Speaker 1: Hi, guys, I'm Jade Ivne and I host Tell Me
Speaker 1: About It, the podcast that is the antithesis of a
Speaker 1: success story podcast where we leave things like girl Boss,
Speaker 1: energy and lucky breaks at the door and instead celebrate
Speaker 1: and commiserate about all the things that make us human.
Speaker 1: This is the podcast manifestation of those conversations you have
Speaker 1: with your best friend at four am. We have all
Speaker 1: kinds of women from all different walks of life, like
Speaker 1: Gwen Stefani, Steph Schep, Amanda Knox, La La Kent, Raven Simone,
Speaker 1: and Jojo. Listen to Tell Me About It with Jade
Speaker 1: Ivene on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Gary Bennett and
Speaker 1: I was the costume signer on the Office. Hello everyone,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to the Office Deep Dive. I am
Speaker 1: your host Brian Baumgartner. Today, Yes you just heard it,
Speaker 1: I am breaking on a very important guest. Without her,
Speaker 1: there would be no mustard colored shirts, no cat embroidered sweaters,
Speaker 1: no well no sumo suits. That's right. Today's guest is
Speaker 1: the one and only Carrie Bennett, costume designer extraordinaire for
Speaker 1: the Office. You guys, nobody committed like Carrie Bennett. Nobody
Speaker 1: for costume research. She called up, hunted down, scouted a
Speaker 1: real life paper company just to nail the looks. And
Speaker 1: it is not like she had all the money in
Speaker 1: the world. No, she had a tiny budget, but many,
Speaker 1: many J. C. Penny suits. Now, some people may think
Speaker 1: that the office was just how hard could that be?
Speaker 1: It's just suits and ties and maybe a little awkward haircuts. No,
Speaker 1: Carrie made sure every character was was individual. They had
Speaker 1: their own look, whether it was Phyllis purple tops or
Speaker 1: Michael's bizarre ties or Dwight's aviator glasses. Personally, I was
Speaker 1: a little too aware that Kevin never ever, ever took
Speaker 1: off his jacket even when playing basketball. But hey, that's Carrie.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, I would like to introduce you
Speaker 1: all to our amazing costume designer, Carrie Bennett. Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I love it. Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker
Speaker 1: cookie every month left over from the night before. Well,
Speaker 1: there she is, right, Carrie, how are you? It's so
Speaker 1: good to see you. Likewise, oh my gosh, how are you?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm doing good. I'm great. Everybody's healthy on
Speaker 1: your end. Yeah, yeah, we've somehow evaded any kind of cooties.
Speaker 1: Very good. Avoiding cooties are good, especially after two years.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how it's possible, right, Yeah, just
Speaker 1: just one day at a time, One day at a time,
Speaker 1: that's right. So you and I, Oh my gosh, this
Speaker 1: is so amazing because in preparation to talk to you,
Speaker 1: I remember so many of our conversation is back in
Speaker 1: what do you call it? A the trailer? The costume trailer?
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yeah? We have like a a trailer
Speaker 1: in the parking lot. A trailer in the parking was
Speaker 1: our headquarters. Yeah, it's maximum glamour. Well that's the television, right.
Speaker 1: Everybody thinks that it's glamorous, but it's really not. Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that what you dreamed of when you were a child,
Speaker 1: that kind of glamour in television? Um, so I saw
Speaker 1: because well I researched you. I've got a team researching.
Speaker 1: There's so many people researching. You went to cal Arts,
Speaker 1: which I know what cal arts is, so I assume
Speaker 1: at an early age you were interested in the arts.
Speaker 1: Now was costume design what you wanted to do early on? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, actually my undergrad degree is in dance. Oh
Speaker 1: and during that time, I worked in the costume shop
Speaker 1: and I always sewed. I just always like crafty. And
Speaker 1: I had a teacher there that was like, you have
Speaker 1: the best energy for working in television. She planted that seed.
Speaker 1: And um. So when I graduated as a dancer and
Speaker 1: had like injuries all the time, and I was like,
Speaker 1: is this my life? Is this what I'm gonna do?
Speaker 1: Going to be in physical therapy forever? Um? And I
Speaker 1: you know, I had sort of like this little bit
Speaker 1: of a costume base that I had been doing costumes
Speaker 1: for dance productions and stuff. And I put together the
Speaker 1: most hilarious, lame portfolio. Like anybody out there who wants
Speaker 1: to be a costume designer shouldn't look at my portfolio
Speaker 1: because I did not draw at that point. Um, But
Speaker 1: I I just put it out there. And I got
Speaker 1: into CalArts as a grad student, and oh my god,
Speaker 1: it was the best thing I ever did. It was
Speaker 1: so great. I learned all the stuff. They have an
Speaker 1: amazing theater program there and just gave me the confidence
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, you know what I'm talking about
Speaker 1: Now I can draw and I can I can sew
Speaker 1: and design concepts and here we go. Right, So you
Speaker 1: were a dancer who had designed costumes for dance recitals.
Speaker 1: Is that what you that's the word, right, recitals? And
Speaker 1: then you were like, I'm gonna make a change. You
Speaker 1: do a portfolio, you apply to cowards get in as
Speaker 1: a costume designer. Is that? Is that what you got in?
Speaker 1: You got in? Is that? And you didn't know how
Speaker 1: to draw barely? Right? It sounds like every single person's
Speaker 1: journey on the office. Everybody who got to the office
Speaker 1: actually didn't know what they were doing in a traditional
Speaker 1: sense before it happened. Well, I mean the thing is like,
Speaker 1: there's a long journey between that and getting on the
Speaker 1: office though for sure, right, No, I know that. I
Speaker 1: just I joke because well, there's so many people, right. So,
Speaker 1: Claire Scanlon, our editor, had never edited scripted television before
Speaker 1: Randall Einhorn, Matt Son. They had never shot, not even
Speaker 1: to speak of directing scripted television before Phillis, who was
Speaker 1: not an actor. When she's I mean so that that
Speaker 1: I don't know that theme. There's something there's something there, right,
Speaker 1: Well you know what? And here, yes, and I know
Speaker 1: what it is. Actually what that is is the fear
Speaker 1: of not being able to pull it off and the
Speaker 1: earnestness of like getting it right, Like, Okay, I got
Speaker 1: I was given this job, I'm gonna do it. I'm
Speaker 1: going to figure it out. I'm going to do it
Speaker 1: to the best of my ability. And I feel like
Speaker 1: that that incredible earnestness we all had for wanting it
Speaker 1: to be authentic and to really you know, get the
Speaker 1: details right and stuff like. I mean, I can say
Speaker 1: it now as a you know, I still strive for that,
Speaker 1: but like I'm older and you know I've done it,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I dig that deeply into it.
Speaker 1: I mean, my the preparation and the research that I
Speaker 1: did to accomplish my work on the Office is legendary
Speaker 1: in my career. Oh my god. Well, I really want
Speaker 1: to hear about that. But I want to I want
Speaker 1: to start where you and my relationships started. Not that
Speaker 1: I worked on the show, but I we discussed a
Speaker 1: lot about it. You're the designer on Scrubs for a
Speaker 1: long period of time. I find that so interesting because
Speaker 1: the characters on Scrubs are very easily identifiable by their wardrobe. However,
Speaker 1: they're all wearing scrubs, right, most of them are all
Speaker 1: wearing the same thing. And so you know, in leading
Speaker 1: up to the office, not that that was your not
Speaker 1: that that was your rehearsal. But I find it very
Speaker 1: interesting that you were able to find unique looks based
Speaker 1: in character for people who were largely wearing the same thing.
Speaker 1: Can you talk to me a little bit about scrubs
Speaker 1: and your experience there? God, you are You're amazing. You've
Speaker 1: done your research. Thank you so much for recognizing that,
Speaker 1: because yeah, that is where the real magic comes from,
Speaker 1: and that is where my research is the golden ticket there.
Speaker 1: Because on Scrubs, I went with our director Adam Bernstein
Speaker 1: on the pilot. We went to a hospital downtown in
Speaker 1: downtown l A. It's kind of a little bit of
Speaker 1: a scary um the scarier hospitals, and we had a
Speaker 1: tour and um, I wasn't allowed to take photographs, but
Speaker 1: I had my little notepad there and I mean, I
Speaker 1: just I just drank it in because I never assume
Speaker 1: that I know what I'm talking about, because I feel
Speaker 1: like that's where it looks cheesy, like, oh, doctors where this?
Speaker 1: But there were so many details that I gleaned from that,
Speaker 1: and so many characters that I witnessed and saw them
Speaker 1: working and saw their little details and saw, you know,
Speaker 1: like the Doug character that I saw a guy like
Speaker 1: wearing a Fannie pack with his water bottle attached to it.
Speaker 1: He had like his his personal gear, you know, not
Speaker 1: like his works, like his stethoscope and stuff. Like he
Speaker 1: had his person like he was like a commando. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like he had his stuff. And I thought that was fascinating,
Speaker 1: and so that that to me, that is like I
Speaker 1: considered that the bulk of my work is getting into
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty and taking those pictures. If I can't
Speaker 1: take pictures, I'm constantly taking pictures of people on the street.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, everybody out there, I'm sneaking a picture of you.
Speaker 1: My my grandma taught me how to do that. Like
Speaker 1: she she was a painter, and she one time taught
Speaker 1: me at the airport. She's like, oh, see those cute
Speaker 1: ladies over there, I'm gonna paint them, but first I
Speaker 1: need to get a photograph of them. And here's how
Speaker 1: you do that. You put your camera down at your
Speaker 1: hip and you aim it at them, and you look
Speaker 1: the other direction and you take a picture. Yeah, well, listen,
Speaker 1: let me tell you something. I can speak from personal experience.
Speaker 1: I know now that they're taking a picture of that, right,
Speaker 1: we'll see now it's different. It sounds creepy now, right,
Speaker 1: But I mean the thing is like, as far as
Speaker 1: research goes, like, that's the thing. It's just because I
Speaker 1: truly want to honor the special mojo that that person has,
Speaker 1: Like I want to get those details right, because that's
Speaker 1: what really makes a difference. And that's what really shows
Speaker 1: when everyone's wearing scrubs or when everyone's wearing suits and ties,
Speaker 1: Like how do you make that look different? Like how
Speaker 1: do you you know? That's that's the real challenge, you know.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it last night, not to go
Speaker 1: too deeply personal, but my my dad was a doctor
Speaker 1: and worked at a at a hospital research hospital, and
Speaker 1: so as a kid, I thought, oh, this is what
Speaker 1: doctors where, right, Like he had slacks, button down shirt
Speaker 1: tie and his white lab coat and so like my
Speaker 1: brain as a child went, oh, that's that's what doctors wear. Right.
Speaker 1: And then later on, and I was thinking about this
Speaker 1: last night, I realized, like, no, that's not exactly what
Speaker 1: all doctors were, right, this is what my dad wore
Speaker 1: and what he wore and how he dressed affect people's
Speaker 1: impression of him who he was as a character, because
Speaker 1: even in that uniform, I think to your point, like
Speaker 1: there is an individuality and you're either delivering a message
Speaker 1: or a message is set based on on what you're wearing.
Speaker 1: But I think you know, really what's interesting for me
Speaker 1: is it sounds like for you it's about character, right,
Speaker 1: So the wardrobe is defined by by that, right, And
Speaker 1: that's in collaboration with the writer. Absolutely. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: that's the whole process. And it's funny, like I just
Speaker 1: want to clarify, like, because I this is so ran.
Speaker 1: This never happens to me. It probably happens to you
Speaker 1: all the time. But they hadn't approached me at a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Was like, I never, it never happens to me. But
Speaker 1: we had a conversation about the office and doing costumes
Speaker 1: for it, and he was like, oh, so you did
Speaker 1: the Gym's three Whole Punch costume for Halloween and the
Speaker 1: Ben Franklin Think And I was like, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: Every single thing that every single person wears is designed
Speaker 1: and it's thought through from the reading of the script,
Speaker 1: figuring out who those people are, what their backstory is.
Speaker 1: There's input from the producers, there's input from the writers,
Speaker 1: there's input from the directors, and of course the most important,
Speaker 1: incredible input is from the actor who's thinking it through
Speaker 1: like how they want to do it. So I've always
Speaker 1: thought on myself as sort of like the filter, like
Speaker 1: I taken all that information and filter it down to
Speaker 1: something that makes sense quickly. As soon as you see
Speaker 1: those characters on the screen, you have to sort of
Speaker 1: get a feeling of who they are, where they shot.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're clothing is what broadcasts where they're coming from,
Speaker 1: kind of right, you know, And yet you don't want
Speaker 1: it to broadcast too much. You don't want it to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, you know, you want it to be subtle.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, so it's it's all that well, and
Speaker 1: I think on Scrubs on the Office as well, right,
Speaker 1: there's um, well, specifically the Office, it's about creating real
Speaker 1: people and sort of a reality. So yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: about indicating certain things, it's about sort of getting at
Speaker 1: the essence. Okay, so getting into the office. So I
Speaker 1: read I didn't remember this. You started working on the
Speaker 1: Office during a hiatus of Scrubs, Is that right? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did the two shows for four years. I did.
Speaker 1: I did both shows at the same time, which, in
Speaker 1: retrospect was insanity insane. How could you possibly do? I mean,
Speaker 1: Scrubs is not a small cast show either. By the way,
Speaker 1: in case you didn't remember, there were a lot of
Speaker 1: characters there. Um, we had what sixteen eighteen twenty, I
Speaker 1: don't know how many people you were war drobing on
Speaker 1: a weekly basis. Oh, like so many. It was a lot.
Speaker 1: And it was completely fueled by uh, Starbucks. It was
Speaker 1: you know, it just worked out perfectly. It was such
Speaker 1: that like our studio was there in the valley and
Speaker 1: Scrubs was kind of, you know, a few blocks away,
Speaker 1: and they're literally like I'm not kidding, there was a
Speaker 1: Starbucks in between, and I would just go back and
Speaker 1: forth all day long. I would stop at Starbucks, grab
Speaker 1: a coffee, read my script. I don't remember ever sleeping, right,
Speaker 1: sure not. I think I was doing seventy weeks on
Speaker 1: both shows. Oh my god, that's not It's not insane.
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Speaker 1: Need to hire you need indeed. So when you started
Speaker 1: work on the office, it's not everybody in scrubs, right,
Speaker 1: but it's everybody in business attire. What was your process
Speaker 1: for trying to again give some specificity and individuality to
Speaker 1: the characters there through what would on the outside again
Speaker 1: being like, oh, this is just what you wear to work? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: once again, I started my whole process like, I have
Speaker 1: no idea what I'm talking about. I've never worked in
Speaker 1: an office myself, so I just and it's, you know,
Speaker 1: it's going back to that thing. It's like a little
Speaker 1: bit of fear, like how am I going to get
Speaker 1: this right? So I always start my research like trying
Speaker 1: to get myself on the ground somewhere where I can
Speaker 1: immerse myself and see what it really looks like. And um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I talked to the lead these office
Speaker 1: ladies that they had never heard the story. They had
Speaker 1: no idea. I found a paper company in Glendale, here's
Speaker 1: my next little town over and I invited myself over there.
Speaker 1: I spoke to the owner and I was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm doing this show, I'm researching. Would it be okay
Speaker 1: if I came over and just chatted with you and
Speaker 1: just you could just give me a tour? And I
Speaker 1: got there and oh my god, Bryant, it was beyond amazing.
Speaker 1: It was so awesome. All the characters were there, all
Speaker 1: the look of it was there. It was stunning. And
Speaker 1: it had some similarities to the UK version, like they
Speaker 1: had that fish on the wall, that fish on the
Speaker 1: plaquet that they had that, and I was like, Billy
Speaker 1: big mouth bath or something. Yes, yes, yes, So they
Speaker 1: were so wonderful and kind and let me take pictures
Speaker 1: and I talked to everybody in there and got such
Speaker 1: an incredible vibe from I took a thousand pictures. I
Speaker 1: put them in a little slide show. I put a
Speaker 1: little music to it, little Welcome to the Working Week,
Speaker 1: and I brought it back and I showed Greg and
Speaker 1: he was like, what is this? Where is this? You
Speaker 1: will take me back here, You can take me to
Speaker 1: this place. So we went back. We went with our DP,
Speaker 1: and we went with our production designer and we all
Speaker 1: went back there and filmed everything, and I think I
Speaker 1: started a relationship with them, Like we used all of
Speaker 1: their paper products. It was just such a vibe and
Speaker 1: I think they still exist. I actually saw their truck
Speaker 1: the other day. I don't want to say their name
Speaker 1: because I don't, but that's amazing. It was amazing, And
Speaker 1: so that's what gives me a touchstone. Like I referred
Speaker 1: back to those pictures so many times, like when I
Speaker 1: don't know, when I was tired and I was like
Speaker 1: trying to figure out my umpty character, like new person
Speaker 1: coming in and had to be a regular person, but
Speaker 1: had to be different than the last regular person. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like I had that little touchstone that I could
Speaker 1: go back to and go like, oh, yeah, remember that
Speaker 1: little detail or the way they wore their pants, or
Speaker 1: when I first went, it was like their casual Friday
Speaker 1: um and the guy there that was my Dwight inspiration.
Speaker 1: He was wearing like a T shirt with a wolf
Speaker 1: on it that day that I went, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I see, that is amazing. But that's and that's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, like I feel like back in the day,
Speaker 1: like that's that like that stemmed from like sort of
Speaker 1: my fear of not getting it right right, So I
Speaker 1: was like, I gotta get some concrete visuals and that's insane. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and you know that's exactly what John Krasinski did too, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's literally exactly what he did. He was
Speaker 1: in New York work. I mean, he lived in New
Speaker 1: York and was like, well, scrans only two hours away.
Speaker 1: I guess I should go see it. And he went
Speaker 1: to pen paper there and started talking to the people
Speaker 1: who worked at the paper company there. I didn't know that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he went to That's so amazing. I didn't do that.
Speaker 1: I didn't go to a paper company, to be clear,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't do that. Um but I but
Speaker 1: I find that really interesting that that a real person. Yeah,
Speaker 1: inspired that. I mean, Dwight's a great example, right, Like,
Speaker 1: on the one hand, it's work attire, but those mustard
Speaker 1: shirts and you know, almost gives it. I don't even
Speaker 1: know that I've ever articulated this before, but almost a
Speaker 1: militaristic look in a weird way. That color and very
Speaker 1: straight lace. That's interesting. Well, and to like a lot
Speaker 1: of his look. You know. Another thing that I really
Speaker 1: dedicated myself too was shopping where these people would shop.
Speaker 1: Like that's the trickiest thing in Hollywood, because like there's
Speaker 1: so much magic that goes into like just a basic
Speaker 1: T shirt. You know, like there cut every different magical
Speaker 1: way with magical fabric to make actors look amazing. But
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, we need to shop
Speaker 1: people's shop, And so I did a lot of J. C. Penny,
Speaker 1: which I don't know if they still do it, but
Speaker 1: at the time, it is amazing deal where you could
Speaker 1: get if you were like a working guy, you go
Speaker 1: and get your suit outfit there and it would have
Speaker 1: a suit, a shirt, a tie, a belt, and maybe
Speaker 1: the socks the socks and it was like a whole
Speaker 1: one price, like a hundred bucks. And I was like,
Speaker 1: that is so awesome, Like that's that's exactly what I
Speaker 1: would do if I was this guy working in office,
Speaker 1: I would go, like, get my three suit outfits. And
Speaker 1: we all said, well, they had those amazing colored suits,
Speaker 1: like the olive green and ochre and that sort of
Speaker 1: putty color, and it just started to make a story
Speaker 1: for me and yeah, I don't know, I just ran
Speaker 1: with it and it just suited him so well, and
Speaker 1: it yeah, it did have kind of like a little
Speaker 1: We always toyed with the fact that he that he
Speaker 1: was kind of enamored with military or sort of German heritage,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, how much how much did you collaborate
Speaker 1: with rain onight? Oh my gosh. He was so good
Speaker 1: at giving specific input and and he was always the
Speaker 1: one that would call me and go, hey, I think
Speaker 1: I wear a hat in this episode. Could it be this?
Speaker 1: Or like, what do you think about this? Or he
Speaker 1: always had some kind of really great insight, and then
Speaker 1: we would just kind of hash it out together, like
Speaker 1: with this, work with this, let's try this, and um,
Speaker 1: yeah he's tuned in to the subtleties and thinking about it,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I always had a special take on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's really fun and easy to collaborate with. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what's so funny you just said that. I remember
Speaker 1: we had a big deal with the hat, you and
Speaker 1: I because it was Kevin when his band got established,
Speaker 1: and we were looking for something that would be like
Speaker 1: this is what this is, like the cape right of
Speaker 1: a superhero, this is what he puts on when he's
Speaker 1: in the band, And we had this hat, and I
Speaker 1: think we both love this hat and it was there
Speaker 1: early on, and then the hat vanished. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember this. The hat left, it went away
Speaker 1: like we don't know, one knows ever where it went.
Speaker 1: And so then it was like this whole thing, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure I was such a pain in the ass.
Speaker 1: I was like we were look, you guys brought in
Speaker 1: like seventy hats and I was like, no, no, it's
Speaker 1: not that it has to be because it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you mean, I say, like it got lost, like it
Speaker 1: actually got like, yes, like it would vanish. It was
Speaker 1: like it went away. And you know, we didn't do
Speaker 1: the the Scrantn City stuff that often, so you know,
Speaker 1: I don't remember how long it had been. It had
Speaker 1: been a year, it had been whatever, And I know
Speaker 1: everybody keeps everything and it's all documented, but somehow this
Speaker 1: hat vanished. Yeah, there was a big deal about that. Um.
Speaker 1: But I remember for Kevin and you and I talked
Speaker 1: a lot about this at the time that on a tradition,
Speaker 1: let's just call it a traditional sitcom, there is a
Speaker 1: way that Kevin would have been wardrobed right, and it
Speaker 1: probably would have included food on his clothes. Uh, very messy.
Speaker 1: Sloven Le like not able to keep his shirt tucked in,
Speaker 1: like various things. And you know, well, one of the
Speaker 1: things that I'm really proud of about the show is
Speaker 1: that we were really trying to create real people, and
Speaker 1: within that there are there are contradictions within what you
Speaker 1: would expect and and you know what's written on the
Speaker 1: page and what the actual person would do. And I
Speaker 1: remember you and I we spent a lot of time. Look,
Speaker 1: it wasn't like he was going to sacks for Barney's
Speaker 1: or Marcus, but it was like, no, he's gonna make
Speaker 1: his best effort and things might be a little off. Um.
Speaker 1: We explored a little bit early on. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember with his tie being a little bit
Speaker 1: shorter than it should be, um, but that he was
Speaker 1: always doing his best effort and so much so that
Speaker 1: I was like, he wants to be put together. And
Speaker 1: one of the things we talked about was Kevin always
Speaker 1: wore his jacket, Like for him, that was again like
Speaker 1: that was at work. You wear your jacket and you
Speaker 1: keep things together. And there were things that I at
Speaker 1: least thought were really funny that came out of that
Speaker 1: little character thing, one of which was, well, the basketball
Speaker 1: episode in the first season where he's making shot after
Speaker 1: shot and he's still wearing his code, he's still wearing
Speaker 1: his tie is not loosened. And you know, some of
Speaker 1: that stuff, obviously, depending on context, got got looser over time.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that it was about It was a guy
Speaker 1: who was really putting his best effort forward and it
Speaker 1: may not look beautiful or whatever, but that we didn't
Speaker 1: go for the cheap joke. Yeah. Yeah. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: It's the earnestness that's so sweet and endearing. And I
Speaker 1: never want any of my research subjects to feel like
Speaker 1: they are being made fun of. That is is never
Speaker 1: my intention. My intention is to get to the heart
Speaker 1: of what makes somebody tick. And that to me, is
Speaker 1: so delicious and adorable about every human being. We all have.
Speaker 1: Those things are weird, little idio secreencies. That's the thing
Speaker 1: that you have to find in each character, and and
Speaker 1: the vulnerability, and I just keep coming back to the earnestness,
Speaker 1: the earnestness that Kevin wore his his jacket, you know,
Speaker 1: and and um, I think that's what makes characters really endearing.
Speaker 1: I think if you go for like the cheap like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's this he's kind of he's a mess, and he's
Speaker 1: got chili on his tie. It's so obvious that you
Speaker 1: kind of don't. It doesn't endear you too to the character.
Speaker 1: So I think it's I think it's really worth finding
Speaker 1: those little things and holding that line like that's that's
Speaker 1: the real Allan. It's so funny because I've had to
Speaker 1: defend my I guess defend my work at times when
Speaker 1: I've had interviews with people like what costumes are there
Speaker 1: on the office, And I'm like, hold on, you don't
Speaker 1: know these guys, like these are some of the hottest
Speaker 1: actors in Hollywood, they don't show up in this gear.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that really. I mean, you look
Speaker 1: pretty slick right now. You have a great looking polo
Speaker 1: shirt on. And you know, it was my job to
Speaker 1: take everyone down a little notch every day and to
Speaker 1: hold that line, like because after the first season, everybody
Speaker 1: wanted to be kind of more fancy and have their
Speaker 1: better clothing. It's like I stuck with it. I stuck
Speaker 1: with it thru thick and thin. I stuck with it.
Speaker 1: You know, we never we never got more pretty over here,
Speaker 1: I promise, Well except except the uh, the wedding where
Speaker 1: suddenly Kevin has a very like, a very legitimately nice
Speaker 1: suit with fake hair, yeah, which is probably a rental,
Speaker 1: you know, And that's when you kind of things up
Speaker 1: a little bit because you're wedding outfits are rental so fine,
Speaker 1: so it's not really like the stuff you own. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember I remember being I remember being difficult to
Speaker 1: find your blazers, your cool blazers that were just like
Speaker 1: these kind of textured kind of from be It was
Speaker 1: hard to find those, you know, they weren't slick looking.
Speaker 1: They weren't you always worked, No, they weren't. And there
Speaker 1: and oh my gosh, I haven't thought about this in
Speaker 1: years and years because I because I remember being, oh god,
Speaker 1: I remember being super defensive because there was something with
Speaker 1: our because by the way, guys in Hollywood here, when
Speaker 1: you're shooting an episode and especially the office, you're wearing
Speaker 1: the same thing every day for five days. So okay,
Speaker 1: usually these things, over the course of just normal hygiene,
Speaker 1: they have to be cleaned. But they started um through
Speaker 1: the cleaning process or something, or the material they were
Speaker 1: using they started shrinking, and and I would be like, guys,
Speaker 1: this doesn't fit and I'm sure everyone's like, okay, Brian,
Speaker 1: way to go, and I'm like, no, no, And I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember, but they would be like
Speaker 1: the arms would be like three inches short, like they
Speaker 1: were coming up my arm and I would be like, God,
Speaker 1: my arms not growing, like this is not I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: so welcome to my world. This is so funny. I
Speaker 1: mean the one time Greg Daniels came on our trailer
Speaker 1: and he looked at how it was all set up
Speaker 1: with all the closets laying there, and he was like
Speaker 1: he looked at Michael Scott's and eels, why does he
Speaker 1: have so many of the same suit? Why does he
Speaker 1: have like what? And I was like, oh, yeah, an
Speaker 1: episode takes place, the story takes place in one day, right,
Speaker 1: but it takes us five or six days to shoot that,
Speaker 1: five or six full days to shoot that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: stuff happens. I mean, you go to lunch with your
Speaker 1: suit on and it gets spaghetti sauce on it, or
Speaker 1: I remember Steve like slipped down the stairs of his
Speaker 1: trailer at one time and actually ripped the ripped his
Speaker 1: suit or Sweetie like he ripped the elbow. So that's
Speaker 1: the thing. So we have multiples, so like I would
Speaker 1: never but and that's what also makes the challenge. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find these funny numbly suit coats for you
Speaker 1: and but also in multiples, which was really really hard.
Speaker 1: So I think we had for you less because yours
Speaker 1: were so unique, Like we had less of each one
Speaker 1: and yeah, shit happens, like and because they're dry cleaned
Speaker 1: every day, and I'm sorry, Oh my gosh, I haven't
Speaker 1: I thought about that so long. I just remember being like, well,
Speaker 1: because for me, it was like it wasn't so much.
Speaker 1: Did that happened? Because I knew something, We would figure
Speaker 1: something out. But it was like, no, this is not
Speaker 1: my fault. Guys, this is not me. My arm didn't grow.
Speaker 1: But maybe it was maybe it helped your character. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Glory Adam, host of Well Read Black Girl. Each week,
Speaker 1: I sit in close conversation with one of my favorite
Speaker 1: authors of color and share stories about how they found
Speaker 1: their voice, hone their craft, and navigated the publishing world,
Speaker 1: and composed some of the most beautiful and meaningful words
Speaker 1: I've ever read. We journey together through the cultural moment
Speaker 1: where art, culture and literature collide and pay homage to
Speaker 1: the women whose books we grew up reading. And of
Speaker 1: course I check in with members of the Well Read
Speaker 1: Black Girl book Club. It's a literary kickback you never
Speaker 1: knew you needed. And you're all invited to join the club.
Speaker 1: So tell your friends, tell their friends so we can
Speaker 1: be friends who love books. Listen to a well Read
Speaker 1: Black Girl on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. What was the budget, like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, okay, because what was it? What was
Speaker 1: the budget? Like? Tiny, dude, Okay. At one point I
Speaker 1: compared to you because my I was doing scrubs and
Speaker 1: my regulars on scrubs were I think I had six
Speaker 1: to eight regulars scrubs and they're pretty much wearing scrubs
Speaker 1: and office. I had how many regulars twenty? At the
Speaker 1: point I had, let's just do the math for a second,
Speaker 1: I had five thousand dollars less a week to spend
Speaker 1: on the office that I had on scrubs many people,
Speaker 1: and scrubs are not expensive, by the way, actual scrubs.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. So yeah, so we so Jennifer Siri
Speaker 1: and I. She was my supervisor back then, so that
Speaker 1: position runs the department. Um, she and I would go
Speaker 1: out to them what I was gonna say, called the
Speaker 1: discount malls, out to the call thank you the outlet malls.
Speaker 1: We would take two trips a season. We would do
Speaker 1: this big drive out to Calabasas, out to the outlet
Speaker 1: malls and we would just stalk up and I think
Speaker 1: it was great too. Is that things there were like
Speaker 1: a little bit a little dated a little bit last season.
Speaker 1: I mean that was kind of my whole concept anyways,
Speaker 1: for the overall show. It is just that it would
Speaker 1: be a little dated looking because I feel like that
Speaker 1: also lends a little vulnerability to it, like we're not
Speaker 1: we're not super slick, and you know, we're in the latest, latest, greatest.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so that's we would just come back with
Speaker 1: carloads of stuff outlevel and then try to make it
Speaker 1: work and try and and just rotate, rotate, rotate, you know,
Speaker 1: mix and match, and we just what people do, right, Well,
Speaker 1: that's what people do. Well. It's funny that you bring
Speaker 1: up the dated concept, because you know, part of why
Speaker 1: I talking to you now, and I've talked to so
Speaker 1: many people, is really about why the show now, why
Speaker 1: it's exploded, why we have more fans now than we
Speaker 1: did when we were actually shooting. And you know, one
Speaker 1: of the things that this is at least my theory
Speaker 1: about it, a documentary by definition can't be dated, right
Speaker 1: Like you you don't watch a documentary on the sixties
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, that's dated, Like, no, it's about
Speaker 1: the sixties. It's about that period of time. So you know,
Speaker 1: not having the latest and greatest means that there is
Speaker 1: never the latest and greatest that can look um that
Speaker 1: that can look dated or like oh they were pretending,
Speaker 1: or you know, that it gives anything beyond what it is.
Speaker 1: Even I feel like this is true that even when
Speaker 1: we were dressing up for a special occasion a wedding
Speaker 1: or whatever, it was all sort of very classically nice outfits, right,
Speaker 1: not like you know, the newest trend. Yeah, And and
Speaker 1: I mean it really was about where I shopped. Like
Speaker 1: that's the thing, Like I really I know Jenna, we
Speaker 1: had a moment where she had had to wear jeans
Speaker 1: for something, and she was and she you know, she
Speaker 1: had done so many other everybody was doing movies and
Speaker 1: all kinds of projects and getting all kinds of fancy clothes,
Speaker 1: and she walked into that fitting and there was like
Speaker 1: stuff from the Gap and stuff from the old Navy,
Speaker 1: and and you know, she was used to wearing you know,
Speaker 1: fancy fancy stuff that costs maybe two to four hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: And she was like, oh oh, I was like, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, I know, but we're holding the line. I
Speaker 1: feel like that was I was like the I was
Speaker 1: like the warrior holding the line. I'm like, we gotta
Speaker 1: keep it real, like We've gotta it's it's what this
Speaker 1: person would do, and and it informs, it informs how
Speaker 1: you feel when you wear you know, if you if
Speaker 1: you're all wearing that these super super genes, you're gonna strut.
Speaker 1: And that's not that character. It's a say like the
Speaker 1: shoes make a huge difference. You don't ever see shoes
Speaker 1: on a TV show, but like it really makes a
Speaker 1: big difference. I'm sorry Angela Kinsey because she had to wait,
Speaker 1: she had to hear those nursing those spongy nurse shoes
Speaker 1: all the time. But that it informs so much about
Speaker 1: how you feel and how you act. That is so true.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you a little secret right now. I
Speaker 1: this is this, this is probably crazy. This is definitely
Speaker 1: actor nerdy. But if there were times, and there are
Speaker 1: times on a on a television set, right, you come
Speaker 1: in but you're not on camera for whatever reason. You
Speaker 1: know you're there to do a scene with someone else,
Speaker 1: but you shot your side before lunch and they're not
Speaker 1: going to see you, and so you still need to
Speaker 1: be there or whatever. I always put on my shoes, always, always,
Speaker 1: when I'm playing a character, I always put on the
Speaker 1: shoes of the character way years because that so I
Speaker 1: have not just on the office, but on multiple projects.
Speaker 1: You there will be there sure behind the scene photos
Speaker 1: where I'm like wearing this wouldn't be the office, but
Speaker 1: like fancy wing tips or something, and shorts like shorts,
Speaker 1: like totally whatever. I wore into work in a hundred
Speaker 1: degrees summer weather. But no, I would have I put
Speaker 1: on the shoes because the shoe, it affects the way
Speaker 1: you move away. Yeah, the way you stand. All of that. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I'm so happy to hear
Speaker 1: you say that, because it really does. It matters. I
Speaker 1: don't go in full wardrobe. I'll be honest with you
Speaker 1: about that. I don't do that. Um. So I want
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about you working with Steve,
Speaker 1: you know, one, just working with him and helping to
Speaker 1: create Michael Scott through the wardrobe, but also conversations that
Speaker 1: you and he may have had between like Seasons one
Speaker 1: and who when Greg was looking to to soften Michael
Speaker 1: a little bit and to make him more likable, the
Speaker 1: same guy, but but give a little bit of a
Speaker 1: reason to maybe root for him. Is there any any
Speaker 1: specific memories you have about that. Yeah, Actually I was.
Speaker 1: I feel like I was at the forefront of the
Speaker 1: synthesis of that because it was a real challenge, and
Speaker 1: I remember feeling really anxious about because Ricky Gervais played
Speaker 1: it so beautifully and his thing was like that tick
Speaker 1: where he would touch his tie all the time. And
Speaker 1: when we were first having conversations about this, and I
Speaker 1: remember being in Greg's office and um looking at the
Speaker 1: tapes of the original and there was a lot of
Speaker 1: talk about like, well, we got to make the ceiling
Speaker 1: tiles look like this, because that's how they had it there,
Speaker 1: and and you know, kind of obsessing about like the
Speaker 1: details of how are we going to make this be
Speaker 1: like that show? And I remember thinking in my head like,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, I can't do this. If that's if we're
Speaker 1: going to try to copy this, I can't. I can't
Speaker 1: do that. I'll go crazy trying to like figure out
Speaker 1: the copy of these details. And so I really at
Speaker 1: that moment sort I was like, all right, I gotta
Speaker 1: find my own way. And yeah, with Steve's character, what
Speaker 1: is it going to be? Is he going to be
Speaker 1: the same as Ricky Shabaz? And I think in the
Speaker 1: beginning he was kind of more hard And then I'll
Speaker 1: never forget. I remember forty year Old Virgin came out,
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget. Greg Daniels saw it and I
Speaker 1: remember having a conversation with him and he was like, wow,
Speaker 1: Steve is so vulnerable in that movie, and I was
Speaker 1: like yeah, And it was almost like for Greg, I
Speaker 1: feel like this moment of like really seeing Steve and
Speaker 1: all that he could do, like all that he could
Speaker 1: pull off as an actor, and I remember something like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: like he he can be vulnerable, Like that's there, that's
Speaker 1: something we can we can drawn. And for me it
Speaker 1: was and really for all the characters, for all the boys, um,
Speaker 1: the tie story. The tie story was what was the
Speaker 1: flavor of each guy? And I think it is for
Speaker 1: guys like they go pick their tie and that you
Speaker 1: ties us so much about you. But I feel like
Speaker 1: Michael Scott in particular, like his ties. I feel like
Speaker 1: he thought his ties really cool, but in reality they
Speaker 1: were just kind of these muddy, undetailed, h kind of
Speaker 1: static like they weren't they didn't have a particular voice
Speaker 1: to them. And I was really dedicated to those damn ties.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I would go to the end ends
Speaker 1: of the earth trying to fight. And I feel like that,
Speaker 1: to me kind of like was his his special vulnerability
Speaker 1: as a boss. Like he always felt like he needed
Speaker 1: to be he needed to be something that he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He's always trying to be so cool, like he's always
Speaker 1: trying to be cool and one of the guys and
Speaker 1: all this, you know, and um, it just wasn't him.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't him. And so that's what that's what
Speaker 1: makes him so wonderfully funny, is um trying to pull
Speaker 1: off being somebody that he wasn't, you know. And if
Speaker 1: he just if he could just like just chip out, dude,
Speaker 1: like you don't need to be be this everything to everybody,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, And yeah, so I think that's where
Speaker 1: we found his character, and I think it really took off,
Speaker 1: you know, because in the beginning to like the very
Speaker 1: first episode is the exact same script from the from
Speaker 1: the English version. It's the exact same script. And I
Speaker 1: think that for the writers, I think got to you know.
Speaker 1: I think they were like, we can't, I can't do
Speaker 1: the exact same script. Like we have this amazing cast
Speaker 1: of people of actors. They're bringing so much, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think about like Creed and Meredith and you know, Kate,
Speaker 1: like they were kind of these ancillary characters in the beginning,
Speaker 1: and they brought so much. They brought so much, and
Speaker 1: then they became these great, huge characters, you know. So, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm a completely off topic here, but I feel like
Speaker 1: things like we were trying to copy, trying to copy
Speaker 1: the original, and then we realized that we have this
Speaker 1: incredible gift of talent and ideas, and like that's where
Speaker 1: it really just took off. Like that's where we started
Speaker 1: writing our own scripts and the characters really started to gel.
Speaker 1: And um, all these other ancillary characters became so strong
Speaker 1: and such a delicious part of it. And here we
Speaker 1: are still talking about it now. It's crazy. If I
Speaker 1: could be you and you could be mean just one hour,
Speaker 1: if you could find a way to get inside each
Speaker 1: other's mind. Walk a mile in my shoes, wacome mile
Speaker 1: in my shoes. Shoes. We've all felt left out, and
Speaker 1: for some that feeling lasts more than a moment. We
Speaker 1: can change that. Learn how it belonging begins with us
Speaker 1: dot org. Brought to you by the AD Council. Welcome
Speaker 1: out in my shoes. What were a few of your
Speaker 1: favorite looks that you created? Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: well I do. I love Jim's three Whole Punch costume
Speaker 1: that was amazing. And Angela's all Angela's little kitty chops
Speaker 1: with a million buttons that we change all the buttons
Speaker 1: into a little kitty head buttons. Gosh, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many. I mean I was thinking
Speaker 1: about too, you know, the episode that we did out
Speaker 1: in the park with the the sumo um costing, the
Speaker 1: inflatable sumo costumes and then somebody was gonna float out
Speaker 1: there out there. Oh my god, so many wacky things.
Speaker 1: I mean, we went to we went to Ken Subornac
Speaker 1: and that costume came up and we're like we're gonna
Speaker 1: We're gonna float ed out on the lake in an
Speaker 1: inflatable costume. And I'm like, I'm like raising my hand
Speaker 1: like wait, wait, wait what. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: in charge of this. I don't get that costume. But
Speaker 1: that's not gonna that's no, that seems dangerous. And so
Speaker 1: we actually went to Kent's house, his swimming pool, and
Speaker 1: we had the stunt guy and I was like, here's
Speaker 1: the thing. His body is inflatable, which will make his
Speaker 1: head the heaviest part of it. His head's gonna go underwater, right,
Speaker 1: which is exactly what happened. Yeah, you know it's like
Speaker 1: stuff like this, like this is these are the challenges.
Speaker 1: So anyways, like that's then I made a helmet that
Speaker 1: if you look, the helmet is like this sumer, it
Speaker 1: looks like hair, looks like a big yeah, but actually
Speaker 1: it's a floatation device. Well, I mean, yeah, all those
Speaker 1: things you don't see. I didn't know that. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that. I had no idea you were you were
Speaker 1: literally designing to save lives. But that should be that
Speaker 1: should be the new costume guild like motto, we designed
Speaker 1: to save lives. Carrie Bennett it's just all those challenges
Speaker 1: that people don't realize that it's it encompasses a lot
Speaker 1: like and that every single thing that every single person
Speaker 1: wears is literally thought through, designed, doubled, died, altered. It's
Speaker 1: a huge task. And um, it was a huge amount
Speaker 1: of costumes. I remember the A D S the battle
Speaker 1: plan that they had. Do you remember, like they would
Speaker 1: meet you in the morning and they would have this
Speaker 1: rainbow colored thing of where everyone was going to be.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go into hair and makeup now, and you'll
Speaker 1: go to costumes and do you know it was It
Speaker 1: was such a tremendous undertaking every day because it wasn't
Speaker 1: just like talking heads like you're talking to this person,
Speaker 1: there's two people in the scene. No, it was the
Speaker 1: entire cast in every scene, even if you're not talking,
Speaker 1: you're in the background. It was a massive undertaking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think we've talked about that enough. Actually on
Speaker 1: this I may do a little deep dive into this
Speaker 1: and figure out, like exactly how this came about, because
Speaker 1: I think truly it innovated television production. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know that there's even been a show that's been
Speaker 1: as complicated or more. But I know that that other
Speaker 1: shows are using it now. And what Carry is talking
Speaker 1: about is the battle plan. You know, it was color
Speaker 1: coordinated by character where you were going to be from
Speaker 1: the moment you arrived until everybody had to be on set.
Speaker 1: So in hair, in makeup, in you know, you need
Speaker 1: a costume fitting this morning, so you have to go
Speaker 1: to wardrobe, or you need to go see props, because
Speaker 1: props there's a special something that you have to deal
Speaker 1: with here or wherever else. And so it like took
Speaker 1: you through the morning, whereas on most shows, you show up,
Speaker 1: you go to hair and makeup, you go on your trailer,
Speaker 1: you get dressed, and you're done because there's two, three,
Speaker 1: four characters usually at the beginning of the day, and
Speaker 1: they try to spread out people coming throughout the day.
Speaker 1: That's part of what they do. But on our show,
Speaker 1: you couldn't do that. Yeah, that was that was insane.
Speaker 1: I mean that's true. I mean, looking back at it now, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was really really a team effort, like
Speaker 1: I really felt like we were. It was like a
Speaker 1: lot to accomplish every day, and we all just we
Speaker 1: just did it. I mean I remember meeting with all
Speaker 1: of the department heads production and offsite that we would
Speaker 1: just like meet in the parking lot before the production
Speaker 1: meeting and be like, Okay, I've got I'll take care
Speaker 1: of this. You got this, you got that? What is
Speaker 1: this going to be? Like that? You know, we would
Speaker 1: just have like a quick little like you know like that.
Speaker 1: That was like kind of like our little sort of
Speaker 1: you know, valable. You know, the props guys have to
Speaker 1: be on set with props, but they also have to
Speaker 1: be in some cases either going to buy or create
Speaker 1: or major in the props for the next week. And
Speaker 1: have you had Phil on here? We we have not.
Speaker 1: We have not talked to Phil. Oh god, okay, you
Speaker 1: have to have him because he and I worked so
Speaker 1: hand in hand and you know we had Again this
Speaker 1: comes from like my sort of fear of getting it wrong. Um.
Speaker 1: And this all started with when we had the fire
Speaker 1: department came there was a fire department part Fire department
Speaker 1: uniforms are really specific to regions, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I really need to get the patches that
Speaker 1: go for Scranton. So I call the Chamber of Commerce
Speaker 1: there and was like and got hold of this woman
Speaker 1: called named Mari and maybe I shouldn't say her name,
Speaker 1: but she was amazing, and I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I told her the whole story, and I was like,
Speaker 1: do you think do you could you give me the
Speaker 1: phone number for the fire department or do you think
Speaker 1: somebody could go there and take a picture of the
Speaker 1: patches for me? I mean, I just and she was like,
Speaker 1: She's like, I'll do it. I'll go I'll go do it.
Speaker 1: And she totally did it. She went to the bar department,
Speaker 1: she took pictures of the patches, she sent them to me,
Speaker 1: we recreated them. And then because she was so awesome,
Speaker 1: I called her all the time. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: I mean, like a delivery service, is there's something? Is
Speaker 1: there someone that you might know, or like a florist
Speaker 1: that you might know, And then it just became a
Speaker 1: regular thing. And then Phil started calling her, and then
Speaker 1: she was like, lose my number was totally she was
Speaker 1: so wonderful. I mean, if she's out there like I
Speaker 1: don't of course I've lost track of her. She was amazing, um,
Speaker 1: and then she set up I Phil would know it
Speaker 1: was it maybe the third season. She was like, let's
Speaker 1: preempt our needs here because we always needed like daily stuff,
Speaker 1: like a delivery guy the radio station that you know,
Speaker 1: just everyday things. She set up a thing that they
Speaker 1: advertised on the radio station out there. Phil flew out
Speaker 1: there and people came to the mall and offered up
Speaker 1: there stuff from their businesses, like you know, t shirts
Speaker 1: from the radio station or what just so the week
Speaker 1: it could be super authentic and that they and then
Speaker 1: they had to sign off that we were allowed to
Speaker 1: use the thing. So he when I forget, I think
Speaker 1: I was I couldn't go. I was I was doing scraps.
Speaker 1: I think I couldn't go. But he went out there,
Speaker 1: and and when he went, I was like, if you couldn't,
Speaker 1: I gave him a little digital camera to take with him,
Speaker 1: Like if you could take pictures of every person you talked,
Speaker 1: do that would be the bomb. So he did that.
Speaker 1: I mean there was lines of people out the mall.
Speaker 1: He said. People followed him into the bathroom when he
Speaker 1: went to the bathroom, and they were bringing all of
Speaker 1: their stuff, and a lot of stuff wasn't necessarily needed
Speaker 1: or useful, like people remember somebody brought cupcakes with everybody's
Speaker 1: face on them. It was amazing. It was totally amazing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I have all those photographs too that
Speaker 1: you know, I would like take pictures of people in
Speaker 1: uniform kids like just like and so I have I
Speaker 1: have like my office catalog of people and it just
Speaker 1: was like endlessly inspiring to me just for those little
Speaker 1: little details. But yeah, when you watch the Office, like
Speaker 1: a lot of those details are legit, legit Scranton artifacts. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: if you need any more ammunition to have conversations when
Speaker 1: people are like, what did you do on the Office?
Speaker 1: How did you create? Like what they just wore suits?
Speaker 1: Think about the number of times that the writers became
Speaker 1: obsessed on our show with characters playing other characters, right,
Speaker 1: so like famously Jim plays Dwight, but Kevin plays Phyllis,
Speaker 1: and Dwight plays Kevin and Phyllis and like everybody basically
Speaker 1: at some point and immediately you know who the characters
Speaker 1: are because of what they're wearing. So I if you
Speaker 1: need any more ammunition than that, you've got it. The
Speaker 1: mustard shirts, the bad text, your jackets, the sweaters for Phyllis,
Speaker 1: I guess, the sweaters, the little her little matchy matchy outfits,
Speaker 1: matchy outfits and sweaters. Um, thank you, so much for
Speaker 1: talking to me, Carrie. I appreciate it so much. I
Speaker 1: mean the contribution that you have given everyone for the
Speaker 1: helping to create these characters through their looks um which
Speaker 1: now as we know Altars behavior is so it's so
Speaker 1: important to the entire creation of the show. So thank
Speaker 1: you one for that. And also thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on and talking to me and everybody here today.
Speaker 1: Oh I miss you so much. I'm realizing it's just
Speaker 1: been such a delight to be with you again. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Wow, Carrie, it's so amazing chatting with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me now. As always,
Speaker 1: I will be back next week with another conversation, this
Speaker 1: time with the incredible Brian Whittle. What Who's Brian Whittle? Oh?
Speaker 1: Isn't he a character on the Office? And to that,
Speaker 1: I say, well, yes and no, there is a Brian
Speaker 1: Widow character, but he was named after the real life
Speaker 1: boom operator on the Office, and in true boom operator fashion,
Speaker 1: Brian has all the stories. He was there with us
Speaker 1: in the room where it happened. As they say, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to bring the true Brian Whittle onto the
Speaker 1: podcast next week. But before I leave you, I have
Speaker 1: one more exciting announcement. We've discussed it before, but after
Speaker 1: a couple more conversations here at the Office Deep Dive,
Speaker 1: I am going to be launching my new podcast, Off
Speaker 1: the Beat in February. Now, I don't want to give
Speaker 1: too much away, but I'm very excited and it is
Speaker 1: going to go beyond anything that we have done on here.
Speaker 1: That's right. I am talking about all of your favorite
Speaker 1: TV creators and actors, not just the Office, so stay tuned.
Speaker 1: Will be available before you know it wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. The Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive
Speaker 1: produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes and Diego Tapia. Our theme
Speaker 1: song Bubble and Squeak, performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski m The
Speaker 1: Gangster Chronicles podcast is a weekly conversation that revolves around
Speaker 1: the underworld and criminals and entertainers to victims, crime and
Speaker 1: law enforcement. We cover all facets of the game. Gainst
Speaker 1: Chronicles podcast doesn't glorify promoti list of activities. We just
Speaker 1: discussed the ramifications and repercussions of these activities because after all,
Speaker 1: she played gamester games, you are ultimately rewarded with gangster prizes.
Speaker 1: Our Heart Radio is number one for podcasts, but don't
Speaker 1: take our award for it. Find Against the Chronicles podcast
Speaker 1: and my Heart Radio app or wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast