-My first guest tonight is a very funny
and talented actor. He voices one of the characters
in the new animated series "The Great North,"
which you can see Sundays at 8:30 p.m., on Fox.
Here's Nick Offerman, ladies and gentlemen.
Ah, it is great to see you, buddy.
-Nick -- -Hello. The, uh --
Hang on. Let's let the applause die down.
All right. Go ahead, Jimmy. -We can put it in post.
Nick, it's good to see you. Last time we talked on our show,
you were on the set of "Making it,"
your reality show, which will be back on NBC in June.
And since then, you've also filmed this series for Netflix
with Ava DuVernay. You're a busy, busy, man.
How does it feel to be working back on shows again?
-It's incredible. But here's the thing.
You know, we've been in this pandemic for a year,
and we're all sort of locked down
and sequestered in our homes.
And so to get to go to work and shoot, you know,
an eight-episode season of something
and look at a crew of 200 people,
all wearing masks and face shields
and getting tested every day, which allows us to work
and for, you know, a couple of months at a time
and get this work done and pay our rent and feed our families,
I just am filled with such gratitude toward the people
that are behaving like grown-ups and saying, "Okay.
This is, like -- This is an inconvenience.
e have to wear this stuff."
But if we do, we can go to our jobs, and we can be safe
and we can, you know, help stop the spread of this virus.
-I totally agree. And it's -- it's actually --
it's amazing -- everyone here, as well.
But it's all for entertainment, too, and to entertain people
while we're going through this stuff.
So, yeah, props to everyone who puts the work in
for any of this entertainment.
I wanted to ask you this question.
I was going to e-mail you,
but I think you must've changed your e-mail
or you've never given it to me. But a few months ago,
it was announced that break dancing
would become an Olympic sport in 2024.
We've talked about this on the show before.
You used to be a break dancer.
What did you think when you saw this?
Well, I mean, as, you know, an activist --
I don't think it's too strong of a word --
my whole life has been devoted to seeing this happen, you know,
to seeing break dancing recognized
as an international sport, a world-class sport.
Break dancers are clearly the greatest athletes on the planet.
And so to see my work pay off, the work of me and my cousin,
Tick Tock and Flip Flop, to see everything that --
-Tick Tock and -- which one was Tick Tock and who was Flip Flop?
-Hilarious, as if you don't know.
My cousin was amazing at doing flips,
so he was Flip Flop, and I was the popper and locker,
so I was Tick Tock.
And, you know, I mean, that's -- that was --
that was what the decades of our youth were all about,
seeing break dancing become an Olympic event.
So this is a big day in my house.
And now we can, you know -- now we can focus on
on other world problems --
hunger and clean water and stuff.
Did you -- Did you break dance --
Did you ever compete?
-[ Scoffs ] Did I ever...
-That was the funniest joke you laughed at
out of all of my jokes? -Yeah, I --
I did compete, Jimmy,
at the Shannahan Skating Rink. Two times we competed,
and one of the times, we got third place.
So, yeah, you could say, you know,
that I'm a lauded break dancer.
I'm a decorated break dancer.
-Wow, that's unbelievable.
I want to talk to you about "The Great North."
This is from the creators of "Bob's Burgers,"
and they chose the right man for the role.
I do love your voice. There's a character named Beef
who doesn't necessarily look like you,
but he also does not not look like you.
But here's a photo of Beef.
-I feel it. -Yeah.
How much input did you have in creating this character?
-Well, no -- Zero direct input,
but I've known the creators for a long time.
-Oh, there you go. -Wendy and --
Wendy and Lizzie Molyneaux are two sisters.
That write for "Bob's Burgers."
And Wendy's husband, Jeff Drake, is also very funny.
And Megan actually met them.
You probably met them and didn't know it a long time ago.
They used to write promos for NBC.
And so Megan met them, and she had a talk show
on NBC a while ago. -Yep.
-And so she hired them to write on her talk show.
And we all started screwing around together.
And -- And so...
You know, by that, you can deduce that Megan and I
are responsible for "Bob's Burgers"
and "The Simpsons" and really all of Fox Animation.
You can trace it back to us. -Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] -The character Beef
is the captain of a fishing boat in Alaska.
It's very, very funny.
Do you fish? I'm assuming you fish.
Have you ever been chased by wild dogs while fishing?
-I never have. There is a lot of wildlife.
We go to Minnesota every summer, and --
-Timberwolves?
-They're probably --
There are timberwolves and coyotes around,
but they know better than to mess with my family.
My sisters are very intimidating.
One is a librarian and one is a schoolteacher.
And especially when I go to the national parks
where there's bears, I bring my sisters, and those --
You know, we've seen bears approaching from a distance,
and they're like, "The Offerman girls?
No, thank you, sir," and they run the other way.
"The Great North" is picked up for a second season.
Congratulations on that.
I want to show everyone a clip. Here's the very funny
Nick Offerman in "The Great North."
Take a look at this.
-Whoa! -Dad, you could've died!
Or ripped the banner. -What's all this about?
-Brian called last night.
He's coming up from Anchorage for the weekend
to have dinner with a client. -Uncle Brian's coming? Sick!
-It is very sick.
And I want everything to be perfect.
It's been a full year since he moved to that urban hellhole
to launch his hot-tub business.
Poor guy. I'm sure he can't wait to hang out with me
and do all our old favorite activities, like fishing
and then talking about how fishing went.
-Nick Offerman, everybody. "The Great North" airs Sundays
at 8:30 p.m., on Fox. There he is, the creator
of all of Fox Animation, Nick Offerman.