Ron Swanson

Ron Swanson runs Pawnee's Parks and Recreation department with the enthusiasm of a man who would rather be doing almost anything else. A mustachioed libertarian who despises government while drawing a government paycheck, he prefers breakfast meats, woodworking, and silence to meetings, and treats his employees' ambitions with weary, affectionate resignation.

The joke should wear thin fast — a boss who wants his department to fail — but Nick Offerman plays him with such total, unblinking sincerity that the contradiction becomes the character's integrity rather than his hypocrisy. His deadpan is so dry it loops back around into warmth, especially whenever Leslie's earnestness quietly wins him over.