Check that out below, and listen to an excerpt above.All Riseis available now.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:How would you describeAll Rise?
Is it really an audiobook, or more like a stand-up special?
Nick Offerman.Credit: LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images
NICK OFFERMAN:Funny you should ask.
I sat down and said, ‘I want to write myself an Audiobook Original.’
No, I dont really think of things in that kind of nomenclature.
I dont consider myself a stand-up, I consider myself a humorist.
So Im grateful that one of my jobs is writing what is essentially a series of short essays.
Theyre always about 3-4 minutes too short, so then I write a song to pad it out.
Then Im able to travel around the country and the world, and recite these essays to audiences.
I feel like its an evening of essays with song that very neatly and conveniently became an Audiobook Original.
You were touring this material in 2019, and planned to continue it this year.
So is it fair to describe this release ofAll Riseas a response to the year of COVID-19?
So just across the board it was a huge kick in the beanbag.
How does it make up for the experience of attending a show during this time where we can’t?
Sadly I dont think that is something that could be replicated.
If it was, the streaming channels and video-game makers would put us live performers out of business.
But thats a drop in the bucket of the troubles of humanity right now.
But so many people are!
Especially those that work in businesses around these activities, and everybody who works at a venue.
These big hairy bearded sound technicians.
Looking at you, Freddy from Austins Paramount Theater.
I bring my leeches of humor to salve your ill humours.
The first song on All Rise is “We F—ed It Up.”
I know you recorded that in 2019 but it definitely hits harder now in the pandemic!
Seems thats a sentiment that will stay relevant.
Yep, theres not gonna be a need for a counterpoint anytime soon.
Thats the classic idea of 2020 and the decade surrounding it.
Is that something youve been thinking about?
Instead, we certainly have our bumbling braying baby villain president, but he is not a mastermind.
We are not ideal!
You got to talk to management and coaching regardless of how good that one young Democrat rebounds.
But you also dont want to obscure the situation when blame is unequal.
I personally am interested in advancing human rights.
So I set off to the wilds of Champaign-Urbana, and thats still sort of what I’m after.
The undeniable topic of the last few years has been the incredible sewer of our political administration.
Then the Republicans openly say, ‘I love to see liberals cry.
I cant let that fly.
