The BBC Office Pilot with Lucy Davis

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I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on the office together and we're best friends.

And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you.

Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details, and lots of VFF stories.

We're the Office Lady 6.0.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to Office Lady 6.0.

Today we are going back to the very beginning.

of the world of the office.

And we have a special guest to help us travel back in time.

Angela, that is so such a poetic way to describe this episode.

I'm sorry, I got here early.

I had to let free time on my hands.

Maybe I overthought that one.

You know, I don't know what got into me.

I love an origin story.

What can I say?

Well, it is true that today we are starting at the beginning.

We have re-watched the BBC pilot of the office.

And as it turns out, I have a connection to someone from the BBC office and they're joining us today.

You do.

Tell them who it is, is, lady.

My lady friend just texted Lucy Davis because they're pals.

Lucy plays Don Tinsley in the BBC The Office.

She's joining us in the studio today to give us all the behind the scenes details of how the show began.

Well, you know Lucy from The Office and she was also in Sean of the Dead, Wonder Woman, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

She's just the loveliest person and very, very funny.

We are so excited to have her here with us.

Lady, she is the original office lady.

She is.

So I think we should just jump right in here we go

hello how

fun we have such a fun guest here today lucy hello

it is lucy davis you guys don tinsley

from the original office the uk version of the office why we ever had jobs in the first place oh i'm glad this is down to me okay good good

we can leave rookie and steve way out of this.

Well, they're not here today.

Then you are.

So there we are.

There you go.

The show is mine.

That's right.

That's right.

You know, we're so excited to have you on today.

We're going to break down the pilot episode of the BBC's The Office.

Yep.

You're going to take us through it.

We're going to ask you questions.

It's pretty cool.

But, you know, we always like to kick things off by asking people, how did you get your job on the office?

Oh, I tell you when it was 1999 and it was just, everyone was breaking up for Christmas.

And I had auditioned for a bunch of comedy pilots, none of which I had particularly gelled with.

It was still in a time when

those,

you know, live audience comedies were very, very broad and nothing against that.

I just didn't fit easily into that.

And so I went in and I auditioned.

Ricky Gervais wasn't there then.

And I auditioned, then I got a call back and then Ricky was there and Steve Merchant.

And we were in a tiny room with an extremely large table.

So you had to kind of shimmy your way around it.

And I did a scene which stayed in the pilot where Dawn gets fake fired.

That's what I auditioned with.

That's what I auditioned with.

Oh my.

Okay.

That was so funny.

That was our audition scene.

Yeah.

That's man.

Yeah.

And originally, I don't know what was in yours, but in ours, originally,

When Dawn then is crying and breaking down, Ricky tries to explain it's a joke.

she says something to him and walks out the room, but trips and falls.

So when we were in this audition room, I was thinking, I'm not going to trip and fall because it just feels so weird and uncomfortable in this room, not uncomfortable in the good, uncomfortable way.

Yeah.

Right.

So I didn't.

And then at the end of the scene, Ricky kept going as David Brent.

And so I kept going.

And then after a while, I was like, yeah, I'm probably going to run out of things to say.

So what do I do?

Oh, I know.

I'll just leave the room.

So I just exited the room and went.

I just heard Ricky roaring.

I was like, apparently that was okay.

And

then I got it.

And I was really pleased.

And I had to sign a contract, I think, for six years.

And that was very new in England.

And I remember, isn't this awful?

I remember thinking, six years?

I don't want to be doing the same thing in six years time.

And now, of course, I couldn't be more glad to have got this job.

It was a joy.

And I, I, the fact that no one said, don't forget this is a funny line.

So really make it funny.

Don't, you know, and

everything had to just be as real as possible was my comfort zone and my, like no one had ever asked me to do that before.

It was all like, be a good actor, but it's acting.

And now this is just being.

You were so good.

You're chiming.

When I watched it the first time, you know, years before the U.S.

version,

I really didn't think it was scripted.

I was one of those people that thought they just, you know, I thought, well, David Brent is a crazy character of a person, but I'd also worked for some really weird bosses.

And so I kind of bought it.

But

I thought you were just

in the moment.

Yeah, we were.

It was, it was really.

a joyous freedom.

I don't know if you felt this, just to, you know, what's happening is is also funny, but you just get to be, you just get to be real.

No one's trying to make a big thing about a joke and making sure you have three laughs a page and all of that kind of stuff.

And I, that was a freedom for me.

I loved it.

The rhythm of it, like what Angela is saying and what you're talking about, when I saw it again, before I ever even knew I was going to audition, before I even knew there would be this American version,

I was just completely struck by how funny it was to be off rhythm

and to sit in things for awkward amounts of time.

And it was a new comedic rhythm that you guys just invented together.

It was so cool.

There was a show in England that had already started airing called The Royal Family, R-O-Y-L-E.

And that was a similar style.

And if you've never seen The Royal Family, please see it.

If you guys have never seen it, it's so so good, it's so uncomfortable, and it's really just a family on a couch in a living room.

Um, and anyway, I can't wait to check it out!

Yeah, check it out, or I'll send you, I'll send you a link.

Yeah, um, but yeah, it was that when I watched that, I remember thinking that would be a fun role as an actor to play.

Um, so doing the office,

oh, it was, yeah, ever since then, I've

did my first multicam a couple of years ago, and I knew, of course, that the style isn't going to be the office or whatever, but it was interesting for me and a strange experience to have to make so much of the comedy lines.

I was like, but if they're funny, they're funny.

You don't have to add a bell and whistle on it.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

I came from sketch comedy.

Right.

So when I, my first scene, you know, the first like few lines I had, I thought, oh, I'm getting fired.

I was doing so much, but I was because I was doing that,

you know?

But it is such a different style.

You guys did it so well.

But I have a question.

When you were filming the pilot, did you feel like, oh, we've got something here?

Like this is going to be a hit?

Because we felt that way.

We didn't know if I would say a hit.

Well, no, but I thought.

I thought it was something special.

Amazing.

I didn't think anyone was going to watch it.

That's how I feel.

Yeah, that's the thing.

I was like, if people will watch this, it's going to be a hit.

I don't know if they're going to watch it.

Is that, that was your experience?

That's how I definitely felt.

I just remember really praying that it would go because

I loved doing this so much.

And we made, I think I told you this, Jenna, that we actually made a pilot and then we remade the pilot.

Yes.

And the original pilot, there were some different things.

But the biggest difference was there had been this

documentary reality show in the very early days called I think it was called Airline and it was just cameras following an airline in a smallish airport in England and it became huge and suddenly like these people were like

famous and there was an actor called John Nettles who narrated the documentary so we had him narrate the pilot

yeah to make it as real like kind of this this genre and this style.

And

but then I think, I believe, it was just such a long time ago now, but I believe they felt that it took time away from story and comedy.

So they, we redid it again and had without him.

Without the narration, yeah, yeah.

And the original theme tune just for that pilot was ELO's Mr.

Blue Sky.

What?

That was our original theme.

The warm song.

Yes.

Is that, I never knew that.

No, I ended up getting chills.

I

didn't.

I don't know if Greg knew that, but

when Greg gave us a screener of the pilot and we all got together and we watched it, the theme song was Mr.

Blue Sky.

We have to ask him if he knew that that because now obviously it never got air.

Yeah, same.

Yeah.

But we couldn't, Greg told us, oh, we can't use that song because

another show nabbed it.

So then he had a friend who composed the song that we ultimately used.

This is a great song, though.

Yours is a great song,

Because obviously ours was stereophonics

and bless them, which is fine.

They didn't give us permission to use their song Handbags of Glad Rag.

So it was kind of rewritten to be that.

And then when it got big, they said that we could use it, but we liked ours by that point.

And originally with Mr.

Blue Sky, the opening credits weren't images of slough.

It was David Brent walking into work, all proud and pompous in his suit and his briefcase and stuff.

So, yeah, it was

pretty different.

I love the opening images.

And same.

We were in London a few years ago.

We actually crossed past Jen.

It was so fun.

But I was on a train with my husband and kids, and we didn't realize that we were going to go through Slough.

And so I said to them, We have to get off.

And they're like, What?

This isn't our style.

And we jumped off really fast just so I could get a picture.

And then we jumped back on the train.

Did you post the picture?

I did.

I did.

So I remember a story that Stephen Merchant told when they first came to visit the set.

He said that after the very first episode aired, he was sitting on the train

and he overheard a woman asking her friends if she had seen the documentary about the crazy guy in an office.

Oh, God.

And that the friends said, oh, that's not a real documentary.

That's a comedy show.

And that the woman said, oh, well, then it isn't very funny.

Oh, that's that's great.

But what was crazy was he said, like, she loved it when she thought it was a documentary.

And then when she found out it was a comedy show, she was like, Oh, no, no, I don't care for it.

But what was the reaction when it came out?

Do you remember?

Um, it was slow.

Um, we were on a network called BBC2, which has tends to have a lot less viewers.

I think our, they told me, I think Stephen Rickey told me that the pilot got only just a few more viewers than women's bowls.

Yes,

they told us that.

I actually read that it was, in fact, scored one of the lowest

ratings in BBC history.

Yeah.

But that was the great thing about, I mean, in England, they do this more because A, we only did six episodes as our whole season.

So they're already shops.

You may as well air them, I guess.

And it was BBC Two is not as big a channel as BBC One.

So I think it was was always just going to air and it just gradually picked up.

And

over time, but a lot of people did say I thought it was a documentary at first.

Yeah.

Did you ever have that?

No.

I think because we were on like NBC, must-see TV.

Right.

Yeah.

And your show had been so popular

that everybody knew.

I mean, the big hill that we had to climb was living up to the original.

Like there were so many critics and fans who were like, sort of, I feel like actively rooting for us to fail because they didn't want to take anything.

They didn't want us to like tarnish the reputation of your show.

I will say there have been times and certainly back then where people would say to me back then, as if I would want to hear this, oh, it won't do very well.

And I was like, but wouldn't it be great if it did?

Like, it doesn't affect me one way or the other, what it does.

That's so nice of you.

But why would anyone?

I find it very, it's just strange when anyone wishes some failure on anyone.

I remember getting a pilot once and I got let go

before we even taped it.

And it's very hard to be let go from a pilot.

But when they got picked up, I couldn't have been more happy.

And I emailed everyone and said, congrats, it's just life.

Just move through it.

You don't have to hope that someone fails so that you feel better about yourself.

So it was quite fascinating that.

And I bet you did, I bet you did have that a lot.

But I will tell you that I've watched every episode of your show through 10, 12 times.

I bet I know it more than you do.

Really?

That is so wild to me.

When you told me that, that I was like,

I mean, well, what did you think?

Like, do you remember the first episode you saw?

The first one was the pilot.

Yeah.

I watched it straight from.

I can't remember.

So I would have been living in England still when it first aired.

And I do know if it came out over there, because I think I watched it over here first.

So I feel like you might have had a couple of seasons out by the time I was watching it.

So then I just started watching it.

And at first, it might be a little strange because you go, oh, that girl's playing my character and that guy's playing his character.

But you have to go, no, they've got to find their own.

feet.

Well, especially the pilot, you know, it's almost a shot-by-shot remake, which when I re-watched the BBC pilot this week, I'd seen it a while back, but I, you know, I couldn't believe how much of a remake we did.

I couldn't believe how much of your performance I stole from you when I watched.

Delight, I couldn't believe it.

I've stolen so many performances.

No one ever stole any of mine.

I'm delighted and die happy.

So much.

I mean, and I also noticed like the scene with,

and we'll get into a bigger breakdown, but I noticed the scene with Tim and Lee at the desk when you walk away.

I was like, oh my gosh, like the three of you and then me and Jim and Roy.

I was like, oh my gosh, like down to the like carrying in an odd box.

Yeah.

So what's in the back?

Exactly.

What's in the bag?

But when I watched it, I always thought there was a bigger story to the big trash bag boxing.

And I was like, no, there's nothing in both pilots.

No.

I had forgotten that.

You'll know it more than I.

I'll know yours more than I'll know mine.

I'll tell you that.

Well, maybe we should take a break.

And when we come back, we'll start going through the scenes.

Yeah, let's do it.

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All right, we're back and here we are.

We're talking about the office episode one, season one.

The title of your episode was Downsize.

It was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

They wrote all of them and directed all of them, right?

How did that work?

Well,

I mean, I guess so.

I mean,

they, from certainly from my point of view, everyone, they seem to get on very well, obviously.

I don't know how you could do that if you don't get on well.

They were both extremely, I mean, because Ricky was acting in it as well, obviously, really extremely generous.

And

Ricky kept, oh my God,

he made me laugh so much.

And there were times when I'm like, you're ruining your own show because we would do things.

I remember having to come into the scene was I come into David Brent's office.

I think I have to open a drawer for something.

And every single take, Ricky had left me a fresh obscene drawing.

And I'm supposed to carry on.

And I'm like, but I...

but I can't because it's new.

I'm responding.

And

as soon as Ricky knew he was doing something unexpected that would make you laugh, it would just get bigger next time

until you, just so you couldn't keep going.

And one time I was actually sent out the room in a scene.

It was when there was Jennifer Taylor Clark, who was the boss.

Yeah, yeah.

And we were sitting in.

Oh, that might have been the pilot, was it?

When she said,

where's the

faxes?

The Faxes.

Yes, that's the pilot.

I saw these bloopers.

Yes.

It was like every time you came in to take notes,

Ricky had a different

bit.

He was saying at the top, oh, yeah, I saw these too.

Yes.

And it was like 20 takes of you just, you couldn't even start the scene.

You were just trying to enter the room.

I was.

And he couldn't make you guys stop laughing.

And then you hear Steve off camera say, all right, just stop it.

Just stop it.

Just say it the way it it is.

Just stop changing it.

And so, after a while, I don't think I might have, I think I had a line or two, but after a while, once it got to close up for Ricky and Jennifer, it was like, Lucy, maybe you would like to

maybe stand out here.

I said, Am I being exited from the scene?

Yeah.

Highlights.

I had a few of those.

Do you do?

Yes, I had a few.

There's a when Michael Scott is doing doing the running man to Pam forgets.

Yep.

They had to get my reaction, which is me not laughing.

They had to get my reaction.

He couldn't be there.

No.

Actually, I guess that's the opposite.

They had to make him leave

so that I could do it with nothing there because I couldn't do it otherwise.

Yeah, we did.

We had a bunch of those.

When I had to ask her if Roy had ever mercy killed an animal, because I, you know, poor sprinkles was in the freezer.

That we, Jen and I couldn't get through it.

They actually like, we're like, we're gonna like go to lunch because you guys are.

Yeah, we need a shift in energy.

Yeah.

We felt the room turn against us.

We're like, oh no,

did you get a message anyone's lunch?

I really find it hard to not laugh through what I call this big group things like when Andy Bernard comes in singing Sweeney Todd.

I love that opening.

Yeah.

So fun.

So fun.

That one, you know, they had put so much work into that.

I, I mean, I would just not make eye contact because I'm like, I can't mess this up.

I know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But a conference room scene, we were there all day and we would just get loopy.

Yeah.

And we'd all go.

We'd all start just dropping in laughter.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's talk about how this episode opens.

Yes.

David Brent.

who is the manager of Wernham Hog Paper Company's Slough Branch is interviewing someone about a forklift position.

The guy doesn't know how to drive a forklift, though.

He doesn't have his license, but it's not going to

matter.

No, he's going to call his friend Sammy,

who he's just going to push him through, basically, right, is how this is going to happen.

Can I point out one thing?

What?

That was cracking me up.

What?

There are probably eight outlets behind David Brent in this whole scene.

I'm like, how many?

They go up the whole wall like a strip to plug things in.

I'm like, how many things are you plugging in this office?

Was anything plugged in them?

No.

Unused.

Yeah.

Now, is it true you guys shot in a real office

and that I heard a story that like at one point the business next door came over and told you guys to quiet down?

Yeah.

Like literally you were sharing the wall space with an actual business.

We were.

Yeah.

So this part of the office was disused, not used.

I don't know how to speak.

And so it was decorated for us.

And the original pilot pilot brent's office um was actually what became our recreation room and so they kind of switched those around yeah so we were asked to keep the laughter down and i was like is someone actually complaining about joy

Is someone actually complaining?

Because someone's having, if we were fighting and screaming and calling each other names, sure, okay, have a go.

But this, no.

What were they doing?

What was the other business?

So I'm like, if you're really grumpy at your job and all you hear is people laughing you might come i know you know i don't know that's a good question i don't know but was it ricky's laugh because ricky's laugh is really loud it's loud it's loud really really loud it's a cackle they must know we were filming i mean like maybe it was part of the scene yes doesn't matter they wouldn't like it did you film all the episodes at that same place except obviously anything on location like the uh nightclub or sure right yeah yeah well i'm curious like you know the first season aired yeah and then became very popular and then you had to go and do the second one and you had to do the christmas special did people figure out where you were filming did fans come or did this other business suddenly become enamored with you

yeah i don't think they complained in season two i don't remember any press or any fans coming to the studio.

That's good.

You still had privacy.

Yeah.

We wanted to ask you about the front reception desk where you sit because we were asked by Greg and our director, Ken Kwapas, to personalize our desk, to bring things in from home.

So it really felt like your workspace.

Yeah.

So we brought pictures and little tchotchki kind of things.

Nice.

There's a great shot when, you know, in the next scene, David Brent comes over to introduce you.

And there's a great shot of your desk.

And I made a list of what you got.

You saw it.

I took a picture of it.

You have a monkey calendar, a snowflake cup.

You have two telephones.

Two telephones.

Oh, that's greedy.

That was nothing to do with me.

I don't know

why you have two telephones, but you do.

So did you put anything on that desk or was it all terms?

I didn't personalize it in terms of what's seen on camera, but I had a ton of stuff.

that I bought in.

I was a bit of a medicine desk for people.

It was like, oh, have you got a, you know, paracetamol, which is like Tylenol or Tums or Tums or, yeah, I just had, I don't know why.

Oh my gosh you're the medicine lady angela's the sauce lady are you if you need like a she literally today brought in three little ketchup packets and a salt packet that she saves and then she puts them in a drawer for us when you walked in And the first person you saw was Jenna and you guys hugged and I stood there holding my ketchup packets because you walked in right as I was putting them in the drawer.

And I was like, wondering if you saw me holding ketchup packets.

I didn't, but I do have a cupboard at home with things like that in.

Oh.

Yeah.

Cause I do love making a pack lunch.

Yes.

And you need, you need a portable.

Yes.

I get very happy when I go, oh, I really need some.

I've got it.

Yeah.

I've got a sachet of ketchup.

Do you remember when, like, all of a sudden you couldn't get like the sriracha sauce?

Remember?

Like, it was like in the stores.

Anyone else, Sam?

Sriracha sauce?

I remember this, yes.

You remember it.

Thank you, Sam.

I've never eaten sriracha sauce.

Well, let me tell you who has sriracha packets.

And they're not easy to come by.

I have a drawer.

I have some sriracha packets.

I kind of covet them in my sauce drawer.

At least it's not an expensive habit you have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do you remember, like, what was the first scene you shot?

Was it this scene where, like, did you kind of shoot an order, like him coming up to your desk or no?

What do you remember from that scene?

Sure.

We did film it in order, except for, like, you know, so here's a scene at my desk, and then there might be a scene in Brent's office, and then there might be a scene in the rec room.

So, we wouldn't necessarily have then gone in order, but we definitely went as in order as possible, which was why for me to play Dawn at the end where I get together with Tim, the nice thing about that is everything was played so much in order that it felt like a story that you were playing it out yourself.

And that was actually pretty nice.

That is really nice.

I loved that.

I was curious about your wardrobe, your costume for Dawn, because I wore my own clothes in the pilot

for ours.

And I didn't really have a business suit.

I just kind of threw together what I had in a color palette of gray.

Wow.

But I didn't know, did you have any input in your look for the show?

I mean, I don't think anyone came up and said, I think it was just like, you know, you've really got to just look officy.

And so that might.

pretty much be a suit skirt and a shirt and it's dawn so it's not I'm not like the boss like Jennifer Taylor Clark

so it wouldn't be as smart or as expensive or as cute you know what I mean it was like soft colours and and so we used to before the season started I would go and meet with the wardrobe designer and we would go and walk around Oxford Street and look for I hate shopping hate it and so wardrobe was always my least favorite part of any job because now I have to go around the shops and find that so when I came here to America and I was like, they go to the shops for you?

Oh, you went with?

I'm delighted.

Yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm just putting that together.

Yeah.

That's so wild.

Trying on 80 million things and spending the whole day.

I'd be like, anything, I'll wear anything.

You just tell me and I'll wear it.

So is that standard?

Like if you book a show in the UK, you go with the costume department?

I can't remember a job I've done in the UK where I haven't.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

I did a show in the UK for Sky TV.

Okay.

But my character was in prison.

And

I did most of the

show in like a prison jumpsuit.

Got it.

Yeah.

You said it was your

chance.

You said it was the happiest like wardrobe you had ever on a show.

When I realized I would be wearing the same thing for most of the show, that I wasn't changing.

I didn't have multiple fittings.

I was so delighted.

And it was like pajamas.

It was like nice and like cozy.

It was.

It didn't hug anywhere.

Yeah, that would be a dream.

You don't have to look at a ton of clothes.

But that does explain why you didn't go shopping for a prison jumpsuit.

Correct.

Yeah.

They might not do that now.

It's been a while.

It was 2009 when I last worked in England.

So,

well, no, it wasn't 2009, but it's 2009 when I last did a British job.

I did Wonder Woman in England in 2016 or something.

But again, that was period wardrobe.

So you weren't, and they were all made by hand.

So you weren't going shopping for it.

Yeah.

Oh, so maybe period wardrobe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Period wardrobe, I wouldn't.

But regular wardrobe, I've never not been out to shop for it.

Yeah.

Wow.

Side tangent.

Would you come back sometime and talk about Wonder Woman with us?

Because I'm also a huge Wonder Woman fan.

I love you in it and would love to have that conversation as well.

Little curly ginger wig yeah i love that look oh i love that look of course yay um

cassie well in this scene at front reception david brent is telling dawn about sort of his drunken night out and he's going on and on and you know we talked about the timing of how things are said but for me it was also about things that were just left out like and not said right and one of my favorite quotes from this whole episode is david brent telling you what professionalism is,

telling Dawn that.

And I think we should hear it.

Because I'm professional.

And professionism is,

and that is what I want.

Okay, that's all.

That's it.

And professionalism is.

And you guys no idea.

No idea.

Yeah.

And that is what I want.

Was that the scene or it was that episode where he says every guy's woken up at the crack of dawn?

Crack of dawn.

Yes.

And you're like, what?

Because I, that's the thing that's quoted to me the most.

Oh, no, really.

You must get sentences that you've said or something that's quoted to you.

Oh, yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

I think we had, but we might have cut it.

Our version of that line, which I think might have gotten cut by standards and practices, I'm trying to think, is every man has sprayed on Pam.

Oh, yeah, that was cut.

Yeah, that was cut.

Like Pam was like, you know, a spray

put in your pan

before you cook.

Yeah.

Yes.

I'd forgotten that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There was this line.

Sprayed on Pam.

Sprayed on Pam.

Yeah.

Oh, those standards and practices.

That didn't get past them for sure.

You could have said it would have to be bleached or something.

All right.

So next up, we're going to meet some more people in the office.

We're going to meet Gareth Keenan, who was played by Mackenzie Crook, and also we're going to meet Tim Canterberry, played by Martin Freeman, who I read originally auditioned for Gareth, which is is so funny because John Krasinski originally auditioned for Dwight.

Look at that.

That's interesting.

The similarities.

There are a lot of similarities, especially too with character names.

Like everything's like one syllable.

It's like Tim, Jim, Don, Pam.

And then you have two lead characters with first names, Michael Scott and David Brent.

Yeah.

Well, Gareth was

originally written as a large man who was like kind of a big drinker, red in the face and very crude.

And they auditioned many, many people, all who they thought were, there were some wonderful auditions, but something just wasn't sitting right.

And the casting director, Tracy Gillam, said, What about Mackenzie Crook?

And they were like, Well, we love Mackenzie Crook, but it couldn't be more opposite than what we were originally wanting.

But eventually they auditioned him, and it was just like that.

And he said, The great, I think Ricky said his words are something like, the great thing with Mackenzie Crook

is because he's got such little bird-like features, you can make him much more crude.

And harsh.

And harsh.

Because he's a little bird guy.

Yeah.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's, it's going against what you're expecting.

100%.

And I think it's really fun how, like, and this was true of the Dwight character on our show too, but like, but especially with Mackenzie playing the character is just you know the military like the interest in like all of the order and all of that it's like

and the need i mean same as david brent really that importance in ego in in how he comes across in how he's perceived in you know assistant to or assistant for

yeah mackenzie was very funny he made me laugh a lot we all did Well, they start the scene with the scene that we have.

It's the whole WhatsApp.

He actually hits Tim in the back of the head with this newspaper

as he comes in.

I'm like, I was like, any wonder the rest of the episode, Tim's trying to block his view of him.

He's like, this guy is such a jerk.

It's so true.

Also, at six minutes and one second,

the character of Tim is holding a very tiny dictionary.

I saw that too.

He's working on something on his computer and he's holding a teeny, tiny dictionary.

And I thought, I looked it up because I'm like, when did this episode come out?

It came out in July of 2001.

And I was like, does he he need a physical dictionary to check his spelling?

I think I would have used one at that time.

Maybe so.

I did a lot of crosswords and I used a dictionary.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, our shows, you know, they predate internet stuff, guys.

Yeah.

So our desks had working computers.

Not at the beginning, though.

Not at the beginning, but eventually.

Did you play a lot of Solitaire?

You know, we did.

And Minecraft.

Yeah, I didn't play that.

Or Or not Minecraft, Minesweeper.

Minesweeper.

Very stressful.

Minesweeper would stress me out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sometimes I'd be getting into it and be annoyed if I was having to stop to film and work.

Yeah.

All right.

So now we're going to meet David Brent's boss, who, like you said, is Jennifer Taylor Clark

and

who is played by Sterling Gallagher.

Sterling Gallagher, yeah.

Wonderful woman.

She's so no nonsense and she just does not care about any of David's shenanigans.

She stays focused.

She doesn't take the bait for any of his jokes.

And isn't she brilliant at it?

Yes.

Yeah.

Sterling became a dear friend.

And she's in England now.

So I don't really see her, but we are on Instagram, one of them anyway.

On one of the chats.

On one of them.

Yeah.

She's so wonderful.

Yeah.

This is the scene we were talking about earlier where Ricky kept improvising the opening line

about his tie, about his tie, random,

but she's trying to talk to him about the agenda for the day.

But of course, he made you throw it away.

But then we get into the news, which is

there's going to be redundancies,

aka downsizing.

And these two branches are going to have to merge.

And she hasn't decided who's going to merge with the other one yet.

They've got to sort of prove themselves.

And then Chris Finch leaves a message in the middle of this meeting.

I mean, so much happens.

Also, David Britt is completely like panicking.

She's like, don't panic, David.

David, don't panic.

You just have to sit through all of it.

I remember doing our version of that scene with Jan and Michael and me sitting in the chair.

I, that, it's one of my favorites from the series.

Took a long time.

Yeah.

I took it.

We can get through that.

But Ricky saying, did no get an agenda?

Yeah.

Was every time I don't know that I could.

I think that was the bit where I was

fired from the scene.

Did no get an agenda.

Anytime I got to watch Steve as Michael and Malora as Jan, like Spar, I almost became an audience member.

I would lose my place in the scene.

So I can't even imagine how fun that was to be in those scenes.

Yeah, it was.

Well, now, even though these branches are merging and people are going to be let go, David Brent has hired a temp.

Right.

And he's going to show him around the office.

I did have a question for you because, you know, there's been several David Brent talking heads by this point.

And we used to, every once in a while in our talking heads, because we would get multiple alts for the same talking head, they called them the candy bags.

Yeah.

We would get to improvise a little bit here and there in those.

And I was wondering what your talking heads were like.

Did you get to play around at all or were they really scripted?

I mean, everything was scripted.

We would do a lot of things like on action.

We would often already talk, especially the fewer the people, the easier that would be.

He would say, talk your way into the scene.

And then when the scene was finished, he wouldn't shout cut.

It would carry on.

And I don't ever remember, I mean, I'm sure the poor continuity lady had a nightmare because I don't remember anyone coming up and saying about continuity.

So yeah, so really we just got to like chat and nothing was exact and you could add things things and not add things.

And they loved that.

And what Ricky did, he would, you know, with adding things and doing new things, he would do the most of, but for sure we had the freedom to do that.

Yeah, I bet you guys, when I watched you guys, I was like, you know, I bet they have that freedom as well.

You can tell with the bloopers, you know, the amount of times a line will change, just don't take two or three or four.

Yeah.

In this sequence where David Brent is showing this temp named Ricky, who was played by Oliver Chris around the office.

This is also when we're kind of starting to get background reactions from people.

We're seeing the scope of the space, the scope of the office.

And I was really curious how you guys shot.

I looked up your cinematographer, was Andy Hollis.

Yeah.

And I love how the show is shot.

We obviously stole so much from that with like the low angles and the spy shots and all of that.

We had two cameras going at a time.

Right.

We mainly had the one.

Okay.

Unless, I mean, you know, menopausal menopausal here, unless I literally don't even remember that I was in it at this point.

Probably when we did bigger scenes out, like at the pubs or the nightclubs, we may have had more than one, but I remember one.

Yeah.

Well, in the pilot, it does look like you're following the one camera around.

You don't have sort of like.

two angles of the same scene.

You don't have a wide shot and a tight shot.

It looks like just the one.

Yeah.

And I know because obviously like with yours, the office is one big area.

So even if you weren't in a scene, like speaking or part of it, you'd still be in it because you'd be caught in the background.

Yeah.

So you have to be careful.

You didn't look like you were playing solitaire.

Right.

Well, ladies, why don't we take a break?

Because when we come back, David Brent is going to introduce the accounts department.

Those three over in the corner.

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Well, we are back, and David is showing the tip over to the accounting nook.

Now, there's only an Angela and a Kevin over there.

There's not an Oscar.

There's not.

Yeah.

Who did we have over there?

We had Keith.

We have the Keith.

Yep.

And Jane, I think.

Yeah.

And they have a little moment and they definitely have that same vibe that we...

we completely copied, which is when David comes over and is like, look at this crazy corner, you know, and it's just like the most drab expressionalist people.

Yeah.

Plus, you're in accounts.

Yeah, you're in accounts.

What's happening over there?

Gareth is going to continue to bother Tim

while David is pointing out all of the just genius details he's added to the office.

He makes a big show of a plant.

Yeah.

We had a plant.

We had a plant.

Planty.

Planty.

Yeah.

Then he shows off like a big mouth bass,

which we had as well.

It came in Daryl's office years later.

Yeah.

I feel like I remember that.

Little Easter eggs there.

Yes.

And then David is going to introduce Ricky to Gareth.

And we get into the assistant regional manager, assistant to the regional manager.

Yes.

And Gareth is really upset because Tim has pulled another prank on him.

He has put his stapler in jello.

And we both had a question about this scene.

We did.

At 14 minutes and 39 seconds, the camera swings over to Tim and he is eating, you guys called it jelly.

Yeah.

We call it jello.

Yeah.

But he's eating jelly out of a box.

Out of a box.

And what's the thing?

Is that a thing?

It looks like one big square.

And it was it.

How do you make jello then?

With

a cup with like water and you have the little packet and you mix it up.

Powder?

Powder?

Yeah, powder.

Oh, no.

So ours is, it's like a rubbery,

hard thing that you put in a bowl and pour boiling water on.

And then it melts.

The rubbery thing melts.

The rubbery thing melts.

So the thing he's eating, he's eating the

I used to, when I ate, because it's not vegetarian, when I ate meat, I would eat it raw.

I loved it raw.

Does it taste different than once you've put the hard?

The flavor is the same.

It's just, it's harder.

Oh, my God.

Just sort of like tug at it like you're eating an eraser.

Oh, my God.

This is fascinating.

I love it.

We both were like, wait, what is he eating in the box?

It's like.

I would buy it just to eat that rather than make the jelly.

Yeah.

So this is interesting because.

In our episode, when we did this in the pilot and they swing over to Jim, he's eating some jello out of like a little cup that you, because they they make like pre-made cups but they're just for eating you could put them in like a kid's lunch box yeah yes yeah yeah yeah but it's not as good of a tell i don't think because like tim is eating the ingredient it would be like if jim were holding a box of powdered jello and then poured it into his mouth yes exactly that's what i'm trying to get at very clumsily but yes yeah yeah and uh yeah because i remember that he was like wasn't tim saying something about i've no idea what happened as he's eating the jelly yeah yeah

I wonder how many people have put their staplers in jello and tried to do that since.

So many.

I think a lot.

So many.

We see so many pictures.

Not only that, I got as a gift a little mini stapler that had been put in a yellow mold that was soap.

And so you use the soap and slowly you get out.

That's really cute.

I know.

People are really creative.

It is, I have to say.

Soap.

all right.

So now we have a scene coming up.

This is where Dawn is on her lunch break.

She's trying to read a book.

She's eating a sandwich.

Oh, is this in the pilot?

Yes.

Oh, I thought that was later on.

Oh, that was really hard to do.

That was really hard to do because what you can't tell on camera is the close proximity with which Ricky was standing next to me talking about testicular cancer.

And he's grabbing his balls.

Yeah.

And like you, since you're seated and he's standing, your face is exactly even with his crotch.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I didn't,

and because it was the pilot, we weren't so used to, you know, how this was going to play out and how this was going to be.

So when I sat there and I had already this bit of brie sandwich in my mouth, that's another line I get a lot.

of bit of brie.

Bit of brie.

And I turn

what you can't, you just can't, you know, this, you just can't tell it on camera because you know, on camera, you have to stand closer to someone than you would in real life.

Right.

In real life, it would be like, it's so awkward that you were this close.

But for camera, you have to be close.

Who was close?

I'm not going to lie.

And

I didn't have to hold the brie sandwich in my cheek, it just wouldn't go down.

But it was a wonderful, wonderful little moment of a scene.

We shot that same scene for our pilot.

That was my other audition scene.

So I had the fake firing scene

as my audition scene.

And then I had this eating lunch scene.

But ours got cut.

I know.

It didn't make it in for time because we had to get our episodes down to like 21 minutes, 30 seconds.

That's hard.

So we were like 29.

Yeah, you guys had extra time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But this sort of like physicality of where you're in someone's space awkwardly, I feel like just kept coming back, especially for Michael Scott.

Like he would talk to Jim and put his foot up on the desk, like basically lean in.

So it's just like crotch facing you.

Yeah.

And there are a lot of moments like that.

I love those things though, and especially when if they're not in the scripts and you're not expecting them at all.

Yeah.

I mean, obviously this brief scene was scripted, so I knew what the script was and the the lines were, but I just didn't plan on having break his crotch quite so clearly.

I didn't account for that

one ball to be so close to your skin, which

no.

Speaking of not being able to swallow your brie and breaking, you know, we broke all the time, but there were a few people that broke the most.

Like Rain Wilson cracks himself up.

He broke his dwight a lot.

Mindy broke in almost every scene.

And I remember Mindy doing the character doing the cabbage soup diet and looking awful.

And then, and I will do this now and I'll know who some if someone watches your show well.

Cause she'll go, gonna look amazing.

Oh, I love it.

Okay, so Mindy cracks up a lot.

Yes, yes.

But so on your set, now we know you had to exit exit a scene, but was there someone that broke the most?

Was it Ricky?

Probably Ricky, but he broke because he would, more because he would see us breaking or trying not to.

There was a scene, I think you might have seen it in Bloopers, where Ricky and Martin are doing.

a scene.

It's the job evaluation scene.

And I came in to do my job evaluation scene and they were already nowhere near finished.

And so we went over and over to over to lunch and then had to go back to it over lunch.

And so we, because they couldn't, they couldn't get through it.

I saw that blooper and they keep like clacking the clacker.

And it was like upwards of like 30 takes.

Oh my goodness.

Yes.

And there was this moment that I remember from watching the show

that was breaking them up.

And it's so funny.

It's just a gesture

that where Ricky is saying, like, you know, if you play your cards right, someday you might be in this chair.

You might be in.

Yeah.

And he does this like point down to his seat and he like bites his lip.

He's like,

yeah.

And

the first time he did it, they both broke.

And they're like, no, no, no, we got to get that.

We got to get the, do that again.

Do that again.

But they never, I don't know how they ever got through it.

It was, but especially is it so funny.

I remember doing a scene later where

Ricky is playing the guitar for me

in his office.

It's so funny.

It really is.

And that was hard.

I had written a song.

Oh, my God.

When I was 15,

where I played the piano and sang this song.

It was for my GCSE music, which is, I don't know, whatever exams you take here when you're 16.

And

I got an A for my music.

It's the only thing I ever got an A in.

It was so bad because it was also kind of good,

but it was a really cheery

ditty that I was like,

and yet it was about the most horrific things, paedophiles.

Oh, no.

And I'm not religious at all, but in the...

chorus it would be like at the end of the worry and terror there's heaven not far away and I remember telling Ricky and Steve this, and they were like, We have to have this in our show.

And they worked their asses off in season two to try and get it in and couldn't, couldn't find a way to legitimately get it in.

It was so bad, and it was so good because it was so bad.

Yeah, it was crap.

This was, this was, I feel like, this story is why you were destined to be cast on this show because your senses of humor were so aligned.

This idea of like

a song about all the things you kind of aren't supposed to say or discuss in a peppy manner.

In like a peppy show tune.

It never entered my head at 15.

It was like a peppy show tune that could have opened a sitcom.

Yes.

About the darkest stuff.

Yep, about the darkest stuff,

not religious at all.

And Isaiah and Micah prophesied a friendly world of peace.

Why?

Did they?

I have no idea.

But you got an A.

I got an A.

You got an A.

So bar was low.

They might have just been in shock, didn't know what to make of it.

I think it was like, poor girl, she's going nowhere in life.

That's the whole thing.

All right.

There's going to be a conference room meeting.

We have to discuss conference room scenes with you.

David Brent is going to discuss these rumors of downsizing.

How was this?

To shoot?

Okay.

Probably very like your conference scenes, which they take a long time.

Yep.

And at first you are genuinely trying to like be professional.

Let's get it done, guys.

Come on.

Do you know what I mean?

This is fine.

And then, of course, as Rick is doing his speech and all of this, he'll change his speech.

And so you're listening.

And so you're doing it.

And then I have one bit where

I was doing, I had a line, something like, well, Jennifer, so I say something like, well, Jennifer said there might be some job losses or downsized.

Yes.

He calls on you hoping that you're going to save the day, but instead you like make it worse.

Yeah.

And Ricky was sitting and Steve was sitting at the monitors for me doing this line.

And I did it.

Note was

a little less soap opera loose.

And I went, oh, okay.

I think because I had this one line in this long scene, I think I might have been trying to really make it last.

Yeah, so I made it less soapy.

That made me just have a question.

So was he the one usually yelling things off camera to you guys?

Was he like they co-directed, but was Stephen Merchant more the one sort of like yelling action, giving notes and stuff like that?

Yeah, I think Steve would have done action more or our first AD,

more so if Ricky's in the scene.

scene if he's not in the scene he's usually changed back into his sweats and chomping on a sandwich watching the monitor

but yeah so that would be Steve yeah

yeah that makes sense I mean because it's kind of fun like co-directing and acting in the thing that you've written

that would be really cool really that seems so stressful to me you would do you would like that Angela I feel like because you have the all creative brain I don't right I can't direct that's I don't know if I could direct actually.

I would love that, but I would love to have you there with me, Jenna, because then what am I doing?

You're doing what Stephen was doing.

Oh, I'm Stephen Merchant.

Yes.

Oh, I do that.

Exactly.

So you could sort of like be the I outside the scene and I'm in it.

Oh, but now I'm directing again, which I think I can't do.

Okay.

Well, I don't know if my brain goes there to direct.

I like producing.

Yeah.

I really enjoyed that side of my career.

And I obviously love acting.

But yeah, the directing, I'm like, my little brain.

And I don't know if I could take it all in.

You've got to be aware of every single area ever going on.

Yeah.

And I think my brain would explode.

I'm also such an inside out performer as an actor.

So like, I'm very much about like, what am I feeling?

What do I want?

What's motivating me?

And

I'm not really aware of my surroundings.

Like, I'm not good at decorating a room.

Like, I don't know where to put the chair and the couch and the things.

And my husband, who's a director like he's really good at that like he knows how to build a visual picture right um i just know how to like come from like sort of a an emotional place got it yeah i think yeah so that's why i think i can't direct

maybe i don't know i don't know don't say never ladies don't say never well i did sign us up i did sign us up to direct a show together me and you no i'm kidding

we'll all direct something together but we'll really leave it to angela now I like this idea.

And we can sit and have coffee.

Like, how many directors do you have?

Three.

Three.

Technically one.

Okay.

We have to talk about this moment where

Don is attempting to fix Tim's hair.

And you have like these great fingernails and you're kind of going through his hair.

Yeah.

How much of that moment?

was improvised between the two of you all of it yeah so what was the idea the idea was like okay, we need to see you guys be kind of flirty.

Flirt.

Like, yeah, just watching it, you know, that moment, you know, well, you know, when you fancy someone, but you've never acknowledged it between you.

So really what you're trying to do is engage in some way.

And of course, touch is always a nice thing to kind of get in.

And I'll do anything for someone.

I mean, I remember improvising a scene and, and I said to Tim, play with my hair, like in the scene.

And I was like, oh, this is a great way of getting like a massage.

I was just telling him to do it in a scene.

But yeah,

a lot of our scenes like that were improvised, just play together.

Martin really helped me in those because I wasn't as confident then.

Now I'd love to do things like that.

And I've done a lot of improv,

not groundlings,

UCB, yeah.

But I used, I was much more nervous of it then.

And Martin was just great at chatting, chatting away.

So I really, I relied on him and I'm grateful to him for that.

Yeah.

Did you guys have to do like chemistry reads as part of your audition process?

No.

Really?

Yeah.

So you, how did they know you guys were going to be so great together?

I mean, I did two castings and the last one was with Ricky and Asher Teller, our producer and Steve, and casting.

And that was it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, you guys, the chemistry between you two and it's just so like, yeah, oh my gosh, you're just rooting for Duncan and Tim, you're just rooting for them.

Ah, it was a really, but Ricky always said people come for the comedy, but stay for the story, and I think that's probably good in any comedy show.

I mean, you guys have so many great stories playing out, your relationship with Dwight.

Um, and you remember that the office is funny, and you come for that, and you laugh your head off, but you see all of these stories with characters you love play out and have time and have lengths of time to do it and it's why you keep coming back i think yeah for sure that's for me i'm like what is the heart of the show it's the people and the connections they make yeah yeah well unfortunately don's fiancé lee is going to arrive this is a big shock we're not expecting it no lee with his giant garbage bag box thing

yes because tim was just suggesting that y'all go out and get drinks and so all of our hearts are swooning of course.

But,

but no.

And then they have that awkward, awkward silence.

Oh, it's so good.

And then, and then Tim says, what's in the, and he goes, just tell her I'll be outside.

It's so awkward.

He's like, I'm not going to talk to you, man.

And I love that they never made the character of Lee.

a bad person.

He was never a baddie.

You know, part of you might think, well, maybe he beats her or, you know, maybe he's cheated on her.

No, he's just not someone you you want her to be with he's not her person he's not her person yeah and um you could call him things like a loser

but he's not he's he's decent enough yeah um yeah but it's one of those things where so many people settle because maybe they're looking for marriage and some some kind of continuity or consistency and and they settle and that's what dawn has done for all of her life until the very end.

You know, she didn't pursue her dream with the drawing she didn't pursue Tim.

And

she stayed with this guy just because it was easier to stay than go, I think.

Yeah.

And how many, I mean, I've done it before.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

And I do like that Lee's not a bad guy.

And I liked that Roy wasn't a bad guy.

And one of the things I did love, of course, we had many more seasons and time to show this storyline than you guys did, but I loved that Roy found his person.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

And learned how to play the piano for her at her wedding like I mean it just goes to show that he was meant to be happier too just the way that Pam was and but yeah so I did like that they didn't make him like sort of this villain person yeah he just wasn't her person yeah he just wasn't her person and he wasn't a bad person you just looked at him and knew please don't end up with him right please don't because he's just going nowhere and he doesn't have any he doesn't encourage her in any kind of dreams whatsoever yeah he doesn't doesn't have dreams for himself.

And I think that's a shame for anyone.

Well, she lights up around Tim and her light goes out around Lee.

Yeah.

Like, you know, and you just see it in how you played the character.

And when I talk about stealing things from you,

that was like something that I really noticed in your performance.

And I thought, okay, yes, I like this.

I like this way that you have different body language around these two different people.

Right, right.

And so, yeah.

Yeah.

I remember doing the scene at the end of the Christmas specials where I dawn goes home in the taxi with me.

Yeah.

And then she opens.

She's giving me chills just thinking about it.

She opens the paint.

Yes.

Yes.

Never give up.

And just before we filmed that, Steve Merchant came up to me and he said, God, I'm going to tell you how I'm going to, I'm imagining this scene.

I went, okay.

Then he said, imagine you open it and then we're going to like pull in on you with the camera and just one solitary tear comes down your right eye and I went geez Lou I said have a word

go home

I think one did weirdly I don't know how many takes we had to do for me to like do that sometimes I can cry naturally and sometimes I have to stick Vic in my eye same yeah same in this scene where where David Brent fake fires you and you have to break down crying yeah how many times did you have to do that do you remember?

And was that more like, did you get yourself really crying?

You look like you're pretty upset.

I didn't really cry in that scene.

I think I put my head in my hands, right?

Yeah.

I think I did that probably to disguise the fact that I wasn't crying.

I know that trick.

And then you get the breathing and you're like, yeah.

Sniffling.

Maybe the end of my pointy nail will stab my eye and then it will cry.

It's watering a little.

Yeah.

Also, when I really let myself go and cry in a scene, it's not attractive.

Like I don't have the single tear.

It's just a big blubber fest.

But I quite like that.

I like seeing real crying.

Emma Thompson always says you have to earn your cries.

And,

you know, don't just, I've done shows where, you know, everyone's crying all the time.

And I'm like, aren't we?

Aren't we desensitized to it?

And I remember her in

Love Actually.

I don't know if you've seen that.

I love Love Actually.

She's speaking Angela's language.

That's

that scene with Joni Mitchell.

And she opens it up.

She thinks it's going to be the necklace.

And then she makes the bed and it has this resolve that she's going to go and go to the kids' Christmas play.

And her dignity

crying.

Oh, so good.

Yeah.

I have to say.

Just

her story with Alan Rickman in that movie alone was worth watching it for.

Oh, my goodness.

And I was like, Yep, you weren't your cry.

Yeah.

Oh,

yes.

Well, listen, yeah.

I want you to come back and I want us to do the Christmas episode.

Oh, the special.

Wouldn't that be so great?

Because now I want to watch it again.

We're talking about it and I want to watch it again.

And also, by that time, I've got things that I can certainly bring you guys.

You can't show it on here, but because I didn't, I went to look, but I don't have the pilot

script, but I do have some scripts still from the show and wow some really cool photos we didn't then have

i didn't but we didn't have cell phones where you could take a million photos no no we didn't either no so i do have some really cool pictures and stuff oh i would love to see those yeah we'll have to do a christmas episode okay done

well the episode ends with the david brent talking head where he's talking about how the most important thing about a company is not, you know, it's not the building, it's not the stock, it's not the turnover it's the investment and the people yeah we did a very similar michael scott talking head

it has the same sort of joke where he's like gonna be godfather to someone's child and yeah and then fires them yes it didn't work out

that kind of completes the episode but before we go i have to ask what has it been like for you to be part of this legacy that is the office.

People ask us this all the time, but I mean, for you, it's like you started it all.

It's in, I think also because we only did the 14 episodes, whereas you guys, I don't, how many episodes did you do?

201.

What joy.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

That's where I envy you guys.

I'd have loved to have done just to have that have been my life for several years.

Yeah.

So obviously, to some degree, because we started much before you and we only did 14 episodes, to some degree, it's a blip in the ocean.

But it isn't because of the impact that it had.

And I remember the first time we were nominated for awards, it was for the Comedy Awards in England, which are quite big award show and a really fun award show to go to.

And we were nominated for Best Comedy and Ricky for Best Actor.

We were like, what?

We've been nominated for the Comedy Awards?

And I remember chatting with Ricky on the phone that night when we'd heard.

And he was like, he said, God, I really hope this will become my cult cult following.

Like, and he gave a, I can't remember what comedy he gave an example of.

And we're like, wouldn't that be amazing if like people actually watched us more and stuff like that?

So we just never saw this.

Yeah.

And that lastingness of it.

Yeah.

But yeah,

I mean, again, I will know your show more than I will know mine.

But that's partly because I don't watch myself hardly ever now.

And I've done things that I've never seen.

But obviously I've watched all the office, just don't remember a lot of it.

And I wrote a little diary through one of the seasons.

You had a journal?

A journal.

And I wasn't a big journal writer.

Lucy, you know, I read from my journal that I kept while we were filming The Office on here.

They love to make fun of me because I, my journal writing, I write like, I don't know, what would you say?

Well, we do it.

A fourth grader.

Who it's for.

It's like you're writing it to your future self so you don't forget things.

But with like,

when you're writing a letter, you'll be like, guess what I did today?

Oh, that's great.

You'll never guess.

Rain came by my desk.

He farted.

It was so stinky.

Oh.

And then I'll say, and then I'll write something like this.

Story for later.

Gotta go.

Story for later.

Like to myself.

To yourself.

Telling myself like diaries.

But anyway, you're going to come back.

We're going to break down the Christmas episode and you're bringing your journal.

I like this plan.

Okay, I'll do that.

I remember I did it for a few jobs and I remember thinking it needs to be written so that if, God forbid, it got into the hands of press or something, it's nothing bad.

It's just my day today or something funny that happened or whatever that is.

Yeah.

I can't wait to hear your journal voice.

Thank you.

I'm really looking forward to what I'm feeling like.

Yeah.

I mean, you are an office lady.

You're the original office lady.

You are.

I can't tell you how excited I was to hear from you.

And I was like, I wanted to go on this show for ages.

Oh, my God.

Yes.

Oh, well, thank you so much.

I mean, we should tell people how we met.

Yes.

You were doing a show.

Pilot.

Yes, here in LA.

Yeah.

And my manager had another client on the show.

And she said, Jenna, you were just cast on the pilot of the office.

Oh my gosh.

And I think it would be really neat for you to come and meet Lucy Davis, who originated the role.

Oh my God.

And I did.

I came to your set and I think I watched your taping.

Yeah.

And that was the Aisha Tyler Project, I think.

Yes.

Produced by Lisa Kudra and Yashinski.

Yes, that's right.

And I mean, I was so starstruck.

I didn't even know what to do.

You took a picture with me backstage.

She showed us the picture when she came to set.

I remember we were all abuzz.

It was my big mess

that I had met you.

Oh my gosh.

And you were so sweet and you just were so encouraging.

You said like, I wish you all the success.

I mean, everything you were saying at the beginning of this podcast about like, there's room for all of us and you can be just as big of a success with your version.

And it just, you know, we were so nervous about doing it.

And that really helped.

The office of our office, we were all rooting for you.

We just, we were like, no, God, yeah.

You said that.

And that meant so much.

and that gave me so much confidence.

So thank you.

I am so happy to be back in touch with you.

Same.

Yeah.

Me too.

It's lovely to meet you, lady.

Yes.

So lovely to meet you.

And I can't wait to meet the journal version of you.

Oh, my God.

Yes.

Lucy, thank you so much for coming by.

Yes.

What a wonderful day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye, ladies.

Bye, original lady.

How lovely was that?

I mean, I love that I'm back in touch with her.

We've been texting up a storm again.

And it's just, you know, this podcast, we get to reconnect sometimes with people.

And it just makes me so grateful.

And I'm so grateful that she came in.

She was so excited.

She's just such a wonderful person.

Like the minute you're in the room with her, I just was like, when are we hanging out again?

I know.

All right.

Well, thank you so much, Lucy, for coming in today.

And thank you guys for listening.

And we'll see you next week.

See you then.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins.

Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico.

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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