Speaker 1: Hello everybody. It's Brian Baumgartner here and I played Kevin
Speaker 1: Malone on the Office, and I also host this podcast.
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Office
Speaker 1: Deep Dive. In fact, it's our final episode of The
Speaker 1: Office Deep Dive. As always, I am your host, Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 1: and today we're going to do something a little different.
Speaker 1: You're going to hear from me, maybe more than you
Speaker 1: want to. But what I wanted to do today was
Speaker 1: to look back and finally tell the story of how
Speaker 1: all of this came to be, how this podcast came
Speaker 1: to be. And then I want to look forward into
Speaker 1: our vision for where this podcast goes next, for where
Speaker 1: it goes into the future, and let you know how
Speaker 1: excited we all are for our next iteration, which to
Speaker 1: be clear, will be available on the very same channel
Speaker 1: that you found this episode today. You don't have to
Speaker 1: go download a new podcast or go looking for me
Speaker 1: somewhere else. You'll find me in the very same place
Speaker 1: that I have been for the last year. But today
Speaker 1: is February eight and this podcast I launched started almost
Speaker 1: exactly one year ago today February ninth. Now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go into the numbers, because you know I'm a numbers guy.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go into the numbers over the last year,
Speaker 1: which are staggering and humbling to me and a little bit,
Speaker 1: but I want to start first. Back in September of
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, now that is two and a half years ago.
Speaker 1: That's where this started. I was shooting a movie in Columbus, Georgia,
Speaker 1: a Drick Jesus available on all streaming platforms today, and
Speaker 1: I get a call from Ben Silverman saying he wants
Speaker 1: to talk to me. Now, if Ben Silverman calls and
Speaker 1: says he wants to talk to me, I make time
Speaker 1: to answer the phone. And I was on the East coast,
Speaker 1: he was on the West coast, and we agreed on
Speaker 1: eight thirty pm on the East coast, five thirty his time.
Speaker 1: And I get on the phone and I'm introduced to Lingley,
Speaker 1: who works for Ben. And Ben is on the phone
Speaker 1: and he says, look, we've been working with Spotify about
Speaker 1: doing a podcast on the office, and I want to
Speaker 1: know your thoughts or if you have any ideas about
Speaker 1: how we might approach a podcast on the office. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, this is amazing, and we run through
Speaker 1: a couple of ideas, and LNG has some ideas and
Speaker 1: Ben has some ideas, and I'm like, Okay, this is great.
Speaker 1: I'm in Columbus, Georgia, and I'm I'm I'm a little
Speaker 1: busy right now shooting this movie, so let's talk as
Speaker 1: soon as I'm back. So I return home and Ling
Speaker 1: contact me about having a meeting at their offices, and
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, Oh, I'm just going up and we're just
Speaker 1: going to kind of continue the conversation about the podcast.
Speaker 1: This is the idiot that I am. And I drive
Speaker 1: up and oh, I have this errand and it's taking
Speaker 1: me a little extra time. And send an email saying like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna be a little bit later than
Speaker 1: I said, and um she says, no problem, no problem.
Speaker 1: And so I get to their offices and I walk
Speaker 1: into a conference room much like the conference room at
Speaker 1: dunder Mifflin, about the same size and shape actually, with
Speaker 1: a giant table in the middle. And I walk in
Speaker 1: and there's I don't know, twelve to fifteen people around
Speaker 1: the table, but it feels like fifty to me, and
Speaker 1: there's a spot at the head of the table which
Speaker 1: is clearly for me, and clearly they have been waiting
Speaker 1: there in this room for me, and so I think, oh,
Speaker 1: this was not what I thought. I thought we were
Speaker 1: having a casual conversation about how to maybe pursue this podcast.
Speaker 1: And then the next thing that happens is lying introduces
Speaker 1: me to the table as the executive producer of this podcast,
Speaker 1: The Office Podcast for Spotify, and I think, well, that's
Speaker 1: not exactly where I thought we were at this moment either.
Speaker 1: I hope I thought of something good to say, because
Speaker 1: now I feel completely on the spot And I had
Speaker 1: this idea we could have put together a podcast which
Speaker 1: would have been a well, we could have done a
Speaker 1: professorial explanation of why the Office is so great and
Speaker 1: all of the people who put it together are so great,
Speaker 1: and and lectured two our listeners. This this, that idea
Speaker 1: was not so interesting to me. But what was interesting
Speaker 1: to me was questions. And the question that I had,
Speaker 1: which was a true and real question at the time,
Speaker 1: was why is The Office bigger now than it was
Speaker 1: when we were a hit on NBC. Through conversations, most
Speaker 1: notably I would say Rain Wilson, definitely, Oscar nun Yez
Speaker 1: and Angela Kenzie and Jenna Fisher as well, but most
Speaker 1: notably Rain and I would talk and be like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm getting noticed a lot more in airports again now
Speaker 1: like it felt different, like palpably different in the world.
Speaker 1: And my question was true and legitimate, which is why.
Speaker 1: So this is November of and so we began work
Speaker 1: right away on this approach. But there was something that
Speaker 1: I knew that we needed. We had an essentially an
Speaker 1: eight hour order from Spotify. We knew we wanted to
Speaker 1: do was to talk to the key people involved. So
Speaker 1: immediately I go, well, we need some people's blessing and
Speaker 1: we need their agreement to participate. So I contact Greg
Speaker 1: Daniels and I asked for his blessing and participation, and
Speaker 1: he not only agreed to participate and gave me his blessing.
Speaker 1: He was genuinely excited right away, and I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: well we've got Greg, which that's dad, that's huge. And
Speaker 1: then I contacted Rain Wilson and Steve Carrell and Jenna
Speaker 1: Fisher and Angela Kinsey because they had started Office Ladies
Speaker 1: and John Krasinski and I wanted to try to get
Speaker 1: some of our key people on board. Every single person
Speaker 1: I contacted said yes, I'm in. But I contacted Rain
Speaker 1: Wilson early and I said, well, will you sit down
Speaker 1: with me? And he says yes, But after the first
Speaker 1: of the year, I'm going to be shooting this movie.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be incredibly busy. I would love to
Speaker 1: do it. Can we do it now? Not? Well, sure, yes,
Speaker 1: we're We're prepared. And we talked for over two hours,
Speaker 1: and I had had this idea that if we're talking
Speaker 1: to everybody, aren't people gonna want to hear more from
Speaker 1: these people than just this eight hour story. Well, immediately
Speaker 1: after this interview, Lane turns to me and says, we've
Speaker 1: got to release these full interviews. We we have to
Speaker 1: because see, for us, there were two parts. One was
Speaker 1: to tell the story, but the other thing that was
Speaker 1: so exciting to me was to let people get to
Speaker 1: know the real people behind the roles that they had played.
Speaker 1: And I felt like that by me conducting these interviews,
Speaker 1: that you were going to hear these people in an
Speaker 1: unfiltered way and in a way that you had never
Speaker 1: heard them in a standard interview setting before. So we
Speaker 1: released Oral History of the Office through Spotify, and people
Speaker 1: seem to really like it, and we won a Webby
Speaker 1: Award for an Oral History of the Office and a
Speaker 1: Webby Award just basically just know this. It's like the
Speaker 1: Oscars of podcasts. Okay, that's that's at least how it's
Speaker 1: been explained to me. And you know, all of us
Speaker 1: were incredibly satisfied with the attention that in Oral History
Speaker 1: of the Office got because we put our heart and
Speaker 1: our soul into it. But I still said, we have
Speaker 1: to release these interviews. By the time we had completed
Speaker 1: interviewing folks for an Oral History of the Office, we
Speaker 1: had over a hundred hours of recorded interviews. I was like,
Speaker 1: we're just going to cut that down to eight and
Speaker 1: throw away over ninety two hours. See, there's some of
Speaker 1: the math at work, and that's where the Office Deep
Speaker 1: Dive was born. In a year plus, we've done seventy
Speaker 1: three podcast episodes over the last year. We've never taken
Speaker 1: a week off. We had forty eight guests, sixty three
Speaker 1: call in guests, so listeners like you who have called in,
Speaker 1: and we have total downloads of over twenty six million.
Speaker 1: That is staggering to me and deeply, deeply humbling that
Speaker 1: not only did you tune in for Steve Carell and
Speaker 1: John Krasinski. But you tuned in for people that may
Speaker 1: never have heard of before this podcast. I mean Greg
Speaker 1: daniels interviews still one of the highest listen to of
Speaker 1: all and crew members Debbie Pierce, Laverne, Kara KUSI those episodes.
Speaker 1: People are listening to them just as much as they're
Speaker 1: listening to some of the well let's just call them
Speaker 1: household names. So thank you for indulging us and and
Speaker 1: for listening to those people who without them, the office
Speaker 1: would certainly not be what it is. The moments that
Speaker 1: people gave me throughout the last year, moments that I
Speaker 1: never knew of out Mike Sure telling me that basically
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell saved people's jobs. I will never forget Mike
Speaker 1: Schuer saying when Steve was confronted with the idea of
Speaker 1: reducing the cast and his response was no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. I didn't know that from Laverne, are head
Speaker 1: makeup artist, telling me during the writer's strike about Greg
Speaker 1: Daniels writing a personal check to everybody on the crew
Speaker 1: because he wanted them to feel valued and he knew
Speaker 1: what a difficult time they were going through during the
Speaker 1: writer's strike at the holidays, I will never forget that,
Speaker 1: And I didn't know that before two Phillis and Alison
Speaker 1: Jones being reunited after so many years, Me and Steve
Speaker 1: having the opportunity to face time with Billie Eilish after
Speaker 1: she won fifty seven Grammy Awards the night before or whatever,
Speaker 1: and then hearing from so many of you. The greatest
Speaker 1: gift that the Office gave me, truly, and I mean
Speaker 1: this is being approached by fans who let us know
Speaker 1: how important it is for them to tell us that
Speaker 1: the Office has given them comfort during a very difficult time.
Speaker 1: The fact that the show has connected with people and
Speaker 1: continues to connect with people so strongly and has brought
Speaker 1: them comfort during times overseas, serving in the military, being
Speaker 1: hospitalized for a significant illness, having a family issue that
Speaker 1: they needed comfort for, that the Office has brought them comfort,
Speaker 1: and that people telling me giving me the gift of
Speaker 1: telling me that the Office has brought them comfort during
Speaker 1: a difficult time. That is the greatest gift that the
Speaker 1: show has given me, and this podcast has given me.
Speaker 1: Being able to connect with so many of you who
Speaker 1: called in, who wrote in questions, who had genuine curiosity
Speaker 1: about something or just wanted me to know that the
Speaker 1: office has given them comfort and that they continue to
Speaker 1: watch is I mean, how could that not be humbling?
Speaker 1: And I have to tell you this alright my mom,
Speaker 1: My mom listens to everything. Okay, let me be clear.
Speaker 1: She listens to everything all of the podcast, and she
Speaker 1: rarely responds or makes comments about them. But she told
Speaker 1: me that her absolute favorite episodes were the call in episodes.
Speaker 1: Hearing from so many of you. So I think that
Speaker 1: is a testament to one, well, my mom being cool,
Speaker 1: but also that everyone who has an opinion has value
Speaker 1: and that you guys have listened and responded to a again,
Speaker 1: not just the big stars of the Office, but to
Speaker 1: everyone who worked on or was a fan of the show.
Speaker 1: You know, this podcast also has provided me with so many,
Speaker 1: uh incredibly surreal and beautiful moments. I've been to Scranton
Speaker 1: twice since this podcast journeys begin. What's better than that
Speaker 1: being able to go back to Scranton not just once,
Speaker 1: but twice through this process. As many of you know,
Speaker 1: I wrote a book, Welcome to dunder Mifflin. Myself and
Speaker 1: Ben Silverman co authored the book with Greg Daniels, who
Speaker 1: wrote the foreword. We talked to Chris Hasten, who took
Speaker 1: so many of the pictures never before seen pictures that
Speaker 1: are included in the book, and went back to Chandler
Speaker 1: Valley Studios are old home and walking in like it
Speaker 1: been so long and like I had just been there yesterday.
Speaker 1: I mean truly like goose bump moments. Seeing Tom Melby,
Speaker 1: the guy we worked with all of those years. Every
Speaker 1: single day he manages the stage there. And he showed
Speaker 1: up in the parking lot with his dunder Mifflin warehouse
Speaker 1: shirt on for us and telling us Ben Silverman and
Speaker 1: I about how he has to keep replacing the wind
Speaker 1: screen that he puts over the gate so that people
Speaker 1: don't just stand there and take pictures because now there
Speaker 1: are other shows and other shoots that are happening there.
Speaker 1: So he puts up a windscreen so that people can't
Speaker 1: stand there on the street and take pictures and be loud,
Speaker 1: and that he has to replace that because people come
Speaker 1: with a knife and they slit a hole in the
Speaker 1: windscreen so they can pry their car, they can pry
Speaker 1: it open so they can get their camera in to
Speaker 1: take pictures of the front of well fictional dunder Mifflin.
Speaker 1: But the front of Chandler Valley Studios. Was so awesome
Speaker 1: to be back. There so many incredible moments that have
Speaker 1: happened over the last year, and I'm so proud of
Speaker 1: this podcast and the conversations that I've been able to
Speaker 1: have with people. And look, I want to continue to
Speaker 1: talk to people. There are still more people from the
Speaker 1: office that we haven't spoken to, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: expand the podcast, and I wanted to talk to more
Speaker 1: of my other friends in the business and meet new
Speaker 1: friends who have worked on classic television shows and entertained
Speaker 1: me for years. I worked with a French director for
Speaker 1: a number of years in the theater and he taught
Speaker 1: me an important lesson. You may have heard this before
Speaker 1: from me, but this is obviously it's made an impact
Speaker 1: to me. And he taught me that comedy exists off
Speaker 1: the beat, that there's a predictable rhythm that a lot
Speaker 1: of comedy falls into, but the true comedy things that
Speaker 1: really make us laugh or surprise us happen off the beat.
Speaker 1: And Greg Daniels, then, I mean, the circle is so clear.
Speaker 1: Greg Daniels talks about that a lot with the office
Speaker 1: that he wanted to disrupt the predictable beat, the predictable
Speaker 1: timing of how things would happen, because he felt like
Speaker 1: that would surprise and delight audiences right from Pam and
Speaker 1: Jim getting engaged in the rain at a gas station,
Speaker 1: right not in the most romantic bridge with a babbling
Speaker 1: brook nearby, with flowers and flutes and no, that that
Speaker 1: surprising moment could bring more beauty than anything else. So
Speaker 1: my next podcast, that's what I decided to call it,
Speaker 1: Off the Beat, because I want to talk to people
Speaker 1: throughout television, other entertainers, other comedians, eventually other figures from
Speaker 1: the sports world, and talk to them not about what
Speaker 1: everybody talks to them about, their Emmy wins. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about that, but the moments that happened in their life
Speaker 1: off the beat, the unexpected moments that happened for them
Speaker 1: that truly make them one who they are and to
Speaker 1: make the choices that they make in their art or
Speaker 1: in their sport. So as we move forward, I'm so
Speaker 1: excited because I want to keep talking about folks who
Speaker 1: worked on the office. I have a couple of guests
Speaker 1: that I am I'm so excited, but you know a
Speaker 1: lot of them now are known for other works as well.
Speaker 1: So that's where we're going with this podcast. And I
Speaker 1: am so excited to continue to explore the same questions
Speaker 1: that we've been asking, but explore them with different artists
Speaker 1: who have excelled in their own areas of expertise for
Speaker 1: years and years, that have entertained us in one way
Speaker 1: or another, or at least that entertained me. Commune. It
Speaker 1: is my show, after all, right. I want to finish
Speaker 1: this look over the last year with my good friend
Speaker 1: Michael Padre, my co author of Welcome to dunder Mifflin
Speaker 1: Ben Silverman. I want to welcome him back onto the
Speaker 1: podcast here. I mean, look, he's the reason that the
Speaker 1: office exists in the United States. There, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: just a fact. He is the reason that, you know,
Speaker 1: the show and his insights on well, not just helping
Speaker 1: to put this podcast together and participate in allowing himself
Speaker 1: to be interviewed for I think four sessions, but also
Speaker 1: him and I working on this book together, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk a little bit more to Ben about
Speaker 1: well about the last year together. So there it is,
Speaker 1: and here he is. Everybody Welcome Ben silver Man, Bubble
Speaker 1: and squeak. I love it. Bubble and squeak on Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeaker cookie at every month, left over from the
Speaker 1: night before. Oh my god, I miss you. I know.
Speaker 1: How's it going? It's great. What mic are you using?
Speaker 1: Is that like your headphone? Mike? Yeah, it's my headphone
Speaker 1: like with the burly tones of Brian b um Ben.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be talking to you yet again.
Speaker 1: One year after The Office, Deep Dive launched. Now the Office.
Speaker 1: As we've talked about a lot, it started as as
Speaker 1: an underdog show, right, we were like the little engine
Speaker 1: that could. So much has changed now after all of
Speaker 1: these years, you don't have to convince anybody to watch
Speaker 1: the show anymore. And now you and I we've written
Speaker 1: a book about this show. How does it feel to
Speaker 1: be a best selling author? It's it's so fun and
Speaker 1: truly one of the things I tell people first about
Speaker 1: myself when they mean your father, yes, New York biselling author, Yes, no,
Speaker 1: I absolutely, I introduced myself. Actually it is now My
Speaker 1: first first name is New York Times testselling author Ben Silverman,
Speaker 1: so that it's something I'm running with. I've taken on
Speaker 1: so much new kind of creative authority and ownership of
Speaker 1: my my life process. It's fabulous, right. I just played
Speaker 1: golf in this LPGA tournament. But when they introduced me
Speaker 1: on the first tea, there's like the same introduction that
Speaker 1: they introduced me at at every golf turn, you know,
Speaker 1: Emmy winning, blah blah blah. And I made them change
Speaker 1: it right on the spot. I made them add New
Speaker 1: York Times best selling author to my introduction just because it,
Speaker 1: at least it makes me seem smarter than I am.
Speaker 1: I think it makes you seem smarter, and that's why
Speaker 1: I am enjoying it. I found it to be one
Speaker 1: of the more validating runs I am. Um. You know
Speaker 1: a little sad that our great partners at our book
Speaker 1: company did not print the millions of books that they
Speaker 1: should have because there's so much pent up demand. And
Speaker 1: these books are now trading on eBay at a premium
Speaker 1: because they're impossible to find. And I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that all of your fans and the fans
Speaker 1: of this great podcast know that there will be a
Speaker 1: new printing of the book, ordered by HarperCollins that is
Speaker 1: going to hit the shelves around March. Due to some
Speaker 1: of the apply chain issues affecting all industries, and you
Speaker 1: should just pre order now and get excited because the
Speaker 1: book will be out. It is already trading at a premium.
Speaker 1: It's almost like its own n f T at this point.
Speaker 1: It is creating so much value for that first wave
Speaker 1: of buyers and readers who won't let the copies go.
Speaker 1: Buying the book is like buying an n f T.
Speaker 1: You heard it here. How many of the initial order
Speaker 1: did you did your family order? Was it like two
Speaker 1: thirds of the question? No question that that we put
Speaker 1: a huge dent into that official supply, but I assumed
Speaker 1: it would have been an infinite supply knowing the extended
Speaker 1: Silverman families love of the book and their friends love
Speaker 1: of the book, and frankly anyone who needed a Christmas
Speaker 1: President entered my house and saw the book and demanded
Speaker 1: a copy. What memories were brought up to you through
Speaker 1: writing the book? What memories about the office came back
Speaker 1: to you? I definitely I wish I had spent more
Speaker 1: time enjoying the creative process and not the regular role
Speaker 1: around the show, which is kind of where I did
Speaker 1: all my you know, my work, like my blocking and tackling,
Speaker 1: was very much on the kind of moat around the
Speaker 1: show to protect it and allow its creativity to just,
Speaker 1: you know, flourish without challenges. And I wish I had
Speaker 1: been on the set more and been around it even
Speaker 1: more to enjoy it. And as it was going on,
Speaker 1: we were always kind of fighting for it. So I'm
Speaker 1: almost enjoying it more now, you know. Someone asked me
Speaker 1: how I was doing. An old friend from Europe was
Speaker 1: asking me about, you know, how I was, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I've been really happy since The
Speaker 1: Office became the most watched show in modern or maybe
Speaker 1: the history of television. And he goes, I understand that,
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm very it makes me happy. Yeah, how
Speaker 1: was it for you? Because I know I've talked a
Speaker 1: lot about how amazing it was. I mean, there are
Speaker 1: so many people that I talked to for the podcast
Speaker 1: and we talked to for the book that we hadn't
Speaker 1: seen in a long time, like people that I love
Speaker 1: and love spending time with. Uh. I just wanted you
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit from your perspective about how
Speaker 1: it was reconnecting with those people once again. On the
Speaker 1: process of of the book and the podcast. Well, part
Speaker 1: of me had avoided asking any of our colleagues and
Speaker 1: collaborators for kind of anything. Um post show, I had
Speaker 1: no problems calling you all the time and asking to
Speaker 1: stay in your guesthouse or to to play golf. But
Speaker 1: I did, you know, feel uh some wonderful connectivity and
Speaker 1: making those calls, which I was nervous about. It was
Speaker 1: like I hadn't called. It was like calling an old girlfriend,
Speaker 1: you know, I hadn't. Yeah, I had such a deep,
Speaker 1: profound relationship for ten years, and then we kind of
Speaker 1: broke up for a little bit to go do our
Speaker 1: own projects or new things or you know, you know,
Speaker 1: to move off into the world. And so then reconnecting
Speaker 1: through the book and the you know, collected love of
Speaker 1: the show and our experience on it was really great
Speaker 1: and I was happy to do it. And I've kind
Speaker 1: of since dropped any of my hesitation about doing it
Speaker 1: as well. And it's been a great exercise in in
Speaker 1: appreciation and remembrance and you know, the present day. And
Speaker 1: also because we're all living the same experience, which is
Speaker 1: the show's relevance, uh continues to expand and and touch
Speaker 1: new generations, including our own children, you know, which I
Speaker 1: never thought would be possible because our kids were like
Speaker 1: born at the end of the show. Yeah, I to me,
Speaker 1: that was well both the most delightful um and the
Speaker 1: thing that made me the happiest. I think through this
Speaker 1: whole experience, I talked about calling Greg Daniels and calling
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell and Rain Wilson and these guys about trying
Speaker 1: to get them to participate. Would they participate in this podcast?
Speaker 1: Were they interested in going back and telling the story?
Speaker 1: And how incredibly excited one that everybody was, and to
Speaker 1: how generous everybody was with their time. I mean, I
Speaker 1: remember you were there when I spoke with Steve Carrell,
Speaker 1: and I think we we we talked for three and
Speaker 1: a half hours in in in front of the mics,
Speaker 1: and then we finished and you said goodbye, and I
Speaker 1: we talked to Billie Eilish and then I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna go, or Steve, I'll walk you
Speaker 1: out to your car, and we we walked down to
Speaker 1: his car, and then he and I stood by his
Speaker 1: car for thirty minutes. You were like, where did Brian go?
Speaker 1: Where did he? Where did he go? He just wanted
Speaker 1: to keep talking about the show, and I was like,
Speaker 1: we could have done this upstairs and I could have
Speaker 1: recorded it, Steve, But I mean that to me was
Speaker 1: so amazing that that I think everybody had the same
Speaker 1: curiosity that we did, which is why is the show
Speaker 1: become so big? Now? What happened? Like, let's go back
Speaker 1: and really dive into it. And everybody seemed to want
Speaker 1: to tell totally and um great example, and I think
Speaker 1: no one had asked, you know, and and so like
Speaker 1: we gave the book, gave people a format, and the
Speaker 1: podcast gave people the environment. And I think the phone
Speaker 1: calls were just the excuse. You know, they were looking
Speaker 1: to take that experience to the present day, and we're
Speaker 1: experiencing it through the show's popularity in the present day.
Speaker 1: But we weren't like experiencing it together, you know. And
Speaker 1: I know there had been some kind of zoom bomb things,
Speaker 1: but these were in depth conversations, pointed and specific around
Speaker 1: our histories together. Do you have any specific memories, uh,
Speaker 1: about your initial talks with Spotify about getting an oral
Speaker 1: history of the office out into the world. Do you
Speaker 1: remember anything about that conversation or how they felt about it.
Speaker 1: I thought Spotify was like Microsoft. I just thought it
Speaker 1: was like this big corporate thing and I'm knew that.
Speaker 1: It took me like three or four hours just to
Speaker 1: figure out how to subscribe or download or utilize it
Speaker 1: on my phone. But but once I did and I
Speaker 1: heard they were open and looking for podcasts, they seemed
Speaker 1: like a cool thing. I thought they were like kind
Speaker 1: of the Netflix, e h of of that world. And
Speaker 1: we brought it up and um, you know, our incredible
Speaker 1: team including obviously Diego and Ling and the and the
Speaker 1: crew and and Liz helped us build it out and
Speaker 1: we we pioneered a whole genre and format. It was great,
Speaker 1: but I remember, no, it was. It was and we
Speaker 1: had to build it out and do what we do
Speaker 1: as producers, which is really make sure that they knew
Speaker 1: the story. And we built out a deck, and we
Speaker 1: built up material, and we showed the narrative, and we
Speaker 1: really thought through what the episodes could look like, who
Speaker 1: could participate, why they participate, how we could break it down,
Speaker 1: and a lot of work went into it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was a highly produced experience and at the corner
Speaker 1: stone of it and the key is who's going to
Speaker 1: host it and drive it? And that was great that
Speaker 1: we did it together. Brian, you know you were immediately
Speaker 1: the only person, uh that we could come up with
Speaker 1: who would say yes, and we reached out and no.
Speaker 1: But having you build it with us from the beginning
Speaker 1: was amazing. Did you expect the book or the podcast
Speaker 1: to be to be a hit. Did you feel that
Speaker 1: there was an appetite to hearing our story? I really did.
Speaker 1: I did not to be gross about it, but I
Speaker 1: just felt like we had not told the story from
Speaker 1: the collection of great people involved, and that there was
Speaker 1: a tremendous fandom that had been built around the kind
Speaker 1: of Office universe, and and you're seeing it with the
Speaker 1: Office experience in Chicago, which is it's amazing kind of
Speaker 1: experiential project going on there with with the show, and
Speaker 1: you see it with our book, and you see it
Speaker 1: with the the show's continued you know, airings and repeatability
Speaker 1: and and viewer expansion. You know, each successive age group
Speaker 1: kind of falls in love with it. And so I
Speaker 1: think it had in my mind so much potential, and
Speaker 1: also because I knew it was us doing it, and
Speaker 1: that we would do it to its potential, and that
Speaker 1: we would know that we would be connected enough to
Speaker 1: the material to actually tell it as insiders as opposed
Speaker 1: to kind of maybe mislaying some of the psyche of
Speaker 1: the show. Yeah, we started the journey of of promoting
Speaker 1: a book as authors do, and you and I, along
Speaker 1: with Greg Daniels, who wrote the foreword, got invited to
Speaker 1: do something very very special to me, but I know
Speaker 1: that it means even more to you. We were invited
Speaker 1: by the Street Why to do a live talk talk
Speaker 1: to me a little bit about sty and what that
Speaker 1: specifically means to you. It was such a fun uh
Speaker 1: fun thing to do, even if it virtually you me
Speaker 1: and Greg. Greg and I are New Yorkers and have
Speaker 1: real passion and love for the city, and both grew
Speaker 1: up with intellectual parents of the city who spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time hearing music. Are are going to UM
Speaker 1: concerts or lectures at that Why where we did our
Speaker 1: event unfortunately not in the theater, but in you know,
Speaker 1: the virtual world. And my own father had written a
Speaker 1: composition in honor of an incredibly important guy to me,
Speaker 1: a man named Hermann Sandler who family were super tight
Speaker 1: with our family UM, and he had been murdered in
Speaker 1: the nine eleven attacks. And my dad composed music and
Speaker 1: Sting sang the sonnets that my father had composed to
Speaker 1: and written, and it was just an amazing evening and
Speaker 1: celebration of my lost father and Hermann Sandler and my
Speaker 1: my real father in in Stanley Silverman and you know,
Speaker 1: my immediate community. And so when we were asked it
Speaker 1: speak at the y and link tells Us, I was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is uh cool. You know, this is deep. And
Speaker 1: I knew Greg would love it because it's his backyard,
Speaker 1: right you know. Well I did just a little looking
Speaker 1: authors at the street, Y Truman, Capote, Arthur Miller, Paul McCartney,
Speaker 1: who wrote a book of poems, and you and me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, what else can you say except for that?
Speaker 1: Send me that list, Send me that list that will
Speaker 1: now be a part of your bio, your introduction. Gend
Speaker 1: me that list on a list of authors who have
Speaker 1: appeared at the ninety second stry By including Yes, something
Speaker 1: tells me our names may not show up in the
Speaker 1: same way. I don't think they'll be. They will not
Speaker 1: be cross reference backed by Paul McCartney or the Capodi
Speaker 1: estate as they retell their story. Yeah, don't see that.
Speaker 1: I want to. I want I want to leave you
Speaker 1: with this. From the very beginning, I started asking a
Speaker 1: question I asked you before. I don't know if now
Speaker 1: a year and a half since we first spoke, if
Speaker 1: your answer is different. What are you most thankful for
Speaker 1: from your entire experience on the office? Wow? I think
Speaker 1: I thankful in it in a kind of miss American way,
Speaker 1: for the joy it's brought so many different people and
Speaker 1: the place it's played in their lives as a sense
Speaker 1: of comfort and warmth and the familial and that people
Speaker 1: look to it to provide them that and share it
Speaker 1: with their friends, and that that's a pretty amazing thing
Speaker 1: to feel. It's really nice to see that and connect
Speaker 1: to people about that and to enjoy their enjoyment. You know,
Speaker 1: is something well beyond any kind of material relationship or uh,
Speaker 1: you know, validation from some kind of superficial edifice. Just
Speaker 1: the kind of one to one fan to fan, you know,
Speaker 1: anecdote to anecdote that connects people's feelings of the show
Speaker 1: back to you or to me or anyone involved in
Speaker 1: the show. Is really a nice is it is a
Speaker 1: really nice thing to have in your life. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: Greg wrote the last line of the show, there's beauty
Speaker 1: and ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point. And
Speaker 1: I think that that mantra, that that idea has given
Speaker 1: people such comfort and have have seen such truth in
Speaker 1: the show. Yeah, I think for me that's the lasting thing.
Speaker 1: That's why I keep talking about it. I think it's
Speaker 1: because of the comfort that I've heard from people. Um,
Speaker 1: thank you, Ben, Ben Silverman for coming on. You know,
Speaker 1: none of us would be here. I would I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have a mic in front of me right now, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be a best selling author. Uh. And I know
Speaker 1: I certainly would not have been on the office. Do
Speaker 1: you not, with your trademarked tenacity, decided to wrangle Ricky
Speaker 1: Gervais into a Starbucks and and start all of us
Speaker 1: on this journey? I think all of us who worked
Speaker 1: on the show and uh, and I've been a part
Speaker 1: of this show and every show that has come out
Speaker 1: of it. Owes you a debt of gratitude for that
Speaker 1: you were. You weren't just in the room where it
Speaker 1: happened to borrow a phrase. You kind of were the
Speaker 1: room that happened. Thank you, Thank you. I can't thank
Speaker 1: you enough, brother, and I so enjoyed the great friendship
Speaker 1: we have deepening through the process of the podcast and
Speaker 1: the process of the book, and I know the best
Speaker 1: is yet to come, and I just love it so much.
Speaker 1: It's been awesome, and I'm excited that you're going to
Speaker 1: give me a couple of strokes next time we play,
Speaker 1: because it's been rough losing you on a teen I
Speaker 1: in great frequency. I just want everyone here to know
Speaker 1: that Stars closed the show, and Brian will be closing
Speaker 1: this show as he closes every golf course hole as
Speaker 1: in number eighteen, by joining the putt and beating his
Speaker 1: friend Ben. Here's been good luck agociating the strokes. Thank
Speaker 1: you well, folks. That does it for our look back
Speaker 1: over or all the incredible things that happened since The
Speaker 1: Office Deep Dive launched one year ago. And thank you
Speaker 1: Ben for stopping by and well, of course for everything.
Speaker 1: But don't worry, gentle listeners, this isn't goodbye. It is
Speaker 1: not the end of the road. Forget that. It is
Speaker 1: a new beginning. Next week we will be taking The
Speaker 1: Office Deep Dive off the beat and it is bound
Speaker 1: to be a great time. The first episode amazing. So
Speaker 1: I will see you then next Tuesday, same time, same place.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait. The Office Deep Dive is hosted and
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes and Diego Topion. Our theme
Speaker 1: song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski