Interestingly, my work as a humorist is borne solely from my work on 'Parks and Rec'. I'm a theatre actor. I never imagined I would stand on a stage and perform as myself. But once we got a few years into 'Parks and Rec'' colleges invited me to do just that. 'American Ham' certainly has a nod to Ron Swanson... If I had brought only whatever my natural attributes were, that's when you run into trouble later on, with people saying, 'You're just like Ron Swanson'. But actually not. I'm much more effeminate and weak.

Megan and I agree that successful dancing is 99 percent the face you make. If you're at a wedding reception and you're dancing like a maniac on the dance floor? As long as you're making the right face, no one will fault you. If you're taking yourself too seriously, that's when you can look like a jackass. Even then, I would highly recommend making a jackass of yourself over sitting at your table wishing you were working it out to Kool & The Gang.

[advice for would-be actors] Make the rest of your life happy. For me, when I started dating [wife] Megan [Mullally], my auditions became so much better, because I knew that when I came home from the audition I got to kiss her. I didn't give a damn about the audition nearly as much, and that gave me a sense of confidence.

[re his role in The Kings of Summer (2013)] It evokes a great sense of nostalgia for all the idyllic teenage escape films of our youth. For me, it's Stand by Me (1986), The Goonies (1985) and Dead Poets Society (1989), movies about breaking away from the authoritative society of your parents or your school, finding your own way, making your own rules and then falling back into the embrace of your parents or your headmaster. And hopefully your headmaster's embrace is purely platonic.

Something about stentorian authority figures has always made me laugh. I also noticed that lots of the performers I was working with had a big, obnoxious energy that I quickly realized I could never match - and that when they finally finished being loud, with one well-placed remark I could also achieve some sort of comic victory.

[re his one-man show 'American Ham'] I was invited to speak at some colleges. I didn't want to be so egotistical as to show up and say: 'Thank you for the tidy appearance fee. Please feast your eyes upon me.' So I wrote a show. I like to say that I am a more foulmouthed, less-educated Garrison Keillor.

[on his role as Ron Swanson, the government-hating bureaucrat in Parks and Recreation (2009)] People have asked me if Ron would be a member of the Tea Party, and the answer is always that Ron is a committee of one, and regardless of what is going on in the country, he stands by his simple principles. If (he) had a campaign slogan it would be 'Paddle Your Own Canoe'.