American Ham

A comedy special by Nick Offerman

Two summers ago, my family and I took a cruise around Canada and New England that ended in Boston, a place my parents hadn’t been since before I was born and a place where we decided to stay for a few days before heading home. In Boston, during one of the many times we walked past the Wilbur Theatre (I believe it was), I noticed a poster for an upcoming performance by Nick Offerman, along his “American Ham” tour. Having recently gotten into Parks and Rec and, logically, fallen in love with Offerman’s character of Ron Swanson, the ad caught my eye and I remember wondering what Mr. Swanson doing stand-up would be like. Welp, just today I got my chance.

It really was kind of an accident. I hopped on Netflix to watch something with breakfast, The Office more than likely, and happened to notice Offerman’s American Ham special, which was released (as a Netflix Original) just yesterday, being promoted along that top banner. Having suddenly remembered that otherwise-insignificant moment of my Boston experience, I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

And let me tell you, I was anything but disappointed.

The first thing that struck me about the special was how genuine Offeran seems. He kicks it off like a wonderful goof, emerging on stage shirtless, making good on the advertised “minor nudity” in the show. However, not five minutes in he’s taking applause breaks for his ridiculously effective parents and his hilarious wife, all three of whom he very obviously, and endlessly, appreciates. It is from these two declarations of both respect and gratitude that he turns to the meat of the show.

The full title of the special is American Ham: 10 Tips for a Prosperous Life and the entirety of the show (aside from its short preface obviously) is structured around these 10 lessons. These tips, ranging from things like “Engage in Romantic Love” and “Say Please and Thank You” to “Eat Red Meat” and “Use (or more Continue to Use) Intoxicants,” not only provide a unique and intelligent frame for the special, but they are also quite simply freaking genius. As he works through each section, Offerman uses humor to detail real world lessons and advice that he, coming from a place of happiness and contentment with life, truly seems to be sharing in hopes to help better his audience.

Further, it’s the way he goes about this that most hooked me to the stand-up. For starters, the whole thing is intelligent as hell. From his ridiculous vocabulary to the variety and quality of his references, Offerman is no dummy, and he doesn’t treat the audience like they’re any different. Hell, he even throws out a quote or two (“I am a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it” from Tom Jefferson for instance). Unlike many of his contemporaries, who often cater to the simpler and more indulgent side of humanity, Nick shows no hesitation in standing up for hard work, all the while backing it up with comically indisputable logic.

He then breaks this up with moments of satire and parody that effectively illustrates his points without having to make painfully obvious its message. This is not a man making an ass of himself to pull laughter out of an audience beneath him, but rather one using jokes (and the occasional song) to pass along legitimate wisdom, one adult to another.

In keeping with this mentality, the stand-up often dives into some serious topics, an often fatal mistake by many comics. In this case, however, Offerman masterfully cuts these real-world discussions with the ridiculous. Namely, his use of vulgarity may turn off many of his more conservative, Parks and Rec-based fans, but it is used in such a way that it prevents any moment of his show from getting too heavy. It provides his audience a multitude of thought- provoking concepts while also never failing to entertain (I would liken him to a blue-collar Louie CK in this regard).

American Ham is a stand-up in which every joke and every story, no matter how outlandish, has a moral. It is a great example of someone trying to effect social change through their art without losing the integrity of it; proof, I believe, that someone can be a good person, but also still be cool. As comedy continues its love affair with the American (and global for that matter) public, comedians are every year falling more and more into the generic formulas the greats of yesterday created and it is so comforting (to me at least) when a stand-up special like this comes around. It’s like nothing else out right now and I can only hope it spreads through the internet like wildfire.

As for Offerman, he recently released a memoir along many of the same lines as this special entitled Paddle Your Own Canoe, which I will most assuredly will have by New Year’s (whether it’s a Christmas gift from my family or myself). In the meantime, American Ham. Spread the word; maybe we can all learn a thing or two. Wouldn’t hurt at least right?