David Rogers

On this week’s episode, Brian brings in The Encyclopedia AKA the incredible editor David Rogers. David tells Brian all about his early days on The Office, from the 25 attempts it took to get the theme song right to his role in getting Meredith hit by a car - and landing her a spot on the Tonight Show.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
I am David Rodgers. I was an editor, director, and
producer on the Office. Well, hello, there, one and all
all of you, I'm talking to you there. Welcome to
this week's episode of The Office Deep Dive. I am

(00:26):
your host Brian Baumgartner. Today, I am thrilled. I'm I'm
pleased as punch, as they say, to bring on the
man who worked well. He worked tirelessly on the Office.
I don't think he slept at home for ten years. No,
he worked to keep the show as fresh, authentic, and

(00:49):
well hilarious is possible. And listen his decisions. They actually
changed the way that um one viewed the show because
he was the person who would decide what would stay
and what would go and how we would see an
experience it all. He was our ridiculously talented editor and

(01:14):
later are ridiculously talented producer and director. David Rogers, or
as I and everyone I know calls him Dave. Now,
Dave was actually the very first editor brought onto the
Office team. And listen, he was more than just a
colleague a co worker. He was actually a true fan

(01:37):
of the show from day one. He had has and
had an encyclopedia knowledge of the show. He remembered every
moment from every episode. I feel like he was the
reason Dwight loved Battlestar Galactica. He helped Meredith get hit
by a car, and he even had his own nicknames

(01:59):
for the cat, like just guess who was called to
blu roon. No, it wasn't me, uh Dave. Also, he's
a force in the world of TV. The Office won
five Emmy's total, two of those went to Dave. He's
become a trusted collaborator for so many who worked on

(02:20):
the show. He went on to work with Mindy Kaling
on The Mendy Project, and Greg Daniels and Steve Carrell
on Space Force, among many others. You may also recognize
him for his well distinctive voice. He was the voice
behind dunder Mifflin's very own documentarian. But before we get

(02:40):
into the meat of this interview, and before I let
you relive the show through his words, I wanted to
let you know that you can also relive the show
through our our brand new book, Welcome to dunder Mifflin,
The Ultimate Oral History of the Office, which you can
pre order on amas on right now. So go ahead,

(03:03):
do that. Trust me, You're gonna love it. Then come
back here because the time has come for you to
be carried away by the incredible wealth of knowledge that
is Dave Rogers. Bubble and Squeak, I love it. Bubble

(03:23):
and squeaker, Bubble and squeaker cookie every month left over
from the night before. Oh my god, oh boy, wow,

(03:48):
you look exactly the same. Do you want to know what?
You know? You don't say that. Everyone keeps saying it
that I look exactly you know. I mean, well, I
wanted to say it to you first, so you know what,
you wouldn't say it to me. Good to see you too.
It's like way too long. I know, you have to

(04:09):
sit over there. I mean, that's the rule. I saw
Mr Correll yesterday. Yeah, yes, he seemed good. Yeah, he's
been in he's been in editing a lot. Hey. Yeah.
I don't think I realized that he and Greg wrote
the pilot, created it together. I think Steve had the

(04:29):
idea and then they kind of hammered out like kind
of a loose thing, and then Gregg wrote in. Then
he would give notes and stuff, you know, and then
I think that was the process. But I think I
think Steve had the idea and it came to Greg
and was like, hey, what do you think about that?
So yeah, let's let's do it. And then they that
was it. They pitched and you know, how's Malkovich. He's good,

(04:52):
He's good. It's uh. You know. One of the things
that we're striving to do is have this kind of
dual you know, they do a little bit they joust
like they're friendly and but there's some jousting and things
like that. We're struggling to create new relationships that are
different from Michael Scott because he has like one assistant
and it's like or like his secretary. And he was saying,

(05:13):
he's you know that he has a line where he goes,
I really like to get shut up Brad, and it's
like we even changed it to like thank you, Brad
because it was too much like shut up Dwight. You know.
So we're trying cognisant of that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The
context or the character might be different, but how it's
going to be perceived in some small level is going

(05:35):
to be you're sort of built in expectation. That's fascinating. Um, okay,
rewinding back, Um two thousand fourish, what are you doing
prior to working on the show. So I was working
on the Seinfeld DVDs. You know, I came up, I
was assistant editor and Seinfeld that I started cutting. I

(05:57):
cut the clip show for that aired right before the
series finale, and uh, I would always kind of come
back and do some Seinfeld things whenever things would pop up.
So we were working on the DVDs. We were going
through pulling you know, the bloopers behind the scenes and
interviewing a bunch of you know, everybody from cast to crew,

(06:17):
and making these many documentaries inside looks of all the
episodes and just being really meticulous with things. So I
was working on that. We we were getting the first
three seasons out, and uh the line producer from News Radio,
which was another show I had worked on, Ken Sibornac,
said Hey, I have a pilot. I think you know

(06:39):
you'd be good for it. Uh I said okay, and
then uh I was like, yeah, I'd love to. Let's talk.
And then I didn't hear back from him, and uh,
you know, I understood. I always wanted it just to
him to say, hey, the directors is going with his editor,
you know, and be like, okay, that makes sense. But I.

(07:00):
I didn't hear back, and then uh, I was all right,
And then I get an email from him like I know,
I know, I owe you a phone call. We got
picked up for five episodes. I think you'd be great
for the series, you know, would you like to come
in and meet Greg Daniels. I'll send you the the pilot.
I was like, yeah. So I watched the pilot and

(07:20):
I loved it and it was so I was like,
oh God, he's so it's dark, you know, and I
love that. Uh. I mean for me, it's the moment.
I'm a huge six million dollar Man fan. So him
doing an impression of the six million dollar Man, like
referencing it and doing it. They just went on and on,

(07:41):
and I was like, I looked at this and I go,
I'm doing this show. And I came and I met
with Greg and we just hit it off right away,
and we were talking about things, and it's funny. I
I was talking about all the characters and I said,
I feel like Dwight would like Battlestar Galactica. And this
was before the new Battlestar Galactica, but I thought like
Star Trek was too mainstream and cool for him that

(08:02):
he would like this kind of smaller, more cultish old show,
and uh, I said, I could just I could just
see him having like a viper on his desk, you know,
like an old model of a of a viper. And
so it was funny that when the new show came
up and that we they did work that in that
he became a Battlestar Galactica fan. But I'm one of

(08:23):
my birthdays just as a side note, like Greg bought
me a huge model of a Cylon base ship like
from the original series. And and in the penultimate episode,
I got to direct Dwight hangs a Galactica in his
office and they were like, do you want the new
one or the old one. I'm like, oh, I want
the original series one, you know totally, and I have that.
I have the model and Rain signed it for me,

(08:45):
you know. But I love He's got he's got a
line with his you know, his son, who's he just
he looks at the Galactica the same way I look
at the Galactica. So it was just kind of it
was just kind of funny how that all came together.
But uh, yeah, I just met with Greg. We just
hit it off, and that was it, and then I
was like, okay, I'm hired and I'm starting on Diversity
Day was the first episode, and so you were the

(09:06):
only editor hired at that point. I was the only
editor hired. And I'll say this the deep the Seinfeld DVDs,
Jerry and Larry came in to watch one of the
documentaries that like how the show began, and Jerry saw
it and was like, well, this needs to be on TV.
And so then I'm working. Then we're making the Seinfeld story.
So now I'm I'm I'm editing to get this thing

(09:28):
on TV and we're starting on the office. And I said, Greg,
I said, there's gonna be a little bit of overlap.
There are days where I'll be editing with Jerry Seinfeld,
so I'll have to go there and and do that.
I said, I'm finishing up, but there's gonna be some
So there were a couple of days where he's like,
when are you completely done? And I'm like, I'm almost done.
I'm almost done, but I was there was a little overlap,

(09:49):
but um, yeah, so I I sorry, go ahead. I
started on a Diversity Day. Yeah, but that first season,
then you're working on your finishing up the Seinfeld project
and you're the only editor on the show. I was
the only editor at first, And then we weren't sure
when we were going to air. Originally was going to
be March, and then they said there's a chance it

(10:09):
might be you know earlier, and Greg said, I'm not
going on the air in February. I don't want to
be up against everybody's huge stunt episodes. So that meant
we would be on the air in January. And because
of that, then there was pressure to get the episodes done.
So Stu Bass, who's a veteran editor, he came in
and so we were we were tag team on a
few episodes. So like, I think there were somewhere I cut,

(10:33):
there was a couple where he cut, there was somewhere
he'd finished, you know. He like I would do the
assembly and he would work with the director and vice versa.
Do you feel like you got the aesthetic of the
show right away? How much was Greg directing you in
terms of how he wanted the show to look or feel. Um,
I think I got it right away. I mean I

(10:55):
just was like, oh, this is funny, and I mean
there's definitely a little difference with finding uh, just the
style of the mockumentary and having these kind of cameras
moving around. Um, we played around a lot definitely that
first season. We spent a lot of time. You know.
One of the things that was cool was that they
shot you guys, I think, in two different outfits, Like

(11:16):
we could take general views of you of just like
you guys sitting in the office. And even if we
shot of for episode one, it also worked for episode
three and episode five and then two and four you
might have had similar clothes or something like that. You know,
there was something where we had general views that we
could kind of steal from one episode and put into another. Um.

(11:39):
The one thing that was knew about this kind of
show than anything I had done before was usually, you know,
when you're editing comedy, it's like fast, fast, fast, and
you're pacing it up. And here it was like, no,
we need these moments of of breath and it's holding
on reactions, and you know, it's a little different than
anything I had done before. But once you get into

(12:00):
and you're like, Okay, now I know what's what we're
looking for. Well, we just explored things and and tried
and you know, especially even with the theme song and
the main title, different things. Oh my god, we had
he sent out like to the cast, he maybe sent
to you, like, hey, give me five songs that you
guys look. So I was building different main titles, you know,

(12:21):
twenty we did like twenty five different songs. Here was
a song here, there was a song here. John Krasinski
had a song from Sloan that was like this is great,
um and uh. And I'd have to cut the picture
though too. And it wasn't just like all right, I'll
just lay the song in. So I was like cutting
multiple versions of picture. But ultimately we went with you know,
I think Jay Ferguson was the composer and we just

(12:43):
his version. That was the one we used from the beginning.
Were you planning on using the footage that John Krasinski shot?
There was no plan, Like stuff came in and it
was like, okay, I'll use this and use that, you know.
I mean, we just there were all kinds of things.
So it was like circling stuff the water cooler. You know.
We were just just trying things like to make a

(13:03):
main title and things that would hit, and you know,
it was hit with the music. So when the song
when the rhythm of the song was different, it had
to be totally recut. When we had different songs, and
and and you know, there were different versions of the
main title. There's a longer version. I think for the
super Bowl episode we did a longer version of the song.
We did shorter versions, you know, towards the end we

(13:25):
would get you know, do really short versions because we
needed more time for show. There's also a version and
maybe it was the Super Bowl where there was just
more of the cast, and then towards the after Steve left,
also it was we have okay, here's a shot of
Phillis and Stanley, here's a shot of Kevin and Angela
and Oscar. You know, so we would we would get
more more people into the main title. Randall talked about

(13:47):
there were rules that they had was sort of dictated,
you know, by Ken's original vision and by Greg that
they would not shoot a shot that was imposed posible
to get as a documentary. Like if we came up
to a house and they knocked on the door, there
would not be a camera inside the house shooting out

(14:09):
because the crew wouldn't have if we've just arrived there,
there would be no camera from inside, right. But more
than that, if Michael is standing at his office door
and we are shooting Michael, we can't play a camera
directly behind Michael because we would then shoot that cameraman
in reality. Right. So we were bound by the traditional

(14:31):
rules of documentary that everything was happening in the exact moment.
And I remember Randall and Matt fighting directors who were
wanting the cameras to be placed you on a second
pass or whatever, and them saying, no, we can't be
there because we would have just filmed ourselves, right. And
that's and that's the thing. And it's like you have
to give time, at least even in editing, you have

(14:54):
to give time to be like, well, this camera could
have moved now and then been here, you know. I
remember we're arguing with Claire Scanlon, who was another editor
once because she was doing something. She's like DONNAA and
and Greg's like, no, you can't, and there are not
seven cameras in the room, so you have to choose
your angles and limbs. You know. They were just I

(15:14):
can't even remember what the exact situation was, but they
were like, yeah, no, and she was like, Dave, do
you do this, I said, yeah, yeah, this is what
I follow wed. You know, you have to kind of
do this thing. But we yeah, I mean when you
watch the cameras and you watch the editing, you'll see,
for the most part, we do follow these these rules.
And there aren't you know, these shots in typical coverage

(15:35):
that you would see on another show. Right. Do you
did you work with the DP or camera guys at
all about this or was this just sort of like understood,
like everything just kind of works because you both got it. Yeah,
we got it. I mean we would see what they
would do and be like, okay, this is you know,
and there will be some communication like they would ask, hey,

(15:56):
how's this working or how's this and you know the
push in when we would you know, someone would say
something and you know, we started doing like these slight
pushings and it got fun. But sometimes I felt like
the show it would go a little too much like this,
and I said, oh, we're we're pushing in. We're missing
I think there was something once with you where you
were saying something and Angela was next to you, and
Angela had a this sour look. The camera pushed in

(16:20):
so much on you, and in a few of the
takes you couldn't see her, like she got framed out,
and it was like you have to kind of you know,
I said, let's let's be aware and and so easy
on that. But for the most part, no, I mean
the camera, the DP and the camera work Matt Randall Sarah,
I mean, they were amazing what they would get and
the footage that we would we would get in there,
and you know, sometimes it was just a lot of

(16:42):
footage and it was like, all right, how do we
you know, mind through this and putting the puzzle together?
How do we get from this coverage to this coverage
and back? And you know, when you are shooting multiple takes,
obviously you know, having characters match and what they're doing
and so it was always fun, but sometimes it was hard.
It's interesting. So Claire came from reality. Claire came from

(17:05):
reality and documentaries, documentaries and I think she may have
done I mean, don't I think she had done some scripted.
I'm not sure how much comedy. And she came Actually
it was like season it was into season four she
came in. Uh, Dean Holland was leaving. So I so
after after season one we got picked up for six
episodes of season two, so it was just me doing that,

(17:28):
and I said, if we get picked up for more,
we need to get a second editor, and so we
brought in Dean Holland, who was someone who I had
worked with before, so it was me and him doing
the episodes after that, and then he was leaving with
Mike Sure to go do Parks and Wreck, at which
point I said, Okay, we need to bring in some editors,
and so we brought in Stu Bass again and Claire
Scanlin and Claire just I mean, she hit it out

(17:49):
of the park right away. I mean she just got
it great, great sensibility. And then season the next season
was just me and Claire, like we were, we were
editing together and alternating and stuff, and uh yeah, she
was great. She just got it. A team player too.
I'd help her out with stuff, She'd helped me out.
I mean just just yeah, just great. Were there things

(18:09):
that you felt like, either with you or Dean or
you and Claire you can decide or maybe it was
the same or different. Were there specific strengths that you
had that you felt like, maybe you would take over
this moment of an episode, even if it was hers
or vice versa. Do you remember anything like that? No,
I mean I will tell you something funny about the finale,

(18:31):
but no, there was never anything like that. I mean
we would just look at each other stuff like she
would show me her that I'd give her some feedback
or notes. I'd be like, try this, and she would
look at mine and say, hey, maybe if you do this,
Like it was pretty open. It was great having Claire.
She did bring like a sensibility and I think just
being a female, like there were things that just as

(18:51):
a male, like oh, I'm I'm missing you know, this
kind of component, especially with some of the relationship stuff
that she had, I think a more sensitive a sense about.
But I'll say with the finale was interesting because I
think I edited, or maybe Claire edited the first half
of the show and I edited the second half, and

(19:13):
the first half was like more I think, more comedy stuff.
In the second half was like more poignant stuff. I'm
trying to remember how we did. And and at some
point Greg watched the cut and we thought it was great.
It was long and it was great, and then he's like,
all right, I want you guys to switch and now
I want Claire to do this half and you do
this in and we were like, that's insane, that's he
was brilliant. I mean it made sense, like suddenly now

(19:36):
I was reworking some of her scenes, she was reworking
some of mine. If you remember, at the end, we
had this whole thing with the plant with planty, you know, yes,
Claire brought up planty. Yeah, and it was the whole
thing with planting. You know, she had cut it out
and Greg said, no, no, you can't. You can't lose Planty.
We lost planning. I mean ultimately Greg was like, yeah,
like it's got to go. And that's you know, and

(19:57):
Greg and I mean, what a brilliant script. Though. The
finale was so great, so satisfying, I think as a
series ender, you know, just just everything, all the things
that were hit in there. You know, everybody had their
their moments. It was definitely one of those things where
where he had a switch. I'd have to I'm trying
to remember who did who did what, But I remember

(20:18):
like at the end, I was instrumental with the end
to some degree. I ended up shooting the building, the
last shot you see of the dunder Mifflin building. I
went out with my little cannon point and shoot, and
I shot the building and because then we said, oh,
we'll do this with Pam, she takes the painting away.
But at the end we go into the painting because

(20:39):
we needed like this just nice poignant ending. I go,
I got it. I got it, and we go into
the painting and it dissolves into the building and that's
the last shot, you see. And so I shot this building.
And then even Matt so own r d P said
I'll shoot it also with our cameras we'll see you know,
and he shot it and it looked nice too. But
for some reason, like I got this lighting and or

(21:00):
Greg just he gets used to what he sees and
he's like, no, I like this one. And that was it.
That was the last shot. It dissolves from the painting
into this into the building. So how much after we
shot the finale did you do that? It was probably
a month and a half. Listen. We didn't finish the
show until the morning of I mean we were at

(21:21):
the mix till one in the morning, and at midnight,
I go, hey, Greg, I just realized the end titles
are going to run over the most poignant moments of
the show. And he goes fuck. Howard had a call NBC.
It was midnight and we had a figure and you know,
ultimately like they ran a promo or something, you know,

(21:42):
because the week before I directed the one, the week
before the ARM, the penultimate one, the titles ran underneath
We had a promo for the finale, I think that
came after ARM and so the credits just ran underneath
that promo. But here we are. It was like what
do we you know, what do we do? Because Greg

(22:02):
is like, we can't make it. You know, there's no
tag for the first run, and we didn't think about,
like we just it's just not something that would come
up in your head because normally we would run it
under you know, a tag or something. But in this,
the end of this, it just ends. And so we
got clearance to get a promo or something fifteen seconds,
twenty seconds and ran the credits under that. And then
in the re airs we pulled out Michael and Dwight

(22:26):
dancing to Rosalita at the wedding and that became the tag.
So it runs under that when you see it in syndication,
that's where the end of credits now run. That moved
to the end. Interesting I was the last guy there,
so I have video footage of It's sad when they
were tearing down the sets, like I was the only
when they're editing, like everybody else was gone, Like Greg

(22:49):
wasn't even there, Like I'm editing. I was doing whatever,
like the syndication cuts or you know, for season nine
and the DVD stuff for that, and and then I
went through I I filmed, I did a walk through
of the sets. It's kind of sad, but I have
this foot has no one seen it. At some point
if we do another collective you know, DVD or retrospective

(23:09):
or something, I have this footage to offer. Wow. So, well,

(23:33):
you've worked in multi camp shows and you know, the
office not having any sort of laugh track or music
underneath underscoring stuff. Did that make your job harder? I
had done single camera also, I did I kud a
show called Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Was their music
under that there was? And I did another show called

(23:53):
The O'Keefe. Yeah, I mean everything had had music, um,
but it made it easier not to have to or
things to not have to, you know, because especially I've
worked on show since like the Mindy Project and even
now on on a space force, you know, where like
we have to you spend a lot of time hunting
for like temp cues and things like that before the

(24:15):
composer comes in and does their thing. But yeah, I
mean the office just never needed it, like we didn't,
you know. And there were a couple of times where
we slip things in because they it felt like, okay,
the documentarian, Like at the end of Dinner Party, we
play Hunter's song, and uh, it's because the document you
can logically say the documentarian would have taken it and

(24:36):
played it like it's their choice. Dinner Party is one
that I wanted to talk to you about. You cut that, yeah, yeah,
and that was certainly one of probably the top two
episodes that utilized the cringe comedy factor more than anything else.

(24:57):
Did you respond to that kind of episode? I yeah,
you know, it was a different episode, and just that
they're at this house and you're seeing Michael acting, you know,
in a different way than he acts so much, you know,
more like just an elevated way of him acting than
at work. He's so happy to have everybody there, but
it's also so uncomfortable, you know. Um, and I love

(25:21):
the way he liked it, doesn't he like trick Jim
and Pam to come yes and uh yeah, I love
the comedy. I had one I pitched one joke that
made it in where Michael goes and looks at his
TV and it's you know, it's really small and it's
hanging on the wall and we were sitting I was
sitting in Video Village with Gene and Lee the writers,

(25:43):
and I go he should say, uh, man, I love this.
I could just stand here and watch TV all day.
And Jean like yes, and he ran out and he
told Paul some people's favorite. Yeah. So I was like,
and I think it made it in. Like I was
so happy he made it, like in one of it
was like Jeff's or something or one of those quotes,
but that was my my quote because it was like,

(26:06):
I he just stood there, and I was like, that's
what's funny. He's like that, not that he would be
sitting down relaxing, that he could be I could just
stand here. It's funny because brought up that moment as
one of the times he could not laugh and specifically
Steve saying something like, oh and it can tilt and
it moves just and just kind of bangs the walls

(26:26):
just the slightest amount were wires hanging down. I mean
that scene. We have tons of bloopers, like they could
not keep it together that episode. They could not keep
it together. But that that scene with the TV and
you can just see the wires and John be like, oh,
I see the you know, and you're gonna get the
wires or no, you know, like whatever. He was just
talking because it was like it just looks so unprofessionally

(26:47):
set up, you know, Oh my god. And I think
we were on strike. The writers were on strike when
that episode started. Yeah, the timeline to refresh your memory
is Dinner Party was the episode that was completed before
the strike, before the stri that was written and we

(27:07):
could have shot it. And we showed up for work
on that first day of shooting and I believe they
got a couple of talking heads in and Steve said
I'm not coming in and that was and that was it. Yeah,
what do you remember about that time? I just was like, Okay,
this is that's what we do. Listen. I'm a union guy.

(27:30):
I'm in the most Picture Editors Guild in the d
g A. So I if the writers, you know, if
there's a strike. You know, I support my my brothers
and sisters and the other unions. I think I marched
a couple of days more and more just to see people,
you know, because it was like three or four months.
I was like, yeah, I was hanging out with Mindy
and uh you know, Brent and Paul and you know,
just just marching. What was funny too, was like I

(27:53):
was going to direct that season. This was season uh four,
So I was going to direct that season. And I
remember when we came back, Kent said, I don't know,
you know, what promises were made, and I said it's okay.
Let's just because they didn't know how many episodes would
be left, and you know, and I was like, it's okay,
we just want to get back to work. I'll direct.
I'll get my first one at some point. I'm not worried.

(28:14):
And I got mine, you know. I season five. Early
on in season five was when I got my my
first episode to direct. And was that your first directing?
That was my first directing was employee transfer of any television,
of any television. Yeah, and I had you know, I
had a huge Halloween. You know, we had the Halloween opening.

(28:35):
You were Batman, you were the joker. Yeah, there were
three jokers. So I had this nice, you know, this
great fun thing with the costumes, and then uh, and
then I had three stories. I had Jim and Pam,
Pam meeting Jim's brothers for the first time. I had
Dwight coming in wearing Cornell paraphernalia and pissing off Andy.

(28:56):
And then I had Michael Holly and Darryl draw iving
and you know, breaking up soode and it was funny.
I showed up was my first day of filming, I
think was that and I was so I mean, I
had so much anxiety that night before. And I show
up and I go to Crew Parking and I'm on
the bus with the extras. You know, we're sitting, everyone's talking,

(29:19):
they're excited, and they're like oh no, no no, no, no,
no no, and then like and they're like, oh, You'm
like I'm the director, and like the extras like, you know,
their faces just kind of dropped. But I'm like, I'm
you know, I'm because I'm a regular guy. I just
I don't know. They tell me. And then I get there, like,
oh no, you can park here. You don't have to
be at base camp. You could be here as I
don't know, I get the call sheet. This was it.
No one specifically told me where to park, and but

(29:41):
it was so great. I mean, everybody was so supportive,
the cast, the crew. I have. You know, I have
a script Kim Ferry from Harry I think got everybody
to sign a script for me. So it's got cast
and crew and it it really means a lot. Yeah,
well what did that mean for you to be given
that opportunity by Greg? Oh? I mean him at the
world to be trusted. Uh listen. In season one, I

(30:03):
had started kind of helping out Season one. He did
the basketball episode was the first thing he had directed,
and he's like, I want you on set with me.
So I would be there and sometimes he'd be back
with video village and he's like, you yell cut when
we got it, and you know, I'm nervous, but I
would yell cut sometimes. And I designed a couple of
the shots just discussing stuff with him, or was like, hey,
I think if we do that. You know, we needed

(30:24):
like just more comedy bits, single things to cut two
and then cut more back to the story. And and
I remember the one bit that I did was where
Michael's like, Jim, Jim, Jim, give me the ball, give
me the ball, and he looks away and Jim throws
it and it's like, you know, rockets past him and
Jim my bad. You know that that that kind of
thing Um and I had. Also one of the things

(30:46):
I had done was sometimes, you know, if we were
missing a shot or something, I might say, oh, we
can just do you know in editing, we we would
and that's a different things like rewriting and saying, hey,
if we just get a talking head here, we can
cut all of this out time wise and just come
in here. Claire talked about, Yeah, one of the things
I did was the episode fun Run where Um, Michael

(31:09):
drives in and he hits so the first time, you know,
when we got the footage originally he came in and
he stopped short, and we panned to the right, you know,
off him, like a quick whip pant and you would
just see Meredith laying there in the street and it
would win back and I said, Greg, you have to
come see this. Like I said, it doesn't look like

(31:29):
he hit her. It looks like he stopped short and
found her just lying like as if she's passed out.
And so we're talking about reshoots and stuff, and I said,
I think I think we could do something where we
wouldn't even need Steve, like I can use his footage.
And so I have a version with our line producer
Ken Sipborneck where I said, we do this and Dan Beals,
who was a p A. He was, he sat there

(31:50):
on the steering wheel, he had his sleeve. We did
a whip I had kent. We kind of threw him
against the windshield and then he would he bounced off
and rolled off, and then we whipped back and I
edited this. So I had a version with with Michael
driving whipped off. You saw ken't hit the windshield. He
came off, whipped back to Michael and Michael like looking,

(32:12):
you know, shocked, and I'm like, all right, let's do it.
So then I was there, you know with the I
guess second unit with UH with Kate Flannery, and I
would kind of slam her, you know, slam her onto
the windshield, so she would kind of fall hit the
windshield and she would fall off and land on pads.
And uh, she says, because I got on the Tonight
Show or one of these talks because of that, she

(32:34):
got more popular because she got hit by Michael's car.
You know, it was one of one of those things.
So so you know, it was great to finally be
given the opportunity to say, Hey, I really want to direct,
give me a shot. And I was happy. Like everybody,
the response to employee transfer was was really positive. So
that was really rewarding to yah, Um, what do you

(32:56):
think it is about you and Greg's relationship that makes
it work so well and that you've continued to work
on other things with him after I think, I mean,
there's definitely a trust like he I think he you know,
he likes what I do. He likes the speed that
I'm able to do it. He knows. I'm talking to Mindy.

(33:17):
I got dinner. Mindy and my girlfriend and I had
dinner recently and Mindy said something she goes. Greg said
this about Dave. She goes, Dave's never political when it
comes to editing and making a show. Like, I'm not
sitting there. I never even occurred to me to be like, oh, well,
this writer wrote this joke, I'm gonna put this in,

(33:37):
or this one did this. I mean to me, I
just was doing what I thought, Hey, this is what
I think is funnier. This is what I think is
the best. So I think Greg appreciates that that. I'm
just like, Dave is just gonna do what's funniest. If
it's an actor ad lib that's funnier than the scripted line,
that's what's gonna Dave's gonna put in, and in Greg's.
In fairness to Greg, Greg will go with that as well. Listen,

(34:00):
I've unlocked shows. We had a show Lice Claire finished
it with Greg and they cut out the last scene
like they ended it with Meredith saying, hey, let's go
get a drink. And I said, you cut out the
scene of them in the bar and the and Greg's
like yeah, he goes, did you miss it? I go yeah,
And this is like mixed, it's ready to be delivered,

(34:21):
you know. And uh, Greg goes, all right, we'll do
a version of what you want and let me look
at it, you know, but trying don't have don't have
this stuff because I didn't like this in that conversation.
At the end, I'm like, yeah, no problem, I'll take
out that stuff and I'll find some trims. It's not
too disruptive. In the rest of the show. It's like, okay,
and that was it, and I re so I changed
the episode. We remixed. I mean, it was just it was,

(34:43):
you know, we just had to do a fix. We
had a picture fix in this and I remember Kate
came up, was really happy. She came to the edic
She's like, oh my god, like and I was like, yeah,
I missed that scene. I didn't think. I think we
need that scene. It's really nice. And the writer, the
writer was home sick and she gets a DVD delivered
and she's like, what's this The show already locked, Like

(35:03):
what is it? Like? She didn't know that I had
unlocked and relocked it. So she was so excited because
this was the scene that she wanted. Also, you know,
it was a staff writer and she was like, oh
my god. But I think that all goes to you know,
with Greg knows like I will always fight for what's best.
I will work crazy hours, and you know he will
always get my honest and best opinion. I'm never at

(35:25):
a point where I'm like I don't care like that,
never had. I ate once in a while say that,
But the truth is it's not It's not true. And
I'll think about it, and I'll think about edits and
I will, you know, get up early in the morning
to oh, I want to tweak this and fix this
and how can I make this better? And you know,
there are times where I've argued with him on stuff.
I go, we can why would we do this? Da
da da da, And he'll make a point. I'll be like, okay,

(35:48):
I that makes sense, Like sometimes I just need that
or I need to know why. And there were other
moments where we had some long stuff. I remember being
with Jen Salada and there was a scene where Roy
is being nice to Pam and he gets her out
of a meeting and he helps her with her car
or something, and they're walking in the parking lot and
it's like, okay, we get it. And Jen wanted longer

(36:09):
and longer and longer. And I remember being in the
bag like a little shit there, you know, with Greg
and I go like this, I'm sitting there in front
of my monitor and I hold up my hand like this.
He goes, what are you doing? I go, this is
me at home changing the channel, and he goes, all right,
make it ten seconds. And then you know, so like
we got it. We go short because it wasn't like

(36:29):
this is just them walking. It's like we I want
to get back now to the other stuff. Like we
get it, they're walking. There's enough of a moment of them.
It's not like it was short. But I didn't need
twenty seconds of that, you know, things like that. So there,
you know he channel. Yeah, but I think Greg appreciates it,
you know, because I'm like, I'm honest, why did people

(37:11):
respond to the Jim Pam story so much? Oh? I mean,
she's adorable. I mean that's your perspective, that's the that's
my perspective. He's I mean, he is a super sweet
guy and he's sensitive and he's funny, and you know,
he's good looking. But she's adorable and and she's being

(37:34):
treated terribly by Roy and it's like you want something
better for her. And that's it. That's what it all
comes down to. I think that's it. You know that,
and here's this guy that would be perfect for her
and they would be happy, and you just want to
see that. Yeah. I think that a lot of it
has to do also with the editing work that you

(37:56):
guys did and the way the writers wrote the story, right,
you couldn't get tired of them because there would be
whole episodes where nothing would happen between them, So it
just naturally happened slow. Um. I felt like that gave
it room to breathe and ultimately brought people into that
story because not only were they dying for them to

(38:17):
get together, they were they were dying to see more
of them, and they were intentionally withheld from that. Do
you think that's true. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I
think definitely that it's It was the center of the show,
but off center. Do you know what I mean? It
wasn't it would come in and and then go, you know,
back off a bit. It was I mean, that's not
The show has many components, so it was like like

(38:40):
an ensemble. It was like here's one element of the show.
Here's another element, here's another element, here's another element. So
it wasn't like, hey, here's just a show about you know,
two people. I mean, look, they didn't. We We played it.
We timed everything nice too. I think that there was
a certain pacing to their relationship. I don't know if
anybody talks you about Casino Night, Yes, there was a

(39:02):
huge discussion. They talked about the huge discussion. Yes, that's
one of the things that I wanted to get into
with you because I was in the room where the
huge discussions. Yes, let's have let's talk about the huge discussion. Now,
which scene in Casino Night is this when Jim Jim
professes his love or the kiss when he professes his
love is? Uh? Originally, like, the concept was we would

(39:23):
just see the aftermath of it, and there was a
huge discussion about no, no, no, we should see you know,
and and it was Greg and Ken the actors were
there and stuff, and it was like, yeah, it's it's
cool to do something as a documentary to be like, oh,
we're just capturing the moment after. But there's something unsatisfying,
I think for an audience member to not see a

(39:45):
piece of this. And uh, I think we made the
right choice in letting them have a conversation. And you
think it's and you think that's it, Like, you know,
he says I'm in love with you and she's like
I can't, and then you think that's you know, he's like,
I just don't want to be friends, you know, and
that's it, and you think, okay, we're done. And then

(40:05):
at the end, what a what an ending? I mean
you talk about a cliffhang or what a what an
ending that he comes in and what a great kiss too,
And I mean kudos to the actors because it's you know,
even in our small world on the set, like there
just was a sense of pressure of like like here's
a big moment that we're dealing with, and they just

(40:26):
they just fucking awesome, you know, and it's such a
great kiss and what he does and what she does,
and you know, it's just and then that we stop
and again it's a timing thing of them. It's after
and they look at each other and then boom we
go to black. You know I can see, yeah, like
the timing of it, yeah, because it's that moment of

(40:47):
like where they look at each other after like what now,
and then we go to black. And then the next season,
Greg he had that opening. Man, everything gets slowly revere.
You see this aspect, this aspect, and you see Pam
doesn't have a ring, Jim is in the now a
different location and it's like, well, what happened? And then

(41:08):
we find out, right, Um, did you shoot two versions
of Casino Night or what did the discussion in that
scenario happened beforehand? Did you cut that multiple ways? No?
We just we shot it the way that ended up air,
and we just did version. I mean you could have
edited I guess a certain way and and seen it
like the aftermath. But that point the decision was, yeah

(41:31):
it was and you saw it and you were like, oh, yeah,
we want to see this well I and we had
other discussions like that on other episodes. The proposal, I
don't know if Greg this this was I was moving
right into you. No, no, literally right now. I mean,
um so what I was told and reminded about was yes,
the proposal the great h sound or no? Sound great

(41:52):
it because it was written in a way, you know,
the production aspects of that where we built this on
a huge parking lot and we had trucks team we
oil just doing figure eights to make it look like
they're passing, you know, so they have enough room like
cars passing driving by, and uh, Jim and Pam, you know,
the original concept was like that we couldn't hear them.
We would just see it, and then we had a

(42:12):
version where you would hear it, and ultimately, uh, Greg
went with the version where you can't hear them and
then he changed his mind that morning that we were wearing.
He's like, no, I've slept on it, and I want
to put the one where they can hear them the
morning that we're airing. Yeah, So then it was like

(42:35):
I think I think it was like that morning he's like, okay,
so we we did the one where there you can
hear them, and I think, listen, I think both of
them were great versions, but I think it's probably better
to to hear. I mean, we waited so long for
this moment, it was probably better to better to hear
it and not just see it, because you didn't want
any kind of confusion of like what happened? You know.

(42:56):
I think that ultimately we made the right choice. But
it I'll tell you this is they didn't destroy the
one with the no sound, and when it was time
to make the DVDs, they almost screwed up and had
that one and and Jake Aust was our a P
at the time, and he was like, wait a minute,
you know, like that almost got burned onto DVDs. They

(43:18):
were doing QC and uh. He's like, I mean, some
some heads rolled because it was like this needs to
be labeled and not you know, either not here anywhere
where it would get mixed in. You know. You know,
I've had a number of people talk to me about
that moment, and I will say to you, I remember

(43:40):
very very specifically the way that looked. I remember him
going down, I remember the rain, I remember the eighteen
wheelers going by, right, and that's such a spy shot.
I don't remember what he said. Yeah, I know what
I mean, like how it was. It's almost irrelevant which choice,

(44:04):
because like she's like, what are you doing? He says,
I can't wait anymore. And it's not I mean, it's
not about like the dialogue being like that sharp, but
it is having that help of that audio que and
and again there's plenty of other sound going on. It's
not like, hey, this is as clear as day, but
it was just at least you could could. But I
understand what you're saying. Yeah, um, talk to me a

(44:24):
little bit while we're on the subject of sound about
Company Picnic and the decision to cut the sound when
you find out that Pam is pregnant. Okay, Yeah, so
that was That was the episode where I made my
office acting ray bands guy um um, I believe it's

(44:45):
guy wearing bands. Yeah. Uh, And it's funny. I have
friends and put anytime it shows up. And I have
friends now whose kids watch the show and they're like,
that's Dave. You know they see me on there with
my one line that you're acting was my acting debut
on across any platform. That was your acting debut. Oh no, no, no, no,

(45:07):
I have acted before, I have shown up. It's funny.
I mean a Gilmore Girls episode and uh, I have
one line. I go, sure, but it was such that
sounds like a word, not a line. That's a line
of work. A matter of fact, as when I edited
that for my own acting reel, it was so short.
I had to add like to still frames at the

(45:28):
end because I'm on, you know, it's a gilmord Girls.
They cut it so tight, and I'm like, but uh,
but I remember. It was such an all star day
for me, like just being on the set as an
actor because I was an assistant editor. I had taken
acting classes to become better as a director. So and
then I was going out. I did I did voice work.
I'm on a cartoon. I did like thirty four episodes
of an animation show called Shinzo, which is a Japanese

(45:52):
anime show and speak Japanese. I didn't speak Japanese. This
was like the English American version. You're really good American versions. Yeah,
so uh but uh but I would say this, So
the Gilder girls, like Melissa McCarthy was there. Lauren Graham
is in the scene, and I think she was dating

(46:14):
Matthew Perry at the time, so he was there. It
was on the Warner Brothers lot and he was there
like just joking around. He did the slate a couple
of times. So it was like really an really a
fun day. But I have one one word. I go, sure, sure,
why did they not hire me? Alright? So sorry company
Picnic Company Picnic. The decision to not use sound there

(46:36):
when she you find out she's pregnant, Yeah, you have
to have sound. I don't think you really know what
happens if there's no mention in Paul. I think it
was like, no, I don't think you needed at all.
There was one version where it wasn't in and I
was like, if we don't have that, like no one
pays attention to it, but it's in the back of
your like we need to have some little crumb. But uh,
I think they're acting just played it like you knew

(46:58):
right away from their acting what what had happened. And
they never go back. You know, it's such a sweet moment.
Pam is like nodding and Jim is like, you know,
oh my god. He gives her a big hug and uh,
and I think it's this joyous surprise for the audience.
And they never go back to the game. They never
go back to the volleyball game or anything. Do you

(47:38):
have a favorite episode? Um, I have a few favorites,
and there's something that I haven't cut. I love Employee
Transfer because it was my first. I love ARM because
it was my last, and I had so many great
things to do in there. I had. I have Darryl
dancing with everybody. Jim plays this video for Pam and uh,
you know, it was so sweet. I'm the voice of

(47:59):
the documentary, you know, things like that, and uh, Dwight
gets to propose to Angela and he cuts her off,
and and you know, there's all this stuff with the
with the kids. So I mean, I love I love
that episode, but uh, I love the finale. The finale
is one of my favorites. I love the negotiation. I
just think like that, you know, is an episode. Mike

(48:20):
Schure wrote that one, and that to me is like
an like you could show that in a screenwriting class
and be like, look at this, Like it starts out
here and then there's a twist, and it goes here,
and then there's a twist and again, you know, and
it's just so funny, like he and it's just the
basic premises Michael wears he buys a woman's suit and
doesn't realize it and where that ends up going. You know. Um,

(48:42):
I love Booze Cruise and I didn't edit Booze Cruise.
I I love Michael dancing that he does a motivation dance,
and I love that as we call it, like the
seconds of silence, seconds of silence outside with Jim and Pam.
Well even talking before about the specific moment of the

(49:04):
end of Casino Night, I think my overwhelming memory of
you is you're an incredible artist and really know your job,
but you are also so excited. I mean to say
that you were a fan. I mean I call myself
a fan of the show right like I was. I

(49:25):
thought The Office was an excellent show. I'm a fan
of that show regardless of the fact I worked on it,
and I felt like for you, you were the same way,
Like you were excited by a great moment that the
actors gave, like you were excited about something the cameras
did that looked cool that you were able to put together,
and yeah, that that spirit was pretty awesome. Well, it's

(49:48):
funny we had a we had this environment and post
because we would see things. We had a whole different
you know, like people quote the show, right, but we
would quote stuff and you guys, by the time we
would to set, like three days later, I'd be like,
oh my god, this is so funny. You guys don't
even know what we're talking about, because at that point
you've had like seven other pages of dialogue to memorize

(50:08):
and things like that, you know. So it was like
I'd be like, going, oh my god, what Steve. And
I find myself like there are mannerisms that I do,
Like there are things that people will say to Michael
Scott and I'll be like, well, and you know, like
and and I say that I do that. Even yesterday
I said something to Greg and I'm like, I'm doing
Steve Carrell. Like there was something where I was like,

(50:31):
you know, like like doing these things. But I remember
I used to call everybody by their character name, or
at least like the writers, like Mindy. I'm sure you
know people call you Kevin because they, you know, just
out of like Kevin. But I used to like deliberately,
like I got into this mindset where I had nicknames
for Paul, Like I would call him tob larone, like
things that Michael Scott didn't even call him. I would

(50:52):
call make up nicknames for Toby, and uh, you know,
I mean, I was just a huge fan of all
you guys. I mean just to I just I yeah,
I love the show, and I was so glad to
be working on stuff from season one, just these dark endings.
Like people some people, you know, they say, oh they
didn't like season one, or they like it later once

(51:13):
they see where season two and three are, they can
go back and they appreciate it more. I loved it
out of the gate. I was like, oh my god,
this like it's a sitcom that doesn't end on it
It's not tied up in a bow at the end
of the episode, and like they all hate Michael at
the end of the Healthcare I mean, Greg's favorite moment
you know was I still have my vagina. Remember, you

(51:34):
know a vagina is different from a uterus. I still
have my vagina. I mean I remember, I remember for
the rap party the hundred. Yeah we have, but we
had the rap party, and so you know, we would
make the gag rail and we show you know, we
would put bloopers and we would show the crew. And
then I did something different. I said, oh, I'm going
to do a highlights of a hundred, and I did,
and we did account from like episode one here just

(51:56):
a quick line, just a quick thing to identify, and
we got all the casts, like everybody had a had
a moment. But it was like finding what is this
kind of you know, something that just says, here's a
line from here, Here's a line from here, Here's a
moment from here, here's you know, Michael hitting Meredith with
the car, here's you know, I mean, just these little things.
And it was it's so and it's on the DVD.
I mean, it's just great to see like just this thing.

(52:19):
And I remember everybody like just getting excited and lighting up,
but like just at this kind of thing and what
we had done, you know. Yeah, so it's crazy. So
you won two Emmys. Won two Emmys on the Office
for the job and for the finale. Yeah, I co
won those with Dean Holland and I for the job
in Claire Scanlon for the finale, Yeah, and to ace

(52:42):
American Cinema Editor Awards as well. Um, you were the
most honored department on the show. Ye, right, No actress one,
two writers one. You know, the show one once. It's
just interesting to me, you know, Well, surely what was
really rewarding was the finale to be reward you know,

(53:03):
because we had we were not the fresh new show
at that point, so it was really rewarding to to
win the finale. And like I said, we won the
Emmy and the American Cinema Editor Award in case Eddie
for that. Um. But but especially you know with the Emmy,
I just think it was our peers. You know, you know,
you have editors and so it's editors voting on editors.

(53:26):
So I think there's they recognized what you were doing.
I think they recognized it. And I think, listen, there's
so much of it is like, oh what what is
kind of hot and popular? You could be the best
editor in the world if you're not working on you know,
a show that has all these pieces that isn't in
the zeitgeist to show you know, you're not going to
get that recognition, you know. And so with with The Office, though,

(53:47):
here was something that we were doing that was fresh
and new and such a great script. And look, we
lied to everybody too about Steve, and I remember Greg
felt really bad about lying to people because he was
lying to family and friends. And I was like, I
remember writing something. I said, Greg, I said, listen, in

(54:07):
today's day and age, everything gets spoiled. It's not like
it used to be that you could have this surprise.
I said, So this is what we're doing, is we're
giving people something. Because we even had hit the footage
of Steve transferred. We didn't have it done at Universal.
We had it done secretly somewhere else. Did you know
he was showing up to set that day? I knew

(54:28):
that he was showing up, I think a day or
two before somebody spilled the beans to me. But I've
talked to a number of people who didn't know until
the assistant director said Steve's in the makeup trailer. There
were some people who did not know until until then.
I'm so curious as to who from the cast didn't
know that day because I knew, I mean because I
came to set that day because I knew, Hey, he's

(54:49):
coming at this time. So Claire and I went to set.
So Steve agrees to come. It's a big secret. It's
kept from the network. And so even after he shot
his scenes, you took it somewhere else, so we get
the footage transferred, like we get the video is transferred,
and you know, it's it's basically it's taken on digitally

(55:11):
and then it's put into the Aviot's It's like in
files that are put into the Abbots. And normally we
do all our stuff at Universal. On the Universal lot
was where we would transfer and that's where we would mix.
We did not. We took his scenes and we got
them transferred somewhere else. And what you made them sign
like non disclosure or they were friends or something or yeah,
yeah little Timmy's basement, Like what do you mean you

(55:33):
actually it was Eric Culjyn, who was our ap. His
father worked at another level. It was level three. I mean,
they do big shows and stuff like that. So we
took it there and we had a transferred there like
in a room where it was like, Okay, this is
where it's gonna be. Transfer Like, we just didn't want
We didn't want NBC execs to have access to the dailies,

(55:57):
because they can there's a way, I think where they
can access you know, the footage. They can look at
dadlies and things like that. We didn't want that because
we didn't want them ultimately to promo Steve Carrell returns
because Steve didn't want that. And there was also as
a surprise. It's like there's just enough footage of him
as a surprise that you're like blown away. My mom

(56:19):
cringes it at Michael Scott like she you know, so
much of the time, like she would cringe, but man,
she watched that finale moment. She would rewind and watch
him showing up you know that reveal fifty times. She's like, David,
I can't stop watching it, you know. I mean, it's
just such a great moment with the reveal. It's like
I can't be your best man, but you know. And

(56:41):
and so we were secretive about it, and and Greg.
I remember Gregg felt bad about lying and I was
explaining to him about spoilers. I'm like this is not
harming anyone. And it's like a surprise party if someone asked, like,
are you throwing me a surprise party and you say no,
and the two hours later surprise Like that's what this is.
And Greg, I remember he said he felt better, he
felt better about that, you know about it. It It was like,

(57:03):
I know it's hard, but that's what it is. Like
we're we're you know, we have to keep it a secret.
And if everybody keeps it a secret, it's a secret.
Like that's we're all in it together. Because even you know,
I remember, you know Ken Koppas like the day before
was like, no, Steve's not in it. He you know,
he decided that he ended, he had his exit and
all this and it's like, yeah, we're just flying. It's

(57:25):
a white, little white lie like that's it and it
and it all comes out right. Um, how how did
you working on the Office change your life? God? Well,
it just was like being you know, like I said,
I had worked on Seinfeld, but I was a small
part of that show, and it was it was very late.
I joined late. I was not instrumental in making that

(57:47):
show anything. I just I was lucky to be a
part of it. But being part of the office was
like you know, coming in right after the pilot and
getting to you know, tweaked the pilot a little bit,
but you know, just just coming in though from diversity
day and and being instrumental in like helping shape the show.
Really being part of the creative process. I didn't write,

(58:10):
you know, scripts or anything like that, but Greg would
always listen, like if you have pitches, if you have
any ideas, and sometimes you know, hey, this would get in.
That would that would get in, you know, and sometimes
like I said, I'd rewrite a joke in the edit
bay and we would Okay, we'll go shoot it. Or
I would write even the bones, and then I said,
have the writers, you know, have them just make it better,
like right right, a Sharper joke and stuff like that.

(58:33):
Um and yeah. So I mean it changed my life,
like just being a part of that show. And and
obviously I mean it's nice like to be on something
that's popular and people like, oh you work on the Office,
like you know, like it's still to this day, people
are always you know, surprised and through I mean, I
went I was wearing a jacket under Mifflin Saver one

(58:53):
of the season. You know, jackets wrap jackets and I
was getting coffee and uh, the rist was like, I
love your jack What you gonna say? I worked on
the show. Oh my god, I love this show. Please
tell every you know. I mean like still to this day, people, Uh,
people are you know? More and more? Actually I should
say you know as do you feel too? Because like

(59:14):
I said, there's another there's a whole generation of of
people with their kids. I get Facebook messages all the
times where they're like, just one of my kids are
watching the show. They love it. They've binged it three times.
You know. Even my godson I got him. He wanted
for Christmas a dunder Mifflin hoodie. I had to buy
one from NBC dot com. Do I have anything anymore?
I'm like, I all my swag and autograph stuff. You know,

(59:36):
he's watched the episodes. He sees me. He hears my
voice as the documentary and he sees my name in
the credits. Uh. And we talked stuff and people are
always asking me about trivia and I'm pretty good my
memories that like I said, I'm I slip a little
bit with with people's names. And I don't know if
that's just age or if like the hard drive is
full and overloaded. I've got one. I've got I've got

(59:57):
one for you. This is fun, so people they'll come up.
You are pretty good with trivia. In fact, we all
call you the Encyclopedia. I have one question. This is
my one, all right, all right. I was told a
while ago it is a name one though, so you
got to be careful. This was like the finals of
some trivia thing someone won. They told me the question.
I've just decided I'm adopting this question. When someone says

(01:00:19):
they know trivia and I asked him this question, Okay,
you ready, this is for one billion dollars. What is
Gabe Lewis's middle name? Beverley? That was like, this the
right spirit you? Now? I think the Leslie David Baker.

(01:00:43):
I've had a lot of people say Leslie. I'm trying
to think. Is Susan Susan Susan Gabriel Susan Lewis. Yes,
that's good. There you go have you. But thank you
for playing. Was really really entertaining. Um, dude, thank you
so much for coming in. Yeah, you're you're the encyclopedia

(01:01:06):
and your knowledge and your passion for the show. You know,
I think the show in a lot of ways, what
made it special was how much people cared. It wasn't
about ego. It was truly about making the best show
that we could. Yeah, what can you say? I mean? Yeah,
the show has changed my life in so many ways,
and it's just you know, I love being a part

(01:01:28):
of it. I still love being a part of it.
And uh, I just love that we we have this
this bond because of it. Yeah, all right, thank you, Dave.

(01:01:51):
What can I say? I could just stand here and
listen to you on a podcast all day. Thank you
so much for coming by. It was so great to
see you and to well to hear from you, and
to all of you out there, thank you for listening
to another episode of the Office Deep Dive. I hope
you have the best week possible And to cap off

(01:02:15):
that amazing week, you can come back next Tuesday to
hear part two of my conversation with our wonderful writer
Jen Salata. The Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive

(01:02:35):
produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee.
Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer. Our producers are Diego
Tapia and Liz Hayes. My main man in the booth
is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak performed
by my great friend Cree Bratton, and the episode was
mixed by seth olandskip A