They may say never meet your heroes, but sometimes it just might work out, as it did for Nick Offerman.
Nick Offerman, who lends his voice to Ken in the latest Smurfs film, made an appearance on Thursday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark. He shared with hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos about his role playing the sibling of Papa Smurf, a character brought to life by John Goodman.
When asked if he writes the backstories for his animated characters, he explained that he “collaborated on this one.”
Offerman expressed, “A significant amount of inspiration came from the talented creators behind this film. It’s incredibly exciting — John Goodman, portraying Papa Smurf, has been a personal hero of mine for the past 40 years.”
Ripa agreed, “All of our heroes.”
Offerman added, “I just always aspired to someday get to do something half as good as John Goodman, and suddenly I’m playing his brother.”
The former Parks & Recreation star humorously mentioned that he “worked out quite a bit to feel manly enough to stand alongside” Goodman, even though they did not record their parts together in person.
“We were solo because he was in London, I was in Budapest,” he shared. “And so you’re recording in a booth with the director on a Zoom.”
Offerman noted that he did an episode of The Conners last year, “partly just to get to meet [Goodman] and Laurie Metcalf.” But the connections don’t stop there. Offerman’s wife, Will & Grace star Megan Mullally, played Goodman’s love interest on the fourth and final season of The Righteous Gemstones.
“So I visited them a lot, watched him put his hands all over my wife,” he quipped. “Then I had to really rely on my classical training to go back and have brotherly love toward him, and forget my jealous rage.”
Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings. Smurfs hits theaters on Friday, July 18.
