Speaker 1: This is Ed Helms and I played Andy Bernard on
Speaker 1: the Office. All right, hello everybody, and welcome back. This
Speaker 1: is the Office Deep Dive, and as always I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner. And guess what that was my mouth? Today
Speaker 1: is the day? Actually, today is actually the day for
Speaker 1: a few things. But first up, I, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to tell you that my new book
Speaker 1: that I know I've been talking about for weeks now
Speaker 1: is finally out. And how about that just in time
Speaker 1: for the holidays. Who could have guessed that? So head
Speaker 1: on over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Books
Speaker 1: a Million, wherever it is that you get your books
Speaker 1: and grab your very own copy of Welcome to dunder Mifflin.
Speaker 1: And while you're at it, grab a copy for your mother,
Speaker 1: your sister, all your friends, anyone in your contacts list.
Speaker 1: You will not regret it all right now, I also
Speaker 1: have another big announcement to tell you about at the
Speaker 1: end of this episode, so make sure you stay tuned
Speaker 1: after the interview and and find out what in the
Speaker 1: world that could be. Trust me, it is good. And lastly,
Speaker 1: what you all came here for, my very special guest,
Speaker 1: that is returning for part two of our conversation the
Speaker 1: Nord Dog himself, Ed Helms. Now, if you haven't already,
Speaker 1: make sure you go and listen to part one, but
Speaker 1: then come right back here, because I've been saving the
Speaker 1: best for last. Yes, that's right, the last. I'm starting
Speaker 1: to wrap up the interviews, which I know is very
Speaker 1: bitter sweet. But the good news is, over the next
Speaker 1: few weeks you're going to hear a few of my
Speaker 1: very favorite episodes with some of my favorite guests, and
Speaker 1: you also may hear some of yourself. But that being said,
Speaker 1: today's interview truly is it is. It's one of my
Speaker 1: favorites because you get to see Ed in a different way.
Speaker 1: Right Ed is known for playing these kind of loud, bumbling,
Speaker 1: I mean hilarious but maybe slightly obnoxious characters. Right but
Speaker 1: Ed himself, he's just he is so not that. I mean,
Speaker 1: he is hilarious and and he's a comedy nerd. We
Speaker 1: talk about that. But today what you're going to get
Speaker 1: to see is a very sweet, thoughtful side of Ed
Speaker 1: because that's who he is, and I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: Things get a little emotional. So here he is the
Speaker 1: incomparable Mr Ed helms Bubble and Squeak. I love it
Speaker 1: Bubble and squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cookie, every moment
Speaker 1: left over from the NAB before you said you were
Speaker 1: a comedy nerd. What what was it about the Office
Speaker 1: when you started initially watching it that you felt like
Speaker 1: you were seeing something different? What? What? What? What was that? Well?
Speaker 1: I don't know why I didn't. I didn't even I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to sort of understand what I liked about it.
Speaker 1: But what I do think is kind of hilarious is
Speaker 1: that all of the awkwardness and the tension that we
Speaker 1: think is so funny our parents generation, especially as Southern parents,
Speaker 1: like you know, repression is a very powerful force in
Speaker 1: Southern families, and and that the awkwardness is is so intolerable.
Speaker 1: And even on the Daily Show, especially with the field pieces,
Speaker 1: the correspondent field pieces, it was all about finding extremely
Speaker 1: tense moments, and you know, you read we would revel
Speaker 1: in the awkwardness and try to foster awkwardness with people,
Speaker 1: um because that tension is funny. Uh. And that that's
Speaker 1: sort of my post mortem analysis. Like I didn't quite,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I never understood that at the time and
Speaker 1: I couldn't understand why, why why our parents generation didn't
Speaker 1: think The Office was funny, Like, well, how do you
Speaker 1: not get this? But I understand now that that um
Speaker 1: because I think I've seen more extreme versions of it
Speaker 1: that make me uncomfortable at times, and I can see like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's just it's like calibrating, like what's right here. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a number of fans who come up to me,
Speaker 1: huge fan, I'm the biggest fan of the show. I
Speaker 1: can't watch Scott's Taughts like Scott's Taughts somehow puts it
Speaker 1: over the line. Dinner party is sort of like the
Speaker 1: straddling the straddling of the line, but Scott's Taughts two
Speaker 1: people are like no. And so I started to analyze, like, well,
Speaker 1: why is that? And I think it's kind of what
Speaker 1: you were talking about about the Daily Show, which was
Speaker 1: most of the cringeing moments were happening to us, right
Speaker 1: the office workers, ourselves, whereas Scott's Taughts suddenly was about
Speaker 1: these kids and that that's rough. That's rough. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: fun to see, like if your heroes are low status,
Speaker 1: the heroes of the show are lost datas, it's fun
Speaker 1: to see them squirm. But when you see like regular
Speaker 1: people squirm, and and that's on the Daily Show, you know,
Speaker 1: we would try to make the bad guy squirm, right,
Speaker 1: whoever the villain of a piece of a field piece was.
Speaker 1: But I don't know why is that funny? Why is
Speaker 1: squirming so funny? I mean, the most extreme versions were
Speaker 1: all of Sasha Cohen's stuff, right, the borat and the
Speaker 1: alg It's it's a powerful it's it's it's an incredible
Speaker 1: mechanism for satire, but it is it can be polarizing
Speaker 1: for sure. Um when well, let me ask you this,
Speaker 1: had you done much physical comedy before the office? Did
Speaker 1: you feel like that was something that you did? Well?
Speaker 1: I did. I've done a lot of improv, which is
Speaker 1: obviously a lot of um, you know, very broad physical
Speaker 1: stuff on stage. And I you know, I started by
Speaker 1: doing stand up in New York City, and I actually
Speaker 1: knew John Krasinski from that. He started by going to
Speaker 1: New York and kind of dipping his toe in the
Speaker 1: stand up world. But we we were acquaintances back back then.
Speaker 1: But that's just a funny side note. What was I
Speaker 1: saying before? Oh, physical comedy? So in my stand up
Speaker 1: I kind of fancied myself like I don't know, like
Speaker 1: a sort of sand Luri or Brian Reagan, like a
Speaker 1: perform like someone who acted out his my bits. And
Speaker 1: so there was a lot of physicality there. And then
Speaker 1: the Daily Show. I think part of what was fun
Speaker 1: about that was being a very stuffy reporter but breaking
Speaker 1: that mold and ridiculous ways sometimes physical And so I
Speaker 1: don't write, oh, did you really sing Acapello at Oberlin? Um?
Speaker 1: I did. There was a group called the Oberlin Overtones.
Speaker 1: That there is, I should say a group called the
Speaker 1: Oberlin Overtones, and I was in that group for or
Speaker 1: one semester my freshman year. I don't know, maybe it
Speaker 1: was my it was spring of my freshman year and
Speaker 1: fall of my sophomore year and then and then I
Speaker 1: didn't do it anymore. Was that a joke that you
Speaker 1: pitched them on, Andy, or that was just going that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That was that? I think was something that you know,
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of Harvard writers like using
Speaker 1: Cornell as a punching bag, right, That's that's a little
Speaker 1: bit of what was going on with Andy greg being
Speaker 1: Harvard and Mike Shure and and a couple of others,
Speaker 1: But I had no baggage with Cornell, but I still
Speaker 1: just loved the I don't know, it seemed like a
Speaker 1: fun thing to make fun of, and so the acapella
Speaker 1: character trait was that just was he was endowed with
Speaker 1: that in the writing process. And but it is something
Speaker 1: that I understood implicitly and I got Acapella is it
Speaker 1: is such an interesting art form because it is so
Speaker 1: fun to do, but it is kind of excruciating to
Speaker 1: watch or listen to. And I mean no disrespect to
Speaker 1: acapella aficionados out there, I just because my own relationship
Speaker 1: with it is complex. I have a love hate thing,
Speaker 1: and I think especially in college acapella groups, there's a
Speaker 1: strong association with kind of a a very clicky, smug
Speaker 1: arrogant vibe. Right. It's almost like a like certain preppy
Speaker 1: fraternities or something. And even though the Oberlin overtones were
Speaker 1: actually not like that at all. There's really no part
Speaker 1: of Oberlin that's preppy. And um, it's something that made
Speaker 1: sense and it really informed Andy in lots of ways.
Speaker 1: That the creation of Andy's profile was one of the
Speaker 1: most thrilling creative endeavors of my life, because you know,
Speaker 1: if it was the acapella thing. I would just start
Speaker 1: singing on set at wrong times, and then the writers
Speaker 1: would see that and be like, Oh, that's fun, and
Speaker 1: then they'd write in more singing. And that's just one example.
Speaker 1: There were so many little details that started to kind
Speaker 1: of slot in, like a Tetris game about who Andy was,
Speaker 1: and it was this feedback loop, and Mike Scher in
Speaker 1: particular had a real shine for Andy, and we just
Speaker 1: had so much fun. Like I would go to the
Speaker 1: writer's room and just joke around with Mike about who
Speaker 1: Andy is and what made us laugh about him. And
Speaker 1: that was another thing that I think made the office
Speaker 1: so special is that the collaboration between the writers and
Speaker 1: the cast was next level, right. I Mean, there were
Speaker 1: cast members that were writers to begin with, but then
Speaker 1: I always felt like the writer's room was an open
Speaker 1: door and that when the writers were on set, it
Speaker 1: was always a conversation like what, like, how do we
Speaker 1: have more fun with this character? Or what what can
Speaker 1: we come up with? And everyone was open minded and
Speaker 1: that it's that kind of best idea wins mentality that
Speaker 1: leads to great stuff. Yeah, I agree with you a
Speaker 1: thousand and Greg told me that He wanted that opened
Speaker 1: up as a workshop for the writers, actually, because he
Speaker 1: believed that the comedy in the show was so much
Speaker 1: about behavior, and you can't write behavior and so well
Speaker 1: in the beginning. You can't until you get to know
Speaker 1: a character, right, But yeah, you're so right. There's a
Speaker 1: famous episode of Friends in which they start making fun
Speaker 1: of the way that Chandler talks, like the cadence of
Speaker 1: his speech, and it's one. It's a favorite episode. It's
Speaker 1: extremely funny, but it is it. It's something that could
Speaker 1: not have been written in season one. It's something that
Speaker 1: everyone started to understand implicitly, and it took a writer
Speaker 1: being like, that's funny, Like that's a really specific annything
Speaker 1: about Chandler, and if the other characters clock it, we
Speaker 1: can write to it. But that's really cool to hear.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that, But you're you're so right. I mean,
Speaker 1: for Greg to be ahead of that. Writing always gets
Speaker 1: better on a TV show as the writers learned the
Speaker 1: behavior of characters. But to start with that ethos of
Speaker 1: like we are behavior forward, that's awesome. Yeah, Greg's awesome,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Changing gears a little bit. Mike Sure talked
Speaker 1: specifically about you during the writer's strike and coming out
Speaker 1: to the picket line that was happening, and what a
Speaker 1: different and that made for them as they were having
Speaker 1: a difficult emotional time picketing their own show. Do you
Speaker 1: recall anything about that? Yeah? Absolutely, Um, I just remember
Speaker 1: everyone felt a lot of tension, like am I a
Speaker 1: part of this fight or am I? You know, obviously
Speaker 1: I support the writers, but I'm there's some it's scary
Speaker 1: a little bit like it just felt so baffling, and
Speaker 1: I think in hindsight, I've I really appreciate what how
Speaker 1: courageous that was. And yeah, there were a bunch of
Speaker 1: There were a bunch of picket lines. I remember going
Speaker 1: to the first day was on our little lot up
Speaker 1: in Van Nuys, right, it was just our writing staff
Speaker 1: and um, they said they were confused about what where
Speaker 1: they should go, and there were things about going to
Speaker 1: Paramount or going to Universal. They thought, well, that's not
Speaker 1: where we work. This is where we work, so they
Speaker 1: went on their own there, right, And then over the
Speaker 1: next Over the subsequent weeks, there were lots of demonstrations
Speaker 1: at the studios, Like I remember going to Universal Studios.
Speaker 1: There was a big one on the Avenue of the Stars,
Speaker 1: like they took over the whole that whole block in
Speaker 1: Century State, in Century City, the Giant March. But that
Speaker 1: was a crazy, crazy time. Yeah, I remember. It was
Speaker 1: all very confusing because ultimately the actors supported what the
Speaker 1: writers were doing, and the writers were in a way
Speaker 1: they were fighting the fight for all artists. Absolutely, But
Speaker 1: at the same time, I remember talking to my representation
Speaker 1: and going like, what you know, and they said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to show up, like you can't
Speaker 1: not show up. And you know some of the writers
Speaker 1: have talked about it was Steve not showing up and
Speaker 1: apparent only he got calls from the network executives and lawyers,
Speaker 1: and I was told, you have to show up, show
Speaker 1: up to work, to work, not to the picking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to show up to work. And he just said, no,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do How long the strike was three hundred days,
Speaker 1: three months, a little over three months. Yeah, I it's
Speaker 1: you know, since then, I've been in so many different
Speaker 1: parts of this industry now on different sides of things,
Speaker 1: and and you know, unions are complicated, but they are
Speaker 1: so necessary. They're just the ultimate bulwark against exploitation. And
Speaker 1: not to get political here, but it just like being
Speaker 1: on the front lines of that, and and that there
Speaker 1: were a handful of show runners that really led the
Speaker 1: charge and took strong positions, and Greg was super inspirational
Speaker 1: through all that. Greg's a soft spoken guy, but he
Speaker 1: is tough, you know, like he's he's tough. He fights
Speaker 1: for and stands by what he believes. And in the
Speaker 1: case of the writer strike, that was about principle and
Speaker 1: what was right or wrong. And yeah, it's good to
Speaker 1: be on Greg's side. It's always good to be on
Speaker 1: correct side. Um, do you remember your impression when you
Speaker 1: heard Steve was leaving? I guess maybe more were you
Speaker 1: afraid that the show couldn't survive or were you confident
Speaker 1: that it could go forward? I think I felt pretty
Speaker 1: confident that the show could morph into a different thing.
Speaker 1: And I just had so much confidence and Greg and
Speaker 1: in the writing staff, and there had been that there
Speaker 1: were so many experiments that we all kind of went
Speaker 1: through it narratively on the show that sometimes they worked
Speaker 1: and sometimes it didn't, and if they didn't, you just
Speaker 1: would kind of it would veer away from that thing.
Speaker 1: And it seemed like there would be like if anybody
Speaker 1: can do it, it's the Office writing staff, right, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean that's not to diminish the unimaginably massive blow
Speaker 1: that his departure is was, but I I think that
Speaker 1: the show felt bigger than any one person at that point,
Speaker 1: if that's if that makes sense, Yeah, it is, though
Speaker 1: a credit to you. I mean, much like Steve with
Speaker 1: forty year old Virgin. Part of the way into your
Speaker 1: time on the Office, you became a giant movie star too,
Speaker 1: what the hangover, And I think you deserve a lot
Speaker 1: of credit for that, for not only staying around, but
Speaker 1: being energized and continue to work on your character and
Speaker 1: on the show with great integrity. Thanks. That's very very
Speaker 1: kind of you. Um, I just love The Office. I
Speaker 1: and I kind of never wanted it to end, and
Speaker 1: I loved I think loving The Office really is about
Speaker 1: just loving the people and loving that cast and crew,
Speaker 1: and it's really feeling like a family and just wanting
Speaker 1: to step up and deliver for everybody's sake all the time.
Speaker 1: You know, shooting those movies was often exhausting because it
Speaker 1: was concurrent with the Office. I don't think a lot
Speaker 1: of people know or understand quite how crazy some of
Speaker 1: that was. But I was shooting cross or of episodes,
Speaker 1: meaning like I would do two days on the Office.
Speaker 1: I was shooting the Office Monday and Tuesday, and then
Speaker 1: the hangover Wednesday through Sunday. It's insane. I mean that
Speaker 1: was crazy. And then a lot of that hangover stuff
Speaker 1: was nighttime. So I just was like a zombie. Um.
Speaker 1: But it was so fun and no one ever, I
Speaker 1: never felt kind of judged or or slighted by anyone.
Speaker 1: I felt fully supported, and I just I knew that
Speaker 1: if I slipped or or didn't wasn't there for everybody else,
Speaker 1: then I had no right to be doing going off
Speaker 1: and doing these movies. I had to show up for
Speaker 1: the Office and still be fully present. And and it
Speaker 1: helped that that I that it's so fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: I keep going back to that. It was just the
Speaker 1: only way I could do that was because the hangover
Speaker 1: was fun. But the Office was fun, and the Office
Speaker 1: was the thing that I knew and I loved and
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to do right by the Office always. Yeah,
Speaker 1: did you feel like it was the right time to
Speaker 1: end after season nine? I think so? Um. I mean
Speaker 1: at that point, I think my my disposition had shifted
Speaker 1: a little bit. I was starting to look a bit
Speaker 1: the bigger picture of my life and career and and
Speaker 1: my personal goals, and I think, you know, candidly, there
Speaker 1: were some ways that Andy There's just some storylines there
Speaker 1: towards the end that that confused me a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't as I just didn't feel like this
Speaker 1: is the same thing I loved as much, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense, Not the show, but just sort of what
Speaker 1: in particular kind of some of what Andy was was
Speaker 1: doing or going through, and um, I just there was
Speaker 1: sort of a shift happening, I think in my life
Speaker 1: and then my my emotional state at the time, and
Speaker 1: so I felt it actually felt like a a reasonable
Speaker 1: place to wrap up. I think in it it's hard
Speaker 1: to remember how exactly how I felt, but it's been
Speaker 1: a long time. I am trying to unpack, like why
Speaker 1: is The Office the most watched show on television now
Speaker 1: five years later? Like what what are the reasons? And
Speaker 1: I think that there's a chance. I recently went back
Speaker 1: and watched it the whole the whole series, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't feel dated. And I started thinking like why, and
Speaker 1: I the only answer that I can come up with
Speaker 1: is a documentary can never feel dated because it's taking
Speaker 1: a snapshot of what was actually happening. You don't look
Speaker 1: at a documentary about the seventies and go, well, that's dated, right,
Speaker 1: You're just looking at that time. And that also the
Speaker 1: subject matter being an office that is not at the
Speaker 1: forefront of fashion or technology, all those things. You know,
Speaker 1: like a movie like Devilwaar's Product, which is so stylish
Speaker 1: and it's an amazing movie, but it will you'll feel
Speaker 1: when it was made because of all those cues. But
Speaker 1: you take a world like under Mifflin and those people
Speaker 1: and those props and those sets like there, those are
Speaker 1: things that would not change in that space for twenty years,
Speaker 1: right right, Like it would look the same over a
Speaker 1: long period of time. Why do you think the show
Speaker 1: We kind of talked about this, but why young people
Speaker 1: have responded so much to the show given that it
Speaker 1: has to do with basically middle aged office workers. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we can ask this question all the time
Speaker 1: any talk show, whatever, it's the most common and or
Speaker 1: dinner party wherever I am. I feel like people ask
Speaker 1: me this all the time, and I'm like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: ask the kids. They're the ones who love it, um so,
Speaker 1: but it were left to just speculate and UM and
Speaker 1: I have lots of theories, I'm sure like you do. UM.
Speaker 1: I think the simplest version is the same reason that
Speaker 1: I loved Saturday Night Live when I was a kid
Speaker 1: and I wanted to be on it. That that was
Speaker 1: like the thing that drove my entire life, was wanting
Speaker 1: to be on Saturday Night Live as a as a
Speaker 1: young person. And the reason I loved it so much
Speaker 1: from such a young age. I started watching it when
Speaker 1: I was eight. And what was so intoxicating to me?
Speaker 1: Even though I didn't even get the jokes half the time,
Speaker 1: they clearly we're having so much fun. There was something
Speaker 1: you could tell Eddie Murphy was in the zone right,
Speaker 1: And I just loved that and I that was something
Speaker 1: that I sought my whole career and still do and
Speaker 1: and I and I think the Office is one of
Speaker 1: those rare places where a lot of the time that
Speaker 1: whole cast is in the zone right. There's even even
Speaker 1: when the scenes are small and there's and the performance
Speaker 1: are small and the dialogue is intimate or whatever, it
Speaker 1: felt it felt so fun and special to be there
Speaker 1: and be a part of it. And at some level
Speaker 1: that comes across right. There's some way that I think
Speaker 1: audiences just clock that in the same way that I
Speaker 1: did as a little kid watching Saturday Night Live, and
Speaker 1: I I think that's a huge part of it. I
Speaker 1: also think that there are some contextual things like it's
Speaker 1: a fish bowl, it's a it's a bullpen. It's mundane,
Speaker 1: it's gettable, it's understandable. It's like and the people in
Speaker 1: that office go through so many things, but you never
Speaker 1: question whether or not they're going to be there the
Speaker 1: next day. You know, a question whether or not they
Speaker 1: kind of love each other still. You know there's something,
Speaker 1: there's something I think that makes people want to be
Speaker 1: a part of that dunder Mifflin family when they watch it,
Speaker 1: because it's it's just comfortable. As awkward as the dialogue
Speaker 1: is and as as much tension as there was at
Speaker 1: different times in the stories, there there's a sense of
Speaker 1: belonging that everyone in that space had, and everyone had
Speaker 1: a role, and it was predictable, and character's behavior was
Speaker 1: predictable and understandable, and I just I think that's um.
Speaker 1: It takes a long time for a show to get there,
Speaker 1: and thank god the office had that breathing room to
Speaker 1: find that. But when a show does, like Cheers or Taxi,
Speaker 1: you just love to hang out with it and be
Speaker 1: in that space. Yeah, what are you most thankful for?
Speaker 1: Oh man, Um, it's yeah, it's so abstract, but it's like,
Speaker 1: um m m um, the whole thing. Yeah, um yeah,
Speaker 1: Uh that my last line that I said on the show. Um,
Speaker 1: it really resonates, you know, it's like those were those
Speaker 1: were good old days for sure. Yeah, it's crazy. I Um,
Speaker 1: I don't remember how long ago it was now, but
Speaker 1: I saw you post a photo of me and you
Speaker 1: and John and Rain I think at a Golden Globes
Speaker 1: we're all like in our Texas and you put that
Speaker 1: quote and it's hard to describe or put yourself back there,
Speaker 1: but it was just like it's just one of those
Speaker 1: instantly like hits you in the chest in a way. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They're just so few times in life when when you
Speaker 1: just feel un burdened by a lot, and when there
Speaker 1: are so many times during the office that I just
Speaker 1: remember driving to work at five in the morning with
Speaker 1: a cup of coffee so psyched, right, and that that
Speaker 1: feeling of just being psyched to go to work, being
Speaker 1: psyched to go to events with my cast mates, to
Speaker 1: go hang out, get drinks with some writers, whatever. I
Speaker 1: just was psyched a lot during that whole time. And
Speaker 1: and that's an elusive thing in life. You know, life's complicated,
Speaker 1: and there are ups and downs, and most of the
Speaker 1: time we're kind of in the middle somewhere, and there's
Speaker 1: things were psyched about, but there's things were we're burdened
Speaker 1: by or scared of that are going on all the time.
Speaker 1: And at that time, I just remember being psyched a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of the time, and hanging
Speaker 1: out at base camp and our trailers, just playing tunes
Speaker 1: with Creed or or just like hanging out with you
Speaker 1: just whatever gossip was going on, whatever it was. It's
Speaker 1: rare to feel like you're part of something special. And
Speaker 1: but boys are awesome when you do have that feeling.
Speaker 1: And that's I think what defined that whole time for me.
Speaker 1: I just felt special. Yeah, well Ed, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Oh my god again and talking And I just appreciate
Speaker 1: so much. Obviously, you and I have the longest history
Speaker 1: anybody um on the show, and I you know, I
Speaker 1: love you, and I just I so appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: in and talking about it for a little bit. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it's awesome. You yanked some heart strings here that I
Speaker 1: wasn't expecting. But I I'm grateful for it. I love it,
Speaker 1: and I love you too, and that's it. That is Ed.
Speaker 1: And although on the day I didn't say to Ed
Speaker 1: that he yanked my heart strings, uh, he did and
Speaker 1: he always does. I remember when I called Ed about
Speaker 1: sitting down with me, and Ed was working on another
Speaker 1: project at the time. He was incredibly busy, and he didn't.
Speaker 1: He not only said yes, when would you like me
Speaker 1: to come in? But he said yes, when would you
Speaker 1: like me to come in? And then we started talking stories.
Speaker 1: At one point I had to say, no, Ed, stop, no, wait,
Speaker 1: I want to I don't have this. I'm not recording
Speaker 1: this right now, and I want to hear this spontaneously
Speaker 1: as you're remembering it. So let's I love talking to you,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to stop talking to you now because
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you when I have a
Speaker 1: camera or when I have a microphone in front of you. Um.
Speaker 1: But his generosity, his heart, his spirit. Um. Well I
Speaker 1: hope you saw it because it's true. So thank you
Speaker 1: d for joining me and thank all of you for
Speaker 1: listening to me, to me, to me, and ed uh,
Speaker 1: thank you. And now for the second big announcement. All right. So,
Speaker 1: as you know, I have been interviewing the cast and
Speaker 1: crew of the Office, my Office family for the last
Speaker 1: couple of years now, and let me tell you, I
Speaker 1: never thought that I would be doing it this long, right.
Speaker 1: My original intention was to do the oral history and
Speaker 1: write the book and that's it. But sharing these interviews
Speaker 1: with you has been truly the greatest joy of my life.
Speaker 1: Letting you get to know these actors and writers and
Speaker 1: makeup artists and stand ins and directors that that have
Speaker 1: so much to give and so much to tell. Introducing
Speaker 1: you to the people who have inspired me. That for
Speaker 1: me is what it's all about. All right. So I
Speaker 1: keep getting questions like, Brian, when can you bring this
Speaker 1: guest on? Brian, when are you going to do this
Speaker 1: for other shows? Well, guess what, baby, We're coming back
Speaker 1: in two and it is going to be bigger and
Speaker 1: and better than ever. We're gonna start at the top
Speaker 1: of two with guest stars from the Office, people who
Speaker 1: are on just a few episodes like the Will Ferrell's
Speaker 1: and the Kathy Bates is Is and and then we're
Speaker 1: going to expand and we're gonna start talking about some
Speaker 1: of your other favorite shows. Think Modern Family, Think Cheers,
Speaker 1: Think Fresh Prince of bel Air, because those shows, well,
Speaker 1: they need love to So stay with me here, same time,
Speaker 1: same place, same host, same feed, just more guests, and
Speaker 1: I promise you this, you're gonna have a fantastic time,
Speaker 1: because when I have a good time, you have a
Speaker 1: good time. Now. As for the name, it's going to
Speaker 1: be called Off the Beat. And here's the story behind that.
Speaker 1: I had a a French director that I worked with
Speaker 1: for many years, Dominique Surrand shout out and and he
Speaker 1: taught me something that that comedy happens off the beat.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly the kind of conversation that I'm going
Speaker 1: to strive to have one that happens off of the beat,
Speaker 1: about what happens off camera in the moments between the stories,
Speaker 1: because that's the kind of stuff that I want to
Speaker 1: know about. So starting next year, you're gonna hear a
Speaker 1: new iteration of this podcast. Let's call it version two
Speaker 1: point oh, because that's what everybody names things two point oh.
Speaker 1: It'll be everything you loved about the Office Deep Dive
Speaker 1: and so much more. But before the new year, I
Speaker 1: want to hear from all of you. All right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be doing a couple of very special call in
Speaker 1: episodes where you get to guide the conversation. That's right,
Speaker 1: I want to hear your stories. How has the Office
Speaker 1: changed your life? Is there anything that you have been
Speaker 1: dying to let me know? Do you have any spectacular
Speaker 1: or spectacularly funny stories tied in with the show, or
Speaker 1: run ins with the cast or anything. Really, sky's the limit.
Speaker 1: I just want to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 1: You know, when I'm out in public, I often have
Speaker 1: people come up to me and tell me very, very
Speaker 1: hilarious or moving stories about their experience with the show.
Speaker 1: This is your opportunity to share those stories, not just
Speaker 1: with me, but well with everyone. So the best way
Speaker 1: to be featured on one of our call in episodes
Speaker 1: is to use use the voice Memo app on your phone,
Speaker 1: record your question or comment, and then email it to
Speaker 1: us at the Office deep Dive at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: That is the Office deep Dive at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Make sure to include your name, where you're from, and
Speaker 1: then your question or comment, and don't forget to leave
Speaker 1: your number two, because yes, I am going to call
Speaker 1: a few of you back and have you on this show.
Speaker 1: All right, that's it. I've announced just about everything there
Speaker 1: is to announce. So with that, I will say goodbye,
Speaker 1: thank you so much again for listening, and have a
Speaker 1: great one everyone. The Office. Deep Dive is hosted and
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer
Speaker 1: Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer. Our producers
Speaker 1: are Liz Hayes and Diego Tapia. My main man in
Speaker 1: the booth is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,
Speaker 1: performed by my great friend Cree Bratton, and the episode
Speaker 1: was mixed by Seth Olandski