Nick Offerman Auditioned For The Office Years Before Parks And Recreation

Nick Offerman has been working as an actor for years, and mostly in minor parts. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the actor explained what it was like to simply come in for a short period of time on a longer shoot. "I've had a lot of jobs where I show up for one day and do some juggling with the actors involved," Offerman explained to the Times. "And then I say, 'Have fun with the rest of your three-month shoot. I'm going back to my wood shop.'"

The interview also mentions that a lot of Offerman's small roles came on shows that his wife, Megan Mullally, was on, including "24" and "Will & Grace." And, as far as getting his big break in the role of Ron Swanson on "Parks and Recreation," Offerman told the L.A. Times in that interview that he was very happy with the environment. "I always pined for a situation like [my wife] had on 'Will & Grace,'" he said. "When 'Parks and Rec' came around I was so astonished to find myself in a situation run by love and funnily enough shooting on the same lot as 'Will & Grace.' I was thrilled to learn that the dialogue was cleverly penned enough that I could get people to tolerate me for 125 episodes."

Ron Swanson's particular brand of old-fashioned Americana is still popular with fans. To this day in the NBC Store, you can still buy a poster of the Pyramid of Greatness, which depicts Swanson's formula for living your best life (spoiler alert: it involves taking part in traditional masculine stereotypes). But as iconic as Swanson was as a character, Offerman originally auditioned for a different role — one on "The Office" that brought him to the attention of "Parks and Recreation" co-creator Michael Schur.

In an interview with The Guardian, Nick Offerman explained that his audition for "The Office" is what originally brought him to the attention of "Office" executive producer Michael Schur, who would later go on to co-create "Parks and Recreation." "I'd auditioned for the American version of 'The Office,' specifically for Mike Schur who, unbeknownst to me, wrote my name on a Post-it and stuck it to his computer," Offerman explained. "A few years later, he remembered the Post-it and said: 'I want this guy on my new show.'" At no point in the interview did he make any indication of what character he auditioned for on "The Office," and it's pretty hard to imagine him playing any character on that show.

It's even harder to imagine anyone but Offerman playing Ron Swanson, which is why it's especially bizarre to find out that Jim O'Heir initially auditioned for the role of Ron Swanson. In an interview with Team Coco, O'Heir, who played Jerry Gergich on the show, explained that he was one of many people who auditioned for the role because of how popular the then-untitled Amy Poehler project was. He said that he didn't expect to get the role, but hoped to get noticed enough to end up as a guest star on the show or on "The Office," which is much like the way Offerman got the role of Ron Swanson. It just goes to show that you should always give your best shot because you never know who'll remember you.