Megan Mullally is best known for her comedic turn as Karen Walker on the recently revived Will and Grace; Nick Offerman is famed for his stoic, bureaucracy-hating Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation. He is also the bestselling author of the books Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshop; Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living; and Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers. Together, they form an epic, sizzling couple whose idiosyncratic marriage—especially their devotion to jigsaw puzzles—has enthralled fans and followers all over the world.

Now they reveal all in their latest collaboration, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: An Oral History (Dutton, Oct.), which they describe to Show Daily as “a multigenerational, multigenderational, postmodernist deconstruction of the greatest love story ever told. Meaning, our relationship. It’s for readers young and old, male and female, as well as LGBTQ and AI. And also every race, religion, every creed, every political leaning will find something to learn about the body’s ability to lubricate itself.”

Well, how could we resist that? Show Daily interviewed the two to see what makes them lubricate... umm, tick.

Megan Mullally

So, the first time you saw Nick, you said to yourself...

Looks like a capable sort.

What finally convinced you he was the one?

He was the first guy that I had ever encountered in a romantic setting who wasn’t completely out of his mind.

What do you think he would say about what attracted him to you?

My puss? What did he say?

Your shoes.

Ummmmm, okay. Let’s go with the family friendly version.

You’ve lasted 18 years in Hollywood, a place where most marriages don’t make it past the cutting of the cake. What is your secret?

I come from Oklahoma and he comes from Illinois, but I think we have a similar middle-of-the-country sensibility. We’re both homebodies and introverts who like being introverted at home together.

You two are also known for your rather robust sex life. How do you manage to keep that going?

Well, first thing, we genuinely like each other. That seems like it would be obvious for a successful couple, but it’s not always the case. We both realize the importance of spending time together, and we have a two-week rule—we’ve never been apart for more than two weeks. That applies to our boudoir as well, an important component to keeping a relationship alive and thriving.

Nick has written several books. What inspired you to get in the publishing game?

I got on social media relatively late, but when I did, it immediately became apparent to me that people enjoy our relationship. Every time I would post a photo of us, people would go haywire. It dawned on me that we could write a book together. We picked certain topics, and we just taped while we talked with each other. It evoked a lot of thoughts and memories in both of us that we wouldn’t have ordinarily had.

We hear you were the book designer?

That was really a thrill. I conceptualized all of the illustrations and photos, including the cover. It will be not only fun to read but nice to look at.

Nick Offerman

So, the first time you saw Megan, what impressed you the most?

Her fancy fashion shoes. I was living in a basement in Silver Lake [a neighborhood of Los Angeles] and she was two years into Will and Grace. I had not worked with an actor who wore shoes as fashionable as hers were.

What finally convinced you she was the one?

A lot of things, but mainly her sense of humor. Not only was she so perverse but that she appreciated that in me.

What do you think she would say about what attracted her to you?

My dancing. In this case, breakdancing that I was called upon to perform in a play we were in together.

She is 11 years older than you. Does that work in your favor?

We don’t really notice our age difference in most instances. There has always been a little bit of a feeling of she’s a senior and I’m a freshman. She’d been over a lot of life’s hurdles before I arrived at the track. The guidance she has lent me is where our age difference comes in the most, but otherwise, we are like peers.

What is it with the jigsaw puzzles?

In this day and age, where our lives are filled with so much information, so many channels by which people can demand your attention, we found that puzzles are a great way to shut off the rest of the world and give our brains some respite. It’s not just puzzles; it’s puzzles combined with an audiobook or a true crime podcast. We find combining those two recreations really cranks up the dopamine. To shut your phone off so no one can ask you for anything for a few hours is a delicious vacation indeed.

What advice would you give other couples on how to keep a marriage from going stale?

First and foremost, the key is just diligence and work. We’re very lucky that we found in each other a person that we are thrilled with and to whom we are still very attracted 18 years in. But we’re human, so it’s not a Disney movie. We annoy each other, we have disagreements, we occasionally have fights. My advice to anyone in a relationship is to maintain it, pay attention to it. Make it a priority.

What do you hope people will get out of this book?

I want people to laugh and have a good time and a healthy dose of escapism, while at the same time, we’re sneaking a bunch of broccoli under the pizza.