A Look Back on An Interview with Bryan Cranston

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Speaker 1 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.

Speaker 1 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.

Speaker 1 Good morning, lady. Oh, we have a really amazing guest on Office Ladies today.

Speaker 1 We sure do.

Speaker 1 All of you that listened to the Work Bus last week know that today in the studio, we have Brian Cranston.

Speaker 1 We cannot wait for you guys to hear this interview because, look, there are certain episodes of The Office that are just real big episodes and they warrant extra time.

Speaker 1 And Workbus is definitely one of those. Definitely one of those.
Yeah, and we shared all about our experience on that bus, but we really felt like you needed to hear from the director as well.

Speaker 1 So we reached out to Brian. He was so kind and gracious.
He came into the studio and chatted all things Workbus with us. And more.

Speaker 1 Now, I know a lot of people know Brian Cranston from his many acting roles. He's been in film and television and he's been on Broadway.

Speaker 1 You know, there's Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White on Breaking Bad, and he even won a Tony Award for the Broadway play All the Way. He's amazing, but Brian is also a very accomplished director.

Speaker 1 He directed episodes of Malcolm in the Middle of Breaking Bad, Modern Family, Sneaky Pete, and his new series, Your Honor, on Showtime. And of course, this very epic famous episode of The Office.

Speaker 1 And he is just delightful. He's so much fun to talk to.
It was such a joy having him. And Jenna,

Speaker 1 you know what? I was thinking, we didn't bring this up to him, but I want him to direct our road trip movie if we ever do it. Oh my gosh, yes.

Speaker 1 We have never even shared. Have we shared about the fact that me, you, and Lee have a road trip idea? We came up with an idea for a road trip movie.
Lee wrote it. It's so funny.

Speaker 1 It's so funny. I know.
Some of the hardest I have laughed in a long time was when the three of us were sitting at your dining table and we were pitching jokes.

Speaker 1 Because listen, you guys, this is a road trip movie about two gals that are, they're like in their 50s. Yes.
But anyway, I mean, it has a mom detectives element to it, I have to say. It really does.

Speaker 1 Yeah. But would Brian Cranston ever direct anything on the road again? That's the question.
I think after you listen to this interview, you might find that he would be very hesitant to do so.

Speaker 1 Well, listen, the office might have ruined him forever in directing anything in a moving vehicle again, but let's let him tell you about it.

Speaker 1 We're going to take a break, and when we come back, our interview with Brian Cranston about Workbus, which is also known as Death Bus. We'll be right back.
Such a great interview. We'll be right back.

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Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, who wrote your opening theme song? Creed Bratton. Did he really? You know, I just realized who Creed was.

Speaker 1 You just did. I just, in the like, in the last few weeks.
Grassroots, all of that. Yes.
Yeah. The grassroots.
And I'm thinking, that can't be the same. It's the same guy.
Yes.

Speaker 1 Now, my question to you, my first question, thanks for coming on the show, by the way. My first question to you would be, did the show ever do a backstage idea about what Creed's background was?

Speaker 1 Did someone ever go, that guy looks so familiar? And,

Speaker 1 you know, did you ever do anything like that? I don't remember. There were so many pitches.

Speaker 1 There were so many people who wanted to do a whole episode just on Creed and his life and wanted him to be outed as Creed Bratton, Creed Bratton, because he's the only person on the show who has his full name as his character name.

Speaker 1 Like Angela is Angela on the show, but on the show, her last name is Martin. But Creed Bratton, the character, is also Creed Bratton, the man, but I don't think it was ever revealed.

Speaker 1 I will say, though, of all the characters, we have a show Bible.

Speaker 1 Sorry, I have to, you guys,

Speaker 1 brian his microphone's this morning something's up with it and there is a bar in front of his face and so for me to talk to brian he has to look like

Speaker 1 it's safer to have a bar in front of my face

Speaker 1 that's the reason it helps the restraining order

Speaker 1 there you go we have that we have but um anyway of all the characters had a we had a show bible of all their back history and creeds is the craziest it's like the most funny he has like he has like a family in canada he lives under his desk half the time.

Speaker 1 It's like all over the world. Wait a minute.
Why didn't I get a chance to read that? That would have been a good idea. They didn't give you the show Bible? No, I didn't get it.

Speaker 1 No one said it was available. Been given that.
I absolutely should have been given that. Would have changed Workbus.

Speaker 1 Retroactive.

Speaker 1 Well, we always like to ask people when they come on, first question, how did you end up working on the office? Oh. How'd you get this job directing Workbus?

Speaker 1 Tracy Katzky is a friend of mine, and she was working as a consultant with

Speaker 1 David in the last year you guys were on the air. Okay.
Right.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 I had just finished my season with Breaking Bad, and that was 2012. Yep.
I think. It was 2012.
And Tracy calls and says, we're looking for directors for this new season.

Speaker 1 Would you be interested in coming on board the office? And immediately the answer was going to be, of course, no. But

Speaker 1 I love the show. It's such a legendary show that any chance to be a part of it in some small way.

Speaker 1 And she said,

Speaker 1 I know you've been directing Breaking Bads and, you know, you're out in the desert and it's hot and it's sticky. How would you like to come to, what was it, Burbank, North Hollywood, wherever we were.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 we work inside. Yeah.
Little office. It's a shiny

Speaker 1 air conditioned. Air conditioned, easy,

Speaker 1 indoors, five days, bang, bang, bang. Boom, boom, boom.
And I said, oh, it sounds fantastic. Let's do it.
And she said, well, we have such and such slot open.

Speaker 1 And I looked at my calendar and I said, I'll take that slot. Yeah.
And I don't know, you probably described it on your show before, but the way it works in television for directors is by time.

Speaker 1 You have no idea when you sign on to a show what your episode is going to be by the time it gets to your time slot. So we had no idea.
And it

Speaker 1 just so happened

Speaker 1 that

Speaker 1 Workbus

Speaker 1 came onto my lap.

Speaker 1 What did you think when you read this episode?

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 the first I was excited to read it, read it right away. And Workbus, oh, I don't know.

Speaker 1 Oh, they, oh, they had an exterminate. Was it exterminating? No, we were exterminated.
This is 11 years ago, I think.

Speaker 1 There was this electrical issue,

Speaker 1 electromagnetic things in the walls, and White was going to have to open up all the walls and redo the electrical.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 the basic idea is that

Speaker 1 there could not be a work stoppage for the whole team. So

Speaker 1 a work bus was

Speaker 1 found to be the best method to continue working while this work on the actual location, the office was taking place.

Speaker 1 So everybody had to load onto the bus, desks were on there, as we all know, and we had to

Speaker 1 just keep traveling. We're in the San Fernando Valley in August.
It's so hot in August.

Speaker 1 I went to the call sheets. It was 100 degrees.
this week. It was like triple digits.
It was very hot. So the first thing I did was curse my friend Tracy Katzki and

Speaker 1 damn you, as if they knew, you know. But

Speaker 1 it was a challenge. I think we shot in on the set

Speaker 1 for a day and a half or something like that. Something short.

Speaker 1 And then the rest of the time we were on a bus. On that bus or in the park.
And then we were at a baseball field. I know.
Yep.

Speaker 1 Right. We had that cold open.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 for the most part, but there was a lot

Speaker 1 moments. Well, I have to say, okay, okay, you know that our cast has renamed this episode Death Bus.
This has come to you, I know.

Speaker 1 And Jenna and I wrote a whole chapter in our book about it, The Office BFFs. We have a copy for you.
We signed

Speaker 1 inside. It says, Brian, we owe you our lives.
Thanks, Angela and Jenna. It is chapter 12.

Speaker 1 We dedicated a whole chapter to

Speaker 1 this episode. And we have fantastic photos of you, but we realized after our book came out, you were doing press.

Speaker 1 We felt really bad because every single producer clearly wanted you to be asked about Deathbus. Jenna was like, oh no, Aunt.

Speaker 1 We wrote about this, and now everyone is asking him the same question on every talk show. Why did you try to kill the cast of the office? Why did I try to kill the cast?

Speaker 1 Was it a murder for hire? No one's asked.

Speaker 1 Was it a failed murder for hire? Discuss all those details. Right.

Speaker 1 There is a current investigation going on. Ongoing, ongoing.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 indictments will be handed down.

Speaker 1 I have every reason to believe you two are in the clear. I can't be positive on that, but I am.

Speaker 1 Set of circumstances. It was hot and tight.

Speaker 1 You talk about the set being contained. Well, we're on a bus and we didn't have a lot of room.
And if I recall,

Speaker 1 nothing was actually nailed down. Everything was kind of shifting around.
Correct. Desks were actually shifting and moving.

Speaker 1 And I'm looking at this going, oh my God, I think people didn't realize this bus is actually on the road on

Speaker 1 an open street and moving. Well, at first there was comedy in that, right? Like at first we're traveling down the road and like our little coffee cup is moving across right

Speaker 1 a grab

Speaker 1 yeah we hit a pothole my lamp slid in my lap I caught it yay that's funny it's funny but then but then there was a part of the script where I guess Dwight swerves and we all kind of slide and we all are like, ah, and yeah, he's trying to get us to the pie.

Speaker 1 Yeah, get to the pie. And I guess the AD yelled to the cast, we weren't really swerving.
So lean right. And we got, ah, and no one bought it.
It didn't look good. And so then they unloaded rain.

Speaker 1 Rain left, and a stunt driver got on the bus.

Speaker 1 They removed us from the tow rig, and now we are truly just a bus traveling down the road with a stunt driver. We listed what all was in the bus.
Like we went back and screen grabbed it.

Speaker 1 It was a full like arrowhead water jug dispenser, a microwave, a

Speaker 1 coffee pot,

Speaker 1 lamps, rolling chairs, desks, computers, a printer. Was there a little mini Xerox machine there or somebody? There was.
So it was a full office.

Speaker 1 And it all, when the stunt driver swerved right,

Speaker 1 it all swerved. Everything moved.
And all of a sudden, that was not part of the production discussion that we had, by the way.

Speaker 1 It was like, we're doing this. Rain's going to drive and we're going to do this.
And it's all contained. And we'll have the cast move back and forth.
It didn't look good.

Speaker 1 Everybody was in sync. And there was something funny about things happening at the same time and once.
And

Speaker 1 you can't duplicate that. You can't beat that, yeah.
And so there was an idea, and I don't believe it was my idea, but I'm not saying it's not, to actually heighten the movement of...

Speaker 1 of the thing with a professional stunt driver. Yes, it was a professional stunt driver.

Speaker 1 It wasn't Rain Wilson. We, however, are not professional stunt drivers.
This is true. And this is where the beginning of the indictments will start.

Speaker 1 Yes. And that's that.
And the reality of it in retrospect, you look back and you go, oh my God, what were we doing?

Speaker 1 Oh, and then. Oh, wait, wait, wait.
We don't want to get to that part. Wait, I have to ask, you're not on the bus with us at this point.

Speaker 1 You're in like a follow van and you're watching this footage on a screen. What? Hang on.

Speaker 1 I was in the bus the entire time wait you were in the bus yeah for that moment i was in the very back and the way back on the back row

Speaker 1 i remember that on the floor with crouched down with a little viewfinder and watching the thing as i'm moving back and forth too i remember that i knew you were on the bus most of the time but i thought there were a few shots where it was like we had to clear everybody.

Speaker 1 We cleared, boom, we had just camera. And I did not know that you still stayed on.

Speaker 1 I stayed on when it was, when there was room, when we were shooting, when I was able to hide in the back on the ground, when when there was no room and shooting in one direction, I think I was off the bus because it was too dangerous.

Speaker 1 And I said, I'm

Speaker 1 we did, we did skip over what so Jen and I, we were like trying to remember everything about this episode and filming it, and we were like, wait, we all had to get off the bus three times.

Speaker 1 The first one was because we got so tickled in and Ellie peed her pants. Yep, remember? And we had to change her clothes.
And she had to

Speaker 1 actually

Speaker 1 don't worry. It's in the book.
It's in the book. Ellie is such a good sport.
Ellie was like, guys, I need my skirt. And we all laughed.
And it wasn't a huge pee. It was just a little bit.

Speaker 1 She actually did. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So, so then, oh, whoops. It wasn't just a saying.

Speaker 1 So we all pulled over. We hung out in the park.
Ellie changed clothes. Then we all get back on the bus.
And I remember Jenna, like us being like, this is crazy. What a crazy day.

Speaker 1 Thinking like, that's the craziest thing that'll happen.

Speaker 1 Then the swerve and everything flew. I remember digging Creed out of a pile of things.
Do you remember that? Creed was totally covered. It was dangerous.
Yeah. I look back on it now and it was,

Speaker 1 I would like to think that that wouldn't happen today.

Speaker 1 It would all be zip tied or

Speaker 1 something. Here's the thing.
Our show did not travel well.

Speaker 1 We were very good at shooting inside of an office but pretty much any time we left to go on the road even just metaphorically the wills something

Speaker 1 happened yeah we lost half the cast at sea yeah

Speaker 1 who's cruise we phyllis brian and rain drifted out to sea for about 20 minutes on a dinghy at like 4 30 in the morning 4 30 in the morning yes because we were shooting nights and you had the choice you know we were were wrapped, they were doing the scene with Jim and Pam.

Speaker 1 They're like, Do you want to stay on the boat till we wrap or do you want to leave?

Speaker 1 And only this small group raised their hands because we had to kind of climb down a ladder, hop on a dinghy to get back to shore. Yeah, and then

Speaker 1 the engine broke down, and then the engine broke, and we lost them and we floated.

Speaker 1 Let's take a moment and think about them for just a second.

Speaker 1 They were such great cast members.

Speaker 1 And that's the famous thing is that everyone was like, we lost Phyllis. And me and Brian and Rain were like, and

Speaker 1 Anne. Hello.

Speaker 1 People only cared about Phyllis. I know.
I know. Sweet Phyllis.
Sweet Phyllis. Well, it's true that whenever we left set, things happened.
So we're sorry. It was hard.

Speaker 1 Well, okay, so there was a second thing that happened then. We

Speaker 1 unpiled ourselves. There was, then

Speaker 1 we were hot. And I remember being so excited after lunch.
Didn't you guys have to turn the air off when we were filming? Because it was loud. The AC in the bus was loud.

Speaker 1 Yes. It was loud.
So there was this announcement, guys, we have a great thing.

Speaker 1 We have a portable AC unit that we're going to pull on a trailer behind the bus and we have a hose that is going to go up through like this

Speaker 1 sunroof thing in the bus and it'll be quiet. We can leave it on while we're filming.
You guys aren't going to be hot anymore. And we couldn't believe our luck.
We were so excited.

Speaker 1 This is fresh, wonderful, cool air. People were getting wilty.
They were

Speaker 1 like in a hot tin can.

Speaker 1 It was really tough. And San Fernando Valley, like you said, it was 100 degrees.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then we made it worse by having the closed up windows and everything else to where the heat inside that bus. Oh, God.

Speaker 1 I would think would be 110, 150. It was like a little sauna rolling down the road.
And we were trying in the morning.

Speaker 1 Every time we cut, they'd try to pump the air, but then we'd have to turn it off, and you'd only be able to work for about five, ten minutes before it became unbearable.

Speaker 1 So we got the little roly unit. A brilliant idea.

Speaker 1 So wonderful.

Speaker 1 But then we started moving, and my chair was right under the little sunroof. I was very excited.
I was like, this is awesome. You're going to get all going to get the first amazing, cool air.
Yes.

Speaker 1 But I and you did. I sure did.

Speaker 1 And I I was. That part is true.

Speaker 1 I was very cool. I was smelling the air as it was cooling me, and I was like, it doesn't smell right.
It smells gassy. It smells not right.
And so you started voicing that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I was more towards the front, and I was like.

Speaker 1 I don't, I don't smell anything. I don't, I don't, and there was a little bit of like, Jenna,

Speaker 1 a little bit. I know, to be fair, I was the person on the set who had all the allergies and I was ruining takes from sneezing all the time.

Speaker 1 And I think people thought it was just Jenna's allergy nose, Jenna's sensitive. And I was like, no, no, no, it's not that.
It's like gas.

Speaker 1 And then Sarah, our camera operator, who was standing back there by you, she was like, I like, wasn't she? She got a little losy.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And then Brian, I think you came up.
I did. And you were like, let me see what you're talking about.
Wait. I stood on a chair right where your desk was and I put my face right up to the

Speaker 1 register where the the air was coming and sure enough

Speaker 1 carbon dioxide. Now you were like, I remember you go, get off the bus.
That's what I mean.

Speaker 1 And we all exited the bus and that is when you can tell everyone what they discovered that happened. It was a great, great idea, but the execution was not thoroughly thought through.

Speaker 1 So what we came up with when we were realizing in production meeting was saying, well, it's going to to be hot as hell on this bus. How are we going to keep everybody from wilting? And I said,

Speaker 1 we can pull a portable air conditioning unit that is strong enough to pump fresh air into the bus. And my concern was, I want to be able to shoot toward the back so I can't see it.

Speaker 1 We can make it low enough, small enough, to where it won't be seen throughout the windows. And we thought about we'd have to adjust the rearview mirrors just, and what about the noise?

Speaker 1 And no, no, these new ones are, so we really thought about this. Okay, great, great, great.
And we'll just tow it. We'll have a tow hitch on the bus.
We'll hook it up and we'll just tow this unit.

Speaker 1 It has its own generator. It's quiet and perfect solution.
What could go wrong? Well, what went wrong was

Speaker 1 the intake for the air conditioning unit was positioned the way it's manufactured.

Speaker 1 And it just so happens the way it was placed on this trailer was it was facing the back of the bus at about a foot and a half away

Speaker 1 from where this intake is is the exhaust pipe of the bus so the fumes and exhaust from the bus only had about a foot distance away from the intake from the air conditioning. Just getting sucked out.

Speaker 1 There was no

Speaker 1 possibility of avoiding this. And it was locked down.
But we didn't realize that until we were actually underway.

Speaker 1 And the thing was fired up. And actually, Jenna, you and your sensitive nose saved our lives.
Finally, it did some

Speaker 1 you saved our lives. At first,

Speaker 1 how can exhaust be coming inside? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Speaker 1 And sure enough, when I went, oh my God, we have made a huge mistake. And we nearly killed the entire cast of the office.
Really incredible.

Speaker 1 But I would say, had no one detected it, what a beautiful way to go.

Speaker 1 All together. Oh, my God, all together.
Rolling all the way. Kumbaya.

Speaker 1 Shibuya Roll call. The big roll call.
That's it.

Speaker 1 Well, Leslie, I remember looking at Leslie David Baker, and his eyes were bloodshot and watering. And I kept thinking, like, maybe the vent is hitting him at an angle.

Speaker 1 You know how it dries out your eyes like if a vent hits you but no it was it was just poison now was was Leslie's desk close to yours yes when when we had the um

Speaker 1 when we all went flying into one another I believe I flew into Leslie did leslie when we got off I remember he was like I'm not getting back on Leslie said I'm never getting back on the bus again I'm done I'm done getting on the bus I remember him walking to his car and driving away but I think that might not be true but for some reason I remember Leslie was like, Goodbye.

Speaker 1 I'm out. I'm out.
Shoot around me. But also, poor Leslie, whenever we went on locations, he got the worst of it.

Speaker 1 When we went to the beach, he got sand kicked in his eye and it scratched his cornea and he had to wear like a patch for a week. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So I think Leslie was like, I don't do scenes outside of the office. Yeah, or get it.
Or get it.

Speaker 1 I don't go on location. Yeah, shit goes down.
It almost sounds like his character. Just drool, I don't go outside.
Yeah, I don't leave the office.

Speaker 1 Were there any moments that you haven't talked about about this episode?

Speaker 1 Because we know you've been hit up with those questions quite a bit, but any behind-the-scenes memories that you have that you'd want to share?

Speaker 1 Yeah, there was those things are so on the frontal lobe that it was, it's hard to remember. It was just, I just had a really good time other than worrying about that.

Speaker 1 I was really happy to be able to be on your set and see it and feel it. And you guys, by the time I came along, it was the ninth season.
So you were a well-oiled machine.

Speaker 1 And the role of a guest director is not to come in and I wouldn't dare.

Speaker 1 wouldn't dare say anything to an actor about their character.

Speaker 1 Wouldn't that be obnoxious?

Speaker 1 Season nine. I think you could make a different choice for Dwight.
white let's make this

Speaker 1 i think he's friendlier yeah

Speaker 1 why is angela such a bitch yeah

Speaker 1 what's with the cats let's do away with let's forget no more cats no more cats um

Speaker 1 yeah and and then you two you know i'd say i'd pull you apart start to think about something about jim that you didn't like

Speaker 1 just throw a wrench into everything it's like i don't think this so there's nothing a director on on episodic television just comes in and

Speaker 1 tries to, what my whole goal was whenever I direct television, which is different from directing features because in features,

Speaker 1 you are trying and need to please yourself and make sure that you get all those elements and moments that you've worked so hard in breaking down that script.

Speaker 1 In television, it's about staying true to these characters, putting them in positions where they can really be themselves, where they feel comfortable.

Speaker 1 It's delivering the meat and potatoes that every showrunner is going to expect from you.

Speaker 1 I always thought if I can deliver two or three things that the showrunner didn't see,

Speaker 1 that's golden. Just a

Speaker 1 couple little things. I think there's a few.
I mean, when I rewatched the episode, I completely forgot that Ed plays the banjo at the end. He, I mean, and just rips it.
It's just so great.

Speaker 1 And everyone is just like, oh, whatever. Well, no, it's, it, it's, and it's true.
I taught him the banjo in two weeks, and he was able to pick it up and be performing. That's amazing.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 I loved all the pie scenes, too. I thought they were really sweet.
Did you eat any pie? I had some pie. Do you remember your flavor of pie? That's probably hard to remember.
I'm thinking gooseberry.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 That was, no, look how happy you were. Well, he remembered that thing.
Wasn't there.

Speaker 1 because it's such a funny name. I like it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, there was like a it was like a, I think it was gooseberry because it wasn't blackberry. It was, yeah, but there was a special berry crumble pie.
Pie.

Speaker 1 When I re-watched it, I just remember how happy we actually all were to sit outside and have pie.

Speaker 1 I had chocolate cream.

Speaker 1 It was delicious. Interesting choice on a very hot day.

Speaker 1 Chocolate cream.

Speaker 1 Build back the layers.

Speaker 1 Jenna, guess what? What? The wait is over because Macy's biggest deals of the year are on.

Speaker 1 It is the best time to get ahead of your holiday shopping so you don't have to have any of that scrambling and stress.

Speaker 1 Well, Macy's Black Friday sale is officially on, and it's really the easiest way to check everyone off your list. And you know, they have something for everyone.

Speaker 1 For example, they have 20 to 40% off Lego. They have small appliances.
They have clothes. They have accessories, perfume, makeup.
I mean, it's all there.

Speaker 1 And when you buy your gifts at Macy's, you can round up for BBBS.

Speaker 1 100% of funds will go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters to help create one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.

Speaker 1 Did you know Macy's has raised over $13 million for Big Brothers Big Sisters to support 280,000 mentoring moments? That is wonderful.

Speaker 1 The Macy's Black Friday sale is happening November 10th through November 29th. Shop now at Macy's.com or in store.
The holidays are coming up.

Speaker 1 That means a lot of people travel over the holidays, right? A lot. I mean, Thanksgiving is the most traveled holiday in the United States, I believe.
I believe that. I believe that is true.
Yes. Okay.

Speaker 1 Well, how about this idea? While you're away, why don't you host your place on Airbnb and make some moolah? And then also, you're going to have some money for holiday shopping. How about that?

Speaker 1 I like how you transitioned that into shopping, lady.

Speaker 1 Well, here is who this is a perfect fit for.

Speaker 1 If you're someone who travels frequently, if you have extra space, maybe you're someone that has a seasonal home, or maybe you always go away at the same time of year for like a family tradition or work event.

Speaker 1 This is a practical way to earn money while you're doing all those things. Your home might be worth more than you think.
Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.

Speaker 1 Well, everyone, it is that time of year. It is the Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales.
They're all going on.

Speaker 1 And you know, some brands, they have sales year long, but Merit only has one and it's right now. So you want to take advantage while you can.
Yes, Merit is a minimalist beauty brand.

Speaker 1 It makes elevated makeup and skin care. It's designed to make you look like you've put yourself together in just minutes.

Speaker 1 Well, you know, know, they have so many great bestsellers like the Flush Bomb that gives you that natural, healthy glow without overdoing it. Did you know one was sold every 30 seconds in 2024?

Speaker 1 That's how good it is. Gosh, that's kind of crazy.
Merit's products are also clean, vegan, and cruelty-free. And remember, this is the only time of the year they have the sale.

Speaker 1 So go shop with intention. Merit's annual sale is on now until December 1st.

Speaker 1 Get 20% off site-wide, plus a gift with purchase with every order while supplies last at meritbeauty.com that's m-e-r-i-tbeauty.com meritbeauty.com

Speaker 1 okay i have got to do something i have been going through the call sheets and on the back of the call sheet they do a thing called get to know your cast and crew and they ask a few questions but they're so interesting you mean on every one of your call sheets it was get to know your cast and crew there someone was featured on each call sheet.

Speaker 1 We had talked about, Jen and I wanted to start with each new guest, ask them a few of these questions. What was one of the first jobs you had in entertainment?

Speaker 1 One of the first jobs I had in entertainment, I think it was a soap opera.

Speaker 1 I did a like a three-day role on Days of Our Lives. I love Days of Our Lives.

Speaker 1 Back in 1981?

Speaker 1 What was your character? I was a cousin

Speaker 1 of the person.

Speaker 1 I will tell you this. Bill and Susan Seaforth, he and his wife, Susan and Bill, they were on Days of Our Lives for years.
I happened to oversleep that morning, the first day that I was to work.

Speaker 1 And I missed the rehearsal, missed the blocking, missed everything. I'm panicking.
Yeah. Absolutely panicking.
And I race to NBC where we're shooting it. And I'm panicking, I'm nervous.

Speaker 1 And all of a sudden, I hear a knocking on my dressing room door, and it's Bill Hayes, the big star of the show. Yeah.
And he says, I understand you had a problem this morning.

Speaker 1 We stood in for you, and we blocked. And he says, Can I run down what we did? And you need some help

Speaker 1 on the back story of the character?

Speaker 1 I was so appreciative. I was just a day player, and he put himself out there to say that.
That is so kind. Yeah, he was a lovely, lovely lovely guy.

Speaker 1 And he helped me get over the anxiety of being late and the responsibility of that.

Speaker 1 And I spent all the money that I made on that episode to buy flowers for the people that I knew stood up for me and Bill and the casting director. And it was like, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 But that was my, yeah, it was my first experience. Okay.
I love that. I love that.
I love the kindness you were shown. I didn't know where that was going when you said he knocked on on the door.

Speaker 1 I was like, oh, no.

Speaker 1 In a good way. In a good way.
Okay.

Speaker 1 Favorite place in the whole wide world that you've ever been to? I guess it would be Venice. I was there

Speaker 1 on my honeymoon

Speaker 1 almost 35 years ago. Very romantic and very unique.
And we just had, there was one night when my wife and I were,

Speaker 1 there was a thunderous rainstorm. And we went to a Vivaldi concert in a church that had windows at the top of this sphere and

Speaker 1 this dome. And it felt like God was adding the exclamation to it.

Speaker 1 You know, and oh my God. It was just so

Speaker 1 magical and romantic. Unbelievable time.
Wow. Have you been back since your honeymoon? Actually, no, it's been a long time.

Speaker 1 I've been there twice, and we haven't been back in 34 years. It's time to go back.
I think it's time. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I don't know. I say don't mess with it.
What?

Speaker 1 I say leave it.

Speaker 1 Don't revisit. Never revisit a memory.
Well, it's too good. It's too good.
You know what I mean? If you go back and then you're going to be like, oh, my gosh, it smells.

Speaker 1 No offense, Venice, but I hear that you're getting floods and maybe it's a little stinky now. And

Speaker 1 a lot of people come the letters because

Speaker 1 the cruise ships and the all the Venetians.

Speaker 1 I've lost the whole amount of gondoliers that listen to the show. It's just incredible.
We just lost a few.

Speaker 1 Well, I'm just saying, you know, a lot of time has passed and this is an amazing romantic memory. Maybe it should

Speaker 1 just

Speaker 1 stay there. I agree with you maybe in the church and the concert and the rain and all that, but I don't think you need to rule out all of Venice.
I think there's maybe new places you could discover.

Speaker 1 No, I think leave it. Okay, well, John has

Speaker 1 two very different takes on this memory. Okay, last question.
They just asked three. Last question, do you speak any other languages other than English? We.

Speaker 1 We.

Speaker 1 I don't, actually.

Speaker 1 That was the extent of my French.

Speaker 1 No, I know a little bit of French and a little bit of Spanish, but that's one of the things I really, really do want to accomplish before I leave this earth, is to be able to expand my awareness and culture and not just be so American-centric.

Speaker 1 I want to step out of that.

Speaker 1 I spoke recently about not retiring, but taking a break. For the last 25 years, I've been working really non-stop, and it's been great.

Speaker 1 As we know, it's wonderful, and you're supported, and you're having fun and you're engaged and it's artistic and creative and all those wonderful things. But it's not real life experience.

Speaker 1 You're going from one bubble to another bubble to another bubble. And I'm getting to a point where I feel like I'm a little depleted, like my ideas aren't as fresh, they're a little harder to come by.

Speaker 1 And ooh, am I being

Speaker 1 derivative of another character that I've done and can I break out of that? I needed more, I need more influences to come in so that it's more reciprocal. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Right now there's been a lot of outflow for the last two decades and I think I need some real life experience to be able to say, oh, I've never even thought of that before.

Speaker 1 I want to read that classic novel that I've always sworn I was going to read. I want to learn how to cook.
I want to learn a language.

Speaker 1 I want to be in another culture and I don't want to talk about show business. Yeah, we had an amazing conversation with Zach Woods.

Speaker 1 And we were talking about this exact thing where we were saying that as artists, you need a life to feed your art. You can't stay in just an art-making bubble

Speaker 1 because it's through our observations of other people and things. And it's through going to that weird cousin's wedding that you get your ideas, your inspiration.
And I would extend that even to,

Speaker 1 I remember Jerry Seinfeld doing an interview about this, talking about how much of his comedy comes from the frustrations and little annoyances in his life of standing in a line or someone, you know, butting in front of you as you've been waiting for a lot.

Speaker 1 You know, all those little ways that you watch how different people handle these everyday, very universal situations. They inform you.
They inform inform your art.

Speaker 1 And you, like you said, when you go from set to set to set or bubble to bubble to bubble, you start losing all those. And those are the things that we use to make our characters.

Speaker 1 I used to joke that I haven't changed. I've had great good fortune in this business, but I really haven't changed.
My dresser still puts on my pants one leg at a time. Good.
He really does.

Speaker 1 He doesn't get it. Your valet.
Your valet. It's my valet.
Your valet.

Speaker 1 I traveled a lot growing up. My dad was a drilling engineer.
I grew up in Jakarta and we moved around a lot. But recently I found an old travel journal that I kept

Speaker 1 as a young gal. And I read a little bit of it on the podcast.
I was very

Speaker 1 snarky about a man who sat next to me who was... taking a lot of notes about how to play poker on his napkin, but he would cover them so I couldn't see him.
And I was like, what's up with this guy?

Speaker 1 And I had a whole journal of paper and I would have given him a piece of paper, but he kept hiding his notes. So I didn't.
It was like this weird like retaliation I had with him.

Speaker 1 But the story has a point, which is as I go back and look at that journal of travel and

Speaker 1 seeing other things and experiencing other things, I just crave it. I'm like, I want to, I want to like sit next to the guy on the plane who is taking notes on his napkin.
What's that about?

Speaker 1 Now, what's interesting, though, is that now

Speaker 1 you have to hope that you're not recognized

Speaker 1 in order to have a legitimate conversation. Otherwise

Speaker 1 it's weighted. Yeah.
And it's not the same thing.

Speaker 1 Celebrity is a strange thing, as we know.

Speaker 1 It makes people nervous, anxious, giddy, excited.

Speaker 1 They can't stop. They can't believe it.
I mean, how many people have said, I can't believe I'm meeting you. It's blowing blowing my mind.
Well, that's not the way that person normally behaves. Yeah.

Speaker 1 So there's no way that you're going to have a normal conversation with that person. So I always used to look for old people.

Speaker 1 If I were in a, some people who didn't know, chances are wouldn't know who I am. And that way I knew I was getting an authentic conversation.
Oh, yeah. Do you know what I mean? I do.
I do. I do.

Speaker 1 One of my favorite cities is New York, and one of my favorite things to do is just just people watch. And so

Speaker 1 I love to go hide out in Central Park and just watch everything unfold in front of me.

Speaker 1 And that's something I find you can still go unrecognized. And if you wear your hat and you don't make a big fuss about yourself, red nose.
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 And your floppy shoes and my wig. And your sign.
And then I smoke. You know,

Speaker 1 we know I don't smoke in real life.

Speaker 1 They won't know who you are.

Speaker 1 I feel the same way when I go to, my family has a farm in Archer City, Texas, and there's a little cafe, Mern's, because the woman who runs it is named Mern.

Speaker 1 And, you know, it's great. I go in there, and it's just everyone that's been working cattle, and they're all in there.
And it's, I just love it. No one, no one knows the show.

Speaker 1 Do they have your picture up on the floor? No, they don't. No, they have come on, Mern.

Speaker 1 They have the starting lineup of the football team and the cheerleaders and whoever is uh you know doing well at 4-h club that year it's um that's rather sweet yeah it is it's great i uh used to travel a lot by motorcycle in the 70s i traveled across the country for two years i was on a motorcycle wow and i would get odd jobs here and there and in the 70s you could do that you ladies wouldn't know then um

Speaker 1 how do you know

Speaker 1 way too young

Speaker 1 um

Speaker 1 And at one time, I took Route 66 from California, Santa Monica to Chicago. And on the way back, I took this Route 50, which is called the loneliest highway.

Speaker 1 And you go through Nebraska, Kansas, the places that people...

Speaker 1 For the most part, they go, well, there's nothing really to see there, so I want to avoid it. I want to go there.
So we're going through Kansas in a little place called Peabody, Kansas.

Speaker 1 And it's flat, it's small, there's a bank on the corner, there's a coffee shop, and in the coffee shop, they list everybody's birthday for that day. And I said, these the people who work here?

Speaker 1 And I go, no, that's people in the entire town. We have such a small town that they list everyone's birthday on that particular day.

Speaker 1 It's really, and it's quaint and sweet. And by the way, speaking of birthdays.

Speaker 1 We share a birthday. We share a birthday.
You do. Your birthday winner.

Speaker 1 We are.

Speaker 1 We interviewed Tim Meadows for the podcast, and we were all talking about our celebrity birthday partner.

Speaker 1 And I said, you. Yes.
I know. Happy birthday.
Happy early birthday. March 7th.
March 7th. High seas.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Same year?

Speaker 1 Yeah, 74?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 This is my big 50th birthday this year.

Speaker 1 Are you welcoming it? It's going to come whether you want to or not, but. I am welcoming welcoming it.
You're saying, bring it on, world. Yeah, I'm saying, bring it on.
I'm doing big party.

Speaker 1 I'm happy to celebrate my 50th. I'm excited about it.
I find it very liberating. I think it's great.
You look fantastic. You both look great.
I am 52. I will be 53.

Speaker 1 I love my 50s. I love it.
I told Jenny. It's making zero F's fun.
It's my zero F's chapter of my life. Yeah.
Super fun. I guess if it was truly my zero F's, I'd say zero f,

Speaker 1 right?

Speaker 1 We like to keep it clean on Office Lane.

Speaker 1 We keep it clean. We have a lot of young listeners.
Yeah. I'll bet you do.
We do. The age range is like really big.
There's rumor that you probably already talked about.

Speaker 1 There's rumor of doing a reboot. Yes.
We hear Greg is working on something. Yeah, he's cooking something up.
But it's not involving the same cast. We should say that.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 But I would love to pop on as a guest. Ooh, me too.

Speaker 1 I'd love to be a guest on some sort of of next-gen

Speaker 1 or something like that. That would be great.
But I don't see bringing Pam back in a sort of permanent way and following her life again. At least it hasn't, but you know,

Speaker 1 Greg Daniels is a person who could think it up and pitch it to me and get me on board. So, but I can't think of it.
Right. Yeah.
You know?

Speaker 1 So if Dunder Mifflin still existed, there'd be other people working there. Maybe we think Creed would still be there.

Speaker 1 Creed would still be there.

Speaker 1 Brian and Oscar and I, our little accounting clump, we used to have this pitch that we would be the spin-offs, but it would be on Telemundo, and it'd be like, Los Acanto Torres, Oscar, and Jala y Kebin.

Speaker 1 And I would do that.

Speaker 1 I would do the Telemundo reboot of the account. Telemundo.
Telemundo. Brian, what do you get approached about the most?

Speaker 1 Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I guess the most fervent fan base. Do you get pictures of people on Halloween dressed as Walter White? All the time.
All All the time. Yeah, we get that too.
Yeah. It's a crazy thing.

Speaker 1 Do you get pictures of Walter White for Halloween? I do.

Speaker 1 I do. Yeah, people want me to know.
Who holds a cat?

Speaker 1 My Walter White.

Speaker 1 That's a crazy thing to have been on a show that

Speaker 1 endures. I just re-watched Breaking Bad.
I got COVID, and it was my COVID comfort show.

Speaker 1 Let's see.

Speaker 1 I watched it during the pandemic. This was my re-watch because it is my opinion that that Breaking Bad is the single greatest television pilot ever.
I stand by that statement.

Speaker 1 And I have loved re-watching it. And

Speaker 1 people still re-watch it, right? And people still re-watch The Office. And

Speaker 1 it's such a cool thing to be part of something that endures like that, I think. It's truly legendary shows.
We're both. all very fortunate to be chosen to be on such a thing.

Speaker 1 And as people people have always asked you, I'm sure that always asked me, did you know it was going to be a big hit? And you go, no, it was a job.

Speaker 1 I was happy to read this great script. You two were like, this sounds crazy.
This sounds fun. I don't know exactly how it's going to work.

Speaker 1 And let me ask you this. On the first year of the office, what were the ratings like? I mean, was it

Speaker 1 horrible?

Speaker 1 Our first season was six episodes. And we were going to shit canned for sure.
We were going to get canceled.

Speaker 1 But then that summer, between season one and deciding if we would get picked up for season two, the 40-year-old virgin came out. And Steve Carell became a massive box office comedy star.

Speaker 1 And I think NBC was like, I'm sorry you don't cut loose the number one comedy box office star. Yeah.
You pick up that show. It was still only a little bit, not a full season for season two.

Speaker 1 And Phyllis and I used to call the ratings hotline.

Speaker 1 We used to run on how old we are. Old technology

Speaker 1 we would run on Tuesdays originally before we moved to Must C T V.

Speaker 1 We were on Tuesdays and every Wednesday morning we would get on set and Phyllis and I would listen to the recording. And we knew that as long as we had like a 2.4 or above, we still had jobs.

Speaker 1 And we would just hold our breath and wait for the recording to tell us what our ratings were. Yeah.
Yeah. And it was like that for into the second season.
Every week I would send out a mass email.

Speaker 1 I was like,

Speaker 1 I was like, hey, you guys, can you guys please watch our show this week? It really mean a lot. Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 Everyone, like everyone I knew from all my improv days, all my theater days, everyone back home. And then finally, it was around the first Christmas episode, Yankee Swap.

Speaker 1 One of my friends wrote back and said, I don't think you need to send these anymore. You're going to be okay.
You're being a little annoying. Yeah.
I stopped sending me these emails.

Speaker 1 What about was Breaking Bad big in the ratings at first? No, not at all. No,

Speaker 1 we were on a cable channel, AMC.

Speaker 1 We weren't big hits at all. Although,

Speaker 1 the critics really, really loved us. So we had that.
But that doesn't equate to being commercially successful. Yeah.
What happened for us was a stroke of really good fortune, and that was in 2009,

Speaker 1 Netflix switched from the red envelopes where they would send you the movies once a week. Remember that they mailed them to you.
Sure. To streaming, to where you can push a button on a computer.

Speaker 1 It changed technology. It changed availability.
And Breaking Bad's second season, we had two seasons and we were like, I don't know if it's going to go a third.

Speaker 1 And it's like, well, maybe we'll let them go a third.

Speaker 1 And all of a sudden, everybody started to go, was able to go back and watch the first episode and then just start watching them all. And then that's what caught on.
So really, it was Netflix that was

Speaker 1 the stroke of good luck for us. For us, too, kind of.
Yeah. It's why we've endured since the show went off the air.

Speaker 1 Let me ask you this, because I seem to remember this, and I'm not completely positive.

Speaker 1 But when Ricky Gervais's version of the original Office, his character was caustic and mean-spirited and rude and biting and all those things.

Speaker 1 And Steve's character when it first started had more of a flavor of an edge to him, didn't it? Yeah. When I first started watching it, it was more of like, ooh.

Speaker 1 And I think at some point, and I'm asking as a fan, at what point did they go, well, let's make a, let's turn the dial on this a little bit and give him more of that

Speaker 1 confident imbecile kind of

Speaker 1 level and not mean-spirited.

Speaker 1 That happened in that transition from season one to season two.

Speaker 1 I think, you know, people saw this lovable quality to his character in 40-year-old Virgin.

Speaker 1 And they also just started writing the show more to Steve and less to the template that Ricky had laid down with his character of David Brent.

Speaker 1 And so there was a little bit of a retooling, but we also got some really good advice from Ricky Gervais, who said, Hey, you know, in America, you guys like to do hundreds of episodes of shows.

Speaker 1 And David Brent doesn't work for hundreds of episodes. Like you, you can't

Speaker 1 have that character do this for that long so you're gonna need to find more layers to your lead character or he's gonna burn out and also true so true so smart the writer's room also

Speaker 1 did something that i thought really worked for american audiences is each episode has one redeeming moment

Speaker 1 one moment where it's either Pam listening to Jim's messages as she drives home and there's a montage, or it's,

Speaker 1 you know, Dwight getting a pat on the shoulder from Michael, even though the whole day they were like fighting.

Speaker 1 There's one little moment, and it doesn't have to be a huge one, but each episode has one. So you're saying that this was

Speaker 1 a concerted effort. This was a note that every episode, we want to have at least one redeeming quality come out of it.
Yeah, one moment. A moment of hope.
One moment of hope within all.

Speaker 1 A moment of Zen. Yes.
Look at that. Yeah.
I didn't know that. Yeah.
And if you, now if I go back and watch,

Speaker 1 I see it. I can find them.
I'm like, oh, well, that kind of made me feel better about that. So that work bus day.
We got to have pie. We got to sit outside.

Speaker 1 Was that our moment? Yeah. We got pie at the end.
Yeah, the montage at the end of pie. There's another moment in this episode that I actually love, which is Jim and Dwight up on the roof of the bus.

Speaker 1 Oh, yes.

Speaker 1 And I love any moment. when,

Speaker 1 you know, that these rivals, these guys who are always, you know, Jim's always pranking Dwight and everything, but when there's this moment where Dwight gets vulnerable and Jim is there to catch him, and I love that.

Speaker 1 That was a really beautiful scene. That's true, because that

Speaker 1 exposes the audience to the true character of Jim.

Speaker 1 And that he's

Speaker 1 when it's necessary, when someone expresses vulnerability like that, it's like he doesn't come in for the kill. Yeah.

Speaker 1 He backs off and actually lends support. Oh,

Speaker 1 see?

Speaker 1 I had a few moments like that.

Speaker 1 You know, we kind of, I mean, so let's say that there's not a reboot series, but what if there was like a movie? Like Downton Abbey gave it away.

Speaker 1 There was something, something to where we can see where these people are, these people

Speaker 1 in the entire cast that we're curious about. We wondered at the end, where did they go? What did become of them?

Speaker 1 I mean, I'd do it. I would do it.
I would do it for my kids because I think they would think that's fun. I mean, if Greg did it, because I would trust it.
Yeah. You know? Yeah.
100%. For sure.

Speaker 1 Greg is signed on in this hypothetical. Okay.
As long as Greg is writing it and he's in charge of it, then I say yes. Okay.

Speaker 1 Enough said. Brian Kranz.
I see Greg on the phone.

Speaker 1 He's our new agent.

Speaker 1 I just want to be an extra in it.

Speaker 1 I do. You have to be an extra.
anti-I would be an extra in it.

Speaker 1 I would be some guy. I'd be like a crossing guard or something like that.

Speaker 1 So you're like one of Dwight's hired hands on Troop Farms. Honest Farm.
Now, why would I be the hired hand and not the foreman?

Speaker 1 Thank you.

Speaker 1 It's just how we see you. It's

Speaker 1 sad.

Speaker 1 Look at that old guy. He's just a hired hand.

Speaker 1 Why is he having to like bail hay? Do all that heavy. He's an old man and they're making him bail hay off.
That's right.

Speaker 1 That's not the moment of Zen.

Speaker 1 That's not a nice moment at all. Are there any projects you're working on right now that we can share with our listeners? We know you're working on the project of living life.
Yes.

Speaker 1 The project of living life. That's a good way to put it.
I really do

Speaker 1 need to do that. I'm very fortunate that I'm

Speaker 1 in a position where I'm getting a lot of offers, both for theater and films and television and things. And so I just have to pick and choose what is

Speaker 1 new to me and challenging.

Speaker 1 I don't want to do something that I've done before.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 the more I go without that real life experience, the harder that is to find because I haven't changed. It's like you were saying, like

Speaker 1 if a... a band just played the same music over and over and they never expanded, they never wrote beyond what they were.

Speaker 1 Like, you look at the Beatles, and they weren't together all that long, but they expanded and expressed themselves in so many different ways.

Speaker 1 Whatever they were going through, it was infused in their art. And I kind of want to, I want to do that.

Speaker 1 I want to get out of the bubble a little bit. So that's that.
But before that may happen, there's responsibilities I have. I have a Mescal company with Aaron Paul and Dos Hombres.
Oh, dos Hombres.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And had I been a great guest, I would have brought you some. Damn it.

Speaker 1 I forgot. But that's going well.

Speaker 1 It's this business I've never thought I'd be in. We'll share about it in our Office Ladies Pod stories.

Speaker 1 So good. It's so good.

Speaker 1 Did you get to go do a tasting? Did you get to be part of the formula? Yeah. How does that work? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, here's

Speaker 1 Aaron and I,

Speaker 1 three years after the end of Breaking Ban, we missed each other. And, you know, it's like when you can relate.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 You're together. You're together.
You're together. It ends and life goes on and sends you in different directions.
And we happened to be in New York City at the same time.

Speaker 1 And well, we have to have dinner. So we were having dinner and we expressed how much we missed each other.
And he said, you know, we ought to do is

Speaker 1 have a company. We ought to, you know, we ought to have a Mescal company together.

Speaker 1 I thought, what? That's what I said. I go,

Speaker 1 what do you, that's random. What do you think? That's terrible.

Speaker 1 That shitty spirit with a dead worm at the bottom?

Speaker 1 What are you talking about? And he goes, no, no, no, no. He took me to a mezcal bar in New York City.
We sipped some of the greatest spirits that I've ever had. I don't think I've ever had mezcal.

Speaker 1 I don't. It's so good.

Speaker 1 It's the older brother of tequila. Okay.
Tequila is a mezcal. Okay.
But mezcal is not a a tequila. A spirit like that that's made from agave plant is always a mezcal.

Speaker 1 And the way they make tequila is to steam it and put it in a silo, and it's more of a fast process. Mezcal is smoked, and so it's in an earthen pit for four days and then mashed.
In fact, ours,

Speaker 1 we have it says artisanal on the bottle, and there's no modern technology used in the process of this, or else we can't say that on the the bottle. Wow.
So it's the old-fashioned way.

Speaker 1 It goes from that to a rock pit where two donkeys pull this big rock wheel and mash this now smoked agave.

Speaker 1 Then it ferments in an oak barrel for 10 days, and then it goes into a copper kettle for distillation. And that's the purity of it.
It's mountain spring water and smoked agave.

Speaker 1 That's all that's in it. And it's done, Dos Hombres is now the fifth largest mezcal in the world.
Come on.

Speaker 1 That is so amazing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 We have to try it. We have to try it.
We have to try it. We're going to go get some.
I will bring it to you. Yay.
I will bring it to you. It's even better.
I love this.

Speaker 1 Also, just your description of it. Just, I don't know.
I felt like I left my body for a minute.

Speaker 1 It felt like I went on a little vacation. I know.

Speaker 1 A journey. And we did.
We went down to Oaxaca. We found this spirit and brought it to the marketplace.

Speaker 1 And in truth, the spirit found us because it's been around for hundreds of years and we were just there to receive it. This sounds like a pretty good start on the project of living life.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 It is,

Speaker 1 but like any other business,

Speaker 1 it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and energy.

Speaker 1 Probably more than you

Speaker 1 were expected when you started. Yeah.
And it's

Speaker 1 a lot of work. And I find that

Speaker 1 the business end of it, the case sells and this,

Speaker 1 it's not as interesting to me as the process of making it and that nurturing sense.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that, and I have a production company and that's interesting too, and it's good, but I'm now looking for ways to have more of that human, real life experience.

Speaker 1 I have a crazy question for you. Oh.

Speaker 1 Did you ever, in your young artist's life, ever do that book, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron? No.

Speaker 1 Excellent.

Speaker 1 I highly recommend it. I highly recommend it.
Jenna did it twice. I did

Speaker 1 a few pages of it.

Speaker 1 And how did the few pages go? They were fantastic. We're different personalities.

Speaker 1 I did it twice because the first time I didn't finish and it bothered me so deeply because I realized that one of my challenges in my early artistic life was having great tons of great ideas of which I finished none.

Speaker 1 Right. And so I thought I need to get over this finishing things problem.

Speaker 1 Why don't I start by finishing the artist's way? Yes. And so I had done 10 of the 12 weeks and I went back and I started over again.
I did all 12 weeks.

Speaker 1 And there are still things from that book, even today as an artist that I think of. You know, one of the things is once a week you have to go on an artist's date alone by yourself, just you.

Speaker 1 That could be going to a symphony. That could be sitting in a park and watching people.
That could be

Speaker 1 taking yourself bowling alone. Like whatever your artist date is, you have to do this once a week.
But it's all creative. It's all artistic.

Speaker 1 And so sometimes when I'm like starting a new artistic journey or whatever, I'll refer back and I'll do an artist date and I'll try to kickstart something. It's that business of living life, right?

Speaker 1 That's fantastic. It's really hard to do.
The bowling part threw me.

Speaker 1 That's an art estate if you want it to be. Really? Oh, yeah.
Take yourself bowling. To be fair, the week I got

Speaker 1 the week of my birthday when I got this book as a gift, but I also got a pair of roller skates. And I was a child of the 70s and I loved roller skating.

Speaker 1 And then I think I started it and then I was like, I'm going to go roller skate. That could be an art estate.
Well, that was an art estate that never stopped. It was an art estate that never stopped.

Speaker 1 I still have the same pair of roller skates. They're by my front door.
I still roller skate. That's got to be something, Jenna.
That

Speaker 1 came out of the artist's way for me.

Speaker 1 I think it came out of your birthday. My birthday buddy is Ricky Gervais.
Oh, look at that.

Speaker 1 A little tie-in.

Speaker 1 I once told him that. He was like, okay.

Speaker 1 We also have Rachel Weiss.

Speaker 1 Oh, does she share our birthday as well?

Speaker 1 Peter Sarsgaard.

Speaker 1 This is exciting. We should have a dinner.

Speaker 1 We should have a March 7th. Busy Phillips has my birthday.
Busy Phillips? Yeah. You, Busy Phillips, Rikita Reyes, are going to have dinner.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I would have to drink.
We'll have dinner with Rachel.

Speaker 1 That's not a bad idea. Birthday dinner?

Speaker 1 Show. Oh.

Speaker 1 You have a dinner with all the people who share the date and you find the similarities and the differences between them, but they all have the same birthday. Brian, you have a production company.

Speaker 1 I'm so sorry we're putting you to work again. This has to stop.
Rather than that, let me give it to you and I take 10%.

Speaker 1 There it is. That's it.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Hollywood.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for coming in today. It was fun.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 It was so good to see you again. Me too.
You know, this episode, it was beautiful. It turned out great.
I just re-watched it and it's so good.

Speaker 1 Even though we all almost died, it's a great episode and it's a classic and people love it and they don't know. It is a classic.

Speaker 1 And now when people see us fly across the bus, I think we needed that moment. We did.
I think we needed to make the pie that much sweeter. We did use it.
I know. It's the actual tip.

Speaker 1 It's a little bit in there. Yeah.
And now you can relive it in our book. Thank you, Angela.
That's so cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, thank you very much.

Speaker 1 I love you so much. Use some dosombres and

Speaker 1 we'll all sip some. Do you have it on ice? Do you have it that I treat?

Speaker 1 Yes,

Speaker 1 I how do you have it? You know,

Speaker 1 any way you like it is the right way. Okay.
I like it with just neat,

Speaker 1 maybe in one big ice cube and just let it chill without diluting it and just sip it. It's so great just sipping it.

Speaker 1 Do you ever mix it? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 It goes in a cocktail as well.

Speaker 1 So well in a margarita, in a Paloma, in an old-fashioned, a Negroni.

Speaker 1 I do like old-fashioned.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Those are my faves.
So good. Yeah.
Try a mescal negroni.

Speaker 1 Going to love it.

Speaker 1 Well, there you have it. Our interview with Brian Cranston.
I could not have enjoyed that more, Angela. He's the best.
The best. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Big thank you to Brian for joining us in the studio, being so gracious with his time. And thank you all for listening.

Speaker 1 We will be back on Monday with a special Monday motivation episode with Kendra Adachi, the lazy genius. We can't wait for you to hear it.
And then on Wednesday, it's Here Comes Trouble.

Speaker 1 So two episodes next week. Two Office Ladies.
Two Office Ladies. See you then.
See ya.

Speaker 1 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 in-studio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

Speaker 1 Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico.
Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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