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December 14, 2021 58 mins
Brian takes one last look at the incredible guests who have joined us on this deep dive journey into The Office. He revisits everyone from the world’s best boss to the world’s worst HR representative as he uncovers why this little show stole the hearts of people all over the world and made a cast of misfits feel like family. Hear from: Steve Carell, Paul Lieberstein, Craig Robinson, Kate Flannery, Jenna Fischer, Claire Scanlon, Phyllis Smith, John Krasinski, Creed Bratton.

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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Hello, Hi, Oh my god, I want to come
through the screen and hug you. Hey, everybody, Jessica's are here,
also known as Vanessa Abrams on Gossip Girl. I am
so excited to share my new podcast with you guys.
It's called XO XO and it's a walk down memory
lane all about Gossip Girl. I'll chat with some of

(00:21):
the cast crew fans of the show, and I'm just
so pumped for you guys to go on this journey
with me. All Right. I made Westwick, I played Chuck
Bass Is this Michelle Trachtonburg, I'll never tell Hey, I'm
Taylor Mompson, and I played Jenny Humphrey. Hi, I'm sbashion
Stan and I played Carter Bason. That that was one
of the reasons I liked the character Jenny so much,

(00:42):
is that she was very relatable. The whole thing was
such a choice for me to do, and I was
just so thankful that people responded the way they did
to what we were doing. This really was just like wonderful.
I like have like warm feelings inside. I'm giving you
air hugs. Listen to XO XO on the I Heart
Deo app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

(01:05):
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(01:26):
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(01:49):
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in Treatment on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody, and welcome here.

(02:21):
We are the office Deep Dive, and as always it
is me your host, Brian Baumgartner. I'm glad you made it. Why, well,
because today I would like to continue on the theme
of last week's best of, because I want to give
the best to the best. That's right, I'm saying you're

(02:45):
the best, and I am here to bring you more
of my favorite moments from my last round of interviews.
It's going to be a journey featuring some of your
favorite Office cast and crew. So buckle up, dry put on,
get ready to dive in, and we're better to start

(03:05):
than with the man who's been described as a teacher,
a mentor, a role model, the Office Dad, and of
course the world's best boss. Here is Steve Carrell on
who Michael Scott is and what the Office would be
like today. Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and

(03:32):
Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every month lift
over from the night before. Do you, as an actor

(03:53):
do you always search for the good and the character
that you're portraying. Sure? I think you have to do to,
as otherwise you're just demonizing or judging the people that
you're playing. And if you're judging a character that you're playing,
you're gonna play it differently. You don't want to editorialize
about a character plan. I think I think Michael's decent,

(04:18):
a decent dude with a lot of heart, but he's
so based on his childhood, based on all sorts of
things and things that he had lacked growing up, things
that he was I felt he was deprived of. He
was so hungry for acceptance. But I don't think he
had the strongest templates in the world to go by.

(04:41):
But I think he also learned and evolved and um
became a better person along the way. And he was
just a bit a bit myopic and became more aware.
Once he sort of was able to start stepping outside
of himself in his own little eccentricities, he could see

(05:04):
a little bit more about the world around him. I
think one of the things about Michael is he's actually
this and in terms of my interpretation of him, I
feel like he would look out at all the people
who worked with him, and it's like he would put

(05:25):
his foot in his mouth all the time. But in
a lot of ways, I don't think he ever valued
one person or type of person over any other. And
in that way, I think he was very pure character
because he's very dumb in terms of political correctness and

(05:49):
being appropriate in public. But at the same time, I don't.
I just don't think there was hardness in his heart
towards anyone. I agree with that. He I think a
person with an enormously good, kind heart, who lacked a
great deal of information about the world around him and

(06:13):
was as a sleep in a woke world as you
could be, but trying his best, trying his best. And
actually there's a difference between being intolerant and being ignorant,
and and sometimes intolerance and ignorance go hand in hand,
for sure they do. But I think he was a

(06:36):
decent human being. Really, he just didn't get it all
the time. Um, the show was happening my mom and dad,
they had friends and they would say, we can't watch
that show like that, Michael Scott, he key makes me
too uncomfortable. I can't watch that. And I always felt

(06:57):
that this was came from a place of deep and
security or like misogynistic or racist or homophobic feelings within themselves,
like that's why it was uncomfortable at times. And then
you came out thanks a lot for saying this. I
get asked about it all the time that the show
could never be made. Now, this was not exactly what

(07:19):
I said. Okay, well, that's great because I have always
said that I thought that Steve was misquoted in this yas.
I don't know, I don't know if it could be
made now. Maybe it could. I guess my point was
that I think what I was trying to say was
that that exact same show probably wouldn't be made today,

(07:42):
but with the same components, the same actors, the same writers.
If it were to come back, it would evolve into
the version of what we did back then. I mean,
I think the writing would be a bit different in
today's climate, but I don't think it would be any

(08:02):
less insightful. I don't think it would be any less
smart or any less funny. It would just be different,
that's all. And I do think it would be different,
and I think, I mean, Michael Scott would be much
more tuned into what it is to be woke. He
would not understand it necessarily, but he would be. The

(08:25):
comedy would be coming from his struggle to understand and
fit into the world as we know it today, because
the world as we knew it fifteen years ago is
different than it is today. But you know, you take
that same character who is trying to speak the language
of modern times. That can be very funny, but it

(08:46):
would just be different. It would just be a different
set of rules for today. But I don't know. I um, yeah,
I think you know. I think it's easy to say
that you can't be funny, you can't do comedy this
day and age. I think that's a bit of a
cop out because every you know, every time you turn around,

(09:08):
there is somebody coming up with something that is of
the time and inventive and doesn't shirk away from our
responsibility to look in the mirror. I think it just
I think it just takes a level of intelligence to
be able to do that. Now, Steve may be kind

(09:31):
and self reflective and understanding, but Michael Scott wasn't always,
at least not to one particular h R rep. So
when it was time for me to talk to Paul Lieberstein,
I couldn't wait to ask him about being the man
that everyone loved to hate. There's another relationship that I

(09:55):
think was maybe my favorite in the show. Will you
play that clip? Why are you the way that you are? Honestly,
every time I try to do something fun or exciting,
you make it not that way. I hate so much
about the things that you choose to be. I mean

(10:25):
that when was the idea for that born? It wasn't
born in diversity. Steve wrote that speech. Yeah, he hated
And when I was watching some of those things last night,
I mean his face anytime he is looking at you
and angry at you in a way is completely trans
He almost looks like a different person, and he's his energy.

(10:48):
And at one point he's like, I hate your lemon
head or it's just like crazy, it's like I'm a
Nazi and he thinks he's doing a service to the
world by hating me. Well that, well, that's the other
famous one, right, Like if I had two bullets and
there was Hitler, Ben Laden and Toby, I would use
both bullets and kill Toby. I think it happened in

(11:13):
Meredith's birthday and we all had to sign that card.
So I just had to go in and said, oh,
can I have a card and sign something really quickly
and leave, and he would just watch me do it
the whole time, take after takeing he was just standing
there watching and he told me afterwards that he felt
like the hate for me just just well up inside

(11:34):
him during these takes, so it was so from that moment.
Is that why you guys decided to write that story
in or to continue that. You know, a lot of
it he would come from Steve. I think the power
of it came from Steve, you know, and he would
always do more. Even starting with Diversity Day, he was

(11:56):
just supposed to say he would, you know, get out
or something like that, but he did more. He relished
the moment and played with it. And I think he
continues to do that. And really, you know, when we
had these thirty six minute cuts and had to decide
what would stay, when Steve loved something, he the performance
would be amazing. And I think that's what helped so

(12:18):
much of the Toby Michael stuff stay right. Just his
pure power and just the pure power of his like, yeah,
being being there, corral genius. Oh yes, the power of hatred.
Never thought I'd say that on this podcast. But Toby
wasn't the only thing that brought out the best in Steve.

(12:41):
He was so consistently, so amazing to work with, every scene,
every day. Here's what Craig Robinson had to say Darrell's
relationship with Michael in the show. It was a very
like he kept coming to you for advice, particularly on culture.

(13:01):
It was a very very funny dynamic. What was your
experience working with Steve? He's the greatest. The way he
could turn it comedy button off and on like a falsett.
It was just genius to me. Whenever I had a
scene with him on and I was like titilation, you know,

(13:26):
very exciting, and I learned from him, stole from him
all of that. Yeah, it's funny that you said. You
said that because I thought you were going to say
something else, which I think is also true. Is part
of his genius is how he turns so quick, even
within a scene, you know what I mean, Like he
is he is fighting down one path and something may

(13:47):
happen and he just turns it like that and he's like,
you know, ultimate scene part of two. He listens and
reacts two. You know what's going on? Like we had
a scene I didn't even really notice until it aired.
It was a negotiation. It might be my favorite episode

(14:10):
just because of the work I did with Steve and
being able to play with him like that. It was
the scene where he's like, I'm not going to speak first,
like to trying to speak first. So we did a
couple of takes and it was fine. Uh, And then
he did his next take and he's making these faces
and if you look closely, you could see Meet started

(14:35):
crack a smile on that. But it was just like,
without even speaking, he could, you know, pull this out
of you the laughter, like, oh, he's about to get me.
But also in that episode, when I was saying, uh,
when he listens and you know, like the perfect improvisation partner,
you're listening to take it to the next level. So

(14:57):
we're talking about, you know, getting rage from jan I said,
make it happen, Captain, he said, I will, Sergeant God amazing.
Do you think that your relationship with him evolved throughout

(15:18):
the show? Yeah, but I think everybody's everybody evolved in
this show. Everybody I went through character development. Um, you know,
that's one of the things that makes it what it is.
People got to know these people, right. But yeah, I
think every every situation evolved to something. I mean, you

(15:39):
started out and your episodes were mainly about like the
office versus the warehouse, whether directly in basketball or like
a weird class thing where you have like the white
collar and the blue collar talk to me about the
transition for you character wise or as an actor of
you finally coming up and being a regular part of

(16:01):
like the Bullpen characterized, Um, it felt like like it
did in real life, like oh many and making you
a regular, you know what I'm saying. So definitely a
move on up for Craig Infidary, you know. And it
was like more responsibility. And Rain used to say I

(16:24):
had the sweetest schedule in Hollywood because I would come
in for like an episode here and then four weeks
later come into the Christmas episode. But yeah, characterized it was,
it was like, yeah, step up, Okay, let's starting to see,
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(18:46):
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(19:09):
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(19:52):
podcast and my heart radio app or wherever you get
your podcast. Look, I know I've said it a million times,
so it should go without saying that we all loved

(20:13):
working with Steve, but there was a time when we
didn't get to do that anymore. That was a bit
of a shock for us. We were excited and we
trusted the process, but we were all scared too, and
we all dealt with it differently. Kate Flannery talked to
me about her how do I say, her particular process

(20:35):
of handling the news the day she heard it. What
do you remember about finding out that Steve was leaving?
I literally was with Creed. We were on the side
of the office doing like a satellite press junket um
and we and then announced it that morning, so every

(20:58):
venue wanted to talk about it. I was like wow,
because of course it was emotional. I mean, who are
we We're not? I mean, if Michael Scott, you know,
Michael Scott is thunder revealing he is the office. Um yeah,
I was so freaked out, And literally I told Creed
him like, Okay, anytime they talk about this, just just
pretend like we can't hear the feet, Like I think

(21:19):
the feed's going, I'm sorry, getting some interference. What was
the question? Wishing him all the best? Like I we
had this little thing where we would figure out how
to get out of the conversation. So but I was
I was definitely freaked out. And I mean, the great thing,
the great thing about our show is that I feel
like Greg Daniels is so trustworthy and I feel like
he's picked so many great writers, and I feel like

(21:40):
if anything could have survived a couple more years without
step Growl, it was because of Greg Daniels. But I
was nervous. I was, and I was nervous about Spader
um just because he's not a comedy guy. And he's brilliant,
but he's not a comedy guy. And I kind of
had this whole thing like, oh no, he's holding the baby.
He's gonna drop the baby. Don't drop the baby. And
also I was intimidated because he's he's like a movie

(22:02):
star and I had seen so many all of his
movies and you know, and there was so much sexual
tension between the two of us, so much watch but
I felt like there was sexual tension between me and Spade.
They're they're probably even more even more seriously, Spader, he
liked anyone right, there's sexual things. Um the season eight

(22:26):
Christmas episode, there was one take where he's sort of
like Meredith thinks she's actually made me, gonna go to
dinner with them or something like that, she's got a
chance with him, and he sort of touches her cheeks
like no, no, no, and she goes to hug me,
and I literally, one take I grabbed his ass and
then I was like, immediately when we stop, I'm so sorry,
I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

(22:47):
I just felt like, oh my god, he goes, No,
he goes. That was the right thing to do. En
end up using it, but I was like, don't grab
James Spader's Ask Kate what theming. I was so nervous.
I was like, oh no, oh no, oh no, Hey listen,
Navigating onset relationships can be weird for anyone, and I'm

(23:11):
sure it doesn't help when you're playing Meredith Palmer. But hey,
sounds like he was a okay with your decisions, Kate. Now,
when Jenna sat down with me, we talked a lot
about her own relationships with the cast, In particular, Pam's
relationship with Dwight and her personal relationship with Rain. Okay,

(23:35):
so I talked again about sort of that emotional core.
Dwight talk to me a little bit about the relationship
between the two of you and how that changed and evolved.
I mean, you were with Jim adversaries and made you
crazy forever, and then ultimately by the end, he says
that you're his best friend. Dwight does Dwight does know.

(24:01):
I think it's that first episode the Injury, when Pam
has that line, Dwight is kind of my friend. But
I think there's other things. You know, Jim and Pam
spends so much time teasing Dwight, and I think even
go too far. A few times. In my rewatching of
the show, I think there's a few times when we're

(24:22):
we're like, actually a little cruel to him that makes
me cringe and I feel like, oh, that wasn't our
best moment. But I appreciate because we allow our characters too.
We don't all every day have perfect moments, right. But
it's so hard for me to think about Pam's relationship
with Dwight without thinking about my relationship to Rain. Rain

(24:44):
is a deeply soulful person. He's also like a curmudgeon
ly old man. He's really cranky sometimes and on set
he would feel larious. Do you remember the time? Do
you remember the he declared, Oh my god, it was
so funny. We were getting ready to shoot and he said,

(25:04):
hold on, wait, just hold on, everybody, hold on for
a second. I have an announcement. Everyone on Monday's you
do not need to ask me how my weekend was anymore?
All right, every single person asked me how my weekend was.
Just assume it was fine. We were like, where is
this gummy from right? And I talked to him about this,

(25:27):
and he goes, Jenna, that is not true. I said
that on a Tuesday. I said, only asked me how
my weekend was on Mondays. No more of this bleeding
into Tuesday Mondays. And he went crazy because you and
I know what he was talking about, because it's five
o'clock in the morning and every single person that you
passed is like, hello, good morning, how was your weekend?

(25:49):
And he what he was saying was like, you don't
have to talk to me. We just saw each other
on Friday night. We're good, We're good. Yes, it's so true.
So he would be like that guy on this set.
It was like so funny, But then at the same time,
in moments of deep crisis, I have phoned him. I

(26:09):
had a job offer that was going to take me
out of town and would uproot my family for a
period of time that I really wrestled with the decision.
I called him and he counseled me. He is he
has that in him, a type of counselor, and I
value him so deeply in my life. But then like

(26:31):
like he'll call me up and he'll be like, do
you want to go to lunch? And I'm like, yeah,
I mean, because you sound like you want to go
so bad, like is it a chore or do you
want to go? Just like no, I want to lunch
with you, Like all right, let's go to lunch. And
then you go to lunch, and I was just sort
of like, are you liking our lunch? Are we having
a good lunch? How are you tell me about you?

(26:52):
And all so funny, But then like if I were
to do you know what I mean? So it's very
much like the Pam Dwight where Pam will like be like,
oh I love Dwight. I'm gonna go say something nice
to him, and then he'll just be like, Pam, something
about knives, something about snakes or bears, and she's like, yeah, okay, right, okay.

(27:15):
But so I guess, um, I feel deeply loved by Rain,
and I think Pam fell deeply loved by Dwight as well.
Like they had a real bond, They really cared for
one another eventually eventually. Yeah. Well, and it's similar to
your relationship with Michael, right, I mean from where that
relationship started and him fake firing you to him leaving

(27:40):
and you you having sort of that final moment with him. Um,
what did he say to you? Well, it wasn't so
much what he said to me. Um. Paul Fie directed
that episode Goodbye Michael, and Uh. We were at the
airport and Paul Fique sa, Jenna, I want you to

(28:00):
just run up and just say goodbye to Steve, your
friend Steve. This is your last scene with him, so
say goodbye. We're not going to use the sound, We're
just going to have a spy shot on you. So
I thought, okay, So I ran up to Steve and
I just told him all the ways I was going
to miss him and how grateful I was for his

(28:22):
friendship and the privilege of working with him. And I'm
sobbing and he's sobbing and we're hugging and and I
didn't want to let him go and I didn't want
the scene to end. And then finally paulfy you know,
says cut and he was like, Jenna, that was that
was brilliant. Can you do it again? But just a
little faster because it had been like five minutes. He

(28:46):
was like, we just need to tighten it up a
little because they wanted him to actually work away and
they had one camera. There was only one shot. It
wasn't honor that they couldn't edit. That is so great.
I was like, just tighten it up a little. But sweetie,

(29:07):
great talk becauess he could tell I was like, sobbing. Well,
if that's not an indication of how much we all
meant to each other, well then maybe this next clip
will be. Claire Scanlon wasn't part of the cast, but
she was an essential part of our crew, starting out

(29:27):
as an editor and moving on to directing episodes of
the show, and she certainly felt the love we had
for each other. So you learned to edit scripted shows
on the office, but really coming from you know, documentary,
specifically comedy documentaries. This felt comfortable. Yeah. And also, by

(29:50):
the way, like that same camaraderie that led to such
a strong ensemble, it extended through I remember talking to
John about this one time and we were just sitting
I think he directed an episode. You know, I was ahead,
so I would come to set bick John, I think
you need to get this shot, you know, like you
need to get this because otherwise how do we It
was the bulldozer Rain was taking a bulldozer in the
warehouse and smashing it to the wall, and you needed

(30:12):
the reverse and and I was like, I think you
need that reverse and we were in there and he's like,
oh yeah, no ego, Like it was fine for me
to tell John and he needed this shot. Like I
would come to set a lot, Dave would come to
set a lot and there was like that's not normal,
like that you always are inviting that. By the way,
I always asked the editor to come to set. Why
wouldn't I want an extra pair of eyes that might

(30:32):
be catching something because I'm in the thick of it
with five other questions, like why wouldn't I want someone
having my back? It's just a lovely thing to have.
It's not about ego or power being a no tour,
there's no such thing. First of all. But with John,
we were cutting his episode and I remember just being
like this is such a cool place to work, like
being just truly grateful. And I was like, I am

(30:55):
happy to come in here every day. And I was
like He's like yeah, He's like, there's not one person
like that you want to like put your head down
when you see them walking down the hall. He's like,
there's not one person that I'm like avoid, like where
you're like in high school or your first job or something,
or like that person sucks. He's like, there's not one.
There were over a hundred people there and he couldn't

(31:15):
come and we, by the way, we were totally gossiping,
like he could have told me that there was no
reason that there's no I mean, I wouldn't tell this
story if he actually named somebody, like but like we
were like, come on, there's got to be somebody. Like
everyone had their charm, you know, like everyone had the quirks,
their piccadillos. Greg could drive me crazy and I would
talk to him about it, but like that's crazy right there,

(31:37):
like the show runner could drive me crazy, and then
I could say, Greg, you're driving me crazy. Like I
remember on the finale, there was this whole tangent and
I'm sure you'll remember this about planting a tree. Andy
sees the tree in the office and says that tree planty. Yes, exactly,
Planty has been in here all its life. We've got

(32:00):
to set Planty free. And you guys go out to
the parking lot, you plant planty, and then you go
all the way back up to the office and then
the ending and you hug, and then you go to
the parking lot and you go to your respective cars,
and that's truly the end of leaving dunder Mifflin and um.
I was writing notes down and we were over time
for the finale, and we were all Greg was incredibly emotional,

(32:22):
but doing that guy thing where you don't let on
that you're emotional, so you're just kind of weird, you know,
like where you're just like heretic and sometimes irrational, but
like what you really want to say is I'm really sad,
but you're not going to say those words because you're
a guy. So I was just taking out notes. We
were too long and I had already pitched to cut Planty,
and I truly believed he said, okay, while we tried

(32:44):
cutting Planty, and I wrote it down and I did it,
and it was better because not because that whole storyline
wasn't interesting, but it was just almost just the physicality
of being in the office, having Creed play the song
and then taking Planting down to Parking Latin, and it
was like a hiccup to something wonderful. You didn't need
that hiccup. It just it was just an unnecessary extra beat.

(33:06):
As sweet and poignant as it was, there were already
like ten sweet and poignant moments that were happening with
Creed song, and too much poignancy diluted what was there.
So I cut Planting and Howard happened to be walking by,
and I showed it to Howard, and Greg's assistant Alyssa,
was also walking by, and I showed it to her,

(33:27):
and they both separately went to Greg and said, oh
my god, it's so much better without Planting, And he
came storming into my bay and he said, you put
that back in? How dare you? I never you're sabotaging me.
You're trying to get and I was like what he
was at a hundred? I was like, bring it down.
I said, first of all, I would never intentionally do

(33:48):
something to sabotage you. That I was like, if you
don't know that about me by now, I am just
I am not that personal. I'm just I don't even
think I could sabotage someone if I try. Like if
that was my goal, I said, you created this show.
I am here to service what you created and help
you realize what you want. And he calmed down, like

(34:09):
he was like, so first, let's get this paranoia out
as that they happened to be walking by, which was
true on both counts. They have maybe and that would
happen all the time. By the way, we would just
be wide by whether doors open, because it would get
in sufferably hot and interesting things that I would walk
by a people's bays and poke my head. And it
was just a very inclusive environment. When people are waiting
for their next scene and they were born of being

(34:31):
in their trailer, they'd come and show me something and
it wasn't show me myself. It was like, hey, what
you got that's funny? Show me a funny scene, Like
I just want to see what's going on in the show,
like actors would come in all the time. So he said, okay,
well show me, and then I showed it to him
and he's like, okay, leave it out. But like it
was like I had to talk him off allege. I
think that's what makes him so interesting is he does

(34:53):
clearly have and I think it was for the better
ultimately for the show. This I don't want to say
inferiority complex, but this like someone's always going to try
to get one over on me kind of thing going on,
Like and you're just you almost have to, like like
with every coworker and or boss, I think you kind
of have to just to really get to know their psychology.
And you're working with this, you know, pound Gorilla Greg Daniels,

(35:16):
who's so so so smart and so funny that like
to stand up to him require some hot spun your
own and it's kind of empowering. And I always did it.
I didn't always, you know, I had confidence in what
he had created, so I wanted to make sure it
was the best version of what was written and acted.
And I'd make good arguments and then he'd make great

(35:37):
counter argument. We have a really good discourse to get
to lock and I think that was also very unique
and special. You know, I always have Greg in my
head when I'm directing, because I heard his opinion on
everybody else's, you know, as an editor, I heard what
he thought of every director, and he thought the world
of many and then like sometimes he'd be like, how

(35:57):
could they not have gotten that? Like and I always
in my mind, like, let's just do one more, like
thinking like what didn't I get? What would Greg be like,
how can they gotten that? You know, I always want
to have that showrunner in the back of my head
saying and that show runner's voice, because Greg was my
first is always Greg from Cavalry Audio, the studio that

(36:26):
brought you The Devil Within and The Shadow Girls, comes
a new true crime podcast, The Pink Moon Murders. The
local sheriff believes there maybe more than one killery. It's
been four days since those bodies were found and there's
no arrest as it this morning. They were afraid face
it out in that area, what if they come back
or whatever. It scared me to death, Like it scared me.

(36:47):
I was very very intimidated to live here. Crazy to
think you go to sleep one night, maybe snuggling with
your loved one and never wake up, or maybe you
wake up in a struggle for your life, which you lose.
Joint host David Radham as he explores one fateful night
when evil descended upon small town, Ohio killed eight members
of an Ohio family in a pre planned execution. The

(37:09):
family was targeted, most of them targeted while they were sleeping.
The Pink Moon Murders is available on February twenty second,
and you can follow The Pink Moon Murders on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. If I could be you and you could
be me for just one hour, if you could find
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(37:31):
mile in my shoes, wacome mile in my shoes. Shoes.
We've all felt left out, and for some that feeling
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you by the AD Council. Welcome out in the Shoes. Hey,

(37:53):
it's Jake Halpern here. If you've ever wondered what it's
like to make a true crime podcast like Deep Cover,
well now's your chance to find out. Join me and
my friend Dana Goodyear, who's the host of Pushkin's Lost
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true crime storytelling. We'll talk about how we make our

(38:14):
stories dramatic and accurate, and how we navigate all the
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l H. You know, I don't think that there's a

(38:44):
single person who worked on the office that hasn't been
forever changed by it. When we started, we were all
just trying to find our footing right and then we
created this beautiful thing together that we were all so
proud of. Here's Phillis on what it was like when

(39:04):
the day we were dreading finally came. You know, when
you you talked about when the show ended in after
the ninth season, that was a tough tough night, especially
when Creed started singing. But for me, it was really
tough like months later after the show had ended and

(39:27):
we generally would go back to work around July or August.
That's when it set in that oh, this is life's
different now, you know, we're not going back. Yeah. When
I sat down with Greg before that last season or
moving into the finale and we started talking about, you know,

(39:49):
my life's journey at that point through the office and Kevin,
and my experience was um people feeling like they knew
me and specifically feeling like I was the guy that
they wanted to get a drink with, and I would.
I said something to him like Greg, I can't go
into a bar without getting bought multiple drinks. Like they

(40:13):
just come to the point I say no, I'm good, No,
thank you, no, I'm good. Now, I gotta I gotta
stop now. Guys, at least people that call you Kevin,
you know that they know you from this show. You
me when people say Phyllis, I have to think for
a moment, Okay, do I have our paths crossed for

(40:37):
a moment, do I know you? Or But in reality
I do know them or they know me because I've
been in their bedroom, in their living room, in their kitchen,
and before they go to work and as they go
to sleep, and so we are a part of our
fans lives, you know, absolutely, But at least you can
decipher yours a little better with Kevin and and Brian,

(41:01):
That's true. I've never thought about that before Phyllis or
Creed or Oscar or Angela. Yeah, and especially if they say,
oh I saw you, and I'm thinking, okay, now did
I you know, did I go to school with them
or what? Right? That's actually the most difficult. Well, I

(41:22):
have two difficult fan interactions. One is I'll be at
a at a serious place of business, like like in
a thing, and I'm meeting someone. Or I have a
good friend who's introducing me to a good friend who
says like, oh, we've met before, right, And I immediately go, no,
I know we haven't, and I know why you think

(41:45):
that we've met before. But then to say that, you
become like, I don't know, You're like, you know what,
I was on a television show, you know, like so
this is an actual thing, you guys. I don't know
if it's fiction blurring with reality or what. But a
lot of people confuse us for their real life friends.

(42:08):
And I'm not saying we should we shouldn't be friends,
or we wouldn't be friends. I'm just saying that I
have never met you before. When I talked to John,
he had some really great insight as to why this
phenomenon continues to take place. You obviously wildly successful. When

(42:31):
people approach you, now, what percentage of it is about
the office? Oh? Large majority. Again, I think it's the
difference between fans who feel like they're a part of
something and fans who have watched something. I think there's
very few things that I watched when I was a
kid that I felt so connected to. It was more like, oh,

(42:54):
I like the movie ET, But there were very few
things that I felt like if I ever saw that person,
we shared a life moment together. Had I ever met
Chris Farley, I would have said that because I watched
Tommy Boy so many times that he didn't know he
was my best friend, but he was my best friend.
So I think that thing is like I shared so
much in my life with that show. That's why I

(43:17):
think that people, you know, people have seen other things,
which is great. Certainly recently, like I think Quiet Place
in Jack Ryan people are coming up a lot more.
But I I think our fans see me and instead
of going up to an actor to get a picture
or something, they're actually seeing a friend of theirs is
my point, My long meandering point is no one looks

(43:37):
at Jack Ryan. I was like, oh my god, my buddy,
Jack Ryan, Oh my god, you're an actor. I didn't
realize they do think that with Jim and I've had.
My favorite experiences with fans is when they think we've
gone to school together or something. That's my favorite. Like
I I had one where a woman said we know
each other and I said, Dowey and she goes, we
went to school together and I was like, I don't.
I don't think we did, and she went, yes we did.

(44:00):
And it was like that thing of like why am
I being awkward about it? Where did you go to school?
And she said some school and I went, I did
not go to that school, and yes you did, and
like I was like okay, And then I left and
I could see that either someone else someone else has
been like you don't know that person. You just thought
that it was at the airport bookshop, and then through
the window you saw them being like silence, being like,

(44:23):
oh no, god. It was great. But I think that
that's such a credit to the show that you don't
just like the show, you actually think you know those people. Yes,
because I I By the way, I'm not necessarily comparing
you to Ted Danson in exactly the same way. No,
but I just mean like ted Danson was doing a

(44:43):
lot of stuff and immediately after Cheers, but there was
something about Cheers Sam alone that everything else not even
that other things wouldn't have been as good or better.
But Cheers was what I shared because there was a
purity to that experience. You had watched your same with me.
I mean I was. I grew up in Boston, like
Cheers was a form of like television, religion or something. Yeah,

(45:09):
I will take a comparison to Ted Dance in anytime.
Then I won't do that ago, God damn it. Here,
put on these earphones. I want you to hear something.
I'm playing something for everybody. Boy. Um, we should have
had these on the whole time. I would have I
would have changed my voice. Um, don't ever, ever, when

(45:31):
I have an earphones on and I have your tone
right in my ear, don't talk low like that. My
voice slips and nope, I just have slips around. I
don't like that in my hand. I don't like your
voice slipping around in my ear. Um. We play clip
six for me Clip six, I thought it was weird
when you picked us to make a documentary, But all

(45:55):
in all, I think an ordinary paper company like Dunder
of Flynn was a great subject for a documentary. There's
a lot of beauty and ordinary things. Isn't that kind
of the point? So Greg wrote that clearly for him,

(46:19):
that was the point. What did you think the point
was the point of what shooting the show? Sorry, my
brain just exploded again. Um. I think that that is
so beautiful that writing, And I would only suspect that
it came from someone who created the show, because someone
who creates the show and doesn't just act on the

(46:40):
show would have to have in their head at beginning,
middle and end, and you're shooting for something, And I
love that that's what he was shooting for. What are
you most thankful for? Oh my god, everything? I mean,
are you asking me as a person? Well, I mean,
without sounding hyperball, it is my everything. I mean that

(47:03):
show changed my entire life twenty three when it started,
so I hadn't even really formed an identity of who
I was, and so that show not only from a
career perspective where I've had more opportunity than I ever
would have dreamt of having for one day, I have
for an entire lifetime. Is all due to that show.

(47:23):
I never would be doing any other thing that you've
seen me do, writing, directing, acting, and something else if
it wasn't for that show. But as a person, I
think it sort of gave me this very quintessential building
block that I got to stand on to build the
rest of my life. Yeah, you're you're about to say,

(47:44):
that's all crack of ship? No what what? What? What
would you say? Well, I think it's very similar. I
think I was processing what you were saying that because
of the people who were working on it, not just
the actors, but the writers who are like all showrunners
now from the early season you know, yeah, extremely successful,
fun good shows. It's but also our crew. Like you said,

(48:07):
like you know again in a very probably lame cliche
hallmark way, like I don't know that as a person
I would be able to have the luxury forget you know,
success or finance or anything. It's the luxury of being
who I wanted to be. I didn't know who I
wanted to be. And because of such a warm environment

(48:28):
where if everyone had a color, people were splashing their
experience and their colors all over me. I got exposed
to everything I wanted to be and then got to
choose to move forward with my life in a way
that I not only didn't know existed, but that I
could sustain. Like that you could, you could do fantastic

(48:51):
fun stuff every day for ten years of your life.
And genuinely, I've been asked, I'm sure you get asked
all the time, what year were you guys all over it? Like?
When were you guys? Like? We're over it? And I
genuinely am trying not to look back with revisionist history.
I don't remember one moment where I was like, such
a job. Yeah, as far as jobs go, John, You're right,

(49:18):
you can't beat it. And maybe that's obvious by now
as I've spent the last couple of years putting together
this love story to the office, but thinking back on
the very end, our last moments working together as one big,
happy family, there's no better way to bring me right

(49:42):
back to that place the moment the show was ending.
Then to listen to Creed Bratton sing all the faces
before the finale? Did you have a conversation with Greg? Yes? Yes,
he he called me uh, and you know, he'd asked everybody.
He said, I want to know what your your feedback is,

(50:03):
how do you think the character Creed should leave? And
I told him, Uh, I thought it for a while,
and I said, I think this is this song of mine.
All the faces I could be at poor Richard's playing
my guitar. You guys, the cast all walks in and
I'm singing all the faces and uh, the camera comes
in on each of you. And he said, I like
that idea. That's the last I heard of it until

(50:26):
the table read. And then I saw at that time
and I almost cried, I literally and Brian, I want,
oh my god. Looked around. There was my guitar. I
didn't know I was going to sing that song until
the table read. That was the first time I heard
about it. They kept they kept it, They kept it
just as a surprise. It was emotional. Wait, they they
had your guitar. Yeah, now, the the p A went

(50:46):
and got my guitar and had it there. And I
looked around like this and I went on, I've seen
reading the scripting, but oh my god, I'm gonna sing
the song. And what there is gregs letting me sing
my song and look around they're they're all they're standing
bick they're smiling, and they've got my guitar. They planned this,
you know, we play. Will you play a little bit
for me? All right? Okay, I gotta turn my phone

(51:08):
on just for second, guys, to tune up this axe.
This is the guitar I used actually on the on
the show. This this old Martin and John's a good story. John,
we couldn't get the microphone on the think and then
the shot so Krasinski said he'd hold this the shotgun.
He had it under his arm when we were recording.

(51:29):
You couldn't hide him, mind, You couldn't hide the mic
for the guitar itself. And then John said, well, I'll
just hold the shotgun mic U under my arm because
he was the closest. He was the closest to me,
and he was sitting there talking to looking over the
bad but all the time he's holding it right there
on the sound hole. He's a team player, right boy.
We know that all right for you. I saw a

(52:11):
friend to day. It had been a while and we
forgot each other's names. But it didn't matter her accused.
Deep inside feeling still remains we talked to of knowing
one before you've met, how you feel more than you

(52:36):
see in other worlds that lie spaces in between angels.
We can see. All the faces that I know have
that same familiar glue. I think I must have known

(53:00):
them somewhere once, beef. All the faces that I know,
and all the faces we seek each chennairvery day when

(53:20):
we get home at night, there's one face we need.
And when my mind's absorbed on my private little screen
and I'm walking climbing through a sea of unknown men,

(53:41):
I heard a voice reminded, they're across the street, walks
an old forgotten friends, and we don't have to say
a word. It's really better left unsaid, just light through

(54:01):
ice that ragged nights. All the faces you know, all
the faces I know, and while the faces we see

(54:21):
each chen air day we would get home at night,
there's one face we need, all the faces I see
each chin air every day when I get home at night,

(54:50):
the face I need when I get home at night.
You're the only face I so great. There we go,

(55:14):
so great, dude, Yeah it um, yeah, it gets me
every time. Wow, it gets me every single time. Thank you, Creed,

(55:40):
Thank you everyone for being a part of this beautiful podcast.
It has meant more to be than you will ever know.
Thanks for tuning in once again and come back next
week to hear from perhaps my most special guest of
all you. I'll see you that the Office. Deep Dive

(56:10):
is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside
our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer.
Our producers are Liz Hayes and Diego Topiar. My main
man in the booth is Alec Moore. Our theme song
Bubble and Squeak, performed by my great friend Cree Bratton,

(56:31):
and the episode was mixed by seth olandskiper Mama, what

(56:59):
is the chicken draft draft really? Giraffe, Giraffe, You're not
gonna get it all right. Just make sure you nail
the big stuff, like making sure your kids are buckled
correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes. Get
it right visits n h S a dot gov slash

(57:20):
The Right Seat brought to you by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration in the AD Council. I'm Joe Piazza,
host of the podcast. Under the Influence If you tuned
into our last season, you know that the world of
mom influencers on Instagram contains multitudes. Yes, there are pretty
pictures and gorgeous kids, and yes there's lots of money

(57:40):
behind a lot of those pictures. But there's also something
much more dark and complicated going on in the background,
and that speaks to everything that is wrong with how
we treat women in the world. On season two, Under
the Influence, we're advocating for the women who make content
and the women who consume it. We're going into some
of the darkest corners of the social media universe, and

(58:01):
we might just have a plan to shut it all
the hell down. Listen to Season two of Under the
Influence with Joe Piazza on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. M M hey, Elizabeth,
you're the co host of that new podcast Ridiculous Crime.
Why yes, I am. You know what's ridiculous? Yeah, carpeting

(58:21):
in kitchens and bathrooms? Oh wow, you are good. But
you know what's also ridiculous? A sixteen year old who
breaks into a car dealership and steals guy theories Lamborghini.
What yes to impress a girl? I'll tell you all
about it on Ridiculous Crime, our podcast about absurd and
outrageous capers, heist and cons. It's always murder free and ridiculous.

(58:44):
Listen to Ridiculous Crime on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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