When Nick Offerman is planning a book tour, there’s something in particular the actor and writer wants in potential cities he may swing through.
“We look at how friendly the menus are from the book stores and what meat products are made available from nearby grass-fed butchers and we go from there,” Offerman said in a phone interview with The Des Moines Register on Oct. 8. “It’s all about the burger.”
Whether the dry sense of humor star was serious or not, it doesn’t really matter. Des Moines made the cut.
Beaverdale Books will host an event to celebrate Offerman’s newest book “Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery” on Oct. 14.
Nick Offerman is coming to Des Moines in October 2025 to celebrate his new book, “Little Woodchucks.”
It’ll take place at the Franklin Event Center, 4801 Franklin Ave. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the event starts at 6:30 p.m. Admission starts at $40 and includes a pre-signed book. The appearance in Des Moines is a chance for Offerman to pitch his book and … grab some food?
“What am I not looking forward to eating,” Offerman said when asked about what he may dine on. “Across the Midwest now, these days, there are such incredible grass-fed options available. So, it’s going to be an embarrassment of beef.”
Offerman, an Emmy-winning actor and New York Times bestselling author, spoke with The Register about his upcoming trip to Iowa, his new book and the many similarities he shares with his role of Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation.” Here’s what he had to say.
DMR: Have you ever been to Des Moines?
Offerman: “I have, yeah. I grew up in a little town in Illinois called Minooka and we have our own exit on [Interstate] 80. So, if you hit the Quad Cities and you want to take the party up to the next level, you keep heading west.”
DMR: Do you have any fun stories of being in Des Moines?
Offerman: “My family raises corn and soybeans and so when I think of Iowa, I sort of think of a charismatic agricultural state, which made it a pleasant surprise to get to Des Moines. I’ve played at shows in Ames and learn about what a wonderful and intelligent and creative literary tradition is to be found there. I’m a sucker for a Midwestern town with a bookstore. So, my favorite memories are just communing with the audiences there. When you can drop a five-dollar adverb and get a laugh from at least seven people, that’s my kind of town.”
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DMR: What inspired you to do this book?
Offerman: “It’s my sixth book and it’s ostensibly how to make things out of wood, with for kids, but really, it’s for woodchucks of all sizes. It’s secretly a screed we’re teaching the kid in all of us to make things in our lives. Now, my specialty is making things out of wood, but I really want everybody to hang on to that incredible human power to problem solve and fix things and make things in our world rather than rely on corporations and apps and AI and robots to make decisions for us. Because the more we do that, I think the softer we come as a society and so the skillset that I have, with what I have on offer, this made the most sense. The book is really fun. The writing is really funny. And it’s designed with sort of a piratical propaganda where parents have to read the instructions to their kids and secretly the instructions are supposed to make parents think about their life choices.”
DMR: When you’re in Des Moines, are you going to show kids how to make things?
Offerman: It’s a really fun show. I’ve got some video. I’ve got a cartoon. I have a funny slideshow. So, I’m going to do some things on the guitar and on a ukulele that I made and then my co-author Lee [Buchanan] is actually going to be with me. She’ll be on stage. We’ll read a little bit from the book and then one of the projects is an actual slapstick, which, a lot of people don’t realize, is an actual implement used for theatre. It looks like a paddle, but it makes a slapping sound. So, it’s really fun to do fake fighting with. So, she’s actually going to build a slapstick on stage while I try and entertain the crowd with some of my songs. So, there’s a little bit of everything. It’s going to be a lot of fun for the whole family.”
DMR: You talk about your love of meat, woodworking, doing things on your own and making music. How are you actually Ron Swanson?
Offerman: “I’m a clumsy, complicated human being. So, I’m not written nearly as cleverly as Ron Swanson, who is the concoction of a much more brilliant writer than myself. So, we share a lot of attributes, but I live in the real world and he lived in a television comedy. So, I think he’s a lot more fun because he’s a character in a story and storytelling, and I’m a complicated human being, which can get a lot more boring.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Nick Offerman’s book tour highlight? Local meat in places like Iowa