Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week.
Speaker 2: They're right.
Speaker 3: Hey, guys, welcome back to TV Reload.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for clicking and downloading on
Speaker 1: today's episode with Felicity Ward from the Office Australia, which
Speaker 1: has been eagerly awaited its arrival on Amazon Prime. I've
Speaker 1: always loved the English and the American versions of the Office,
Speaker 1: so it's been exciting to check out the Australian version.
Speaker 1: I think it feels more Kath and Kim, more so
Speaker 1: Kath and Kim than the other versions that we've seen overseas.
Speaker 1: It may polarize some, but one thing that you cannot
Speaker 1: do is accused Felicity of not giving this show one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. Felicity will talk about her relationship with a series,
Speaker 1: and her answer is actually quite interesting when it comes
Speaker 1: to which of the other versions she had seen.
Speaker 3: We will talk about how.
Speaker 1: Felicity would get into her character and what props she
Speaker 1: kept eating, but probably is sounding much weirder than the
Speaker 1: actual answer is. I will discuss the anticipation and if
Speaker 1: she has been scared or if she's been excited about
Speaker 1: the country finally getting to check out our Australian version
Speaker 1: of the Office. You will get everything from what the
Speaker 1: current state of players with series two, what level of
Speaker 1: improvisation Felicity was allowed, and we will also share some
Speaker 1: bonker stories from what it's like to work in offices.
Speaker 1: There's actually so much to talk about today. With Felicity,
Speaker 1: we get some inside revelations. So guys, sit back and
Speaker 1: relax as we unpack the wonderful world of the Office Australia,
Speaker 1: which is now available on Amazon Prime.
Speaker 2: Yes, but leaving marks.
Speaker 1: I'm in Queenslanes, I'm on holidays and so I just
Speaker 1: you know, I've got my teenage mutant Ninja turtles and
Speaker 1: just tell you.
Speaker 2: How much I love this, Ben, This is really my
Speaker 2: like the amount of interviews I've done in pajamas on
Speaker 2: the phone, no bra, stinky anyway, on your holiday, Thank
Speaker 2: you so much.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm obsessed with the Office and I'm obsessed with you,
Speaker 1: so it would be rudent for me to not be here.
Speaker 2: It actually would be rude.
Speaker 1: Actually, are you excited or are you nervous? Because I
Speaker 1: don't know how I would feel. Because when you're sort
Speaker 1: of recreating something that already has an established idea from
Speaker 1: the audience perspective, and then you bring it.
Speaker 3: Into your own you'd be thinking, and you know, you
Speaker 3: filmed it all, so you've you know, it's.
Speaker 2: Nothing you can do about it. Maybe it's done.
Speaker 3: Are you nervous?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm nervous. But also this is the good bit, Like,
Speaker 2: this is a bit where I get I can talk
Speaker 2: about the show. I can talk to people about the show.
Speaker 2: We filmed it a year ago. It was embargoed for
Speaker 2: so long we weren't allowed to say anything. So it's
Speaker 2: so like I'm having the time of my life. I
Speaker 2: get to wear pretty clothes and get pretty makeup and
Speaker 2: talk to pretty people and talk about this show that
Speaker 2: I love and that I'm so proud of. And it
Speaker 2: was like the most fun job I've ever had. And
Speaker 2: I think that I like lots of people are going, oh, you,
Speaker 2: do you feel the pressure? Do you feel the pressure?
Speaker 2: I'm like, the only pressure I'm getting is from people
Speaker 2: asking me if I feel the pressure yea, because I'm
Speaker 2: not on the internet, like Instagram has a function that
Speaker 2: says people you follow, that's the comments I'm getting. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm reading. I'm not reading anything else. Because people
Speaker 2: are going to have very strong opinions about it either way.
Speaker 2: I've been really fortunate this week the people that have
Speaker 2: seen it have really loved it, and that's how I
Speaker 2: feel about the show. And I'll just let people have
Speaker 2: their experience with it.
Speaker 1: You know, Well I did loll you know, and that's
Speaker 1: what you want. That's the best review you want. Just
Speaker 1: want to know that someone lolled. But it was a
Speaker 1: laugh out loud. I'm willing to say the whole sentence
Speaker 1: since yeah.
Speaker 2: Because lol is just an ironic way to say funny. Now, yeah,
Speaker 2: I genuinely laughed out loud. I know what's happened.
Speaker 1: I wanted to know about your relationship with the show
Speaker 1: because I think I've got the relationship where I watched
Speaker 1: the English version first, and I mean that's what came first,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people watch the American version and
Speaker 1: then they went back to the English version, so they
Speaker 1: sort of have different relationships.
Speaker 3: What about you? Do you have a preference with the
Speaker 3: English or the American version of the Office.
Speaker 2: Well, two things. I think that they are completely different shows.
Speaker 2: I don't think that not that they're completely different, they're
Speaker 2: their own shows. I don't think you can compare them.
Speaker 2: I think They're both brilliant and they bring different things
Speaker 2: culturally that the other show. You know, the first season
Speaker 2: of The American One was all the same British scripts
Speaker 2: and sort of slightly Americanized characters, and there was a
Speaker 2: disconnect there. And then they started writing their own and
Speaker 2: they wrote from their own cultural perspective, and then it
Speaker 2: turns into this incredible, beloved, nine season running sitcom, you know,
Speaker 2: like it was its own beast. I started with the
Speaker 2: British One. I had never seen an episode of The
Speaker 2: American One until we'd finished filming our one, and I
Speaker 2: watched it and I was like, this, Steve Carell is
Speaker 2: really want to watch. He's quite talented. I don't know
Speaker 2: if my things, you know, he's an upcoming star.
Speaker 1: You know. It's interesting because like with that, with those
Speaker 1: performances of those men, Ricky Gervaise was so iconic, and
Speaker 1: then sort of Steve came in and there was what's
Speaker 1: happening with you? There's a bit of pressure, but then
Speaker 1: Steve did really make that his own. But I guess,
Speaker 1: upon reflection, do you look back at those two characters
Speaker 1: and have a favorite, Like, is there one of those
Speaker 1: two that you prefer more than the other No, because.
Speaker 2: They affected me in completely different ways. Like when you
Speaker 2: watch David Brent, you want to tear your skin even now,
Speaker 2: even now when you know him and you love him.
Speaker 2: It's the most awkward, painful, annoying, revolting. He's kind of despicable,
Speaker 2: and the power of the show is that you still
Speaker 2: root for him when he feels vulnerable, whereas Michael Scott,
Speaker 2: he just has a warmer face. You know, David Bran
Speaker 2: hasn't been base. He's got mean little eyes, where Steve
Speaker 2: Carell has like big, open, round clown eyes. So even
Speaker 2: from just what you're looking at, but David Brent looked
Speaker 2: like a boss you have had.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that, And you know, when the
Speaker 1: script came across your desk, you'd think about all the
Speaker 1: other versions. But I wondered whether or not, once you
Speaker 1: stood in front of the cameras, whether you just were
Speaker 1: like zoning in on what you'd prepared and how you didn't.
Speaker 2: It didn't cross my mind when we were filming. I'm
Speaker 2: not at any point did I go, oh, is this
Speaker 2: too much like this? Or like the British office or
Speaker 2: the American office didn't enter my psyche once we started
Speaker 2: filming because it's just you don't know. I didn't know
Speaker 2: what it was like to film the office. So when
Speaker 2: I go in, I just I'm filming a sitcom. And
Speaker 2: it was fun. Every day was fun. Like I'm very
Speaker 2: of I've been in stand up comedy for sixteen seventeen years.
Speaker 2: I've never had the lead in a sitcom before. So
Speaker 2: to turn up and have a you know, twenty years
Speaker 2: of experience because I was in a sketch show before that.
Speaker 2: I tried to be an actor before that, which means
Speaker 2: I'm very good at making coffee. But like, I have
Speaker 2: a long history of working really really hard and for
Speaker 2: a really long time and you know, having some success,
Speaker 2: but not ever getting the lead in a sitcom. So
Speaker 2: I was I've never been more ready for anything in
Speaker 2: my life as far as like the work is concerned.
Speaker 2: I turn it up with a smile. Every day. I
Speaker 2: was getting up at four point thirty. I'm like, great,
Speaker 2: make some comedy. I was so grateful. I am the
Speaker 2: most desperate lead of a show that you have ever met.
Speaker 2: You will never meet anyone more grateful for a job
Speaker 2: than me.
Speaker 1: There's something very infectious about the way in which you
Speaker 1: play this role. Like, there's something very funny, and I
Speaker 1: have seen your like a lot of people in Australia,
Speaker 1: We've been in your audience for a long time. I
Speaker 1: wanted to know about whether or not they let you
Speaker 1: improvise a lot, you know, was it all script or
Speaker 1: was it you were allowed to take some liberties.
Speaker 2: I was both like this it was so well scripted,
Speaker 2: but also the way that Jackie and Julie worked, Jackie
Speaker 2: Van Beek and Julie Defino, who's the out director and
Speaker 2: the head writer, and then they each wrote individual episodes
Speaker 2: and they were along with Jesse Griffin like devised all
Speaker 2: the storylines as well, and Jesse wrote some episodes too.
Speaker 2: It was so well scripted, but like sometimes we were
Speaker 2: writing the rewriting scenes while we were filming the scene.
Speaker 2: So I'd be filming a scene, I'd have learnt it,
Speaker 2: and then Julia go, hey, can you try this version,
Speaker 2: or can you try this line? Or let's do this,
Speaker 2: and so I was just ready for anything. And then
Speaker 2: they sometimes would just let the camera roll and go, okay,
Speaker 2: see you can you know, you can muck around on
Speaker 2: this version. So it was it was all things that
Speaker 2: was just the best. It was the best of every world.
Speaker 3: That's the best of it.
Speaker 1: When you get someone like that to work with, Like
Speaker 1: you speak to a lot of actors, they're like no,
Speaker 1: it was like line my line.
Speaker 3: You know now I need to feel like this.
Speaker 2: I respect that too, because if you haven't got good
Speaker 2: writing and got nothing, writing is the key.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know what's interesting as well as
Speaker 1: like when I was talking to people about our Australian culture.
Speaker 1: Our offices are very different to the UK and to America.
Speaker 1: But I love talking to people about like bonkers office stories,
Speaker 1: about things that people have experienced in themselves. And I
Speaker 1: rang a girlfriend who I knew loved the office and
Speaker 1: she works in office. She'd gone back to work after
Speaker 1: quite a few years. She said her first day, first
Speaker 1: week back, they had this girl that was leaving and
Speaker 1: she was told, do you want to sign this card
Speaker 1: to say goodbye to this girl? My friend was like,
Speaker 1: I've never worked with her, Like what what have I
Speaker 1: got to say? And then they went around and asked
Speaker 1: for money. Such a weird office culture.
Speaker 2: And then in the end show are you my Italian nummer?
Speaker 2: What we can we put money in a birthday come
Speaker 2: for anyway?
Speaker 1: They took her to the lunch and after everyone sat
Speaker 1: around the table crying saying goodbye to this girl, the
Speaker 1: boss went, guess what, guys, I'm not going to say
Speaker 1: goodbye because she's not actually leaving. We're bringing her back
Speaker 1: in a different role next week. And everyone just looked
Speaker 1: at each.
Speaker 2: Other and I'm like, we need my money back.
Speaker 3: We'll put their money in. But like, don't you think
Speaker 3: that office culture is just so bonkers.
Speaker 2: I've never had a job in an office, but the
Speaker 2: stories that people tell me. I didn't interview this morning,
Speaker 2: and they were like they said that. There was a
Speaker 2: one of the people who wrote in and said their
Speaker 2: bosses checked their waste paper bin at the end of
Speaker 2: every day to see how much paper they'd wasted, and
Speaker 2: if they wasted too much, they'd make them take it
Speaker 2: out and cut it up and use it as messaging pad.
Speaker 2: There's another one who said that they clipped their fingernails
Speaker 2: or their tone I can't remember, in front of the
Speaker 2: other person while they're having a meeting and there's just
Speaker 2: nails going everywhere. Who are these insane people? So like,
Speaker 2: when you watch our office, like a Hannah might come
Speaker 2: across as mental, But according to real life She's very
Speaker 2: tempered and very on brand for the maniacs that are
Speaker 2: out there running businesses.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I had this boss once that I worked in radio,
Speaker 1: and I you know, like I won't say which radio
Speaker 1: was mix of him anyway, And he sat behind this
Speaker 1: glass wall that I could see through, and he knows
Speaker 1: that I can see through that. But I'd watch him
Speaker 1: every day clean his ears with his fingers.
Speaker 2: They said that there was one who cleaned their ears
Speaker 2: with a paper clip.
Speaker 1: I clean.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd clean in my years with my fingers.
Speaker 2: I do that.
Speaker 1: There's so much fodder for you to have with this show.
Speaker 1: There's like endless supplies of it. Do we know whether
Speaker 1: or not you're getting to do season two? Are we
Speaker 1: going to be talking in nine years when you've done
Speaker 1: nine years of this show?
Speaker 2: I won't be talking to you if we've got nine series. No,
Speaker 2: I'm joking. Yeah, I'll beat my pajamas next time. You
Speaker 2: won't be getting full glam baby, you won't be getting
Speaker 2: gel males next time. I mean, look, the show isn't
Speaker 2: even out, so I don't know. I don't know of
Speaker 2: any show that knows they're going to go again before
Speaker 2: the show is out, And we are no different. So
Speaker 2: we won't know until the show is out whether we
Speaker 2: get to do another season. I really hope we do.
Speaker 2: My god, this has been the greatest joy of my life.
Speaker 3: Don't tell my son more, Hannah Howard.
Speaker 1: The last question I ask everyone who joins the pot
Speaker 1: is what is something from behind the scenes, something we
Speaker 1: won't see as a viewer, that kind of like a
Speaker 1: behind the scenes secret about what.
Speaker 3: It was like for you to make this show.
Speaker 2: A bunch of people have asked me this, and so
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of something that I haven't told anyone.
Speaker 2: Let me go through a couple of things. So I
Speaker 2: put on five kilos as the show went on because
Speaker 2: the catering was so good. Yeah. So the outfits that
Speaker 2: I tried on the beginning of the series that fit
Speaker 2: me did not bit. At the end of the series,
Speaker 2: it was like, we need to take the trousers out.
Speaker 2: That button is gripping for dear life, the hardest working
Speaker 2: button in showbiz. That's one of the things. Something I've
Speaker 2: already told people this, But I had a bluetooth speaker
Speaker 2: in my prop handbag, so in between takes I could
Speaker 2: blast music and I could keep my energy up and
Speaker 2: just dance around. And the thing is, people don't tell
Speaker 2: you to turn the music off if you're the lead
Speaker 2: in the show. So I don't know if they enjoyed
Speaker 2: it or they would just being nice to me, but
Speaker 2: I assume that they enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: What was the go to?
Speaker 3: What was blaring through?
Speaker 2: No mate? I DJ at comedy festivals, so there was
Speaker 2: an for a repeat, never a repeat. It was back
Speaker 2: to back, just bangers. There has to be something. I
Speaker 2: want to give you something that there.
Speaker 1: I do love the craft services. I remember once a
Speaker 1: friend of mine, not to name job Hamish Blake, asked
Speaker 1: me two friends, yeah, just pick that up and put
Speaker 1: that here.
Speaker 2: He was doing it.
Speaker 1: My friends too, wanty something. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: watched twenty something, it was really funny with Jess Harris.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I wasn't in the country when they came out,
Speaker 2: but yeah.
Speaker 1: It's really funny, So circle back and watch that. But anyway,
Speaker 1: it's very small production. They didn't have a lot of money,
Speaker 1: so the extras were all free and so Hay was like,
Speaker 1: can you come down. It's a full day. You're basically
Speaker 1: being in a tent with a whole bunch of widows
Speaker 1: for the whole day. But the craft services are amazing.
Speaker 1: So I remember I went home and I had the
Speaker 1: face like I'd been at Sizzler. There was He asked
Speaker 1: me to go back the next day to do another day,
Speaker 1: and I was like, never again.
Speaker 2: I have food poisoning. I'm six kilo spatter from yesterday,
Speaker 2: so I won't. I'm trying to. I'm just trying to
Speaker 2: think of a good one. I don't want to. I
Speaker 2: don't want to give you something then people have got, yeah,
Speaker 2: that people have already got.
Speaker 1: It's actually I feel like I should email people because
Speaker 1: this is episode like four hundred and ninety of this podcast,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking them. It often comes to a struggle
Speaker 1: because people are like, this is like a lott of
Speaker 1: pressure to put someone under it. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: because you want to deliver.
Speaker 2: I will say I ate my snack of choice. I
Speaker 2: ate veggimi and butter on cruskets every day.
Speaker 3: Every day.
Speaker 2: Every day. They'd be like, Janet a stack, do you
Speaker 2: want some cruskets. I'm like, yeah, I want some crusts.
Speaker 2: If I believe in the UK we don't have cruskets
Speaker 2: and I have veggiemie at my house, but they don't
Speaker 2: have it anywhere else, so I'm a lot of crosskets.
Speaker 2: It was so good. Take it with you, and you
Speaker 2: know how it is it Minty's or fantails that have
Speaker 2: gone out of business.
Speaker 3: The fantails are out of business, which is so sack
Speaker 3: because I love those.
Speaker 2: There was a big jar of mintis, I think on
Speaker 2: the reception death and I ate so many of them
Speaker 2: and they had to cut them off. They're like casting
Speaker 2: through it. You got to stop eating the mintis. That's
Speaker 2: it's like a prop. But I would still sneak them
Speaker 2: because I fucking love Minty's. Yeah, so that was like
Speaker 2: an ongoing guy. You've got to stop eating the Minty's.
Speaker 2: It's a prop. Okay, we can't afford more Minty's.
Speaker 1: You were the ob his choice because you were getting
Speaker 1: bigger and you were probably the only one eating the minties.
Speaker 1: They should have been like, it's you Angela Pree would
Speaker 1: have known.
Speaker 2: But I had fresh breath. Let me tell you that
Speaker 2: that's chunky.
Speaker 3: But I had fresh breath, and that is all you want.
Speaker 1: Can I say, I congratulations on doing this. I think
Speaker 1: you're brave for taking something like this on. But I
Speaker 1: think that it's amazing and it's funny, and I can't
Speaker 1: wait frustrate or watch it and fall in love with
Speaker 1: it for its own reason.
Speaker 3: And it's it's nice.
Speaker 1: You know, with television, we want to see ourselves reflected back.
Speaker 1: That's how we relate to it. And there's so much
Speaker 1: of that happening in this show. It's very sort of iconically.
Speaker 1: It's Kathy Kim, you know what I mean. And as
Speaker 1: much as people will say that that's making fun of people,
Speaker 1: it's actually us and so us.
Speaker 2: It's us us, Like all of the characters are on
Speaker 2: their people. Everyone who watches the show will know at
Speaker 2: least one or two of the people in there that
Speaker 2: got all it's just like Cama, well that's just like Katie,
Speaker 2: or that's just like you know, Greg or whatever. And
Speaker 2: I would I would really encourage people to watch the
Speaker 2: whole series because it is so funny. I just think
Speaker 2: it's so funny. I think it gets funnier and funnier.
Speaker 3: It builds, it builds. It's like, you know, just before
Speaker 3: you go, it was funny.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: When Kathy Kim first came on television, a lot of
Speaker 1: people saw it and was like because it was so
Speaker 1: relatable to them. They were like, it was like home
Speaker 1: and away on neighbors. They didn't see the silliness of it.
Speaker 1: And the more you watched it, the more you thought
Speaker 1: it was funny. And that's why, all these years later,
Speaker 1: when you watch Kath and Kim, it's fucking hilarious.
Speaker 3: And that's because it's one of that style. It's that
Speaker 3: style of comedy which you do so well.
Speaker 1: And it's the more you watch it and the more
Speaker 1: you tell your friends, do you remember when this but
Speaker 1: when they when they sold the chips on eBay?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? And that's where it becomes funnier.
Speaker 3: So people keep watching it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, me too. And it's got This show's
Speaker 2: got a lot of heart. It's got a lot of heart.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I really care about the characters, and I
Speaker 2: really care about the show. And I had a wonderful time.
Speaker 2: I hope other people enjoy watching.
Speaker 1: Him have the best time talking to the media today.
Speaker 1: Everyone's celebrating you at the moment, So thank you. Thanks
Speaker 1: being so generous with your time and chatting about the show.
Speaker 2: And have a great time. Thank you, Bye, see later.
Speaker 1: Bye.
Speaker 3: Now I'm going to take my pajamas off now, go
Speaker 3: back to bed.
Speaker 2: You're on holiday, Sube.
Speaker 3: Put some clothes on, have a shower.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah,