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