Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson", and after Ron misunderstood a turkey burger to be "a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger", the cooking website Eater.com created and posted a recipe for that exact food. An image of a fake flavor of Ron Swanson-themed Ben & Jerry's
ice cream, called "All of the Bacon & Eggs You Have", was designed and circulated on the Internet. The Ben & Jerry's corporation responded positively to the image, and said in a statement, "Ron's beliefs are in accordance with those of Ben & Jerry's – where two scoops of government can help the less fortunate and truly be a servant to the community and its citizens."
nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy for his performance as Ron Swanson, although the award was ultimately given to Jane Lynch
for her performance in the musical comedy-drama Glee
. Also that year, Nick Offerman received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy from Entertainment Weekly
' s Ewwy Awards.
Despite critical success, Offerman has never received a Primetime Emmy Award
nomination for this role. Several reviewers expressed particular surprise that he did not receive a nomination for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
in 2011, which many considered the biggest snub of the season. Amy Poehler
in particular was outraged by Offerman's snub, and said it was "a hot load of bullshit that [Offerman] didn't get nominated." Multiple other actors, including Michelle Forbes
and Ty Burrell
(the latter of which received a nomination in, and eventually won, the category Offerman was competing in) stated that they believed Offerman should have been nominated, and Burrell added that Offerman deserved the nomination more than he.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
played by Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker.-Early life and career:...
in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
(Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
). Despite holding a government job, Ron is a staunch Libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
who believes in as little government as possible and feels the parks department should not exist.
Ron, who has an extremely deadpan
Deadpan
Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone, solemn, blunt, disgusted or matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor...
and masculine personality, actively works to make city hall less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, hunting and breakfast foods. He hates and fears his two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy (also his mother's name), one of whom is played by Offerman's real-life wife, Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues, and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie.
Conceived by series creators Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
and Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
, Ron has been one of the main characters since the pilot episode
Pilot (Parks and Recreation)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series co-creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels...
of Parks and Recreation. Offerman had some input into the character's creation, and some aspects of Ron's personality were inspired by the actor, like his affinity for woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
. The traits of the character were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, as well as political appointees of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. His views on politics have been compared to that of John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
.
Offerman's portrayal of Ron Swanson has received critical acclaim. The character has developed a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
and is widely considered the breakout character
Breakout character
A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...
of the series. Schur has called Ron "our cast MVP
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
." He has been described by some critics as one of the best characters in a situation comedy in decades, and has been called the best comedic character on television since Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. Ron's platonic relationship with Leslie has been compared to that of Mary Richards
Mary Richards
Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the main character of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.-Family:Mary Richards, born in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the daughter of Walter and Dottie Richards...
and Lou Grant
Lou Grant
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Edward Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was Mary Tyler Moore , in which the character was the news director at the fictional television station WJM-TV...
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
. Offerman has received several award nominations for the role, and won the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy
TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy
The TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy is an award given by the Television Critics Association.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-External links:*...
, tying with Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
of Modern Family
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
.
Background
Ron Swanson is the director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
city of Pawnee, a job he has held for six years at the time Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
began. A staunch Libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, with a distinctive mustache, Ron is an extremely strong advocate for small government
Small government
A Small government is one which minimizes its own activities. It is a concept important to classical liberalism and libertarianism.-In Hong Kong:...
; despite working in a city hall job, he believes all government is a waste of taxpayer money. He explains his ideal government as, "One guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he's allowed to decide is who to nuke." Ron believes the park system should be privatized and run entirely by corporations for profit, as exemplified by the business model of the Chuck E. Cheese's
Chuck E. Cheese's
Chuck E. Cheese's is a chain of family entertainment centers. Chuck E...
chain of family entertainment centers. He advocates for program cuts wherever possible, and purposely tries to hire people who are bad at their jobs so they will slow the government down. Ron exerts almost no energy into his job, and lets his deputy director Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
(Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
) do the vast majority of the work at the parks department.
Ron particularly despises talking to members of the public, which is why he deliberately designed his office to be uninviting to visitors, in part by mounting a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun on a swivel atop his desk aimed at the guest chair, so it will be pointed at anyone who wants to speak to him, a claymore mine (front-pointed toward enemy), and Czech hedgehog
Czech hedgehog
The Czech hedgehog or ježek, was a static anti-tank obstacle defence made of angled iron deployed during World War II by various combatants....
. Despite his lack of interest in the job, Ron occasionally demonstrates he is a good manager who recognizes the abilities of his co-workers. He claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him, and that his best friend was a co-worker he knew for three years without ever learning his name. However, Ron cares more about his colleagues than he lets on and often helps them in spite of himself. Despite sharing a nearly opposite view on the role of government, Ron gets along well with deputy parks and recreation director, Leslie Knope, and the two share a strong mutual respect. Although Leslie had considered a job offer in the neighboring town of Eagleton, she stays based on advice from Ron that, no matter how many job offers she gets, Pawnee will always be her hometown. Ron has also developed a grudging, avuncular affection for April's husband, Andy Dwyer, and has even decided to give him the "Ron Swanson Scholarship" ($940) so Andy can attend one college course: Women's Studies, after Andy and April couldn't afford to pay it. In the voiceover while Ron drops Andy off for his first day of class, he recalls his own first day of college when his father dropped him off... at the steel mill. His father thought he shouldn't bother with college, but Ron hitched a ride to the school and went anyway.
Ron speaks in a very deadpan
Deadpan
Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone, solemn, blunt, disgusted or matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor...
tone of voice and seldom expresses any kind of emotion. He is an extremely masculine individual; in his entire childhood, he only cried once, when he was hit by a bus at age seven. Ron is an outdoor enthusiast
Outdoor enthusiast
An outdoor enthusiast is a person who enjoys sports and activities in nature and wilderness areas. Interests associated with outdoor enthusiasts include hiking, fishing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, climbing and camping. The term outdoorsman has also been used.U.S. president Teddy...
who loves hunting, fishing, camping and woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
. For years, Ron has used a park ranger station in the woods as a lodge for private hunting trips with his male colleagues at city hall. He describes fishing as "like yoga, except I still get to kill something". He is particularly attracted to brunettes and what he describes as "strong, self-possessed women at the top of their fields," with professional athletes Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
and Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes is an American professional basketball player who, subsequent to being waived into free agency, signed to re-join the WNBA to play with the Tulsa Shock in 2011. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA when it was created. She has won three Olympic Gold Medals and...
among his ideal women. He loves breakfast foods and red meats; among the types of food he enjoys are bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried turkey legs inside a grilled hamburger, and bacon-wrapped turkey legs, which are known in Pawnee as "The Swanson". He also drinks heavily but seldom feels the effects of alcohol or gets hung over. He is an extremely private person, going so far as to redact his birthday from government documents to keep others from holding parties for him. Ron knows almost nothing about popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
; he recognizes the name Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
only as the "toothy gal from Mystic Pizza
Mystic Pizza
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 American coming of age film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, and Lili Taylor.The title of the film was based on a pizza shop that caught the eye of Hollywood screen writer, Amy Holden Jones...
". Ron is extremely concerned with the image people have of him and once refused to seek treatment for a hernia, as he instead chose to remain immobile at his desk all day and night; until April offered to take him to the hospital.
Before the start of Parks and Recreation, Ron has two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy, which is also the name of Ron's mother. Ron despises and fears both of his ex-wives, and they are among the few individuals in the world who can break Ron's usually unwavering stoicism. Nevertheless, Ron shares an extremely passionate sexual connection with his second ex-wife; he compared having sex with her to "doing peyote and sneezing, slowly, for six hours", and added, "That woman really knows her way around a penis." Ron is so susceptible to Tammy's sexual temptations that he made a video-tape warning himself about her to play in case he ever got back together with her. Ron plays the saxophone, and secretly performs at out-of-town jazz clubs under the name Duke Silver, which he keeps secret from his colleagues in Pawnee. He wears a fedora and suit jacket while playing, fronts a band called the Duke Silver Trio, and has released such albums as Memories of Now, Smooth as Silver and Hi Ho, Duke. His music is especially popular with older women, who find Duke Silver extremely attractive.
Season one
Ron Swanson made his first appearance in the pilot episodePilot (Parks and Recreation)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series co-creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels...
of Parks and Recreation, where he repeatedly denies Leslie's requests to pursue turning a construction pit into a park because he does not believe the parks department should build parks at all. He agrees to green-light the project only when city planner Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
(Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
) secretly cashes in an unspecified favor in exchange for the approval. In a deleted scene from the episode "Canvassing
Canvassing (Parks and Recreation)
"Canvassing" is the second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 16, 2009. The episode was written by Rachel Axler and directed by Seth Gordon...
", Ron tries to leave government employment for a previously offered job at an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
flower company. However, when he finds that business is now doing extremely poorly, Ron sadly realizes he will be in his government job for a long time. In the episode "Boys' Club
Boys' Club (Parks and Recreation)
"Boys' Club" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 30, 2009. It was written by Alan Yang and directed by Michael McCullers...
", Ron attends a disciplinary hearing with Leslie after she gets in trouble when the underage April Ludgate
April Ludgate
April Roberta Ludgate is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation as Ron Swanson's assistant. She is married to Andy Dwyer. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza...
(Aubrey Plaza) is seen drinking alcohol on a video on the Pawnee website. Ron interrupts half-way through the review, defends Leslie and angrily berates the panel for aggressively questioning her. Although Ron claims he did it only due to his hatred for bureaucratic procedures, it is alluded that he really did so out of respect for Leslie.
Season two
In "Practice Date", when the parks department employees hold a contest to find who can learn the biggest secrets about each other, Ron discovers TomTom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...
's marriage to the attractive surgeon Wendy (Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson is an American actress. She was active in New York City theater throughout the early 2000s, during which she appeared in such shows as Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, A. R. Gurney's Sylvia and Simon Mendes da Costa's Losing Louis...
) is actually a green card marriage
Green card marriage
Green card marriage is a neologism that refers to the phenomenon of a marriage of convenience between a legal resident of a country and a person who would be ineligible for residency but for being married to a resident.-Description:...
. Ron promises he will keep Tom's arrangement a secret. Later, Tom discovers Ron playing the saxophone at a bar in his Duke Silver persona. Tom agrees to keep Ron's secret as well. Later in the season, when Tom's divorce with Wendy is finalized in "Tom's Divorce
Tom's Divorce
"Tom's Divorce" is the eleventh episode of the second season of American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the seventeenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on December 3, 2009. In the episode, Tom gets a divorce and Leslie tries to...
", Ron politely asks whether Tom would mind if he asked Wendy out himself, and explains, "Looking at her, I feel like she might be the perfect spooning size for me." Tom outwardly claims to be fine with it but, unbeknownst to Ron, is secretly upset because he actually harbors real romantic feelings for Wendy.
Ron's second ex-wife, Pawnee library director Tammy (Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
), appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy
Ron and Tammy
"Ron and Tammy" is the eighth episode of the second season of Parks and Recreation, and the fourteenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 5, 2009. In the episode, the library department tries to take control of a vacant lot where Leslie plans...
", where Tammy tricks Leslie into arranging a reunion meeting with Ron under the guise of wishing to work out her differences with him. In fact, Tammy schemed to get Ron to give her the rights to land Leslie plans to turn into a park, so Tammy can build a library branch there instead. During their meeting, Ron and Tammy start loudly arguing, but eventually have passionate sex and get back together. Unable to resist Tammy's charms, Ron asks Leslie to break up with Tammy for him. When Leslie stands up to Tammy in Ron's defense, he is moved by what he describes as the first time any woman has put his needs before her own, and it gives him the strength to finally break up with Tammy.
In "Hunting Trip
Hunting Trip
"Hunting Trip" is the tenth episode of the second season of American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the sixteenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 19, 2009...
", Leslie insists that Ron take her and the other female parks department employees on one of his private hunting expeditions at the park ranger cabin. Ron begrudgingly agrees, but is frustrated to learn that Leslie is in fact an excellent hunter who overshadows his own abilities. During this trip, Ron is shot in the back of a head by a stray bullet and, although it is not fatal, he becomes hallucinatory and furious after taking multiple painkillers. He initially accuses Leslie of shooting him based on her desire to prove herself, but later learns Tom was at fault and that Leslie took the blame to keep Tom from being arrested for hunting without a license. Ron is strongly impressed that Leslie defended Tom this way.
In "The Set Up
The Set Up (Parks and Recreation)
"The Set Up" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the nineteenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 14, 2010...
", a new city-wide effort is implemented to make government officials more accessible to Pawnee residents, an idea which Ron condemns as "my hell". As a result, he seeks to hire an assistant who will shield him from the public and allow him to continue doing nothing. After interviewing several candidates, he chooses April Ludgate, convinced her constant apathy and negative attitude will suit him perfectly. Their relationship proves very harmonious until the episode "94 Meetings
94 Meetings
94 Meetings is the 21st episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 27th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 29, 2010. In the episode, Ron is forced to handle 94 meetings in a single day due...
", when April accidentally schedules nearly 100 meetings on a single day. April previously kept people who wanted to meet with Ron away by scheduling them for a meeting on March 31, a date she wrongly believed was nonexistent. When March 31 actually comes around, Ron has to enroll help from others in the park department to handle the meetings. He becomes so furious with April that she quits, but Ron later apologizes and hires her back.
In "The Master Plan
The Master Plan (Parks and Recreation)
The Master Plan is the 23rd and penultimate episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 29th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 13, 2010...
", state auditors Chris Traeger
Chris Traeger
Christopher "Chris" Traeger is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. He began on the show as an Indiana state auditor who visits the fictional city of Pawnee to help solve their crippling budget problems, and eventually...
(Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
) and Ben Wyatt
Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation)
Benjamin "Ben" Wyatt is a character in the TV series Parks and Recreation. The character guest starred in two episodes of season two and was upgraded to a regular in season three. Ben is a state auditor who comes into Pawnee with Chris Traeger to evaluate the town's funds at the end of the second...
(Adam Scott
Adam Scott (actor)
Adam Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Henry Pollard in the Starz comedy series Party Down and as Ben Wyatt in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation....
) arrive in Pawnee and announce that due to the city's crippling budget problems, they have to slash each department budget by up to 50 percent and briefly shut down the government completely. While Leslie is horrified, the anti-government Ron is delighted by the idea, becoming so giddy that he asks the auditors what cuts they will be making and if he can be allowed to "watch while eating pork cracklin's." In the season finale, "Freddy Spaghetti
Freddy Spaghetti
"Freddy Spaghetti" is the second season finale of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 30th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 20, 2010...
", Ron is assigned to a committee tasked with identifying budget cuts, a job which he enjoys thoroughly. However, when Ben and Chris reveal they are considering firing Leslie, Ron passionately defends her and insists they should fire him instead. During the final scene of the episode and season, Tom spots Ron and Wendy together in city hall and realizes with horror that they are now dating.
Season three
The third season opens with Ron seen begrudgingly returning to his city hall job after the Pawnee government has been shut down for three months. Ron starts to become a father figureFather Figure
"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Columbia Records in 1988 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
of sorts to April and Andy
Andy Dwyer
Andrew Maxwell "Andy" Dwyer is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is Ann Perkins' ex-boyfriend, a talented-if-yet-unsuccessful musician, a shoe-shiner at Pawnee City Hall, and April Ludgate's husband. He is portrayed by Chris Pratt.-Background:At the start of the...
(Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt
Christopher Michael "Chris" Pratt is an American actor, best known for his roles as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott in the television series Everwood, the recurring character Winchester "Ché" Cook in season 4 of The OC, Andy Dwyer in the television series Parks and Recreation and for portraying...
) during the third season, despite his insistence that "I'm not interested in caring about people." When April is hospitalized with influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
in "Flu Season
Flu Season (Parks and Recreation)
"Flu Season" is the second episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 32nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 27, 2011...
", she starts to explain her relationship problems with Andy, but Ron insists he does not want to know about her private affairs. However, after Ron hires Andy to be her temporary replacement, the two spend the day bonding and Ron, against his better judgment, tells Andy that April is in the hospital and that he should visit her. Later in the season, in "Media Blitz
Media Blitz
"Media Blitz" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 35th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 17, 2011...
", Ron gets even further involved by chastising April for leading Andy on, and urges her to either forgive Andy or move on. His advice ultimately helps April decide to forgive Andy.
Ron finds himself very happy in his relationship with Wendy, although it creates tension between he and Tom. This tension culminates in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two
Ron & Tammy: Part Two
"Ron & Tammy: Part Two" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 34th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 10, 2011...
", when Tom brings Tammy to a party as his date simply to aggravate Ron. This occurs, however, the same day that Wendy and Ron break up, after she decides she must move back to Canada to care for her ailing parents. Ron and Tammy end up having a wild night of drinking and sex, in which Ron gets cornrows, he and Tammy get re-married and the two end up in jail. The parks department employees hold an intervention to try to convince Ron to leave Tammy, but their efforts are unsuccessful. After Tom reveals that Tammy only went to the party with him to make Ron miserable, Tammy brutally beats up Tom. This makes Ron remember how horrible Tammy is and he leaves her, thus ending their marriage for a second time, and Ron and Tom later reconcile.
Shortly after Leslie successfully relaunches the Pawnee harvest festival, she struggles to find any new ideas for future parks project. She becomes so stressed that Ron, in the episode "Camping
Camping (Parks and Recreation)
"Camping" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 38th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 24, 2011...
", locks her in a room and refuses to let her out until she gets some sleep. She awakens the next day refreshed and full of ideas. Ron attends Andy and April's wedding in "Andy and April's Fancy Party
Andy and April's Fancy Party
"Andy and April's Fancy Party" is the ninth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 39th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 14, 2011...
", where he has the first dance
First dance
The first dance is an element in a number of traditions, being an opening of a certain dance function: ball, prom, etc.-Balls:In the context of balls, the term "first dance" has two meanings....
with April. When Leslie grows concerned they are rushing into their marriage, Ron insists it is not her place to say what works for them, and offers the advice: "Who's to say what works? You find somebody you like, and you roll the dice." In "Eagleton
Eagleton (Parks and Recreation)
"Eagleton" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 42nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 5, 2011...
", Leslie discovers Ron's birthday, which he previously kept secret, and he fearfully suspects Leslie is planning an extravagant party for him. However, her surprise party for Ron is instead a quiet, private one more appropriate for Ron's personality: an evening alone with a steak, scotch and copies of his favorite movies.
When city manager Chris Traeger tries to remove red meat
Red meat
Red meat in traditional culinary terminology is meat which is red when raw and not white when cooked. In the nutritional sciences, red meat includes all mammal meat. Red meat includes the meat of most adult mammals and some fowl ....
from the city hall cafeteria as part of a government-wide health initiative in "Soulmates
Soulmates (Parks and Recreation)
"Soulmates" is the tenth episode of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreations third season, and the 40th overall episode of the series. In the episode, Leslie is disappointed when Ben rejects her romantic advances, and is surprised when she is matched with Tom in an online dating...
", Ron intervenes by challenging Chris to a cook-off. Chris agrees to abandon his plan if Ron's regular hamburgers are deemed better than his lean meat turkey burgers. Although Ron exerts little effort compared to Chris, his burgers easily win the contest. In "Road Trip
Road Trip (Parks and Recreation)
"Road Trip" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 44th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 12, 2011...
", Ron reluctantly agrees to be interviewed by a young girl for her school assignment, during which he explains his libertarian beliefs about small government, and illustrates the concept of taxes by eating 40 percent of her lunch. The two bond, and he ends the day by giving her a claymore landmine as a gift. Ron gets in trouble the next day when the girl's mother explains her daughter's assignment was "Why Government Matters", and that Lauren simply wrote "It doesn't."
Ron learns in the third season finale, "Li'l Sebastian
Li'l Sebastian
"Li'l Sebastian" is the sixteenth episode and season finale of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 46th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 19, 2011...
", that Leslie and Ben are secretly having an affair despite Chris' ban on workplace romances, and he warns them they are risking a political scandal that could cost them their jobs. Later, at the funeral of Pawnee's celebrity miniature horse
Miniature horse
Miniature horses are found in many nations, particularly in Europe and the Americas. The designation of miniature horse is determined by the height of the animal, which, depending on the particular breed registry involved, is usually less than as measured at the last hairs of the mane, which are...
Li'l Sebastian, Ron is nearly killed as a result of Leslie and Ben's affair. When their efforts to hide their relationship accidentally cause Li'l Sebastian's eternal flame
Eternal flame
An eternal flame is a flame or torch that burns day and night for an indefinite period. The flame that burned constantly at Delphi was an archaic feature, "alien to the ordinary Greek temple"....
to be filled with lighter fluid instead of propane, Ron creates a massive fireball when he lights it, which burns off his eyebrows and part of his mustache. The season ends as a horrified Ron learns that his first ex-wife, Tammy, has arrived to see him; the news is enough to make his second ex-wife, also named Tammy, run away in horror.
Development
Ron Swanson was created by Parks and Recreation creators Greg DanielsGreg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
and Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
, although Nick Offerman himself had some input into the character's creation. The character's traits were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official that Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
encountered in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
while researching for the show, who favored as little government interference as possible and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job. ... I'm aware of the irony." Ron is also partially inspired by political appointees of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
who were perceived to be opposed to the branch of government they were overseeing. Ron's signature mustache was one of the first ideas conceived for the character. Offerman said the deadpan style of humor he uses for Ron Swanson was cultivated during his youth, when he was an altar boy
Altar server
An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian religious service. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell and so on....
: "I would read things with the utmost sincerity, and my cousin would be cracking up because he knew I was full of shit."
Many aspects of Ron's character are based on those of Nick Offerman in real life, such as his woodworking abilities; Offerman runs an independent carpentry business called Offerman Woodshop. Offerman also plays saxophone in real life, just as Ron does, although the Parks and Recreation writers did not know this when they wrote this element of his character. Offerman's real-life training in stage combat
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
and Kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
dance were the partial inspiration for self-defense classes Ron offered his parks department colleagues in "Park Safety
Park Safety
"Park Safety" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 25th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 18, 2010...
". Ron's second ex-wife Tammy, who first appeared in the episode "Ron and Tammy", was played by comedienne and actress Megan Mullally, Offerman's real-life wife. The idea of Ron hating his ex-wife Tammy was established early in the creation of the character, and it was Schur who conceived the idea of casting Mullally, which Offerman was extremely responsive to the idea.
Ron became more heavily involved in Parks and Recreation storylines during the second season, and Offerman largely credited Schur with the development of the character. Schur has described Offerman as a "once-in-a-generation comedic performer", and "our cast MVP
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
, and in many ways our cast leader". He compared Ron to a "19th-century rugged individualist", and said of creating the character, "A lot of the credit has to go to Nick Offerman. In real life, he's an incredibly interesting guy, and at the very least, it's much easier to play an interesting guy when you're an interesting guy." Offerman said his own sense of humor fuels much of the character, along with those of Schur, Greg Daniels and the writing staff; he added: "I never dreamed that I could prosper with my perverse sense of humor on a network show." Schur said the writers like writing for Ron because "he's a great mix of a superhero, and also a deeply flawed, and very human and vulnerable person".
Reviews
Ron Swanson has received very positive reviews from critics; he has developed a cult followingCult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
and is widely considered the show's breakout character
Breakout character
A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...
. Joel Keller of TV Squad called Ron "one of the more inspired sitcom characters of the last decade", and Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
writer Joel Keller called him one of the best sitcom characters since Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. Gabriel Perna of International Business Times wrote, "Offerman's Ron Swanson is one of the main reasons to watch, Parks and Recreation. Considering how funny the show is and the scope of its cast; that says a lot." Likewise, Gail Pennington, television critic with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
, called Nick Offerman "the funniest guy on TV", and, TV Fanatic writer Eric Hochberger said, "There's certain character I watch this show for: Ron Swanson." Jonah Weiner of Slate.com said Ron "has regularly stolen his scenes" and that Offerman has "a gift for understated physical comedy", and Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
said Offerman was not only funny, but capable of expressing a surprising range of emotions.
During the second season, HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
writer Alan Sepinwall called Ron "easily the show's best creation so far", and during the third season he wrote, "Ron being both awesome and hilarious is something Nick Offerman and these writers can do in their sleep by now". Sal Basile of UGO Networks wrote, "How anyone can make Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation likable is beyond us, but Offerman does it effortlessly. Before we knew it we couldn't wait to see Swanson's reactions to the slightest of problems." Matt Fowler of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
was critical of Ron at the start of the show, and called him "a bit of the dud (who) offers little to the show, and almost just stand to sour the whole thing." However, by the second season, Fowler said the character had improved and became "an absolute stand-out in the series". Several reviewers have praised the platonic relationship between Ron and Leslie, which has been compared to that of Mary Richards
Mary Richards
Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the main character of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.-Family:Mary Richards, born in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the daughter of Walter and Dottie Richards...
and Lou Grant
Lou Grant
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Edward Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was Mary Tyler Moore , in which the character was the news director at the fictional television station WJM-TV...
in The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
.
The second season episode "Ron and Tammy", which predominantly featured Ron and his second ex-wife, is widely considered one of the best Parks and Recreation episodes. Offerman was particularly praised for his subtle minimalism and facial expressions, particularly the use of his eyebrows. Based on a line from "The Stakeout
The Stakeout (Parks and Recreation)
"The Stakeout" is the second episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the eighth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 24, 2009...
", when Ron says, "I was born ready. I'm Ron fucking Swanson", he is often referred by reviewers and fans as "Ron Fucking Swanson". The term "Ron Swanson" and the misspelling "Rob Swanson" were so commonly discussed on the social-networking website Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired that they were listed among the site's trending topic
Trending topic
A trending topic is a word, phrase or topic that is posted multiple times on the social networking and microblogging service Twitter. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic...
s, which are indicative of being the most popular topics being discussed on Twitter at a given moment. Fans created websites based on him like "Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson", and after Ron misunderstood a turkey burger to be "a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger", the cooking website Eater.com created and posted a recipe for that exact food. An image of a fake flavor of Ron Swanson-themed Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United...
ice cream, called "All of the Bacon & Eggs You Have", was designed and circulated on the Internet. The Ben & Jerry's corporation responded positively to the image, and said in a statement, "Ron's beliefs are in accordance with those of Ben & Jerry's – where two scoops of government can help the less fortunate and truly be a servant to the community and its citizens."
Awards
In 2010, Nick Offerman received a Television Critics Association AwardTCA Awards
The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television excellence. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer.-Categories:...
nomination for Individual Achievement in Comedy for his performance as Ron Swanson, although the award was ultimately given to Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch is an American comedian, actress and singer. She gained fame in Christopher Guest's improv mockumentary pictures such as Best in Show and is currently best known for playing the role of Sue Sylvester in the television series Glee...
for her performance in the musical comedy-drama Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. Also that year, Nick Offerman received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Despite critical success, Offerman has never received a Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
nomination for this role. Several reviewers expressed particular surprise that he did not receive a nomination for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
in 2011, which many considered the biggest snub of the season. Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
in particular was outraged by Offerman's snub, and said it was "a hot load of bullshit that [Offerman] didn't get nominated." Multiple other actors, including Michelle Forbes
Michelle Forbes
Michelle Renee Forbes Guajardo , known professionally as Michelle Forbes, is an American actress who has built a career of work in television and independent film and has acted in productions in both the United States and in the United Kingdom...
and Ty Burrell
Ty Burrell
- External links :*...
(the latter of which received a nomination in, and eventually won, the category Offerman was competing in) stated that they believed Offerman should have been nominated, and Burrell added that Offerman deserved the nomination more than he.
External links
- Nick Offerman biography at official Parks and Recreation site at NBC.comNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
- DukeSilver.com