“I think when any show is created you start with, ‘This person will be the protagonist; this person will throw rocks at the protagonist.’ And eventually, as you flesh the characters out, you find out that the person throwing the rocks is also a person and has feelings. And I think we found that it was really enjoyable to, you know, to pit Ron’s sort of working philosophy, his hatred of government, against his strong personal loyalty to his friends. They get a lot of mileage out of that he wants to shut down the program, but he wants to support the people that are creating the program because he admires them. But I would appreciate it if you would continue to consider me a downer.â€
–Nick Offerman as part of a LA Times EMMY roundtable with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus Laura Dern, and Ed Helms about being funny on television.