Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Glory Adam, host of Well Read Black Girl.
Speaker 1: Each week, we journey together through the cultural moment where art,
Speaker 1: culture and literature collide and pay homage to the women
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Speaker 1: We need everything you've got fast Waiting on Reparations we
Speaker 1: beat the podcast tune in every Thursday, politics and wordplay.
Speaker 1: We fight for the people because they got us in
Speaker 1: the worst way. From the Hill Cooper, the Bombay to Kanya,
Speaker 1: from the left enclave to what the neo kanse Every Thursday,
Speaker 1: the heavy conversation and to break us off with some
Speaker 1: break because we're waiting the Rea. Listen to Waiting on
Speaker 1: Reparations on I Heart Radio, app, Apple podcasts or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. You can watch the NFL playoffs
Speaker 1: like a and or you can prep like a scout
Speaker 1: if you listen to the award winning Move the Sticks podcast.
Speaker 1: The show is hosted by me, Daniel Jeremiah and my
Speaker 1: partner Bucky Brooks. The two of us are bringing the
Speaker 1: knowledge from a career as NFL talent scouts to the
Speaker 1: podcast world so fans can watch and understand the nuances
Speaker 1: of the game like never before. We'll break down film
Speaker 1: from the professional and college game to get you ready
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl, the Draft, and kick off next fall.
Speaker 1: Subscribe now and listen to the Move the Sticks podcast
Speaker 1: on the I Heart Radio app, on Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody, it's Brian Baumgartner
Speaker 1: here and I played Kevin Malone on the Office and
Speaker 1: I also host this podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome to
Speaker 1: another episode of The Office Deep Dive. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: our final episode of The Office Deep Dive. As always,
Speaker 1: I am your host, Brian Baumgartner, and today we're gonna
Speaker 1: do something a little different. You're gonna hear from me,
Speaker 1: maybe more than you want to. But what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do today was to look back and finally tell
Speaker 1: the story of how all of this came to be,
Speaker 1: how this podcast came to be. And then I want
Speaker 1: to look forward into our vision for where this podcast
Speaker 1: goes next, for where it goes into the future, and
Speaker 1: let you know how excited we all are for our
Speaker 1: next iteration, which, to be clear, will be available on
Speaker 1: the very same channel that you found this episode today.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go download a new podcast or
Speaker 1: go looking for me somewhere else. You'll find me in
Speaker 1: the very same place that I have been for the
Speaker 1: last year. But today is February eight and this podcast
Speaker 1: I launched started almost exactly one year ago today February ninth. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go into the numbers, because you know I'm
Speaker 1: a numbers guy. I'm gonna go into the numbers over
Speaker 1: the last year, which are staggering and humbling to me
Speaker 1: and a little bit. But I want to start first
Speaker 1: back in September of twenty nineteen, now that is two
Speaker 1: and a half years ago. That's where this started. I
Speaker 1: was shooting a movie in Columbus, Georgia. Electric Jesus available
Speaker 1: on all streaming platforms today, and I get a call
Speaker 1: from Ben Silverman saying he wants to talk to me. Now,
Speaker 1: if Ben Silverman calls and says he wants to talk
Speaker 1: to me, I make time to answer the phone. And
Speaker 1: I was on the East coast, he was on the
Speaker 1: West coast, and we agreed on eight thirty pm on
Speaker 1: the East Coast five thirty his time, and I get
Speaker 1: on the phone and I'm introduced to Lingley, who works
Speaker 1: for Ben. And Ben is on the phone and he says, look,
Speaker 1: we've been working with Spotify about doing a podcast on
Speaker 1: the office, and I want to know your thoughts or
Speaker 1: if you have any ideas about how we might approach
Speaker 1: a podcast on the office. And I said, well, this
Speaker 1: is amazing. And we run through a couple of ideas
Speaker 1: and LNG has some ideas and Ben has some ideas
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, this is great. I'm in Columbus, Georgia,
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm a little busy right now shooting this movie,
Speaker 1: so let's talk as soon as I'm back. So I
Speaker 1: return home and ling contact me about having a meeting
Speaker 1: at their offices and I'm thinking, oh, I'm just going
Speaker 1: up and we're just going to kind of continue the
Speaker 1: conversation about the podcast. This is the idiot that I am.
Speaker 1: And I drive up and oh, I have this errand
Speaker 1: and it's taking me a little extra time and send
Speaker 1: an email saying like, oh, you know, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit later than I said, and um she says,
Speaker 1: no problem, no problem, And so I get to their
Speaker 1: offices and I walk into a conference room much like
Speaker 1: the conference room at dunder Mifflin, about the same size
Speaker 1: and shape actually, with a giant table in the middle.
Speaker 1: And I walk in and there's I don't know, twelve
Speaker 1: to fifteen people around the table, but it feels like
Speaker 1: fifty to me, and there's a spot at the head
Speaker 1: of the table which is clearly for me, and clearly
Speaker 1: they have been waiting there in this room for me,
Speaker 1: and so I think, oh, this was not what I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought we were having a casual conversation about how
Speaker 1: to maybe pursue this podcast. And then the next thing
Speaker 1: that happens is lying introduces me to the table as
Speaker 1: the exact producer of this podcast, The Office podcast for Spotify,
Speaker 1: and I think, well, that's not exactly where I thought
Speaker 1: we were at this moment either. I hope I thought
Speaker 1: of something good to say, because now I feel completely
Speaker 1: on the spot and I had this idea we could
Speaker 1: have put together a podcast which would have been a well,
Speaker 1: we could have done a professorial explanation of why the
Speaker 1: Office is so great and all of the people who
Speaker 1: put it together are so great, and and lectured two
Speaker 1: our listeners. This this that idea was not so interesting
Speaker 1: to me. But what was interesting to me was questions.
Speaker 1: And the question that I had, which was a true
Speaker 1: and real question at the time, was why is the
Speaker 1: office bigger now than it was when we were a
Speaker 1: hit on NB See through conversations, most notably I would
Speaker 1: say Rain Wilson definitely, Oscar nuon Yez and Angela Kenzie
Speaker 1: and Jenna Fisher as well, but most notably Rain and
Speaker 1: I would talk and be like, man, I'm getting noticed
Speaker 1: a lot more in airports again now, like it felt different,
Speaker 1: like palpably different in the world. And my question was
Speaker 1: true and legitimate, which is why. So this is November
Speaker 1: of and so we began work right away on this approach.
Speaker 1: But there was something that I knew that we needed.
Speaker 1: We had an essentially an eight hour order from Spotify.
Speaker 1: We knew we wanted to do us to talk to
Speaker 1: the key people involved. So immediately I go, well, we
Speaker 1: need some people's blessing and we need their agreement to participate.
Speaker 1: So I contact Greg Daniels and I asked for or
Speaker 1: his blessing and participation, and he not only agreed to
Speaker 1: participate and gave me his blessing. He was genuinely excited
Speaker 1: right away, and I thought, Okay, well we've got Greg
Speaker 1: which that's dad, that's huge. And then I contacted Rain
Speaker 1: Wilson and Steve Carrell and Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey
Speaker 1: because they had started Office Ladies and John Krasinski and
Speaker 1: I wanted to try to get some of our key
Speaker 1: people on board. Every single person I contacted said yes,
Speaker 1: I'm in. But I contacted Rain Wilson early and I said,
Speaker 1: will you sit down with me? And he says yes,
Speaker 1: But after the first of the year, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be shooting this movie. I'm gonna be incredibly busy. I
Speaker 1: would love to do it. Can we do it now? Not? Well, sure, yes,
Speaker 1: we're We're prepared. And we talked for over two hours,
Speaker 1: and I had had this idea that if we're talking
Speaker 1: to everybody, aren't people gonna want to hear more from
Speaker 1: these people than just this eight hour story. Well, immediately
Speaker 1: after this interview, Laying turns to me and says, we've
Speaker 1: got to release these full interviews. We we have to
Speaker 1: because see, for us, there were two parts. One was
Speaker 1: to tell the story, but the other thing that was
Speaker 1: so exciting to me was to let people get to
Speaker 1: know the real people behind the roles that they had played.
Speaker 1: And I felt like that by me conducting these interviews,
Speaker 1: that you were going to hear these people in an
Speaker 1: unfiltered way and in a way that you had never
Speaker 1: heard them in a standard interview setting before. So we
Speaker 1: released Oral History of the Office through Spotify, and people
Speaker 1: seem to really like it, and we won a Webby
Speaker 1: Award for an Oral History of the Office and a
Speaker 1: Webby Award just basically just know this. It's like the
Speaker 1: oscars of podcasts. Okay, that's that's at least how it's
Speaker 1: been explained to me. And you know, all of us
Speaker 1: were incredibly satisfied with the attention that in Oral History
Speaker 1: of the Office got because we put our heart and
Speaker 1: our soul into it. But I still said, we have
Speaker 1: to release these interviews. By the time we had completed
Speaker 1: interviewing folks for an Oral History of the Office, we
Speaker 1: had over a hundred hours of recorded interviews. I was like,
Speaker 1: we're just going to cut that down to eight and
Speaker 1: throw away over ninety two hours. See, there's some of
Speaker 1: the math at work, and that's where the Office Deep
Speaker 1: Dive was born. In a year plus. We've done seventy
Speaker 1: three podcast episodes over the last year. We've never taken
Speaker 1: a week off. We had forty eight guests, sixty three
Speaker 1: call in guests, So listeners like you who have called in,
Speaker 1: and we have total downloads of over twenty six million,
Speaker 1: that is staggering to me and deeply, deeply humbling that
Speaker 1: not only did you tune in for Steve Carrell and
Speaker 1: John Krasinski, but you tuned in for people that you
Speaker 1: may never have heard of before this podcast. I mean
Speaker 1: Greg Daniels interviews still one of the highest listen to
Speaker 1: of all and crew members Debbie Pierce, Laverne, Kara Kusi.
Speaker 1: Those episodes. People are listening to them just as much
Speaker 1: as they're listening to some of the well let's just
Speaker 1: call them household names. So thank you for indulging us
Speaker 1: and and for listening to those people who without them,
Speaker 1: the office would certainly not be what it is. It's
Speaker 1: a hard time for hiring, so you need a hiring
Speaker 1: partner built for hard times. That's indeed. If you're hiring,
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Speaker 1: million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast.
Speaker 1: Start hiring right now with a seventy five dollar sponsored
Speaker 1: job credit to upgrade your job post at indeed dot
Speaker 1: com slash office deep Dive offer valid through March thirty one.
Speaker 1: Go to indeed dot com slash office deep Dive to
Speaker 1: claim your seventy five dollar credit before March one. Indeed
Speaker 1: dot com slash office deep dive terms and conditions apply.
Speaker 1: Need to hire you need, indeed give us attention. We
Speaker 1: need everything you've got as Waiting on reparations would beat
Speaker 1: the ill podcast student every Thursday, politics and wordplay. We
Speaker 1: fight for the people because they got us in the
Speaker 1: worst way, from the Hill Cooper, the Bob Bay to Kant,
Speaker 1: from the left enclave to what the neo kanse every
Speaker 1: conversation and to break us off with some break because
Speaker 1: we wait in the Listen to Waiting on Reparations on
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. Look to your children's eyes to see the
Speaker 1: true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them.
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Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council.
Speaker 1: The moments that people gave me throughout the last year,
Speaker 1: moments that I never knew about Mike sure telling me
Speaker 1: that basically Steve Carrell saved people's jobs. I will never
Speaker 1: forget Mike Scher saying when Steve was confronted with the
Speaker 1: idea of reducing the cast and his response was no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. I didn't know that from Laverne are head
Speaker 1: makeup artist telling me during the writer's strike about Greg
Speaker 1: Daniels writing a personal check to everybody on the crew
Speaker 1: because he wanted them to feel valued and he knew
Speaker 1: what a difficult time they were going through during the
Speaker 1: writer's strike at the holidays. I will never forget that.
Speaker 1: And I didn't know that before two Phyllis and Alison
Speaker 1: Jones being reunited after so many years, Me and Steve
Speaker 1: having the opportunity to face time with Billie Eilish after
Speaker 1: she won fifty seven Grammy Awards the night before or whatever,
Speaker 1: and then hearing from so many of you the greatest
Speaker 1: gift that the office gave me, truly, and I mean
Speaker 1: this is being approached by fans who let us know
Speaker 1: how important it is for them to tell us that
Speaker 1: the Office has given them comfort during a very difficult time.
Speaker 1: The fact that the show has connected with people and
Speaker 1: continues to connect with people so strongly and has brought
Speaker 1: them comfort during times overseas, serving in the military, being
Speaker 1: hospitalized for a significant illness, having a family issue that
Speaker 1: they needed comfort for that the Office has brought them comfort,
Speaker 1: and that people telling me giving me the gift of
Speaker 1: telling me that the Office has brought them comfort during
Speaker 1: a difficult time. That is the greatest gift that the
Speaker 1: show has given me. And this podcast has given me
Speaker 1: being able to connect with so many of you who
Speaker 1: called in, who wrote in questions, who had genuine curiosity
Speaker 1: about something, or just wanted me to know that the
Speaker 1: Office has given them comfort and that they continue to watch.
Speaker 1: Is I mean, how could that not be humbling? And
Speaker 1: I have to tell you this alright, my mom. My
Speaker 1: mom listens to everything. Okay, let me be clear. She
Speaker 1: listens to everything all of the podcast, and she rarely
Speaker 1: responds or makes comments about them. But she told me
Speaker 1: that her absolute favorite episodes were the call in episodes,
Speaker 1: hearing from so many of you. So I think that
Speaker 1: is a testament to one, well, my mom being cool,
Speaker 1: but also that everyone who has an opinion has value
Speaker 1: and that you guys have listened and responded to Again,
Speaker 1: not just the big stars of the office, but to
Speaker 1: everyone who worked on or was a fan of the show.
Speaker 1: You know, this podcast also has provided me with so many,
Speaker 1: uh incredibly surreal and beautiful moments. I've been to Scranton
Speaker 1: twice since this podcast journeys begin. What's better than that
Speaker 1: being able to go back to Scranton not just once,
Speaker 1: but twice through this process. As many of you know,
Speaker 1: I wrote a book, Welcome to dunder Mifflin. Myself and
Speaker 1: Ben Silverman co authored the book with Greg Daniels, who
Speaker 1: wrote the foreword. We talked to Chris Hasten, who took
Speaker 1: so many of the pictures never before seen picture that
Speaker 1: are included in the book. And went back to Chandler
Speaker 1: Valley Studios are old home and walking in like it
Speaker 1: had been so long and like I had just been
Speaker 1: there yesterday. I mean truly like goose bump moments. Seeing
Speaker 1: Tom Melby, the guy we worked with all of those years.
Speaker 1: Every single day he manages the stage there, and he
Speaker 1: showed up in the parking lot with his dunder Mifflin
Speaker 1: Warehouse shirt on for us and telling us Ben Silverman
Speaker 1: and I about how he has to keep replacing the
Speaker 1: wind screen that he puts over the gate so that
Speaker 1: people don't just stand there and take pictures because now
Speaker 1: there are other shows and other shoots that are happening there.
Speaker 1: So he puts up a windscreen so that people can't
Speaker 1: stand there on the street and take pictures and be loud,
Speaker 1: and that he has to replace that because people come
Speaker 1: with a knife and they slit a hole in the
Speaker 1: windscreen so they can pry their care they can pry
Speaker 1: it open so they can get their camera in to
Speaker 1: take pictures of the front of well fictional dunder Mifflin.
Speaker 1: But the front of Chandler Valley Studios was so awesome
Speaker 1: to be back there. So many incredible moments that have
Speaker 1: happened over the last year, and I'm so proud of
Speaker 1: this podcast and the conversations that I've been able to
Speaker 1: have with people. And look, I want to continue to
Speaker 1: talk to people. There are still more people from the
Speaker 1: office that we haven't spoken to. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: expand the podcast, and I wanted to talk to more
Speaker 1: of my other friends in the business and meet new
Speaker 1: friends who have worked on classic television shows and entertained
Speaker 1: me for years. I worked with a French director for
Speaker 1: a number of years in the theater, and he taught
Speaker 1: me an important lesson. You may have heard this before
Speaker 1: from me, but this is obviously it's made an impact
Speaker 1: to me. And he talked at me that comedy exists
Speaker 1: off the beat, that there's a predictable rhythm that a
Speaker 1: lot of comedy falls into, but the true comedy, things
Speaker 1: that really make us laugh or surprise us happen off
Speaker 1: the beat. And Greg Daniels, then, I mean, the circle
Speaker 1: is so clear. Greg Daniels talks about that a lot
Speaker 1: with the office that he wanted to disrupt the predictable beat,
Speaker 1: the predictable timing of how things would happen, because he
Speaker 1: felt like that would surprise and delight audiences right from
Speaker 1: Pam and Jim getting engaged in the rain at a
Speaker 1: gas station, right not in the most romantic bridge with
Speaker 1: a babbling brook nearby, with flowers and flutes and no,
Speaker 1: that that surprising moment could bring more beauty than anything else.
Speaker 1: So my next podcast, that's what I decided to call
Speaker 1: it Off the Beat, because I want to talk to
Speaker 1: people throughout television, other entertainers, other comedians, eventually other figures
Speaker 1: from the sports world, and talk to them not about
Speaker 1: what everybody talks to them about their Emmy wins. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that, but the moments that happened in their
Speaker 1: life off the beat, the unexpected moments that happened for
Speaker 1: them that truly make them one who they are and
Speaker 1: to make the choices that they make in their art
Speaker 1: or in their sport. So as we move forward, I'm
Speaker 1: so excited because I want to keep talking about folks
Speaker 1: who worked on the office. I have a couple of
Speaker 1: guests that I am I was so excited, but you
Speaker 1: know a lot of them now are known for other
Speaker 1: works as well. So that's where we're going with this podcast.
Speaker 1: And I am so excited to continue to explore the
Speaker 1: same questions that we've been asking, but explore them with
Speaker 1: different artists who have excelled in their own areas of
Speaker 1: expertise for years and years, that have entertained us in
Speaker 1: one way or another, or at least that entertained me. Commune.
Speaker 1: It is my show, after all, right. I want to
Speaker 1: finish this look over the last year with my good
Speaker 1: friend Michem Padre, my co author of Welcome to dunder
Speaker 1: Mifflin Ben Silverman. I want to welcome him back onto
Speaker 1: the podcast. Here I mean, look, he's the reason that
Speaker 1: The Office exists in the United States. There, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just a fact. He is the reason that, you know,
Speaker 1: the show and his insights on well, not just helping
Speaker 1: to put this podcast together and participate in allowing himself
Speaker 1: to be interviewed for I think four sessions, but also
Speaker 1: him and I working on this book together, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk a little bit more to Ben about
Speaker 1: about the last year together. So there it is, and
Speaker 1: here he is. Everybody Welcome, Ben Silverman, Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I love it. Bubble and squeak on Bubble and Squeaker
Speaker 1: Cookie at every month left over from the night before.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I miss you. I know. How's it going.
Speaker 1: It's great. What mic are you using? Is that like
Speaker 1: your headphone Mike? Yeah, it's my headphone Mike with the
Speaker 1: burly tones of Brian b Um. Ben. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to be talking to you yet again. One year after
Speaker 1: The Office, Deep Dive launched. Now The Office, as we've
Speaker 1: talked about a lot, it started as as an underdog show, right,
Speaker 1: we were like the little engine that could. So much
Speaker 1: has changed now after all of these years. You don't
Speaker 1: have to convince anybody to watch the show anymore. And
Speaker 1: now you and I we've written a book about the show.
Speaker 1: How does it feel to be a best selling author?
Speaker 1: It's it's so fun and truly one of the things
Speaker 1: I tell people first about myself when they meet your father. Yes,
Speaker 1: New York biselling author. Yes, no, I absolutely I introduced myself.
Speaker 1: Actually it is now My first first name is New
Speaker 1: York Times tessell author Ben Silverman, so that it's something
Speaker 1: I'm running with. I've taken on so much new kind
Speaker 1: of creative authority and ownership of my my life process.
Speaker 1: It's fabulous, right. I just played golf in this LPGA tournament.
Speaker 1: But when they introduced me on the first tea, there's
Speaker 1: like the same introduction that they introduced me at at
Speaker 1: every golf turn, you know, emmy winning, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: And I made them change it right on the spot.
Speaker 1: I made them add New York Times best selling author
Speaker 1: to my introduction, just because it at least it makes
Speaker 1: me seem smarter than I am. I think it makes
Speaker 1: you seem smarter, and that's why I am enjoying it.
Speaker 1: I found it to be one of the more validating
Speaker 1: runs I am um, you know a little sad that
Speaker 1: our great partners at our book company did not print
Speaker 1: the millions of books that they should have because there's
Speaker 1: so much pent up demand. And these books are now
Speaker 1: trading on eBay at a premium because they're impossible to find.
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to make sure that all of
Speaker 1: your fans and the fans of this great podcast know
Speaker 1: that there will be a new printing of the book
Speaker 1: ordered by HarperCollins that is going to hit the shelves
Speaker 1: around March due to some of the supply chain issues
Speaker 1: affecting all industries. And you should just pre order now
Speaker 1: and get excited because the book will be out. It
Speaker 1: is already trading at a premium. It's almost like its
Speaker 1: own n f T at this point. It is creating
Speaker 1: so much value for that first wave of buyers and
Speaker 1: readers who won't let the copies go. Buying the book
Speaker 1: is like buying an n f T. You heard it here.
Speaker 1: How many of the initial order did you did your
Speaker 1: family order? Was it like two thirds of the question?
Speaker 1: No question that that we put a huge dent into
Speaker 1: that official supply, but I assumed it would have been
Speaker 1: an infinite supply knowing the extended Silverman families love of
Speaker 1: the book, and their friends love of the book, and frankly,
Speaker 1: anyone who needed a Christmas President entered my house and
Speaker 1: saw the book and demanded a copy. Hi. I'm Hillary Clinton,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to be back with a new season
Speaker 1: of you and me both. You know, when we started
Speaker 1: this podcast, we were going through some tough times, and
Speaker 1: let's face it, we still are. But I am a
Speaker 1: firm believer were stronger together. So please join me for
Speaker 1: more conversations with people who will make you think, make
Speaker 1: you laugh, and help us find a path forward. Listen
Speaker 1: to you and me both on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. What grows
Speaker 1: in the forest trees, sure no one else grows in
Speaker 1: the forest are imagination, Our sense of wonder, and our
Speaker 1: family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this
Speaker 1: and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The
Speaker 1: forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
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Speaker 1: the AD Council. What's up, guys, I'm a Shot Balau
Speaker 1: and I am Troy millions and we are the host
Speaker 1: of the Earn Your Leisure podcast, where we break down
Speaker 1: business models and examine the latest trans and finance. We
Speaker 1: hold court and have exclusive interviews with some of the
Speaker 1: biggest names of business, sport, and entertainment, from DJ Khaled
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Speaker 1: The knowledge is in death and the questions are always
Speaker 1: delivered from your standpoint. We want to know what you
Speaker 1: want to know. We talk to the legends of business,
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Speaker 1: is a college business class mixed with pop culture. I
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Speaker 1: Listen to Ernie Leisure on the Black Effect podcast Network,
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, app, Apple podcast or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. What memories were brought up to you through
Speaker 1: writing the book, What memories about The Office came came
Speaker 1: back to you? I definitely I wish I had spent
Speaker 1: more time enjoying the creative process and not the rigamar
Speaker 1: role around the show, which is kind of where I
Speaker 1: did all my you know, my work, like my blocking
Speaker 1: and tackling, was very much on the kind of moat
Speaker 1: around the show to protect it and allow its creativity
Speaker 1: to just, you know, flourish without challenges. And I wish
Speaker 1: I had been on the set more and been around
Speaker 1: it even more to enjoy it. And as it was
Speaker 1: going on, we were always kind of fighting for it.
Speaker 1: So I'm almost enjoying it more now, you know. Someone
Speaker 1: asked me how I was doing. An old friend from
Speaker 1: Europe was asking me about, you know, how I was,
Speaker 1: and I was like, you know, I've been really happy
Speaker 1: since The Office became the most watched show in modern
Speaker 1: or maybe the history of television. And he goes, I
Speaker 1: understand that, and I'm I'm very it makes me happy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how was it for you? Because I know I've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about how Amy saying it was. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are so many people that I talked to for
Speaker 1: the podcast and we talked to for the book that
Speaker 1: we hadn't seen in a long time, like people that
Speaker 1: I love and love spending time with. Uh. I just
Speaker 1: wanted you to talk a little bit from your perspective
Speaker 1: about how it was reconnecting with those people once again
Speaker 1: on the process of of the book on the podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: part of me had avoided asking any of our colleagues
Speaker 1: and collaborators for kind of anything um post show. I
Speaker 1: had no problems calling you all the time and asking
Speaker 1: to stay in your guesthouse or to play golf. But
Speaker 1: I did, you know, feel uh, some wonderful connectivity and
Speaker 1: making those calls, which I was nervous about was like
Speaker 1: I hadn't called It was like calling an old girlfriend,
Speaker 1: you know I had. Yeah, Yeah, I had such a deep,
Speaker 1: profound relationship ship for ten years and then we kind
Speaker 1: of broke up for a little bit to go do
Speaker 1: our own projects or new things or you know, you know,
Speaker 1: move off into the world. And so then reconnecting through
Speaker 1: the book and the you know, collected love of the
Speaker 1: show and our experience on it was really great and
Speaker 1: I was happy to do it and I've kind of
Speaker 1: since dropped any of my hesitation about doing it as well,
Speaker 1: and it's been a great exercise in in appreciation and
Speaker 1: and remembrance and you know, the present day. And also
Speaker 1: because we're all living the same experience, which is the
Speaker 1: show's relevance, UH continues to expand and and touch new generations,
Speaker 1: including our own children, you know, which I never thought
Speaker 1: would be possible because our kids were like born at
Speaker 1: the end of the show. Yeah, I to me, that
Speaker 1: was well both the most delightful um and the thing
Speaker 1: that made me the happiest. I think through this whole experience,
Speaker 1: I talked about calling Greg Daniels and calling Steve Carrell
Speaker 1: and Rain Wilson and these guys about trying to get
Speaker 1: them to participate. Would they participate in this podcast? Were
Speaker 1: they interested in going back and telling this story, And
Speaker 1: how incredibly excited one that everybody was, and to how
Speaker 1: generous everybody was with their time. I mean, I remember
Speaker 1: you were there when I spoke with Steve Carrell, and
Speaker 1: I think we we we talked for three and a
Speaker 1: half hours in in in front of the mics, and
Speaker 1: then we finished and you said goodbye, and I we
Speaker 1: talked to Billie Eilish, and then I said, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna go, or Steve, I'll walk you out
Speaker 1: to your car. And we we walked down to his
Speaker 1: car and then he and I stood by his car
Speaker 1: for thirty minutes. You were like, where did Brian go?
Speaker 1: Where did he? Where did he go? He just wanted
Speaker 1: to keep talking about the show. And I was like,
Speaker 1: we could have done this upstairs and I could have
Speaker 1: recorded it, Steve. But I mean that to me was
Speaker 1: so amazing that that I think everybody had the same
Speaker 1: curiosity that we did, which is why is the show
Speaker 1: become so big? Now? What happened? Like, let's go back
Speaker 1: and really dive into it, and everybody seemed to want
Speaker 1: to totally and um great example, and I think no
Speaker 1: one had asked, you know, and and so like we
Speaker 1: gave the book, gave people a format, and the podcast
Speaker 1: gave people the environment. And I think the phone calls
Speaker 1: were just the excuse. You know, they were looking to
Speaker 1: take that experience to the present day, and we were
Speaker 1: experiencing it through the show's popularity in the present day,
Speaker 1: but we weren't like experiencing it together, you know. And
Speaker 1: I know there had been some kind of zoom bomb things,
Speaker 1: but these were in depth, conversation, pointed and specific around
Speaker 1: our histories together. Do you have any specific memories, uh,
Speaker 1: about your initial talks with Spotify about getting an oral
Speaker 1: history of the office out into the world. Do you
Speaker 1: remember anything about that conversation or how they felt about it.
Speaker 1: I thought Spotify was like Microsoft. I just thought it
Speaker 1: was like this big corporate thing, and I knew that.
Speaker 1: It took me like three or four hours just to
Speaker 1: figure out how to subscribe or download or utilize it
Speaker 1: on my phone. But but once I did and I
Speaker 1: heard they were open and looking for podcasts, they seemed
Speaker 1: like a cool thing. I thought they were like kind
Speaker 1: of the Netflix, e h of of that world. And
Speaker 1: we brought it up and um, you know, our incredible
Speaker 1: team including obviously Diego and Ling and the and the
Speaker 1: crew and Liz helped us build it out and we
Speaker 1: we pioneered whole genre and format. It was great, But
Speaker 1: I remember, no, it was. It was and we had
Speaker 1: to build it out and do what we do as producers,
Speaker 1: which is really make sure that they knew the story.
Speaker 1: And we built out a deck and we built up
Speaker 1: material and we showed the narrative, and we really thought
Speaker 1: through what the episodes could look like, who could participate,
Speaker 1: why they participate, how we could break it down, and
Speaker 1: a lot of work went into it. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was a highly produced experience and at the corner stone
Speaker 1: of it and the key is who's going to host
Speaker 1: it and drive it? And that was great that we
Speaker 1: did it together. Brian. You know, you were immediately the
Speaker 1: only person, uh that we could come up with who
Speaker 1: would say yes, and we reached out and no, but
Speaker 1: having you build it with us from the beginning was amazing.
Speaker 1: Did you expect the book or the podcast to be
Speaker 1: to be a hit? Did you feel that there was
Speaker 1: an appetite to hearing our story. I really did. I
Speaker 1: I did not to be gross about it, but I
Speaker 1: just felt like we had not told the story from
Speaker 1: the collection of great people involved, and that there was
Speaker 1: a tremendous fandom that had been built around the kind
Speaker 1: of Office universe, and and you're seeing it with the
Speaker 1: Office experience in Chicago, which is it's amazing kind of
Speaker 1: experiential project going on there with with the show, and
Speaker 1: you see it with our book, and you see it
Speaker 1: with the the show's continued. You know, airings and repeatability
Speaker 1: and and viewer expansion. You know, each successive age group
Speaker 1: kind of falls in love with it. And so I
Speaker 1: think it had in my mind so much potential, and
Speaker 1: also because I knew it was us doing it and
Speaker 1: that we would do it to its potential, and that
Speaker 1: we would know that we would be connected enough to
Speaker 1: the material to actually tell it as insiders as opposed
Speaker 1: to kind of maybe miss Larry some of the psyche
Speaker 1: of the show. Yeah, we started the journey of of
Speaker 1: promoting a book as authors do, and you and I,
Speaker 1: along with Greg Daniels, who wrote the foreword, got invited
Speaker 1: to do something very very special to me, but I
Speaker 1: know that it means even more to you. We were
Speaker 1: invited by the Street Why to do a live talk
Speaker 1: talk to me a little bit about sty and what
Speaker 1: that specifically means to you. It was such a fun,
Speaker 1: uh fun thing to do, even if it virtually you
Speaker 1: me and Greg. Greg and I are New Yorkers and
Speaker 1: have real passion and love for the city and both
Speaker 1: grew up with intellectual parents of the city who spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time hearing music. Are going to UM
Speaker 1: concerts or lectures at at that Why where we did
Speaker 1: our event, unfortunately not in the theater, but in you know,
Speaker 1: the virtual world. And my own father had written a
Speaker 1: composition in honor of an incredibly important guy to me,
Speaker 1: a man named Hermann Sandler who family were super tight
Speaker 1: with our family, um and he had been murdered in
Speaker 1: the nine eleven attacks. And my dad composed music and
Speaker 1: Sting sang the sonnets that my father had composed to
Speaker 1: and written. And it was just an amazing evening and
Speaker 1: celebration of my lost father and Herman Sandler and my
Speaker 1: my real father in in Stanley, Silverman and you know,
Speaker 1: my immediate community. And so when we were asked it
Speaker 1: speak at the y and link tells Us, I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is uh cool. You know, this is deep. And
Speaker 1: I knew Greg would love it because it's his backyard,
Speaker 1: right you know. Well I did just a little looking
Speaker 1: authors at st Y Truman, Capodi, Arthur Miller, Paul McCartney,
Speaker 1: who wrote a book of poems, and you and me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, really, what else can you say
Speaker 1: except for that Send me that list, Send me that
Speaker 1: list that will now be a part of your bio,
Speaker 1: your introduction. Gend me that list on a list of
Speaker 1: authors who have appeared at the ninety second Street by
Speaker 1: including Yes, something tells me our names may not show
Speaker 1: up in the same way. I don't think they'll be.
Speaker 1: They will not be cross reference backed by Paul McCartney
Speaker 1: or the Capodi Estate as they retell their story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't see that. I want to. I want I want
Speaker 1: to leave you with this. From the very beginning, I
Speaker 1: started asking a question I asked you before. I don't
Speaker 1: know if now a year and a half since we
Speaker 1: first spoke, if your answer is different. What are you
Speaker 1: most thankful for from your entire experience on the office? Wow?
Speaker 1: I think I'm thankful in it in a kind of
Speaker 1: miss American way. For the joy it's brought so many
Speaker 1: different people and the place that's played in their lives
Speaker 1: as a sense of comfort and warmth and the familial
Speaker 1: and that people look to it to provide them that
Speaker 1: and share it with their friends, and that that's a
Speaker 1: pretty amazing thing to feel. It's really nice to see
Speaker 1: that and connect to people about that and to enjoy
Speaker 1: their enjoy him, you know, is of something well beyond
Speaker 1: any kind of material relationship or uh, you know, validation
Speaker 1: from some kind of superficial edifice, just the kind of
Speaker 1: one to one fan a fan, you know, anecdote to
Speaker 1: anecdote that connects people's feelings of the show back to
Speaker 1: you or to me or anyone involved in the show.
Speaker 1: Is really a nice is it is a really nice
Speaker 1: thing to have in your life. Yeah. You know, Greg
Speaker 1: wrote the last line of the show, there's beauty and
Speaker 1: ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point. And I
Speaker 1: think that that mantra, that that idea has given people
Speaker 1: such comfort and have seen such truth in the show. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think for me, that's the last thing thing. That's
Speaker 1: why I keep talking about at it. I think it's
Speaker 1: because of the comfort that I've heard from people. Um,
Speaker 1: thank you, Ben Ben Silverman for coming on. You know,
Speaker 1: none of us would be here. I would I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have a mic in front of me right now, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be a best selling author. Uh. And I know
Speaker 1: I certainly would not have been on the office had
Speaker 1: you not, with your trademarked tenacity, decided to wrangle Ricky
Speaker 1: Gervais into a Starbucks and and start all of us
Speaker 1: on this journey. I think all of us who worked
Speaker 1: on the show, and uh, and I've been a part
Speaker 1: of this show and every show that has come out
Speaker 1: of it owes you a debt of gratitude for that
Speaker 1: you were. You weren't just in the room where it
Speaker 1: happened to borrow a phrase, You kind of were the
Speaker 1: room that happened. Thank you, Thank you. I can't thank
Speaker 1: you and brother, and I so enjoyed the great friendship
Speaker 1: we have deepening through the process of the podcast and
Speaker 1: the process of the book, and I know the best
Speaker 1: is yet to come, and I just love it so much.
Speaker 1: It's been awesome, and I'm excited that you're going to
Speaker 1: give me a couple of strokes next time we play,
Speaker 1: because it's been rough losing you on eighteen uh in
Speaker 1: great frequency. I just want everyone here to know that
Speaker 1: Stars closed the show, and Brian will be closing this
Speaker 1: show as he closes every golf course hole as in
Speaker 1: number eighteen, by draining the putt and beating his friend Ben.
Speaker 1: I love you, brother, Thank you, good luck associating the strokes.
Speaker 1: Thank you well, folks. That does it for our look
Speaker 1: back over or all the incredible things that happened since
Speaker 1: The Office Deep Dive launched one year ago. And thank
Speaker 1: you Ben for stopping by and well, of course for everything.
Speaker 1: But don't worry, gentle listeners, this isn't goodbye. It is
Speaker 1: not the end of the road. Forget that. It is
Speaker 1: a new beginning. Next week we will be taking the
Speaker 1: Office Deep Dive off the beat and it is bound
Speaker 1: to be a great time. The first episode amazing. So
Speaker 1: I will see you then next Tuesday, same time, same place.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait. The Office Deep Dive is hosted and
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes and Diego Tapio. Our themes song,
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by seth Olansky. Look for
Speaker 1: your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.
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Speaker 1: with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles.
Speaker 1: They see a windy path that could lead to adventure,
Speaker 1: and they see you. They're fearless. Guide is this fascinating world?
Speaker 1: Find a forest near you and start exploring a Discover
Speaker 1: the Forest dot org brought to you by the United
Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the AD Council. Look for your
Speaker 1: children's eyes and you will discover the true magic of
Speaker 1: a forest. Find a forest near you and start exploring it.
Speaker 1: Discover the Forest dot org brought to you by the
Speaker 1: United States Forest Service and the AD Council. We've all
Speaker 1: felt left out, and for people who moved to this country,
Speaker 1: that feeling lasts more than a moment. We can change that.
Speaker 1: Learn how it belonging begins with us. Dot org brought
Speaker 1: to you by the AD Council. Hi, I'm Arden Marine
Speaker 1: from Insatiable and then will you accept this Rose podcast?
Speaker 1: And I'm Julianne Robinson, an Emmy nominated director of Bridgeton
Speaker 1: And we are the hosts of Lady of the Road,
Speaker 1: a funny and inspiring podcast where we have conversations with
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Speaker 1: advice because we are always looking to improve ourselves. True story.
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