Conan O’Brien Can’t Get a Straight Faced Nick Offerman to Laugh at His Jokes in a 2008 Audience Sketch

During a May 2008 episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the titular host turned to the audience and noticed that a man (Nick Offerman) was staring intently at him and quite visibly not laughing at Conan’s jokes.

There is one guy in the audience who has not cracked a single smile since the show started tonight, and it’s bugging me cuz I think the show’s been pretty funny, not hilarious. This show’s been pretty good, and everyone’s been laughing except this one guy. 

When Conan asked about the stare, Offerman said that he suffered from a condition that makes him give a hostile stare when he finds something funny.

I suffer from paradoxical emotive disorder, a rare condition that makes me stare intensely at people when I find them hilarious. …I only laugh actually when I think something’s not funny.

Perhaps this role was a was a prototype for Offerman’s straight-faced Ron Swanson character in Parks and Recreation.