An Interview with Clark Duke

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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 BFF stories.

We're the Office Lady 6.0.

Hello.

Welcome to Office Ladies 6.0.

We have a special guest today in the studio.

Yes.

It's my possible cousin.

Yes.

Clark Duke.

That's right.

Joining us today is Clark Duke, who played Clark Green on The Office.

He joined the show in season nine, episode one, titled New Guys.

Clark Green is the new customer service representative at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin.

And yes, Angela, a possible cousin of yours.

We'll get to that with him.

We did speak about it in more detail.

I love this little tangent.

But first, here's a little bit about Clark Duke.

He is an actor, writer, director, producer.

He is originally from Arkansas.

How cool is this?

When he was in college, Clark created, wrote, directed, and produced the web series Clark and Michael with his friend Michael Sarah, in which he plays a fictional version of himself.

In our conversation with him, he talks a lot about how that project that he did, that was his college thesis, actually,

really informed his role on the office yes yeah

now listen you guys might know clark from his other acting roles in greek super bad sex drive a thousand words kick ass one and two hot tub time machine one and two

bad moms identity theft and i'm dying up here

which he stars in with jake lacey He is also a writer and director.

He wrote, directed, and starred in the feature film Arkansas and The Upcoming Strangehold, which reunites him with Jake Lacey.

And of course, we all know him from the office.

And he joins us in the studio today to talk about his time on the office, plus so much more.

But before we play his interview, I think we need to revisit some fan-favorite moments of Clark.

According to fans, this is one of the best one-liners Clark ever said on the show.

It's from Moving On, Part One.

It may not seem like it, but this really helped.

So thank you.

I'll give you $100 to wear that sweater to work tomorrow.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

That was so funny.

That's right.

This is when Andy is starting to put together that maybe Aaron is seeing someone.

Yes, and maybe she gave his sweater to this new person

who is

Pete.

Yeah.

Yes.

Well, other fans wrote in to say that they love this bit of Clark sass to Jim in Live in the Dream.

We talk about this in our interview with Clark.

Here it is.

Oh,

Clark.

I'm actually here today.

Surprise.

So I was wondering if maybe I could have my desk back.

Right.

Yeah, but, you know, I've actually been working pretty hard here on a daily basis, so I kind of feel like I've earned this.

I mean, I don't know.

You totally have.

You have earned it.

But maybe I could be with my wife.

That's kind of the whole reason why I'm here.

Right.

Well, I'm here to sell paper.

Burn.

Yes, that is my personal fave.

Well, we both have a lot of favorite Clark moments, and it's so fun to talk to him about it all.

Yes, I think he also may have my favorite call sheet questions answers yet.

They were like, stay tuned for his call sheet questions is all I have to say.

Absolutely.

I mean, call sheet question number one, Wowzers.

Wowzers.

Well, let's take a break.

And when we come back, it's our interview with Clark Duke.

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hello hi hi i'm great welcome thank you it's so great to be here it's nice to see you guys it's really good to see you guys besides like christmas cards i know that yeah i love kidding your mom's christmas card we haven't done one in a while it's because it's like you got to plan it in in like i know june but i got one i had it i taped it up in the dining room walk past your family but we didn't but we didn't do like a like a full like shoot, you know?

No.

Like a planned photo shoot.

Yeah, but you need to tell your mom she needs to get back on it because she slacked off last year.

I agree.

Could you guys please share with people how this Christmas card thing came about?

It's because you're maybe like distant relatives, right?

Well, this is our joke.

Okay.

So we were chatting on set one day and I was like, wait a second, we have a lot of the same family names.

And then you're from North Carolina.

There's this lore that my family's from North Carolina.

I mean, are we related?

Well, you probably are if they're actually from North Carolina, like confirmed.

Yeah.

I don't know, guys.

I could be sitting across from my eighth cousin twice removed.

Well, you're family enough to send a Christmas card every year, even after all these years.

I thought at first you meant like the history of like Christmas cards in general.

And I was like, I have no idea.

I know I want to Google that.

I know.

You've put that in my head.

Yeah.

All right, cousin, let's get to it.

Let's kick things off with the question we ask everybody.

The first question, how did you get your job on the office?

So I met Greg Daniels,

I forget what year.

It was a few, at least a couple years or a few years before I got on the office.

And it was, he was making

a different show.

And I don't.

I don't remember if the show.

Anyway, I ended up not doing that show because it it just it just wasn't for me.

But I like Greg so much, and I like the office very much, obviously.

And then just kind of years later, out of the blue, I got my manager called me one day and said, like,

basically, like, Greg wanted to know if he would be interested in

joining the cast the office.

And I was like, well, well, yeah, that would be great.

Cause because I mean, for me,

you know, I went to I went to film school at Loyola Merrymount out here in LA.

And my thesis thesis project was a mockumentary called Clark and Michael, me and Michael Sarah.

And, you know, our main

influence was

two things.

It was this thing called Stella with David Wayne and Michael Schowalter.

And the other thing was the British Office.

I mean, and mainly the British office.

So I had been a huge fan since the British Office.

So for me,

it felt very like full circle and neat for me personally just to like get to be on the show.

Yeah.

So that was it.

I mean, it was, yeah, it was not a lot of deliberation or anything.

I was like, of course, I would love to be on the office.

What a great phone call to get.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I haven't had a phone call that good in a while.

Yeah.

That was a good one.

How did they talk to you about the character you would be playing?

Were you part of the development of this character?

Did they tell you at the time?

oh,

you're going to be paired with this other new guy?

Did they give you any of those details?

I knew we were going to be paired with another new guy.

As far as like, you know, the characterization, I don't recall there being a lot of specific notes about like how to play it.

I mean, I think it was sort of like.

Like, do your thing.

Yeah, I think it was sort of like acting as casting.

You know what I mean?

I think it was just like kind of me.

And I mean, that was why, you know, because a lot of people said like, oh,

like, did they want to name you Clark?

And like.

That was my idea.

And it was sort of also in the back of my head, too.

Like, maybe this is Clark from Clark and Michael, like 10 years later or whatever.

Yeah.

And I mean, that was, that was just like the lore in my head, like not like, you know, anybody else.

But I also thought it was fun, you know, because there's a lot of people on the show that use their real name.

Right.

I don't think there was a lot of specific, like, you need to play it like this.

It was more like, I think they kind of just wanted my, you know, me,

whatever that is.

I have one more like follow-up question to your casting process.

At the time, weren't you told that this could possibly be like the beginning of a spin-off show, like that you and Jake were going to be the two new guys for the final season of The Office and that your characters might carry the torch into the next iteration.

Yeah, that was my understanding of it.

Not even like a spin-off, but like ER, you know, where it was like just new casts, some of the existing casts would stay and then you'd bring in like new people too and kind of be a mix.

But yeah, that was my understanding of it was it would be, yeah, like ER.

Yeah.

And they would keep the show going.

So I was, I mean, I was, I I was looking forward to being on the show for like years, you know, potentially.

I remember when we watched the finale, there was all of this extra footage of you and

with Dakota.

Don't

yeah, and like you were going to be each other's love interest.

Right.

We shot like this whole, I remember for like a week or two, we shot all this stuff.

There's tons of footage.

All gone.

I wonder if they'll put it back in the Superfan episode.

Maybe, maybe.

Well, it was so funny too, because I saw like, or somebody sent it to me on Instagram a while ago when she was doing the press for a, for a movie.

She kept talking about how, like, oh, that was like the worst week of my life.

Like, I sit around and then they never used any of it, which made me laugh really hard.

Well, Dakota, it might be in a super fan.

It might come back.

It might live again.

But, yeah, but that was,

yeah, that was my understanding of it and my hope, you know, to be honest.

Well, we have a fan question for you from Joanne Kaye in Cape May, New Jersey.

She says, what was it like coming into the office so late in the run?

It seems like it would feel like being a transfer student senior year.

It was a little bit like that.

But, you know, the thing is, it wasn't hard because it was such a like smooth running machine.

You know, you're joining like this thing that like runs like a clock at that point.

And everybody was so nice.

And I will say, you guys, specifically you two were the nicest of, and I'm not just saying that because the podcast, you guys were very sweet to me and I've always appreciated it.

We were very excited when you and Jake joined the show.

When we spoke with him, we told him that it was like like we needed new people.

We were, you guys were so funny.

You were so nice.

You were so talented.

You had new stories to tell.

That's a, I think that's the thing too.

It's like we were like a family where like as soon as John started doing a bit, I'm like, that's his boom operator bit.

We've seen it for nine years.

It's still funny, but you guys came in with all this new energy.

Well, it is very much like a family because I mean, when you, you know, just from doing

so much TV over the years, over the course of my life, like, you know, you spend more time with those people on set than you do like your actual family in a lot of cases, you know, for like six or nine months a year, like 12 or 14 hours a day.

Like it does, it is really like a family atmosphere.

So yeah, it was, it was sort of, I thought it was going to be intimidating, but it was, it ended up being

kind of just a pleasure because it was just so easy.

And everybody could go, you know, like I remember, I think the first scene I ever shot was,

it was me and Rain

at like the snack machine.

Oh my gosh and it was sort of like a feeling out thing of like because i wasn't sure how much you know like how much improv to do like you didn't want to show up and be like

that guy

yeah yeah yeah you don't want to like come in super hot be like i got jokes guys i know you've won some emmys but hey here's my stuff and you know it like this it never needed a lot of improv because the scripts were so good too but um

but i remember you know being a little bit nervous like that day um

but then it was just you know rain is so funny and and me and and him had a good, I felt like had good chemistry together too.

So that was, that was so easy.

I can't believe that was your first scene.

I'm pretty sure, yeah.

You guys cracked up a lot, and it's in the bloopers, and I actually was going to play it.

Ready?

Are you ready?

This is, you guys are so tickled.

So, all right, here we go.

Want a coffee?

No, I'll probably just finish the

chip.

Again,

you don't have to give me stuff.

I appreciate it though.

I got some noodles in my car.

I can ride so far.

Thank you.

I got some noodles in my car,

so we could just.

Just go get your car.

I got some noodles in my car.

We could just hang out and have some noodles.

Sane, if you're more hungry, I got a big tub of noodles in my car.

You get it out.

This goes on for a super professional.

This goes on for a few minutes.

Literally, every time he said, I got some noodles, you guys would start breaking up.

We basically just met.

Yeah, that is so fun, though.

You could already see the chemistry between the two characters.

Yeah, the hardest I've ever laughed, and the one that's still like,

if I catch it on TV, like on, I don't know if you guys know this, but the show airs a lot on cable.

It does.

So I see.

Yeah.

Yeah, like on Comedy Central and

every channel.

It seems to be on every channel.

Channel

But if I ever see the one where we're trying to move Stanley's body

down the stairs.

Down the stairs.

Stair Mageddon.

To me,

even shooting at that, I could not hold it.

I could not hold it together.

I was like, this is the funniest.

Like when his head launches into the wall.

Into the wall.

Oh, my gosh.

But that was the great thing about the show and about

Mockumentary is

the

you know the formula and the format of the show being so grounded with the mockumentary you can get away with really big broad stuff because i was like at first i was like this is really silly like i don't know if this is going to work at all but then you watch it and it totally works because like the you know the mockumentary thing grounds it um but yeah that that was that's I still think about that and laugh just trying to shoot that and get through it because like nobody could keep it together.

I love that you brought that up because

I feel like we were afraid to do that mix of like a broad concept and then like, but keeping it in the mockumentary world.

And it was Mindy's episode, The Injury, where Michael grills his foot, which is just such like a broad,

ridiculous idea.

And after that episode worked, I felt like that would, the writers were like, oh, okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

We see what we can do here.

Meredith can have a bat bat attack her head

yes or get hit by michael's car it really does though it gives you it gives you a lot of freedom because um i mean just think i mean even think of the like spinal tap yes yeah you know like it's

yeah

it's uh that's that's the great that's the thing that i love the love about mockumentary and i really got to do it twice because it doesn't come up a lot like i did it in clark and michael and then uh did it in the office but um

Yeah, I would love to do more Mockumentary.

Well, you're a writer-director now.

would you ever go that route?

I actually have a script I'm working on right now that I would like to try to shoot this year that's a mockumentary.

Yeah.

But I don't know if I'm going to be in it.

But yeah, definitely.

Just because I miss, I miss, like, it's such, and it's such a fun way to shoot, too.

You know, you can move so fast.

Like, that was the other crazy thing about the office is how

it felt like we shot a ton of pages a day.

We did.

We did.

Yeah, like compared to other stuff.

Like,

so much.

Like, yeah, like I'll 10 or 12 plus pages a day, which is a lot.

I mean, I don't know if people know.

That's a lot.

It's a lot of pages.

Yeah.

A lot of pages.

And also, you know, we didn't move our lighting once we were in that main bullpen, so we didn't have to wait for a lot of setups.

So we could move really quickly.

Which was great because as an actor, you it kept the energy up.

Yeah.

Totally.

You wouldn't have that sort of slump as they would take forever to light.

But I remember after being on the office and going through like 10, 12 pages a day, going to shoot a movie, and I would look at the call sheet and I'd be like we're doing seven eighths of a page today like one or two pages yeah yeah I was like oh okay yeah it's a lot of stuff

one page yeah for 12 hours as opposed to 12 pages in 12 hours it's it's great as an actor I mean the monk married thing too because you're shooting with you know two or three cameras usually at all times too so you can you know kind of like a Robert Altman thing like talk over each other and not have to worry about that and

yeah I loved it yeah well looking back on the office is there a particular moment or episode that stands out to you as one of your favorites i mean stare mageddon i already answered this one but that that episode um and and the first one the first one where you meet us you know was obviously a really special thing for me well you know what um the one where where dwight takes me on the sales call we go to the father son is that suit warehouse yes yes it's so good that episode is so good that that might have been that was a really fun one to shoot uh for me just because the stuff with ran was so fun i mean the most surreal one or the one that like maybe sticks out the most was um

the finale just because that was a little surreal like talk about the like transferring like senior year somewhere like and me and jake lacey have talked about this like it was it was kind of surreal because you know you guys had all been together so long and everybody's like crying and hugging but we kind of felt like two guys like standing around like you feel kind of like you know you feel a little like like at like weird like

like you're at like the funeral of someone like who's like should i go hug you or what i I do?

Like an acquaintance's funeral, you know?

Yeah.

So, that was that was the most surreal thing, probably.

But, yeah, funniest one is Sarah McGeddon for me.

Like, just could not keep it together.

And then, yeah, the first for the first episode of that season where they introduce us, and then, um, yeah, probably a suit warehouse.

Well, you have one of my favorite talking heads.

It's when Clark is talking about his weekend with Jan,

and it's one of my absolute favorites, and I want to play it.

Okay,

hey, guys.

Clark, hey.

Hey, look who's back.

Wait, Jr.

Hey, so how was it?

I mean, the sex with Jan.

A gentleman doesn't discuss such matters, especially when the feelings of a lady are involved.

Women reached their sexual peak at whatever age Jan was last week.

I mean, it was like making love with a wild animal.

But not like a cougar.

Like you might think, it was

like a swarm of bees.

Bees that just find find something wrong with every hotel room.

That's a goddamn thing.

That was so good.

Your delivery is so great.

Yeah, I did not write that line.

I wish I did.

That's excellent.

That was a funny storyline in general because I think, if I remember right, I think that was sort of

the me and Jan thing was sort of written in because I had to go shoot a movie.

And it was one of those deals where like I was committed to that before I came on the show.

So like we had to carve it out type of deal.

Sure.

I think that was why the Jan thing was how they wrote me off.

But yeah, what a great, funny way to do it.

Yeah.

For like three weeks.

Do you have any like offset behind the scenes memories?

Like when you look back at that time on the office, what do you think of?

I mean, it was, I don't know.

It was an interesting time.

Like, I mean, I'm trying to think of stuff that would not be interesting to talk about.

Cause I mean, for me, it's like I think about, you know, like.

It felt like kind of a transitional moment in my life.

Like I was moving.

Like I literally just moved from, so where they tape here, the podcast.

I used to live across the street in this building, and I had moved out of there and was like living in this, like, this house I rented.

And you know, we should share with everyone when you walked in, you were like, oh my gosh, from the windows where we record, he can literally see the window of his old apartment.

Yeah, I can see my old apartment across the street here.

Yes, I don't know.

So for me, it was an interesting, it was, it was such a fun, weird kind of year because it was like.

You know, just being on the show felt like this fun gift like that was just put in my lap that I got to do for a year.

So it was just kind of pure joy.

joy because I mean,

you know, like I said earlier, a lot of shows are not that fun to shoot.

Like, I mean, especially now that everything is kind of just like a lot of TV shows now are like movies that never end, like single camera stuff.

It's like, you know, you can go shoot a movie for like two or three months and do like the crazy hours because it's only for like, you know, a couple of months.

But doing that like nine months a year like really like wears on you after a while.

Yeah.

So.

yeah it was it was just it was such a fun year and i you know the main thing that kind of took me aback because i'd never done um I had never done a show that did that many episodes a year.

And so it was, it was really interesting for me just to watch the kind of like ebbs and flows of like, everybody's got so much energy, you know, at first.

And then by like, like, I remember there's like a hiatus, like midway through.

And it's like, you need it because everyone's about to die.

Right.

You know, from like exhaustion.

And then it was like.

the scripts after that, like, and everybody's energy, like, okay, everybody's got way more energy again, you know, to kind of like carry you through.

It was interesting for me just to, to watch the sort of endurance and the kind of rhythm of the thing and how you had to kind of pace yourself a little bit.

And also just how fast stuff would come out.

Like we would shoot an episode and it'd be on TV like, was it like two or three weeks later?

Like really fast.

Yeah.

The turnaround was really good.

Yeah, the turnaround blew my mind.

Yeah.

Because I'd also never been on anything that turned around that fast before.

Well, we'd get a script and we'd read it midweek and then we'd shoot it the next week.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I, yeah, I think, I think for me, just the process of it was really interesting to watch as far as the offsets.

Well, I guess that's still on set, but that was cool to me.

I mean, one thing that I, you know, liked about the show so much and was so excited about when I initially got the offer was the idea of eventually being like BJ or Mindy and being like a writer producer kind of role on the show, too.

I had it went on longer.

I'm so curious because, you know, over in the little accounting nook, we had our different bits that we would do with one another.

Did you and Jake, back in the annex, like sitting across from each other, did you have like bits that you did?

Um,

did you have the Zen garden?

Remember how there was that little sand Zen garden?

I think that left.

Oh, I don't recall a Zen Garden.

Yeah, it was, it used to be back in the annex.

I don't think we did because, you know, weirdly, we didn't, we didn't film, or it feels like we didn't film a whole lot of stuff back there.

Like, I remember filming way more stuff with you

than I do back there.

But, I mean, Paul would always crack me up.

Yeah.

Paul makes me laugh really hard.

I ended up doing a, Paul directed a movie that I was in a few years after called Song and That Can't Back.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then we did during, Paul called me during

like the lockdown part of COVID.

And I ended up doing this.

It was like an audible

middle space.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was great.

It's so funny.

Yeah.

But it was, it was so, that was then that most surreal part of like COVID in LA where,

so they delivered like a sound booth to my house.

And they did it.

And like, I built this, like, they sent like a kit.

They didn't even build it.

This is like when nobody would even, like, like.

Come in your house.

No, no.

It was like, we're going to drop this giant refrigerator-sized thing outside, like, in your driveway.

And so I built this thing of like PVC pipe in my garage.

You built it?

Well, I mean, it's, it's like.

It's like Legos.

Yeah, yeah.

It's not that elaborate.

Let's not.

I don't want to oversell.

Like, yeah.

It had like instructions and, you know, it's literally just a little bit of a bunch of stuff.

You basically had to do an IKEA build.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

You had to do an IKEA build of this thing and build a little

like soundproof booth with the, you know, the blanket over it and the whole thing and the mic and the stand.

And

yeah.

Sounds crazy.

Yeah.

I was going to ask you if you took anything from the set when we wrapped because Jenna and I took a bunch of stuff.

I took a bunch of shirts.

and a couple ties.

You did?

For your real life?

Like that you would wear in your real life?

Well, I could, but I really don't.

It was more keepsake.

It was.

Yeah.

That was my question.

Because I didn't really have any other props to speak of.

You know what I mean?

Because I never had a desk I'd been at for a long time or anything.

I took this very specific tie that because I feel like I only had like two or three ties that rotated a lot, which was one thing that I liked about the show is it was kind of a real thing is you'd see clothes repeat.

Yeah.

Because normally on TV shows, you'll never see the same outfit.

Same outfit ever again.

But I had like two or three ties.

So I have one or two of those and one and I see those on TV all all the time and cracks me up.

Oh, I love that.

You mentioned how you didn't really have a desk necessarily so much that you sat at a lot.

And that reminded me of one of my favorite.

episodes, which is when you won't leave Jim's desk when he comes back.

Yes.

And your showdown with him

is so good.

It's really good.

I love it.

You were like, oh, because I'm here to sell paper.

Yeah.

Like, I would love to sit by my wife.

All business.

Yeah.

Do you still get recognized from your time on the show?

Oh, my God.

To a degree that like blows my mind.

Only, only because I was, you know, only on the show for the one season.

But,

no, the office is like,

I mean, it's, it's, it's like.

I don't know.

I've never been a part of anything like that.

Is this big, you know, like now with like, it feels like it's so much bigger now than when the show was on, too.

Oh, yeah.

Like with like the conventions.

And I mean, there's people, I know people that are, people come up to me and tell me this, that they just like watch the show on loop.

I think it is bigger in a sense because there's all the people who watched it when it was originally on.

And now there are these additional generations who have found it and love it.

But that first generation is also still watching it.

So it's just this like cumulative fan base.

And it's.

No, I would say like at least once a day, somebody in real life will say like, oh,

are you, oh my God, were you Clark from the office?

Yeah.

Which is another reason to use your real name when you're on a TV show.

Oh, it's good times, isn't it?

Yeah.

I have this story that Jenna knows: that I had lunch with Rain.

We were leaving this little cafe, and someone drove by and they yelled, Angela.

And I was like, What?

Oh, wait.

Sorry, Rain, I might know them.

And then they yelled, Dwight.

And he goes, Oh, no.

They yell your name.

I was like, They do.

And every time I turn around and I think I might know someone.

My favorite story that's similar to that is when after I had, this was like 2007 or something.

I think the only thing I'd done was Clark and Michael, and it was was just on the internet.

And I remember being at,

we were at San Diego Comic-Con

like promoting some movie that hadn't come out yet.

And somebody drove by in a car and yelled, Internet

at me, which was one of my all-time favorite.

But the weirdest thing is I turned around.

I went like,

I knew, I knew it was directed at me.

Yeah.

That's pretty great.

But no, like, no, the, the, the getting, the office thing is really like, like I said, it continues to blow my mind.

But I mean, you're also, you know,

it's so cool now with kind of, and I, and I sort of knew this at the time, but even more now, like, you got to be part of one of the all-time shows.

Like, I mean, this was like my generation's Seinfeld, you know, or Cheers or, you know.

Yeah.

Just a classic show that everyone you knew watched at some point.

Yeah.

Like, I remember one time Greg Daniels said something to me, and I'm going to like paraphrase it and butcher it, but he said something along the lines of like,

you know, in life, you don't get that many like really big bites at the apple.

And like, you know, that was, that was one of them for sure, like that show.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I, Jen and I definitely felt that when we started the podcast.

We were like, well, we don't want to get anything wrong because the show means so much to everyone.

And they will correct you.

They will let you know, but they're always usually, they're very kind, I have to say.

They are.

They will say, ladies, that cold open actually was a tag and you got it wrong like oh sorry yeah

i think it's because you know it's sort of that thing that like um

i mean the only thing i can compare it to is like you know like stern show or something that you listen to like every day for hours on end like um it almost it feels like they're like your friends or family members and i mean i think people have like watched the show and lived with the show for so long now and especially the people that have watched it like you know over like straight through over and over um you know you feel like you know the people yeah and it it feels like uh it feels like hanging out with friends, I think.

Well, we did an entire rewatch of every single episode of the show, and

you are a complete delight.

You're a breath of fresh air when you come on in season nine.

So funny.

I really enjoyed season nine.

You and Jake were a big reason why.

I had a blast.

I thought, as just a viewer and a fan, I thought season nine was really strong in general.

Agreed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I did too.

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Well, Clark, you have transitioned now into writing and directing and acting.

You had your film Arkansas, which was based on a novel.

It is an amazing mix of crime and dark humor and drama.

Angela was very impressed by your cast.

I really was.

I was looking at it on IMDb and I was like, holy moly, Liam Hensworth, Michael Kenneth Williams, Viveka A.

Fox, Eden Brolin, Chandler Duke, your brother, John Malkovich, and Vince Vaughan.

Yeah.

Wow.

What was it like working with that cast?

It was great.

I mean, it was, it was sort of the same thing as The Office.

Like, it just makes your life as a director really easy.

Like, somebody said, like, oh, what was it like directing like, you know, like John Malkovich?

I'm like, it's really easy.

John Malkovich.

Yeah, like, he gets it.

Yeah,

he knows all of our lines.

I'd look over and he'd be like putting a mat over a loose cable and like, like, I mean, like, he's

just no, literally.

Yeah.

He's just a delight.

Yeah.

I love John Malkovich.

I still email with him every now and then.

Yeah, I mean, it just makes your life really easy, like more than anything.

And again, I mean, I think a lot of it just comes down to chemistry.

Like, I felt like me and Liam had a good, like, we had a good back and forth with each other.

And we, we're, we're, we're friends and have stayed friends.

Um, yeah, I mean, that was, that was what I, you know, I really, I came out here to go to school to be a writer director.

Like, that was really what I wanted to do more so than the acting.

And then, like, you know, kind of by virtue of being in Clark and Michael, kind of

got the acting career and did that for a nice long time and had a blast.

But I always, you know, I was always like making shorts and I was always writing.

And like, I mean, I had the option to the book Arkansas for like

probably almost like a decade.

And then finally I was like, all right, you get to like now or never.

So it didn't feel, it doesn't feel like an abrupt like change to me.

Right, because it's always been part of you.

Well, yeah, and I was always like wanting to do it and kind of trying to do it.

But,

but, you know, like, it was hard because

I, well, I mean, thank God, you know, I got to work a lot as an actor.

And that takes a lot of time up.

That's a full-time job.

Yeah.

So it was sort of a matter of like after

the last the last show was on, which Jake Lacey was also on called I'm Dying Up Here on Showtime.

We also did this other TV show together.

That's wild.

Yeah.

And now he's in your next meeting.

He is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, me and Jake are like on like these parallel paths to each other.

Yeah.

But it was kind of like after

that show I'm Dying Up here ended, I finally got to got to make Arkansas, which I'd been trying to make for you know a few years at that point.

And to the degree that like, you know, it had like different producers and a completely different cast at one like multiple points.

And then like somehow it just like and so much of it is just like scheduling and timing.

Like, you know, like Malkovich had like a week in October or whatever.

And we're like, oh my gosh, we got to make it happen.

It's like, all right, we're shooting in October.

Yeah.

But it was, yeah, like after that, that show wrapped up, I really just, you know, threw myself into that and worked on that for,

you know, like a couple of years.

Like making a movie takes a really long time.

It does.

Yeah.

It really does.

I remember when my husband and I, we made this indie,

The Giant Mechanical Man, like from our first meeting until it came out, we fell in love while we were making this movie, by the way.

And so from that first time we met, where I was like, here's the pitch meeting where you're pitching me the movie and i say yes and then we go off we're going to try to get it made we fell in love we got married i got pregnant and i had a baby all of that happened before it came out before it came out before it came out like it was like a five years yeah no and that's um sadly i mean especially with with independent movies like that's kind of the norm So yeah, like I said, I've been trying to make that movie for years and then spent, you know, two plus years or whatever making it.

And then it finally came out right as COVID started.

Like, the movie came out May of 2020.

So that was like right when all the lockdowns and everything started.

So did you get to have the big premiere

or anything?

No.

No.

Was it in theaters?

No.

No.

We were going to be.

Of course.

We were going to be.

We almost made it.

Yeah.

It would have been like the last independent film in theaters.

Oh, man.

No.

That I, as an artist, I know just because of how long it takes to push the boulder up the mountain and then not to get to celebrate it in that

way.

It did.

Yeah, it felt really anticlimactic.

I mean, I didn't want to feel too, you know, like sorry for myself just because there was such real-life, you know, horror going on with everybody.

For sure.

But no, it's tough.

It's kind of a tough pill to swallow because, like you said, you spend like years and years on it.

But it ended up doing great on VOD.

It was one of the first

movies that got moved to VOD.

So I think we, it felt like we we were like the, it was like us and like Sonic the Hedgehog, like the only movies even available to watch type of thing.

Right.

So we ended up doing really well.

Yeah.

And yeah, now I'm, I'm in post right now on my second film that me and my brother Chandler wrote.

And he's in.

He acts in this one too.

And he was in Arkansas as well, but I'm not in this one.

I just directed this one.

But what's it like to have a project like that with your brother?

How do you guys work together?

Yeah.

Do you have a ritual when you're writing?

A little bit.

So it was sort of, you know, that was probably like one positive thing that came out of, you know, the kind of long quarantine of everybody is I had rented an office space literally like a month before all that started, like and everybody got, you know, locked in their houses.

I had rented these two offices.

So me and my brother and his writing partner from college, Billington, just started going there every day.

And so, you know, just to kind of keep from going crazy and just to have somewhere to go.

And, you know, it still felt very safe.

It's just the three of us and we don't rent anybody else.

Like a second quarantine.

A little little bit yeah but it was at least like a second location yeah so thank god like you know we had that and we had each other to kind of like talk to but we started going over there and we just started writing every day and we wrote you know over a couple of years like i don't know like four or five or six movie scripts so we got wow yeah so we have um we have some some material now and this is the first one um and then we and then after you know all the lockdowns kind of died down like this movie uh stranglehold was going to get made and then it was like gearing up and then the strikes happened so then we had to take another, like, you know, 18 months off or whatever.

But anyway, we finally shot the thing, and now I'm starting.

Well, not starting, we're

on to the uh, like the point now, we're about to start the music.

You're in post-production, we're in post-production, like most of the editing is done, but now we got to do all the color and sound and the music and all that, all that kind of stuff.

But the movie will probably come out.

It's a Christmas movie.

I was going to say, can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yeah.

I love a Christmas movie.

It's she loves a Christmas movie.

I'm very excited already.

Can I come to the premiere?

Yeah, I hope.

Yeah, there's a premiere.

Yes, of course.

I'm going to share myself.

Yes.

It's a Christmas movie.

I have a red plaid dress I can wear.

Okay, go on.

So it's set at Christmas, and it's about a stripper and her alcoholic

veteran husband who decide to rob the strip club she works at at Christmas.

Okay.

Merry Christmas.

Who else in it?

Ashley Benson and Jake Lacey.

Oh, nice.

Are they the couple?

They're the couple.

Okay.

Justin Long.

Okay.

Ron Perlman is the owner of the club.

And Justin plays his son, which is very funny.

David Arquette is in the film.

Brian Possain is in the film.

Yeah, we got another great.

Yeah, another great cast.

So cool.

Yeah.

But I am not in it.

Did you like not being in it?

Did you like, did you prefer

it?

You wanted to try it.

Yeah, is this your first film you've directed that you've not been in?

Well, I've only made the two, so yes.

Well, and I guess.

Yeah, but even like Clark and Michael novels, yeah, I was in all those too.

Yeah, you're right.

So this is your first time strictly being behind the camera.

It was, because now that I think about it, even like the shorts and stuff I'd made over the years, I was always in those two.

So yeah, it was.

How'd you like it?

It was a mix.

I mean, we had so few days.

Like, we shot the whole movie in like 17 or 18 days or so.

So, I mean, I couldn't have physically done it.

Right.

Like, I would have.

collapsed, you know.

It was sort of more out of necessity.

Because I did, like, the part that Justin played, I wrote for myself, you know, initially, but it just became like a logistical thing.

But I also wanted to try it and just see, you know, what the difference was and if I did feel like it improved anything.

Honestly, I kind of missed being in it, though.

Right.

I don't know.

I think I might, I think I might go.

I don't know.

I'm on the fence.

It depends on what day you ask me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know.

I always think about that, too.

I had written this short film one time and I was going to direct it.

And then I decided, no, I want to, I need someone else.

I need that third eye.

So my friend stepped in to direct it but then i kind of micromanaged him then i was also in it so i don't think i could not be in it i think i want to do bits i want to be in there you know the thing for me that i found on on arkansas because i was i mean i was in like 80 of that movie but i kind of found a lot of times it was sort of just one less person to deal with like oh it's kind of like one person you don't have to direct and i mean like when you have really good actors that's sort of not much of an issue anyway but i was like you know i knew what i wanted the character to kind of be and do And right, I knew what I wanted the line reading to be, you know, type of thing.

One less note to give.

Yeah, kind of.

So I didn't really mind it, but I also didn't really know any different because I'd only ever acted in the stuff that I directed.

But so I don't know going forward.

I would, you know, I miss doing comedy.

Like acting-wise, I miss doing comedy.

And they just don't make like theatrical, like they don't, they don't exist.

A lot.

Yeah.

It's weird, right?

It's very weird.

Like, I don't understand it because I know people.

I mean, I guess it just moved the TV, but I miss

like a good

funny movie where you're like laughing so hard.

I know.

And I was very blessed.

I got to spend a bunch of years acting in those, and it was so fun.

So I missed that.

Yeah, that used to kind of be, there was always a couple.

There were these big like summer blockbuster comedy, and there were no superheroes in them.

And there were no like giant car chases either.

Right.

There were just like awesome jokes.

And now those are exclusively,

I guess, streaming.

Theatrical releases are car chases and

horror films.

And horror, yeah.

And like superheroes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Every, you know, everything cycles.

It does.

It does.

I, I was, I was listening to, uh, I listened to this podcast, uh, this film history show called You Must Remember This.

Do you know this show?

No, no, but I'm writing it down.

It's very good.

You know, it'll just give you like a reminder of like how,

you know, like the parallels between like in the 50s when television came along and the studios were collapsing you know and this like there's a lot of parallels between that and now um and just as a reminder that like you know everything cycles well what will happen is someone will make a great comedy yep it'll be an outlier and it'll hit big and then we'll go into the season of comedy again yeah i think we're due or something like that yeah i think we're due for like a whole new group of people, a whole new like style of com like you know because it kind of felt like you know like I had like like, one line in like Super Bad, and it was like, it feels like everyone in Superbad got a career.

It felt like that was like a graduating class a little bit, you know, and we're all still kind of still around.

And I don't know like what the equivalent movie to that since then is.

Like, it felt like there was like a scene, like, UCB, and like, I don't know.

Cause I feel like it's like you said, you've been around long enough, you know, like, I feel like I still know and see like everybody from, you know, 20 years ago, that whatever that was.

I still like hang out with my friends from Improv Olympic, Yeah.

You know, so it's like that group you kind of come up together in with.

All right, Clark, it is time for our call sheet.

Questions.

Okay.

What was your first entertainment job that you were paid for?

I believe it was a commercial when I was like

five or six years old.

Come on.

It was either a commercial or it was,

I did a pilot that Carrie Fisher wrote and produced and Debbie Reynolds starred in.

What?

When I was like six.

Were you a child actor?

Yes.

What?

I did not know this.

Did you know this?

I did not know this.

First of all, I need back.

My SAG card says like 1991 on it.

Okay, wait.

Yeah.

That's not a joke.

Okay.

Member since 1991.

I need you to back the year I graduated from high school.

Yeah, let's go.

Well, I already had a full-time job.

You did.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Wait.

I need to know.

I have so many questions now.

You are living in Arkansas.

Yeah.

And you became a child actor in Arkansas.

No.

No.

My mother had a childhood friend living in L.A.

that we came and visited that was working as an actress.

Okay.

And her manager saw me and was like, this kid's got to be in show business.

We got to get this kid up.

We got to send him out.

And like sent me on.

I think a commercial.

I mean, my mother can answer this better than I could because I was, you know, like five years old.

But yeah, booked a bunch of commercials.

And then do you remember then any of the commercials?

Like, what were the products?

Like Toyota Kellogg's.

There was a Pop-Tartson that was, they were all like big national spots.

Wow.

Yeah, I did that pilot.

And then CBS signed me to a holding deal.

How old were you when you had a holding deal?

Like six or seven, like something like that.

Oh my gosh.

How was that for you?

Did you?

It was fun.

Like there were no pressure.

There's no pressure.

You're a child.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I was a very like gregarious, you know, like

talkative.

But would you have to leave school to do these projects and how was that socially you were like the guy who was going to la

from arkansas yeah but i mean you're you're like such a little kid i feel like it's before you're like um

that's true it's before anyone's really aware of it neurotic stuff sets in yeah you know they're just like clark's back okay hi clark and there were and then i ended up on um on this sitcom uh called Hearts of Fire.

Sir John Ritter and Marky Post and Billy Bob Thornton and Ed Asner, Crazy Cast.

And Billy Bob's also from Arkansas, as most people probably know, like the same place that I'm from.

And did that for like three years.

And then after that, went back to school in Arkansas because my mom, you know, wanted me to...

have a normal like school and childhood experience.

And it was like, she was insistent that I like go to school and go to college and all that stuff.

So then, yeah, went through high school in Arkansas and then came back out here for college.

Okay, wait.

And then started working again.

I have a question.

So when you go back to school in Arkansas, do you still have that acting bug?

Like, are you doing theater in high school?

Are you doing the plays?

I wasn't.

I did very much have, like, I knew I wanted to come back.

But I, but I, since I was about 12, I want, I really, I really wanted to be a movie director.

That was really what I always wanted to do.

And yeah, of course that was from, you know, being out here.

Like, cause those were, those are, like, like, thank God, like, I don't have any, like, child actor horror stories.

Like, those are, like, really fun years for me.

Like, when I think back about like childhood and stuff, like, I have just like really fond, you know, kind of bizarre memories.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So fascinating to me.

So that was, yeah, that was one of my many lives I've lived.

I mean, question number one.

I know.

Red mind slowly.

Question number two, do you speak any other languages?

No.

No.

I wish.

I

thought quickly.

I don't.

I don't.

I also.

You know, I took Spanish in high school and college, but it's like if you don't use it, you forget it.

And yeah, I wish.

Yeah.

Well, do you play a musical instrument?

uh I can play guitar not like excellently or anything but uh yeah I play guitar all right I had a phase when I lived in the building across the street we DJed for a while which was fun

I guess DJing is a type of instrument really it really was I mean it was in the like it was in the like when there was like a it was the last time there was kind of a real scene it was right before like camera phones basically did you have a DJ name Yeah, actually, me and my friend Chris Holmes, who's still a huge DJ.

He's Paul McCartney's opening act.

Oh my gosh.

But we called ourselves Show Business,

which I thought was pretty good.

Business with an S or a Z?

With an S.

With an S.

Show business taking the stage.

We had Chris made business cards one time and they said show business.

And then on the back, it just said no request, which I thought was funny.

With no contact info either.

Just that.

That's that.

What's a place that you've been to that you absolutely loved?

I mean, I've been a lot of places I liked.

I really enjoyed getting to film in London just because the, and getting to like live there for like an extended period because I did all the touristy stuff, like the walking tours and all that, like the Jack the Ripper historical walking tour.

Like I did all like with the group, it's like me and the other group walking around with a little map.

So that was pretty fun because, I mean, it's one thing, you know, to like visit somewhere, but to get to like kind of like live somewhere for a while.

You know what was bizarre about that?

When

I left that season of the office to do Kick Ass 2, that was in London.

And I was living at these furnished apartments like the Oakwood.

I don't know if people know what the Oakwood is.

Well, it's not even the Oakwood anymore.

Yeah, it's just furnished apartments that a lot of people stay in.

Corporate housing.

Yeah.

Corporate housing.

And the only other person that I ever saw every day in like the gym or the lobby was John Malkovich.

And we never spoke.

And I didn't like,

I mean, I think I said like hello to him.

I'm pretty sure I told him this because that was like years.

before I worked with him in Arkansas.

But yeah,

getting to like spend a lot of time in London was really fun because i hate i hate long flights so i don't know if i'll like i'm not somebody that like travels for fun because i like 12-hour flight is my nightmare and i feel like i spent so many years like traveling for work a lot yeah which was great because you get to see a lot of places you know you get to work in like miami and atlanta and vancouver and toronto and london and i don't know when the next time i'll get back over there is so i'm i'm i'm happy that i got to that someone paid me to yeah you know go on an extended vacation over there was pretty good it's such a special place jenna lived there too for a job.

I did.

And it's one of my favorite memories, too.

Cause it's like you said, I really.

The city's like 2,000 years old.

It's, it's, it's just

amazing.

And also, there's little things about like, I do love to travel, but I like to stay places as long as possible.

So I can do things like, what's their grocery store like?

No, totally.

I you know, like, what, how do they sell their fruit here?

I love details like that.

I mean, the day-to-day.

Jenna left me a message one time while she was over there.

We would leave each other messages and she was like, well, today I went to buy a microwave.

Yeah.

And you had it like you, it was a

book.

Well, it was very strange.

I had to purchase a microwave for the flat that I was renting.

And the store, you walked in and there was just a guy behind the counter.

And then there were like three catalogs.

There weren't items.

No items.

And then you would point to it and he would go like deep in the back bowels of beyond this door behind the counter.

And then he would come back with the microwave it was like it's like when you order food and they have the picture yes yes

or if like Amazon was a store was just a dude and you just like pointed and then they brought it out to you it was so interesting

and that was when I asked the production where does one go to buy how do you buy a microwave here they're like oh you go to this catalog man yeah catalog man she left me that message years ago I think about it all the time I don't know why but it it really stuck with me.

Well, another thing was they don't do drip coffee, like a drip coffee maker, where you just make like 12 cups of coffee at once.

And I wanted one.

And I asked them, where does one get a drip coffee maker?

Catalog guy didn't know what I was talking about.

Everybody was like, what is this machine you speak of?

Because they just do like pour over French press.

They make one great cup of coffee in the morning and then they drink their tea.

And you're like, I need 12 cups.

I'm like, no, I'm like, I want to make 12 at a time.

I'm American.

I'm going to a thermos of coffee.

Yes.

I want tons of coffee all the time.

So they had assigned me a driver for the show.

And

they said he could also help me get settled.

And I remember one day, I'll never forget it.

Oh, man, I love this guy so much.

He

pulled up.

And he had the biggest smile on his face.

And he was holding a drip coffee maker in a box because that was the other thing like it has to have the right plug you know it has to go in their outlet so i couldn't just bring mine i guess i could have done a converter but then i don't know i always worry i'm gonna start a fire so i um

so he found one he found one and when we got to set he was so excited he read the directions he set it up in my trailer i made a I made us a pot of coffee, shared a cup of coffee with him.

He was like,

he'd never seen it before.

He's like, this was $1,200.

I know.

This coffee maker.

It was.

I drove five hours to get it.

It was also, you guys, it was also red.

It was red.

It was like shiny red KitchenAid mixer, but it was a drip coffee maker.

And how happy were you to have it?

So happy to have it.

Do you still have it?

I don't because when the show ended,

they took all the things that I had bought for my apartment and they put it in storage for me.

And then the show got canceled.

And they said, What do you want us to do with all this stuff?

And it was like, Well, they had given me a budget to buy most of it.

So I thought, Well, I don't need it.

And they said, Well, what we could do is we could put it out and we could just let the crew take whatever they want.

And I said, That's fine, but you need to give my driver two things before you put everything out.

One is that coffee maker.

I just want him to have it.

Oh, that's nice.

And also the TV that I bought because he carried it up four flights of stairs for me.

So he gets both those things.

And then everybody can have anything else.

I bet every time people come over to his house and they see the TV, he's like, you know what TV that is, right?

Maybe.

Like John Voigt's pencil on Seinfeld, you know?

This is like somebody, like

that show that that other show me and Jake were on.

I'm dying up here.

Robert Forster.

The great Robert Forster.

I had the pleasure of knowing him.

Oh, then you probably have this also.

He gave us all letter openers.

Do you have the Robert Forster letter opener?

No, I never worked with him.

I knew him like as a friend.

He would come, he and I would both lecture to acting students, and he had this great spiel that he would do.

And so that's, I knew him through a mutual friend, and we would speak to aspiring actors.

And he is a gem.

He was awesome.

Great story.

Because Jackie Brown Brown is one of my favorite movies.

Same.

Yeah.

And you have the letter opener.

He gave us each, each of the cast members, he gave us each this nice little box and you open it up and it's this beautiful silver letter opener.

And I use this thing every day.

Yeah.

And every time I see it, I start, and if anybody ever sees it, I tell them, you know, it's Robert Forster's letter opener.

It's like, it's like John Boyd's pencil in George's car.

Totally.

Yeah.

But apparently he gave these to literally, I mean, he said this.

He's like, I give these to everyone that I work with.

So, like, I've met other people that like worked with them, and they're like, oh, yeah, I got the letter opener.

It's like his thing.

It was his thing.

He had his guy.

I want to get a thing.

Is it too late?

Is it too late?

I want to get a thing.

I know.

I want a thing too.

I know.

It's so classy.

I just turned 50.

And I think 50 is when you get a thing that you then do because otherwise it might be,

like, it might be condescending if you're like 23 and you're like,

here's your gift for working with me right that's pretty ballsy though once you're older you can hand out a thing oh totally to people after you have gravity

oh i'm starting that i don't know what i'm giving away but i'm gonna start it i want to do it with you i think we have to do different things though yeah we'll come up with i don't yeah i don't know what it should be but i thought the letter opener was such a like classy thing because it's you know it looks nice it's silver it's beautiful and it's so functional yeah you use well i mean i'm saying it's so functional like the kids watching the tick tock are not opening letters but

they'll get to know.

They don't know what papermail is.

They don't know what paper mail is.

Yeah.

Again, for the listeners, this is Clark.

I am 75 years old.

And that means Jenna and I are.

Dot, dot, dot.

Okay, we have two more call sheet questions for you.

Here they are.

Number four, what do you like to do on the weekends?

I don't know that my weekend activity is that much different from my weekday activity because I don't have like a nine to five, you know?

Yeah.

Like I like to go to the comic store.

Like with the comic book store and you physically hold all the comic books.

I love that.

I used to be into comics.

I like to go to the comic store, rummage around.

Yeah.

Do you have one that's like your favorite store?

My favorite is House of Secrets in Burbank.

That's that's my favorite one.

And it's partially my favorite

because I literally went there as a child when I was a child actor.

So it's, it's got, you know, the nice nostalgia for me.

Plus, it's also just an excellently ran store.

And the guys that run it are very nice.

What's your favorite series?

Of all time, like Uncanny X-Men, like the Prime 1980s, Chris Claremont, Uncanny X-Men.

That's pretty tough to beat.

I think that's like a seminal thing for

so many

creative people my age.

Like that and Watchmen.

Yeah.

Those are the two.

I feel like those are the two biggest like...

Because

the 80s X-Men, I think, is basically the template of kind of like what Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, like that kind of formula.

Like, I feel like it kind of went out and had a much bigger, you know, impact than people realize.

Did you ever get into like the comedic autobiographical comics?

Yeah, like Markrum and Peter Banag and that kind of stuff.

Or like Joe Matt or whoever.

Yeah.

Yeah, totally.

Totally.

But I mean, for me, the

childhood thing was, you know, definitely like the X-Men inspired the superhero stuff.

But no,

there's really great work being done now on comics.

Yeah.

All right.

Final question.

Angela.

All right.

Clark,

what is your favorite midnight snack?

Ooh,

I think my favorite midnight snack is probably, it's either Fruity Pebbles or the Cocoa Pebbles.

You like a little cereal.

I like a little cereal.

And I specifically like those two.

I like the post.

brand cereals.

Did you do commercials for them?

No.

Oh, no.

No.

Just kills.

But I love the two Flintstones branded cereals.

Milk?

The rice krispy versions are good too.

The Cocoa Krispies are also good.

Oh, yeah.

I do full milk.

This is another, like, I am 75 years old.

I still buy milk, like regular milk, not no fancy milk.

No, none of these fake milks.

Give me the real deal.

Full milk.

I see a milk commercial in your future.

Not even like 2%.

I want the whole.

The whole.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, Clark, thank you so much.

Thank you guys.

Very well.

That's so nice to see you.

Thank you and hanging out with us today.

This was a pleasure.

Yeah.

This is so wonderful to see you.

By the way, your email that you sent back.

Oh, my God.

This was great.

This is so funny.

Wait, we have to tell.

I should tell this.

So when I was, when my first movie, Arkansas, the first movie I directed was coming out, it was in the midst of all the COVID stuff.

And so I texted and emailed all the people I knew that had big Instagram or social media followings.

I was like, hey, I'm just trying to get the word out, people to watch this movie.

And I sent this email, I sent it to you amongst a bunch of other people I know.

And you emailed me, you responded to the email like a month ago.

Yeah.

And the email is like

two months ago.

The email's from 2020.

Yeah.

And I, when I was like looking through your email, it had

gone.

I don't know, maybe to my spam or whatever.

But I was like, oh my God, Clark.

I go, this is great about your movie.

So sorry I missed it.

And then I was like, do you want to come on the podcast?

I'm so sorry.

And this is like one of the things Jenna knows that Sam and Cassie, they all know that my inbox on usual says about, I don't know, what's it say today,

3,814.

That physically hurt me just now.

I know.

I have to zero mine out.

I have to do it.

I do as well.

I have to have it.

I have to zero it.

I cannot.

That would give me.

I have whittled that down.

You would not believe.

I wouldn't be able to function.

What do you, what's in there?

Is it just spam?

Is it just like from like Michael's, like $5 coupons from Michael's and Margo's and stuff?

Yes.

Yeah.

And I need to go through it.

But anyway, so I missed your email.

But now I have put little emails.

But the fact that you did, the funniest thing is you didn't send a new email.

You responded to that one.

That was what I love.

You're like, Clark, so sorry I missed this.

Oh, my God.

I was doing like, I was trying to open up emails I hadn't opened up.

I know.

It was so ridiculous.

Do you worry you may have missed like other way more important emails?

I'm sure I have.

I'm sure I have.

I just have to let it go.

It doesn't keep me up at night at all.

It keeps me up at night.

It bothers me.

In our business partnership over this last five years, Angela has had to create so many strategies

for emailing.

And I've said to her, too, I've said like, how do I contact you

like most reliably?

Are you better on text?

Yes.

Okay.

I'm so much better on text.

Noted.

But I'll send her an email.

But I mean, sometimes you can't, an email is necessary for business.

So I will send her an email and then I will text her and say, I just sent you an email.

I'll tell you what you need.

You need to get a fax machine.

I'd love a fax machine.

Because

I would hear it.

I'd be like, hey, Jenna needs me.

No, it'd be like the bat phone going off.

You'd be like, this shit is serious.

It is.

But I have.

It's either a doctor's office or a Jenna.

Jenna.

Yeah.

Either way.

Or the kids' school.

Yeah, either way.

Seriously.

That's it.

I did create all these little folders now.

And you can tell the folder what emails to put in it.

And so I have my business folder.

So that only has like 12 emails.

Since she did that, she's been a different person business-wise.

I think you should think about the fax, though.

Personal email-wise.

But I think you should buy two fax machines.

One for your house, one for your house.

I kind of want to do this.

I do, too.

If you get one, I'll get one.

You have to get a landline.

What if

I have a landline?

I have a line.

It's my dressing.

You guys, I had a landline.

And then my husband was like, we never use the landline.

I should get it back.

I'm not getting rid of mine.

Never.

It's like the physical newspaper.

I'm going to try to enjoy it as long as we can.

I get the physical newspaper.

Wait, are you, Jenna has the landline because she's worried about like a zombie apocalypse.

And that way she will have a landline.

Hey, I mean, when the fires hit, the first thing I did was get out my little boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop phone and plug it in the wall.

Yep.

Because I was like, if I need to alert someone of this exact place, I'm calling 911 and they immediately know your address.

Yep.

Yeah.

I don't know.

It's basically free with my cable and internet, too.

I think, or it's like $10 more a month or something.

All right.

So if we each get a fax machine.

I'll fax you guys.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

We can send each other like the gag faxes, you know, like the funny drawings.

Memes, basically memes.

Memes, but we'll fax.

Oh, the first memes.

That really was.

That really was the original.

It really was.

Yeah.

Aw.

Well, this was a delight.

Clark, thanks so much.

My pleasure.

Email me when you're moving outside.

Fax her.

Text me.

I'll just come over here.

All right.

You know where we are now.

Well, that was absolutely amazing.

And were we right about the call sheet questions?

Clark is so interesting.

He's so layered.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, thank you all for writing in your questions and comments.

And thank you, Clark, for coming in the studio today.

Yeah, I am really loving having these sit-down one-on-ones with the cast members of the office.

Yeah.

And getting to reconnect.

Yeah.

Now we're going to get fax machines, so we're going to be in touch all the time.

We hope you guys have a great week.

See you soon.

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 producers are Jenna Weiss Burman and Leah Rhys Dennis.

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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