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Fine Woodworking on a prime time sitcom!

Asa Christiana, editor, Fine Woodworking magazine

13 users recommend

Parks & Recreation airs on NBC on Thursday nights at 9:30, right after The Office.

NBC

In this week's episode, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman, the guy with the big mustache) gets a woodworking award at a fictional conference. That's part of my head right behind Nick's.

The show invited real tool companies to set up booths at the event.

I snapped some iPhone pics on the sly, and the crew played along.

They improvised a little scene where Ron Swanson get a woodworking lesson from his hero, Christian Becksvoort.

Here are two celebrities who were nice enough to pose with Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler.

Parks & Recreation airs on NBC on Thursday nights at 9:30, right after The Office.

Photo: NBC

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As some of you know, Nick Offerman, star of the NBC comedy Parks &Recreation, is a woodworker both on and off the show. His character, Ron Swanson, makes regular references to the craft, the more obscure and wacky the better. This Thursday night (Dec. 6) at 9:30 on NBC, in an episode titled "Ron and Diane," woodworking grabs even more of the limelight, as Ron receives an award from the fictional Indiana Fine Woodworkers Association.

What's more, Nick convinced the show's producers to have a few of his FWW friends actually appear on the episode!

So a month or so ago, Chris Becksvoort (here is his report) and I flew out to Los Angeles and checked into the hotel where our scenes were going to be filmed. Parks & Rec had rented out the hotel's conference facilities to set up big fake woodworking event, complete with 150 extras to play attendees, and many of FWW's real advertisers, like Bosch, Lee Valley, Lie-Nielsen, and SawStop, who brought their booths and normal show gear, plus a few of their actual staff, too, to appear on the show!

It was a blast, watching the actors do their thing, nervously performing the two short "bits" written for us, and being invited to walk through the background of other scenes, too. No one knows what will end up in the final edit ("Welcome to my world," Nick says), but they filmed moments with Chris and me both. I can't say too much, but we played ourselves (sort of), and you'll probably hear our names at least. In fact, the writers ended up improvising a speaking part for Chris, where Ron gets to interact with his woodworking idol. It was hilarious! If they don't use it, it should at least appear in the deleted scenes that NBC posts online.

So tune in to NBC on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 9:30 to watch woodworking get a rare spotlight on prime time. I'll try to remember all the little people who helped me along the way...

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Shop Talk Live 20: Fine Woodworking on Primetime TV

Comments (5)

wleingang writes: My favorite show on TV, flipped it on the other night and much to my surprise what did I see?!

My wife didn't understand my giddiness as I tried explaining "That's the real Chris Becksvoort!!!" and then "That's the real Asa Christiana!!!" So funny when you got up and left the awards.

So even a casual woodworker like myself appreciated the effort. I think it bumped up my love of FWW and Parks and Recreation even more.
Posted: 7:34 pm on December 10th

zcarzach writes: It was really funny! I especially liked when Asa stormed off after losing to Ron, and the slideshow of the recently-passed woodworkers with the coffins they made for themselves. Nicely done!
Posted: 9:16 am on December 7th

cahudson42 writes: Asa's musical:

'Woodworkers of 1933'

Now to appreciate that you need to watch 'Gold Diggers of 1933' with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell.

Asa reprises Powell - except rather than acting/singing/composing/playing piano - is woodworking.

Matt reprises Ruby.
Posted: 5:36 am on December 5th

Wixom writes: Now, Asa, when they give you a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, make sure it's made out of wood, preferably an outdoor wood, like mahogany. You might want to start writing you acceptance speech now so you don't have to wing it on stage. By the way, I got my DVR set, too.
Posted: 7:55 pm on December 4th

MKWerman writes: OK - the DVR is set.

Posted: 5:46 pm on December 4th

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