August 17, 2021 • 45 mins
As a surprise for the one and only Steve Carell, Brian invited pop icon and Office superfan Billie Eilish onto the podcast after her epic Grammy win in 2020 to talk about why The Office is her “strange addiction” and what she’s learned from the show. Plus, Brian opens the floor to fans in this special Mailbag episode: he answers all your questions, from comparing the cast with their characters to Brian’s favorite Kevin scenes to the iconic Stress Relief cold open.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Billie Eilish is calling in right now. If you want
to say hello, she really is. Yeah, yeah, well hello everybody.
Welcome to a special and extra special episode of The
(00:28):
Office Deep Dive. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Now
today I'm gonna need you to hold onto your pants, folks.
Is that a phrase? Because I have got a very
special surprise for you. Actually, not one. I have two surprises,
So let's start with the one that involves my good
(00:49):
friend Steve Correll, whom I don't know. Some of you
may know as Michael Scott on The Office. Just kidding,
I know you know who Steve is. Um, Well, yesterday
is his birthday. Happy birthday to you, Steve, and we
all know he is the man who deserves all of
the presence in the world. Well, I gave him my
(01:11):
gift last year, which was to surprise him with one
of the biggest musicians on the planet, who also happens
to be one of the biggest Office fans on the planet.
He got to meet Billy freaking Eilish for the first
time over FaceTime, and let me tell you it was magical. Okay,
(01:34):
that week she had just taken home five Grammy awards,
one of which I still believe rightly belongs to us,
and I'll take that any time, Billy, thank you very much.
But in honor of Steve's birthday, I'm going to share
with you all of you listeners my gift to him
this uh a phone call with Billie Eilish. After that,
(01:58):
I'm going to be answering some of the questions that
you have been asking me on social media, filling in
the gaps and getting to know all of you just
a little bit better along the way. But before we
get to that, before we get to you, please give
a very warm welcome to well the King of the Office,
(02:20):
Steve Correll and the voice of a generation, Billie Eilish,
Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on
Bubble and Squeaker cook at every month left over from
(02:41):
the nut before. Oh my good Nay. First of all, congratulations,
I go insane, this is crazy. How are you guys?
(03:07):
How are you? I'm great? I am amazing. Congratulations Steve
and I were just talking actually, and you won five Grammys. Um,
we feel like our contribution on the album was the
most significant, So you can, if you can send one
over we'll split it. It'll be fine. I don't need
(03:30):
all of them. You can have one. I just got
us a Grammy. It's so nice to like actually say hi.
I feel like we've sort of sort of cross pats,
but not really. I know. It's so nice. Oh my god,
it's so crazy to hear your actual voice and look
(03:52):
at your face. I don't know, this is crazy, it's crazy. Wow.
This is my mom. By the way, come here, mom, Hi? Hi?
How are you? You're friends with Amy Ryan? Yeah? We
love Amy. She's the best. She might be my favorite
character on the Office. That's pretty awesome that Billy watches
(04:15):
your show, you know all the time. The phone has
the Office on next to everything she's doing day and night.
Why did you decide, Like, is it your strange addiction?
Is that is the Office your strange addiction? Definitely addiction.
That's why I had to use that song. That's why
I had to use it. Come on, I had to
use your voices because you know, I was telling the truth,
(04:38):
was a fact. She knows it shows so well that
she can just listen to it, you know, because she
knows everything that's coming up. That's true. Sorry, I don't
need to embarrass you really are you embarrassing? Um? Yep,
a little bit, Billy. Who who is your favorite character
on the Office? That's a trap, Um, listen, just say
(05:05):
Dwight and get it over. Why is everyone's favorite? Honestly,
I think it's Michael. That's fair. Well, that's fair. The
only terrible tastes. He only did seven seasons. But that's fine,
that's fine. This is crazy. I don't know if you
guys understand how dope this is to me. Thank you
guys for talking to me. This is like, well, that's
(05:27):
pretty big. It's a very very very big deal that
you get to do this. I just I'm saying it's
a pleasure. Yeah, I have to tell you, Billy, I
have a four year old? Might have I have a
four year old? Yes? I started late. It's a long story.
We'll talk about it later. But she dances around and
(05:52):
demands to hear Billie Eilish. I don't know how she
ever even heard your songs, um, but she uh is
such a fan, which makes me a humongous fan of yours.
So thank you, thank you. That's so cool. Yeah, when
did you what is it? I have to ask you
(06:14):
A couple of questions when did you start watching The Office?
So I started watching at twelve, and I've seen it
fourteen times now all the way through, which is really crazy,
and honestly, every single like because I've been getting older
obviously watching it. Every time I watch it, I understand
(06:34):
something new because I started at twelve, and I honestly,
if you ask my parents, most of the things that
it makes me sound so stupid, But the most of
the things that I know are because of The Office. No, no, no,
(06:55):
it's funked up, it's wuked up. What can I say?
What can I say? Creative? Damn it. But like, like
my parents will reference things that I only understand because
of the Office. They'll sing songs that I'll sing along
to because of The Office that I don't even know.
(07:16):
It's really um. There are some words that there are
literally words Steve that you said in the show that
I thought were real words, but they were faith that
they were you not saying them correctly because of the
character that and it was funny that they did that,
but I didn't actually know the real word. So I know,
I know when you're thinking dank and flicker, Yeah, definitely
(07:42):
that one. Know. I thought she meant like, what what
is indubitably? Yes, Yes, that's exactly right. Oh that's amazing.
So you so you start you watch it fourteen times through? Yeah?
Have you started the fifteen time yet? I have not.
(08:02):
I had to. I had to take a break so
that it's like it's all fresh, you know what I mean? No,
because if I don't watch it for a period of
time that I do watch it, then I'm like, oh,
you know, it's like a yeah, I gotta like miss
it and then go back to you might want to
take like ten or twelve years, so it's really fresh.
(08:26):
I will tell you. I saw you um the video
that was going around that you did with rain Um
and he was he was he was quizzing her on
on quotes and rain I'm not joking. He says like
two words and you go Kevin, And I was like what,
(08:46):
I don't even know what? How did she even know
what that was? It was unbelievable. I have not actually
seen all the episodes of the Office, so you you
have to be beat like my fourteen he's the thing
he did. He once he left, he was like, screw
those guys, I'm out of here. And did I understand
yeah he didn't. Hey, wait a second, you know, I
(09:12):
know I was making fun of you and then somehow
I ended up the butt of the jokes. Just typical. Actually, Um,
do your friends watch you? Yeah? My best friends always
like the same level of obsessed with it as I am.
What What is it that you love about it? I
don't know. I feel like it's, um, it's like not stressful.
(09:35):
I feel like so many shows you really have to
pay attention very closely to understand. And I don't know
if it's because I've seen it so many times that
I already like what my mom was saying about it
just playing. Oh, I'll set my phone. I'll like literally
set my phone down. And I was crazy. I watched
it only on my phone, like my tiny little phone.
I don't ever want it on a TV or anything.
(09:57):
My little phone. And I put it on like a
table and then I like clean my room, or I
like leave the room, or I'm like in the shower
or something. You're listening to it. I think the best
way to do it is put it on and then
leave the room. But no, it's not. I'm listening though,
(10:17):
But it's because I've seen it so many times that
I can come like fully envision exactly what the scene
is because I know because I've seen it so many times,
and my brain is like, oh yeah, I know what's
going on. Like even if I'm on a plane and
I see like three rows ahead of me somebody watching
the office, I can tell what scene it is and
what episode is from from like what they're wearing, and
(10:40):
like the body language is it, Like does it give
you comfort? Like is it comfortable to you? It totally is.
It makes me feel like, I don't know, it's like
a safe space. I think it takes me away from
the reality of my life, which is must be pretty
crazy right now, pretty crazy, I'm sure you guys know. Yeah. Um,
(11:05):
thank you so much for talking to us. Thank you
for talking to me. We really appreciate it. Steve, do
you want to say anything, No, it's just so nice
to actually talk to you. And uh, congratulations, Thank you guys. Hi,
thanks Hi, Billy, bye bye bye wow, just wow, thank
(11:29):
you both for coming on and Steve, happy birthday, my friend.
I'm I'm still a little concerned that Billy learned most
of what she knows from the office, but what can
you do? Uh, thank you and happy birthday. All right,
the time has come to answer some questions from you
(11:53):
mail bag. That's right now. I'm gonna get to as
many questions as I possibly can't. But if I don't
get to yours, never fear, We're gonna be doing more
episodes like this. So subscribe and comment on Apple Podcasts
or write me on Instagram and Twitter, because well we
will be watching. All right. Let's dive in. And if
(12:16):
I say somebody's name wrong today, I'm sorry. I love
you just the same. Plus you know who you are,
am I right? All right? So on that note, are
very first question, well, maybe less of a question than
an ego boost. A listener wrote in to say, super
excited about the podcast. Kevin was my favorite character on
(12:37):
the Office. By the way, here's the ultimate compliment a
comedian can receive. You made me laugh so hard that
I actually developed a nosebleed. The ice machine scene in
the wedding episode was hilarious. Thank you, well, thank you.
I appreciate. I have been told by many people over
(12:59):
the years that they cannot use public ice at a
hotel slash motel because well, they're afraid my feet was
in it. Loop A pause rights can you one of
these days on the podcast, talk about the opening scene
(13:20):
of Stress Relase. This is the episode where Dwight starts
the fire drill. It is one of the funniest episodes
slash openings, and I think we'd all love to hear
how you guys felt filming that. So uh. Stress Relief
was the episode that aired after the Super Bowl. If
you have found the show on Netflix, you wouldn't know that. Um,
(13:43):
I would say it is not only one of my
favorite openings of a show, it's one of my personal
favorite episodes. I think part of that has to do
with the fact that it did air right after the
Super Bowl, and well, I'm a big football fan. Um.
There were two openings of the show that we had
the most rehearsal. It was the most almost like doing theater.
(14:05):
There was the lip dub open, which was all one take,
so it had to be done one take, the camera
moving around the office. And also the opening of Stress Relief.
I mean there were so many elements that happened in
shooting that we had cat wranglers, We had two different
sets of broken glass even at the vending machine and
Michael with the exterior window. We had copiers smashing into
(14:29):
doors and things breaking or having the potential to break.
It was so much fun filming that scene culminating with
Stanley of course Um having a heart attack. So thank
you for your question. But yes, for me personally, I
would say my favorite cold open on the show Roth
san Islam rights, Sir. I'm a really big fan from Bangladesh.
(14:53):
Really love your podcast. Well, I am so happy that
we have listeners in bengalad Dash thank you, and I'm
I'm hearing we have lots of UM listeners in India
and across Europe. Thank you all wherever you're listening. Thank
you so much for listening. Walter Byrne writes, Kevin Malone
(15:16):
had a little black and gold helmet on his desk
with an M on the side of it. What football
team does that belong to? I have no idea, I
really don't. I never found out it was there the
whole time, and in fact it might have been borrowed
(15:37):
from NBC by yours truly when the office ended. And
I guess that makes me really a terrible actor, like
not doing character study. I don't. I don't know what
team it was from, I really don't, but I'm guessing
a small college. It was not. Um, I don't know.
(16:00):
I'm sorry, Walter Burne. So in our last mail Bag episode,
(16:23):
Dr J Skill asked who would be the best at
playing hide and Seek on the office. I said Angela,
of course, because well, because she's so tiny. Four Fry
responded by saying false, Creed would win at hide and seek. Well,
he has the most experience as a character hiding from
(16:48):
people without being found. I think he hid in the
office for I don't know, close to twenty years. So
four Fry, maybe you're right. Maybe it is Creed Bratton
move fass a nine four rights. Thanks for the thoughtful
interviews and never ending nostalgia. Hearing you talk about the
web series reminded me of a DVD extra Kevin's Cooking
(17:12):
Show comedic gold. I did a Kevin's Cooking Show Part
two inspired by yours for my freshman speech class and
accidentally spit on stage. Who spit slash sprayed the most
during takes any memorable saliva stories? That is a great,
(17:32):
yet disturbing question, I believe. By the way, the DVD
extra was called Kevin Cook's Stuff in the Office, which
is just slightly weirder than Kevin's Cooking Show. We've discussed before,
Mindy Kaling was the one who broke the most on set.
(17:54):
I think there's no disputing that. In terms of spit
slash sp raying, jeez, I don't know. I will say
as an actor and as particularly in film and television,
you know, when you're on stage in theater, I think
it's it's more expected. You're you're working your mouth for
(18:16):
your heart and and stuff comes out of it. It
is always incredibly awkward because in film and television you're
usually speaking face to face and sometimes very very close
depending on where the cameras, and if something happens and
something leaves your mouth that should not leave your mouth
onto another person, and the other person can't respond to
(18:39):
you because they're in the middle of a scene and
they don't want to ruin it. So everyone just acts
as though that doesn't happen. Well, it's it's never fun
for either for either party. But maybe it's because of
his experience in theater and his excellent elocution and a
(18:59):
nuncey the ation. I would say, Rain Wilson, and I'm
just gonna leave it at that, and if I'm wrong, sorry,
Rain JP's dad rights on Apple Podcasts question for future episode.
You guys all worked really long hours, cast and crew alike.
When someone kept breaking forcing a bunch of reshoots, did
(19:20):
anyone ever get angry or upset about all of the
extra time or money that was being wasted? You know,
it's part of it, I think in a comedy, I mean,
you're trying to keep it right on the edge, and
I think that there's an energy that happens during scenes
um where you're attempting in a way I always said
(19:42):
I thought Steve was trying to make everyone laugh. I
think that's part of the energy that he brought, where
he would improvise something or say something in a different way,
or give someone a different kind of look because he
was trying to keep them right on the edge of laughing.
So I think that a lot of it is expect
did there were times where, like the first a d
(20:04):
would be like, you guys, get it together, Like it
becomes a teacher slash student interaction at some times. Yeah,
I mean there's a certain point where it's it's just
it's not fun for anybody, and it's certainly not fun
for the person laughing either, and you feel really, really bad.
I don't remember anyone specifically getting angry except the first
(20:29):
a d yeah or maybe a line producer who knew
we were about to go into overtime and they were
not happy about that. Unfortunately, there are times where there's
just nothing that you can do. So sorry, Canci Bornac
and Randy Cordray. Sorry for the money that well some
(20:54):
of us cost you. Diane Blue asks, Hi, Brian, that's
not a question. Love your podcast. Thank you. I am
such a huge fan. I thought your character was so lovable.
You were one of my favorites, you and Phyllis. Speaking
of Phyllis, why did she, oscar, Angela and Creed keep
(21:15):
their real names on the show? I always wanted to know.
Thanks well, Diane. That's been talked about a little bit.
In this Greg Daniels describes it as something to the
effect of, you know that he ran out of creative
energy on the character during casting. What happened was there
were a number of characters who came. They were based
(21:36):
on characters from the English version of the Office. So
Jim and Pam and Dwight and Michael and Kevin and Stanley,
those are the ones that jumped to mind and so
our names were adapted. Keith in the British became Kevin.
But they always knew, they meaning Greg Daniels and the
producers and director on the office, that they wanted our
(21:56):
ensemble to be larger, and so they brought in their
actors to fill out the ensemble that offered different personalities
and voices. And at that point Greg thought, well, let's
just call them who they are. However, Creed Bratton is
the only person whose first and last name is the same,
(22:18):
and um, well, let's just say there there might be
a reason for that. Ricky Chew asks via Twitter, that
was wonderful, Brian, meaning the Phillis episode. To me, Phillis
exemplifies one of the big themes of the show, beauty
in ordinary things. You were all underdogs for getting on
the show and keeping it on the air, but she
(22:40):
was unlikeliest of unlikely underdogs. Her story just warms my heart. Ricky,
I could not agree with you more. I don't. I've
never heard another story like it that a casting associate
gets cast onto a show and ends up being a
series regular for ten years, nine seasons. I don't think
(23:01):
that's ever happened before. There are a lot of instances
of writers who get a role here and there, but
Ken kappas Greg Daniels deciding that Phillis Smith the casting
associate needed to be on this show is that it's
a truly unique story and and part of the story.
She tells us about going home when we started shooting
(23:23):
and reading books on improv because she didn't want to
feel behind as a testament to one her work and
dedication and well, the show certainly would not be the
same without her. Another question about the Phillis episode, Jeffrey
Johnson asks, when are you going to blow everyone's minds
(23:43):
and tell them who sings the podcasts intro song. I
mean I feel like I have maybe, Jeffrey, you don't
listen to the credits at the end of the part,
I think you just revealed to me you don't. Creed
bra the one and only Creed Breton wrote the song
Bubble and Squeak, and he graciously allowed us to use
(24:08):
it as our podcast theme song. So once again, thank
you Creed, and to you j J. Listen to the
credits because there are a lot of people who put
in so much work on this show, and I want
them all to be recognized, not not the least of
which Creed Bratton. Michelle Cochrane writes, who if you told
(24:33):
me the Creed episode would be the one to make
me cry? Also, Neil Graham writes, I was sledge hammering
my crappy old driveway, tears pouring down my face about
Creed Bratton. Let me tell you, Michelle and Neil, You're
not the only ones I can't. There is just I
(24:58):
know I said it. There's just something of out that guy.
And his story is incredible as well, that he sought
out Ken Koppas who he had worked with before, and
put together tapes of himself to try to get on
our show. And you know, is one of the most
beloved characters on our show now. And I had seen
(25:20):
him the night before that that's the crazy when he
came into the studio for for me to talk to him.
I had seen him at his benefit concert the night before,
and I had seen him play uh the song from
the finale. When he came into the studio and started
on his guitar, just me and him in that room, Yeah, yeah,
(25:45):
there were tears. There were tears for sure. Karen Pollen asks,
I adore your show. You're so relaxed and thorough. Well,
I'm glad it feels that way. Did you ever do
radio in college or your earlier days. No, not really,
I didn't. I've talked about radio before. I'll tell you
(26:08):
one of my first though audio jobs. And this is
only going to resonate for people who are um, well,
I guess older. Before the internets were a big thing.
When you were trying to find out a movie and
you didn't have a paper and you wanted to find
out what movies were playing, you would call a line
(26:30):
that that was the movie line was called the movie line,
I think, and it would be like, hello, here are
the movies listed for a mc galeria theater and then
it would literally be like the quiet place to four pm,
seven pm, twenty pm, and nine. Someone had to read
(26:51):
those like once a week for all of the stories.
I did do that for a little while. I was
I was the movie line guy for my local area.
But that was it. Um But I will tell you
I love it. I love talking to people. I love
just having conversations with people. And the fact that that
on this show I'm able to do it with some
old friends, well it makes it even more special. Odd
(27:16):
Carrick asks, as a practicing therapist, I am forever grateful
to the office for being there for me as a
way to decompress and to deal with my own issues.
It has been a beacon in times of my darkness.
Thank you, but one, God bless you and uh and
I hope you're okay. But to you know, I've heard
(27:38):
this so much that people use the show well. As
Billy Eilish talked about as a comfort in a what
can be a crazy world for for all people, it
has served as a comfort for her. So thank you
for saying so. Thank you for watching the show, and
know that I and others on the show apreciate comments
(28:00):
like that more than you know. All right, Jonathan Jaynes asks,
we need you to do a full version of you
Were Meant for Me by Jewel like you did at
Phyllis's wedding. No, no, you were not going to hear
a fully released version of You Were Meant for Me
(28:22):
by Jewel, Sorry, Jonathan J. J uh from the Paul
Lieberstein episode. Jaffathan writes on Apple Podcasts, Toby, I love
this podcast so much. I'm really enjoying the in depth
and thoughtful interviews. I do need to ask is it
the case that everybody hates the character Toby. I've always
(28:44):
felt great sympathy for him. I mean, I guess you'd
have to ask other fans. I mean, I I think
most of the characters on the Office hated Toby, or
at least hr I think it's an h our thing.
I'm sorry to all you hr reps out there, but
I would say, in terms of fans, or at least
(29:06):
for me, I just love that Michael hates him so much.
So there's a love for him because Michael hates him.
I don't know if that makes sense, but I I love.
I love that I love and that Steve just came
up with it. I love it. Jessica Worcestershire asks who
is least like their character in real life besides Angela Kenzie.
(29:31):
My guest is maybe Oscar Oscar No. I mean, I
think it's me. To be clear, I guess I don't.
I guess that's for other people to say. But if
I were saying, I would say me, I am less
like my my real life character, except well, maybe I
(29:53):
like to gamble a little one and I I can't
shoot the rock. Yeah, and patent all back rights. I
(30:20):
would love to hear people from the office talk about
their memories of Mark York who played Billy Merchant, the
disabled building manager who died this past weekend. He portrayed
a memorable character. Thank you and Patton all back. Mark
was great. Mark was great, and Steve slash Michael's interaction
(30:44):
with Billy Merchant were very memorable. It was a tragedy
that he died, and and I don't know if if you,
I can't specifically reference where, but a lot of people
came out and did express their condolences for him for
his family. Thank you for bringing it up, because Mark
York should be recognized for the tremendous work that he
(31:08):
did and it is a great loss, all right. In
the episode with Jenna Fisher, it's possible that she and
I may have briefly mentioned an idea that Steve had
for an office reunion. So Daniel Kelly says, how do
you let her drop that info about Steve's idea and
(31:30):
bury it like, oh, yeah, I've heard Steve's idea, like
the world knows what you speak and brushed aside like
the crumbs of a cookie. Um. Look, look, first of all,
it's Steve's idea. If Steve wants to talk about his
idea that isn't a reality at this moment, then Steve
can let's just say that the idea does happen. What
(31:56):
would you want to know? Wouldn't you want to be surprised?
And if you don't want to be surprised, I can
tell you this. NBC wants you to be surprised. So
neither Jenna nor myself is going to reveal Steve's idea.
I'm very sorry, but the point was there is an
idea and it's really good. Sean h M talks about
(32:20):
wanting well very specific new episode. Dude, we're loving the podcast,
but you know what, we also want an episode where
we talked to Brian and get to know everything about Kevin.
We can't wait to hear you tell us everything about
your character. You know, that is an idea, Sean. It
(32:40):
has been talked about a little, but not for a while,
so who knows. But who would talk to me? Or
would I have to talk to myself and would that
be a disaster? I don't know. Thank you for the input.
It is just it has been discussed, so we'll see.
You can take total credit if we end up doing that,
(33:02):
Drew Papuches, I'm sure that's wrong. Rights. This podcast brings
so much joy to my work. Commute. You're the man
at B B. Bomb Gardner. You're damn right, I am,
Drew pap And because you said that, I'm really sorry
that I butchered your name, which I definitely did. Um. So,
(33:25):
Steve and I talked about the director sandwich, which is
when a director compliments an actor, then tells them what
they're doing terribly wrong, and then gives them another compliment
to soften the blow. So Michael George writes, I had
to laugh when you were talking about the director sandwich
because I'm a teacher and we do it too. Usually
(33:49):
in emails to kids parents, we call it a shit sandwich. Well,
I'm glad to know they do it other places. Nothing
made me laugh harder maybe throughout this entire podcast recording experience,
than Steve talking about the director sandwich, because it's so true.
And now I'm gonna need to go and look back
(34:10):
at emails from teachers about my kids and see if
I can find a ship sandwich there. And if there is,
well it probably means my kid did something wrong. Reverend
b B, which is not me to be very clear,
here's my question, because I'm curious. Was it always the
intent to do both podcasts or was it just, Hey,
(34:34):
we have all of this useful stuff left, let's do it.
Great question, Reverend b b. Uh, it was always my intention. Yes,
from the very beginning. The first person we interviewed was
Rain Wilson, and I had even brought it up before then,
like I think we're gonna want I think we're gonna
get more material than we want because an oral history
(34:57):
of the office was, um, my man is bad, but
let's say eight to ten hours, uh, something like that.
And I sat down our very first interview with Rain
Wilson and we sat down for over two hours, and
immediately was like, well, we can't use all of that,
and he said so many amazing things. So yes, it
(35:21):
was always our intention to to release more of the
full conversations because we knew we had way more or
we were going to get way more than what we
needed for an oral history of the office. But thank
you for the question, Joe Bangles writes to me on Twitter.
(35:41):
Random question, but do you have a favorite cheese chatter
from Wisconsin? Going to eleven writes to me regarding the
Steve Correll episode. I love this episode. My wife has
a theory on why young people love the office. It
helps feel less intimidated about being working adults. Just because
(36:05):
you are a professional doesn't mean you have it all
figured out. They recognize personalities from school in the show.
I think, I think, I think you're onto something, going
to eleven. I think you're going to eleven, or you're
going to a hundred or whatever the biggest number would be.
That's very interesting. Yeah, I had not specifically thought about
(36:27):
being less intimidated seeing people you know who work in
an office later on, not not kind of having it
all together and figured out. But that's I think that's
a very very interesting theory. And yes, I do think
recognizing personalities from their other classmates and the structure of
a class versus the office was so similar. Like an
(36:50):
unreasonable teacher who makes you do unreasonable things, very similar
from Michael Scott making his office workers do unreasonable things.
Laura be harsh Field Serbic rights. I will say my
eleven year old son knows every episode and what season, finds,
(37:12):
all the mistakes and little extras I have missed. I
asked him why he likes it, and it's because the
characters talk about real life and he thinks it's real.
He knows it's not really a documentary, but it's what
he thinks being adult and working is like, which shows
how great the show was done. Well, Laura, all I
can tell you is it is indeed what we were
(37:34):
going for, the reality, uh, this sort of ultra reality
of not just making a documentary or how a documentary
was shot, but in terms of the behaviors and interactions
of the characters. So thank him for watching and for
being so interested, and thank you for clearly raising a
(37:57):
great son and fan of the show. Kristen Sheehy writes,
I'm loving the podcast currently going through chemo and the office,
and your podcast has provided me with so much joy
during this difficult process. God bless you, Kristen. I hope
you all get better soon, and thank you for listening
(38:18):
and for watching. And again, I'm I'm so glad that
us crazy band of nutheads have given some relief to
what you are going through. Pam Jill from the Randall
Iron Horn episode writes, what does a key grip slash
(38:38):
grip do? Well? They grip it and a key grip,
I mean clearly grips the key, I think BC Jim
Dad writes, Brian, did you just hear Aaron Rodgers in
the match? Tell Charles Barkley if you just beat Brian
(38:59):
Baumgartner in Tahoe, he'll be happy. Yes, I did hear that,
and I attempted after being sent the clip of it
from Tahoe, where I was getting ready to play, where
he wasn't. I did attempt to communicate because I felt
like I was brought up on air I should have
(39:19):
a chance to respond. So I attempted to contact Charles
Barkley and Aaron Rodgers and well not really T and
T because I didn't know how to get ahold of
anybody there. But I tried to be able to respond.
They ignored my phone calls. So nothing unusual about any
of that. Robert McCarthy forty two writes, I'd love to
(39:43):
know some storylines that just missed making it into the office.
There must have been a bunch of great ones. PS
love the podcast. Thank you, Robert um the one that
springs to mind. I know we have talked about or
we're about to talk about on an episode pet a
Pet Day was actually, to my knowledge, the only written
(40:06):
script that we never did. It was a fully written script,
and I think it just kind of kept kept getting
pushed and wasn't done. There may have been some animal
activists that would not have been happy about that episode.
I don't specifically remember the content, but pet Day was
(40:29):
the title, and there is a written episode of the
office that I read at some point very early on
that has never ever been produced. Veggie the memur writes,
just a question, what is your favorite scene you've ever
played as Kevin Malone. By the way, you're my favorite
(40:49):
actor person in the series. Well, Veggie, you're amazingly smart.
Number one. Uh to my favorite scene ever? I mean,
I guess I'm supposed to say the chili scene. I
guess that's supposed to be my answer. So I can
say that, or I can answers differently. The scene with
(41:13):
Amy Ryan at the vending machine where she is counting
money into my hands. Um, that's the one that I
remember being for me the most difficult to not laugh
because of her sincerity and sweetness and how it was written,
her performance, all of it. Um. I remember that scene
(41:38):
and then now that I'm thinking even more, maybe the
basketball one. I mean, I made thirteen in a row
on Prime Time and who's done that. Not not many
people ever have done Network prime Time made thirteen in
a row from free throw line extended, So that's a
possibility as well. Nick Hamby on Apple Podcasts Rights great podcast,
(42:06):
Love the Podcast. I've watched The Office forty four times
through during my wife's pregnancy. We watched it so much
that the first song that my son reacted to was
the intro to The Office. Love the show and pod
great work. Well, Nick, you might win. I don't know.
Forty four times is a lot of times. I don't
(42:30):
know that I could count that high. I will tell
you a funny story. Billie Eilish, who we talked to,
who told us at the time that we talked she
had watched at fourteen times through. There is some discussion
she has watched it at least one more time since,
but fourteen times through. And I remember writing about that
(42:50):
on social media and I can't tell you the number
of comments that I got that was like fourteen am her,
She's not a real fan. And I'm like, fourteen times
is a lot of times, Like you got, you can't
dismiss fourteen times as a as a number of times.
(43:11):
So but forty four, Nick, congratulations, you are officially, as
of this moment in time, you're the pious watcher that
I have heard of. So congratulations, and I say go
for forty five. It's a way, way better number. And
there you have it, folks, another mail bag in the
(43:36):
well in the bag. Huge thanks to all of you
for real guys, for coming back week after week and
and for giving us, well giving us the fuel to
make this episode. I could not ask for a better
group of listeners. Keep the comments coming, and we're gonna
see if we can fit in another episode very soon.
(43:57):
But until then, we're gonna be back to day with well,
perhaps the most well dressed man in the business, the
incredible director Paul Feig. And you never know, we might
have a little surprise coming to you before then. What
does that mean, Well, it means we may have an
(44:19):
episode on Thursday. Have an amazing week everyone, Happy birthday, Steve,
and I will see you so the Office. Deep Dive
is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
(44:40):
our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer.
Our producers for this episode are Liz Hayes, Emily Carr
and Diego Tapia and our intern is Hannah Harris. My
main man in the booth is Colin Tadeshi. Our theme
song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
(45:00):
and the episode was mixed by seth Olandscape
Billie Eilish is calling in right now. If you want
to say hello, she really is. Yeah, yeah, well hello everybody.
Welcome to a special and extra special episode of The
(00:28):
Office Deep Dive. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. Now
today I'm gonna need you to hold onto your pants, folks.
Is that a phrase? Because I have got a very
special surprise for you. Actually, not one. I have two surprises,
So let's start with the one that involves my good
(00:49):
friend Steve Correll, whom I don't know. Some of you
may know as Michael Scott on The Office. Just kidding,
I know you know who Steve is. Um, Well, yesterday
is his birthday. Happy birthday to you, Steve, and we
all know he is the man who deserves all of
the presence in the world. Well, I gave him my
(01:11):
gift last year, which was to surprise him with one
of the biggest musicians on the planet, who also happens
to be one of the biggest Office fans on the planet.
He got to meet Billy freaking Eilish for the first
time over FaceTime, and let me tell you it was magical. Okay,
(01:34):
that week she had just taken home five Grammy awards,
one of which I still believe rightly belongs to us,
and I'll take that any time, Billy, thank you very much.
But in honor of Steve's birthday, I'm going to share
with you all of you listeners my gift to him
this uh a phone call with Billie Eilish. After that,
(01:58):
I'm going to be answering some of the questions that
you have been asking me on social media, filling in
the gaps and getting to know all of you just
a little bit better along the way. But before we
get to that, before we get to you, please give
a very warm welcome to well the King of the Office,
(02:20):
Steve Correll and the voice of a generation, Billie Eilish,
Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on
Bubble and Squeaker cook at every month left over from
(02:41):
the nut before. Oh my good Nay. First of all, congratulations,
I go insane, this is crazy. How are you guys?
(03:07):
How are you? I'm great? I am amazing. Congratulations Steve
and I were just talking actually, and you won five Grammys. Um,
we feel like our contribution on the album was the
most significant, So you can, if you can send one
over we'll split it. It'll be fine. I don't need
(03:30):
all of them. You can have one. I just got
us a Grammy. It's so nice to like actually say hi.
I feel like we've sort of sort of cross pats,
but not really. I know. It's so nice. Oh my god,
it's so crazy to hear your actual voice and look
(03:52):
at your face. I don't know, this is crazy, it's crazy. Wow.
This is my mom. By the way, come here, mom, Hi? Hi?
How are you? You're friends with Amy Ryan? Yeah? We
love Amy. She's the best. She might be my favorite
character on the Office. That's pretty awesome that Billy watches
(04:15):
your show, you know all the time. The phone has
the Office on next to everything she's doing day and night.
Why did you decide, Like, is it your strange addiction?
Is that is the Office your strange addiction? Definitely addiction.
That's why I had to use that song. That's why
I had to use it. Come on, I had to
use your voices because you know, I was telling the truth,
(04:38):
was a fact. She knows it shows so well that
she can just listen to it, you know, because she
knows everything that's coming up. That's true. Sorry, I don't
need to embarrass you really are you embarrassing? Um? Yep,
a little bit, Billy. Who who is your favorite character
on the Office? That's a trap, Um, listen, just say
(05:05):
Dwight and get it over. Why is everyone's favorite? Honestly,
I think it's Michael. That's fair. Well, that's fair. The
only terrible tastes. He only did seven seasons. But that's fine,
that's fine. This is crazy. I don't know if you
guys understand how dope this is to me. Thank you
guys for talking to me. This is like, well, that's
(05:27):
pretty big. It's a very very very big deal that
you get to do this. I just I'm saying it's
a pleasure. Yeah, I have to tell you, Billy, I
have a four year old? Might have I have a
four year old? Yes? I started late. It's a long story.
We'll talk about it later. But she dances around and
(05:52):
demands to hear Billie Eilish. I don't know how she
ever even heard your songs, um, but she uh is
such a fan, which makes me a humongous fan of yours.
So thank you, thank you. That's so cool. Yeah, when
did you what is it? I have to ask you
(06:14):
A couple of questions when did you start watching The Office?
So I started watching at twelve, and I've seen it
fourteen times now all the way through, which is really crazy,
and honestly, every single like because I've been getting older
obviously watching it. Every time I watch it, I understand
(06:34):
something new because I started at twelve, and I honestly,
if you ask my parents, most of the things that
it makes me sound so stupid, But the most of
the things that I know are because of The Office. No, no, no,
(06:55):
it's funked up, it's wuked up. What can I say?
What can I say? Creative? Damn it. But like, like
my parents will reference things that I only understand because
of the Office. They'll sing songs that I'll sing along
to because of The Office that I don't even know.
(07:16):
It's really um. There are some words that there are
literally words Steve that you said in the show that
I thought were real words, but they were faith that
they were you not saying them correctly because of the
character that and it was funny that they did that,
but I didn't actually know the real word. So I know,
I know when you're thinking dank and flicker, Yeah, definitely
(07:42):
that one. Know. I thought she meant like, what what
is indubitably? Yes, Yes, that's exactly right. Oh that's amazing.
So you so you start you watch it fourteen times through? Yeah?
Have you started the fifteen time yet? I have not.
(08:02):
I had to. I had to take a break so
that it's like it's all fresh, you know what I mean? No,
because if I don't watch it for a period of
time that I do watch it, then I'm like, oh,
you know, it's like a yeah, I gotta like miss
it and then go back to you might want to
take like ten or twelve years, so it's really fresh.
(08:26):
I will tell you. I saw you um the video
that was going around that you did with rain Um
and he was he was he was quizzing her on
on quotes and rain I'm not joking. He says like
two words and you go Kevin, And I was like what,
(08:46):
I don't even know what? How did she even know
what that was? It was unbelievable. I have not actually
seen all the episodes of the Office, so you you
have to be beat like my fourteen he's the thing
he did. He once he left, he was like, screw
those guys, I'm out of here. And did I understand
yeah he didn't. Hey, wait a second, you know, I
(09:12):
know I was making fun of you and then somehow
I ended up the butt of the jokes. Just typical. Actually, Um,
do your friends watch you? Yeah? My best friends always
like the same level of obsessed with it as I am.
What What is it that you love about it? I
don't know. I feel like it's, um, it's like not stressful.
(09:35):
I feel like so many shows you really have to
pay attention very closely to understand. And I don't know
if it's because I've seen it so many times that
I already like what my mom was saying about it
just playing. Oh, I'll set my phone. I'll like literally
set my phone down. And I was crazy. I watched
it only on my phone, like my tiny little phone.
I don't ever want it on a TV or anything.
(09:57):
My little phone. And I put it on like a
table and then I like clean my room, or I
like leave the room, or I'm like in the shower
or something. You're listening to it. I think the best
way to do it is put it on and then
leave the room. But no, it's not. I'm listening though,
(10:17):
But it's because I've seen it so many times that
I can come like fully envision exactly what the scene
is because I know because I've seen it so many times,
and my brain is like, oh yeah, I know what's
going on. Like even if I'm on a plane and
I see like three rows ahead of me somebody watching
the office, I can tell what scene it is and
what episode is from from like what they're wearing, and
(10:40):
like the body language is it, Like does it give
you comfort? Like is it comfortable to you? It totally is.
It makes me feel like, I don't know, it's like
a safe space. I think it takes me away from
the reality of my life, which is must be pretty
crazy right now, pretty crazy, I'm sure you guys know. Yeah. Um,
(11:05):
thank you so much for talking to us. Thank you
for talking to me. We really appreciate it. Steve, do
you want to say anything, No, it's just so nice
to actually talk to you. And uh, congratulations, Thank you guys. Hi,
thanks Hi, Billy, bye bye bye wow, just wow, thank
(11:29):
you both for coming on and Steve, happy birthday, my friend.
I'm I'm still a little concerned that Billy learned most
of what she knows from the office, but what can
you do? Uh, thank you and happy birthday. All right,
the time has come to answer some questions from you
(11:53):
mail bag. That's right now. I'm gonna get to as
many questions as I possibly can't. But if I don't
get to yours, never fear, We're gonna be doing more
episodes like this. So subscribe and comment on Apple Podcasts
or write me on Instagram and Twitter, because well we
will be watching. All right. Let's dive in. And if
(12:16):
I say somebody's name wrong today, I'm sorry. I love
you just the same. Plus you know who you are,
am I right? All right? So on that note, are
very first question, well, maybe less of a question than
an ego boost. A listener wrote in to say, super
excited about the podcast. Kevin was my favorite character on
(12:37):
the Office. By the way, here's the ultimate compliment a
comedian can receive. You made me laugh so hard that
I actually developed a nosebleed. The ice machine scene in
the wedding episode was hilarious. Thank you, well, thank you.
I appreciate. I have been told by many people over
(12:59):
the years that they cannot use public ice at a
hotel slash motel because well, they're afraid my feet was
in it. Loop A pause rights can you one of
these days on the podcast, talk about the opening scene
(13:20):
of Stress Relase. This is the episode where Dwight starts
the fire drill. It is one of the funniest episodes
slash openings, and I think we'd all love to hear
how you guys felt filming that. So uh. Stress Relief
was the episode that aired after the Super Bowl. If
you have found the show on Netflix, you wouldn't know that. Um,
(13:43):
I would say it is not only one of my
favorite openings of a show, it's one of my personal
favorite episodes. I think part of that has to do
with the fact that it did air right after the
Super Bowl, and well, I'm a big football fan. Um.
There were two openings of the show that we had
the most rehearsal. It was the most almost like doing theater.
(14:05):
There was the lip dub open, which was all one take,
so it had to be done one take, the camera
moving around the office. And also the opening of Stress Relief.
I mean there were so many elements that happened in
shooting that we had cat wranglers, We had two different
sets of broken glass even at the vending machine and
Michael with the exterior window. We had copiers smashing into
(14:29):
doors and things breaking or having the potential to break.
It was so much fun filming that scene culminating with
Stanley of course Um having a heart attack. So thank
you for your question. But yes, for me personally, I
would say my favorite cold open on the show Roth
san Islam rights, Sir. I'm a really big fan from Bangladesh.
(14:53):
Really love your podcast. Well, I am so happy that
we have listeners in bengalad Dash thank you, and I'm
I'm hearing we have lots of UM listeners in India
and across Europe. Thank you all wherever you're listening. Thank
you so much for listening. Walter Byrne writes, Kevin Malone
(15:16):
had a little black and gold helmet on his desk
with an M on the side of it. What football
team does that belong to? I have no idea, I
really don't. I never found out it was there the
whole time, and in fact it might have been borrowed
(15:37):
from NBC by yours truly when the office ended. And
I guess that makes me really a terrible actor, like
not doing character study. I don't. I don't know what
team it was from, I really don't, but I'm guessing
a small college. It was not. Um, I don't know.
(16:00):
I'm sorry, Walter Burne. So in our last mail Bag episode,
(16:23):
Dr J Skill asked who would be the best at
playing hide and Seek on the office. I said Angela,
of course, because well, because she's so tiny. Four Fry
responded by saying false, Creed would win at hide and seek. Well,
he has the most experience as a character hiding from
(16:48):
people without being found. I think he hid in the
office for I don't know, close to twenty years. So
four Fry, maybe you're right. Maybe it is Creed Bratton
move fass a nine four rights. Thanks for the thoughtful
interviews and never ending nostalgia. Hearing you talk about the
web series reminded me of a DVD extra Kevin's Cooking
(17:12):
Show comedic gold. I did a Kevin's Cooking Show Part
two inspired by yours for my freshman speech class and
accidentally spit on stage. Who spit slash sprayed the most
during takes any memorable saliva stories? That is a great,
(17:32):
yet disturbing question, I believe. By the way, the DVD
extra was called Kevin Cook's Stuff in the Office, which
is just slightly weirder than Kevin's Cooking Show. We've discussed before,
Mindy Kaling was the one who broke the most on set.
(17:54):
I think there's no disputing that. In terms of spit
slash sp raying, jeez, I don't know. I will say
as an actor and as particularly in film and television,
you know, when you're on stage in theater, I think
it's it's more expected. You're you're working your mouth for
(18:16):
your heart and and stuff comes out of it. It
is always incredibly awkward because in film and television you're
usually speaking face to face and sometimes very very close
depending on where the cameras, and if something happens and
something leaves your mouth that should not leave your mouth
onto another person, and the other person can't respond to
(18:39):
you because they're in the middle of a scene and
they don't want to ruin it. So everyone just acts
as though that doesn't happen. Well, it's it's never fun
for either for either party. But maybe it's because of
his experience in theater and his excellent elocution and a
(18:59):
nuncey the ation. I would say, Rain Wilson, and I'm
just gonna leave it at that, and if I'm wrong, sorry,
Rain JP's dad rights on Apple Podcasts question for future episode.
You guys all worked really long hours, cast and crew alike.
When someone kept breaking forcing a bunch of reshoots, did
(19:20):
anyone ever get angry or upset about all of the
extra time or money that was being wasted? You know,
it's part of it, I think in a comedy, I mean,
you're trying to keep it right on the edge, and
I think that there's an energy that happens during scenes
um where you're attempting in a way I always said
(19:42):
I thought Steve was trying to make everyone laugh. I
think that's part of the energy that he brought, where
he would improvise something or say something in a different way,
or give someone a different kind of look because he
was trying to keep them right on the edge of laughing.
So I think that a lot of it is expect
did there were times where, like the first a d
(20:04):
would be like, you guys, get it together, Like it
becomes a teacher slash student interaction at some times. Yeah,
I mean there's a certain point where it's it's just
it's not fun for anybody, and it's certainly not fun
for the person laughing either, and you feel really, really bad.
I don't remember anyone specifically getting angry except the first
(20:29):
a d yeah or maybe a line producer who knew
we were about to go into overtime and they were
not happy about that. Unfortunately, there are times where there's
just nothing that you can do. So sorry, Canci Bornac
and Randy Cordray. Sorry for the money that well some
(20:54):
of us cost you. Diane Blue asks, Hi, Brian, that's
not a question. Love your podcast. Thank you. I am
such a huge fan. I thought your character was so lovable.
You were one of my favorites, you and Phyllis. Speaking
of Phyllis, why did she, oscar, Angela and Creed keep
(21:15):
their real names on the show? I always wanted to know.
Thanks well, Diane. That's been talked about a little bit.
In this Greg Daniels describes it as something to the
effect of, you know that he ran out of creative
energy on the character during casting. What happened was there
were a number of characters who came. They were based
(21:36):
on characters from the English version of the Office. So
Jim and Pam and Dwight and Michael and Kevin and Stanley,
those are the ones that jumped to mind and so
our names were adapted. Keith in the British became Kevin.
But they always knew, they meaning Greg Daniels and the
producers and director on the office, that they wanted our
(21:56):
ensemble to be larger, and so they brought in their
actors to fill out the ensemble that offered different personalities
and voices. And at that point Greg thought, well, let's
just call them who they are. However, Creed Bratton is
the only person whose first and last name is the same,
(22:18):
and um, well, let's just say there there might be
a reason for that. Ricky Chew asks via Twitter, that
was wonderful, Brian, meaning the Phillis episode. To me, Phillis
exemplifies one of the big themes of the show, beauty
in ordinary things. You were all underdogs for getting on
the show and keeping it on the air, but she
(22:40):
was unlikeliest of unlikely underdogs. Her story just warms my heart. Ricky,
I could not agree with you more. I don't. I've
never heard another story like it that a casting associate
gets cast onto a show and ends up being a
series regular for ten years, nine seasons. I don't think
(23:01):
that's ever happened before. There are a lot of instances
of writers who get a role here and there, but
Ken kappas Greg Daniels deciding that Phillis Smith the casting
associate needed to be on this show is that it's
a truly unique story and and part of the story.
She tells us about going home when we started shooting
(23:23):
and reading books on improv because she didn't want to
feel behind as a testament to one her work and
dedication and well, the show certainly would not be the
same without her. Another question about the Phillis episode, Jeffrey
Johnson asks, when are you going to blow everyone's minds
(23:43):
and tell them who sings the podcasts intro song. I
mean I feel like I have maybe, Jeffrey, you don't
listen to the credits at the end of the part,
I think you just revealed to me you don't. Creed
bra the one and only Creed Breton wrote the song
Bubble and Squeak, and he graciously allowed us to use
(24:08):
it as our podcast theme song. So once again, thank
you Creed, and to you j J. Listen to the
credits because there are a lot of people who put
in so much work on this show, and I want
them all to be recognized, not not the least of
which Creed Bratton. Michelle Cochrane writes, who if you told
(24:33):
me the Creed episode would be the one to make
me cry? Also, Neil Graham writes, I was sledge hammering
my crappy old driveway, tears pouring down my face about
Creed Bratton. Let me tell you, Michelle and Neil, You're
not the only ones I can't. There is just I
(24:58):
know I said it. There's just something of out that guy.
And his story is incredible as well, that he sought
out Ken Koppas who he had worked with before, and
put together tapes of himself to try to get on
our show. And you know, is one of the most
beloved characters on our show now. And I had seen
(25:20):
him the night before that that's the crazy when he
came into the studio for for me to talk to him.
I had seen him at his benefit concert the night before,
and I had seen him play uh the song from
the finale. When he came into the studio and started
on his guitar, just me and him in that room, Yeah, yeah,
(25:45):
there were tears. There were tears for sure. Karen Pollen asks,
I adore your show. You're so relaxed and thorough. Well,
I'm glad it feels that way. Did you ever do
radio in college or your earlier days. No, not really,
I didn't. I've talked about radio before. I'll tell you
(26:08):
one of my first though audio jobs. And this is
only going to resonate for people who are um, well,
I guess older. Before the internets were a big thing.
When you were trying to find out a movie and
you didn't have a paper and you wanted to find
out what movies were playing, you would call a line
(26:30):
that that was the movie line was called the movie line,
I think, and it would be like, hello, here are
the movies listed for a mc galeria theater and then
it would literally be like the quiet place to four pm,
seven pm, twenty pm, and nine. Someone had to read
(26:51):
those like once a week for all of the stories.
I did do that for a little while. I was
I was the movie line guy for my local area.
But that was it. Um But I will tell you
I love it. I love talking to people. I love
just having conversations with people. And the fact that that
on this show I'm able to do it with some
old friends, well it makes it even more special. Odd
(27:16):
Carrick asks, as a practicing therapist, I am forever grateful
to the office for being there for me as a
way to decompress and to deal with my own issues.
It has been a beacon in times of my darkness.
Thank you, but one, God bless you and uh and
I hope you're okay. But to you know, I've heard
(27:38):
this so much that people use the show well. As
Billy Eilish talked about as a comfort in a what
can be a crazy world for for all people, it
has served as a comfort for her. So thank you
for saying so. Thank you for watching the show, and
know that I and others on the show apreciate comments
(28:00):
like that more than you know. All right, Jonathan Jaynes asks,
we need you to do a full version of you
Were Meant for Me by Jewel like you did at
Phyllis's wedding. No, no, you were not going to hear
a fully released version of You Were Meant for Me
(28:22):
by Jewel, Sorry, Jonathan J. J uh from the Paul
Lieberstein episode. Jaffathan writes on Apple Podcasts, Toby, I love
this podcast so much. I'm really enjoying the in depth
and thoughtful interviews. I do need to ask is it
the case that everybody hates the character Toby. I've always
(28:44):
felt great sympathy for him. I mean, I guess you'd
have to ask other fans. I mean, I I think
most of the characters on the Office hated Toby, or
at least hr I think it's an h our thing.
I'm sorry to all you hr reps out there, but
I would say, in terms of fans, or at least
(29:06):
for me, I just love that Michael hates him so much.
So there's a love for him because Michael hates him.
I don't know if that makes sense, but I I love.
I love that I love and that Steve just came
up with it. I love it. Jessica Worcestershire asks who
is least like their character in real life besides Angela Kenzie.
(29:31):
My guest is maybe Oscar Oscar No. I mean, I
think it's me. To be clear, I guess I don't.
I guess that's for other people to say. But if
I were saying, I would say me, I am less
like my my real life character, except well, maybe I
(29:53):
like to gamble a little one and I I can't
shoot the rock. Yeah, and patent all back rights. I
(30:20):
would love to hear people from the office talk about
their memories of Mark York who played Billy Merchant, the
disabled building manager who died this past weekend. He portrayed
a memorable character. Thank you and Patton all back. Mark
was great. Mark was great, and Steve slash Michael's interaction
(30:44):
with Billy Merchant were very memorable. It was a tragedy
that he died, and and I don't know if if you,
I can't specifically reference where, but a lot of people
came out and did express their condolences for him for
his family. Thank you for bringing it up, because Mark
York should be recognized for the tremendous work that he
(31:08):
did and it is a great loss, all right. In
the episode with Jenna Fisher, it's possible that she and
I may have briefly mentioned an idea that Steve had
for an office reunion. So Daniel Kelly says, how do
you let her drop that info about Steve's idea and
(31:30):
bury it like, oh, yeah, I've heard Steve's idea, like
the world knows what you speak and brushed aside like
the crumbs of a cookie. Um. Look, look, first of all,
it's Steve's idea. If Steve wants to talk about his
idea that isn't a reality at this moment, then Steve
can let's just say that the idea does happen. What
(31:56):
would you want to know? Wouldn't you want to be surprised?
And if you don't want to be surprised, I can
tell you this. NBC wants you to be surprised. So
neither Jenna nor myself is going to reveal Steve's idea.
I'm very sorry, but the point was there is an
idea and it's really good. Sean h M talks about
(32:20):
wanting well very specific new episode. Dude, we're loving the podcast,
but you know what, we also want an episode where
we talked to Brian and get to know everything about Kevin.
We can't wait to hear you tell us everything about
your character. You know, that is an idea, Sean. It
(32:40):
has been talked about a little, but not for a while,
so who knows. But who would talk to me? Or
would I have to talk to myself and would that
be a disaster? I don't know. Thank you for the input.
It is just it has been discussed, so we'll see.
You can take total credit if we end up doing that,
(33:02):
Drew Papuches, I'm sure that's wrong. Rights. This podcast brings
so much joy to my work. Commute. You're the man
at B B. Bomb Gardner. You're damn right, I am,
Drew pap And because you said that, I'm really sorry
that I butchered your name, which I definitely did. Um. So,
(33:25):
Steve and I talked about the director sandwich, which is
when a director compliments an actor, then tells them what
they're doing terribly wrong, and then gives them another compliment
to soften the blow. So Michael George writes, I had
to laugh when you were talking about the director sandwich
because I'm a teacher and we do it too. Usually
(33:49):
in emails to kids parents, we call it a shit sandwich. Well,
I'm glad to know they do it other places. Nothing
made me laugh harder maybe throughout this entire podcast recording experience,
than Steve talking about the director sandwich, because it's so true.
And now I'm gonna need to go and look back
(34:10):
at emails from teachers about my kids and see if
I can find a ship sandwich there. And if there is,
well it probably means my kid did something wrong. Reverend
b B, which is not me to be very clear,
here's my question, because I'm curious. Was it always the
intent to do both podcasts or was it just, Hey,
(34:34):
we have all of this useful stuff left, let's do it.
Great question, Reverend b b. Uh, it was always my intention. Yes,
from the very beginning. The first person we interviewed was
Rain Wilson, and I had even brought it up before then,
like I think we're gonna want I think we're gonna
get more material than we want because an oral history
(34:57):
of the office was, um, my man is bad, but
let's say eight to ten hours, uh, something like that.
And I sat down our very first interview with Rain
Wilson and we sat down for over two hours, and
immediately was like, well, we can't use all of that,
and he said so many amazing things. So yes, it
(35:21):
was always our intention to to release more of the
full conversations because we knew we had way more or
we were going to get way more than what we
needed for an oral history of the office. But thank
you for the question, Joe Bangles writes to me on Twitter.
(35:41):
Random question, but do you have a favorite cheese chatter
from Wisconsin? Going to eleven writes to me regarding the
Steve Correll episode. I love this episode. My wife has
a theory on why young people love the office. It
helps feel less intimidated about being working adults. Just because
(36:05):
you are a professional doesn't mean you have it all
figured out. They recognize personalities from school in the show.
I think, I think, I think you're onto something, going
to eleven. I think you're going to eleven, or you're
going to a hundred or whatever the biggest number would be.
That's very interesting. Yeah, I had not specifically thought about
(36:27):
being less intimidated seeing people you know who work in
an office later on, not not kind of having it
all together and figured out. But that's I think that's
a very very interesting theory. And yes, I do think
recognizing personalities from their other classmates and the structure of
a class versus the office was so similar. Like an
(36:50):
unreasonable teacher who makes you do unreasonable things, very similar
from Michael Scott making his office workers do unreasonable things.
Laura be harsh Field Serbic rights. I will say my
eleven year old son knows every episode and what season, finds,
(37:12):
all the mistakes and little extras I have missed. I
asked him why he likes it, and it's because the
characters talk about real life and he thinks it's real.
He knows it's not really a documentary, but it's what
he thinks being adult and working is like, which shows
how great the show was done. Well, Laura, all I
can tell you is it is indeed what we were
(37:34):
going for, the reality, uh, this sort of ultra reality
of not just making a documentary or how a documentary
was shot, but in terms of the behaviors and interactions
of the characters. So thank him for watching and for
being so interested, and thank you for clearly raising a
(37:57):
great son and fan of the show. Kristen Sheehy writes,
I'm loving the podcast currently going through chemo and the office,
and your podcast has provided me with so much joy
during this difficult process. God bless you, Kristen. I hope
you all get better soon, and thank you for listening
(38:18):
and for watching. And again, I'm I'm so glad that
us crazy band of nutheads have given some relief to
what you are going through. Pam Jill from the Randall
Iron Horn episode writes, what does a key grip slash
(38:38):
grip do? Well? They grip it and a key grip,
I mean clearly grips the key, I think BC Jim
Dad writes, Brian, did you just hear Aaron Rodgers in
the match? Tell Charles Barkley if you just beat Brian
(38:59):
Baumgartner in Tahoe, he'll be happy. Yes, I did hear that,
and I attempted after being sent the clip of it
from Tahoe, where I was getting ready to play, where
he wasn't. I did attempt to communicate because I felt
like I was brought up on air I should have
(39:19):
a chance to respond. So I attempted to contact Charles
Barkley and Aaron Rodgers and well not really T and
T because I didn't know how to get ahold of
anybody there. But I tried to be able to respond.
They ignored my phone calls. So nothing unusual about any
of that. Robert McCarthy forty two writes, I'd love to
(39:43):
know some storylines that just missed making it into the office.
There must have been a bunch of great ones. PS
love the podcast. Thank you, Robert um the one that
springs to mind. I know we have talked about or
we're about to talk about on an episode pet a
Pet Day was actually, to my knowledge, the only written
(40:06):
script that we never did. It was a fully written script,
and I think it just kind of kept kept getting
pushed and wasn't done. There may have been some animal
activists that would not have been happy about that episode.
I don't specifically remember the content, but pet Day was
(40:29):
the title, and there is a written episode of the
office that I read at some point very early on
that has never ever been produced. Veggie the memur writes,
just a question, what is your favorite scene you've ever
played as Kevin Malone. By the way, you're my favorite
(40:49):
actor person in the series. Well, Veggie, you're amazingly smart.
Number one. Uh to my favorite scene ever? I mean,
I guess I'm supposed to say the chili scene. I
guess that's supposed to be my answer. So I can
say that, or I can answers differently. The scene with
(41:13):
Amy Ryan at the vending machine where she is counting
money into my hands. Um, that's the one that I
remember being for me the most difficult to not laugh
because of her sincerity and sweetness and how it was written,
her performance, all of it. Um. I remember that scene
(41:38):
and then now that I'm thinking even more, maybe the
basketball one. I mean, I made thirteen in a row
on Prime Time and who's done that. Not not many
people ever have done Network prime Time made thirteen in
a row from free throw line extended, So that's a
possibility as well. Nick Hamby on Apple Podcasts Rights great podcast,
(42:06):
Love the Podcast. I've watched The Office forty four times
through during my wife's pregnancy. We watched it so much
that the first song that my son reacted to was
the intro to The Office. Love the show and pod
great work. Well, Nick, you might win. I don't know.
Forty four times is a lot of times. I don't
(42:30):
know that I could count that high. I will tell
you a funny story. Billie Eilish, who we talked to,
who told us at the time that we talked she
had watched at fourteen times through. There is some discussion
she has watched it at least one more time since,
but fourteen times through. And I remember writing about that
(42:50):
on social media and I can't tell you the number
of comments that I got that was like fourteen am her,
She's not a real fan. And I'm like, fourteen times
is a lot of times, Like you got, you can't
dismiss fourteen times as a as a number of times.
(43:11):
So but forty four, Nick, congratulations, you are officially, as
of this moment in time, you're the pious watcher that
I have heard of. So congratulations, and I say go
for forty five. It's a way, way better number. And
there you have it, folks, another mail bag in the
(43:36):
well in the bag. Huge thanks to all of you
for real guys, for coming back week after week and
and for giving us, well giving us the fuel to
make this episode. I could not ask for a better
group of listeners. Keep the comments coming, and we're gonna
see if we can fit in another episode very soon.
(43:57):
But until then, we're gonna be back to day with well,
perhaps the most well dressed man in the business, the
incredible director Paul Feig. And you never know, we might
have a little surprise coming to you before then. What
does that mean, Well, it means we may have an
(44:19):
episode on Thursday. Have an amazing week everyone, Happy birthday, Steve,
and I will see you so the Office. Deep Dive
is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
(44:40):
our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer.
Our producers for this episode are Liz Hayes, Emily Carr
and Diego Tapia and our intern is Hannah Harris. My
main man in the booth is Colin Tadeshi. Our theme
song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
(45:00):
and the episode was mixed by seth Olandscape
Host
Brian Baumgartner
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