WEBVTT - That’s A Wrap! - Scranton Rerun 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:08.000 Oh my god, that's it right there, scrant the Electric City. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.640 It's been seven years since The Office finale aired and 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.360 we had the Scranton Rat Party here. I haven't been 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.319 back since. Really, in exploring anything about the Office, I 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:26.639 felt like it was important to come back here to Scranton. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.320 It's not really where it all started, but it somehow 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:32.800 feels like it's where it all started. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.520 My name is Michelle Dempsey and I'm a co chair 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.440 of the Office Convention in the Office Rat Party. 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.120 My name is Tim Holmes. I'm a co chair of 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:50.520 the Office Convention in the Office Rat Party. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:59.600 Hello everybody, Bonus episode alert. That's right. You thought you 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.080 were done with me for twenty twenty three, but guess what. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.399 I'm back baby. Off the beat, of course, this is 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.560 Brian Baumgartner. Now, I told you I get sentimental around 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.520 the holidays, and I meant it. I got so sentimental 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.560 that I decided to bring an episode back. I mean 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.600 way back, an episode I recorded a long time ago, 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.759 one of my favorite episodes from one of my favorite 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:32.600 places ever, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Now, if you know me, you 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:34.720 know how much I love it there. One of the 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.080 reasons is that every time I visit, I'm welcomed not 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:43.320 only by the city, not only by its incredible residents 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.760 and the students there at the University of Scritton, but 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.560 by my dear friends Michelle Dempsey and Tim Holmes. I 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:57.200 call them the Ambassadors to Scranton because one, they love Scrinton, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.080 but two they also are some of the biggest Office 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:05.920 fans around. They organize the very first Office convention and 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.640 the rap party for the show that we did back 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.480 in twenty thirteen. They've helped me with various book tours. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.280 In fact, pretty much every time I go back to Scranton, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:20.520 they are my wingman and my wing woman for whatever 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.040 it is that I'm doing there. Going back to Scranton 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:28.120 always feels like home. I know many of you have 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.000 returned home during this holiday season, so for my last 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.800 episode of twenty twenty three, I wanted you to enjoy 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.520 my little trip back home. Here's Tim and. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:48.440 Michelle Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:54.800 A Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every mole lift over 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.440 from the nine before. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:11.200 I was driving down the highway here and we got 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.119 off and there was the mural there. I started no joke. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.320 I started getting emotional when I just like, I just 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:20.720 saw the sign. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.760 Honest to God, when Scranton heard you were coming, you 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:25.840 felt the electricity search through the city. 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:28.000 I'm not kidding, are you? 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.760 Every my phone hasn't suffering. I'm sure Tim has been 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.959 the same way it has been everybody and anybody who 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.280 thinks they might be you know they it has just 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:42.720 been on fire. And since your since your tweet, Yeah, 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:43.920 we were trying to keep it under. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.119 Let's love them, yeah. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.920 And then your treat went out, We're like, okay. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.440 It's on Well. John just kind of he was because 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.040 I talked to him yesterday and then he was like, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.080 will you send me a photo? You send me a photo? 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.960 And I sent John the picture. And the true story 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.200 is I like put my phone in my pocket and 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:07.520 then it like buzz is what seems like fourteen seconds 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.240 later and it's I don't know if you guys remember 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.600 Steve Socks. I think he was here at the rap party. 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:18.039 He was like the long time stand in, like like 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.240 he was like Steve stand In or am I anyone 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.400 stand in on the show? And I look at my phone, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.120 I'm like Steve Socks and he goes, hey, if you're 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.640 with Krazinsky telling me owes one hundred dollars for the 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.080 fantasy football buy end this year, because he's like the commissioner. 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.680 And I'm like, how does he know it with Krazinski? 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.280 And then suddenly my phone went like, you're with John 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.440 tell him this you're blah blah blah, And I was like, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.440 oh my god. He posted it like so quickly after 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.400 he got his hands pretty nimble. I guess, yeah, Now, 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.000 how did you first find out about the Office? 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:49.400 Well? 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.000 I was a huge fan of the British version of 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.240 the Office. Okay, so when I heard that the Office 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.360 was coming to America, yay. And then when I heard 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.400 with Scranton, I actually panick. I paniced. I was I went, 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.080 I didn't know the mayor well, but I like, like 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.400 march to city Hall, Like, this is not a good thing. 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.520 This is not a good thing because Slow they are 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.760 not kind to slough in that show, and the mayor 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.560 was trying to turn Scranton around and we were on 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.800 this up swing and and so I thought, you know, 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.480 do Slow was really the road to nowhere in that show. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.000 And Chris Doherty, who's the mayor at the time, he's like, well, 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.840 I talked to Greg Daniels and who's the creator of 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.000 the American version, and he said, he's you know, it's 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:30.839 gonna be different, like he's going to be good to 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.480 the city. And I took a deep breath, like, Okay, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.440 that sounds good, and I hope this Greg Daniels is 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.800 everything he told you he is, And like, could I 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.560 think higher of Greg Daniels, I don't think so. Like 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:48.760 he he meets Granton like another quirky, lovable character on 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.760 the show. Right, he captured the essence of who we 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:56.240 are and that, you know, to me is important because 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.200 it's forever changed the perception on the outside. It finally 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.479 let people like the perception wasn't what the reality was 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.320 to us and now they match, right, Like the perception 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.880 is the reality. And the Office was the springboard for that. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.520 Like it really had an impact on Scranton, like huge, 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.120 And I know we'll talk about that a little bit, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.560 but there's the before the Office and after the Office 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.200 for Scranton and for when you leave Scranton and tell 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.240 people where you're from, Right, what used to happen is 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:25.039 like I'd say I'm from Scranton, people be like oh, 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.479 I'm sorry, right, right, right, like really right. And I 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.720 always I never knew what they were sorry about, because 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.000 I always loved to hear and thought it was a 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.080 great place. But now it's I'm from Scranton. It's like, 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.799 I love the office and it's your instant bond across 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.960 the world with everybody, and you'll hear from all these 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:46.120 people the connections and the love and the interesting moments 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.960 that they've had outside of the area telling people that 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.599 they're from Scranton. Right, And I think there's a cool 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.560 story about how Greg picked Scranton too that folds into pain. 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:56.320 Yeah, go ahead. 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.560 So actually Tim tells this better than I do. So, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:06:59.960 so this is. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.359 Greg's words, not ours, and we're obviously paraphrasing, but it 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.880 is our understanding that he chose, you know, basically, when 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.280 he's looking where he's going to do. Philosophically speaking, it's 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.480 a it's a satellite branch, so it's got to be 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.040 a kind of a smaller city. He felt that it 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.720 had East Coast sensibility, so he was kind of looking 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.600 at the East Coast. When he decided the home office 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.640 would be in New York City. He began to look 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.280 at cities with which in might be a two hour 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.920 driving distance. So he looks at Strand, Pennsylvania, Stanford, Connecticut, Utica, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.440 New York, Nashua, New Hampshire. These may all sound familiar 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.160 because they all wind up being the branches and so, 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.600 and that's when he sends out these teams to go 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.840 check out, and Johnny Ka happens to be one of 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.280 them coming into Scranton. So, you know, from what we understand, 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:50.840 there was a lot of little happy circumstances because it 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.240 wasn't only penn Paper. There was another place here called 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.000 paper Magic, which is also a place that John visited. 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.800 And paper Magic is the one that had a greg 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.120 members getting a greeting card that had paper Yeah, a 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.000 paper Magic Scranton, PA. So he kind of had that 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.840 in mind, you know, and he's he he did say, 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.680 you know, he might have just been being nice to us, 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.120 but he felt Scranton was kind of the one to 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.360 beat because he felt it was a big enough name 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.440 just because of how big we were during the Industrial 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.320 Revolution and a bunch of things, you know, for a 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.240 little town, we have a big name, you know. And 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.800 ultimately everything fell into place and it and it worked 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.920 out wonderfully for the show, for us, for everybody. 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.560 Involved, from Magic makes all those valentines that used to 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:33.080 give out. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.840 In Great School and. 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.840 Paper Magic, scrant Pa on the back of all of them, 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.360 and he remembered that. So it was a confluence of things, right, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:42.520 and that was one of them. 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:47.880 Yes, And he also thought the name Scranton was a 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.040 funny thing to say, and it is. There's a lot 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.440 of consonants all in a row, but it works around 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.920 in your mouth a little bit. And so that's that 0:08:58.080 --> 0:08:58.720 was the one thing. 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.959 And if you're from here, you don't pronounce the tea. 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:10.720 Right, scr scrit right, So so you you were born here. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.800 I was born here. Yeah, So that was how I 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.400 heard about the office. And then probably a few years 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.880 into the show, I have an architecture firm, and I 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.760 was at work and I opened up my web browser 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.040 and there was just an article. You know, they'll populate. 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.400 There was an article about Preston, Idaho getting this little 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.560 economic boom from people who were fans of the cult classic, 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.120 the cult movie Napoleon Dynamite going there to see all 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.400 the sites. I'm like, we're the fictional home of Don 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:44.800 tre Mifflin that seems like cooler. We should invite everybody 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.920 to come here and like have like invite the actors 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.760 to come here and see the city and show people 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.520 what it's like here, and they'd have a great time. 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:54.560 They'd meet with the fans, the city, you know, would 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:56.160 be on display. Be a win win win, which is 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.400 what we ultimately that's that's what we ultimately pitched, right 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.480 win when right. But that's where the idea came from, 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.520 and it literally went nowhere, and this is where Tim 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.760 comes and went nowhere. I met with like three groups 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:08.800 of people until somebody was finally like, I have to 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.559 introduce you to Tim Holmes, right. I didn't know you 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.439 at We didn't know each other at all, which is 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.880 crazy to think of a time I didn't know Tim 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.079 and the Homes family right right right, And so we 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.599 were introduced and Tim instantly saw the you know, he 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:27.920 got it, yep, all right, here's what we're gonna do. 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:29.600 And then he went to Tim mode right. 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.800 Right right now? Did you know the show? Were you 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:32.439 watching the show? 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.520 So I was definitely familiar with it, but I wasn't 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.880 as immersed in it as Michelle was. Right, So I 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.880 certainly saw the value in it, but it was definitely 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.480 something that we were all beginning to see license plates 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.600 from Ontario and South Carolina and everything driving through town 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.600 that doesn't happen in Scranton, right, but it began to happen, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.319 and we're all like, yeah, I guess what you're saying. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:52.800 Michelle Is made an awful lot of sense. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.760 So and like we were doing things. Just to be clear, 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.640 Tim worked for the local newspaper and I was an architect. 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:03.680 We had no background and anything, okay, Like like Tim 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.319 did planning events locally, right, so he knew how to 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:07.880 put an event together. But this was going to be 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:10.800 bigger than anything I think you'd ever for sure. And 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.000 so here I am an architect, he's his marketing. We 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:14.320 come up with this big idea. We got all these 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.360 partners on board, I remember at one point. Then then 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.480 we had to go through everybody's act like agents and managers, right, 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:27.000 Like everybody I'm calling I'm like, hello, Hi, I'm representing 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.839 office convention, right, I'm I'm putting together contracts. I'm like 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.080 I'm like, I'm like what am I doing? 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:35.240 Staring at a white piece of. 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:40.719 Paper and I'm like negotiating? Like this was crazy. We 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:41.880 had to do it all right. 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:43.600 It was like Tim and I had to do all 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.280 of that, which is exactly why I think Greg liked 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.040 it because he could see it wasn't like some outside 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.240 group that was coming in and trying to monetize this thing. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.319 It was not set up to be a you know, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.560 a for profit thing, which is why you guys gave 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.599 us a break on talent fees and you know, and 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.720 they helped travel and all this other kind of stuff. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:01.599 They could see right from the get go that it 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.959 was it was a partnership. The partnership was with the 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.040 Cetius Grant, and it was with the County, it was 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.520 with the Visitors Bureau. We weren't selling you know, sponsorships 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.320 where you had to put a shirt on that said 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.160 somebody Sonoko Like, we weren't going to you know, we 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.120 knew enough not to do any of that stuff. And 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.840 I think, you know, we would have conversations with Jowayne 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:23.560 Park and the NBC Universal folks, and and truly they 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.920 were kind of put they were put on the screen cheapers. 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.040 Yeah, they didn't open the door to the producers of 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.680 the show and to Greg until they realized we really 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.320 had something that they're like, Okay, I think these guys 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.280 have their stuff together, right, so we're going to now 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.520 make this connection because we had to dream up the 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.160 entire like all of the Office Olympic Games, the Writer's block, 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.240 like that just came out of our heads, right. That 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:48.680 was like sitting around. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.040 It was maybe about seven or eight of us that 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.640 did it. Tuck our house, Matt Smith, you know, Eric 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.160 Dove and all these guys are building our websites and everything. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.559 All of that stuff was critical because they all played 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.720 a certain role in it. And then all the partners, 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.680 the University of Scranton and all these guys tapping into 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.120 all that. But once we had it all, yeah, one 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.240 of these conference calls. We had already had a number 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.880 of them, but I later found out that at one 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:13.679 of the big ones when they were deciding whether we're 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.480 in or out, Kense Borneck had told me when he 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.599 came to Scranton that he was listening in on the 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.400 one and he just truly was looking to hear if 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.080 we're just a bunch of fangirls we're gonna lose their 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:25.840 minds when you guys get to town, or if we're 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.800 actually going to hold this together and keep you guys 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:29.679 safe and have it lined up with the University of 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.839 Scrand police and you know in the Scrand Police and 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.280 the State Police and the Marshall's office. Like Michelle's brother 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.720 in law is a he's an faag and it works 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.079 here in downtown Runner. We had all of that, but 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.640 it's such a small town you can do something. And 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.800 our whole pitch to Greg was, you know, office fans 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.360 are unique. They need to come together like a La 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.560 Star Trek convention. But it can't be done in LA. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.959 It cannot be done in New York. It has to 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:55.920 be done in Scranton. 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.319 Because it was such a part of the charts and 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.760 interesting afterwards became a more a part of the show, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.160 which I thought was was interesting because Greg had the 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.079 foresight to bring the writers here too. But but I think, 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.319 but not to get ahead. I think, so here we 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.280 have we've like sort of put this this agenda together. 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.199 We have this thing. The only thing we didn't have 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:34.520 for the actors mh you and Angela had come in 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.840 like that may to to say, hey, we're gonna there's 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.200 gonna be the Office convention, like you sort of generously 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.800 because at the all this could have backfired, right, like 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.840 kind of put yourselves out in front, but come like 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.360 a month before still there was nobody officially signed up 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:51.760 to come. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.080 One month of the day that we got our first 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:56.880 actual country. 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.600 We were panicking. They're like, we're gonna have a party 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.800 no matter what. And I remember you called me. You did, right, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.160 and you called me one night You're like, how's it going? 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.320 And I was like, well, you know, it's going pretty well. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.360 I'm trying to like keep up the front, like, yeah, 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:11.160 it's going pretty well. You know, all the planning seems 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.440 to be happening. You know, we got this, that got that, 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.600 and yeah, we just uh, we don't have any of 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.320 the actors yet. And you said something that made my 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.240 stomach drop. First. You said, I just want to start 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.040 by apologizing. I'm just so sorry. And I was like 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.240 and I'm like, okay, it's cool. Trying to keep up, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.760 you know, the front again, and you're like, I've talked 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.800 to my people and I can I could only convince 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.600 thirteen of them. I think I'm pretty sure. I started 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.760 crying when I ran on the phone, right, I was 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.880 like so emotional, I don't even know what I said. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.720 After that, I just lost it and I was like, 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.760 cause that was then I knew it was going to happen. 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:55.360 It was going to be this thing and it was 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.000 going to be unprecedented, and you know that was everything 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.280 that moment to me with you on the phone. It 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.000 was just too much. It was awesome. 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.440 So just to put a timeline on this, So this 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.920 is two thousand and six, so you're already in season 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.800 three at this point. We hosted it in October, late October, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.360 but that was we all remember that day when you're like, 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.800 we got twelve now the beauty of that. So you 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.600 may remember that none of the Fab four could make 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.960 it that year, right, so Steve, John, Jenna and uh 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.440 and Rain could not make it, you know, just conflicts 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.920 and all that other kind of stuff. What we felt 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.040 from the very beginning is the actually convention was so 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:35.040 special because it celebrated the ensemble cast. Everybody else was there, 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.960 all the writers were there, so it really you know, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.720 we you know, we're glad that we didn't want Jenny 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.600 to be distracted. Jenny Tan was there, like Dancer was there. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.480 But we you know, we were able to build it 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.520 and get our hands around it, you know, and the 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:49.680 people who were there were truly office fans, you know. 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.400 They weren't four year old virgin fans. They were office fans, right, 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.720 And that was why that the first one was so 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.520 special and it was packed. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:02.520 It was packed. I was actually there, yeah, and I. 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.280 Thought like it was one of the moments to me 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.240 because I was up in the balcony kind of looking 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.760 down and just enjoying it so much. And each writer 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.879 told episode that they wrote, and people were like cheering 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:15.960 for the episodes, like I, you know, I did the 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.119 Baconator with the folk George Forman girl. That was selling. 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.600 But the cool moment too, was at the end. First 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.439 everybody was so into it, but then at the end 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:27.159 they did a little clip of a piece of a 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.760 show that hadn't been seen yet, and the crowd got 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.000 to watch it live. And the actor or the writers 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.680 later told us they'd never like they'd never gotten to 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.200 see the fans watch the show and get the reaction 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.080 in real time, and that that was like a really 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.760 cool moment for them to hear them laughing where they 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.720 hoped they would get a laugh and like just so 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.280 appreciating the beauty and the joy of it. 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:57.200 You know, well, I remember, great, Yeah, I remember I 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.920 mean from my side, and I don't even think that 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.800 I was aware that it was like a tryout, but 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.359 I remember coming there was this brunch and I remember 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.720 Tim saying, yeah, you know, this was like for VIP things, 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:14.760 and you know, I'm not sure how many people are 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.119 going to be there, but you know, then we've got this, this, this, 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.760 and Angela and I show up and I don't know 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:24.520 if you remember this, but like something happened and we 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.639 were walking into a room that was way over fire 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:33.600 code capacity of people and us walking in and like 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.960 you just like you feel a wave of heat from 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:42.000 bodies just walking into this room, and I like I 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.879 remember like my breath like being taken away, and like 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:52.400 where the fuck am I. I could say whatever we want, 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.480 I can say whatever I want and I and I 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.240 I mean, I will never I will never forget. I mean, 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.680 I will tell you right now. There was a plan 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:06.320 in place of the VIP and they were gonna be 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.920 able to have a picture with us, and then so 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:10.640 many people came in. You were like, okay, so here's 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.200 the plan. You're going to go around to each table 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.200 and they were like banquet tables of like ten or 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.520 twelve people you're going to go around to each table 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.280 and you're gonna say hi to each table, and then 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:20.840 they'll take a picture with you, and then you'll move 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.239 around to the next table. And what happened was there 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.280 were so many people that you you began I mean, 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.840 this is one hundred percent what happened. People started thinking 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.040 they're not going to get to us, like they're going 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.280 to leave before it's our turn. And so then the 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:40.200 plan went awry and everybody stood up and started just 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:45.920 like descending into this corner. And I had Jen Garrety 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:52.200 police officers. Police officer Jen Garrety's four foot ten and 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.120 I was told could take me over her back if 0:19:55.160 --> 0:20:00.680 she needed to, like body slam me. And I remember 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:05.040 I was taking napkins off the table because it was 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:07.680 so hot and there were so many people, and I 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.280 was like wiping sweat on my face and she's like 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.480 her eyes are big, like whoa. And I turned around 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.440 her at one point and I said, okay, and I 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.920 I mean, you have to understand, I'm just a theater 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.240 guy from Atlanta, Georgia, Like this is I was like, 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.240 what is going on? I turned her at one point, 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.119 I looked I looked in her eyes and I said, Okay, 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.520 I just I need I need to make sure you 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.040 know you're watching my back because I feel like I'm 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.440 going to die. I feel like I'm not going to 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.399 make it out of here. If I know you got 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.520 my back, we're good. And just that whole trip, the 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.040 you know, the roof party and everything. So when we came, 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.040 you had this idea to do the convention, and then 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.920 we came and it was clearly I mean, I feel 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.440 feel like even then it was surpassing your expectation. Were 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.400