Why Nick Offerman always packs a Swiss Army knife — and the travel behavior that drives him nuts
Nick Offerman joins Carnival’s Great American Vacation campaign and shares cruise surprises, travel pet peeves, and why he packs a Swiss Army knife.
USA TODAY
- Nick Offerman stars in a new Carnival Cruise Line ad campaign called “Find Your Fun Again.”
- The actor discussed enjoying the cruise ship’s water park, ropes course, and hibachi dinner while filming.
- When traveling, Offerman packs light but always includes a Swiss Army knife in his checked luggage.
In a new ad for Carnival Cruise Line, Nick Offerman puts his phone on silent the hard way.
The spot opens on the actor, comedian and woodworker in a woodshop receiving a flurry of incessant notifications. He then grabs a hammer and smashes it to pieces. Who hasn’t felt that impulse?
Turns out, though, he just needed a vacation. Next thing we see, he’s hurtling down a water slide on board a Carnival ship, trying out a ropes course and enjoying a hibachi dinner.
Ahead of the debut of the cruise line’s “Find Your Fun Again” campaign, Offerman caught up with USA TODAY to talk about filming the campaign, his favorite travel destinations and why he brings a Swiss Army knife in his checked bag.
Question: Well, first I wanted to ask what it’s been like for you working with Carnival on this campaign?
Offerman: It’s been really fun. I mean, it’s crazy to me. I went to theater school to try and get good jobs and plays in Chicago, and the path my life has taken has led to a company like Carnival, which is sort of like the world’s greatest theme park on the ocean, wanting me to represent having fun. I am thrilled with that. And I really loved getting to go on a cruise ship and shoot this stuff. You know, it’s one of those things that I was like, “This is the kind of thing you pay good money to go do, and yet, it’s my job today.” So, it keeps me minding my manners.
It felt very personalized, too. I love that your woodworking was part of it, as well. Was it a pretty collaborative process with them?
It was. I brought in a couple of my friends that are producers from “Parks and (Recreation)” and other shows, and we collaborate a lot on things like this. And so, you know, they wanted me to start out in a workplace, and we said, “OK, how about a woodshop?” And they took that ball and ran with it and did just a really great job. I thought it was really fun, the juxtaposition that they came up with. It was not hard to slip into that character.
You mentioned the onboard aspect of it. I did want to ask … if you had any favorite memories from being on board?
I mean, it was quite fascinating. My family loves cruises, and I have a big family. And also, when I was doing this, a lot of my friends – I mean, I probably knew over the years they were like, “Oh, we’re going to be on a cruise to this or that.” But when suddenly I became involved, I was kind of thrilled with all the people that are in my life who love so much about cruises, especially as something to do with with their families, to sort of get away from the world, the drudgery of the domestic world, and for everybody to put down their their gadgets and get together and have fun together.
So I had a sort of peripheral understanding of cruises and a pretty positive opinion of them, but then getting out on the boat – first of all, I just was astonished, as a guy who likes to know how things are put together, I’ve never been on a boat remotely that big and to immediately see and comprehend the logistics. This is not a fun topside answer, this is more like the woodworker and the tool guy in me immediately was like, “Oh my god.” I sought out the chef on the ship, and just the staggering number of eggs that had to be onboarded, as just an example of all of the food items, but the eggs (were) in the tens of thousands of fresh eggs. Because, you know, all these people are on vacation. They want breakfast eggs. They don’t want just a hard boiled egg. They want omelets. They want poached. And then just comprehending the infrastructure required, again, just for the eggs, let alone all the other things required. So, I just was delighted immediately in the basement of the boat to be told about what’s required to take this small city of people, or like a large town of people, on a joyful boat ride. I mean, I would have just been happy if they took me and showed me all of the lifeboats or, you know, just take me to the laundry facility and let my jaw drop at that. But then you get upstairs, and there’s actually – the thing I love about it, and what this whole campaign is about is, I’m like anybody. Fortunately, I love my work, and so I work a lot. But that’s that’s become my vice, is I work too much. And so when someone, anywhere in my life, where I effectively sign up for a cruise, where I say, “Okay, please be in charge of my next week.” And they say, “Okay, great, get on deck. Here’s a drink. We’re gonna dance.” I’m so glad to put myself in that situation, because I think all too often, in this day and age, we don’t allow ourselves to go party for a minute. So that was delightful. And I do love to shake my money maker, which I suppose they probably wouldn’t want me to say, though I said it. I mean, that’s what I’m known for, my moves.
And I got to do – the whole water park thing was crazy. … The whole ropes course, that freaked me out. I had some comprehension that there was a water park element, but the fact that you could do all this really fun rope action climbing and, like, minor rappelling of stuff I really loved. I mean, again, I don’t take the time in my daily life to take myself to, like, a playground, and to have this playground that’s really wonderful for kids and grown-ups, I just had a really good time. And then the outdoorsman in me just loved being on the ocean and seeing the horizon and seeing the clouds and the beautiful sunset. I was like, “I see what all the fuss is about.”
What kind of destinations do you like to go to on your own time?
Well, it’s interesting. Because of the strange nature of my life with my wife, the legendary actress and otherworldly beauty, Megan Mullally, often our jobs will take us – like last year, I shot a show in Budapest for four months. We’ve both shot in South Africa and Australia, and all over the U.K. Next year, I’m going to work in Iceland. And so quite often for our jobs, one of the fun, or sometimes arduous aspects, is you go to vacation destinations of one sort or another. And invariably, it’s funny, when I was a kid, one of the things that made me fall in love with movies was like Merchant Ivory films, the pastoralia of period British films where a guy would be driving a horse and buggy. And I would just think, man, I really would love to be that guy. Like, I want that job where I’m getting paid to wear the outfit and drive through this beautiful English countryside. You know there’s some sort of delicious meat pie or Cumberland sausage at break time. Now, of course, the way life is, I’ve gotten to do many projects like that, and invariably, Murphy’s law is that, if you’re shooting it and the sun is out, then it’s like 100 degrees and you’re wearing three layers of wool, or there are terrible gnats or mosquitoes, or one of the horses has diarrhea. Like, there’s, there’s something that’s making it horrible. It’s never as idyllic – I mean, that’s the magic of Hollywood.
And so Megan and I, since we get to go do things like that for work, we love quietude. We love to go to, like, national parks or just anywhere where it’s quiet and we can be in nature. We do love boating, but my favorite boating experience is in a canoe on a gentle river. I’m not looking for too much adventure, maybe just a little bit of whitewater. But we love to float in a canoe because then you have the best chance of sneaking up on a moose or a deer or some other idyllic creature. But then, if we don’t have a job for a couple years, then suddenly Paris sounds like a really good idea. But generally, I’d say we love to just go where it’s quiet and read a book and have a sandwich.
Is there anything that you always like to bring with you when you travel, things that you kind of have to have with you?
Again, I mean, I tour as a humorist, and also I just finished a book tour, and so I’ve kind of learned over the years, that I travel pretty light, that I try to make it a pretty Spartan experience, so that, you know, I bring the utility items of the clothing that I need. I do try to pack a rain coat, because when you do the weather is great, and when you don’t have one, then it rains all day. And if you just had a rain coat, you could be happy walking in it. But by now, all I try and do if I have a checked bag is bring a Swiss Army knife in my checked bag … because no matter where you are, somebody needs a tool at some point. But other than that, I try and keep it really light. We’ll bring a couple books to read and otherwise just enjoy wherever it is we’re going and make the accessories of the place the source of our enjoyment, rather than things we bring with us.
A knife is a good one, though. That’s a good reminder, because it does come handy.
It is. I mean, I always want to be the person when you’re anywhere and somebody says, “Things would be better if we had this one implement,” a knife or a corkscrew or scissors or whatever. And it makes the whole evening if you say, “Excuse me, was that Phillips or standard?”
Do you have any either travel pet peeves, things that get on your nerves when you’re traveling, or unpopular travel opinions?
Well, I talk about this a lot, and if I can bring one person around with whoever’s reading this, I’m always amazed in general – and I think it’s definitely an American problem – with the lack of self-awareness in public. For me, a concentrated place for it is, everybody knows how rude people can be or selfish when you’re boarding a flight and you’re like, “Come on, man, we’re all in this together.” Like, “Let’s do this patiently with respect and decency for one another,” because otherwise, you just come off like such a heel.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].
