An Interview with Jake Lacy

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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 Rewatch podcast just for you.

Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

We're the office ladies.

Hello.

Hi, how's it going?

It's going real, real well.

I know.

Should we tell everyone why we're so excited today?

Yes, you tell everybody.

I will tell you.

We are very excited for today's episode because we have such an awesome guest.

It's the very talented Jake Lacey, who plays our new favorite character, Pete, aka Plop.

Yes!

You guys know how much we've been loving this Pete and Aaron storyline.

We're rooting for Pete and Aaron, but really it is Jake's performance that has made us fall in love with this whole storyline.

How can you not root for Pete?

I love Pete.

We love Pete.

Many of you know Jake from the office, but he has gone on to work on so many awesome shows.

I mean, Jenna and I, we both loved him in White Lotus.

Lady, when we were trading emails with him,

I waited until I brought you a fourth reply, but I had to bring him White Lotus

because I told him, Lee and I have an inside joke now from White Lotus, pineapple room.

Oh, yeah.

You want

pineapple room.

We're always like, I wonder where the pineapple room is at this hotel.

Who got the pineapple room?

You sit by the pool.

You're like, I wonder who has the pineapple.

And you know, you guys, you can also see him in High Fidelity, the series, Significant Other, a Friend of the Family, and so many more.

And now you can catch him in his new show, Apples Never Fall.

This guy is super busy, and we were so happy to finally catch up with him.

He's such a funny and lovely person.

He is an absolute delight.

So, we're going to take a quick break.

And when we come back, please enjoy our interview with Jake Lacey.

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Hey, everyone, it's Jenna.

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Hello, Jake.

Oh, my gosh.

Jake is here.

Hi, Jake.

Hey, hey, hey.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

It's so good to see you.

We're so excited to be in touch with you.

And I feel like we should say up front that we have fallen in love with Pete.

Yes.

On the office.

We are fans.

We love you.

So we know you.

Thank you.

We love him.

Oh, my gosh.

This is like exciting for me as a fan of Pete to have you here today.

Well, that feels nuts.

but you know, I mean, like,

because of my insane, like,

I don't know, relationship to the office and that role, and you go all.

And yeah, that's a that's a crazy thing to hear.

So, thank you very much.

I really appreciate that.

That's nuts for me.

Well, it's because you do such a great job playing him.

We're all rooting for Pete.

Like, Jenna and I are like, get out of here, Andy.

Let Pete and Erin be together already.

Can he live?

He just wants her to be happy, guys.

He just wants her to

be fulfilled, you know?

I know.

All right.

So before we might have to like pause on our peat adoration, Jenna, and get to the actual interview part.

Yes.

Well, let's start from the beginning.

We always ask people,

how did you get your job on the office?

Well, you know what?

I listened to the episode you all did of the new guys,

which was informative to me about what the casting process was outside of my little silo within it.

You know, like I didn't know they

saw that many people for it, or I didn't know that there was the potential for the show to continue on and that Clark and I would be,

I don't know, a large part of that or something, you know.

But you know what?

I'd done a pilot for Fox that I desperately wanted to do.

They replaced me with TJ Miller, and I was like, that's it.

I'm done.

Like, I'm never, career's over.

That's that.

What was the pilot, Jake?

It was called the Goodwin Games.

It ultimately ran for like six episodes on Fox.

And the guys who did How I Met Your Mother, who are really wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people, wrote it and produced it.

And they were so generous to call and say, Hey, this is above our heads, but you're not moving forward with the show.

You know, like they could have sent that through my reps or something, but they personally called to go, this sucks.

We're really sorry.

And I don't know.

Really nice guys.

So

it was

putting some humanity into this weird business.

And

so then I, you know, that was in the spring.

And then in the, you know, late summer, my manager called and was like, they're going to add two guys to the office.

And they've already, they've already added one.

And I, I don't know, either in my like confidence or naivete or I don't know, something

confidence of youth, I was like, I'm going to be the other one.

Like, that's it.

Like, I've got it.

This is it.

This, I like, this is, I'm going to do it.

This is going to happen.

Not that that had any effect on the result, but just, I don't know, that was this feeling where I was, it was my favorite show.

You know, I was like, oh my God, I would give anything to be honest.

And so then I auditioned in New York.

And then they flew me out to LA to test.

And I didn't know where you guys shot.

I didn't know anything.

And, you know, so they drive you out to the valley.

And I'm like, I don't know.

I don't even know LA.

Like, I have no idea.

So we get out there, and there's like me and 10 other guys who look like me, a handful of dudes that I see pop up and stuff now all the time.

And always kind of cheer for them.

And

then, you know, they, I guess, Greg came out,

introduced me to Dave Rogers,

said, This is a very important person on this show.

I was like, okay, great.

And then they open the door and I'm like in the bullpen.

Like I didn't understand that it was.

You tested on the set?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you test with like cameras rolling and everything?

Oh, dude.

I opened the door.

Clark is like at his desk.

You're in the annex?

Matt's there, like, yeah, both cam ops are up.

And Greg is like, you know, Dave suggested we shoot the test like the show.

And he could edit it together so I could see what it would look like.

It wouldn't be me guessing from a tape in a room somewhere and it wouldn't be you fumbling around on a folding chair.

Like you could just be in the space.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, we should tell people that that was really unique for the office.

That was my testing experience as well.

But most test auditions are like in a conference room with a bunch of executives watching you read it or

it's never like they edit it together for you and create like a mini version of the real thing.

That was totally office unique.

And I didn't know that they did that for you as well.

That's fascinating.

You know what's blowing my mind too, Jake, is that you're a fan of the show.

Like, I'm just trying to imagine.

You're a fan of the show.

You're in a van going somewhere deep in the valley.

You pass a crematorium, a junkyard.

You're like, where am I?

Then you're in a room, a random.

Am I auditioning or are they going to murder me at the end of this bail ride?

But then the mental like mind bend that you did of like you're just kind of in a room with other guys that look like you and then you open a door and you're on the set of one of your favorite shows.

You're like, what?

And now you're supposed to audition and be like just totally cool.

Well, and the audition was improv.

The audition was improv of Clark.

Stop it.

Yeah, fully.

Greg was like, great, we're going to just set this up.

You guys are working.

And Clark has found

somehow has hacked into your Facebook account or something like that and is now looking at pictures of your mom.

Oh my gosh.

And Clark just kept making like, you know, a lot of innuendo-based jokes and talking about asking if my mom had had breast augmentation or if I'd grown up, you know, seeing these moves all the time and things like that.

And me trying to get work done and being sort of, you know, laughing and also put out by that this is my coworker.

And then we, so just back to what you've just said, yes, my mind was like it was a lot to take in that was a lot in that moment to go like oh this is the creator of the the american version of this show and i'm on the set and i'm you know it just was like a lot and then i tested with ellie then did more improv with ellie and then they said okay great this is all on the same day you went from

20 minutes yeah then they just walked me from the annex out to the to reception

yeah and now you're walking through the whole entire set.

Yeah, just trying to not

lose my mind.

Also, I'm like 25, maybe 26, you know, like maybe younger, maybe 25.

Like, I just,

I don't know, I'm 38 now.

I still would lose my mind.

You know, it's not, but I've gotten cooler about it.

How long after this audition day did you have to wait to get the role?

Oh, I flew home like that afternoon, probably.

And then that was on like

Thursday.

And then they called on Saturday night to say, you got it.

But also we shoot Tuesday.

So you'll need to fly out like tomorrow afternoon.

So I drove into the city.

My girlfriend, now my wife, Lauren, was like working.

And I drove in to be like, I've got it.

I'm going to fly to LA.

Like, this is, I got, I'm going to go to the bathroom.

Fly to LA for how long?

For like,

pack your bag.

Yes, you leave tomorrow.

How do you pack for that?

Unsuccessfully, you know, poorly.

Just like a duffel with like two t-shirts and some running shoes.

Great.

Like a go bag, but for a person who's like never served in the military.

So your first time walking on set was actually during your audition, but do you remember?

what your first scene was after you got the part?

Yeah, yeah, it was the slack lining.

And John kept

breaking.

And I was standing next to him and was so, again,

this is as if a person, even though I'm like,

I've gone to drama school, I've been on one show previously, I've, you know, this is still like winning something off of a radio program for me.

You know, like just some goof walking on set being like, I'm a part of it for the day.

And I'm standing next to John, who keeps laughing, who keeps breaking while Rain is on the slack line.

And I remember both Dwight is supposed to be getting more intense, but also Rain is slowly getting more frustrated with John laughing because it's really difficult to do the fake bad slacklining.

And so it's both like the storyline is escalating and also this like friendship tension is escalating.

And I'm new and dying laughing.

Like,

can't stop.

I'm like, I'm going to get fired like day one.

You know what I mean?

Like, we won't get through the first scene.

And they're like, this kid can't, he's, he keeps laughing minutes to the day.

I mean, like, come on, you know?

And then the same, I think the next was like a conference room.

And it was like, I don't know, Oscar had some line that kept getting me.

And I just kept having to like look away a lot.

And I was like, I'm,

you know what I mean?

Like, I'm just, this is it for the next

20 episodes.

I'm going to ruin it.

In re-watching this with my teenagers,

there was a line, I can't even remember what it is, but Meredith comes for you so hard.

Meredith hits on you a lot.

And there's a few moments I'm like, I don't know how he got through that.

There's some in the, in the, you know, they're at the table in the snack room.

In the break room.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And she's right up on me a couple of times, like full body on me, you know?

It's so funny.

It's so funny.

We have to talk to you about a few sort of big epic office episodes that are legendary with the cast.

And one of them is Workbus.

Workbus.

Yes.

What do you remember about Workbus?

Oh, boy.

Well, the like behind the scenes,

well, BTST or just like the episode.

Well, you know,

we all called it Death Bus.

Yeah.

I remember Brian Cranston directed that episode, and

I remember the fumes.

I remember there was almost no air conditioning,

that even when it was on, it would be on for like 20 seconds as we did a turnaround.

You're like, that's not long enough to cool off a bus full of 20 people.

I remember the fumes from, you know, because it's on a trailer or whatnot, the fumes billowing in and that being a real issue.

I remember being on the road

and

timing out when things happened because you had to get the same, you know, background on each side as you kind of cross-covered people.

That was a high bar too clear.

Jake, I'm pretty sure, too, when we did that big swerve, that's when you slid into me and

then I slammed into the wall that window.

Yeah.

Are we sure that was me?

I mean, that could have been any

man.

Yeah, that's me.

Anyone on the bus?

Someone, was it you?

Somebody hit their head on that turn.

Someone's head hit the window.

There was a moment of.

It was fun.

I just also.

I hit my head.

Look, years later, my deepest apologies.

This is gotcha journalism.

Have I been brought on to be shamed for propulsion of body?

sliding across seat.

You have not, Jake.

And we want you to know that brian cranston has gone on the record discussing these calamities they are well known ellie has gone on the record about peeing her pants in the bus

it was a day i do remember maybe it was john maybe it was rain

we stopped at one point and they one or both of them got off and were like i'm not getting back on this bus until you sort this out.

That there was a real moment of like, hey, it's not just actors complaining in here.

There's, you should, this should be addressed.

And then the other was, um,

there was silence on that bus for a little while.

And Ed from the back

was like,

17 cast members of the office died today.

Like, just peppered it out there.

And everybody started like, Tom Broca.

That he did his broca.

announcing that like the entire cast had been killed in a traffic accident.

And I was like, that's hilarious.

like that is so funny in this moment where everyone's like i can't i can't i will not stand for that you know silently stewing that he was like

from the deep deep back of the bus that's awesome oh well we remember work bus the same that's really similar to our memories This is a crazy question.

I feel like I know the answer.

Did you really grow a mustache for Movember?

For the episode Movember, or was that a fake mustache?

I have such a weak, such a weak mustache.

I'll grow like an Amish kind of, you know, chin strap overnight, but the one thing I pine for is like a proper, I would just live with a cool cellic mustache if I could.

So, no, I didn't, I didn't do it.

They cut my hair, you know, just to maintain that men's bob that I had, and then used the ends of those clippings to make my own little rat stash that they taped on.

They used your own hair clippings to make that mustache.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's kind of, it's both like overkill and also real attention to details.

Pretty cool.

Also, better than being like, I don't know, this is someone's hair and we'll just put it on.

Oh, God.

I think you got the better deal than what Paul Lieberstein got because that was like a small woodland creature

on his upper lip.

They must, that's got to be fake too, right?

That's Nike Dick Girl.

Oh, that was for sure fake.

Okay.

I have to ask you about all of those die-hard scenes.

I mean, I watched all the deleted scenes and there were so many, Jake.

It was physical too.

Like, you were like rolling on the ground and standing up and it was amazing.

Yeah.

I had,

you know.

My girlfriend was in New York, so I was in LA alone and had no kids or pets or responsibilities.

So that is all just like

memorized.

And I think, you know, as an indication of like my obsession sometimes with things, I think it had been lightly suggested, like, here's some scenes.

It'd be fun for you to,

you know, so we could pull clips from it.

And then I memorized the first like 40 minutes of that movie or something, you know, like the cadence of it, the thing.

Also partially because I was like, I don't want anyone who loves Die Hard to watch this and be like, what is he doing?

That's not what happens.

You had so much detail.

Like you would say a line and then you'd go, ring, ding, ding, ding, ning, ning, ning, ning.

You're not going to come here.

Ring, ning, ding, ning.

I'm like, what is the ring, ding, ding, ding?

Is it the big fan?

What is that?

Yeah,

I guess I built out a whole world.

Yeah, I thought it would be really fun to go for it.

Or whoever, I think also, again, like whoever wrote that episode had approached me and been like, you should go for it.

Robert Padnick, he loves Die Hard.

Yeah.

He's brilliant.

Oh, yeah.

He's amazing.

When I watched all those deleted scenes, I was like, this was hours of memorization.

You must have spent so many days on that.

I would just be in my trailer, you know, in that parking lot, just watching Die Hard.

Like, I don't even know if it was on my phone.

I'm trying to, maybe they gave me a DVD of it and I could like play it on the little thing in the trailer or whatever.

But like, yeah, yeah, genuinely, hours and hours and hours.

Well, it's fantastic for anyone out there that has the DVDs.

I highly recommend watching all of Jake's performances outside of the episode that live in the deleted scene.

I'm like, it was my one chance.

Deleted.

Jake, I have this memory of you joining the cast for that final season.

And there was a group of us who were so delighted to have new people there.

It was like

you and Clark.

I'm afraid we were annoying.

I'm afraid, like, cause we had all talked to each other for eight full years.

And now finally, there were some new people.

And

it was the most exciting thing.

I would actually try to like not overwhelm you with talking your ear off because we were just.

I mean, the crew included.

There was not a new face for so long.

I have to know, like, how was it for you?

I, well, I've never never thought of it in those terms.

Like, I've, it's never crossed my mind to go, all right, you had almost 10 years of working with the same people for months and months, and like the bond that that brings.

And you also go, man, it'd be nice to not know everyone's life story

that I'm here with.

Exactly.

Exactly.

It's nice to have a little mystery.

Yeah.

I, you know, at the time, I just thought

I was just so consumed with like,

you know, don't mess mess this up.

Don't be weird around these people.

Don't, you know what I mean?

Like, don't fan out and get weird and, you know, like, just show up and do your thing and leave.

Don't try to make it social.

Don't, you know, like, nobody's excited that you're here, Jake.

Just do your thing.

So it's funny years later to hear you go, like, we were.

thrilled to have new people here.

And that you were like, I'm going to play it cool because that's what I was doing.

I was fully being like, I'm going to play it cool.

I'm going to play it cool.

Like, hey, it's nice to meet you.

As if I've never seen the show and didn't know it existed.

Instead of like, I've seen every episode.

It's my favorite program.

You know what I mean?

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

Okay.

So I just watched the episode with Mentines.

We did a little bit of an office marathon last night and we watched the beginning of Moving On.

And Andy comes back

and he's forgotten that your name is Pete.

He just calls you plop plop, and he's like, Aaron is hooking up with some guy named Pete.

You have a great moment where you're like, I think Andy has called me plop for so long.

He's forgotten my name is Pete.

Yeah.

That runner was hilarious.

Which is my name, Pete.

Like, I think then I now

say it again to the camera crew, basically, to be like, That's me, just in case you guys are also not caught up.

I'm

Pete.

Yeah, that was, you know, the is that

Jon Favreau directed one of those.

It might be that, that episode.

Yes, he directed me to

they made it two parts.

Right.

Yeah.

I loved working with him.

It was

like maybe my favorite big name guest director that we had outside of Harold Ramos was Jon Favreau.

And I know, I'm sorry.

That was before he joined us.

Yeah, he's a hero.

legend but jon favreau was amazing and they so his episode was so good that they didn't want to cut a single minute from it and so they made it supersized so

yeah

what i remember that he well i guess i have a couple things one is like i remember before every scene he would just go over the moment before Yeah, he would just, as a group, go like, hey, just to be clear, this person's back.

You're feeling this way about it.

maybe you guys feel something else about it i don't know that's up to you and you're worried about this

and earlier we found out about that so let's just keep that in mind and uh go ahead you know like that clarity just going back to the basics of like where are you coming from where are you going what are you trying to get yeah just good scene work he was so good with that Yeah, and letting that add up to something, you know, that if you had all the pieces, then in the edit, he could go, oh, I'll build it from here, you know.

And also, that he knew story-wise,

there was something where I come in

talking to Aaron, I'm asking about mail, Andy's back,

and there was some kind of back and forth, like

two or four or five lines, something like that.

And John was like, Just, I know what they're trying to do here.

I don't think this really accomplishes it.

Just come in

and

look through the mail and look down to Ellie and she'll sort of look up to you and you can smile and then just take your mail and go to the desk.

And I was like, amazing.

Like that he understood to go like, you mean we don't need this dialogue.

Like just, we get it.

We see two people who are into each other.

We see this little quiet, private connection.

And like that means more to the story and to the audience than being quippy with each other.

Like, that's not actually the thing that those two characters have found in each other.

It's not a sparring partner, it's someone that they like to be with.

So, just be with them.

You know, like he could see that stuff and go, oh man.

And I feel like I'm talking a lot, but I just love this show.

And I don't know, this is like a door to memory lane that I didn't know existed.

So it's very exciting.

No, but I know Ed.

Keep it up.

You know, he's like, he finds out that it's me that

Aaron has been seeing

and

now is trying to drive this wedge.

And I think there's outtakes of it where he's going

through Wikipedia or like, you know, WebMD or something and it's going, yeah, you know,

you never know who has what.

I just got my test back and I've got,

and looks over at the screen and then calls Chlamydia schlamidia

because he doesn't know what it is and um but i didn't know he was going to do that and i just like lost it like just died laughing at him improving schlamidia

that makes it in the episode too yes that we had to go back and john was like do it yeah dude do that do that do that and had been like That was another one where he was like, don't worry about the dialogue.

Like, let's just do one where you come in and you know that he knows and he knows that you know that he knows and let's see what

And so then there's like my proudest performance moment on that whole show is me going like,

you know, you were gone.

Like now admitting it and trying to deal with him.

And that he's like, I know it, you know, like that it explodes into this thing.

And that was this semi-organic like improv from John and Ed.

And that I was like, oh, this, wow.

You know, again, as a fan and a love of the show and a participant and all this stuff, like coming together at once, you're like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to do this.

Like, yeah.

Oh, that moment is so good.

I didn't know that story behind that moment.

It's brilliant.

Oh, just all that.

Man, yeah.

God.

So cool, dude.

It's so cool.

I just, yeah, man.

It makes me so happy to be thinking about it.

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I just wanted to know if there were, because you were just talking about opening that door to memory lane.

Are there any other like scenes or moments or it could be an on-camera or an off-camera moment that come to mind that we haven't talked about?

Anything that like, if you could go back and relive it, that you'd be like, oh, I got to do that again?

I bet there's a hundred that I,

you know,

I don't know, can't remember, or I don't know, but I, but, but ones I do are like, you know, your final talking head.

Like,

I think that I have a photo, I think, that I was even like, I should not be taking this.

But, like, uh,

we were all in Video Village, Jake.

Remember, we were all on that couch together watching it.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I felt like I should not be here.

Like, this is.

These people have created this thing and I got to like be a band-aid on this, you know, like I'm a snail stuck to the side of this ship, but these folks built the ship, you know, and going like, I should give them space.

As if like a loved one was passing and I was,

I don't know, someone bringing in jello that was like, whoops, my bed.

But I just remember being in that room and thinking like, this is nuts.

Again, like.

as a participant, as a person on the show and going like,

oh man, I've loved my time here.

It's so sad to think this is the end of it, you know.

And also, as a viewer, as a fan of the show for so many years, to go, oh man, I can't believe I'm here.

I'm inside the thing.

I'm inside the mothership, like watching it happen.

This is insane.

And I'm here with everybody who's made this thing for almost a decade, who, you know what I mean?

It was just surreal.

Surreal then, surreal now.

It's never, I don't know.

But other memories, writing to the, you know,

being in a van with everybody going to the last table read,

and the way they had that table read set up with the cameras so that execs could see it back.

Everybody wanted to be a part of it, you know.

And

after we rapped, and then there was that kind of strange rap party,

and then the very cool rap party, and Stephen Merchant being there, and me reintroducing myself to Stephen Merchant, assuming he does not know who I am, you know, even though he's an EP on the show, and he was like, Yeah, no, I know Jake, I've seen every episode.

Like, I hired you, I've seen the edits, like, I'm aware.

Uh, you know, like, still to the end, being like, Oh, pleasure to meet you.

He's like, Yeah, no, we got it, guys.

We got it.

So, Jen and I both know moments on the show where we completely lost it and could barely regain our composure.

Like, we lost it.

And I know you said that you broke at the slack line, but was there any other moment where you completely lost it?

There's a couple times where

a couple times in the conference room where I really felt like, oh, God, I'm going to die here.

This will be the end.

And,

but some of those were like,

John, well, John one time was like, hey, watch this.

Brian.

Make it go on too long.

And Brian was like, got it.

And then at the end, when the scripted scene has finished,

you know, Brian, as Kevin, would just

lob in another line or two, like just calling back to his own storyline to be like, but are we going to, you know, and like each time

it would just ruin me to be both like, this has been so funny as scripted, and then someone

just freewheeling and going like, I'm going to take over at the end here.

I was like, that is so unbelievably funny to me.

I think there's a lot, like,

I don't know.

I don't know if there's one where I'm like,

I don't know.

What are ones, what are the top ones?

Do you have any from that season that you go, this I couldn't function?

Well, I have one that's very fresh just because I just watched it.

When Aunt Shirley slapped me,

she really slapped me.

And

you can see me sort of like, I have to like bend over because I'm, I'm kind of shock laughing.

Like, oh, shit.

That really hurt.

She really slapped me.

Like,

a handful there.

Yeah.

But, so that was very fresh for me.

But just the conference room, whenever we all had a moment, whenever we all had a line and it was just like zipping around the conference room, there was always that great energy and we were confined in that tiny space and that added to it all day long being stuck in that space.

That's usually when I broke the hardest.

I just remember losing it a lot during the Lice episode.

Kate

being so like defensive and then bald

and

the guilt that my character had over the whole situation.

It just, I just remember laughing a lot during that episode.

As you say that, like I had forgotten, well, I guess now it reminds me.

Like Zach Woods came back back for one episode, maybe.

And I was a fan of his from a distance.

And then, in the moment, people had been like, they don't really write stuff for him because he's so smart that he kind of has alts for himself, you know.

And that they'd offered for him to be a writer on the show a handful of times.

And he was like, No, I want to perform.

Like, I don't, I want to be able to do both.

And he came in, and we're in a conference room.

It's just, there's four of us there.

And he, the things he had brought with him in his little like

dialogue bag of tricks, I was like, holy

like it was

both what he was presenting and then also if I could try to keep up with him for a moment, like so fast back into it, you know what I mean, to add to it, not cutting me down, but just to add into the joke of it, you know, I was like, this is

this is another level, you know, like this is something I wish I knew what magic trick is happening here, you know, like,

yeah, God.

I distinct, oh, and I, sorry.

I know it's, I'm a guest on the show, so you're asking me questions.

I still feel like I'm talking a lot about me, but I have food poisoning during that episode.

So I would go throw up in my trailer.

I didn't know you could call into work, and then come shoot those scenes.

So I look like kind of the pallid, you know, in some of those scenes, and then like go back to my trailer.

For the life of that.

And just be like, no, no, for whatever episode Zach's

before,

and he hires my ex-girlfriend to then work there.

Yes, yes, right.

Sets us up as this love-hate triangle thing.

But that episode, I had food poisoning, so I was very sick.

And then also coming in and like, no food in my system, and kind of like, uh,

and Zach just like throwing heat for an hour, and me like giggling at a conference table, and then being like, if you'll excuse me, to go back into my trailer and be sick.

But that's one where I couldn't stop laughing.

And I thought, like, I'm going to ruin this for him.

They won't be able to edit around me laughing.

I sound wildly unprofessional in that way, but just thinking, like, this is too

funny.

I won't manage.

Do you think Pete and Aaron ended up together?

It's very vague in the finale.

What were you playing?

What was your decision?

That I think

she moves on.

Really?

You don't think they end up together?

No, but I think, like, look, I haven't really stayed.

Maybe this is different for you.

For me, when people go, I'm still close with all my exes.

I'm like, you're out of your mind, but okay.

To me, I'm like,

I think Pete and Aaron genuinely like stay close.

You know, that they each like had this time together.

And

she also finds such deeper,

I don't know, clarity and closure in

the other storyline for her of like her birth mother.

And

you know, that I feel like Pete is like a part of her life that informs that a little, but isn't like the guy.

But in this great way, that they actually stay close, that they actually stay like really good friends, and it just isn't the thing.

Like, that's kind of my hope for them.

But I don't know, maybe, you know, maybe other people feel differently.

We'll get mail.

We'll get mail.

He's wrong.

Oh.

We also always ask people, do you get recognized for being Pete?

And in your case, what do people call you, Pete or Plop?

Yeah, it's Plop.

Plop for sure.

Plop, definitely.

Yeah,

to an extent.

It is, you know, you go,

better than not being recognized.

You know what I mean?

That's very nice.

But also, like,

it's the difference that someone goes, like, dude, were you plop on the office?

And you go, yeah, man, that's me, totally.

Or when, like, at Home Depot, someone's like, plop, you go like, hey, man.

Hey, bud.

Who not yell that?

You know, like that's.

That's fun.

You know,

it just is that variation of the interaction.

Because ultimately, like, it's not the name.

It's just like one feels like a human interaction.

Right.

And one feels like,

I don't know.

Weird.

It is.

But yes, it's sometimes Pete, sometimes Pete.

Every once in a while, I get green is whorish.

And I'm like,

can we dial that one down, folks?

We can put that one to bed, gang.

That's all right.

My kids are here.

I don't need to explain what whorish means.

Thank you.

To an entire middle school.

Like, what the, come on, guy.

Did you take anything from set when it wrapped?

Because we all took a little something.

I was too afraid.

Too afraid.

Too afraid.

I know now that's like I should have just like

brought a duffel bag and been like, it's all mine.

I'm taking the no one will know.

No, I was sure that I'd.

get a call and people would be like did you take the stapler from

No, I think I maybe have like a script, maybe like the final script, something like that.

All right.

I wanted to share with you that we noticed we have all the call sheets because everyone's been so amazing since Jen and I started this podcast.

They have just shared with us shooting drafts and candy bag alts and call sheets.

So we've really been able to dig in, you know.

And one of the things.

I noticed on the back of the call sheets for season eight.

They've actually stopped for season nine.

I'm not sure why, but on the back of the call sheets for season eight, there was a little section where it was like, get to know your cast and crew.

And they picked a person and asked them five questions, and it was on the back of every call sheet.

I am loving them because the questions are fantastic.

And

we asked these to Brian Cranston, and I was like, oh my gosh, Jenna, we have to ask these to every guest moving forward because these questions are so fun.

So here they are.

The first question is: What was your first entertainment job?

Oh,

well, the first like real professional, I was 16.

Yeah, 16 or 17.

And

I grew up in Vermont.

The Breadloaf campus of Middlebury College in the summer would do a language program.

And they would also have people from theater in Providence come up and do shows.

So I was in Tom Stoppard's Acadia

when I was like 16, I think 17.

And, you know, it was just for the summer, but was like working with professional actors and do I wanted to be an actor at that point.

So that was like my first ever.

Oh, Jake, that makes my theater nerd heart swell so much.

All right.

I have the next question.

Do you speak any other languages?

No.

Language of the heart.

No, I don't.

I don't.

I'd like.

I'm working on Italian, but it's not going quickly.

So no, the answer is no.

What was the goal in wanting to learn Italian?

Was it I'm going to go there and I'm going to be

like, is what, why Italian?

I spent a very small amount of time there, maybe 10 years ago, and traveled around in Italy and thought, like,

this is it.

This is where I would move.

tomorrow, like any part of it, Tuscany, Umbria, down to the coast.

I mean, like, I just was totally taken with it.

And, um,

and, you know, always honestly have one foot in going like,

maybe I'll move to Italy.

You know, like, I have kids now and married and whatever, but go, like, let's go.

Like, this business is so remote.

I rarely shoot in New York or LA anyways.

There's no reason for me to go like, I need to be a train ride away from the city.

It's like, yeah, if I want to do a play, that's true.

But the reality of of mostly what my work is, is like sending in self-tapes, meeting people over Zoom.

You know, maybe an offer, but really that's kind of rare.

So like, I could live anywhere.

And why not pick up and go to Florence?

Why not go to Siena, you know?

So, and if we were to do that, I'd like to be

engaged in the culture and not just like an expat floating around the prototypical American to go like, anyone here speak English?

Right.

English, anybody.

But we'll see.

Well, that folds into question number three on the call sheet is, what's a place you've been to that you've loved?

So

I think that's

for you, Italy.

Italy, to be sure.

And also, I mean, London.

I don't know.

I spent a little time in London.

I thought this is, I would also, you know, it's the most expensive city maybe in the world.

But

London, I just thought was wonderful.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I think that all sounds pretty fantastic.

I want to go.

You know, I had friends.

I had friends in my 20s.

Of course, they didn't have kids yet, you know, but they decided to go live in Italy for a year.

And they went and they lived in Italy for a year and they loved it.

And I think they think back to that time in their life so fondly.

And I grew up overseas.

So, Jake, I'm saying go for it.

Where did you grow up?

Where were you overseas?

I lived 12 years in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Oh, my God.

What was there that your family was there for?

What was that?

My dad was a drilling engineer, and he was transferred there in the 70s.

And I grew up there.

I loved that chapter of my life.

So I, and I think you just,

it's such an education.

So I don't want to get in trouble here.

I don't want to step in your business with your wife, but I'm just saying.

She's into it.

She's like,

go for it.

For real.

Yeah.

No, you're, you're tipping the scale.

Well, if office ladies come to Italy, we will find you.

You've always got a place to sit.

You'll always be welcome at our house.

Pasta and pools.

Next question is, what do you like to do on the weekends?

I mean,

I've got two little boys.

So it's,

the weekends are not my own.

Do you know what I mean?

It's like when they're in school.

On the weekends, what do I really like to do?

If I get the chance, I love running.

I love trail running.

If I can get away for just a little bit to do that, or

boy,

reading.

If I can get like a half hour in of just reading.

Boy, that's for pleasure.

So obviously the parent of small children.

Because I remember these days.

Yes.

An uninterrupted shower.

Yeah.

Okay.

Last question, Jake.

What is your favorite midnight snack?

Cool pizza.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I'll order pizza, eat too much of it the first time,

convince myself I won't have any later, put the kids to bed, put something on, be like, do you want a snack?

My wife's like, I'm good, dude.

I had too much for dinner.

I'm like, yeah, no, totally.

And then go downstairs and like, make the coffee, let the dog out, eat two pieces of pizza, and be like, what are you doing?

What is happening?

So it's that.

And also, man, of late, frosted mini wheats has been like, they're just in there.

And I think, oh, that'll fill me up a little.

It's a little sweet.

It's a little whatever, you know.

And like,

we have these poor tubs.

It's not just the box, you know, keeping it all real organized.

And, uh, but I won't like put it in a bowl because I'm convinced,

you know, I'm convinced I'm going to have like two little handfuls and that'll be that.

But instead, I probably put away like half a bag of cereal and then go, what?

Dude, it's midnight.

Like,

come on, bud.

Also, why run?

You know what I mean?

Just why run and go to the gym?

Then from 11 to 12, you're going to do your own at-home fourth meal.

You know, remember when Taco Bell made that a thing?

They were just legit like, go ahead,

25% more food than anyone's ever fourth meeting.

Oh,

all right.

Yeah, we'll do that.

Pour into it.

That's very good.

So that's pizza, pizza, frosted mini wheats.

And

God.

Yeah.

Nutritious.

Super.

You're

putting in some extra nutrition.

I love not committing to a bowl, though.

That is me.

I'm like, if I only take a few handfuls of MMs, is it really anything?

Because I didn't put it in a container, just a few.

Right.

And I double-like, yeah.

Yeah.

And then by October 10th, you're like, somehow, we're out of candy for Halloween.

I don't know how that happened, but

it wasn't me.

I didn't put it in a bowl.

Yeah.

No, it's, yeah, it's a problem.

It's a problem.

Oh, jake it was so good to see you and get to reconnect you are just the same

just the same awesome guy and this was really fun yeah i really yeah thanks so much this is really lovely thank you for for having me on here and and jake it's really nice like reconnecting loved you on set we you were just so wonderful to be around and so i just hope you know how much we all just like you you just fit in seamlessly and you were just part of the family that really means a lot thank you thank you this is like me then saying thank you and me now saying thank you you know like it really thanks thank you um and uh yeah thank you

do you see what we're saying how great is jake lacey i know Love him.

I love him even more now.

I know.

Well, a big thanks to Jake for sharing with us about his time on the office, and please be sure to check out his new show, Apples Never Fall, on Peacock.

Thanks so much for listening.

We hope you have a good week, and we'll see you next time.

See you then.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Our senior producer is Cassie Jerkins.

Our audio engineer is Jordan Duffy, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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