I am obsessed with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman’s show Making It. If you’re a crafter like me, and use the word glitter as a verb, you’ll like it, too. I knew from his standup special that Offerman was a talented woodworker, but I didn’t know that he also ran his own woodworking studio in East L.A. Amy Poehler is not crafty at all, so it is fun to watch her bounce around the craft barn in overalls, marvelling at words like decoupage and pool noodles (the latter feature in many of the winning projects). The overall winner gets “the satisfaction of a job well done” along with $100,000.
This show is a crafter’s dream. Eight contestants undertake a series of two challenges per episode: a three-hour “Faster Craft,” like a spirit animal or a Halloween costume, which is followed by a more time-intensive “Master Craft,” such as a kids’ play space or a holiday front porch decoration. The winner of each challenge wins an embroidered patch for their denim apron, and one contestant is sent home each week. The judges are Simon Doonan (known for his iconic Barneys window displays) and Dayna Kim Johnson, who works as a trend scout for Etsy.
The contestants are a fairly diverse bunch in terms of their backgrounds and preferred media. My favorites are Billy, who makes a taco truck stocked with felt cartoon pig head-filled pork tacos. While Johanna and Amber can be counted on for colorful, upbeat displays, woodworker Tiem reliably comes up with dark and moody interpretations of the challenges (his Rice Krispies Roman Colosseum is filled with the candy carnage of beheaded gummy bears). Paper artist Jeffrey attests to the healing nature of crafting; when tasked with creating a family heirloom display, he shares that upon hearing that he was gay, his parents sent a black funeral wreath to his workplace.
As a crafter myself, my only beef with this show (and carnivore Offerman would say you can’t have too much beef) was that we don’t really get to see the anguish of the initial planning process or the actual sourcing of materials for these projects. Is there a huge storeroom in the back of the barn that contains candy bones and pool noodles, or do the contestants get to order these supplies ahead of time? I need to know this.
What is also missing from this show is the typical backstabbing antics of the contestants and the harsh cruelty of the judges. The contestants even help each other as the deadlines approach, sharing supplies or helping to assemble the final pieces of a costume. We don’t see what goes on between episodes; we do not have unlimited access to night-vision video footage of the contestants in their bedrooms. When each challenge is over and the eliminated contestant leaves, the show simply ends.
When interviewed by her former colleagues Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, Poehler said she wanted to make a show “that didn’t make you feel stressed out or humiliated.” Her onscreen chemistry with Offerman seems effortless, and their ad-libbed banter (including groan-worthy pun competitions) is adorable.
Before each episode, we hear the tagline Life is stressful enough. Let’s make a show that makes you feel good! The show delivers on its promise.
this gruntled worker 