If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Ron Swanson, ladies and gentlemen.
Ever since 30 Rock and The Office jumped the shark 3 years ago, the funniest show on television has been Parks and Recreation. The show's greatest character is, by far, Ron Swanson. Since he is the greatest character on the funniest show on television, he's almost certainly the best comedic character on TV at the moment.
Ron is the head of the Parks and Rec. department in Pawnee, Indiana and Amy Poehler is his deputy director. The show has various progressive veins running through it in the same ways the Office and (more obviously) 30 Rock do ... they are on NBC after all. The main exception to this progressive leaning is Ron's character. Ron is a libertarian. He's a stated libertarian that often rants against big government. He invests in gold, is a gun owner, hates the UN, mocks hippies at health food stores, believes in freedom of religion, laughs at Canada, refuses to hire an assistant because it saves the taxpayers' money, and, when he finally does hire people, he makes sure that they are inept at their job so as to not increase the power of government. On Ron's desk sits a sawed off shotgun so that whenever people come to ask him for more government assistance, they have to stare down the barrel.
Ron also has a certain air of masculinity about him. He loves meat, demands "all the bacon and eggs a restaurant has," doesn't spend money on clothes, has a mustache, hunts, works with wood, pulls his teeth out with pliers, shops at "food and stuff" - a store equidistant from his home and employment, and can drink whiskey like no one's business.
Ron's philosophy of life can be summed up in his pyramid of greatness.
A couple months back, Ricochet member Thirsty Artist and I had a beer at a small Midwestern brewery. He remarked that the producers of Parks and Rec. probably intended Ron to be a parody and to use that parody to mock people who believe in small government and liberty. When Ron turned out to be the best character on the show, it probably both shocked and appalled them because people love a character that they are supposed to be laughing at. The audience should be laughing at Ron because he's absurd, not because he's awesome, of course!
The producers of the show probably intended Ron to be a parody in the same way that the masculine characters of Mad Men were supposed to be a parody of masculinity. As it turns out though, people are attracted to some of the more masculine aspects of Mad Men and of Ron Swanson, despite the producers' attempts at making them seem ridiculous. Television audiences have been robbed of almost all masculinity in popular shows since the late 80's so seeing a masculine character is both nuanced and attractive.
The producers of Parks and Rec shouldn't have been surprised at Ron's success because no great character - be he in a novel, film, or show - is a relativist and therefore not a progressive. People may say that they love relativism, but when the chips are down, or even when they have to choose to devote their time to something, they run from relativists. To a relativist progressive, it doesn't matter if Darth Vader was really evil, he was just the product of a Tatooine culture - the product of a single parent home living in poverty in a moisture farming region. Good, evil, these are just judgements after all, not realities - so stop being so dang judgmental, man. Relativism makes for lousy storytelling and no good character is a relativist.
Ron Swanson shrugs the pathetic relativist view of reality. He stands for something and that appeals to people. He's brilliantly played by Nick Offerman, a fellow University of Illinois grad. He's delightful and just plain hilarious.
The funniest character on TV is a libertarian -- see, so take that Emily/Diane/everyone else -- small government lovers are funny.
Check out Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation some time. Try not to vomit when Amy Poehler's character comments on her love of Joe Biden.
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Who, in your house, constitutes the government? I know how things work where I live.
Apr '12
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Illiniguy
Who, in your house, constitutes the government? I know how things work where I live. · 6 hours ago
Yeah, my wife's pretty small. I guess that makes me a small government lover.
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
I truly love this post. And I love Ron Swanson too.
The one thing I don't understand is the "take that Diane" at the end. Were you referring to this? (Just to clarify, I thought that Alf Lamont's thesis was imbecilic.)
Mar '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
From the clip links, he sure seems like an over the top parody meant to mock. They're laughing at you, folks, not with you.
Nov '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Douglas
From the clip links, he sure seems like an over the top parody meant to mock. They're laughing at you, folks, not with you. · 0 minutes ago
Over the top, but masculine, ruggedly individualistic and admirable.
People crave that kind of masculinity. Read the pyramid, it's amazingness.
Jun '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Douglas
From the clip links, he sure seems like an over the top parody meant to mock. They're laughing at you, folks, not with you.
Things are only funny if there's some truth behind them. Ron Swanson doesn't represent the writer's viewpoint, but if they deeply hate the character, they make him a coward or intentionally phony. It doesn't seem like Ron Swanson is either of those. You can admire him for his consistency if nothing else.
Aug '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
I started last night with episode one and watched until i was in season 2 episode 3, gotta love the netflix streaming. without commercials they are about 20 minutes each. characterizations are fantastic evolution of the office cast, with government workers getting less done than dunder mifflin.
Awesome show, Ron is very refreshing. Amy Poehler was fantastic in Upright Citizens Brigade and I neglected to watch her on SNL because it doesnt matter much anymore. Peggy Lipton's daughter......what more do you want ?
tonight, more and more. like 24 marathons without the angst,or breaking bad allnighters without the cranking.
are hernias really that bad ?
Aug '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Ummm...isn't this guy basically just Dwight from The Office?
Dec '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Not a fan of the show; we've tried to watch many episodes, but Ron is hardly a feature and the rest is just a mess.
As for the actor, here he is discussing his woodworking, which is vastly superior to the program, (with near-automatic CoC warnings for anything associated with Adam Carolla).
May '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Samwise Gamgee
After talking to Ron about government for the day, the girl's essay on "why government matters" is just two words -- "it doesn't."
Hilarious. I'll have to check it out on Netflix. Thanks.
I generally enjoyed Alec Baldwin's mock conservatism on 30 Rock, but that enjoyment (Tina Fey's generally pretty funny, too) was eventually outweighed by other elements.
The old series NewsRadio has some great conservative moments, like when the boss (played by Stephen Root of Office Space) passionately argues that advertising made America great. Another time, he points to the fire sprinklers on the ceiling and says, "They're not hooked up to anything. I payed a nephew to glue them to the ceiling." Phil Hartman was one of the best comedians to come out of SNL.
Frasier, Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymund (despite the effeminate father) are some other shows with conservative themes and actors.
Rob's new show kicks off on July 19th!
Aug '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Illiniguy
Who, in your house, constitutes the government? I know how things work where I live.
Both? Neither? We're rather reluctant to lay down the law on each other in the Rattlesnake household, maybe more reluctant than we should be. Maybe it'll change when kids come along.
But my husband is pro-small-government and a lover.
Aug '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Frozen Chosen ( if that is your birth religion ) , did you consider that such easy answers occurred to the writers ?Otherwise , credit is due and Ricky Gervais moves that much closer to Willy Nelson status .Are you confused by the similarities in facial rictus and oddly retro grooming which smacks of liberal bias against my midwestern compadres.
Jun '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
I just spent 20 minutes on You Tube - the Vegi-Bacon scene was hilarious!
Jun '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Oh, my mistake. I thought Alf Lamont was just your pen name when addressing liberal audiences, Diane.
Kind of how Peter's pen name is "Rob Long" when he addresses liberal audiences...
Jun '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
But my husband is pro-small-government and a lover. · 1 hour ago
A small government lover lover.... sounds like you're married to Ron himself...
Apr '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
No! Dwight is a buffoon. Ron Swanson is the sort of eccentric rugged father figure of the show. He is the guy that people turn to for help when they run into unsolvable problems. Except of course for Ron's ex wives. Those everyone fears, and they are the only thing that Ron needs rescuing from. Sometimes his libertarianness does seem over the top, but then again it is a comedy. It wouldn't be funny if Ron was less intense.
My favorite Ron moment is when he teaches the 4th grader about government.
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
I'll give it another look. When I encountered the character in the first ep I figured "oh, a caricature they can lampoon for the self-satisfied enjoyment of people who think he represents everyone to the right of John McCain," and said never mind.
It's interesting how the buffoonish characters end up the most endearing; as I've said before, the real hero of the Mary Tyler Moore show ended up being Ted Baxter, who stayed married, had a child, adopted a Vietnamese orphan, and kept his job in the end. And Ted Knight was awesome. (Link goes to Ted like you've never seen him before!)
Dec '11
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
I'm out of pocket for a few hours and I miss the Ron Swanson love-fest.
Pretty much everything about Ron is great (and funny). Here's a little taste, fellow Ricocheters: Ron on government.
Jun '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Exactly. At first, he was so over the top that you knew there was a group of dark glasses wearing, flannel clad 30 year old's sitting in a room sipping yerba mate and laughing at all of America through this character.
After a while he was the most complex character with the most complex ideas and was also the funniest to boot.
Aug '10
Re: If Small-Government Lovers Aren't Funny, What of Ron Swanson?
Tom Haverford rocks.