WEBVTT - The Office Deep Dive Call-In Edition - Pt. 2 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:21.560 Hello, everybody out there in the podcast universe or pod 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.560 verse as I just now named it. Welcome to another 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.240 episode of the Office Deep Dive. As always, it's me, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:35.120 that's right, your host, Brian Baumgartner, coming at you with 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.240 a very special end of the year addition of the podcast. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:46.000 Because we did it, guys, we made it through another year, 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.479 and as a New Year's treat, today, I've got another 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.040 call in episode lined up for you, because look, I'll 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.800 admit it, I can't get enough of you. That's what 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.639 she said. Uh, but I mean that truly. It has 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.120 been so incredible to hear from you and talk to you. 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.600 So thank you all of you who reached out. We 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:13.080 got so many calls. Thank you for taking the time 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.360 to connect with us. And you know what, I'm just 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.399 gonna go right into it. Yeah. So I would like 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.520 to welcome right now you, my listeners, to the very 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:32.920 last episode of one, an episode starring well you. So 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:42.360 let's see who do we have calling in today? Bubble 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:49.480 and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.480 and Squeaker cooking every month, lift over from the night before. 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.520 How's it going, Brian? Thank you for having me on 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.960 this show. This is very nice. It's lovely to see you. Anyways, 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.160 I have a question about Kevin here throughout the whole show, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.840 Kevin got way dumber. You know, in the first like 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.520 one episode, not one episodes, one season, second season he 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:29.320 was stupid, yes, slow, yeah, but he seemed to morph 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:34.440 into this borderline mentally disabled person. And I was just 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.520 curious because that you now, you call it out, but 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.840 what Oscar and Angela called out when you're talking with 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.919 the you know, why use big word when small word 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.600 do trick? You know, he's gotten worse over the years. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.200 But I was just curious if that is was an 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.360 intentional thing done by either you or the writing staff, 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.040 or if it just morphed over the nine years that 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.200 you guys were on air into that and if that 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.360 was a consciousness acsion that you made to make him 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.880 done more slowly, or if it just you kind of 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.200 got more into the character as a story went on 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:07.919 and that was actually how the character was supposed to 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:10.440 play the entire time. Uh yeah, thanks for having me on. 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.040 I'm gonna shake your hand now, shake Jake, Jake, we 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.919 just shook hands. Can you believe it? Mom? All right, bye? 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:24.560 We just shook hands. Nick, thank you for your question. Look, 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:26.760 this has been brought up a lot, especially if you 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:31.000 go onto the deep dark web that has read it. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:37.680 Um the original character description of Kevin when they were casting, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.480 the casting noticed said, the only thing remarkable about Kevin 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:48.720 is that he is remarkably unremarkable. So that's where we 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.640 started from, and I think we found over time that 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:57.960 there were, in fact some remarkable things about Kevin. So yes, 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:03.640 Kevin morphs. Really it was the writing. The writer's fell 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:09.480 in love with let's just call it Kevin's childlike sensibility. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.680 And so my nerdy I've talked about this before, but 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:19.720 my nerdy actory justification for this was when the camera crew. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.520 When the documentary crew began to film dunder Mifflin, Kevin 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:28.760 was very nervous and much more reserved. And then as 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.880 he became more comfortable with the cameras being in the office, 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.480 maybe he went out with a beer or two with 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:41.360 some of the crew guys, more of his true personality 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.039 came out. Now that's my justification. I think the reality 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.760 was the writer's fell in love with that sort of 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:55.080 childlike sensibility and leaned into it. Also, Kevin was used 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.240 as one of the characters for physical comedy, which has 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:04.280 a tendency to well, let's just say dumb up a character. Uh. 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.320 And in fact, when Steve Carrell left, I was told 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.159 by Paul Lieberstein and some of the other writers that 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.279 they were going to even more lean into Kevin and 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:18.880 physical comedy because Steve Carrell was gone, who was helming 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.360 a lot of the physical comedy. So there's the answer. Nick. 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.520 It wasn't really conscious, but it did evolve because of 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.320 how the writers were writing the role. So he started 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:35.000 as remarkably unremarkable and I think he ended, um, well, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.840 something quite different. But thanks Nick, and here's here's your 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.240 handshake back. Hi, Brian, my name is Randy. I live 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.600 in Santa Rosa, California. Big fan of the Office, of course, 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.720 I wanted to tell you my three grandsons are also 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.320 their ages twelve, fifteen, and eighteen. They also loved the show. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.920 And Um, I was wondering how many takes typical scene 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.920 would would be done. I guess it would depend on 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:05.600 the different directors. Um, there seems to be so much 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:10.200 going on in a scene, so many different people involved 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.880 in a given scene, that to do very many takes 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.719 would be kind of hard. So what would you say 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.720 the average number of takes was for a scene. Well, thanks, Randy, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.240 And let me tell you on a personal note, the 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.480 fact that you're a grandfather and you're a fan of 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.479 the show, and you have grandkids that are fans of 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:33.039 the show. I think that is well to quote Kevin awesome. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.599 You know, that's an impossible question to answer. It really 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.880 depended upon the complexity of the scene. And as you said, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.040 the number of people, and actually the number of people 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.760 that were in a scene increased the number of takes 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.320 that would be required to shoot it because they needed 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:56.599 to make sure that everybody was covered. Um, largely, it 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:02.719 depended on two factors. One, how many takes were lost 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.000 because people were laughing. That is just that is just 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.000 the truth. And I my mind goes to the conference 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.840 room scenes and Steve Correll, Michael Scott at the front 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:19.440 scenes like prison Mike, those were incredibly difficult. The more 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.000 improv that he and others did that caught the rest 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.520 of us off balance. The smiles and the laughs came. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.480 So that was one And to how much improv was done. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.960 So because we were shooting the show for NBC, a 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:38.120 mega conglomerate corporation. You know, everything we said had to 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:43.640 be approved. So the script as written was always shot 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.840 because if it if it wasn't on the page, we 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:48.640 may not get approval for it, and then we would 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.880 be in trouble. So everything as written was shot because 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.360 it was had been approved by the network and this 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:01.040 band of people called standards and practices, which ensure that 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.040 nothing naughty gets on the air, or at least not 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.440 too naughty. Um. But then we were always every scene 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.960 we were given a free pass, a pass to play 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.160 and improv and depending on how successful the scene was working, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:20.480 depending on how successful actors were able to improvise or 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.200 writers were able to pitch new jokes, the scene would 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.760 happen more. But you know, because of that, that's why 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.920 on the DVD s and now on Peacock, there are 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.520 so many additional scenes that were that were cut. Our 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.200 first assembly they called it was about forty five minutes, 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.640 and when you think about running time on NBC, that 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.800 was twenty two minutes. So on average we had a 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.120 double episode shot and then they had to cut it 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.920 down to twenty two. I know that's not an answer, Randy, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:59.839 exactly how many takes just remember this the chili scene. 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.720 One take. That's really all you need to know. Hi, Brian, 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.400 this is Steve Schrader listening to your podcast today. I 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.600 heard about, um your request here from listeners, so this 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.800 is my first I'd like to say. I guess is one. UM. 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.640 I love your podcast, big fan, obviously, big fan of 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.600 the Office. UM you were also I've already pre um 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.680 bought the book, re ordered the book, and UM, you're 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.640 kind of enough to do a cameo for my wife 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:30.920 for her birthday, I want to say, a couple of 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.640 years ago now UM with chili, So thank you. So 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.240 I'm a big fan. UM my question is to you, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:42.800 and there is no certainly no one besides you that 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.840 could play Kevin. But I'm always interested in what the 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.920 actor themselves think of who would they like to see 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.600 try to play that character if it wasn't them. So 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.280 that's my question to you. UM, if if it wasn't 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.680 you playing Kevin, hard to even think of anybody else 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.760 playing you, who would you think you would like to 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.320 see or who you know maybe several people you would 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.000 like to see like Kevin. Thank you, bye, Hey Steve, 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.280 thank you for your question. By the way, you hit 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.000 the Triumvirent All right, you're a fan of the podcast, 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.920 which I can't thank you enough for. You now have 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.680 the book. I hope you enjoy it. By the way, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.400 as I speak right now, four weeks in a row 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.920 on the New York Times bestseller list. So I want 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.080 to thank not just you, but everybody who has supported 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.320 the book. It's so exciting to me personally that so 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.920 many people are are reading it, are reading what I wrote. 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.320 And then of course CAMEO, thank you for your support 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.080 there as well. So who else would I like to 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:52.560 see play? Kevin George Clooney, I think would be my answer, 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.600 But I don't know Steve. That's so difficult. But I 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.280 will tell you a story. I don't know if you 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:03.240 know this. When Steve Carrell left the show, we had 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.600 a big party and Alison Jones, are amazing casting director, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:09.200 came up to me and she said, well, you know, 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.880 I was looking for some mementos to give Steve, you 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.000 know now that he's he's leaving. I didn't find something 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.719 that great, but I thought you would be interested in this. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:23.120 And it was a single sheet of paper with three names. 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.920 It said Kevin Malone and then it was the three 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.160 actors that in the end they were considering for the role, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.520 and it was myself, it was Eric stone Street, and 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.040 it was Jorge Garcia. Eric stone Street obviously went on 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:43.520 to Modern Family, Jorge Garcia went on to Lost, amongst 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.920 other things. Um, and I framed that piece of paper 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.280 and it is it is. It is in my office 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.160 because I think it's so cool and I'm such a 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:58.080 fan of both of them. So who knows, you could 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.959 have had Eric stone Street or Jorge Garcia as Kevin 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.199 Malone on The Office. Um, but that's who could have 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.199 done it. Who I want? Who I would have wanted 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:16.200 to do it? Yeah, Yeah, George Clooney, Hello Office Deep Dive, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.559 and hello Brian, So good to talk to you. I'm 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:20.800 a huge fan of the podcast. Obviously a huge fan 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.880 of the Office. My name is Kendrick, And I just 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:25.880 had a question that I've always been wondering ever since 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.240 listening to the podcast, and that question is how do 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.760 the actors and I guess anybody working on the set 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.880 de stress after stressful moments during filming, because I bet 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:41.360 there was a lot of stressful times during filming the 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.439 show and moments that people would feel stressed you know, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.719 including you or any other actor, and I just want 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.280 to know what your methods were, what other actors methods 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.120 are when these times are stressful. I mean, do you 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.839 just go to your trailer and meditate or do you 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.360 do exercise? Like what do you do on set there 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.840 when you start to feel stressed? Thank you so much, Kendre. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.720 Great question, Thank you for listening. Look, I might be 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.920 a little different. I'll tell you this. How I d 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:14.000 stress in my normal life now is I play golf. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.720 There's been a lot of discussion about me and golf, 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:19.640 and I play as much golf as I can. Unfortunately 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.400 it's not as much as I would like. But but 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.160 I always say that for the four hours or whatever 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:32.560 that I'm out there, for me, I become singularly focused 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.520 on one thing, which is getting the ball in the hole. 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.199 That's what she said. I don't know that wasn't even intentional, um, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.680 but that's all I think about. So everything else that's 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:50.280 going on in work or in personal life or whatever else, 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.120 it goes away for the time that I'm out there, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.280 and then as soon as i'm done, I'm sort of 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.080 back to it. So I tell you that because similarly 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.000 on the office. It wasn't a out going and being 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.400 alone or meditating because I think my feeble brain would 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.480 just ruminate on whatever was stressing me out. And and look, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:15.280 we were there twelve to fourteen hours a day for 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.400 five days, which is a long time, and it becomes 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.920 difficult to get anything else done. The fatigue sets in 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.160 at times because of our schedule. We were doing twelve 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.960 episodes in a row, which is very rare in television. 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.880 It stresses everybody out. You know, you have to find 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.440 props for the next episode, the writers have to keep 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.440 up with scripts. All of those things have to happen. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:44.320 But to answer your question, I played Madden Football. That's 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.840 what I did. I played John Madden Football with John 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:52.920 Krasinski over lunch. And that doesn't seem like a d stressor. 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:57.560 But again for me, during that thirty minutes, thirty to 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:03.040 forty five minutes, my focus was just on beating John. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.960 That's it, beating John and not there was nothing else 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.800 going on in my head. So there's your answer. John 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:16.800 Madden football the greatest D stresser for this actor on 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.840 the Office. And thank you so much for doing the 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.560 Office deep dive. It was fantastic hearing all the interviews, 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:24.880 and I'm stoked to hear that you're coming out with 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.560 a new podcast. Well, The Office meant so much to 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.480 me because during my darkest times, with times when I 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.480 was feeling down, the Office was my happy place. I've 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:36.960 watched The Office all the way through, probably nine or 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:39.920 ten times. I've got to the point where I've stopped counting. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.800 But the one funny story, You're really interesting thing that 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.320 I really wanted to bring up is that from my 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.720 thirtieth birthday, the Dirty thirty, I had no idea that 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.640 this was happening, but I happened to be wearing my 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.080 dunder Mifflin T shirt and my wife brought me over 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:55.840 to my friend's house, who I thought was a party 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.280 for somebody else, and it turned out that it was 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.520 a surprise birthday party that was Office. Them had the 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.040 banner that says it is your birthday. All the food 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:09.400 was Office themed pizza by Alfredo and all that stuff, 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.200 you know, and it was fantastic. But the coolest thing, 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.360 the icing on the cake, was that I had no 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.040 idea that Cameo was a thing, and my wife said, hey, 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.640 we've got something for you, and they turned on the 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.920 TV and it was a cameo video of you sending 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:28.880 me a birthday message, and I don't know, I'm getting 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.320 emotional thinking about it, but it was so cool. I 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.720 had no idea that that was happening, and just to uh, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.680 to see your face and tell me happy birthday, Happy 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.520 Dirty thirty. That was fantastic and it really was a 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.160 highlight of my life, really, and I just want to 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.520 say thank you for that. And um, I enjoyed the podcast. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:53.320 Thanks Sam, thank you so much. It means a lot 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.000 for you to tell me that story. You know, people 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.520 ask me about the work I do on cameo all 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:06.280 the time, and it's stories like that that that make 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.639 me keep doing it. Um, I appreciate it. Look, I 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.320 what I try to do is is not making about me, 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:19.400 but it's it's about It's about you, Sam. It's it's 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:24.359 your birthday, it's your graduation, it's your wedding. And if 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.520 that brings you to a moment in time that you 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:33.240 remember the show, that you have fond memories about Kevin 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:37.000 Malone or any of the other actors or scenes or 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.520 moments on the show, if that brings you to a 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.840 happy place, well Sam, then I'm happy. So thanks for 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:49.040 telling me that story. My best to you and thank 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.520 you so much for listening, and yeah, we're gonna we're 0:17:52.520 --> 0:18:19.080 gonna be back baby in two with even more podcast fun. Yeah. Hi, Brian. 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:26.400 So I had a situation at work that arose the 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.960 day after I listened to your Part three episode with 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:37.480 Greg Daniels. And in that episode, Greg mentioned a situation 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:44.680 that arose when Chili's said they would not let you 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:50.560 produce the episode if Pam was was drunk and intoxicated 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.360 and I guess threw up in the episode. They said 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.919 they would not let you produce that episode, and um, 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:02.760 Greg turned to Steve, and Steve basically figured it out 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.080 as a creative improv person. He said, Okay, we can 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.840 do this, we can figure this out. So at my job, 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.760 I am a theater artist and actually a dance teacher 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.200 and a theater artist, and so we are putting together 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.000 a dance concert for the weekend and we get some 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:24.719 props from our technical director that just don't work, and 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:27.160 we have a couple of days before the show opens 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.760 and not a lot of time to rehearse with them. 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.560 So I was starting to get very frustrated, and instead 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.920 of letting myself get super frustrated that that episode just 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.040 clicked into my brain. It's like I had just listened 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.919 to it and it went I thought, be Steve Correll 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.840 in this moment, figure out how to make this work? 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:50.960 How can you make this work? So I said that 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.439 out loud. I said, Okay, guys, we have to go 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:56.800 with the flow here. How can we make this work? 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.720 And so my students and I came up with an 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:07.400 option that actually worked better than our original option. We 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.720 we modified the props ourselves, and we made it work. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.840 So I wanted to thank you for that interview and 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.080 the whole podcast. Of course, it's just amazing. I listened 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.600 to it all the time, but that interview especially just 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.000 made me a little less stressed that day. So I 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:29.440 appreciate it, and I'm going to carry that with me. Thanks, Alyssa. 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.840 Between you and I and everybody listening, we could all 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:38.080 be a little bit more like Steve Carrell every day 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:42.399 and we'd be we'd be better off to remind people 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.240 or let people know what Alyssa's talking about. Yes, we 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:53.080 were two three days into full production, days from shooting 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.280 the first Dundee's episode at Chili's. The script had been 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.520 written the script was not altered, but there were some 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.640 executive it was from Chili's who were there and did 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:09.000 not like Pam getting drunk at Chili's and basically we're 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:14.399 told you can't do that. And the entire episode, of course, 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:19.000 with Pam getting a little tipsy and eventually kissing Jim, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:24.280 was a central central part of that episode. So yeah, 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:29.080 Steve in the moment said okay, let's absolve chilies. Let's 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.480 shoot a couple of times where she's not over served, 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.960 but where she's stealing drinks, and let's have her be 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.680 banned for life for doing that. And that ended up 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.879 appeasing the good folks at Chili's, and um, obviously we 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.600 ended up going to Chili's a couple of more times 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.640 throughout the run of the show, so that all worked out. Yeah. 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:56.280 You know, listen, Steve is to me the greatest improviser 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.640 of all time. And that's why right there he does 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:07.800 it when he's acting. His creative mind is always on story, 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:12.360 in character and and better than what anyone else can 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:17.840 come up with. And yeah, he saved that episode for sure. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.679 So I'm glad you were able to use that lesson. 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:22.840 And I said it as a joke, but I really 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.359 mean it. Watching Steve Correll, if you're an artistic person 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.520 do what he does will make you a better artist 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:38.560 or creative thinker. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Hi, Brian, 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:41.239 this is Tom Elliott over in the UK with some 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:45.040 thoughts for your listener feedback show. Now, you always ask 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:48.560 your guests why they think that The Office is more 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.040 popular now than ever, and I can't answer that question 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.560 for the US, but I can maybe answer that question 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:59.200 for a section of that audience over here in the UK, 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:02.720 because as my experience with becoming a fan of your 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.679 show is an experience that I've had echoed over and 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:10.200 over again by other British people in the last year 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.280 or two because the UK version of The Office it 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:16.679 was a game changer over here, you know, it really 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:20.800 changed the face of British comedy and pretty much everyone 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:23.520 loved that show. So when I heard that there was 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.560 going to be a US version, I, like a lot 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.480 of other people over here, rolled my eyes and thought, oh, 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.040 here we go. You know, we didn't have high hopes 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.480 for it, so I wasn't expecting good things, but I thought, 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:38.880 you know what, I'll watch the pilot and see how 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.040 they do, and then I watched the pilot. Now I 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:47.159 learned on your podcast why Greg chose to remake the 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:52.240 British Pilot to stop the network given notes. But unfortunately, 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.880 as a British viewer watching one of our crown jewels 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.880 of television being remade in that way, it instantly turn 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:03.640 me off because no disrespect to anyone involved, but I 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:08.200 think when something was so seminal and so perfectly done 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:12.160 the first time round, whoever tries to then recreate that 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.320 just as a huge mountain to climb in terms of 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:19.160 winning an audience over, no matter how talented they are. 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:23.200 So I, like a lot of my compatriots, turned off 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:27.080 the American Office at that point and didn't look back, 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:31.200 and then promptly just forgot about it. So one day 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:34.800 I put Netflix on my TV and I see that 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:38.080 they've put the American Office on there, and I noticed 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:41.320 that there's nine seasons, and I'm asking myself, how could 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:43.760 they have made nine seasons of this thing? How is 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:48.200 that even possible? But also my curiosity has peaked at 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:51.680 this point because, as you know, the British show has 0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:55.879 twelve episodes and two specials, So what could they have 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:59.160 been doing for nine years on the U S show. 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:02.280 I guess they must have been doing something right. So 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.080 I watched the pilot again, and you know, it was 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:08.440 what it was. But it also been twenty years now 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.800 since the UK offer, so I'm a little less precious 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:15.480 about it, and I decided to just carry on. And 0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:18.600 I find that the fair that out I get from 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:21.639 that pilot, the more and warm into this show and 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.080 these characters. And now it wasn't so much about making 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:29.080 a negative comparison to the British show. It was actually 0:25:29.200 --> 0:25:32.320 interesting to see where you guys would take it, to 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:36.320 see your show evolve and take on its own identity, 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:40.160 until we're actually at the point where each version justifies 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:44.280 its own existence because they are the same but different. 0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:48.520 But that original question, why is the American Office more 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:52.720 popular now than ever? And as your guests have said, 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:55.560 there are many many reasons for that, But I think 0:25:55.600 --> 0:25:58.120 from my corner of the world, one of the reasons 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:01.120 why it's popular here now is that we almost had 0:26:01.160 --> 0:26:04.560 to forget about it two then Rediscovery, and I guess 0:26:04.600 --> 0:26:07.200 we also had to get over ourselves a bit as well, 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:11.240 because the existence of one takes nothing away from the other, 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:15.320 and instead of having one classic show in the British version. 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:19.040 We now have two classic shows because the American version 0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:22.880 is a classic too, So everybody wins. There's just there's 0:26:22.920 --> 0:26:25.200 just more of it to love now, and what's wrong 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:28.959 with that? You know? So anyway, that's my thoughts on it. 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:31.440