"We Are In Love, He Just Doesn't Know It Yet" - How Nick Offerman And Jeff Tweedy Became Besties

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guests have won Grammys and Emmys and are New York Times best-selling authors. They're also best friends. Please welcome back to the Late Show Nick Offerman and Jeff Tweedy. Thank you, sir. Hey fellas, nice to see you. Nice to see you, sir. Good to see you. As is appropriate for wherever you guys are out here, we have the table that you made for me. That's right. Over there, Nick, and then everyone's using their Offerman workshop coasters. Thank you very kindly. There you go. You made, yeah, limited edition. You made him a table? I did. Yes. Has he ever made you a table? No. You'll get there. Yeah, we were best friends. Stick around. How did you, how did you two become such friends? Where did this come about? I mean, you know, Jeff has had a couple major bands in my life. First, briefly, Uncle Tupelo in the 90s. My cooler friends turned me on to them, and then soon enough, that became Wilco. And so for about 20 years, Jeff was the particular, he was like my John Lennon, or I would get his records and say to my friends, how does he see into my soul? Like, we are in love, but he just doesn't know it yet. And I mean, literally, after 20 years, I had the opportunity, I was directing an episode of Parks and Rec, and there was a role, and I got to meet Jeff by casting him on Parks and Recreation. And what was, how was, what was the part, Jeff? Uh, washed up Midwestern rocker. And how'd you, how'd you feel about that? They said, I, I don't, I mean, I was hurt a little bit, but it just goes to show what a great actor you are. They were able to pull it off. Yeah. Good for you. I mean, I, I get cast as like overweight, uh, indulgence hedonists. Yeah. That took a lot of training. Yeah. Um, okay. Now you, uh, people may not know that you, it's, uh, the two of you are dear friends along with the great writer, George Saunders. And I found this out and I, and I, I know all three of you, but I did not know you together as a group. And I, and I wheedled my way into a, uh, a group text that you guys have. So there's a group text with all four of us here. And, um, I'm just curious, do you have a, a group text that does not include me? Is there a, because it doesn't light up that often. And I'm wondering, they have to, there has to be another one that I'm not part of. Well, I mean, you're busy. I will soon be extremely available. That's why we're here. Oh, really? That's right. Okay. Yeah. What? Yeah. I mean, a group text did, you know, we were friends before you, uh, solicited us. Some of you became friends because of me, right? That's, that's true. You met, I met George on the finale of the Colbert report. All right. Yeah. So, so I want my, I don't, daddy wants his 10% of that friendship over here. You sent, I got this, I got this recently from you, uh, maybe last year. I think maybe he sent it to all of us. I know it was unsolicited. What's happening here, Nick? Well, I, um, have a new show coming out called Margo's Money Troubles on Apple TV. And I, I, uh, that's right. I play a former pro wrestler named jinx. And so, uh, a guy named Grant Roberts helped me get my, my body in that shape. Yeah. Um, and a guy named Jimmy Coco sprayed me with spray tan. Is this what Jimmy Coco does professionally? It is a volunteer. Jimmy Coco is the Kardashian spray tan guy. I got, yeah, I went to the top. Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy having the cocoa butter tan? It is disgusting. I hate it. It's terrible. I mean, you're sprayed with a sort of paint and then you're not allowed to sweat or touch anything. And everything in my house is white. Um, and so I was forced to canoodle with my wife out in the yard. That's what the picture's from. It's hell on the grass. I'm getting ready. I know that we tried, we, the four of us tried to go, uh, hiking, uh, four years ago, right around now, April up in Pisgah national forest. Didn't work out. I had, I had COVID you guys kindly went and use the cabin I rented anyway. I was very happy. You did beautiful. We missed you now, but I missed this too. What, what is happening here? This is you and George, uh, you guys in out. Where are you? We're in glacier national park. Um, we were, we were on a hiking trip together that was, uh, for friendship, but also fuel for a book I was working on. Okay. Um, and, and that, I mean, that was the story of that was that Jeff, uh, saved the day by saving George's glasses from the river. I did. I didn't dive in, but I was, I mean, cat-like reflexes. That's what people associate with you. I'm fast movement, fast movement, so high energy. I've always been high energy. He's always been like this. He's like the bear grills of mid-tempo rock. That's right. Well, again, I'm going to be available soon. If you go, uh, whitewater rafting in glacier, could I come next time? So what we're here to figure out, what, what is, look, I mean, George, George sent us. Okay. Oh, George, he's the ringleader. Okay. We're here to evaluate your, your behavior and comportment for one last time. Okay. And if you pass tonight, then we take you with us to a second location. And I hope that's where the spanking machine well, I hope I pass. I'll look, I'll look for my letter in the mail. I hope it's a thick one. Yeah. No, that's exciting. When you get the thick letter. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be amazing. Yeah. Well, uh, uh, this is Nick Offerman and this is Jeff Tweedy. He's going away, but he's not because you are going to stay and perform. That's right. With Haley Williams, stick around for performance. That's Nick Offerman.