Speaker 1: I'm Amy Ryan and I played Holly Flax on The Office. Hello, Hello, everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome to another installment of the Office Deep Dive. I
Speaker 1: am your host, Brian bond Gardner. I hope you're doing
Speaker 1: very well today, and if you're not well, I think
Speaker 1: I'm about to change that because my guest on the
Speaker 1: podcast today is the truly extraordinary Amy Ryan. Now I
Speaker 1: have to come clean about something here, Okay. When Amy
Speaker 1: Ryan showed up on the set of the Office for
Speaker 1: the first time, I freaked out a little bit because
Speaker 1: I am a huge Amy Ryan fan. If you have
Speaker 1: not seen her work prior to the Office, you should
Speaker 1: Season two of The Wire Genius. Her Oscar nominated performance
Speaker 1: in Gone, Baby Gone is so heartbreaking and amazing. Now,
Speaker 1: I interviewed Amy in New York right after my interview
Speaker 1: with Paul Feig, and partly because we live on opposite coasts,
Speaker 1: I had not seen Amy in such a long time,
Speaker 1: many years in fact, and immediately boom, I'm just so
Speaker 1: happy to see her again. I have this special place
Speaker 1: in my heart for Amy, and what's amazing to me
Speaker 1: is that so many people have a special place in
Speaker 1: their heart for Amy, even though she only appeared in
Speaker 1: fifteen of our two hundred plus episodes. I mean, I
Speaker 1: could imagine a world where people were not so fond
Speaker 1: of Amy and the character she played, because basically she's
Speaker 1: the reason that Michael left the office. Right. But Amy
Speaker 1: was so undeniably perfect and wonderful as Holly that you
Speaker 1: just couldn't help falling in love with her. Plus she
Speaker 1: and I, for better or worse, we are linked together
Speaker 1: forever because of the very special Kevin Holly storyline, which
Speaker 1: well you'll hear us get into shortly. Anyway, am I am?
Speaker 1: I gushing? I'm gushing. I can't help it, Ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: Here she is Amy, Ryan, Bubble and Squeak. I love it,
Speaker 1: Bubble and squeak, Bubble and Squeaker, cooking every month, lift
Speaker 1: over from the night before. So I was here and
Speaker 1: we were thank you anything else. I'm okay, thank yousus.
Speaker 1: What's on the list. There's nothing but beverages on this table.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Hidrake, I'm caffeinating. I was here very briefly.
Speaker 1: I saw John Um, they let me get rid of
Speaker 1: these Paul things, just get rid of it. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: Paul was I think he's doing a pilot and then
Speaker 1: a movie back to back. So he was like, you
Speaker 1: can come to New York or else you in May
Speaker 1: or something like that. I'll come back. That's great. Yes,
Speaker 1: how are you good? Really good? Yeah? Um? Alright, So
Speaker 1: before you were cast, did you watch the show? My
Speaker 1: My History The Office started with my neighbor Noline Burke,
Speaker 1: who came home from Ireland visiting her family with the
Speaker 1: British series. She said, this is a really funny show.
Speaker 1: You have to watch it, and she had, you know,
Speaker 1: like the DVD pal or whatever. So I was full
Speaker 1: on in convert from the Ricky Gervais series. Then I
Speaker 1: heard they were making an American version and I thought
Speaker 1: that was just blasphemous. Why why can't they just import
Speaker 1: the show? Why do we import our shows or export
Speaker 1: our shows there? But we Americans need to remake something
Speaker 1: that's perfect, And I thought it was the worst idea ever.
Speaker 1: And then I started seeing the cast assembled. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is going to be funny, and it was. And
Speaker 1: I watched the American version happily. Um, and then I thought,
Speaker 1: like I I enjoy comedy. I never I'm not good
Speaker 1: at the four cameras sitcom thing. I can't land the
Speaker 1: boom boom, the whatever. But I when I saw The Office,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this is character based comedy. This
Speaker 1: is not rhythm. I mean, there are some rhythms and
Speaker 1: of course, but like it's not so dependent on that joke.
Speaker 1: And then the alternative punchline for that joke that all
Speaker 1: the writers stand around writing and let me get it.
Speaker 1: That is like too stressful for me. So anyway the Office,
Speaker 1: I felt like, Okay, here's the world I could fit
Speaker 1: into in terms of building a character. And there, you know,
Speaker 1: everything is life for death for them. So what was
Speaker 1: the process of you being cast on the show? Did
Speaker 1: they approached you to come in? That was the year
Speaker 1: I was nominated for an Oscar for Gone, Baby Gone,
Speaker 1: and I remember saying to my agent, half joking but
Speaker 1: not really, I was like, you know, if we have
Speaker 1: any role right now, I want to cash it in
Speaker 1: on the Office. I had not heard that, yeah, and
Speaker 1: he's like okay. And apparently simultaneously, Paul Lieberstein, who I
Speaker 1: had known from sitcom many many years earlier, called the
Speaker 1: Naked Truth that he was writing on knew of me
Speaker 1: but also as a fan of the Wire, And so
Speaker 1: I think I'm not sure who called first, but I
Speaker 1: think both were, Like there was a coincidence of timing
Speaker 1: that in that case. So so I showed up, like
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? Why? Anyway? I I felt
Speaker 1: very very confident in my decision that this is where
Speaker 1: I wanted to be next because a lot of all,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the opportunities as well, Like
Speaker 1: there's not much imagination once you maybe poked through with
Speaker 1: a role. You know, as you may know from your
Speaker 1: own experience, like people like, great, we have this new
Speaker 1: role for you, and she's a drug addicted mother. You're like,
Speaker 1: you mean, like the one I just played. Okay, that
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like so much fun. For a while, playing
Speaker 1: someone intelligent was not coming to me surprisingly, isn't that frustrating?
Speaker 1: It so so? But making those hard right turns and
Speaker 1: giving other people whiplash is what I was after, Like
Speaker 1: it's so certainly like going to a comedy and just
Speaker 1: being well groomed in a role, you know, So I
Speaker 1: was I was really grateful for that that they thought
Speaker 1: it was a good idea too. So when you were cast,
Speaker 1: did you at that moment have any idea of where
Speaker 1: it was going to go? No, but I I understood
Speaker 1: that I was there on a trial basis. I think
Speaker 1: it was the last episode like Goodbye Toby. I came in,
Speaker 1: and I think it was a pretty fancy addition, basically
Speaker 1: like having not read for the role, like okay, if
Speaker 1: this doesn't work out, because they said, like, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe might might be love interest from Michael Scott. We're
Speaker 1: not sure, but you know, we still have some ideas.
Speaker 1: But yet again, there was the British version to kind
Speaker 1: of go By, and there was that character I forget
Speaker 1: her name, but where he finally found someone that the
Speaker 1: affection was mutual. But then I believe that about that
Speaker 1: part is I think where it stopped, like the comparison,
Speaker 1: So I knew it was a little up in the
Speaker 1: air and depended on how well I did. I mean,
Speaker 1: it felt very welcome by all you guys. But there
Speaker 1: is a weird thing about being a fan of a
Speaker 1: show and then being employed by that show. I remember
Speaker 1: doing it, like one episode of e Er back in
Speaker 1: the day, like shocked that the hallway was so little
Speaker 1: that they did all that choreography of like running through
Speaker 1: with gurneys and such, and you know, the wire was
Speaker 1: the same thing like being a big fan of the
Speaker 1: show and then joining the company in the second season,
Speaker 1: it was it's it takes a minute. You're just like
Speaker 1: calm down right, No, No, Well, being a guest star
Speaker 1: is a very difficult thing. You're the transfer student from
Speaker 1: another school. Totally. Yeah, well, who's going to sit with
Speaker 1: me at lunch? Were you were? You? Were you nervous
Speaker 1: when you walked onto set the first time? I was nervous.
Speaker 1: I can tell because my head is tilted down like this,
Speaker 1: and because because my daughter just watched that episode, and
Speaker 1: so having the hindsight, like I was like, oh, yeah, look,
Speaker 1: you're not like standing up straight. Yeah, just that little
Speaker 1: till to the head, like maybe no one will notice
Speaker 1: if I mess up. And then I was, And then
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of that quickly subsided because the
Speaker 1: nature of being on the offices, you are a main
Speaker 1: character and an extra all in one. Right. You are
Speaker 1: in the background every scene if you don't have spoken lines.
Speaker 1: And I remember were being positioned by one of the
Speaker 1: low file cabinets and pretending to go through papers, and
Speaker 1: kind of shock is all that those papers were like
Speaker 1: old medical records. Yeah, I thought, oh my god, this
Speaker 1: is somebody's it's also security number, this is somebody's medical history.
Speaker 1: This is just shocked anyway, Yeah, they recycle. That was
Speaker 1: Kate flannering I talked about, which I had forgotten. Get
Speaker 1: a shredder, people shred your stuff. You might end up
Speaker 1: a prop on the office exactly. Your chemistry with Steve
Speaker 1: from the beginning thing is amazing. Did you guys have
Speaker 1: a discussion. I mean, you were a fan of the show,
Speaker 1: so you knew his character very well. But how much
Speaker 1: of that was a discussion about you know, potentially Holly
Speaker 1: being the female version of him or is that how
Speaker 1: it was described or no, Um, it wasn't described that way,
Speaker 1: but you know, just in the writing, I mean, it
Speaker 1: was so generous of the writers too offer me those tidbits,
Speaker 1: whether it was like rapping with him or you know,
Speaker 1: the Yoda saying clearly they're saying she is of like kinfolk.
Speaker 1: And then just as an actors like, well, I can't
Speaker 1: do you know Steve's bit like I can't and even
Speaker 1: if I tried, I couldn't. But like, how do you
Speaker 1: make it the same but different? You know? Um? And
Speaker 1: I just I just love that idea that there's a
Speaker 1: lid for every pot. You know, I was, I don't
Speaker 1: know my really want to admit this. But after however,
Speaker 1: many years playing different parts and theater and other TV
Speaker 1: and film, I get a call from my high school boyfriend.
Speaker 1: He's like, well, I'm so glad you're finally playing yourself.
Speaker 1: Really Yeah, and I can't really deny that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. My my like nerdy, geeky side was on
Speaker 1: the rise. Yeah. So drug adult single mother. Oh no,
Speaker 1: that's part of that's that's the other side of my personality.
Speaker 1: I like to keep it balanced, don't pigeonhole me. You
Speaker 1: had worked with Steve before, very briefly, yeah or um. So,
Speaker 1: Steve started a film called Dan in real life, and PETERR.
Speaker 1: Hedges wrote and directed. Peter's an old friend of mine
Speaker 1: and I have really teeny tiny part in there, playing
Speaker 1: his sister in law. It's a big extended family and
Speaker 1: Peter got together a bunch of his New York actor friends.
Speaker 1: We all were up in Rhode Island for I don't know,
Speaker 1: six eight weeks or so. Anyway, the whole company was
Speaker 1: very close and that's where that's where I met Steve Um.
Speaker 1: You know, just chit chatting. We really didn't have any
Speaker 1: scenes together and stuff like that, but I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know. I got asked that a lot about what's
Speaker 1: the chemistry with Steve, and I have to say, I
Speaker 1: have to give him credit for being the most grounded,
Speaker 1: down to earth creative genius that um you can dream of,
Speaker 1: because he's got a really good thing going on, and
Speaker 1: he he isn't subliminally subliminally like I can. I want
Speaker 1: to change that work as who can say subliminally. He
Speaker 1: is in no way saying back up, let me do
Speaker 1: my thing. I've experienced that on sets with other actors,
Speaker 1: like they're they're not even really looking at you or
Speaker 1: you know, they can do it all. They don't even
Speaker 1: need you off camera for their close up. But Steve,
Speaker 1: and I guess that's his early days, you know, improv
Speaker 1: being with a group. He's so generous, and I always
Speaker 1: thought it was weird. He'd be like the first one
Speaker 1: to be like, that's so funny. He'd tell everyone like
Speaker 1: how funny they were, you know, and you just like
Speaker 1: just your shoulders dropped a little bit. You're like a
Speaker 1: little more relaxed each time. But I don't know. I
Speaker 1: did say to him one time, I said, I know
Speaker 1: this sounds really flaky, but um, I really feel like
Speaker 1: I've known you before in my life, and he said
Speaker 1: I feel the same. So I think it was just
Speaker 1: about trust and just having fun. Like so you were
Speaker 1: there and then you left. And it's interesting because you know,
Speaker 1: you talk about Jim and Pam, their relationship played just
Speaker 1: very purely, and then all of Michael's relationships played essentially
Speaker 1: totally for comedy, at least until Holly, you know, like
Speaker 1: the Carol, the real estate agents and Jan that was
Speaker 1: like so preposterous and terrible. But I think for me,
Speaker 1: even though you guys were so close and that chemistry
Speaker 1: was there in my head, you left and it went away,
Speaker 1: like it went away. And for some reason the Herpies
Speaker 1: episode where he calls you, I suddenly went, oh, this
Speaker 1: is it, Like this is this is where they're going.
Speaker 1: Where were you in terms of discussion about you coming
Speaker 1: back or did you say no? Where? No? We left
Speaker 1: it open and I'd love to come. But for me,
Speaker 1: it was also about location. I live in New York
Speaker 1: and I love being in New York, so I didn't
Speaker 1: want to relocate to Los Angeles. But I was happy
Speaker 1: to come and go. And then also in that time
Speaker 1: then I was pregnant and had my daughter Georgia, So
Speaker 1: so there was a big chunk off while that was happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: where do you feel like Michael's search for the American dream?
Speaker 1: You know, happiness, success, family? You know that that that's
Speaker 1: all he's looking for and nobody will give it to
Speaker 1: him except d whit that he doesn't want anything but
Speaker 1: that it becomes the people that are in this office
Speaker 1: until until you come along. How do you feel like
Speaker 1: that transition for him his character happened or how did
Speaker 1: you see it? Well? I don't know if I can
Speaker 1: speak so clearly about Michael in that way, but um,
Speaker 1: I just feel like, maybe you know, Michael just became
Speaker 1: just a happier person, and you know, he's still crazy,
Speaker 1: That's what I still like, Like he still makes really
Speaker 1: bad choices along the way and things that make other
Speaker 1: people cringe. Like it's not like suddenly Holly comes and
Speaker 1: spreads this magic pixie dust on him and he's like
Speaker 1: a normal person. But she got a little of that too,
Speaker 1: so it's it's permissible in their world. Um I I
Speaker 1: think you know, when I'm stopped or asked questions. You know,
Speaker 1: if it's someone on the street or I just I'm
Speaker 1: always amazed at how much like they root for a
Speaker 1: guy they don't like and they're so glad he met me,
Speaker 1: you know that, or you home and I love that.
Speaker 1: That's all in conflict with each other. Um So what
Speaker 1: does what does Holly mean? From Michael? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: a guy who's just so so desperate to have a
Speaker 1: win somewhere in his life or to be that guy.
Speaker 1: You know, he poses at that for so long and
Speaker 1: then here's someone he doesn't have to work that hard
Speaker 1: with for the I think the first time we see him,
Speaker 1: or that we've known him rather and I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe that it's it's all gonna be okay, like if
Speaker 1: there's one phrase to it, like, you know, we all
Speaker 1: matter the end of the day, we all matter. There's
Speaker 1: there is someone for you and if you don't feel
Speaker 1: good along the way, then you you're just with the
Speaker 1: wrong person. And maybe that sounds easier said than done.
Speaker 1: There's someone single alone being Yeah, you know, thanks thanks
Speaker 1: for that advice, sing me Ryan, you suck like I
Speaker 1: think I think there's um, I guess progress. It's the
Speaker 1: word he's gotten out of his own way. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I think that in the show. On the show, all
Speaker 1: of the characters, you bring up a really interesting point
Speaker 1: that people haven't talked to you so much, but so
Speaker 1: much is about just wanting to win one just having
Speaker 1: that one success, be it in work or in life
Speaker 1: or in love or whatever. And Holly really is that
Speaker 1: for him? Yeah? Yeah, and he didn't have to work
Speaker 1: that hard for it. I mean she was in as
Speaker 1: fast as he was pretty much. So you know that's
Speaker 1: that's also on to see him get knocked back a bit, right,
Speaker 1: He can more be himself. Isn't to stalk a woman
Speaker 1: to date her. He doesn't have to pose. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: then of course we all feared his viewers if you say, like,
Speaker 1: what does this mean for the show? Is he leaving
Speaker 1: the show with what? No? No? What? Back up? Back up?
Speaker 1: Back up? You know that proposal? When I had to
Speaker 1: walk down the line of everybody holding candles, I couldn't
Speaker 1: stop crying. I thought it was one of those things
Speaker 1: where it's like I had to tell meself, like this
Speaker 1: isn't real. But there's something about everybody's face, like looking
Speaker 1: so lovingly and they can't like it. Was such a
Speaker 1: beautiful setting. But I had to I had to tell myself, like,
Speaker 1: these are actors, you're not getting married, but it's like
Speaker 1: any wedding, Like, oh, it makes me cry. I've often
Speaker 1: I've often said there was something about that that seen
Speaker 1: that water comes, you know, the sprinklers coming down, that um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, what's so sort of beautiful and moving
Speaker 1: to me. I Steve directed that episode and I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, the water being such a big effect and
Speaker 1: that first take, which is what's in the show because
Speaker 1: it was shocking and it was cold and it was
Speaker 1: goofy and it wasn't cinematic. And I don't know who,
Speaker 1: but you know, on the other side of the monitors
Speaker 1: like we have to go again. And Steve got up
Speaker 1: and he remember he fought for it. He's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is better. It's not it's not slick, it's not cool.
Speaker 1: It's they look terrible, but it's funny, you know. And
Speaker 1: I was so glad too reasons because I agreed with
Speaker 1: him and the others, like I really didn't want to
Speaker 1: get wet again because that water was so cold. It
Speaker 1: was such a shock when it opened up. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: and I just remember that um that the it's how
Speaker 1: life is right, like everything is not. It's not the
Speaker 1: perfect moment that you that you assume that it's going
Speaker 1: to be. And even though it is this beautiful moment
Speaker 1: with the candles, like there's something that's going to screw
Speaker 1: it up of course. Yeah, but that's the life I
Speaker 1: prefer to live in. Like weird is good to me.
Speaker 1: Odd is really good to me. You know, that's what
Speaker 1: makes me laugh through life that just things slightly off kilter. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the moment that always like anytime I see it,
Speaker 1: and I felt it as a human being in the
Speaker 1: moment that it happened when he says I'm going to
Speaker 1: Colorado and Kevin says all of us right because with Michael,
Speaker 1: we all must go right because that's how to us.
Speaker 1: Michael is the office that Yeah, but because of you
Speaker 1: there there's that transition there, you know. I think when
Speaker 1: you've find true love and nothing else matters, so like
Speaker 1: his old in ways aren't necessary, but you know, eventually
Speaker 1: he finds his true family, which is you. Yeah, that's me. Yeah, you. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a question that I've been asking everybody, Um, not everyone.
Speaker 1: I didn't think about it until halfway through. But um,
Speaker 1: when Michael Scott left to go be with you, there
Speaker 1: was obviously a hole on the show. And the question
Speaker 1: is what do you feel like was the bigger loss,
Speaker 1: Steve Correll or Michael Scott? Well, what do you may
Speaker 1: be your question? If there you mean if Michael, Well,
Speaker 1: that Steve was you know, as you mentioned before, he
Speaker 1: is just such a good and loving person and really
Speaker 1: was the head of the ship. Oh yeah, right in
Speaker 1: terms of the whole cast, Like when he left, don't
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this. We retired his
Speaker 1: jersey like literally number one on the call sheet did
Speaker 1: not exist he left. He certainly set the right energy
Speaker 1: of being the lead of the show. I feel like
Speaker 1: he brought out the best in everybody because he's so
Speaker 1: kind and he's so generous, and I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: I'll use myself an example. One morning because we had
Speaker 1: those early morning makeup sessions like four report in the
Speaker 1: morning and uh, Steve said, he's like, how are you?
Speaker 1: I said, tired? You know, got up like minutes before
Speaker 1: the alarm and I drove over the hill and I
Speaker 1: think a Starbucks wasn't open. He goes, oh, poor, you
Speaker 1: like being paid a lot of money. They come beyond
Speaker 1: a hit show. I was like, oh, yeah, right, you guys,
Speaker 1: don't complain out in l a in New York. This
Speaker 1: is our good morning check. But you know, he was
Speaker 1: being playful obviously, but it was like a reminder of
Speaker 1: like this tube will pass, and you know remember that
Speaker 1: because you might not have it so good one day. Right.
Speaker 1: Well you you came in ultimately to be a love
Speaker 1: interest for Michael. But I have to tell you the
Speaker 1: storyline between you and I on the show. Um gets
Speaker 1: talked about a lot, and I think in the history
Speaker 1: of table reads that we had on the show, it
Speaker 1: was never more laughed because of how long that Joe
Speaker 1: used to set up. And you know when I get
Speaker 1: asked now about moments in the entire show where I
Speaker 1: could not stop laughing, was Hugh and the button is
Speaker 1: literally if you with the change Nickel, this is this
Speaker 1: is a button. And there was something about the sweetness
Speaker 1: on your face and you just very genuinely explaining to
Speaker 1: Kevin that this was a button made me smile every
Speaker 1: single time. And I was like, I can't do it,
Speaker 1: and they're right there with the cam like I can't
Speaker 1: do it, And basically then just turned it into a
Speaker 1: grin to say I'm gonna I'm gonna bang you, but
Speaker 1: that Yeah, do you think that story could play now?
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so much of the Office that I
Speaker 1: don't know if it could play now. Um, it's interesting.
Speaker 1: So I just happened to watch that episode because my
Speaker 1: ten year old he and all her friends at school
Speaker 1: are really into the Office and my daughter is a
Speaker 1: little behind the rest of her friends because I think
Speaker 1: it's weird for her. But but anyway, so watching my
Speaker 1: husband Eric and I like we're just out of her eyeline.
Speaker 1: But here comes your line like I'm totally going to
Speaker 1: bang her, and you know, I'm like, we look at
Speaker 1: each other, like then you look over at her face.
Speaker 1: Does she registered that, you know? No, because somehow it's
Speaker 1: going right over their head, I think, or she maybe
Speaker 1: she doesn't, you know? Um, I mean I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think I hope a lot of it still plays
Speaker 1: because I think it's well intentioned. I don't think we
Speaker 1: were cruel statistic people on this show. I mean, but
Speaker 1: the stuff that doesn't play, it's interesting to think about
Speaker 1: as we all think we're like well intentioned, liberal minded,
Speaker 1: caring people, and the stuff that we didn't pay attention to.
Speaker 1: And so you know, you're asking me, is it okay
Speaker 1: to make fun of a person who we think is
Speaker 1: mentally handicapped? Probably not, but it was really funny. Then
Speaker 1: so what do we do with it? Like, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know where that lives. Um, I certainly don't
Speaker 1: want to offend anybody. I mean, I think the joke
Speaker 1: is upon the person who made the mistake, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like, it's how could Holly be that
Speaker 1: thick or or that well, you know white? Really, I
Speaker 1: mean that it's really that it's Dwight who But I'm
Speaker 1: I'm in the middle there of not using my own
Speaker 1: good judgment or maybe asking for a second opinion or
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, we all we're all judgmental. We
Speaker 1: say we don't, but we judge everybody that walks down
Speaker 1: the block, you know, in our heads, in a little
Speaker 1: private tapes in our head. Um, why do you think,
Speaker 1: I mean, part of why we're doing this exploration is
Speaker 1: we haven't owned anything in six years, and essentially, by
Speaker 1: almost any measure, now, The Office is the most watched
Speaker 1: show on television. Why well, I think I think these
Speaker 1: are relatable characters and First of all, it's funny, so
Speaker 1: that's what's holding up through time. The writing is funny,
Speaker 1: and it's a really great uh ensemble of actors and
Speaker 1: uh what you know, you look back at what what
Speaker 1: old show like I love Lucy's Still Hands holds up
Speaker 1: you know. Um, it's funny and it's not about like,
Speaker 1: um pop culture, you know, which obviously fades away. We
Speaker 1: don't understand the references over time, we forget them and such.
Speaker 1: I think also the culture of binge watching. It's you know,
Speaker 1: it's written well for that. It's written well for that,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, you know, I have friends who tell
Speaker 1: me their kids watch it as really like also a
Speaker 1: soothing effect if they're having a bad day, they go
Speaker 1: and they pop in the office and it lifts them. Right.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that is? It's about paper salesman? Right? Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe there's that you know joy we
Speaker 1: get in knowing like, well, at least my life isn't that.
Speaker 1: It's interesting though, the fact that we are employees at
Speaker 1: a paper company that actually make a living doing one
Speaker 1: job with a specific small Because now if you're selling paper,
Speaker 1: you're working at staples or you're just getting it from
Speaker 1: Amazon or whatever like that. That that sort of like
Speaker 1: office community, that that group. Whether you like the people
Speaker 1: or don't like the people, it's still a community. Well
Speaker 1: maybe that's it's also community is the key word. Maybe
Speaker 1: not so much like I could be in a job
Speaker 1: for the next three years and get my pension. I
Speaker 1: don't know if people are really dreaming about that, but
Speaker 1: I think you're right. A community and this is such
Speaker 1: a world where everyone is expressing their emogens, emogens, emotion
Speaker 1: emotions with emojis and um, you know, connecting with people,
Speaker 1: even misconnecting, you know, like the conflict is probably interesting
Speaker 1: and fun and enviewable. Yeah, well you I mean you
Speaker 1: talked about Paul being a fan of yours on the Wire.
Speaker 1: I mean, it cannot come as a surprise that everyone
Speaker 1: who was on set was such a huge fan of
Speaker 1: yours and the Wire and the fact that it seems
Speaker 1: like the whole ensemble for the Wire and going on
Speaker 1: to it's one point or other. It was like, how
Speaker 1: can we think of a way to go? Do we do? We? Do?
Speaker 1: We need to go to the docks? Is there docks
Speaker 1: near Scraping? Yeah? Um, but anyway, I uh, yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming and talking to me. My pleasure. It's so
Speaker 1: good to see you again. It's so good to see you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I will tell you. You know, I go to college
Speaker 1: campuses and I'll talk and and I know that all
Speaker 1: people want if they want, they want to hear it.
Speaker 1: They want to hear Kevin. Yes. And just so you know,
Speaker 1: it almost always comes out as I'm totally going to
Speaker 1: bang Holly. That's it. That's it. Two hundred and six episodes,
Speaker 1: two hundred and six episodes. No, but I'm saying that's
Speaker 1: the line. Maybe maybe you'll update it for this generation
Speaker 1: and you'll say, with her permission, yes, but it's funny
Speaker 1: that that is, uh, that's always the line. Oh, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Well, there you have it. Thank you
Speaker 1: Amy so much for coming in to sit down with me. Luckily,
Speaker 1: I am pretty sure I do not need Amy's permission
Speaker 1: to say that was one of the most delightful half
Speaker 1: hours of my life. That's what she said. Anyway, I
Speaker 1: hope you all feel the same way. Thank you all
Speaker 1: for listening, have a wonderful week, and I will see
Speaker 1: you next time for another episode of the Office Deep Dive.
Speaker 1: The Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by
Speaker 1: me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley. Our senior
Speaker 1: producer is Tessa Kramer, our producer is Adam Massias, our
Speaker 1: associate producer is Emily Carr, and our assistant editor is
Speaker 1: Die goo Topia. My main man in the booth is
Speaker 1: Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by
Speaker 1: my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed
Speaker 1: by seth Olansky