If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if a rugged Midwestern carpenter turned icon of small-screen bureaucracy decided to pick up a saw, a guitar, and a microphone all at once—well, friend, you’re about to find out. Because the quietly formidable Nick Offerman is bringing his new Big Woodchuck Tour to Albany’s Palace Theater on April 11, and if the rumors are right, it’s going to be the most charmingly overbuilt evening you’ll spend this spring.
Offerman isn’t new to the spotlight—far from it. He first slugged his way through the trenches of Chicago theater, building sets and even choreographing fights, all while learning the carpentry skills that would later define half his public persona. Then came the surge of stardom—not of the type that flashes in tabloids, but the slow-burn kind that earns you immortality in reruns. As the deadpan, mustachioed icon of libertarian stoicism Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation,” Offerman was the secret weapon of the show.
But Offerman is never content to just rake in praise for one masterpiece. When the last slate line had dried on Pawnee, he shifted—as quietly but firmly as Ron cutting fresh lumber—into a broader career that included theatre, indie films, voice work, books, and carpentry. He runs his own woodshop in Los Angeles and has authored several books celebrating sawdust, self-reliance, and the rough-and-ready virtues he seems quietly determined to instill in us all.
Which brings us to “Big Woodchuck.” Promoted as “An Evening of Comedy with Woodworking and Bookish Mirth,” the show promises what Offerman fans—and anyone with two hands and a hammer—might expect: storytelling, deadpan wit, maybe a song or two, and the occasional demonstration of manual competence. It’s the next logical iteration of a career that has always straddled the worlds of folksy authenticity and polished showmanship.
Think of it less as a night out and more as a communal workshop slash stand-up special—where the sawdust is optional, but the laughs (and maybe a little existential clarity about why we keep building things with our hands) are practically guaranteed.
Tickets go on sale Friday, December 12 at 10am.
