I had a hankering for some comedy at lunch yesterday and decided to watch an old episode of Newsradio on Hulu. It was the one where Jimmy James faked his attempt at flying around the globe in a hot air balloon. I love that episode because so many of the elements that made the show so genius (elements examined by the inimitable – by that I mean freakishly tall – Dave Lifton on Episode 4 of the Wings for Wheels podcast).
I forgot that this episode also had the side story of Bill McNeal dropping cigarettes in favor of chewing tobacco. All of a sudden, it hit me.
Ron Swanson is Bill McNeal.
Well, not literally, but Nick Offerman’s libertarian government official provides the same balance to the Parks & Rec ensemble that Phil Hartman’s blustery, yet loveable news anchor provided to NewsRadio. They both did things that seemed so out of place, but you could not imagine the cast without their antics.
I’m not going to try and get too deep on this one. Let’s just watch some clips. Sadly, neither Hulu nor Youtube have a ton of my favorite Bill moments, but this smoking one always made me laugh. That’s followed by Ron’s Whiskey Harp.
Every great comedy needs two supporting characters: One who can say really stupid things and one who can say bizarre things. But those characters have to be believable so that their comedy is an extension of their character. It’s much easier to write the former, but the latter – of which Bill and Ron are part of a long list – is much more rewarding.