May 11, 2021 • 40 mins
Brian is joined by another member of the accounting trio, the hilarious Oscar Martin AKA Oscar Nuñez. Oscar attempts to build his own soundscape as they talk about the comedy icons that influenced him as a kid, the time he had to duck into the warehouse to cry, and what life would be like if The Office were shot now... and the YouTube videos that could have been.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M I Heart three D Audio. This episode of the
Office Deep Dive is brought to you in I Heart
(00:20):
three D Audio. For maximum effect and fun, headphones are recommended. Hi.
I'm Oscar Ninyez and I played Oscar Martinez on the Office.
(00:46):
Hello everyone, Oh this is a special one. Welcome to
this very special episode of the Office Deep Dive. I'm
your host Brian Baumgartner. Now, I don't know if you
have noticed, but do I sound a little different to
you today? It feels like I'm in your head right Like? Look,
(01:08):
I am in your right ear holes? Am I not?
And now I am in your left one? Now don't
freak count guys, Okay I am. I am not actually
in your head today. I am using a very special
little device, the zoom h three VR audio recorder. I
(01:28):
have to tell you this thing is so fun. It
captures three hundred and sixty degree sound. So we're joining
I Hearts three D Audio campaign to try one of
these puppies out and to make it even more fun,
I have decided to come to my favorite place on
the planet, Tory Pines Golf Course here in San Diego, California. Now,
(01:49):
for you folks who don't know Tory Pines will be
hosting the one hundred and twenty one US Open this
year June through the US I truly cannot wait for
that to happen. Um, excuse me one moment it is
(02:09):
my turn. Nailed it anyway, I'm having so much fun
here I almost forgot I have a job to do.
I have to interview today's guest. Not that he's a
forgettable guy. No, In fact, I would say today's interview
it is actually unforgettable. For better or worse, you decide that. Uh,
(02:32):
it is with my good friend Oscar. Noon. Yes, Now
where do we get about Oscar Oscar? Well, first off,
Oscar is truly one of the funniest people I have
ever met. Truly, he makes me laugh harder than any
person on the planet, which is great, except it's a
problem when you're shooting a television show. Yes, he made
(02:54):
things very difficult for myself and for Angela to keep
it together back in the account. In his corner, he's
like a comedic communion, which is to say, he changes
shape and tone comedy styles for whatever fits the exact
moment you're in. He is hilarious. So when we're doing
(03:16):
these interviews, right, I was very well researched, and the
day that we're going to interview Oscar, I ripped up
the papers. I just said, this is not gonna do
us any good today, guys, because what we're gonna get
is what we're gonna get. It's gonna be funny, but
I don't know if we're gonna get any astute observations
unless Mr Nunyez is in the mood, because he is
(03:38):
very difficult to pen down. But I have to tell
you of all of the interviews I did, this was
the most fun. I hope you have fun listening to it.
But either way, you can sit back now and listen
to me working my hardest to get a serious answer
out of Oscar. Noon. Yes, and now while you're I
(04:00):
think I'm gonna go play some golf. Bubble and Squeak.
I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker,
cooking at every moment left over from the NATB before. Yeah,
(04:32):
how it lost? Hi? Hi? How are you? I'm all right?
Good to see you. Hi? You guys? Is this it
is this? Where it's Yeah, that's where you set you
picked it up? Really well? It's a podcast, right, it's cute.
It's a You're an Idiots a podcast? Yeah, it's a podcast.
(04:54):
No video? Do you want to be videoed? Sometimes? Podcast?
Did you put on? You put on makeup? Just the base? Yeah?
Are we on? Because you're speaking the mic like ron,
we're on. There's no action, there's no starting. Would just
start like this, like go ahead, it's like Ken Kappas,
like Mark Maron does that. He just starts saying like that.
(05:14):
Yeah that's how. That's how. Yeah, I'm like Mark Barron, Okay, No,
we're just chatting. We're just getting to know each other again.
What what brings me here? Yeah? What brings you here?
Why did you come in? No, I'm being serious. What
were you doing before the office started? First of all,
you have way too many notes in front of You've
got like reams of paper like sheets. I'm trying to
(05:37):
keep the paper business. I'm trying to keep papers. And
you're taking this seriously and good for you? Good for you?
Are your parents? Would you try would you try to
take it seriously? I think I would ask to extent
look at all this paper. I've never used as much
paper in my life. I know what's on it? What's
Here's the thing that you have. You have four pages?
(05:58):
Why was this? Was? This was Andy Buckley? Was like,
why he has a lot to offer? In what way?
He was? You know, he was the boss of the show,
right he was? He was in charge, which makes him,
which makes him important? Was he for the all seasons?
(06:19):
He wasn't? He came in later. It stands the reason
that I would have you would need more paper for me,
because that's the thing. You would think that, But that's
not the case. No, there's only four pages, and I
was drinking a soda and I forgot to bring it in.
Can have one of your By the way, people, he's
got fifteen people working for him. Here, there's a booth.
It's very professional everyone, it's it's lovely. I really, I
(06:39):
am taken aback. I'm sorry. What did you ask? What
were you doing? It was catering and I was babysitting.
You were catering in babysitting? Yes, people let you look
after their children that at the same time, yes they did.
I guess what. He's alive and he's a grown man
now and he's fine. So there. You baby sat for
(07:01):
just one boy, baby not baby sat for a couple
of families, but one particular family. Uh. And I'm still
friends with all of them, and they're wonderful. And I
baby sat him, like I swear to God, I think, Yeah,
he was little. He he had other people, but I
was the fellow. Yeah. He had two babysitter women and
(07:22):
one guy. And then we would take turns. And you know,
his parents would would sometimes call me, sometimes call them,
but I you know, baby's has a kid for ten
years more or less. So you were catering. You were babysitting,
but you were you were working in. Um, you were working.
You were working in Uh, go ahead, go ahead. It's
(07:50):
like a play. And now I'm walking across the hallway
and I'm stumbling. Oh, oh, I fell you guys, I'm
doing Folly work. This is really sweet. Yeah, this isn't
a Foley studio though, and yet yet So you were
but you were you were trying to be an act
I mean you were. Sorry, I shouldn't say that. You Well,
(08:12):
you were doing improv too, right, I was trying to
be an actor. Poor, I was. I was an actor. Yes?
Were you an Olympic? No? I was in the groundlings
were groundlings? Yes? And I was auditioning stuff. But but,
but my day jobs were catering and babying. I had
to do other things to support myself. Jobs were coming
in here and there, guest spots, stuff like that. Right. Yeah,
(08:35):
when you got the audition for the Office, had you
watched the British version? Oh? Yes, yes, and loved it.
I thought it was great. Ricky Gervais is very funny. Yeah, yeah, seriously.
I thought, we'll do the pilot and that will be it.
We'll do the pilot. I wasn't that excited. I'm like,
we'll mess it up us being America. I'm like, they're
not going to do it right. They're not going to
(08:55):
leave those long awkward pauses. They're not going to go
for the awkward as you know, the long It's just
not gonna happen. So I was I was happy. I
was excited I got the pilot, but I was like,
I'm not going to quit my day job. Also at
that time, do you remember I'm sure that people know
by now because we've been off the air since sixty two,
(09:16):
so we've gone over this. When we were all cast,
the lead wasn't cast yet. They were looking at the
am I right, bet my buddy Damon Jones, Andy richter
In and who else. There's a fourth guy that I
always forget. But all these four men are lovely ladies
(09:37):
and gentlemen, and Damon's a personal friend of mine. From
the Groundlings, they're all lovely, and I still thought, Okay,
that's fine. But then Steve was working on something and
it fell through and he became available, and when they
said Steve Carrell is going to be the lead, I thought, wow,
this is now, this is special, this is like something's
(09:58):
happening here, because I was such a huge fan of
his from anchor mang and all that. But I really
thought I loved The Daily Show when John Stewart was on,
but I used to love Steve on The Daily Show.
And when we when he got on the office, I thought,
we've got a shot at this because I think he's great. Yeah,
And did you you knew Angela before the show? Right?
(10:18):
How did you know Angela? I believe from the Groundlings?
And I didn't know she got the job. I showed
up for work and she was there in her accountant's office,
and that's like an actor's dream come to I'm like,
what are you doing here? She's like, what are you
doing here. I'm like, oh my god, Angela, we're on
this show. We're on this bloody show. What did you
think of me? Because then it was just you and Angela?
(10:41):
And then I was like, the new guy, weren't you
there already? What are there for the pilot? It was
it was clearly you don't have any recollection about meeting me.
It was Kay Flannery, who wasn't there. I knew you
were funny from the commercials. I knew who you were.
You had that the Deli commercial out, which was brilliant,
and I'm like, nicest thing you've ever said about me. Well, look,
(11:02):
I knew you were. I'm like, this guy's funny and talented.
But I know how funny Angela is. And I'm like, oh,
they don't know how funny. They're gonna find out. They
must have known from the audition, but her character doesn't
let her be your character. Let should be funny right
out of the gate, and Angela and I had to
hold back until the show got up and and then okay,
let's let them be a little crazy. Now. Do you
(11:24):
remember um, Nope, clearly, not really, but shooting the pilot,
do you remember us coming in every day on the
pilot and doing thirty minutes of busy work. Yes, I
do remember that. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, just to
go back a little bit, Ben and Greg were very
protective of the original show and that was really cool.
(11:45):
I remember him talking about, oh no, we're going to
have those there's not going to be a laugh track
and there's gonna be long, and I was like, whoa that.
Plus Steve, I'm like, okay, here we go. And I
remember people people are like, they're such good actors just
and I'm like, well, you're sing like, you're in the office,
you're on your computer, you're you're doing something on the computer,
and you don't want to be bothered by a camera.
(12:06):
That's pretty easy to do. See, that's the thing. People
are like, where does the thing take place? It takes
place on a satellite, or it's a station on a satellite,
or it's underwater and there's it's the future. It's like, no,
it's just it's a garage taxi. It's a garage with people.
That's it. It's a bar, that's it. It's an office.
(12:27):
What are your sell It doesn't matter. It's paper, it
could be anything. It's the characters it's not where it
is a laboratory in space in the future and whatever.
It's just it's character building. Yeah, what did you used
to do when we were supposed to be doing fake work? Gosh,
I don't know. I would doodle? Did I bring a
book in? I pretended to work and I don't know.
(12:51):
It was we used to pass We used to pass
notes back to each other. Angela still has some doodles
that I did back in the day. It was very
exciting to be there. So everyone has to just kind
of can you hear the card? The microphone picks up everything,
ladies and gentlemen. I was playing with a card and
Brian literally slapped it out of my hand because God forbid,
(13:13):
I see I go the other way. I wanted to hear.
I want them to hear like clinking of glass and
it's real, we're real people. You're build yes, but but yeah,
it had to be a boring workplace. And as a
matter of fact, like some thing's worked, and I remember
like some like the b roll the camera with scan
and some people knew they were being shot, and some
(13:34):
people would just act normal like nothing was happening, or
they didn't want to be shotting. Other people would try
to do bits and don't do the bit. Don't do
the bit right because it's it's still funny to see
someone just looking over and like rolling their eyes, like,
what what do you want from me? I'm kind of
do some work. We were boring before the cameras showed up.
It wasn't a pilot for us. We're office workers. It's
(13:56):
a documentary king. Did you bring anything you know, like
they asked us to bring in, like personal items and stuff.
Did you bring anything in like like John had the
picture if he and his best friend. He didn't pay
me enough for that. I was just an extra when
I first got there, bringing something from my own life.
Make me a regular, then we'll talk there. Looky, I
(14:18):
was there. What am I gonna bringing? You know what
I bought? I brought in seriously a picture of me
and my dog, Yeah, boat, and I had it on
the thing. It was there the whole time. It was
there the whole time, So I did have my dog.
She passed away recently. Minister Schnauzer the best um Leela
was her name. She's a little black mini Schnauzer and
she was there in one of my pictures on the thing. Yeah,
(14:40):
that's what I bought in um. The second episode we
shot was Diversity Day. Yes, it was fantastic, fantastic, not good,
excellent script from a young seventeen year old. He used
to show up on his skateboard b J Noback. How
much did I hate him? And still do? He was
(15:02):
seventeen at the time. No, but he was young. I'm
saying that for comedic effect. He's so talented, is my point.
He's so talented. That was a really good script. It
was a very good, so good it has in it
for me, one of my favorite jokes in the entire show,
What was it Michael asking you what he could call
you that was less offensive than Mexican? Was that that episode? Something?
(15:28):
Something less offensive? God? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, he's
like Oscar and he was so serious about his like
Oscar and trying to be gentle. Is there something that
I can call you? Oh man? And he would flip
the chair around when he turned a chair around that
knew and everyone just had a hold bite their tongues
so they wouldn't laugh because he would That would make
(15:50):
him extra serious. So was it offensive for you as
a Cuban to have to play in Mexican. What kind
of question is that he's giggling? Everyone? Oh, look at
me with any questions, Look at me. Let me try
to trip him up. What if I said yes? What
if I'm like no? I mean, like, why, you know,
what's wrong with being Cuban? That's my question. I don't know.
(16:12):
I think I think why why was Oscar Martinez? I
don't know why they made him Mexican? I would have
been fun if they would have made him Cuban. Here's
the thing. I think it was because of that joke.
Oh right, I guess he could have said Cuban. I
think he would have been Cuban because we're in Pennsylvania.
If the if the show shott in l A, there's
more Mexicans out here, but on the East coast that's
(16:32):
where all the Cubans were. But either way, the joke
is funny. It's it's ridiculous because Michael Scott got away
with so much stuff because he genuinely was coming from
a place of innocence. That's how a vapid. He's like, Oscar,
is there anything less offensive? And he's like, no, it's
not offensive. And he's like, well, he's still not convinced.
(16:55):
I'm telling you, I'm I'm telling you, I'm Mexican. I'm
telling you, Well, okay, if you say so, you know,
fe you and then and then you would hate him,
hate him, hate him, and then something horrible would happen
to him, and then you'd feel sorry for him. And
then he'd reel you wing and you're like, oh, he's
not such a bad guy, and then he does it again.
I think that was the circle of the show. That
(17:18):
was the circle of the show. It's a wonderful formula.
Were you at the time aware people now everyone's just
gonna have to go to the bathrow. Well, if they
have to go, they have to go, We'll still be here.
Put hit your pause button. Can they pause a podcast?
(17:39):
You don't know if you can pause a podcast. Yeah,
you can write on your phone. People are listening to
this driving around in their cars. Whatever, right, Please, somebody
make a note to not ever ever use that um.
Were you aware though at that time? Like, did it
feel taboo what we were doing? Did it feel like
(17:59):
we were doing something different talking about race in that way?
I love edgy stuff. I love not being condescending to
the audience. I like being an intelligent show. It's like
we didn't we didn't have to explain ourselves to the audience.
And I think, I think if it's genuinely funny, you
(18:20):
could pretty much make a joke about anything. But it's
got to be funny. If it's not funny, I mean,
they'll let they'll let you know. The show was intelligent.
The show was very funny. It came from the right place.
His his character wasn't he wasn't mean, he wasn't a bully.
Everything was organic. He there was a reason if he
was upset, there was a genuine reason why he was upset.
(18:41):
He wasn't picking on you because he's a terrible person.
Something happened and he's like, I'm upset, and this is
how I'm going to act out. But there's a reason
why he's doing it. Right have you? Have you watched
Diversity Day recently? I I've never actually watched the show
per se, but I shot it. We were there, We
(19:01):
shot the show, Everyone went home, and people came back
and talked about and that's how I got my information
about the show. I don't like to see myself perform.
I'm kidding. I watched there's the actors who don't like
to see themselves performing. I don't watch a lot. Do
you watch everything you do your self indulgent? I don't.
I don't, sus I don't. I don't watch everything I do. Brian,
(19:26):
I watched this every Thursday went while we were shooting,
and then one time I went back and binge watched
the whole thing one time and maybe there were two
okay episodes there was. The rest were good or really good.
I was so impressed. See, I still feel like Diversity
Day holds up like it holds up Oh that one,
(19:48):
yeah for sure. Yeah, but they all kind of do
a lot of Like I said, I think there was
two that I'm like, oh what happened there? But just
like one or two out of nine seasons, that's very good.
M You know, one of the signature episodes of the show,
(20:23):
and certainly for you, was gay witch Hunt. How and
when did you find out that Oscar Martinez was actually gay? Okay?
I will ask that, but before I ask answer that question,
I want to talk about the people on the show
as people, not not our actors or whatever. Greg Daniels
(20:43):
is such a cool guy that I needed a way
out of the show so I can go shoot halfway
Home on Comedy Central because when it rains, it pours
ladies and gentlemen. And I was like in a dilemma,
and I remember asking Steve Correll. He was walking across
the park a lot and I ran up something like, Steve,
I love a show. I love being on it, meaning
the office, but I have a meeting with not meeting.
(21:05):
They wanted to do a show with Comedy Center. Were
past the meeting part Comedy Center wanted to do a show.
What what do I do? What can I an? He said, Oscar,
do everything. Don't say no to any work, do everything.
Figuring it out is not your problem. That's up to
your managers and agents. Say yes everything, They'll figure it out.
And I'm like, oh cool, okay. And Greg Daniels figured
(21:25):
it out. What a lovely man, what what a lovely
human being, Oscar. You get We'll figure a way to
get you out of the show. Go do your ten
shows or whatever and then come back and will fold
you back in. So Greg, let you leave for how
many episodes? I think a seasons. It feels like there's
a season where I'm not there. Yeah, you you were
(21:46):
gone for a long period of time when you were
shooting halfway? Help would he let you go? I had
to do ten episodes? Yeah? Yeah, so what was this?
Was his device for allowing you and it was fantastic. Yeah.
I don't know which came for. I think I think
they were going to make me gay anyway? Does that
make sense? I think so? And then they're like, oh,
(22:06):
let's make him get and get him out this way,
which is a great way to get him out. How
crazy that He's like, I can't work in this hostile
environment because this. But meanwhile he's like, I'm just at
play acting. I'm gonna go with my boyfriend and I'll
be back. You know. It's because people do that right
to get out of work. Really, wasn't he wasn't He's smart? Right? Uh,
(22:29):
here's a fun fact? Is it? Is it gonna be fun?
I don't know. At the time that you were out
at on Gay witch Hunt, your character Oscar Martinez was
the only l g b T person of color to
be a regular on any sitcom at that time? Were
you aware of that? And why didn't they have a
(22:51):
thing for me like a parade or an honorary something
I wasn't told or given anything. You were given nothing. No,
that's a big deal. That's a big deal. Yeah. Why
because it's the first one. I'm like, uh, like Barack Obama.
Not to say, like Barack Obama. I'm not saying your words,
(23:14):
not mine. I was the first GPT guy to be
out to being a serious person of color. Yeah, that
was both, not just one. But how do you feel
about the fact that you were that you're not really
gay or a person of color. I'm a person of color.
I'm a Latino, I'm you are. I don't see colors. Brother.
I I think it was great and whatever helps to
(23:39):
cause this is fine by me. I think it's great. Yeah,
well you won awards, right, that's how I planned it. No, No,
I don't think I I was nominated for some gay
award and I took my two gay friends with me.
Maybe yes. And I went with my friends Michael and Joel,
who I have known forever, and they were gay, and
they were rolling their eyes. They're like, you asshole, you're
(23:59):
not even and I'm like, look at me and better
than you, guys, you guys, you gotta get on board.
And they're like, oh my god, Joel wasn't act up
like fighting the fight for real, and he's like, good lord,
what is happening. I'm like, don't be jealous, it's funny.
Did you feel a responsibility? Did you feel the gay community? Yeah?
Or the Latino community they should be lucky to have me.
(24:21):
The gay and Latino community. No, I know, But did
you feel out they're lucky? Start? Do you feel a responsibility?
Did they feel a responsibility to me? Ask them turn
the tables around? Well? No, probably not. Now I didn't,
you'd probably be shunned from the LGBT community. I disagree.
I No. I think I'd be raised up high. The
kids would get it. They raised me up high. I'd
(24:43):
be invited to YouTube videos. All sorts of ship would
be happening. Here's the thing. I'd be invited to YouTube videos.
That's the kids. That's what they're doing now, Brian, that's
the best thing that somebody who could offer you. It's
a YouTube video. That's what they're doing. Believe it or not,
they get millions of hits now, listen, this is the deal.
The I didn't. I never thought, oh, like the pressure
(25:04):
responsibility because I knew that the show was golden, that
we were a responsible show to begin with. So it's
lovingly taken care of all everything. I he came from
a place of he's compassionate, but he's a bit of
an asshole too, because he's a little bit of a snob,
just like me. That's where they got it from, you know.
For all for the show being people are like Michael Sony,
(25:25):
it's a very gentle, compassionate show. It really is. Yeah,
So I'm like, yeah, it's fine. Did finding out that
you were gay change your character? No? I couldn't. I couldn't.
It couldn't change my character because I was already gay, right,
But I think that's interesting that you realized, like, no,
(25:48):
I'm just a guy who works in an office, and
the fact that I'm Latino, or the fact that I'm
homosexual or like those those things don't define who I am.
That's right. But but this, this is happening now. It
wasn't happening while we were shooting, but now because of Netflix,
(26:10):
we're getting I'm getting a lot of people coming up
to being going, I came out because of you, And
then you know this just specifically, like this, we're some
comic con and this beautiful a young lady in a
in a elefant outfit with blond hair, just striking. And
she comes up and she's like, I came out because
(26:30):
of you, and my girlfriend doesn't watch a show, but
I'm gonna bring her back tomorrow to meet you. And
she did. She came back with her just as beautiful
girlth So those things are cool and and that's because
of the show. Yeah, wow, Yeah, it's trippy. They're like,
because of your show, I came out and you helped
me so much, etcetera, etcetera. Some of them are happy,
some of them are crying. It's a it's a crazy thing. Yeah,
(26:52):
the show means so much to so many people. You
know that. It's crazy you think you're just doing a show.
I didn't think. I'm just I'm not even like a
like a like A. My character isn't particularly noble. He's
just a regular guy. And they see so much. No,
they're just just seeing you. Makes it so cool. I'm like,
all right, cool, thank you. Yeah, that's great. You mentioned
(27:16):
before that you're just like Obama when Obama better? Can
I say that? Is that? Do you know what I'm saying?
Do you remember, uh when Obama was elected? Yes? Do
you feel like there was any discussion on set or
did anything happen around set. When Obama was elected. It
(27:37):
was very traumatic because it was the first time in
my life where the President and First Lady were younger
than I am. And it's gonna happen that hasn't happened
to you. It's shocking. It is awful, and I'm like,
oh my god, I love them so and they're so young.
But do you know the two letters we have it
(27:58):
at the US remember you, even though what they are right.
The two letters that came in there was one letter,
a fan letter, one by catering somewhere backstage Aaron Sarkin,
and then Steve Carrell came in with a letter sent
to his house and he's like, you guys, don't want
to read you this letter. And it's like, oh, dear Steve,
I just want you to know that at the White
(28:19):
House the Office, Thursday is family Night and Michelle and
I and the girls get together and it was a
letter that the President sent Steve Carrell because the Obama's
are a fan of the show, and he said he
showed it to his children and they were little and
they're like, can we touch and he's like, nope, just
look just look, that's pretty cool. That's very cool. Yeah.
(28:59):
You and certainly over in accounting you were really the
straight man, like you had your idiosyncrasies, yes, I think so,
But in the office you were you were the barometer
of reason very often Jim and myself. Yes, which is
what they're talking about in the coalition of reason. Yeah,
(29:21):
that's it. Yeah, are you you know if you're if
you're looking at sort of the history of comedy in
a way, how does what is it? Oh, come on,
you can do it, Brian, I believe, and you ask
you a question. The archetype of the straight man sort
of in the history of comedy. Can you talk about
(29:41):
that a little bit? Is that? Is that easier for
you to do or is that harder? Oh? They're both good.
It's apples and oranges. It's lovely. It was a lovely
character because he's he's a straight man, but he still
has a little bit delusions of grandeur, which you need
because that you need that right that Well, nobody's perfect
(30:04):
or nobody exactly, yeah, because Angela was a little off too.
She was almost there, but then she was a little off.
Everybody was a little off, right, Toby, every single even Jim.
He was too much of a prankster. He didn't take
the job seriously. He was a little too right juvenile.
But you you know, I think so many of the
(30:26):
scenes between you and Steve were so special because you
know you had Yeah, yeah, did you just sit there
and stare at him, just stare at him? Well, and
you would do that well, he said, things would get
the laugh because you did that. Yeah, that's all you
had to do, stare at him. And people at home go,
what is he thinking? He can't say anything, it's his job,
(30:49):
he's being good, and now he's excusing themself. Thank you
and just get up and leave right because he's like
Oscar and it's the build up, the fucking Correll build up, Oscar.
Can I see you for a moment? Sit down? Um,
I ask you something. Um, I'm going to go in
for a colonoscope. And I was, what can I do
(31:10):
to make it more comfortable for him or me? And
he just trails it off and just leaves it like
it's like it's a solid, like a reasonable question to
ask me. And I'm supposed what am I supposed to
tell him? I think I think I just excused myself
I'm like, okay, Mike, I just got up and left.
(31:30):
You found out that Steve was leaving. How how did
you feel about that when on the show? Oh? For real, Yeah,
for real. It was very sad. It was very sad.
Oh yeah, I was very sad. And I try and
I didn't want to cry because I'm Cuban and I
was you can't, I just we don't. So everybody was
(31:52):
crying very freely, and I did cry when We're in
the warehouse and we gave him a stupid hockey short
or something that I did have to excuse myself and
went back behind and the boxes and cried and because
freaking and Paul Eberstein started crying, and then I'm like,
oh man, this is just crazy. What did you think
at the time or now the greater loss to the show?
(32:12):
Losing Steve or Michael? What do you mean Michael Scott,
the the character. Yeah, like, like Steve was a great
guy himself and was like our leader, Steve, Yes, Steve Carrell.
What was the greater loss to the show, Losing Steve
Carrell or losing Michael Scott? Are you asking this question
(32:33):
of everyone? I've asked it a couple of times. It's
a tricky question. Yeah, most of them have said that.
I don't don't think I had anyone else not understand
the question. But they're both Well, it's a no win situation,
the questions. And though I can't be I always want
to be a hero at the end of the question.
I always wanted people to say, look at that kid,
look at that Oscar and just let him continue doing
(32:54):
what he's doing. He's wonderful. And now some people are
gonna say, what you picked the wrong one. All right,
here's the deal. Let's see, losing Steve was difficult. Yeah,
but that character, man, that's the whole show. Man, that's
the whole show. There's no show without Michael Scott. But
then there was Yeah, but it wasn't the same. That
(33:15):
character is just so, and it's it's it's a perfect character.
You know. Ever Devas did it. And then there's just
that smug he thinks he's better and smarter and everything. Uh,
non apologetic. Yeah, just crazy. Um after nine years, were
you happy with the resolution of Oscar running for state senator? Yeah?
(33:38):
I was fine. I think they put a lot of
thought into it. They asked us for ideas all the time.
And I'm like, you guys are fine. I don't. I
have some ideas, but they're not great. You guys are fine. Yeah,
you know, Yeah, I thought the show ended well. Did
you feel like when the show wrapped up where you
did you feel like it was time? Were you happy
with how it wrapped up? Though? I am. I could
(33:58):
not ask for more from Greg Daniels, and especially he's
such a gentleman. He checked in with us. He doesn't
have to do that. He's like, what do you guys
think I'm kind of done, and we're like, yeah, whatever
you want, right, Yeah? Yeah, he's awesome. Well, it enabled
us to tell the full story to Yeah, and the
documentary being seen by the characters, no one, no, nothing
else to do. I get a big kick. I know
(34:19):
people want it back and they keep asking us, and
I'm like, you guys, what and if we go back
we might ruin it? What are we gonna write? What
is there left to do? They love the characters. I
get it, I get it. They love the characters. Well,
we've talked about this a lot that the show it
was the number one scripted show on NBC. Yet the
(34:39):
show now is more popular than it ever was. Why
do you think that is? I don't know. The kids
love it. Before when we started doing these conferences that
we started doing this year, and people were coming in
with eleven year old and they're like, look, my kid
watched the show. And I'm like, okay, And now it's eight.
People are like this eight year old is a fan
of the show. I'm like, is that good? And they're like, yeah,
(35:01):
they love it. It's fine. Kids love it. High school
kids love it. College kids love it. You know, I
get it when I was when I was growing up.
For me, it was believe it or not. The Odd Couple.
I thought the Odd Couple was like so funny, even
even before you know, taxi or cheers. I would have
my head would have explored if I would have ran
into Tony Randall walking around, you know, the streets of
(35:23):
New York City. Is that where you learned to speak English?
The Odd Couple? Um? No, I think it was The
Flying Nun. Actually I did learn English from TV? Did you?
But but what show you The Flying Nun taught you English? No?
My first memories of TV are a black and white
TV show called sing Along with Mitch. This is memories
(35:46):
of Massachusetts and the car Bonnet Show, and I thought
Harvey Corman was the funniest thing in the world. I'm like,
I want to do what that guy does. I don't
know what it is he's doing, but I want to
do that. Yeah, Harvey Corman. And then Tony Randol was
the other influence. You are a lot like Harvey Corman.
He's the best. He's so funny. He would come out
(36:08):
and I loved like he would come and I was little,
and he would come out and do this bit where
they were already on stage, like doing a Civil war
whatever they were doing, ken Berry and Calburnett in costume,
and then he would make an entrance. Harvey Korman would
make an entrance and the audience would clap, and instead
of going and joining them, he would pretend like he
had no choice, like he would walk over and break
(36:29):
the fourth wall and bow and like stay there two
minutes and carlburnets on stage waiting and my father would
lose ship and he's like, oh, star, he come do
what they are waiting for him. But no, he going, Hey,
bocome on Sodom. I'm bitch. He comes and I'm like, oh,
he's not really mad at him. He gets it. He
gets it that he's that he's breaking the fourth wall,
(36:52):
and I'm like, oh, Harry Corman, he knows what he's doing.
He knows that he's like, my dad's not mad at
and like all these ships happening. I'm like, this is
fine through your head because that's one of your favorite bits.
Now you've stolen it from Harvey. Stole it from Harvey Corman. Yeah,
that's amazing, And you've got a little impression on my dad. Yeah,
I didn't know you could do that accent. Um. What
(37:15):
are you most thankful for about the show that we
that Kevin Riley said let's get these guys, because it
changed our lives, you know, and that wouldn't have happened
if we didn't get like two seasons. Three season pilot
doesn't do anything. You still got to keep your day
job one season, but five season, six seasons, that makes
(37:37):
your career, That makes your life, you know. So that's
what I'm most thankful for. And people are like, go Ricky,
Drs rickybis that, well, thank you Mr Jervis for your imagination,
right him and Steve Merchant. Ladies and gentlemen, you know
him most as the guy in the state farm commercials,
(37:57):
Oscar nun us. Is there an award for me or
something here? Do you have something? No? I just wanted
to make a state farm joke. That was literally all
it was. That was where my brain went. Some people
only know me from the State farm commercial. Thank you, truly.
I I think in the world this is true. I'm
(38:20):
gonna be nice for one second in the world. No
one makes me laugh as consistently and as often. Thank you, buddy,
I appreciate that. And knowing that that I'm funnier. Um,
well there's the irony. Well there you have it. Now
(38:55):
you all know what the real Oscar is actually like,
or do you Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that.
Thank you so much for listening, and do I thank
Oscar for joining me. It was an experience and one
that I'll remember. We're gonna be back next week with
(39:16):
another episode, which I mean, who knows where that's gonna
take us. Things are getting weird here on the Office
Deep Dive. Until then, everybody, have a great week. The
(39:37):
Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by me
Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley, our senior producer
is Tessa Kramer, our producer is Adam Massias, our associate
producer is Emily Carr, and our assistant editor is Diego Tapia.
My main man in the booth is Alec Moore. Our
(39:58):
theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by my great friend
Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by seth Olansky.
(40:19):
This episode was brought to you in I Heart three
D Audio. To experience more podcasts like this, search for
I Heart three D Audio in the I Heart Radio
app
M I Heart three D Audio. This episode of the
Office Deep Dive is brought to you in I Heart
(00:20):
three D Audio. For maximum effect and fun, headphones are recommended. Hi.
I'm Oscar Ninyez and I played Oscar Martinez on the Office.
(00:46):
Hello everyone, Oh this is a special one. Welcome to
this very special episode of the Office Deep Dive. I'm
your host Brian Baumgartner. Now, I don't know if you
have noticed, but do I sound a little different to
you today? It feels like I'm in your head right Like? Look,
(01:08):
I am in your right ear holes? Am I not?
And now I am in your left one? Now don't
freak count guys, Okay I am. I am not actually
in your head today. I am using a very special
little device, the zoom h three VR audio recorder. I
(01:28):
have to tell you this thing is so fun. It
captures three hundred and sixty degree sound. So we're joining
I Hearts three D Audio campaign to try one of
these puppies out and to make it even more fun,
I have decided to come to my favorite place on
the planet, Tory Pines Golf Course here in San Diego, California. Now,
(01:49):
for you folks who don't know Tory Pines will be
hosting the one hundred and twenty one US Open this
year June through the US I truly cannot wait for
that to happen. Um, excuse me one moment it is
(02:09):
my turn. Nailed it anyway, I'm having so much fun
here I almost forgot I have a job to do.
I have to interview today's guest. Not that he's a
forgettable guy. No, In fact, I would say today's interview
it is actually unforgettable. For better or worse, you decide that. Uh,
(02:32):
it is with my good friend Oscar. Noon. Yes, Now
where do we get about Oscar Oscar? Well, first off,
Oscar is truly one of the funniest people I have
ever met. Truly, he makes me laugh harder than any
person on the planet, which is great, except it's a
problem when you're shooting a television show. Yes, he made
(02:54):
things very difficult for myself and for Angela to keep
it together back in the account. In his corner, he's
like a comedic communion, which is to say, he changes
shape and tone comedy styles for whatever fits the exact
moment you're in. He is hilarious. So when we're doing
(03:16):
these interviews, right, I was very well researched, and the
day that we're going to interview Oscar, I ripped up
the papers. I just said, this is not gonna do
us any good today, guys, because what we're gonna get
is what we're gonna get. It's gonna be funny, but
I don't know if we're gonna get any astute observations
unless Mr Nunyez is in the mood, because he is
(03:38):
very difficult to pen down. But I have to tell
you of all of the interviews I did, this was
the most fun. I hope you have fun listening to it.
But either way, you can sit back now and listen
to me working my hardest to get a serious answer
out of Oscar. Noon. Yes, and now while you're I
(04:00):
think I'm gonna go play some golf. Bubble and Squeak.
I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker,
cooking at every moment left over from the NATB before. Yeah,
(04:32):
how it lost? Hi? Hi? How are you? I'm all right?
Good to see you. Hi? You guys? Is this it
is this? Where it's Yeah, that's where you set you
picked it up? Really well? It's a podcast, right, it's cute.
It's a You're an Idiots a podcast? Yeah, it's a podcast.
(04:54):
No video? Do you want to be videoed? Sometimes? Podcast?
Did you put on? You put on makeup? Just the base? Yeah?
Are we on? Because you're speaking the mic like ron,
we're on. There's no action, there's no starting. Would just
start like this, like go ahead, it's like Ken Kappas,
like Mark Maron does that. He just starts saying like that.
(05:14):
Yeah that's how. That's how. Yeah, I'm like Mark Barron, Okay, No,
we're just chatting. We're just getting to know each other again.
What what brings me here? Yeah? What brings you here?
Why did you come in? No, I'm being serious. What
were you doing before the office started? First of all,
you have way too many notes in front of You've
got like reams of paper like sheets. I'm trying to
(05:37):
keep the paper business. I'm trying to keep papers. And
you're taking this seriously and good for you? Good for you?
Are your parents? Would you try would you try to
take it seriously? I think I would ask to extent
look at all this paper. I've never used as much
paper in my life. I know what's on it? What's
Here's the thing that you have. You have four pages?
(05:58):
Why was this? Was? This was Andy Buckley? Was like,
why he has a lot to offer? In what way?
He was? You know, he was the boss of the show,
right he was? He was in charge, which makes him,
which makes him important? Was he for the all seasons?
(06:19):
He wasn't? He came in later. It stands the reason
that I would have you would need more paper for me,
because that's the thing. You would think that, But that's
not the case. No, there's only four pages, and I
was drinking a soda and I forgot to bring it in.
Can have one of your By the way, people, he's
got fifteen people working for him. Here, there's a booth.
It's very professional everyone, it's it's lovely. I really, I
(06:39):
am taken aback. I'm sorry. What did you ask? What
were you doing? It was catering and I was babysitting.
You were catering in babysitting? Yes, people let you look
after their children that at the same time, yes they did.
I guess what. He's alive and he's a grown man
now and he's fine. So there. You baby sat for
(07:01):
just one boy, baby not baby sat for a couple
of families, but one particular family. Uh. And I'm still
friends with all of them, and they're wonderful. And I
baby sat him, like I swear to God, I think, Yeah,
he was little. He he had other people, but I
was the fellow. Yeah. He had two babysitter women and
(07:22):
one guy. And then we would take turns. And you know,
his parents would would sometimes call me, sometimes call them,
but I you know, baby's has a kid for ten
years more or less. So you were catering. You were babysitting,
but you were you were working in. Um, you were working.
You were working in Uh, go ahead, go ahead. It's
(07:50):
like a play. And now I'm walking across the hallway
and I'm stumbling. Oh, oh, I fell you guys, I'm
doing Folly work. This is really sweet. Yeah, this isn't
a Foley studio though, and yet yet So you were
but you were you were trying to be an act
I mean you were. Sorry, I shouldn't say that. You Well,
(08:12):
you were doing improv too, right, I was trying to
be an actor. Poor, I was. I was an actor. Yes?
Were you an Olympic? No? I was in the groundlings
were groundlings? Yes? And I was auditioning stuff. But but,
but my day jobs were catering and babying. I had
to do other things to support myself. Jobs were coming
in here and there, guest spots, stuff like that. Right. Yeah,
(08:35):
when you got the audition for the Office, had you
watched the British version? Oh? Yes, yes, and loved it.
I thought it was great. Ricky Gervais is very funny. Yeah, yeah, seriously.
I thought, we'll do the pilot and that will be it.
We'll do the pilot. I wasn't that excited. I'm like,
we'll mess it up us being America. I'm like, they're
not going to do it right. They're not going to
(08:55):
leave those long awkward pauses. They're not going to go
for the awkward as you know, the long It's just
not gonna happen. So I was I was happy. I
was excited I got the pilot, but I was like,
I'm not going to quit my day job. Also at
that time, do you remember I'm sure that people know
by now because we've been off the air since sixty two,
(09:16):
so we've gone over this. When we were all cast,
the lead wasn't cast yet. They were looking at the
am I right, bet my buddy Damon Jones, Andy richter
In and who else. There's a fourth guy that I
always forget. But all these four men are lovely ladies
(09:37):
and gentlemen, and Damon's a personal friend of mine. From
the Groundlings, they're all lovely, and I still thought, Okay,
that's fine. But then Steve was working on something and
it fell through and he became available, and when they
said Steve Carrell is going to be the lead, I thought, wow,
this is now, this is special, this is like something's
(09:58):
happening here, because I was such a huge fan of
his from anchor mang and all that. But I really
thought I loved The Daily Show when John Stewart was on,
but I used to love Steve on The Daily Show.
And when we when he got on the office, I thought,
we've got a shot at this because I think he's great. Yeah,
And did you you knew Angela before the show? Right?
(10:18):
How did you know Angela? I believe from the Groundlings?
And I didn't know she got the job. I showed
up for work and she was there in her accountant's office,
and that's like an actor's dream come to I'm like,
what are you doing here? She's like, what are you
doing here. I'm like, oh my god, Angela, we're on
this show. We're on this bloody show. What did you
think of me? Because then it was just you and Angela?
(10:41):
And then I was like, the new guy, weren't you
there already? What are there for the pilot? It was
it was clearly you don't have any recollection about meeting me.
It was Kay Flannery, who wasn't there. I knew you
were funny from the commercials. I knew who you were.
You had that the Deli commercial out, which was brilliant,
and I'm like, nicest thing you've ever said about me. Well, look,
(11:02):
I knew you were. I'm like, this guy's funny and talented.
But I know how funny Angela is. And I'm like, oh,
they don't know how funny. They're gonna find out. They
must have known from the audition, but her character doesn't
let her be your character. Let should be funny right
out of the gate, and Angela and I had to
hold back until the show got up and and then okay,
let's let them be a little crazy. Now. Do you
(11:24):
remember um, Nope, clearly, not really, but shooting the pilot,
do you remember us coming in every day on the
pilot and doing thirty minutes of busy work. Yes, I
do remember that. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, just to
go back a little bit, Ben and Greg were very
protective of the original show and that was really cool.
(11:45):
I remember him talking about, oh no, we're going to
have those there's not going to be a laugh track
and there's gonna be long, and I was like, whoa that.
Plus Steve, I'm like, okay, here we go. And I
remember people people are like, they're such good actors just
and I'm like, well, you're sing like, you're in the office,
you're on your computer, you're you're doing something on the computer,
and you don't want to be bothered by a camera.
(12:06):
That's pretty easy to do. See, that's the thing. People
are like, where does the thing take place? It takes
place on a satellite, or it's a station on a satellite,
or it's underwater and there's it's the future. It's like, no,
it's just it's a garage taxi. It's a garage with people.
That's it. It's a bar, that's it. It's an office.
(12:27):
What are your sell It doesn't matter. It's paper, it
could be anything. It's the characters it's not where it
is a laboratory in space in the future and whatever.
It's just it's character building. Yeah, what did you used
to do when we were supposed to be doing fake work? Gosh,
I don't know. I would doodle? Did I bring a
book in? I pretended to work and I don't know.
(12:51):
It was we used to pass We used to pass
notes back to each other. Angela still has some doodles
that I did back in the day. It was very
exciting to be there. So everyone has to just kind
of can you hear the card? The microphone picks up everything,
ladies and gentlemen. I was playing with a card and
Brian literally slapped it out of my hand because God forbid,
(13:13):
I see I go the other way. I wanted to hear.
I want them to hear like clinking of glass and
it's real, we're real people. You're build yes, but but yeah,
it had to be a boring workplace. And as a
matter of fact, like some thing's worked, and I remember
like some like the b roll the camera with scan
and some people knew they were being shot, and some
(13:34):
people would just act normal like nothing was happening, or
they didn't want to be shotting. Other people would try
to do bits and don't do the bit. Don't do
the bit right because it's it's still funny to see
someone just looking over and like rolling their eyes, like,
what what do you want from me? I'm kind of
do some work. We were boring before the cameras showed up.
It wasn't a pilot for us. We're office workers. It's
(13:56):
a documentary king. Did you bring anything you know, like
they asked us to bring in, like personal items and stuff.
Did you bring anything in like like John had the
picture if he and his best friend. He didn't pay
me enough for that. I was just an extra when
I first got there, bringing something from my own life.
Make me a regular, then we'll talk there. Looky, I
(14:18):
was there. What am I gonna bringing? You know what
I bought? I brought in seriously a picture of me
and my dog, Yeah, boat, and I had it on
the thing. It was there the whole time. It was
there the whole time, So I did have my dog.
She passed away recently. Minister Schnauzer the best um Leela
was her name. She's a little black mini Schnauzer and
she was there in one of my pictures on the thing. Yeah,
(14:40):
that's what I bought in um. The second episode we
shot was Diversity Day. Yes, it was fantastic, fantastic, not good,
excellent script from a young seventeen year old. He used
to show up on his skateboard b J Noback. How
much did I hate him? And still do? He was
(15:02):
seventeen at the time. No, but he was young. I'm
saying that for comedic effect. He's so talented, is my point.
He's so talented. That was a really good script. It
was a very good, so good it has in it
for me, one of my favorite jokes in the entire show,
What was it Michael asking you what he could call
you that was less offensive than Mexican? Was that that episode? Something?
(15:28):
Something less offensive? God? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, he's
like Oscar and he was so serious about his like
Oscar and trying to be gentle. Is there something that
I can call you? Oh man? And he would flip
the chair around when he turned a chair around that
knew and everyone just had a hold bite their tongues
so they wouldn't laugh because he would That would make
(15:50):
him extra serious. So was it offensive for you as
a Cuban to have to play in Mexican. What kind
of question is that he's giggling? Everyone? Oh, look at
me with any questions, Look at me. Let me try
to trip him up. What if I said yes? What
if I'm like no? I mean, like, why, you know,
what's wrong with being Cuban? That's my question. I don't know.
(16:12):
I think I think why why was Oscar Martinez? I
don't know why they made him Mexican? I would have
been fun if they would have made him Cuban. Here's
the thing. I think it was because of that joke.
Oh right, I guess he could have said Cuban. I
think he would have been Cuban because we're in Pennsylvania.
If the if the show shott in l A, there's
more Mexicans out here, but on the East coast that's
(16:32):
where all the Cubans were. But either way, the joke
is funny. It's it's ridiculous because Michael Scott got away
with so much stuff because he genuinely was coming from
a place of innocence. That's how a vapid. He's like, Oscar,
is there anything less offensive? And he's like, no, it's
not offensive. And he's like, well, he's still not convinced.
(16:55):
I'm telling you, I'm I'm telling you, I'm Mexican. I'm
telling you, Well, okay, if you say so, you know,
fe you and then and then you would hate him,
hate him, hate him, and then something horrible would happen
to him, and then you'd feel sorry for him. And
then he'd reel you wing and you're like, oh, he's
not such a bad guy, and then he does it again.
I think that was the circle of the show. That
(17:18):
was the circle of the show. It's a wonderful formula.
Were you at the time aware people now everyone's just
gonna have to go to the bathrow. Well, if they
have to go, they have to go, We'll still be here.
Put hit your pause button. Can they pause a podcast?
(17:39):
You don't know if you can pause a podcast. Yeah,
you can write on your phone. People are listening to
this driving around in their cars. Whatever, right, Please, somebody
make a note to not ever ever use that um.
Were you aware though at that time? Like, did it
feel taboo what we were doing? Did it feel like
(17:59):
we were doing something different talking about race in that way?
I love edgy stuff. I love not being condescending to
the audience. I like being an intelligent show. It's like
we didn't we didn't have to explain ourselves to the audience.
And I think, I think if it's genuinely funny, you
(18:20):
could pretty much make a joke about anything. But it's
got to be funny. If it's not funny, I mean,
they'll let they'll let you know. The show was intelligent.
The show was very funny. It came from the right place.
His his character wasn't he wasn't mean, he wasn't a bully.
Everything was organic. He there was a reason if he
was upset, there was a genuine reason why he was upset.
(18:41):
He wasn't picking on you because he's a terrible person.
Something happened and he's like, I'm upset, and this is
how I'm going to act out. But there's a reason
why he's doing it. Right have you? Have you watched
Diversity Day recently? I I've never actually watched the show
per se, but I shot it. We were there, We
(19:01):
shot the show, Everyone went home, and people came back
and talked about and that's how I got my information
about the show. I don't like to see myself perform.
I'm kidding. I watched there's the actors who don't like
to see themselves performing. I don't watch a lot. Do
you watch everything you do your self indulgent? I don't.
I don't, sus I don't. I don't watch everything I do. Brian,
(19:26):
I watched this every Thursday went while we were shooting,
and then one time I went back and binge watched
the whole thing one time and maybe there were two
okay episodes there was. The rest were good or really good.
I was so impressed. See, I still feel like Diversity
Day holds up like it holds up Oh that one,
(19:48):
yeah for sure. Yeah, but they all kind of do
a lot of Like I said, I think there was
two that I'm like, oh what happened there? But just
like one or two out of nine seasons, that's very good.
M You know, one of the signature episodes of the show,
(20:23):
and certainly for you, was gay witch Hunt. How and
when did you find out that Oscar Martinez was actually gay? Okay?
I will ask that, but before I ask answer that question,
I want to talk about the people on the show
as people, not not our actors or whatever. Greg Daniels
(20:43):
is such a cool guy that I needed a way
out of the show so I can go shoot halfway
Home on Comedy Central because when it rains, it pours
ladies and gentlemen. And I was like in a dilemma,
and I remember asking Steve Correll. He was walking across
the park a lot and I ran up something like, Steve,
I love a show. I love being on it, meaning
the office, but I have a meeting with not meeting.
(21:05):
They wanted to do a show with Comedy Center. Were
past the meeting part Comedy Center wanted to do a show.
What what do I do? What can I an? He said, Oscar,
do everything. Don't say no to any work, do everything.
Figuring it out is not your problem. That's up to
your managers and agents. Say yes everything, They'll figure it out.
And I'm like, oh cool, okay. And Greg Daniels figured
(21:25):
it out. What a lovely man, what what a lovely
human being, Oscar. You get We'll figure a way to
get you out of the show. Go do your ten
shows or whatever and then come back and will fold
you back in. So Greg, let you leave for how
many episodes? I think a seasons. It feels like there's
a season where I'm not there. Yeah, you you were
(21:46):
gone for a long period of time when you were
shooting halfway? Help would he let you go? I had
to do ten episodes? Yeah? Yeah, so what was this?
Was his device for allowing you and it was fantastic. Yeah.
I don't know which came for. I think I think
they were going to make me gay anyway? Does that
make sense? I think so? And then they're like, oh,
(22:06):
let's make him get and get him out this way,
which is a great way to get him out. How
crazy that He's like, I can't work in this hostile
environment because this. But meanwhile he's like, I'm just at
play acting. I'm gonna go with my boyfriend and I'll
be back. You know. It's because people do that right
to get out of work. Really, wasn't he wasn't He's smart? Right? Uh,
(22:29):
here's a fun fact? Is it? Is it gonna be fun?
I don't know. At the time that you were out
at on Gay witch Hunt, your character Oscar Martinez was
the only l g b T person of color to
be a regular on any sitcom at that time? Were
you aware of that? And why didn't they have a
(22:51):
thing for me like a parade or an honorary something
I wasn't told or given anything. You were given nothing. No,
that's a big deal. That's a big deal. Yeah. Why
because it's the first one. I'm like, uh, like Barack Obama.
Not to say, like Barack Obama. I'm not saying your words,
(23:14):
not mine. I was the first GPT guy to be
out to being a serious person of color. Yeah, that
was both, not just one. But how do you feel
about the fact that you were that you're not really
gay or a person of color. I'm a person of color.
I'm a Latino, I'm you are. I don't see colors. Brother.
I I think it was great and whatever helps to
(23:39):
cause this is fine by me. I think it's great. Yeah,
well you won awards, right, that's how I planned it. No, No,
I don't think I I was nominated for some gay
award and I took my two gay friends with me.
Maybe yes. And I went with my friends Michael and Joel,
who I have known forever, and they were gay, and
they were rolling their eyes. They're like, you asshole, you're
(23:59):
not even and I'm like, look at me and better
than you, guys, you guys, you gotta get on board.
And they're like, oh my god, Joel wasn't act up
like fighting the fight for real, and he's like, good lord,
what is happening. I'm like, don't be jealous, it's funny.
Did you feel a responsibility? Did you feel the gay community? Yeah?
Or the Latino community they should be lucky to have me.
(24:21):
The gay and Latino community. No, I know, But did
you feel out they're lucky? Start? Do you feel a responsibility?
Did they feel a responsibility to me? Ask them turn
the tables around? Well? No, probably not. Now I didn't,
you'd probably be shunned from the LGBT community. I disagree.
I No. I think I'd be raised up high. The
kids would get it. They raised me up high. I'd
(24:43):
be invited to YouTube videos. All sorts of ship would
be happening. Here's the thing. I'd be invited to YouTube videos.
That's the kids. That's what they're doing now, Brian, that's
the best thing that somebody who could offer you. It's
a YouTube video. That's what they're doing. Believe it or not,
they get millions of hits now, listen, this is the deal.
The I didn't. I never thought, oh, like the pressure
(25:04):
responsibility because I knew that the show was golden, that
we were a responsible show to begin with. So it's
lovingly taken care of all everything. I he came from
a place of he's compassionate, but he's a bit of
an asshole too, because he's a little bit of a snob,
just like me. That's where they got it from, you know.
For all for the show being people are like Michael Sony,
(25:25):
it's a very gentle, compassionate show. It really is. Yeah,
So I'm like, yeah, it's fine. Did finding out that
you were gay change your character? No? I couldn't. I couldn't.
It couldn't change my character because I was already gay, right,
But I think that's interesting that you realized, like, no,
(25:48):
I'm just a guy who works in an office, and
the fact that I'm Latino, or the fact that I'm
homosexual or like those those things don't define who I am.
That's right. But but this, this is happening now. It
wasn't happening while we were shooting, but now because of Netflix,
(26:10):
we're getting I'm getting a lot of people coming up
to being going, I came out because of you, And
then you know this just specifically, like this, we're some
comic con and this beautiful a young lady in a
in a elefant outfit with blond hair, just striking. And
she comes up and she's like, I came out because
(26:30):
of you, and my girlfriend doesn't watch a show, but
I'm gonna bring her back tomorrow to meet you. And
she did. She came back with her just as beautiful
girlth So those things are cool and and that's because
of the show. Yeah, wow, Yeah, it's trippy. They're like,
because of your show, I came out and you helped
me so much, etcetera, etcetera. Some of them are happy,
some of them are crying. It's a it's a crazy thing. Yeah,
(26:52):
the show means so much to so many people. You
know that. It's crazy you think you're just doing a show.
I didn't think. I'm just I'm not even like a
like a like A. My character isn't particularly noble. He's
just a regular guy. And they see so much. No,
they're just just seeing you. Makes it so cool. I'm like,
all right, cool, thank you. Yeah, that's great. You mentioned
(27:16):
before that you're just like Obama when Obama better? Can
I say that? Is that? Do you know what I'm saying?
Do you remember, uh when Obama was elected? Yes? Do
you feel like there was any discussion on set or
did anything happen around set. When Obama was elected. It
(27:37):
was very traumatic because it was the first time in
my life where the President and First Lady were younger
than I am. And it's gonna happen that hasn't happened
to you. It's shocking. It is awful, and I'm like,
oh my god, I love them so and they're so young.
But do you know the two letters we have it
(27:58):
at the US remember you, even though what they are right.
The two letters that came in there was one letter,
a fan letter, one by catering somewhere backstage Aaron Sarkin,
and then Steve Carrell came in with a letter sent
to his house and he's like, you guys, don't want
to read you this letter. And it's like, oh, dear Steve,
I just want you to know that at the White
(28:19):
House the Office, Thursday is family Night and Michelle and
I and the girls get together and it was a
letter that the President sent Steve Carrell because the Obama's
are a fan of the show, and he said he
showed it to his children and they were little and
they're like, can we touch and he's like, nope, just
look just look, that's pretty cool. That's very cool. Yeah.
(28:59):
You and certainly over in accounting you were really the
straight man, like you had your idiosyncrasies, yes, I think so,
But in the office you were you were the barometer
of reason very often Jim and myself. Yes, which is
what they're talking about in the coalition of reason. Yeah,
(29:21):
that's it. Yeah, are you you know if you're if
you're looking at sort of the history of comedy in
a way, how does what is it? Oh, come on,
you can do it, Brian, I believe, and you ask
you a question. The archetype of the straight man sort
of in the history of comedy. Can you talk about
(29:41):
that a little bit? Is that? Is that easier for
you to do or is that harder? Oh? They're both good.
It's apples and oranges. It's lovely. It was a lovely
character because he's he's a straight man, but he still
has a little bit delusions of grandeur, which you need
because that you need that right that Well, nobody's perfect
(30:04):
or nobody exactly, yeah, because Angela was a little off too.
She was almost there, but then she was a little off.
Everybody was a little off, right, Toby, every single even Jim.
He was too much of a prankster. He didn't take
the job seriously. He was a little too right juvenile.
But you you know, I think so many of the
(30:26):
scenes between you and Steve were so special because you
know you had Yeah, yeah, did you just sit there
and stare at him, just stare at him? Well, and
you would do that well, he said, things would get
the laugh because you did that. Yeah, that's all you
had to do, stare at him. And people at home go,
what is he thinking? He can't say anything, it's his job,
(30:49):
he's being good, and now he's excusing themself. Thank you
and just get up and leave right because he's like
Oscar and it's the build up, the fucking Correll build up, Oscar.
Can I see you for a moment? Sit down? Um,
I ask you something. Um, I'm going to go in
for a colonoscope. And I was, what can I do
(31:10):
to make it more comfortable for him or me? And
he just trails it off and just leaves it like
it's like it's a solid, like a reasonable question to
ask me. And I'm supposed what am I supposed to
tell him? I think I think I just excused myself
I'm like, okay, Mike, I just got up and left.
(31:30):
You found out that Steve was leaving. How how did
you feel about that when on the show? Oh? For real, Yeah,
for real. It was very sad. It was very sad.
Oh yeah, I was very sad. And I try and
I didn't want to cry because I'm Cuban and I
was you can't, I just we don't. So everybody was
(31:52):
crying very freely, and I did cry when We're in
the warehouse and we gave him a stupid hockey short
or something that I did have to excuse myself and
went back behind and the boxes and cried and because
freaking and Paul Eberstein started crying, and then I'm like,
oh man, this is just crazy. What did you think
at the time or now the greater loss to the show?
(32:12):
Losing Steve or Michael? What do you mean Michael Scott,
the the character. Yeah, like, like Steve was a great
guy himself and was like our leader, Steve, Yes, Steve Carrell.
What was the greater loss to the show, Losing Steve
Carrell or losing Michael Scott? Are you asking this question
(32:33):
of everyone? I've asked it a couple of times. It's
a tricky question. Yeah, most of them have said that.
I don't don't think I had anyone else not understand
the question. But they're both Well, it's a no win situation,
the questions. And though I can't be I always want
to be a hero at the end of the question.
I always wanted people to say, look at that kid,
look at that Oscar and just let him continue doing
(32:54):
what he's doing. He's wonderful. And now some people are
gonna say, what you picked the wrong one. All right,
here's the deal. Let's see, losing Steve was difficult. Yeah,
but that character, man, that's the whole show. Man, that's
the whole show. There's no show without Michael Scott. But
then there was Yeah, but it wasn't the same. That
(33:15):
character is just so, and it's it's it's a perfect character.
You know. Ever Devas did it. And then there's just
that smug he thinks he's better and smarter and everything. Uh,
non apologetic. Yeah, just crazy. Um after nine years, were
you happy with the resolution of Oscar running for state senator? Yeah?
(33:38):
I was fine. I think they put a lot of
thought into it. They asked us for ideas all the time.
And I'm like, you guys are fine. I don't. I
have some ideas, but they're not great. You guys are fine. Yeah,
you know, Yeah, I thought the show ended well. Did
you feel like when the show wrapped up where you
did you feel like it was time? Were you happy
with how it wrapped up? Though? I am. I could
(33:58):
not ask for more from Greg Daniels, and especially he's
such a gentleman. He checked in with us. He doesn't
have to do that. He's like, what do you guys
think I'm kind of done, and we're like, yeah, whatever
you want, right, Yeah? Yeah, he's awesome. Well, it enabled
us to tell the full story to Yeah, and the
documentary being seen by the characters, no one, no, nothing
else to do. I get a big kick. I know
(34:19):
people want it back and they keep asking us, and
I'm like, you guys, what and if we go back
we might ruin it? What are we gonna write? What
is there left to do? They love the characters. I
get it, I get it. They love the characters. Well,
we've talked about this a lot that the show it
was the number one scripted show on NBC. Yet the
(34:39):
show now is more popular than it ever was. Why
do you think that is? I don't know. The kids
love it. Before when we started doing these conferences that
we started doing this year, and people were coming in
with eleven year old and they're like, look, my kid
watched the show. And I'm like, okay, And now it's eight.
People are like this eight year old is a fan
of the show. I'm like, is that good? And they're like, yeah,
(35:01):
they love it. It's fine. Kids love it. High school
kids love it. College kids love it. You know, I
get it when I was when I was growing up.
For me, it was believe it or not. The Odd Couple.
I thought the Odd Couple was like so funny, even
even before you know, taxi or cheers. I would have
my head would have explored if I would have ran
into Tony Randall walking around, you know, the streets of
(35:23):
New York City. Is that where you learned to speak English?
The Odd Couple? Um? No, I think it was The
Flying Nun. Actually I did learn English from TV? Did you?
But but what show you The Flying Nun taught you English? No?
My first memories of TV are a black and white
TV show called sing Along with Mitch. This is memories
(35:46):
of Massachusetts and the car Bonnet Show, and I thought
Harvey Corman was the funniest thing in the world. I'm like,
I want to do what that guy does. I don't
know what it is he's doing, but I want to
do that. Yeah, Harvey Corman. And then Tony Randol was
the other influence. You are a lot like Harvey Corman.
He's the best. He's so funny. He would come out
(36:08):
and I loved like he would come and I was little,
and he would come out and do this bit where
they were already on stage, like doing a Civil war
whatever they were doing, ken Berry and Calburnett in costume,
and then he would make an entrance. Harvey Korman would
make an entrance and the audience would clap, and instead
of going and joining them, he would pretend like he
had no choice, like he would walk over and break
(36:29):
the fourth wall and bow and like stay there two
minutes and carlburnets on stage waiting and my father would
lose ship and he's like, oh, star, he come do
what they are waiting for him. But no, he going, Hey,
bocome on Sodom. I'm bitch. He comes and I'm like, oh,
he's not really mad at him. He gets it. He
gets it that he's that he's breaking the fourth wall,
(36:52):
and I'm like, oh, Harry Corman, he knows what he's doing.
He knows that he's like, my dad's not mad at
and like all these ships happening. I'm like, this is
fine through your head because that's one of your favorite bits.
Now you've stolen it from Harvey. Stole it from Harvey Corman. Yeah,
that's amazing, And you've got a little impression on my dad. Yeah,
I didn't know you could do that accent. Um. What
(37:15):
are you most thankful for about the show that we
that Kevin Riley said let's get these guys, because it
changed our lives, you know, and that wouldn't have happened
if we didn't get like two seasons. Three season pilot
doesn't do anything. You still got to keep your day
job one season, but five season, six seasons, that makes
(37:37):
your career, That makes your life, you know. So that's
what I'm most thankful for. And people are like, go Ricky,
Drs rickybis that, well, thank you Mr Jervis for your imagination,
right him and Steve Merchant. Ladies and gentlemen, you know
him most as the guy in the state farm commercials,
(37:57):
Oscar nun us. Is there an award for me or
something here? Do you have something? No? I just wanted
to make a state farm joke. That was literally all
it was. That was where my brain went. Some people
only know me from the State farm commercial. Thank you, truly.
I I think in the world this is true. I'm
(38:20):
gonna be nice for one second in the world. No
one makes me laugh as consistently and as often. Thank you, buddy,
I appreciate that. And knowing that that I'm funnier. Um,
well there's the irony. Well there you have it. Now
(38:55):
you all know what the real Oscar is actually like,
or do you Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that.
Thank you so much for listening, and do I thank
Oscar for joining me. It was an experience and one
that I'll remember. We're gonna be back next week with
(39:16):
another episode, which I mean, who knows where that's gonna
take us. Things are getting weird here on the Office
Deep Dive. Until then, everybody, have a great week. The
(39:37):
Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by me
Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley, our senior producer
is Tessa Kramer, our producer is Adam Massias, our associate
producer is Emily Carr, and our assistant editor is Diego Tapia.
My main man in the booth is Alec Moore. Our
(39:58):
theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by my great friend
Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by seth Olansky.
(40:19):
This episode was brought to you in I Heart three
D Audio. To experience more podcasts like this, search for
I Heart three D Audio in the I Heart Radio
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Host
Brian Baumgartner
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