PARKS AND RECREATION Starts the Final Countdown Tonight with Two Episodes

Bye bye Li'l Sebastian

Miss you in the saddest fashion

Bye bye Li'l Sebastian

You're 5000 candles in the wind... 

NBC's Parks and Recreation isn't ready to sing 5000 Candles in the Wind for the last time just yet, but it's hard not to think about how much we'll miss that crazy little show when it does spread its wings and fly from our televisions at the end of this season.

Although Parks and Rec was renewed early in 2014, its 2015 season will its last. And then we will bid a fond farewell to Pawnee, Indiana, and residents like Leslie Knope, the cockeyed optimist/go-getter played by Amy Poehler; her former boss, meat-and breakfast-lover Ron Swanson, played by U of I's own Nick Offerman; Leslie's sweet spouse Ben, numbers guy and inventer of The Cones of Dunshire, played by Adam Scott; odd couple April and Andy (Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt), office-workers Donna (Retta Sirleaf), Tom (Aziz Ansari) and Gary/Jerry/Larry/Terry (Jim O'Heir) and an assortment of nuts and bolts that has included Ron's ex-wives Tammy 1 and 2 (Patricia Clarkson and Megan Mullally), candy heir Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd) and real-life politicos like Joe Biden and John McCain. Oh, and Michelle Obama, who visited at the end of season 6.

At the end of last season, Leslie's BFF Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) and perfectly perfect city manager Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) had left Pawnee to raise their new baby elsewhere, but there are rumors they will make a return to say goodbye. Since Ann was there from the get-go, it would only make sense to see her again before it's all over.

In the meantime, Parks and Recreation will be back tonight for the first and second of its last thirteen episodes. Leslie and company will be jumping two years into the future to show us what happens when Ms. Knope takes a big promotion to the U.S. Park Service and brings the regional office she is now in charge of to Pawnee. Leslie and Ben have triplets, Jerry is now going by Terry, and Jon Hamm is on hand as an absolutely terrible employee Leslie has to fire.

Yes, there are two episodes tonight, and there will be every Tuesday between now and February 24. It's a brief blast of wonderful as we bid a fond farewell to our favorite Midwest municipal (and now federal) employees.

Maybe someday we'll saddle up again

And I know I'll always miss my horsiest friend

Spread your wings and fly...

Nick Offerman Comes Back to U of I in October to Benefit Japan House

I remember Nick Offerman from his days as a theater student at the University of Illinois in Urbana, and I remember very distinctly that he didn't get cast a lot at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. I remember him playing a policeman blowing a whistle in a Feydeau farce in the Colwell Playhouse, and doing multiple scenes with fellow actors as part of a senior showcase. The group also sang Stephen Sondheim's "Opening Doors." And that's about all I recall, except for some work he did at Urbana's Station Theatre, outside the program. Oh, wait. There was also a new play staged at the Armory Free Theatre, written by Christopher Johnson, that involved Offerman stripping, wearing skimpy women's undies, and shoving his arm down a garbage disposal. At the time, I was all, ooh, gross, but in retrospect, I'm pretty impressed they could pull off the disposal/blood spatter effects in the Armory Theatre.

Now that Offerman is headed back to U of I for some special events planned to support Japan House, a project started by famed theater artist Shozo Sato on the Urbana campus, I've learned that he almost gave up his acting dream while he was a student, and it was Sato's Kabuki theater class that kept Offerman in the biz. At least that's what U of I's press release is telling us, as they announce that tickets are on sale now for a special Krannert Center stop on Offerman's "American Ham Tour," an evening of comedy and cautionary tales scheduled for the Foellinger Great Hall at 7:30 pm on October 26.

Apparently, Offerman was a frequent dinner guest at the Sato residence when he was an undergrad, and the two stayed in touch over the years, with the master of Zen arts also officiating when Offerman married actress Megan Mullally in 2003.

This visit to Champaign-Urbana will include not just the comedy show at Krannert on Saturday night, but also an "East Meets Midwest" eleven-course dinner on Sunday, October 27, with Shozo Sato and his wife, Alice, as a benefit for Japan House. Space is obviously very limited for the fundraising dinner, which will take place at Prairie Fruits Farms, and tickets are priced at $325 per person. If you'd like to see if tickets are still available for that event, you can visit the Japan House website or call them directly at 217-244-9934.

Chefs Shin Matsuda, Thad Morrow and Drew Starkey will be preparing this eleven-course meal, while a Japanese drumming group from Chicago called Ho Etsu Taiko will perform during dinner.

For all the details, check out the U of I press release here and Japan House's posted notice here.

U of I Alum Update: Nick Offerman, American Ham

U of I alum Nick Offerman (Class of 93), perhaps better known as Ron Swanson on TV's "Parks and Recreation," will be part of the Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival, along with people like Vince Vaughn, Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garafolo and Bill Engvall, and coinciding with Conan O'Brien bringing his show to Chicago June 11 to 14.

Offerman will offer "Nick Offerman: American Ham," in which he promises to bring his "honey-glazed hindquarters" onstage for "a humorous entree called American Ham, which features a veritable smorgasbord of cautionary tales, tunes and tips for prosperity (with minor nudity).

I don't remember the name of the play he and his U of I cohorts performed at the Armory Free Theatre way back when, but it definitely involved more than minor nudity. He was a burglar and the boy of the house (played by Jimmy Slonina, who is now a clown touring with the Handsome Devils after finishing a stint with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas) turned the tables on him, making Mr. Offerman's character strip and put on Mom's scanty black undies and then stick his arm down the garbage disposal. So, yeah, there was Nick Offerman, starkers in the Armory Free Theatre.

I think he was also at least partially nude when he did "A Clockwork Orange" at Steppenwolf. Didn't see the show, but those were the reports coming back, that he was on a swing over the audience, with his bare bottom to the four winds.

In any event, it does not appear that "American Ham" is predicated upon nudity in its two shows at the Vic Theatre on the evening of June 16th. But I guess you'll have to go to find out for sure.

Offerman has a lot of friends in the Chicago theater community from his years with the Defiant Theater and roles at the Goodman, Wisdom Bridge and Steppenwolf Theatres, so tickets are sure to sell briskly. You can buy tickets yourself if you click here and drop down to one of the two green boxes offering tickets for the 7:30 pm or 10 pm shows on June 16th.