Speaker 1: Hi. My name is Cassidy Zachary and I am April Callahan,
Speaker 1: and we are fashion historian and co hosts and the
Speaker 1: creators of the podcast Dressed the History of Fashion, which
Speaker 1: is dedicated to investigating the significance of dress from throughout
Speaker 1: history and around the world. And we are so excited
Speaker 1: to bring you a brand new season celebrating groundbreaking fashion
Speaker 1: figures and exploring the history of everything from courses to
Speaker 1: blue jeans. Dressed the History of Fashion is available on
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever else you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. New episodes drop every Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Thursday. Baby Girl, Baby, Why is Your Girl? Be?
Speaker 1: Samone and I got my beautiful pretty co host Pretty Be.
Speaker 1: What's up Girl? What they do? What they do? What
Speaker 1: they do? You guys just kind of the women while
Speaker 1: not podcast. We got our girl dressing a Valentine in
Speaker 1: the buildings. We're continuing the conversation about all the hot
Speaker 1: topics that matter to us the most. We got amazing
Speaker 1: guest the cast of Whiling Out and more. Listen to
Speaker 1: The Woman, the Wall and Out on the Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Starting February,
Speaker 1: Hi I'm Hillary Clinton and I'm so excited to be
Speaker 1: back with a third season of You and Me both.
Speaker 1: When I started this podcast, we were going through some
Speaker 1: tough times, and let's face it, we still are. And
Speaker 1: here's what I know. We cannot get through this alone.
Speaker 1: So please join me for more conversations with people who
Speaker 1: will make you think, make you laugh, and help us
Speaker 1: find a path forward. This season, I'll be talking about
Speaker 1: the state of our democracy with experts and with people
Speaker 1: organizing on the ground. We'll draw inspiration from some amazing
Speaker 1: people like Olympic star Alison Felix and Grammy Award winner
Speaker 1: Brandy Carlisle. And we'll get into the hard stuff with
Speaker 1: writer Cheryl Strait and my dear friend and colleague Juma Aberdeen.
Speaker 1: So join us listen to win me both on the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. Hi, everybody, I'm Laura Harden and I played
Speaker 1: Jan Levinson on The Office. Well, welcome back everyone, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining me again here on the
Speaker 1: Office Deep Dive. I am your host, as always, Brian
Speaker 1: Baumgartner on the podcast. Today, as you just heard, we
Speaker 1: have the insanely talented Laura Harden Me Laura is an
Speaker 1: incredible actor and probably more than anyone else in the cast.
Speaker 1: Acting and show biz was in her blood. Both of
Speaker 1: her parents worked as actors, and she herself started out
Speaker 1: as a child actor. She starred, She didn't just appear.
Speaker 1: She starred in a TV show called Thunder when she
Speaker 1: was ten ten years old. So by the time we
Speaker 1: filmed the pilot, Laura was definitely the most established performer
Speaker 1: on set and now me. Laura played a kind of
Speaker 1: unique role in the ensemble, right. I mean, she was
Speaker 1: the the big wig boss who rolls in from New
Speaker 1: York every once in a while. She's not there in
Speaker 1: every episode, but she brought so much to the show
Speaker 1: in that role, especially in terms of her dynamic with
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell, which was so hilarious and well obviously something
Speaker 1: we discussed at length during this conversation. Unfortunately, because of COVID,
Speaker 1: I couldn't sit down with me Laura in the studio,
Speaker 1: but even just talking to her by phone was an
Speaker 1: absolute treat for me, and so therefore now I treat
Speaker 1: for you. So here she is Melaura Harden, Bubble and Squeak.
Speaker 1: I love it, Bubble and Squeak. Bubble and squeaker cookie
Speaker 1: every month left over from the nut before. You know,
Speaker 1: I've tried to As I told you before, I tried
Speaker 1: to do all these in person. I did Ricky and Stephen, uh,
Speaker 1: Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais the other day. You sound
Speaker 1: so much better than they do. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: wrong with love. That's just because I'm better than they are. Well, yes, obviously,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna actually i'll send you later a picture. I
Speaker 1: am in a room totally by myself. I'm standing so
Speaker 1: that I don't catch coronavirus in this thing. I'm about
Speaker 1: three ft staring directly into a wall. It's very disconcerting,
Speaker 1: but you know, UM, all right me, Laura, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, um for coming to talk to me here. Well,
Speaker 1: you didn't really go anywhere. You didn't really go anywhere,
Speaker 1: But so I want to talk a little bit about you.
Speaker 1: Before The Office. You started as a child actor, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I started acting professionally when I was six years old.
Speaker 1: So I was doing tons of you know, guest starring
Speaker 1: roles I had done. I think The Office was like
Speaker 1: my eleventh pilot that I had done. I had done
Speaker 1: many short lived series I've done some movies and yeah,
Speaker 1: that's and I've done a little Peter too. So I
Speaker 1: had heard fourteen, but but you just said so the
Speaker 1: the Office was the eleventh pilot that you had shot.
Speaker 1: What happened to the ten before? It could have been?
Speaker 1: It could have been the fourteenth. I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: to be honest, I've done so many. I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of them were like short lives some of them.
Speaker 1: Some of them were just pilots and then they would
Speaker 1: get canceled. Um. Some of them were short lived series.
Speaker 1: I was on quite a few series that lived for
Speaker 1: you know, six episodes, ten episodes. Uh, well, I did.
Speaker 1: I did some shows when I was a really kid,
Speaker 1: like I did a Shaturday morning show for kids when
Speaker 1: I was ted about a black stallion that came when
Speaker 1: I whistled, and together we would save the day. And
Speaker 1: and that one ran for a series that was like
Speaker 1: twenty two episodes. And then and then I did another
Speaker 1: one called Cliffwood Avenue Kids, which was a syndicated show
Speaker 1: at the time when shows were syndicated, And I was
Speaker 1: nine when I did that, and that one, I think
Speaker 1: was like twenty five episodes. But other than that, most
Speaker 1: of the shows I did were like six episodes, you know,
Speaker 1: five episodes or just pilots that then were that were
Speaker 1: never picked up. When did you first hear about the
Speaker 1: American version of the Had you seen the British version?
Speaker 1: I had never seen the British version. I'm not a
Speaker 1: big TV watcher in general. Um, And I I remember
Speaker 1: it was. I remember it weird, And it's weird that
Speaker 1: I do remember it, because I don't, you know, there
Speaker 1: were so many auditions at that time in my life
Speaker 1: that it's weird that I remember it. But I remember
Speaker 1: going over there, and I remember it was sort of
Speaker 1: a last minute thing. You know. Usually actors are, you know,
Speaker 1: supposed to be told the night before so that they
Speaker 1: have at least a night with the material. But it
Speaker 1: was sort of one of those things where I think
Speaker 1: my agent called and said, oh, you know, we have
Speaker 1: this thing for you. They want you there at like
Speaker 1: a two o'clock today. It was like an afternoon thing.
Speaker 1: I had already been on a couple other auditions or something.
Speaker 1: I remember walking in, picking up the material, standing outside
Speaker 1: and working on it, um and basically going in pretty
Speaker 1: cold and just doing it, but liking it like right
Speaker 1: away and what was funny was that Allison are our
Speaker 1: casting director. She had been I get it. All was
Speaker 1: also casting a pilot at the time that I had
Speaker 1: been in on the day before, and probably this is
Speaker 1: how this last minute audition happened, was probably through Allison,
Speaker 1: because I had been in for that and they were
Speaker 1: making a deal for me to come in to do
Speaker 1: a test for this other pilot. And so I went in.
Speaker 1: I read cold for the office pretty much pretty cold.
Speaker 1: But I also could you know, just because I've been
Speaker 1: doing this as long as I as I have, you
Speaker 1: can really feel when the room is like buzzing with
Speaker 1: what you're doing. Like everybody was kind of riveted. It
Speaker 1: was ten Coopis and it was you know, Greg Daniels
Speaker 1: and um, I'm pretty sure Phillis was maybe there, but anyway,
Speaker 1: Alison for sure. And so yeah, I did it, and
Speaker 1: I remember everybody just kind of being I could tell
Speaker 1: they were just kind of like hump they were they
Speaker 1: were really liking, you know, liking what I did. And anyway,
Speaker 1: so the next I think it was like a couple
Speaker 1: of days later, for the next day even I went
Speaker 1: into test for this pilot and Allison came out. You
Speaker 1: know where I was the waiting room and it was
Speaker 1: just me and she came out and she said hi
Speaker 1: and I said hi, and she goes, you were fantastic
Speaker 1: in you know, in that audition for the Office. Now,
Speaker 1: remember the Office was a guest star possible reach character.
Speaker 1: That's not like just for people that don't know. That's
Speaker 1: a nice thing to get, but that's not like getting
Speaker 1: a series, like a starring role on a pilot that
Speaker 1: could turn into a series, because that's more money, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, better for us as actors. Anyway, So
Speaker 1: I was, like I said to Allison, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I said that was fun. I said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I really liked it, Like maybe I'll get both. And
Speaker 1: she goes, uh, I really want you to get that one.
Speaker 1: I really want you to get the Office. And I
Speaker 1: thought to myself, hump, Okay, you know, but that's interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, she's a she's a she's a pro, she's
Speaker 1: been around a long time, and she knows something, you know,
Speaker 1: she knows like she could tell that. I think that
Speaker 1: the Office was special, and so I basically just went
Speaker 1: in I read for the other thing. I didn't end
Speaker 1: up getting it. The pilot did get made, it did
Speaker 1: not get picked up, and I ended up getting the
Speaker 1: office and here we are. That's that is crazy. And
Speaker 1: when you were originally cast, you didn't think it was
Speaker 1: a big thing, like it was maybe it was going
Speaker 1: to come back. Maybe I mean, maybe the role would
Speaker 1: come back, but but you had no expectation for anything
Speaker 1: long term. I didn't. I mean, you know, as I said,
Speaker 1: I've been doing it so long that you just you
Speaker 1: get to where you kind of have a pretty thick
Speaker 1: skin and you're pretty wary about things. And I mean
Speaker 1: I always tell everybody that I didn't even believe we
Speaker 1: were a hit. Um, even after we'd won the Emmy.
Speaker 1: I didn't believe we were a hit until we won
Speaker 1: the Stag Award and I had to walk around with
Speaker 1: that like fifty pound you know, statue all night and
Speaker 1: the next morning I woke up and my bicep was
Speaker 1: so sore that I couldn't lift my arm. It was
Speaker 1: like literally I needed physical proof. And then I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe we are a hit. And it was I just
Speaker 1: think it's like, hit me a lot later than anybody
Speaker 1: else in the cab, because I just was I had
Speaker 1: done so many things that were like semi successes or
Speaker 1: you know, I just didn't believe it, Like I just
Speaker 1: didn't believe it right well, and and you know, you
Speaker 1: were you know, you were the most experienced film and
Speaker 1: television actor certainly in the pilot. And so when you
Speaker 1: showed up, did you have any sort of first impression
Speaker 1: of the other people in the cast? I remember thinking
Speaker 1: that it was just really well cast. I remember just
Speaker 1: feeling like, oh my god, these are just great characters,
Speaker 1: you know, and I and I love immediately. I loved
Speaker 1: working with Steve. I mean, I would say, because of
Speaker 1: my experience, you can really get a sense very very
Speaker 1: quickly of the actors that can that can play with
Speaker 1: you and the actors that can't. And um, because all
Speaker 1: my stuff was with Steve in that first season, I
Speaker 1: really didn't work with you guys at all. Really, I
Speaker 1: mean I had no interaction with you really decides, just
Speaker 1: glancing at you and glancing at me. But um, but
Speaker 1: it was like it was like I was so relieved
Speaker 1: and so grateful and excited that whenever the cameras would roll,
Speaker 1: I felt like Steve was very playful with me, um
Speaker 1: on camera, as far as just his ability to you know,
Speaker 1: give and take and just kind of be really in
Speaker 1: the moment and not get thrown by any little new
Speaker 1: thing I might throw his way, Whereas sometimes you work
Speaker 1: with more inexperienced actors and you'll do it one way
Speaker 1: and they'll go, oh, you didn't do it like that,
Speaker 1: or they'll be like, oh, I wasn't expecting that because
Speaker 1: the last time you did it more like this, you know.
Speaker 1: And that always just kisses me off so much, because
Speaker 1: I'm always like, oh my god, like, really, are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? We can't do it like we can't do
Speaker 1: it in different and have fun and all and try
Speaker 1: new things, you know. But Steve was always just like,
Speaker 1: you know, just so ready with the bat, you know,
Speaker 1: to hit the ball however it came. And I think
Speaker 1: we both have a lot of fun with that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I would hope he would say that he did. I
Speaker 1: certainly had a great time working with him, right. I Mean,
Speaker 1: it's funny because I just started thinking about how so much, yes,
Speaker 1: as you said, especially early on, but really throughout the show,
Speaker 1: how connected you were with Steve, and how so much
Speaker 1: almost unlike most of the rest of the show, you
Speaker 1: guys played one on one quite a bit, so most
Speaker 1: of your experience wasn't really with the entire ensemble, again,
Speaker 1: particularly early on, but really with Steve. Yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: really was. And that was very interesting. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: very interesting, I felt, you know, and I felt that
Speaker 1: I think even as time went on, there was sort
Speaker 1: of a sense of not belonging there for a long
Speaker 1: long time. Really, I don't think I ever felt like
Speaker 1: I belonged, really, but I think that's probably by virtue
Speaker 1: of the of the way that it was written. But
Speaker 1: I that's not to say that I didn't enjoy everybody
Speaker 1: and love everybody and feel like everybody you know, enjoyed me.
Speaker 1: I did. I don't know. I just felt like the
Speaker 1: little like the team, the clan, like you guys were
Speaker 1: in the office every day together, um, you know, and
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I would pop in and out, and when
Speaker 1: I did, it was always it was mostly that kind
Speaker 1: of more private thing, which was maybe by design because
Speaker 1: Dan is kind of an outsider, right. I Mean. The
Speaker 1: other thing that that occurred to me is, you know,
Speaker 1: we've done a lot of conversation about you know, the
Speaker 1: cast of this show and how different it was at
Speaker 1: this time and play specifically that our show started. You know,
Speaker 1: to break the mold, and they really sort of leaned
Speaker 1: into these are real ordinary people who are working in
Speaker 1: an office, specifically in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And it felt like
Speaker 1: to me that you, you and your character though like
Speaker 1: maybe it was you being like a New York person
Speaker 1: right like you always seemed and looked felt a little
Speaker 1: more put together, a little more you know, which really
Speaker 1: contrasted in a way with with everyone else was who
Speaker 1: was in the office right right, Yeah, I think that's true.
Speaker 1: And I and I remember that that was even somewhat
Speaker 1: of a of a of a struggle with Greg. I
Speaker 1: remember Greg Daniels Um talking a little bit about that,
Speaker 1: even with me and and and with the costume designer
Speaker 1: and um, with the makeup and hair people. You know,
Speaker 1: he used to say a lot, you know, like make
Speaker 1: sure she's not too pretty, make sure she's not you know, like,
Speaker 1: don't dress her too holid, you know, take you know,
Speaker 1: take the makeup down a little or or he sort
Speaker 1: of and he grappled with, you know, why would why
Speaker 1: would Michael be with someone that looked like and felt
Speaker 1: like jan Like how would he get someone like her?
Speaker 1: And that was like that was I just think of
Speaker 1: thing on his radar all the time because he really
Speaker 1: wanted it to feel, you know, really real and really
Speaker 1: documentary and really like we were really peeking in on
Speaker 1: this um these people's lives. And I think I think
Speaker 1: that was just always the same for him, And he
Speaker 1: was always tracking that, and he would talk to me
Speaker 1: about that, and you always wanted to know what I
Speaker 1: thought about that. Why would she be attracted to someone
Speaker 1: like that? And and I had lots of reasons, you know,
Speaker 1: I I it for me, it was easy to figure
Speaker 1: that out. But but that's my job, you know, that's
Speaker 1: part of my job as an actor and certainly as
Speaker 1: a working actor for as long as I was. You
Speaker 1: have to find a way to win your mind, justify
Speaker 1: kind of anything that that's thrown at you. So I
Speaker 1: had gotten very good at at knowing how to how
Speaker 1: to make something that seems almost unfathomable, you know. Real.
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Speaker 1: on the day doctor King was shot, the all black
Speaker 1: security detail normally assigned to him was called off. They're
Speaker 1: the ones who would not allow him to stay at
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Speaker 1: was a man there. And did you know that on
Speaker 1: the day doctor King was shot, two black firemen stationed
Speaker 1: across the street and one black police detective who was
Speaker 1: surveiling King. We're all taken off the job. Well, what
Speaker 1: was the emergency that called usually moved? Sure? Did you
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Speaker 1: MLK tapes. The first episodes are available now listen on
Speaker 1: the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Have you ever felt depressed about work
Speaker 1: only to have your dad be like, why you're so down?
Speaker 1: So you told him you hate your job and he said, well,
Speaker 1: you better talk yourself out of it. And then you thought, hmm,
Speaker 1: I love to talk. I could host a podcast. And
Speaker 1: then you went to Speaker from my Heart and started
Speaker 1: a podcast and got good at it, then monetized it,
Speaker 1: then quit your boring job and told your dad thanks
Speaker 1: for the advice, and he was like, well, that's not
Speaker 1: what I meant, and I don't understand what a podcast is.
Speaker 1: But you seem happy, So that's great, kiddo. You ever
Speaker 1: do that? Well, you could at speaker dot com. That's
Speaker 1: spr e A k E. R ask your dad, you
Speaker 1: actually don't. What do you think Jan did see in
Speaker 1: my hold? I feel like Jan was um, you know,
Speaker 1: she was really brought up in a man's world. I
Speaker 1: think she became more masculine in her affects and her
Speaker 1: behavior than she actually was inside. And I felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, some part of her was really sort of
Speaker 1: sad about the loss of her femininity. And I feel
Speaker 1: like that that Michael's kind of puppy like adoration of
Speaker 1: her um made her feel more feminine and more womanly
Speaker 1: and more more like she could just be, you know,
Speaker 1: softened softer with him. And I think she wasn't. I
Speaker 1: don't think she was softer with him on the outside.
Speaker 1: I just think inside his sort of like he just
Speaker 1: wouldn't stop coming after her, even when she was a total,
Speaker 1: you know, bitch to him. I think that I think
Speaker 1: that just made her feel loved and like she could
Speaker 1: let down a little bit of that masculine guard that
Speaker 1: she had learned you know, that learned behavior. Right. Do
Speaker 1: you think that there was real love there between Michael
Speaker 1: and Jan, Yeah, I do. I think it was completely dysfunctional,
Speaker 1: but I do, Yeah, I do. I think she I
Speaker 1: think she didn't even know that she was in love
Speaker 1: with him. I think she was right. Yeah, there's Um,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. We I've been doing a lot of talking
Speaker 1: about sort of michael search for family and his need
Speaker 1: and desire to be loved and you know, for him,
Speaker 1: his landing the boss, right Jan, the sophisticate from New York, right,
Speaker 1: like that for him is a huge win. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, raises himself up in his own mind. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think it was really well said, like that
Speaker 1: she was searching, you know, she was she was coming
Speaker 1: from a specific culture and maybe wanting something different for herself. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I think she just was really focused on
Speaker 1: climbing that corporate ladder and forgot about her her need
Speaker 1: for you know, companionship. And I think he was all
Speaker 1: wrong in every way and there was something that was
Speaker 1: like un undeniably attractive about that for her. I think
Speaker 1: she just needed a little bit of shaking up and
Speaker 1: sort of that that adoration that he had of her,
Speaker 1: like just he just was so proud of of having
Speaker 1: sex with her, He was so proud of having a
Speaker 1: relationship with her, and she was just like, you are
Speaker 1: so stupid, But but I like that, right, He kind
Speaker 1: of liked being his trophy, even though you know, she
Speaker 1: found him ridiculous. I think, do you think do you
Speaker 1: think that she had gotten to a point where she
Speaker 1: was lowering her standards? Yeah, I don't think she had standards.
Speaker 1: I think she would have. I just don't literally, I
Speaker 1: literally don't think she was thinking. I think she forgot
Speaker 1: about her love life. I think she probably you know,
Speaker 1: had had sort of sex, very disconnected sex with like,
Speaker 1: you know, different executives that she'd worked with. But I
Speaker 1: don't feel like she really had a real relationship with
Speaker 1: anybody that was really meaningful until Michael, And I think
Speaker 1: that My instinct is that, like, her relationship with her
Speaker 1: father was probably pretty um like disconnected. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that Greg would say that that she had lowered
Speaker 1: her standards. I don't think it was really about standards.
Speaker 1: I think she just was taken with his um you know,
Speaker 1: let's say Steve's you know, description of that would be
Speaker 1: that it was more like an ego Phil. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what Steve would say as far as
Speaker 1: if that was Michael's ego phil to be with Jan,
Speaker 1: or if he really was crazy for her. But I
Speaker 1: think the way that Jan read it was like Jesus,
Speaker 1: I can like keep you know, beating this dead horse
Speaker 1: and it keeps fun like it makes her feel loved,
Speaker 1: it makes her feel worthy. It's just a weird phenomenon, right.
Speaker 1: I think Jan definitely, you know, liked it that she
Speaker 1: could curl up in his arms and you know, on
Speaker 1: the on the bench on the bottom of the bed
Speaker 1: where she put him, and she could cry and she
Speaker 1: could be like, I'm sorry, and he probably could be like,
Speaker 1: oh it was it was nothing. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what you're saying sorry for, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: What do you think that their relationship, What do you
Speaker 1: think that it added or or gave to the to
Speaker 1: the show overall? Well? I think it gave. It gave
Speaker 1: him a kind of, um like a sexual play that
Speaker 1: I don't think he would have had, uh necessarily without it.
Speaker 1: And you know, it was really something that Steve and
Speaker 1: and I and and Greg Daniels noticed in the pilot.
Speaker 1: I remember being at lunch with with with all of us,
Speaker 1: the three of us were having lunch together, and I
Speaker 1: remember Steve and I and Greg all kind of saying,
Speaker 1: you know, there's some kind of an interesting spark between
Speaker 1: Michael and Jan's, like there's something about them. And we
Speaker 1: were all like, yeah, if we get an opportunity, if
Speaker 1: we get picked up, we should really have them hook
Speaker 1: up sometime at a convention or something. And we were
Speaker 1: all laughing about this idea that maybe we'd get to
Speaker 1: have them, you know, have some kind of an affair.
Speaker 1: So I think there was just a titilation that it
Speaker 1: added to the show in the same way that you know,
Speaker 1: the Pam and Jim love story had a little bit
Speaker 1: of titilation to it, and you know, and there were
Speaker 1: other stories that you know, Dwight and Angela, you know,
Speaker 1: there were things that all happened over time, and I
Speaker 1: think that created at fun sort of titilation. And and
Speaker 1: also because because the Michael and Jan's story was like
Speaker 1: there was something really right about it, but also something
Speaker 1: so wrong. It's just it's you know, it's just it's
Speaker 1: kind of delicious. How much input did you have on
Speaker 1: Jan with Greg or the writers. UM, I mean I
Speaker 1: think I do think it was a dance. I mean,
Speaker 1: Larry Wilmore early on really love to write Jan and
Speaker 1: he and I became friends, were still friends. UM. So
Speaker 1: we used to talk about Jan a lot, uh, over
Speaker 1: lunch and stuff. Greg and I talked about Jan a lot,
Speaker 1: especially as seasons went on, you know. Um. Greg was
Speaker 1: always curious about what I thought about you know what,
Speaker 1: I how I felt she might react to this or that.
Speaker 1: Um So that was really nice. And I would say
Speaker 1: for me again, you know, just referring back to how
Speaker 1: long I've been in the business, that was my first
Speaker 1: experience where writers were really interested and collaborative in television. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so Greg really like that really changed for me
Speaker 1: just sort of everything that came after that, you know,
Speaker 1: just the feeling of that. And I I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I think Greg was a big, big part of changing
Speaker 1: the way writers really are on set on television sets.
Speaker 1: I really do think he was kind of a maverick
Speaker 1: and a leader in that, certainly for for my experience,
Speaker 1: which was you know, hefty at that time. I've had
Speaker 1: a lot of experience, and I just never had writers
Speaker 1: interacting on such an intimate way with the actors and
Speaker 1: just being on set as much as they were being
Speaker 1: you know, being so involved and so hands on and
Speaker 1: really wanting to hear from all of us. I loved that. Gosh,
Speaker 1: that was just a revelation for me. Right. I mean
Speaker 1: often on other shows, like writers are on set to
Speaker 1: really oversee and make sure that the words are being
Speaker 1: said right or said correctly right. But you know, I
Speaker 1: I agree, I think here it was really about a
Speaker 1: collaboration and finding the best answers that we could to
Speaker 1: you know, to make something funny or you know, to
Speaker 1: make it work better than it really was collaborative. So
Speaker 1: that was different for you, Greg was different for you. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and all the writers and and um, I mean Mindy
Speaker 1: Mindy Kaley wrote that, you know wrote that episode of
Speaker 1: me singing the baby to the baby because I had
Speaker 1: just done Lame is on on at the Hollywood Bowl
Speaker 1: and she was so blown away that I had done
Speaker 1: that and that you know that I had a voice
Speaker 1: like that, and she was like, we've got to get
Speaker 1: you singing on the show, and I got to find
Speaker 1: a way to do it, and you know, and that
Speaker 1: it was just kind of neat that they were wanting
Speaker 1: to really use like what we had to give, and
Speaker 1: they were, you know, finding ways to do it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, and they would take things that we would
Speaker 1: say and turn them into jokes. I mean, the whole um,
Speaker 1: the whole breastfeeding the baby at the office thing for
Speaker 1: me happened, I think really because I was breastfeeding my
Speaker 1: daughter at a brunch that had with Greg and his
Speaker 1: wife and Steve and his wife that Greg's house, and
Speaker 1: I think it made it made Steve in particular uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: and I think that Greg was sort of I don't
Speaker 1: think he was uncomfortable, but I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: also felt really like very feminist about that, you know, like,
Speaker 1: you know, we can carry guns in this country, but
Speaker 1: you can't breastfeed a baby, and that's like what our
Speaker 1: boots are for, I you know, like I felt, and
Speaker 1: I think I even said that at the brunch, and
Speaker 1: I think Greg just took that and was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, this is amazing. We're doing this on the show.
Speaker 1: And I think the war Hal thing also came I
Speaker 1: think similarly because of that, because they came over to
Speaker 1: my house for dinner with Paul Fieg and his wife
Speaker 1: one night and I have a record cover that I
Speaker 1: you know, I have a few CDs and that I've made,
Speaker 1: and one of the record covers of my record called Her,
Speaker 1: is a painting that one of my closest friends, who
Speaker 1: I've known since I was twelve years old, Hey painted
Speaker 1: for me, and it's a giant painting of me with
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of kittens, and it's basically a kind
Speaker 1: of inspired by a Gil elve Grin pin up painting.
Speaker 1: And we had that hanging over my couch in our
Speaker 1: old house, and I remember when they came in, um
Speaker 1: Greg saying something about it, and me saying, you know,
Speaker 1: what's interesting about that is that is that I wonder
Speaker 1: sometimes if people think that I think that that's like serious,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like if people think that,
Speaker 1: like I have a painting of myself over my couch,
Speaker 1: like I have to see myself every day at a
Speaker 1: giant painting, you know. And I was we were joking
Speaker 1: about how, you know, I think it's funny that that
Speaker 1: for me, it's like a total tone tongue in cheek thing.
Speaker 1: But it's also reverence of my second CD and this
Speaker 1: sort of like, you know, all these very funny tongue
Speaker 1: in cheek songs that are you know, that are that
Speaker 1: I wrote. And so for me, it's like it's a
Speaker 1: part of a celebration of something I achieved in my life.
Speaker 1: That's part of my like passion and you know, but
Speaker 1: it also is to me a joke, Like I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think of it as like, you know, like
Speaker 1: the Queen's portrait. But I think he loved that so
Speaker 1: much and we had such a long talk about it,
Speaker 1: but then it showed up in the dinner party and
Speaker 1: I just remember loving it so much, like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is genius, Like Greg is just so good at
Speaker 1: spotting where there is an opportunity to just, you know,
Speaker 1: make a great joke about something. How much of me
Speaker 1: do you think there isn't? Oh my god, of course,
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't there. I mean I think everybody. I
Speaker 1: think all my characters have me and them for sure.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm I'm them, they're me. Um, I'm a
Speaker 1: lot different than her, of course, Um, you know, but
Speaker 1: I think for sure, like the sexuality piece of her
Speaker 1: is like you know, I I brought that for sure.
Speaker 1: I don't think they would have necessarily known that Jan
Speaker 1: was that kind of. I don't think they would have
Speaker 1: gotten that she was that sexual had I not been
Speaker 1: playing her. I just felt that about her and brought
Speaker 1: that to her. And I think I'm way warmer than her,
Speaker 1: and I certainly, you know, way more, way more conscious
Speaker 1: and she is. I've definitely, you know, way over ten
Speaker 1: hours of therapy. Like I know myself a lot better
Speaker 1: than jan Um, you know. But I think certainly there's
Speaker 1: elements of her that are me and neither are her.
Speaker 1: That would be weird if there were. I'm Jake Halbern,
Speaker 1: host of deep Cover. Our new season is about a
Speaker 1: lawyer who helped the mob run Chicago. We controlled the courts,
Speaker 1: we controlled absolutely everything. He broughbed judges and even helped
Speaker 1: a hit man walk free, until one day when he
Speaker 1: started talking with the FBI and promised that he could
Speaker 1: take the mob down. I've spent the past year trying
Speaker 1: to figure out why he flipped and what he was
Speaker 1: really after. From my perspective, Bob was too good to
Speaker 1: be true. There's got to be something wrong with this.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't trust the guy. He looks like a little scum,
Speaker 1: big liar, still bidgeon. He looked like what he was
Speaker 1: or at I can say with all certainty, I think
Speaker 1: he's a hero because he didn't have to do what
Speaker 1: he did, and he did it anyway. The moment I
Speaker 1: put the wire around the first time, my life was over.
Speaker 1: If it ever got out, they would kill me. In
Speaker 1: the heartbeat, listen to deep Cover on the I Heart
Speaker 1: radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: And we're live here outside the Perez family home, just
Speaker 1: waiting for the and there they go, almost on time.
Speaker 1: This morning. Mom is coming out the front door, strong
Speaker 1: with a double arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has
Speaker 1: the bags daughter he's bringing up the rear. Oh but
Speaker 1: the diaper bag wasn't closed. Typers and toys are everywhere.
Speaker 1: Oh but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat
Speaker 1: buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who
Speaker 1: looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself
Speaker 1: in the booster seat. Dead zips the bad clothes and
Speaker 1: they're off. But looks like Mom doesn't realize your coffee
Speaker 1: cup is still on the roof of the car, and
Speaker 1: there it goes. That's a shame that mug was a
Speaker 1: fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff just nailed the
Speaker 1: big stuff, like making sure your kids are buckled correctly
Speaker 1: in the right seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more
Speaker 1: n h t s A dot gov slash The Right Seat.
Speaker 1: Visits n h s A dot gov slash The Right Seat,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Mizza and the AD Council. Adoption
Speaker 1: of teens from foster care is a topic not enough
Speaker 1: people know about, and we're here to change that. I'm
Speaker 1: April Dinuity, host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented
Speaker 1: by adopt Us Kids. Each episode brings you compelling, real
Speaker 1: life adoption stories told by the families that lived them,
Speaker 1: with commentary from experts. Visit adopt us Kids dot org
Speaker 1: slash podcast or subscribed to Navigating Adoption Presented by adopt
Speaker 1: Us Kids, brought to you by the U S Department
Speaker 1: of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,
Speaker 1: and the ACT Council. You know, one of the other
Speaker 1: things I think that the show explores is this idea
Speaker 1: of the American dream, both with you know, with love
Speaker 1: or bettering themselves like with Jim and Pam or Michael
Speaker 1: um and you know, specifically the Dinner Party episode, which
Speaker 1: is I mean, maybe maybe the best episode that we
Speaker 1: ever did. Um to me it it talked very specifically
Speaker 1: about the financial strain that we as Americans were really
Speaker 1: in on at the time. So it was played for comedy,
Speaker 1: but there were there was real stuff going on there. Yeah, totally. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that was an injury same time, just even the
Speaker 1: making of that episode was you know, was was right
Speaker 1: during the writers strike, so it was a very weird.
Speaker 1: It was a weird time to be making that episode. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we had to stop. We stopped and started again, I
Speaker 1: seem to recall, um, Yeah, and we were very It
Speaker 1: was very, very very hot. We were in a little
Speaker 1: condo over in the valley and it was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, it was just horribly, horribly hot. It was
Speaker 1: like a hundred and three degrees or something. So we
Speaker 1: had to keep turning the air conditioning off so that
Speaker 1: we would you know, for sound. So we were all
Speaker 1: in there just wedding, and we couldn't really go anywhere.
Speaker 1: We literally couldn't really get away from anybody. So whatever
Speaker 1: issues you were having, we were all having them together. Right.
Speaker 1: You talked a little bit about this before, But what
Speaker 1: do you think Jan's dream was? I mean, someone say
Speaker 1: she she had the American dream at that moment, right, Like,
Speaker 1: she's the CEO of her own candle company, and she's
Speaker 1: singing and she has a man at home that's taking
Speaker 1: care of her, right, Like, do you think that that
Speaker 1: was her dream? Um? Yes, well I think it was
Speaker 1: sort of what she thought her dream was. Um. But obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, it obviously wasn't because she was so tortured
Speaker 1: in pursuing maybe pursuing you know, this idea of an
Speaker 1: ideal that she thought was going to make her happy
Speaker 1: and but she was but it wasn't. It wasn't making
Speaker 1: her happy because she had more to give than that, um,
Speaker 1: and also because she just wasn't with the right partner.
Speaker 1: I mean, ultimately, Michael is definitely not you know, he
Speaker 1: definitely couldn't match her, He couldn't meet her. He's not
Speaker 1: as intelligent as she is. He's not as worldly as
Speaker 1: she is. You know, he's probably not as sexual as
Speaker 1: she is. Like like, I remember one time a friend
Speaker 1: of mine telling me before I got married that there's
Speaker 1: like four things people need to look at with whoever
Speaker 1: they're potentially going to marry before they marry them. Basically,
Speaker 1: it's like physical activity, Like if you know one the
Speaker 1: couch potato and one likes to hike all the time.
Speaker 1: That's not going to work out so well. And the
Speaker 1: other is religion or spirituality. You have to be kind
Speaker 1: of on the same page there, and then sexually you
Speaker 1: have to be kind of have the same you know,
Speaker 1: similar appetite, and then intellectually right, So it's like all
Speaker 1: those things. If you look at any of those things
Speaker 1: with jan and Michael, they're probably pretty much missing every
Speaker 1: single target. That's so good. Well, her like journey, I mean,
Speaker 1: on the outside, you could say that she had it
Speaker 1: all right, she's a super successful businesswoman in New York City,
Speaker 1: and then she gets fired for that and falls apart
Speaker 1: and moves into a condo with her boyfriend. Right, But
Speaker 1: then she kind of builds herself up again and she
Speaker 1: has this candle business, and then she has a baby,
Speaker 1: and then she eventually becomes like a big executive again
Speaker 1: for White Pages. Like, I don't know, there's just something
Speaker 1: about her searching, uh, that is just so interesting to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's sort of it's the wonderful it's the
Speaker 1: wonderful element of not enough that she's constantly he's constantly
Speaker 1: trying to fill that void of, um, nothing is ever enough,
Speaker 1: you know, um, Michael's not enough, and then the job
Speaker 1: is not enough, and then the next job is not enough,
Speaker 1: not enough. And I think that I think I really
Speaker 1: infused her with that. That's just a thing I understand
Speaker 1: super well and and I think it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a fascinating and very funny thing to to sort
Speaker 1: of wrap a character in sort of that cloak of
Speaker 1: just nothing ever ever being satisfactory. And I think it's
Speaker 1: also just I think to me, Jan is a great
Speaker 1: example of what a lot of and go through. I
Speaker 1: think people identify with her because she struggles with I
Speaker 1: think a common problem just in modern day society amongst women,
Speaker 1: which is this this idea of not enough of what
Speaker 1: that is? You know that what what are we supposed
Speaker 1: to be? You know, we're supposed to be able to
Speaker 1: be moms and successful businesswomen and great sexy partners and
Speaker 1: money earners and soft and beautiful. And it's a real thing.
Speaker 1: And I think that Jen encapsulated that in a way
Speaker 1: that no other character on the Office did. I agree,
Speaker 1: her search the entire time was an active search for
Speaker 1: something better. Yeah, for sure, Um, other than it being
Speaker 1: super freaking hot. But other than that, is there any
Speaker 1: other specific memories that you have from Dinner Party episode? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I mean one of the greatest moments
Speaker 1: of the Dinner Party was just a purely improvised moment
Speaker 1: where you know, where, um, I say, I'm the devil,
Speaker 1: and I put my hands up and just did that
Speaker 1: little devil a little devil horns on my head. And
Speaker 1: that was just something that just literally came to me
Speaker 1: in the moment and out of the moment. I didn't
Speaker 1: plan on that. I just that was just what I
Speaker 1: was feeling like at the moment, and and you know,
Speaker 1: Steve just took it and ran with it and then
Speaker 1: he was doing horns. And I think it's like literally
Speaker 1: one of the funniest And I remember that we were
Speaker 1: that we were like even in the moment, we were
Speaker 1: like mad at each other and almost cracking each other
Speaker 1: up simultaneously, which I think is such an incredible line
Speaker 1: to walk that I think probably is where a lot
Speaker 1: of the sexual tension lies with Michael and Chance. It's
Speaker 1: the sort of fighting and fucking thing, you know, um,
Speaker 1: and I just I just think that that was just
Speaker 1: to me captured in that moment, and it was a
Speaker 1: real moment, Like the audience is seeing that exactly what
Speaker 1: happened is exactly what happened, you know, and that's sort
Speaker 1: of so so so fun and so special when you
Speaker 1: get that on television, because that's like pretty rare that
Speaker 1: you get any moments like that on television. That's more
Speaker 1: of like a theater experience. So that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: And then I think just the amount of times that
Speaker 1: we just all couldn't hold it together. I mean, how
Speaker 1: much we cracked each other up. And and I think
Speaker 1: that we were all just the discomfort of being in
Speaker 1: such a small space, it being it's so hot, were
Speaker 1: like all on top of each other. I mean, my god,
Speaker 1: we just couldn't stop laughing at like Steve I think,
Speaker 1: must have said a hundred different versions of you know,
Speaker 1: getting his tubes tied, like I don't. I mean, we
Speaker 1: just tried so many different ridiculous versions. It was great
Speaker 1: and so fun and again so collaborative, and you know,
Speaker 1: the writers sort of throwing things in and Steve throwing
Speaker 1: things out at just you know, and me throwing some
Speaker 1: things out. I don't. It was just so fun. It
Speaker 1: was to me, it's just like playing in a fan
Speaker 1: box that whole episode, and I remember Jenna and I
Speaker 1: having we had some scene where I just remember we
Speaker 1: couldn't literally was the only time on the show that
Speaker 1: I that I couldn't stop laughing. I don't remember. I
Speaker 1: think we were just so tired and hot, and it
Speaker 1: was sort of the end of the night, and I
Speaker 1: think everybody was sent home and it was just she
Speaker 1: and I and where she's like in the bathroom or something,
Speaker 1: and I don't remember exactly what the scene was, but
Speaker 1: it's upstairs and I'm like and I have to knock,
Speaker 1: and like every time I opened the door, she opened
Speaker 1: the door, we both were just burst into laughter. It's like,
Speaker 1: and that's a very unusual thing for me where I
Speaker 1: can't get myself together. But I think it took like
Speaker 1: I think it took like ten to twelve takes before
Speaker 1: it was it was not good. It was like it
Speaker 1: was got to a point where I was like, come on, Laura,
Speaker 1: like I had to slap myself in the face. Well,
Speaker 1: I think, you know a lot of people mentioned it
Speaker 1: as their favorite episode, as you you said before it,
Speaker 1: you know, it came out of a really, really difficult
Speaker 1: time in our industry and the writer strike. But another
Speaker 1: thing that comes up a lot is just how how
Speaker 1: incredibly cringe e it is. It's that and Scott's taughts.
Speaker 1: Kind of the two episodes on our show that was
Speaker 1: the most cringing, and I think the moment that that
Speaker 1: represents that to me at least, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: it's as a man, but the snip snap, snip snap.
Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, and the idea of being forced to
Speaker 1: get a vasectomy and then get it reversed and then
Speaker 1: get another one and then it plays out in public,
Speaker 1: um was I know, it's so bad? And then I
Speaker 1: mean also the the Asa bugo that's like not even
Speaker 1: in yet, right right, and that everyone's been through that,
Speaker 1: like oh no, you have to do this all right.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wrap it up soon. I do want to
Speaker 1: go back. And there was one thing that last night,
Speaker 1: just I don't it fascinated me. A lot of the
Speaker 1: times that you appeared, as we talked about before, you
Speaker 1: were one on one with Steve, but then a lot
Speaker 1: of times you were one on one with Steve, but
Speaker 1: you were on the phone. Can you tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about how those scenes were actually produced? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I would come in to set, and I would
Speaker 1: go in the other room and we would actually record
Speaker 1: me on the phone two rooms away, so that we
Speaker 1: could really have a real scene that was in the
Speaker 1: moment um, and I would actually be on the phone
Speaker 1: in the other room and he would be on the
Speaker 1: phone on camera, and we would play the scene like that.
Speaker 1: That's so rare, right, I mean that you you know, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, because normally you would shoot the scene with
Speaker 1: a person on camera, and then you if you weren't
Speaker 1: on camera, then you would be in a recording studio
Speaker 1: somewhere recording your side of it, or you know, show
Speaker 1: up at some time. But the the humor and comedy
Speaker 1: of those scenes that were playing out, you know, really
Speaker 1: played out almost as though you were looking at each
Speaker 1: other in the room. Um, I remember you over in
Speaker 1: the annex right, like where Toby used to sit. You
Speaker 1: would call in from there and then you guys would
Speaker 1: get together and have notes, and then you would walk
Speaker 1: back into the other room, right, Yes, exactly, yep, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I thought that was so great. It is,
Speaker 1: it is, and it is honoring the real um benefit
Speaker 1: of like having two actors there to to discuss and
Speaker 1: to be you know, we're with the writers and like
Speaker 1: with the director, and you know, we're all kind of
Speaker 1: a team, and it's it's kind of honoring that human
Speaker 1: that human thing that I think we're all really missing
Speaker 1: right now, that human interaction that that none of us
Speaker 1: can have at the moment with the whole COVID nineteen things.
Speaker 1: But that is one of the great you know, one
Speaker 1: of the great things about our work is that it
Speaker 1: is so human. It's so it needs humans, and it
Speaker 1: needs are human input and it and it needs to
Speaker 1: be done by humans. I mean, you really can't. You know.
Speaker 1: Everyone's like, oh, you know, someday it's just gonna be robots,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna need actors anymore. And I'm like, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, you know, I think humans connect
Speaker 1: to other humans, and you know, you can make them
Speaker 1: as real as you want, but they're still not humans.
Speaker 1: And um and he and we're the ones that come
Speaker 1: up with the surprising proof of of the moment that
Speaker 1: makes it so much more hilarious or so much more
Speaker 1: poignant because of what the writers wrote and because of
Speaker 1: how the actors, you know, find the truth in there.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I've just been thinking about that
Speaker 1: a lot, I guess, just just the human nous of
Speaker 1: of what we do and how we really rely on connectedness,
Speaker 1: human connectivity, and and you know, we need each other
Speaker 1: like you need another actor across from you, you know,
Speaker 1: swinging the bat and hitting the ball back to you
Speaker 1: and like playing tennis, it's like you've got to have
Speaker 1: got to have that to make a scene fly. So um,
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for for that on this show, just
Speaker 1: the you know, I would say that Steve, he played
Speaker 1: the game really really well on camera. I loved. I
Speaker 1: just loved when when they would say role camera. I
Speaker 1: loved how we played together. I loved how free he
Speaker 1: was hitting the ball back to me and and receiving
Speaker 1: whatever ball I threw him, even if it was a
Speaker 1: curveball here and there, he would sort of receive it
Speaker 1: with glee and hit it back with real fun. And
Speaker 1: I think that's just because we both have had a
Speaker 1: lot of improv in our background, and when you improvised
Speaker 1: really well, you know, you're good at like making those
Speaker 1: surprises work for you. So yeah, I think that for me,
Speaker 1: it was probably the greatest joy looking back on the office,
Speaker 1: the times of the office just being able to play
Speaker 1: ball with everybody. You know, what do you see as
Speaker 1: the show's legacy? Gosh, I mean, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: it's like such a phenomenon. Um. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: sort of any great comedy that's just really memorable, you know,
Speaker 1: like the Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld and you know,
Speaker 1: they they were kind of doing something that hadn't really
Speaker 1: been done successfully yet and they did it in a
Speaker 1: way that was just right, was just right, and everything
Speaker 1: about the show, you know, from the writing to that acting,
Speaker 1: to the cast of the directors to the producing, you know,
Speaker 1: it just was right. It just clicked. And you know,
Speaker 1: who can ever say why? Like, I don't know why,
Speaker 1: because I think because it's so it's really trying to
Speaker 1: be what it is. It's never not trying to be
Speaker 1: what it is, you know what I mean. It's just
Speaker 1: so unlike anything else that was on television or had
Speaker 1: ever been on television. And I think that is the
Speaker 1: magic of it. That's the thing that made it be
Speaker 1: able to withstand this many years and this much success
Speaker 1: and this much of Yeah, I um, I mean, you're
Speaker 1: just so talented and you were so awesome as jan
Speaker 1: and your thoughtfulness and incisiveness, and I just appreciate you
Speaker 1: so much, So thank you so much for coming to
Speaker 1: talk to me. I appreciate you so much, Brian and
Speaker 1: I and I love that you're doing this. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not really one too. It's funny, I don't really
Speaker 1: I really wouldn't have thought of talking about this stuff
Speaker 1: unless you've brought up the questions. So I appreciate you're
Speaker 1: also you're very thoughtful questions and I appreciate you including me. Well,
Speaker 1: there you have it. Thank you so much to me
Speaker 1: Laura for joining me that conversation. Now, it gave me
Speaker 1: a whole new appreciation for the comple lexity of Jan Levinson.
Speaker 1: I just love diving deep into the psychology of our characters.
Speaker 1: I just love it. And also snip snap, snip snap.
Speaker 1: Speaking of diving deep, next week, we are kicking off
Speaker 1: another mini deep dive, this time into perhaps the most
Speaker 1: important character on the office, the camera. That's right, We're
Speaker 1: going to discuss the camera as a character. Now. This
Speaker 1: is one of my absolute favorite things about our show,
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to get into it even more
Speaker 1: with you guys. Until then, thank you all for listening
Speaker 1: and well, have a great week. The office. Deep Dive
Speaker 1: is hosted an executive produced by me Brian baum Gartner,
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer,
Speaker 1: our producer is Adam Massias, our associate producer is Emily Carr,
Speaker 1: and our assistant editor is Diego Tapia. My main man
Speaker 1: in the booth is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeak, performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and
Speaker 1: the episode was mixed by Seth Olanski. I'm Joe Piazza,
Speaker 1: host of the podcast Under the Influence. If you tuned
Speaker 1: into our last season, you know that the world of
Speaker 1: mom influencers on Instagram contains multitudes. Yes, there are pretty
Speaker 1: pictures and gorgeous kids, and yes there's lots of money
Speaker 1: behind a lot of those pictures. But there's also something
Speaker 1: much more dark and complicated going on in the background,
Speaker 1: and that speaks to everything that is wrong with how
Speaker 1: we treat women in the world. On season two of
Speaker 1: Under the Influence, we're advocating for the women who make
Speaker 1: content and the women who consume it. We're going into
Speaker 1: some of the darkest corners of the social media universe,
Speaker 1: and we might just have a plan to shut it
Speaker 1: all that held down. Listen to Season two of Under
Speaker 1: the Influence with Joe Piazza on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm
Speaker 1: Glory Adam, hosts of Well Read Black Girl. Each week
Speaker 1: we journey together through the cultural moment where art, culture
Speaker 1: and literature collide and pay homage to the women whose
Speaker 1: books we grew up reading. It's the literary kickback you
Speaker 1: never knew you needed. Listen to a Well Read Black
Speaker 1: Girl on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Did you know that on
Speaker 1: the day Dr King was shot, the old black security
Speaker 1: detail normally assigned to him was called off. They're the
Speaker 1: ones who would not allow him to stay at any
Speaker 1: hotel with balconies? Did you ever asked what this was
Speaker 1: all about? Yes? And this is the MLK tapes. The
Speaker 1: first episodes are available now. Listen on the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.