Famous for his character on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, comedian Nick Offerman sold out Gentile Arena to anxious students, faculty and alumni at the university's annual "Colossus" entertainment event on February 27, 2016.

 

The University planned on hosting singer, Kesha the day before, but after canceling for personal reasons, hopes were high for Offerman's performance.

After a brief introduction and no opening act, Offerman leisurely took the stage Saturday evening sporting his typical beard and flannel, earlier than many expected. Following thunderous cheering, Offerman explained that Loyola requested him to make the show “PG-13.” Doing this through song, Offerman sang while strumming his guitar, apologizing in advance that he might not be as funny as usual. He explained that he was forced to cut out some of his “R-rated jokes,” and already captured the audience within minutes with his honest charm and catchy tune.

Offerman’s show was titled, “Full Bush.” He joked about the strangeness of waxing and shaving and urged the audience to go into life’s challenges ‘full bush,’ whatever that means. Apparently some Loyola students understood...

However, the show started to lose momentum near the middle. Offerman used his set list he is touring with, which addressed problems for a narrow person similar to himself. The college audience didn’t respond well to his jokes about midlife struggles and marriage. Some students actually got up and left midway through the show.

Many expected to see their favorite character, Ron Swanson, from their favorite television show, but Offerman didn’t even reference the character until the end of his set list. At this point, rather than humoring the audience after the excessive screaming when he said the character’s name, he instead sang a song titled, “I am not Ron Swanson.”

Since the television series has recently ended, Offerman said that he wanted to make a new name for himself, but still holds on to qualities that he and Swanson share, such as love for sex, whiskey, carpentry, and America.

The show made a full circle when Offerman concluded with his thoughts about college and his fondest memories about living in Chicago. He got the most boisterous laughter when he talked about living in Rogers Park himself and the “great weed” he found under the Loyola CTA stop, a place all Loyola students are familiar with.

The connection Offerman made to the audience and creative songs he played throughout the show made Gentile Arena bark with laughter, even among the college-aged audience.