WEBVTT - Ed Helms - Pt. 2 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.960 This is Ed Helms and I played Andy Bernard on 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:19.880 the Office. All right, hello everybody, and welcome back. This 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:24.320 is the Office Deep Dive, and as always I'm your host, 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:33.760 Brian Baumgartner. And guess what that was my mouth? Today 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.400 is the day? Actually, today is actually the day for 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.920 a few things. But first up, I, oh my gosh, 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.480 I'm so excited to tell you that my new book 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.160 that I know I've been talking about for weeks now 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:52.400 is finally out. And how about that just in time 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:57.080 for the holidays. Who could have guessed that? So head 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.120 on over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.000 a Million, wherever it is that you get your books 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:09.360 and grab your very own copy of Welcome to dunder Mifflin. 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.080 And while you're at it, grab a copy for your mother, 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.600 your sister, all your friends, anyone in your contacts list. 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.920 You will not regret it all right now, I also 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.200 have another big announcement to tell you about at the 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.559 end of this episode, so make sure you stay tuned 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.399 after the interview and and find out what in the 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:34.880 world that could be. Trust me, it is good. And lastly, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.279 what you all came here for, my very special guest, 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.200 that is returning for part two of our conversation the 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:49.640 Nord Dog himself, Ed Helms. Now, if you haven't already, 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.040 make sure you go and listen to part one, but 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.560 then come right back here, because I've been saving the 0:01:55.600 --> 0:02:00.240 best for last. Yes, that's right, the last. I'm starting 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.760 to wrap up the interviews, which I know is very 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.320 bitter sweet. But the good news is, over the next 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.919 few weeks you're going to hear a few of my 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.360 very favorite episodes with some of my favorite guests, and 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.960 you also may hear some of yourself. But that being said, 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:23.320 today's interview truly is it is. It's one of my 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:28.800 favorites because you get to see Ed in a different way. 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:34.320 Right Ed is known for playing these kind of loud, bumbling, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:41.120 I mean hilarious but maybe slightly obnoxious characters. Right but 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:47.359 Ed himself, he's just he is so not that. I mean, 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.880 he is hilarious and and he's a comedy nerd. We 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.880 talk about that. But today what you're going to get 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:59.720 to see is a very sweet, thoughtful side of Ed 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.720 because that's who he is, and I'm not gonna lie. 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.560 Things get a little emotional. So here he is the 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:19.160 incomparable Mr Ed helms Bubble and Squeak. I love it 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:25.800 Bubble and squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cookie, every moment 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:39.360 left over from the NAB before you said you were 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:43.320 a comedy nerd. What what was it about the Office 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.200 when you started initially watching it that you felt like 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.839 you were seeing something different? What? What? What? What was that? Well? 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.800 I don't know why I didn't. I didn't even I 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.400 wasn't able to sort of understand what I liked about it. 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.720 But what I do think is kind of hilarious is 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.960 that all of the awkwardness and the tension that we 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:11.120 think is so funny our parents generation, especially as Southern parents, 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.280 like you know, repression is a very powerful force in 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:20.920 Southern families, and and that the awkwardness is is so intolerable. 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.000 And even on the Daily Show, especially with the field pieces, 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.600 the correspondent field pieces, it was all about finding extremely 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.440 tense moments, and you know, you read we would revel 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:38.160 in the awkwardness and try to foster awkwardness with people, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:44.520 um because that tension is funny. Uh. And that that's 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.680 sort of my post mortem analysis. Like I didn't quite, 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:49.160 I didn't. I never understood that at the time and 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:53.680 I couldn't understand why, why why our parents generation didn't 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:55.560 think The Office was funny, Like, well, how do you 0:04:55.560 --> 0:05:00.000 not get this? But I understand now that that um 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.800 because I think I've seen more extreme versions of it 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.640 that make me uncomfortable at times, and I can see like, oh, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.320 it's just it's like calibrating, like what's right here. Well, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.000 there's a number of fans who come up to me, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:17.080 huge fan, I'm the biggest fan of the show. I 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:22.440 can't watch Scott's Taughts like Scott's Taughts somehow puts it 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.600 over the line. Dinner party is sort of like the 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.120 straddling the straddling of the line, but Scott's Taughts two 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.719 people are like no. And so I started to analyze, like, well, 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.320 why is that? And I think it's kind of what 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.800 you were talking about about the Daily Show, which was 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.640 most of the cringeing moments were happening to us, right 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:46.800 the office workers, ourselves, whereas Scott's Taughts suddenly was about 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:52.599 these kids and that that's rough. That's rough. Yeah, it's 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.240 fun to see, like if your heroes are low status, 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.920 the heroes of the show are lost datas, it's fun 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.440 to see them squirm. But when you see like regular 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:07.680 people squirm, and and that's on the Daily Show, you know, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.560 we would try to make the bad guy squirm, right, 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.920 whoever the villain of a piece of a field piece was. 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.320 But I don't know why is that funny? Why is 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.920 squirming so funny? I mean, the most extreme versions were 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.200 all of Sasha Cohen's stuff, right, the borat and the 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:30.360 alg It's it's a powerful it's it's it's an incredible 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.120 mechanism for satire, but it is it can be polarizing 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:39.440 for sure. Um when well, let me ask you this, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.800 had you done much physical comedy before the office? Did 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.080 you feel like that was something that you did? Well? 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.240 I did. I've done a lot of improv, which is 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.520 obviously a lot of um, you know, very broad physical 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.920 stuff on stage. And I you know, I started by 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.480 doing stand up in New York City, and I actually 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.200 knew John Krasinski from that. He started by going to 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.680 New York and kind of dipping his toe in the 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:11.160 stand up world. But we we were acquaintances back back then. 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.760 But that's just a funny side note. What was I 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.280 saying before? Oh, physical comedy? So in my stand up 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:24.160 I kind of fancied myself like I don't know, like 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.480 a sort of sand Luri or Brian Reagan, like a 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.679 perform like someone who acted out his my bits. And 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:35.440 so there was a lot of physicality there. And then 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.120 the Daily Show. I think part of what was fun 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.200 about that was being a very stuffy reporter but breaking 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:47.360 that mold and ridiculous ways sometimes physical And so I 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.800 don't write, oh, did you really sing Acapello at Oberlin? Um? 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.080 I did. There was a group called the Oberlin Overtones. 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.160 That there is, I should say a group called the 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.160 Oberlin Overtones, and I was in that group for or 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.760 one semester my freshman year. I don't know, maybe it 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.840 was my it was spring of my freshman year and 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.360 fall of my sophomore year and then and then I 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.160 didn't do it anymore. Was that a joke that you 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.480 pitched them on, Andy, or that was just going that? Yeah? 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.880 That was that? I think was something that you know, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:23.200 there was a little bit of Harvard writers like using 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.120 Cornell as a punching bag, right, That's that's a little 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.120 bit of what was going on with Andy greg being 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.000 Harvard and Mike Shure and and a couple of others, 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.200 But I had no baggage with Cornell, but I still 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.200 just loved the I don't know, it seemed like a 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.120 fun thing to make fun of, and so the acapella 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.600 character trait was that just was he was endowed with 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.839 that in the writing process. And but it is something 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:55.040 that I understood implicitly and I got Acapella is it 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.680 is such an interesting art form because it is so 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:04.840 fun to do, but it is kind of excruciating to 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:09.440 watch or listen to. And I mean no disrespect to 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:14.760 acapella aficionados out there, I just because my own relationship 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.120 with it is complex. I have a love hate thing, 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.319 and I think especially in college acapella groups, there's a 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:24.319 strong association with kind of a a very clicky, smug 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.320 arrogant vibe. Right. It's almost like a like certain preppy 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:33.000 fraternities or something. And even though the Oberlin overtones were 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.240 actually not like that at all. There's really no part 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:40.199 of Oberlin that's preppy. And um, it's something that made 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.520 sense and it really informed Andy in lots of ways. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.720 That the creation of Andy's profile was one of the 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:53.880 most thrilling creative endeavors of my life, because you know, 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.640 if it was the acapella thing. I would just start 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.880 singing on set at wrong times, and then the writers 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:00.640 would see that and be like, Oh, that's fun, and 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.520 then they'd write in more singing. And that's just one example. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.040 There were so many little details that started to kind 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:11.000 of slot in, like a Tetris game about who Andy was, 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.360 and it was this feedback loop, and Mike Scher in 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:19.040 particular had a real shine for Andy, and we just 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.640 had so much fun. Like I would go to the 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.000 writer's room and just joke around with Mike about who 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:28.040 Andy is and what made us laugh about him. And 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.480 that was another thing that I think made the office 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.839 so special is that the collaboration between the writers and 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.640 the cast was next level, right. I Mean, there were 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.240 cast members that were writers to begin with, but then 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:42.360 I always felt like the writer's room was an open 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.240 door and that when the writers were on set, it 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.000 was always a conversation like what, like, how do we 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:51.959 have more fun with this character? Or what what can 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.880 we come up with? And everyone was open minded and 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.240 that it's that kind of best idea wins mentality that 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:05.400 leads to great stuff. Yeah, I agree with you a 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:11.199 thousand and Greg told me that He wanted that opened 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:16.959 up as a workshop for the writers, actually, because he 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.640 believed that the comedy in the show was so much 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:26.720 about behavior, and you can't write behavior and so well 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.200 in the beginning. You can't until you get to know 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.440 a character, right, But yeah, you're so right. There's a 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:37.120 famous episode of Friends in which they start making fun 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.800 of the way that Chandler talks, like the cadence of 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.920 his speech, and it's one. It's a favorite episode. It's 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.280 extremely funny, but it is it. It's something that could 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.480 not have been written in season one. It's something that 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:56.240 everyone started to understand implicitly, and it took a writer 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.400 being like, that's funny, Like that's a really specific annything 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.560 about Chandler, and if the other characters clock it, we 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.640 can write to it. But that's really cool to hear. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.880 I didn't know that, But you're you're so right. I mean, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.800 for Greg to be ahead of that. Writing always gets 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.720 better on a TV show as the writers learned the 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.280 behavior of characters. But to start with that ethos of 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:24.880 like we are behavior forward, that's awesome. Yeah, Greg's awesome, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:48.520 that's awesome. Changing gears a little bit. Mike Sure talked 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:54.480 specifically about you during the writer's strike and coming out 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.520 to the picket line that was happening, and what a 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.520 different and that made for them as they were having 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:07.920 a difficult emotional time picketing their own show. Do you 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:15.000 recall anything about that? Yeah? Absolutely, Um, I just remember 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.240 everyone felt a lot of tension, like am I a 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.439 part of this fight or am I? You know, obviously 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.240 I support the writers, but I'm there's some it's scary 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:29.880 a little bit like it just felt so baffling, and 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.839 I think in hindsight, I've I really appreciate what how 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.600 courageous that was. And yeah, there were a bunch of 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.080 There were a bunch of picket lines. I remember going 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.400 to the first day was on our little lot up 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.199 in Van Nuys, right, it was just our writing staff 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.640 and um, they said they were confused about what where 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:53.640 they should go, and there were things about going to 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.160 Paramount or going to Universal. They thought, well, that's not 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.640 where we work. This is where we work, so they 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.040 went on their own there, right, And then over the 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.080 next Over the subsequent weeks, there were lots of demonstrations 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.400 at the studios, Like I remember going to Universal Studios. 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.800 There was a big one on the Avenue of the Stars, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.160 like they took over the whole that whole block in 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.920 Century State, in Century City, the Giant March. But that 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:26.520 was a crazy, crazy time. Yeah, I remember. It was 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:33.120 all very confusing because ultimately the actors supported what the 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.280 writers were doing, and the writers were in a way 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:41.160 they were fighting the fight for all artists. Absolutely, But 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.000 at the same time, I remember talking to my representation 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.680 and going like, what you know, and they said, well, 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.400 you know, you have to show up, like you can't 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.280 not show up. And you know some of the writers 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:58.920 have talked about it was Steve not showing up and 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:05.320 apparent only he got calls from the network executives and lawyers, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.800 and I was told, you have to show up, show 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.760 up to work, to work, not to the picking. Yeah, 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.240 to show up to work. And he just said, no, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:21.360 you're gonna do How long the strike was three hundred days, 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:25.600 three months, a little over three months. Yeah, I it's 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:31.480 you know, since then, I've been in so many different 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.080 parts of this industry now on different sides of things, 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:41.600 and and you know, unions are complicated, but they are 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:47.560 so necessary. They're just the ultimate bulwark against exploitation. And 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.560 not to get political here, but it just like being 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.600 on the front lines of that, and and that there 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.280 were a handful of show runners that really led the 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:01.800 charge and took strong positions, and Greg was super inspirational 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:06.640 through all that. Greg's a soft spoken guy, but he 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:15.440 is tough, you know, like he's he's tough. He fights 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:21.280 for and stands by what he believes. And in the 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.680 case of the writer strike, that was about principle and 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.520 what was right or wrong. And yeah, it's good to 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.880 be on Greg's side. It's always good to be on 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:39.360 correct side. Um, do you remember your impression when you 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.080 heard Steve was leaving? I guess maybe more were you 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:48.040 afraid that the show couldn't survive or were you confident 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:52.360 that it could go forward? I think I felt pretty 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.120 confident that the show could morph into a different thing. 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.760 And I just had so much confidence and Greg and 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.680 in the writing staff, and there had been that there 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.520 were so many experiments that we all kind of went 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.560 through it narratively on the show that sometimes they worked 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.719 and sometimes it didn't, and if they didn't, you just 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.160 would kind of it would veer away from that thing. 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:19.680 And it seemed like there would be like if anybody 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.159 can do it, it's the Office writing staff, right, you know. 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:29.200 I mean that's not to diminish the unimaginably massive blow 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:35.320 that his departure is was, but I I think that 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.920 the show felt bigger than any one person at that point, 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:45.200 if that's if that makes sense, Yeah, it is, though 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:50.359 a credit to you. I mean, much like Steve with 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.600 forty year old Virgin. Part of the way into your 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:59.400 time on the Office, you became a giant movie star too, 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.720 what the hangover, And I think you deserve a lot 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:06.840 of credit for that, for not only staying around, but 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:11.199 being energized and continue to work on your character and 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:16.680 on the show with great integrity. Thanks. That's very very 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:22.040 kind of you. Um, I just love The Office. I 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.000 and I kind of never wanted it to end, and 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.320 I loved I think loving The Office really is about 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.560 just loving the people and loving that cast and crew, 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:38.600 and it's really feeling like a family and just wanting 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:45.040 to step up and deliver for everybody's sake all the time. 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:51.159 You know, shooting those movies was often exhausting because it 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.360 was concurrent with the Office. I don't think a lot 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.520 of people know or understand quite how crazy some of 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.600 that was. But I was shooting cross or of episodes, 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.520 meaning like I would do two days on the Office. 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.720 I was shooting the Office Monday and Tuesday, and then 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:11.600 the hangover Wednesday through Sunday. It's insane. I mean that 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.240 was crazy. And then a lot of that hangover stuff 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.320 was nighttime. So I just was like a zombie. Um. 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.480 But it was so fun and no one ever, I 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:26.680 never felt kind of judged or or slighted by anyone. 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.840 I felt fully supported, and I just I knew that 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:38.359 if I slipped or or didn't wasn't there for everybody else, 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.040 then I had no right to be doing going off 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.240 and doing these movies. I had to show up for 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:49.359 the Office and still be fully present. And and it 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.640 helped that that I that it's so fun. I mean, 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.320 I keep going back to that. It was just the 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.960 only way I could do that was because the hangover 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.639 was fun. But the Office was fun, and the Office 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.560 was the thing that I knew and I loved and 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:14.520 I knew I wanted to do right by the Office always. Yeah, 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.879 did you feel like it was the right time to 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:27.399 end after season nine? I think so? Um. I mean 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:32.360 at that point, I think my my disposition had shifted 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.560 a little bit. I was starting to look a bit 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.520 the bigger picture of my life and career and and 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.840 my personal goals, and I think, you know, candidly, there 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:50.160 were some ways that Andy There's just some storylines there 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.480 towards the end that that confused me a little bit, 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:58.600 and I wasn't as I just didn't feel like this 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.639 is the same thing I loved as much, if that 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.160 makes sense, Not the show, but just sort of what 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.919 in particular kind of some of what Andy was was 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:12.080 doing or going through, and um, I just there was 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.240 sort of a shift happening, I think in my life 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.439 and then my my emotional state at the time, and 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.680 so I felt it actually felt like a a reasonable 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.840 place to wrap up. I think in it it's hard 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.359 to remember how exactly how I felt, but it's been 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:52.359 a long time. I am trying to unpack, like why 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.800 is The Office the most watched show on television now 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.800 five years later? Like what what are the reasons? And 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.280 I think that there's a chance. I recently went back 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:08.840 and watched it the whole the whole series, and it 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:13.040 doesn't feel dated. And I started thinking like why, and 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:15.520 I the only answer that I can come up with 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:20.840 is a documentary can never feel dated because it's taking 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:24.960 a snapshot of what was actually happening. You don't look 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.679 at a documentary about the seventies and go, well, that's dated, right, 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:34.240 You're just looking at that time. And that also the 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.480 subject matter being an office that is not at the 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:44.800 forefront of fashion or technology, all those things. You know, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:49.400 like a movie like Devilwaar's Product, which is so stylish 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.560 and it's an amazing movie, but it will you'll feel 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.199 when it was made because of all those cues. But 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:00.800 you take a world like under Mifflin and those people 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:05.800 and those props and those sets like there, those are 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.000 things that would not change in that space for twenty years, 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:13.159 right right, Like it would look the same over a 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:17.360 long period of time. Why do you think the show 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.160 We kind of talked about this, but why young people 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.320 have responded so much to the show given that it 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:29.840 has to do with basically middle aged office workers. Well, 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:33.000 you know, we can ask this question all the time 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:37.320 any talk show, whatever, it's the most common and or 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:39.720 dinner party wherever I am. I feel like people ask 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:41.439 me this all the time, and I'm like, I don't know, 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:45.880 ask the kids. They're the ones who love it, um so, 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:50.719 but it were left to just speculate and UM and 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:55.119 I have lots of theories, I'm sure like you do. UM. 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:59.679 I think the simplest version is the same reason that 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.840 I loved Saturday Night Live when I was a kid 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:06.359 and I wanted to be on it. That that was 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:09.680 like the thing that drove my entire life, was wanting 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:11.520 to be on Saturday Night Live as a as a 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:15.920 young person. And the reason I loved it so much 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.159 from such a young age. I started watching it when 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:22.720 I was eight. And what was so intoxicating to me? 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:25.159 Even though I didn't even get the jokes half the time, 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:30.440 they clearly we're having so much fun. There was something 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:34.840 you could tell Eddie Murphy was in the zone right, 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:39.760 And I just loved that and I that was something 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:44.640 that I sought my whole career and still do and 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:47.919 and I and I think the Office is one of 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:52.160 those rare places where a lot of the time that 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:56.960 whole cast is in the zone right. There's even even 0:24:56.960 --> 0:24:59.920 when the scenes are small and there's and the performance 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.639 are small and the dialogue is intimate or whatever, it 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:09.480 felt it felt so fun and special to be there 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:12.919 and be a part of it. And at some level 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:16.760 that comes across right. There's some way that I think 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:19.439 audiences just clock that in the same way that I 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:22.159 did as a little kid watching Saturday Night Live, and 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:26.040 I I think that's a huge part of it. I 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:30.520 also think that there are some contextual things like it's 0:25:30.520 --> 0:25:34.720 a fish bowl, it's a it's a bullpen. It's mundane, 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:39.399 it's gettable, it's understandable. It's like and the people in 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:43.120 that office go through so many things, but you never 0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:45.119 question whether or not they're going to be there the 0:25:45.160 --> 0:25:48.280 next day. You know, a question whether or not they 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:51.320 kind of love each other still. You know there's something, 0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:55.119 there's something I think that makes people want to be 0:25:55.160 --> 0:25:57.760 a part of that dunder Mifflin family when they watch it, 0:25:58.160 --> 0:26:03.520 because it's it's just comfortable. As awkward as the dialogue 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:06.000 is and as as much tension as there was at 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:10.280 different times in the stories, there there's a sense of 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:15.959 belonging that everyone in that space had, and everyone had 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:20.560 a role, and it was predictable, and character's behavior was 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:25.120 predictable and understandable, and I just I think that's um. 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:27.200 It takes a long time for a show to get there, 0:26:27.560 --> 0:26:30.439 and thank god the office had that breathing room to 0:26:30.560 --> 0:26:36.359 find that. But when a show does, like Cheers or Taxi, 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:39.600 you just love to hang out with it and be 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:44.560 in that space. Yeah, what are you most thankful for? 0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:56.000 Oh man, Um, it's yeah, it's so abstract, but it's like, 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:26.000 um m m um, the whole thing. Yeah, um yeah, 0:27:27.400 --> 0:27:36.720 Uh that my last line that I said on the show. Um, 0:27:36.720 --> 0:27:45.320 it really resonates, you know, it's like those were those 0:27:45.320 --> 0:27:51.680 were good old days for sure. Yeah, it's crazy. I Um, 0:27:51.720 --> 0:27:53.679 I don't remember how long ago it was now, but 0:27:55.320 --> 0:28:01.080 I saw you post a photo of me and you 0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:06.120 and John and Rain I think at a Golden Globes 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:09.920 we're all like in our Texas and you put that 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:17.120 quote and it's hard to describe or put yourself back there, 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:19.640 but it was just like it's just one of those 0:28:19.680 --> 0:28:26.480 instantly like hits you in the chest in a way. Yeah. 0:28:26.520 --> 0:28:32.919 They're just so few times in life when when you 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:38.320 just feel un burdened by a lot, and when there 0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:42.600 are so many times during the office that I just 0:28:42.640 --> 0:28:45.280 remember driving to work at five in the morning with 0:28:45.440 --> 0:28:51.680 a cup of coffee so psyched, right, and that that 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:57.000