Randall Park

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela welcome the incredible Randall Park, who gives the full play-by-play of his whirlwind shoot on The Office for the iconic cold open in Andy’s Ancestry. The ladies also chat with Randall about his career beyond Scranton, including working with Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe and his recent stint on Netflix’s The Residence. Plus, he joins the ladies for a fan chit-chat, settling an important potato-related debate, and the ladies talk all about doing press on The Office. So, clear your calendar, grab your favorite potato dish... and enjoy! Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question for Around the Town, Chit Chat, and Second Drink favorite moment:https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram:OfficeLadiesPod https://www.instagram.com/officeladiespod/ Follow Us on YouTube https://youtube.com/@officeladiespod?si=D0oKJwFJuK9txzFM Follow Us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@officeladiespod?_t=ZT-8y1gqTrJyOs&_r=1

• 0:04Speaker 00

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  We were on The Office together.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  And we're best friends.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  And now we're doing the ultimate Office lovers podcast just for you. Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Ladies 6.0.

• 0:25Speaker 00

  Hello, lady.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 0:27Speaker 00

  Happy Wednesday.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Happy Wednesday. Do I look like I'm stiff in my neck a little?

• 0:31Speaker 00

  No. Are you?

• 0:34Speaker 01

  I'm a little stiff.

• 0:35Speaker 00

  Did you sleep weird?

• 0:36Speaker 01

  I slept weird, but also I've been traveling a lot and I fell asleep on the plane in a weird position.

• 0:40Speaker 00

  That's never good.

• 0:41Speaker 01

  Never good. But also, the last time I traveled, I think I need to up my travel game because I flew with Rain, Rain Wilson, you guys.

• 0:50Speaker 00

  He's one of my favorite people to travel with.

• 0:52Speaker 01

  He's a very courteous traveler.

• 0:54Speaker 00

  A gentleman.

• 0:55Speaker 01

  Gentleman, helped me with my bag. Here's an example, right? We got like a cup of hot tea to go. And as I'm carrying it around, he goes, "Your tea bag has been in that cup for a long time. I think you should take the tea bag out. Don't you want to take the tea bag out?" I was like, "I do, but I'm holding too many things." And so he took the tea bag out for me.

• 1:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  These are the types of things.

• 1:15Speaker 00

  Details.

• 1:15Speaker 01

  Here's the thing, I guarantee you, Rain does not have a sore neck today.

• 1:19Speaker 00

  Because?

• 1:20Speaker 01

  Because that man travels with a really big neck pillow.

• 1:23Speaker 00

  No, he does not.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  Yes, he does. And he puts it on the minute he gets on the plane and his neck disappears. And then he's just a little floating head.

• 1:32Speaker 00

  Please tell me you took a picture of this.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  I did. It's the biggest neck pillow I've ever seen. I didn't even know. Do they come in multiple sizes?

• 1:40Speaker 00

  This sounds like a neck brace.

• 1:42Speaker 01

  It's not. He's got it in his bag and then he falls asleep and his face is like wedged in it. Oh, and then he puts his AirPods in?

• 1:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  Like the AirPods with the string, just a regular, what are they called? They're not called AirPods.

• 1:58Speaker 00

  They're not cordless?

• 1:59Speaker 01

  No, they're not cordless. He puts them in his ears.

• 2:02Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:02Speaker 01

  Right? And then he puts it into the little TV and then he puts headphones over those.

• 2:07Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:08Speaker 01

  And then his neck pillow. So he's wearing two pairs of headphones and a neck pillow. I'm showing Jenna a picture.

• 2:15Speaker 00

  That's pretty great.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  Yeah. Anyway, I'm sure he doesn't have a sore neck. I might have to stop making fun of him and get his giant inflatable neck pillow. It looks like something you plug in and blow up.

• 2:27Speaker 00

  He had to blow it up?

• 2:28Speaker 01

  No, he didn't. But that's what it looks like to me. That's how big it was.

• 2:32Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:33Speaker 01

  Anyway, sorry.

• 2:34Speaker 00

  I've bought so many neck pillows over the years and I never use them, ever. They just become this thing I'm carrying. I don't know.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Rain uses his. Sam, do you use a neck pillow?

• 2:46Speaker 02

  I do, and then I forget them. I have probably eight or nine in my closet somewhere.

• 2:50Speaker 00

  Exactly. I get to the airport, I realize I don't have one. I go through a whole thing in my head, should I get one? But I have one at home.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  I spent $25 at, what is it, City News or whatever the airport shop is.

• 3:00Speaker 00

  And then I bring it on the plane. I use it for like four minutes.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 3:04Speaker 00

  And now I'm saddled with it.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:06Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, listen, everyone, we have a great episode of Office Ladies today. Randall Park stopped by our studio. We have a great conversation with him. You all know that Randall Park played Jim's friend Steve, who helped Jim and Pam play the ultimate prank on Dwight in the cold open of season nine's Andy's Ancestry. We talk all about it.

• 3:27Speaker 01

  We talk all about that. We hear about his time on the set, how he got the role. But then we also just talk about his amazing career and all of these different fantastic characters he's played over the years. And we're big fans.

• 3:41Speaker 00

  But guess what? Not just that. He did our fan chit chat question with us.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:47Speaker 00

  So without further ado, let's get to it.

• 3:53Speaker 00

  All right. Well, Randall Park, welcome to Office Ladies.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  Thank you for having me. It's an honor.

• 3:58Speaker 00

  We're excited that you're going to join us for our fan chit chat question this week.

• 4:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm excited.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  It's so lovely to see you two, by the way.

• 4:05Speaker 03

  I know. It's so nice to see you. It's been a while.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  It has. All right. Are you ready for a chit chat?

• 4:11Speaker 03

  I'm nervous, but let's do it.

• 4:13Speaker 00

  Okay. Well, this is from Joey R. in Rochester, New York, who says, "I was at a company retreat years ago where they had us play some icebreaker games. There was one question we all had to answer that proved more spirited than the rest.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 4:27Speaker 00

  If I'm ever at a boring dinner party, I like to pull this one out and it always gets people going. It's really simple. I thought you guys might like it. Here we go. Rank your favorite forms of potato. To help you out, here is a list. You could also just pick your top three. People get really passionate about their potatoes."

• 4:47Speaker 01

  Okay. I will just say this. Joey, this list is very long, so I think we'll read them and then pick our favorite three?

• 4:52Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 4:53Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 4:54Speaker 00

  I like it.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  Okay, Jenna, read them off.

• 4:55Speaker 00

  Here are ways to eat a potato. French fries, tater tots, latke, baked, scalloped, roasted, potato chip, mashed, hash browned, or gnocchi.

• 5:12Speaker 03

  I forgot gnocchi is a potato. That's right.

• 5:15Speaker 00

  That's a good one.

• 5:16Speaker 03

  That's right. That's right.

• 5:17Speaker 01

  That's sneaky potato. I have to add one.

• 5:20Speaker 00

  What? Well, we have baked, but we don't have twice baked. And I personally really love a twice baked potato and it's going to be in my three.

• 5:29Speaker 03

  What's a twice bake?

• 5:31Speaker 00

  That you bake some potato, then you scoop all the stuff out, you mix it together with like some cheese and milk and stuff and chives, and then you put it back in the skin and then you bake it again.

• 5:41Speaker 03

  Oh, and it crusts over a little bit. Okay. I've never had that.

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh, they're real good.

• 5:47Speaker 03

  Okay. So that's kind of like, yeah, that's twice baked.

• 5:49Speaker 01

  I get it. I also want to just say, Jenna, that should you ever want a job being like the announcer on a game show, I think you got it.

• 5:57Speaker 00

  Did I sound like that?

• 5:59Speaker 01

  You did. It sounded like, well, you like that moment in Million Dollar Pyramid where it's like, the answers are french fries.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Yeah. And I was riveted the whole time, too. Yeah, I had a list.

• 6:09Speaker 01

  I was in.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:11Speaker 01

  Okay, top three. Who wants to go first?

• 6:13Speaker 03

  I mean, number one for me and also on that list, and I would think for a lot of people, is french fries.

• 6:20Speaker 01

  Yes. Is there a better way to make a potato? I think not. No.

• 6:25Speaker 03

  No.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  I love my french fries with seasoned salt. Like if you're anywhere where they offer that, I take it.

• 6:30Speaker 03

  And any kind, you know, shoestring, waffle. I mean, that's a whole nother list, right?

• 6:34Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 6:35Speaker 00

  How to have your fry.

• 6:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, but any fry.

• 6:38Speaker 01

  Even wedge?

• 6:40Speaker 03

  Wedge. I love a good wedge.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  Really?

• 6:42Speaker 03

  I love a good wedge. Yeah.

• 6:44Speaker 00

  To me, there's not enough ratio between like potato and fry when it's in a wedge. It's too much potato to me.

• 6:51Speaker 03

  I almost see it as like a baked potato and a fry, you know, kind of in one.

• 6:57Speaker 01

  It's a grab and go. Baked potato. And then I need my french fries with ranch or mayonnaise.

• 7:05Speaker 00

  That's fine.

• 7:05Speaker 03

  Mayonnaise, yeah.

• 7:06Speaker 00

  You can have it.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Okay, okay.

• 7:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:08Speaker 00

  Are we all agreeing that french fry is number one? Are we in agreement?

• 7:12Speaker 01

  Are you in on french fry?

• 7:14Speaker 02

  French fries are a solid number two for me.

• 7:16Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 7:17Speaker 02

  And first prize is a baked potato specifically from Wendy's. The amount of sour cream and cheese on it, you have no idea it's a potato.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  Okay. Wait, does Wendy's have a potato bar? Sam, are you making that or is it coming at you with all that on there?

• 7:32Speaker 02

  It's all coming to you as a chewy, sticky goodness. It's great.

• 7:34Speaker 03

  Wendy's still has baked. They do, they do bake potatoes. I didn't know that.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  And chili. It's great. Give it a shot next time you're there.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  Okay. All right. Well.

• 7:44Speaker 03

  So you like it because it's kind of taking you further away from the potato, if anything, because you're just putting all this junk on.

• 7:51Speaker 02

  At a certain point, it's just spoonfuls of sour cream and cheese and bacon. That's what I like in a potato. It's a cereal potato.

• 7:58Speaker 03

  What about just a bowl of sour cream and bacon?

• 8:01Speaker 02

  There you go. Okay.

• 8:02Speaker 00

  There it is. That's how Michael Scott would eat it, incidentally. Okay, what's your number two, Jenna? My number two, you know what? Every time, I forget about them all the time because I'm not a child. But anytime they're available, I love a tater tot. I really do love it that way because it's like a hash brown, but tiny. And I can pop it in my mouth. So I'm going to go tater tot. I'm going to go french fry and then tater tot.

• 8:28Speaker 03

  It's my wife. My wife is the same. I'm not that into tater tots. For me, it'd be baked potato.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  Baked potato is your number two.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  Yeah. Baked potato for me, too. I love a baked potato. I had one last night.

• 8:39Speaker 03

  Oh, it's the best.

• 8:40Speaker 01

  My husband will put like a little bit of like olive oil or butter on the outside and then the big kind of chunky salt. And so the skin has that. It's so good.

• 8:49Speaker 03

  So you eat the skin.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  I will when he does that. Yeah.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  Oh, I love the skin when you've oiled it up and all that.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 8:56Speaker 00

  That's what she said.

• 8:58Speaker 01

  I know. There's going to be a lot, I think, in this potato talk.

• 9:01Speaker 00

  Okay. So we know Sam's number two is french fries. What is our number three? Mine is twice baked potato.

• 9:08Speaker 01

  That's your number three?

• 9:09Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 9:10Speaker 01

  You know, I love a good breakfast hash brown.

• 9:13Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  Love it.

• 9:15Speaker 03

  You know, I really like a good boiled potato. Was that on there?

• 9:18Speaker 00

  It's not.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 9:20Speaker 00

  Neither was twice baked.

• 9:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, like, you know, like a boiled potato with like rosemary and salt and.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  Some buns.

• 9:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:30Speaker 00

  It's how the English prepare their potatoes, I believe.

• 9:32Speaker 03

  I really enjoy that.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. My mom would always do some boiled potatoes. Yeah, those are good, too. You guys, I think we crushed this potato list.

• 9:40Speaker 00

  Well, Sam, what's your number three?

• 9:42Speaker 02

  Tater tots.

• 9:43Speaker 00

  Tater tots.

• 9:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  Okay. All right. Before we take a break, I want to say something possibly controversial about potatoes. I don't love mashed potatoes.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 9:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're done. See you guys later.

• 9:59Speaker 02

  Thanks for coming in. We wrapped it up.

• 10:01Speaker 01

  We've been friends a long time and it ends today. I love mashed potatoes.

• 10:06Speaker 03

  How can you not love mashed potatoes?

• 10:08Speaker 02

  Is it a texture thing?

• 10:09Speaker 00

  It's, I don't know.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  What about mashed potatoes with gravy? Come on.

• 10:14Speaker 03

  Ooh, come on. With the scoop and then the scoop with the gravy in the little pool.

• 10:20Speaker 00

  Yes. I liked that when I was younger, but something has happened to my potato palate and I just, it's a pass.

• 10:27Speaker 03

  Do you just equate it with like, kind of, it's juvenile? It's like to?

• 10:31Speaker 00

  No, it's Thanksgiving.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  Is it too many starches for your all protein weightlifting diet?

• 10:37Speaker 00

  It's that I'd rather roast them than have them mashed. In my family, this is the big thing because everybody else likes mashed potatoes. And sometimes I hit a wall and I roast the potatoes and it's a whole thing at dinner. They're like, "Oh, mom roast the potatoes tonight."

• 10:53Speaker 01

  This is so funny. I have the complete opposite. I'm like the one that loves mashed potatoes and my kids don't. And I'm like, "How can you not love mashed potatoes? How is this possible?"

• 11:01Speaker 00

  Hmm. It sounds to me like potato eating, we need to switch families.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:07Speaker 00

  And then everyone's happy.

• 11:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't know. Jenna, I'm just really disappointed in you right now. Yeah.

• 11:13Speaker 00

  Shoot. I used to bet they'd be at the bottom. But I'd rather have scalloped. I'd rather have gnocchi. Last kind of potato I want is mashed. I'm sorry I said it.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  Scallop is at the bottom of my list.

• 11:25Speaker 00

  Really?

• 11:25Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  You know, they're fine. I like a scallop potato. And also, my husband makes a thing called a potato stack. So good. Thinly sliced potatoes and then you bake some stuff.

• 11:35Speaker 03

  That's good.

• 11:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. But I don't know. I'm just always gonna go french fry.

• 11:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, same.

• 11:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:41Speaker 03

  Same.

• 11:41Speaker 00

  All right. We didn't know we could talk about this for so long.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  We didn't. We didn't, Zoe.

• 11:45Speaker 00

  Joey, you were right. Well, listen, why don't we take a break and then when we come back, we will talk with Randall all about The Office and other things.

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 11:54Speaker 03

  Great.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  So Randall, we have to ask you a few questions about your time on The Office.

• 12:07Speaker 03

  My very brief time on The Office.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  But iconic. First of all, how did you get your role on The Office?

• 12:13Speaker 03

  You know, so I was in the last season.

• 12:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:17Speaker 03

  Somewhere towards the end there, the last season. But a few years before that, I auditioned for like a regular role. I was very excited because it's The Office. And I got a call and it was like, they really like you. They want to meet you. So I went to the studio and I knew Brent Forrester because I had done a pilot of his years before. And he was showing me around and I was just, oh my God, I'm gonna be a regular on this show. I met with all the writers, like in a big room, all the writers met with me. And I met with Mindy and Daniel and Paul. And it was great. And then I went home and I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be a regular on The Office.

• 13:02Speaker 03

  This is crazy.

• 13:03Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  And then I waited and then I didn't hear anything. And I was like, it just takes time. You know, these things take time. You know, they're just getting my trailer ready.

• 13:15Speaker 01

  Getting all their ducks in a row. Yeah.

• 13:16Speaker 03

  And then I just waited and it didn't happen. And I was like, oh, my God, what did I say in those meetings?

• 13:24Speaker 01

  Nothing.

• 13:24Speaker 03

  You're all in your head.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  That's the worst.

• 13:26Speaker 03

  Yeah. And then I moved on, you know, started doing other things here and there. And then a couple of years later, I just got a call, hey, do you want to come on and play? Like, and I was like, yeah, sure. And I figured, you know, they all knew me at this point. So I didn't audition or anything. They just were like, come on and do this. And then it was just for cold open. It was really funny and it was great. And I was like, great, I get to be on the show, even if it's just like a scene. And then it was kind of a whirlwind. It was all very quick, you know? It was very quick and I was kind of in and out and had a blast. And then that was it.

• 14:02Speaker 00

  Well, this cold open has gone on to become a fan favorite.

• 14:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:08Speaker 00

  It is iconic. Should we hear it?

• 14:11Speaker 01

  We should. It's season nine. The episode is Andy's Ancestry. Here it is.

• 14:21Speaker 03

  Morning Dwight.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  Who are you?

• 14:27Speaker 03

  Who am I? I'm Jim. We've been working together for 12 years. Weird joke Dwight.

• 14:34Speaker 04

  You're not Jim. Jim's not Asian.

• 14:36Speaker 03

  You seriously never noticed? Hey, hats off to you for not seeing race.

• 14:43Speaker 04

  All right then, Jim, uh, why don't you tell me about that sale that you made yesterday?

• 14:49Speaker 03

  Wellington Systems sold them 10 cases of 24-pound letter stock. Or were you talking about Krieger Murphy? Because I didn't close that one yet. But I'm hoping I've got a voicemail from Paul Krieger waiting for me.

• 15:02Speaker 05

  Please enter your password.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  Oh, and this is when you cover the phone with your hand. So great.

• 15:09Speaker 05

  You have one new message.

• 15:11Speaker 04

  How did you know? No, no, no, no. That is sensitive information only for employees, not outsiders.

• 15:17Speaker 03

  Dwight, cut it out. I'm trying to work.

• 15:19Speaker 04

  You don't work here. You're not Jim.

• 15:21Speaker 06

  Jim, I got us that dinner reservation. Greco 7:30.

• 15:24Speaker 03

  Oh, great. Can't wait.

• 15:28Speaker 06

  Jim's at the dentist this morning and Steve is an actor friend of ours.

• 15:33Speaker 04

  I don't know who you are, but you are not Jim. This is Jim.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  And it's you in the picture frame.

• 15:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:45Speaker 04

  Oh, dude, uh, how did?

• 15:48Speaker 01

  And then Dwight's mind melts. Yes.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  Yeah. So that was my entire Office experience.

• 15:55Speaker 00

  And for a cold open, Randall, you had a lot of dialogue.

• 15:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:59Speaker 00

  You had to just rifle it right off. Like, it was like you had, you know, been working there the whole time.

• 16:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  It was kind of like medical drama kind of jargon.

• 16:08Speaker 03

  There was a lot.

• 16:09Speaker 00

  People's names and all the sales and all that.

• 16:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was a lot. But I, you know, at that point, I was well prepared. I think I had some time before the shoot day with the material. And yeah, it was so fun and so surreal just to be acting with you guys on this show that I had loved so much and that I got really close to getting, you know?

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Well, the writers have shared with us when people would come in that they loved. And for whatever reason, you know, they made the character something different. They would have a little folder where they were like, people we really liked. That's why they just called you up and said, come do it.

• 16:43Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  You know, because they had already fallen in love with you as an actor and thought you were in the world of the show. So I love that that was able to at least come back around in some form.

• 16:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And I was just so happy just to be a part of it, especially the final season, you know? Just to like, just be on that set and to be able to act with you guys. And yeah, it was such a whirlwind that day because, I mean, I think I was only there for a couple of hours, you know? And then I remember they whisked me into another room and we took the photo with the kids.

• 17:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:12Speaker 03

  And it was very fast. And at that point, you guys were such a well-oiled machine, you know?

• 17:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:17Speaker 03

  But I kind of, you know, was done in a couple of hours. And I was like, wow, that was amazing.

• 17:22Speaker 00

  Did you get to stay for lunch? We had really good catering.

• 17:26Speaker 03

  I don't think I did.

• 17:27Speaker 00

  Oh, no. I'm so sad. You didn't get to have it.

• 17:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't think I did.

• 17:31Speaker 00

  Well, something I remember was that we had to kiss.

• 17:35Speaker 03

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 17:36Speaker 00

  I was gonna ask you guys about that. And we were, I remember laughing with you about it. We're like, well, hello.

• 17:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:41Speaker 00

  And hi. And also, we usually film those cold opens first thing in the morning. I don't know if that's your memory, if it was like an early call time.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  I believe so. It was first half of the day for sure.

• 17:51Speaker 01

  So you guys are like, good morning, how are you? Nice to meet you. Let's kiss. Yeah.

• 17:55Speaker 03

  I know. Yeah. And of course, you know, whenever you have to kiss someone, it's always like, just adds to the nerves a little bit, even though it's just acting. It's still like, oh, my God.

• 18:06Speaker 00

  And it wasn't like this crazy smooch or anything, but it's like a very intimate thing to do.

• 18:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:12Speaker 00

  To just put your lips on someone else's lips within like four minutes of meeting them. A little bit.

• 18:17Speaker 03

  Yeah. And I remember, of course, being nervous about that, but not saying anything. Just do it. Be professional.

• 18:22Speaker 00

  Professional.

• 18:23Speaker 03

  But it's always like, oh, my gosh, this is like, this job is so crazy.

• 18:27Speaker 00

  So crazy. And even something as simple as that, I even remember being nervous too, because I'm standing up and I have to kind of like hunch around to get to you. And I'm like, God, just don't like accidentally kiss his eye or like part of his cheek. Like just land it. Just land it, Jenna.

• 18:43Speaker 01

  It was a walk and kiss.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  It was.

• 18:45Speaker 03

  It was like a drive-by kiss.

• 18:46Speaker 00

  It was. Exactly.

• 18:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  If you think about the world of the show too, Pam has kissed Roy.

• 18:54Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Jim. And Steve.

• 18:56Speaker 00

  But everybody calls you Asian Jim.

• 18:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. I think that's what it's like credited as.

• 19:01Speaker 00

  Is it?

• 19:02Speaker 03

  I think so.

• 19:03Speaker 00

  The credits?

• 19:03Speaker 01

  No.

• 19:04Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, I'd have to look.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Because in the script, your character's name is Steve.

• 19:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, in the script.

• 19:10Speaker 00

  I feel like I need to check on IMDb.

• 19:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:14Speaker 00

  You are credited as Asian Jim Halpert. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Yes, that's, that is true. That's crazy.

• 19:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And I, gosh, I should track down the script.

• 19:27Speaker 01

  I'm bringing up the script right now.

• 19:28Speaker 03

  Oh, you are.

• 19:29Speaker 01

  Wait for it. Okay. Cold open, Dwight is at his desk. A 30-something guy who looks sort of like an Asian version of Jim approaches.

• 19:38Speaker 00

  In the script, your name is Asian Guy.

• 19:41Speaker 01

  And then Pam, in the script, calls you Steve.

• 19:43Speaker 03

  Oh, okay, okay, okay.

• 19:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. But you have all that dialogue about that, I'm hoping for a voicemail from Paul.

• 19:51Speaker 03

  Krieger Murphy. Yeah, yeah, Krieger. Yeah.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:54Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 19:55Speaker 01

  They kiss, Pam walks off.

• 19:58Speaker 00

  Amazing. Amazing. Do you get recognized from being on The Office? How has that plagued you?

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Because people shout random things at us, like

• 20:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  Someone has shouted to me, green is horish. I had on a green like tank top and I was like, what? And then I'm like, oh, right.

• 20:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, you know, I mean, it was after I filmed it and even after it aired, I didn't get recognized too much from it. But eventually, I would say several years later is when it became like a meme. And when it started really circulating online and that's when, yeah, people would. I think I was talking about it on Conan once where, you know, I had kind of forgotten about it. Not forgotten about it, but I just wasn't top of mind.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  Sure. It was a long time ago.

• 20:49Speaker 03

  And somebody screamed out, hey, Asian Jim. And I like turned around and I thought it was like some like racial thing.

• 20:57Speaker 03

  Or I didn't know, you know, because I just didn't put it together. And then soon enough, yeah, I'd hear more Asian Jims and I'd go, okay, okay, it's online. Yeah.

• 21:07Speaker 01

  It's online. And now also, in some small way, you guys brought it back because you did this thing with John Krasinski for the trailer for his movie, right? For Yes, for It. That was so funny. How did you even do it? You're like pranking Ryan Reynolds. And you're saying you are John Krasinski. And it kind of broke the internet. People like went berserk for it.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  I mean, I think it was such a big thing online for so many years. And John was, you know, directing that movie. And I don't know if it was Ryan or John. I think it might have been Ryan who thought, who came up with it and asked if I'd be down to do it. And I'm like, yeah, of course, of course, yeah.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  But you had to change your clothes like multiple times to be inserted into like scenes of you directing the movie.

• 21:53Speaker 03

  Yes. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  It's really impressive.

• 21:56Speaker 03

  I just shot on a green screen in different outfits. And they just kind of somehow put me in there in these shots, BTS shots that they had made for the movie. It was crazy. It was fun. It was very fun. But yeah, I mean, it just speaks to the power of the internet. It was just such a big thing.

• 22:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah. And to this day, people like, it's funny because it was such a big thing online that some people come up to me thinking that I was a regular on the show, you know, even though I wasn't. You know, it was just one scene, you know?

• 22:29Speaker 01

  But you stole the scene, you know? I mean, that's all you can ever hope for, no matter like how big or small your role. Like if you get that moment where you're like, I just owned that.

• 22:39Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, for me, literally on the day, it was just like, I'm just so happy to be a part of this. I'm just so happy to be on set, on this set in particular. And it was one of those like, okay, that was great. That was great. And what's the next thing, you know?

• 22:53Speaker 01

  Well, we reunited after Office on Fresh Off the Boat, which was a really great show.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  You were so great. Yeah, you did several episodes.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  I did. I did. I played Jessica, who's played by Constance Wu, like her nemesis.

• 23:05Speaker 03

  Her nemesis.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  Just such, again, a bitch. Might have been typecasting, but that was super fun.

• 23:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was.

• 23:12Speaker 01

  And everybody there was so nice and that was on for like six years, right?

• 23:17Speaker 03

  Six seasons.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, that was great on ABC.

• 23:20Speaker 03

  It was great. It was super fun. And yeah, it was so great having you on. Yeah, I was just tripping that you were on the show because again, I was such a huge fan of The Office. And yeah, it was very cool.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  I was really hoping that our, so that our two couples, I was hoping we had some more like double dates. Because that was really, those like dinner scenes were fun.

• 23:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:39Speaker 01

  But Jenna and I have both just sort of been going over your filmography and watching all kinds of stuff. And we're such fans of yours. And I have something I want to talk about and you have something you want to talk about. But I want to go first. You can go first.

• 23:52Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  So last night with my teenagers, we watched, because our producer, Matt Beagle, was like, if you guys love rom-coms, you have to see Always Be My Maybe.

• 24:02Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 24:03Speaker 01

  That you did. He couldn't be here today and he wanted us to tell you it's his favorite rom-com.

• 24:08Speaker 03

  Oh, my God.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  So I was like, I love a rom-com. I don't know how I missed that one. I want to watch it. It's so good. You're so funny in it. There's so many funny people in this. And you know, Ali Wong is great. But for those of you who have listened to Office, ladies, for a long time, you know that Jenna and I are slightly obsessed with Keanu Reeves. And you have a hilarious scene with Keanu Reeves and you punch him in the face.

• 24:32Speaker 03

  I punch him in the face. I do. Yeah.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  I'm sure you've talked about this a lot, but please can you tell us everything about being in scenes? And what was that like? And you're so funny in it and you get so pissed off at him.

• 24:43Speaker 03

  That was another surreal. I mean, you know, this, this job is just filled with surreal experiences, you know, as you guys know.

• 24:51Speaker 01

  We should say Keanu plays himself, right?

• 24:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 24:54Speaker 01

  And he goes out on a date with the person that you're in love with. And you have to like, watch the person you love be on a date with Keanu Reeves.

• 25:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're on a double date.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, on a double date. And both of the women, though, are just like, in love with Keanu Reeves.

• 25:11Speaker 03

  It's pretty real in that way, right? Yeah, that whole project was so fun because I got to work with Ali, who's an old friend. And we wanted a celebrity cameo, you know, celebrity to play himself. And I believe we had a list of just like people who we thought we could get, you know? And they were all like people we loved, not nearly as famous as Keanu Reeves. And we presented that list to Netflix and Netflix was like, why don't you like dream bigger? You know, like who's the ideal?

• 25:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:40Speaker 03

  And we were like, Keanu Reeves is the ideal. And they were like, let's try for that. And we somehow got him. He was like shooting John Wick at the time, but he had an opening. And he loved the idea of playing himself in this, you know, rom-com. And he came out for a few days in the Bay Area and he was just so incredibly nice. He's just like so kind. I mean, all the stories, you know?

• 26:03Speaker 01

  Isn't that everything you want to hear? Yes. Sam, are you so happy right now?

• 26:06Speaker 03

  I'm thrilled. Yeah, he was so kind, so open, just sharing so much of his life and his stories with us. And so game, you know, in the scenes, just coming up with pitches. There's a moment where he's wearing glasses and he takes them off. And I put my fingers through the glass. I'm like, there's no lenses in these glasses. And he's like, I know. And that was like his pitch, you know? He had a bunch of pitches like that. And yeah, it was just so fun and surreal. And we were doing overnights. So it was kind of like, you know, it's stressful to do overnights. And but he was just so professional, you know, so, so like just down to play.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  Down to play.

• 26:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:44Speaker 01

  I do have to read one more thing. There is a song that you rap called I Punched Keanu Reeves. And this is like one of the best lyrics. You say, best believe I punched Keanu Reeves and it was better than any scene you could see in Speed. I hit John Wick and now I'm feeling so appealing. You do it so much better than I just read it.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  You know, that was, so my character is in this, in a band in the movie. That was kind of based on this band that I was in out of college. And that, after we shot the film, edited it, somebody had pitched like, why don't we like to the closing credits, do a song that your character made like after punching Keanu Reeves? So we recorded it and we put it in the closing credits and yeah.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  It's great. I have a follow-up question to that nugget, which is what did you do in the band? Were you the frontman? Do you play guitar? What do you do?

• 27:41Speaker 03

  In the college band, it was a kind of like a hip hop band. And I was one of two frontmen. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  What was the name of your college band?

• 27:51Speaker 03

  It was called Ill Again.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Ill Again?

• 27:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  And do you still, do you make music anymore?

• 27:57Speaker 03

  No, no.

• 27:58Speaker 01

  No, just for the movies?

• 27:59Speaker 03

  It's just for that movie.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Okay. And around the house.

• 28:04Speaker 03

  In the shower.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 28:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  Okay. Well, a couple of months ago, I was scrolling for something to watch. I'm on Netflix and this show called The Residence pops up, which I was not familiar with, but which I am now obsessed. She's obsessed and now I have to go watch it. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna watch it. It is such a great limited series. I have not finished it, so I do not know the ending, but you are in it and it is fantastic. And I just want to throw it out there to everybody. I mean, this is one of those, we always say, late to the party. Like, welcome Jenna, late to the party. People were nominated for awards, but what was it like making that show? Like as a fan of that show, I just want to hear like, how did, it was so cool, the camera work and all of it.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  I'm, all the levels and it takes place at the White House.

• 28:53Speaker 03

  At the White House, yeah. And it's a murder mystery.

• 28:56Speaker 01

  Yes, you play an FBI detective. It's so fun.

• 29:00Speaker 03

  Who's partnered with Uzo Aduba.

• 29:01Speaker 01

  Oh, she's great.

• 29:02Speaker 03

  She's amazing. She's the best.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  I played tennis with her. I know that's random, but at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, we played tennis. Yeah. Okay, sorry, sorry.

• 29:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's the best. And yeah, we shot it like not too far from here, right down the street from here. And it was one of the best experiences, but also like a tough experience because it was, you know, we were shooting and then the strike happened.

• 29:24Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 29:25Speaker 03

  During the shoot. And then one of our cast members was Andre Brouwer, who passed during the shoot. And that was very difficult for all of us and also just on, for the show. So there were a lot of, it was a very, not tumultuous experience, but there were a lot of, you know, kind of heavy challenges. Yeah.

• 29:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, that we got through and the show turned out great. We're just so proud of it. And we're all like so close, I think, because we bonded so tight over the, you know, all the things that happened during that. But yeah, I'm so glad you enjoyed the show.

• 29:58Speaker 01

  It's really special.

• 30:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is.

• 30:00Speaker 01

  It's special.

• 30:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  And I love hearing how close you guys are.

• 30:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  You feel it.

• 30:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  And there's a quickness to the comedy. There's a lot of timing in the show. But then there's also this very riveting mystery and...

• 30:14Speaker 03

  It's very intricate. And that's one of those shows where it was kind of like word for word. Like you do it as written. Do not stray from the script. If you get one word wrong, then, you know, the script supervisor will come in. Oh, this is, you got that one word wrong.

• 30:28Speaker 01

  Because you're building so much together, you can't like go off too much.

• 30:32Speaker 03

  It's just so intricate and the timing of it was just so important. And we also just wanted to honor the writer, you know?

• 30:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:40Speaker 03

  Paul William Davies and just make sure that, you know, we just did it just right, you know? I mean, I've done that a few times on different shows where they're just like, this is word for word. And that's always like, oh, okay, okay, that's challenging. But on this one, it was actually like quite easy because the writing was just so kind of lyrical and

• 30:59Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 31:00Speaker 03

  rhythmic and bouncing off of these great actors like Uzo. It's just kind of became like very, I don't know, very, it's almost like making music.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's fun.

• 31:10Speaker 01

  Well, I love it. Jenna actually told me, you know how there's shows or movies or music you listen to that you then need like your best friend to listen to or watch so you can discuss? This morning, she was like, I'm gonna need you to watch the rest of this. So I was like, okay, okay. It's true. But you've also had roles in The Audacity, which just got renewed for a second season.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:32Speaker 01

  Can you talk about that?

• 31:33Speaker 03

  It's a really great show about, on AMC, about characters in Silicon Valley, but very different from Silicon Valley, the show. Really funny, really kind of dark and scary, you know? And I play this kind of tech mogul who's since kind of retreated from the world and coming back again for the next season because it got ordered for another season.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  That's great.

• 31:56Speaker 03

  Yeah. Zach Galifianakis is in it, Billy Magnussen. It's just a killer cast and a really, really fun watch.

• 32:04Speaker 01

  Well, that's on our list. And also I have to say, my sons loved WandaVision.

• 32:09Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:10Speaker 01

  And I know, Sam, you have a question.

• 32:12Speaker 03

  Yes, I do.

• 32:13Speaker 02

  Jimmy Woo's my favorite character, no joke. In the MCU, the ending of Ant-Man, the exchange where you're like, I thought you were inviting me somewhere, is my favorite moment from any Marvel movie. My question was if you had any plans to revive that character in anything coming up?

• 32:26Speaker 03

  Nothing for sure. There are some things that may happen, but we'll see.

• 32:33Speaker 02

  Good, good, good.

• 32:33Speaker 03

  But we'll see, but it's kind of like, you know?

• 32:36Speaker 01

  I'm sure you're not even... Even allowed to say.

• 32:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. And then they may not. And they may or they may not.

• 32:40Speaker 01

  Let's just put it out there. All right. It's coming back.

• 32:43Speaker 03

  But yeah, it's being in the Marvel kind of world is just such a, a trip. Again, all of these experiences where it's just like.

• 32:51Speaker 02

  Well, while I have you, I realized this morning, I saw you about 10 years ago, speaking of surreal moments, right down the street at the Montalban Theater, you did a live stage reading of this script called Saving Charlie Chaplin.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  And my question to you was, I remember distinctly your onstage between Jon Hamm and Paul Rubens, who's my hero.

• 33:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  What was that like, getting to do a live stage reading with Pee Wee?

• 33:14Speaker 03

  I mean, come on, it's Pee Wee.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, right?

• 33:16Speaker 03

  Yeah. That was, gosh, I forgot about that. Yeah. That was really fun. And it's one of those kind of, you look around and you see, see these people that you're onstage with, and it's another kind of surreal thing, you know?

• 33:30Speaker 02

  Excellent.

• 33:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was very surreal. And I love doing stuff like that, you know? Like if I get invited to take part in a, a read of something, or any, any kind of opportunity to kind of, you know, you just meet people. You meet people, and it's always fun. And you, sometimes you meet your heroes.

• 33:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:45Speaker 02

  Great.

• 33:46Speaker 01

  It's so fun to have those creative bursts that you're not expecting, you know? And run-ins with people and what that brings out of you. And you've worked for so long, you've done so many amazing roles. What was the very first job you got in entertainment?

• 34:01Speaker 03

  Well, the real first one I got, I was in college at UCLA. And I thought to myself, ah, I think I, I would love to be an actor one day. And I didn't end up pursuing acting till way after college. But at the time, I started auditioning for like, things that I would find in the back of Backstage West.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:20Speaker 03

  Does that still exist, Backstage West?

• 34:21Speaker 01

  I don't know. Does it exist digitally? I don't even know.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  I feel like it probably does online, right? But not, we would go get the paper.

• 34:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:29Speaker 00

  And flip to the back and circle things.

• 34:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, circle the casting announcements and the student films and kind of anything. And I auditioned for a commercial, it was a non-union commercial, that was going to appear on the Channel 18 in LA, which is kind of like the Asian channel at the time, they would have like the Cantonese language stuff. And then later that night, they would have, you know, stuff in Mandarin and Korean, you know? And I booked it. And it was basically a commercial for these liver pills.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  Oh, my goodness. How old were you?

• 35:04Speaker 03

  I was in college. There for these liver pills, and I played a dad. The whole thing was in voiceover in Mandarin, so I didn't understand what I was selling, really. And I come in and I'm like, super tired from work. And my kid runs up and he wants to play, but I'm too tired. And then the kid like, is like, oh, my gosh, liver pills. And then he runs to the cabinet, pulls out these liver pills and hands them to me.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  My 19-year-old dad.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  Yeah. And then I was suddenly like, full of energy. And that was like, my first thing. And I, you know, at the time, I was like, oh, my God, this is gonna change my life. This is my entry into Hollywood, you know?

• 35:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. Do you have a copy of this anywhere?

• 35:44Speaker 03

  I do. I do.

• 35:46Speaker 01

  That is amazing.

• 35:47Speaker 03

  I'm really bad in it. I'm like, so overacting everything. But yeah, that was my first, very first thing that got, you know, a modicum of airplay, I guess. And some of my friends' parents saw it.

• 36:01Speaker 01

  They were like, wait, you're the liver pill dad?

• 36:05Speaker 03

  Yeah. And I was like, yep, that's me.

• 36:06Speaker 01

  That's me. Swagger, swagger. So what were you studying in school? Were you studying?

• 36:12Speaker 03

  I was studying.

• 36:13Speaker 01

  Theater, acting, English?

• 36:14Speaker 03

  I was an English major. There was a creative writing specialization. So I was basically majoring in kind of short fiction writing.

• 36:22Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 36:22Speaker 03

  And then I minored in Asian American Studies. And so, yeah.

• 36:26Speaker 01

  So later, when you decide to become an actor and take that seriously, is there a role or an experience that you consider to be your big break?

• 36:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know, I think for me, I could really sense like, a change in just what was incoming when I did Veep.

• 36:49Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 36:49Speaker 03

  Yeah. That was a real kind of like, okay, things are different now. And I think because the show was so good, and people loved it, it was so well-respected in the industry especially, that when I was, yeah, doing Veep, that's when things started to come to me. Yeah. And that, that's, that was, that was after, I, I believe, I did The Office. And fresh off the boat came from that. And a lot of things kind of came from that. Yeah.

• 37:16Speaker 01

  Such a great show.

• 37:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, so good.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  So critically acclaimed. Yeah. It just elevated probably everything.

• 37:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:22Speaker 03

  Yeah. I, yeah, I really could sense like, oh, wow, people like, watch, in the industry especially, watch the show and love it. And yeah, that's when like, things just started changing.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  Have you ever written a character for yourself? You know, you are a creative writing major.

• 37:37Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, Always Be My Maybe was, Ally and I wrote that along with another writer friend, Michael Anko. And that was so fun, because I put in so much of my own life into that, including the band that I was in.

• 37:51Speaker 01

  Right.

• 37:52Speaker 03

  Stuff like that. Yeah. So, so that was my first taste of that. And I've been doing more of that lately.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  Would you ever write something for you to do onstage like that?

• 38:04Speaker 03

  I've been thinking about that.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:06Speaker 03

  I've been thinking about that. Because when I was in college, my initial kind of introduction to acting started out in playwriting. There was this college theater company that I had co-founded with some friends, and we wrote our own original plays. And that was like, kind of my way in, you know, in terms of just like, discovering my love for performing. So, yeah, I would love to one day. Yeah.

• 38:28Speaker 01

  Yeah. I did, a long time ago, I wrote a one-woman show, and I wrote all these different characters. And I look back on it now, and I'm like, oh, they were so, I don't know, it was, it was.

• 38:38Speaker 03

  Was this like, pre The Office?

• 38:40Speaker 01

  Pre everything. And I wrote this one-woman show, but I got it, you know, some people came to it, and I got a manager out of it, and I got a, I got a little review and all that stuff. But I've always wondered like, what it would be like to revisit those characters.

• 38:52Speaker 03

  Oh, you totally should.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Now, like, 30 years later, oh, my God, I'm so old. But yeah, Jenna loves theater so much, and my daughter does. And I love theater too, but I feel like I've become more patient in a way, in how I take like, entertainment into my life.

• 39:09Speaker 03

  Yes, yes.

• 39:10Speaker 01

  And so I have such patience that I want to go and see things now and sit there and take it in.

• 39:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. I, I don't know. I feel like, it's just so fun. There's nothing like theater, you know?

• 39:21Speaker 01

  You're speaking this one's like, favorite language.

• 39:24Speaker 00

  I'm going to a show tonight at the Pasadena Playhouse.

• 39:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:27Speaker 00

  With my husband.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  What are you gonna see?

• 39:29Speaker 00

  It's this show called Mexodus. It's an original musical.

• 39:32Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 39:33Speaker 00

  He got us the tickets. That's a way to my heart.

• 39:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:36Speaker 00

  He's like, sweetie, there's a date night, date night, great new show, it's Pasadena Playhouse.

• 39:41Speaker 03

  Yeah. I love that. I love that. Do you ever think of doing theater, like, performing in theater?

• 39:47Speaker 00

  Yes, I've done it.

• 39:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:49Speaker 00

  But I hope to make it my habit.

• 39:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:52Speaker 00

  I hope to make it my regular gig.

• 39:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 39:54Speaker 00

  In the future, after my kids are grown.

• 39:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:56Speaker 01

  We call it our third act.

• 39:58Speaker 00

  What's happening in your third act?

• 39:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Jenna's gonna be a lady of the theater.

• 40:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:02Speaker 00

  That is the plan, if I can make that happen. I've said this before, there's really two things I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to be an actress, and I've always wanted to be a parent.

• 40:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:13Speaker 00

  And I was like, gosh, the parenting years, they're finite, and they only happen right here. Like, the acting part can happen in many years, when I'm 70, when I'm 75. But the parenting part is, they go away.

• 40:26Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 40:26Speaker 00

  Actually, they grow up.

• 40:27Speaker 03

  Yeah. And it happens so fast.

• 40:29Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 40:29Speaker 03

  So fast.

• 40:30Speaker 00

  And I'm like, I want to be here. And like, selfishly, I want to do it all.

• 40:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 40:36Speaker 00

  So, so yeah, stepping back from acting in these last few years, but stepping back in now that I've, they're going into high school and middle school.

• 40:44Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 40:44Speaker 01

  And we both kind of have itchy feet, but the podcast has been amazing, because one of the things we've always shared in our friendship was our love of family and family coming first. And having to be away just broke our hearts. So this community and this podcast has been so wonderful.

• 41:00Speaker 03

  Yeah. And you're, and it's so successful. It's like, you guys are doing so great. And, and it seems like you would probably do this anyways, like, just hang out anyways.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  You're absolutely right. Because it's like, if you are gonna like, have a job where you get to hang out with your best friend and chat, this is it.

• 41:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:18Speaker 01

  Because we were already doing that. We might as well record it.

• 41:21Speaker 03

  Yeah. But yeah, that, that third act, that's like, such a kind of exciting thing to think about.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:27Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah. Because it could be anything.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  Could be anything.

• 41:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:32Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, Rana, this was lovely.

• 41:34Speaker 03

  So fun.

• 41:35Speaker 01

  Wonderful. Thank you for coming.

• 41:36Speaker 03

  Of course.

• 41:37Speaker 01

  Talking about your experience on the show.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  Yeah. Thank you for having me.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  It's just so wonderful to get that on record.

• 41:43Speaker 03

  Yes, it's on record.

• 41:44Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:44Speaker 03

  It's on record.

• 41:45Speaker 01

  And when you write your next play, if you need two ladies of a certain season.

• 41:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:49Speaker 01

  In life.

• 41:50Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 41:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:51Speaker 03

  Yep. It's you two.

• 41:55Speaker 01

  They're gonna be like, why, why the older version of Angela and Pam in this play?

• 42:01Speaker 03

  It's a Korean family.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 42:03Speaker 03

  And you two will, yeah, be the matriarchs. Yeah.

• 42:06Speaker 01

  Great, great.

• 42:08Speaker 00

  You could be your crazy neighbors.

• 42:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll figure it out.

• 42:11Speaker 01

  Kooky neighbors.

• 42:11Speaker 03

  We'll figure it out.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  Kooky neighbors. All right.

• 42:15Speaker 03

  But thank you.

• 42:16Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 42:17Speaker 03

  Thank you, guys.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  Well, he is just so delightful. That was so much fun. Okay, now it's time for

• 42:36Speaker 01

  I'll kick us off with this from Megan S. in Troy, Ohio. Megan says, "In August, thousands of people from around the world descend upon Troy, Ohio to celebrate the Tour de Donut Bike Race."

• 42:50Speaker 00

  Oh, boy.

• 42:51Speaker 01

  With a thousand dozen donuts, lady. Megan says, "Riders choose their course from the 9.72-mile Donut Hole to the 58.5-mile Double D Challenge, which winds throughout the county. Each race includes pit stops for donuts donated by a local bakery. For each donut a rider eats and can keep down Uh oh. Five minutes are deducted from their final time. A special stop called The Glazer gives out jelly or cream-filled donuts, and riders can eat one of those to deduct 10 minutes from their time. Last year, I did the Donut Hole race with my nine-year-old son, Isaac,

• 43:32Speaker 01

  and between the two of us, we ate five donuts. Isaac is looking forward to beating both our donut and, less importantly, our time record this year."

• 43:41Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 43:42Speaker 01

  Wow. Okay, I could see, though, how that could take a turn.

• 43:47Speaker 00

  Yes, that you are now Michael Scott, and you've eaten some fettuccine, and you're gonna run.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  I mean, I-

• 43:53Speaker 00

  This is very similar situation.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  I'm so curious, like, what's the average temperature for Troy, Ohio in August? I'm Googling it, Megan. I need to know how hot it is when you're riding around and eating these donuts.

• 44:08Speaker 00

  What does it say?

• 44:09Speaker 01

  "Temperatures can average between 79 to 85 degrees."

• 44:13Speaker 00

  Well, that's not bad.

• 44:14Speaker 01

  But still-

• 44:15Speaker 00

  That's pleasant.

• 44:16Speaker 01

  Eighties on a bicycle. I didn't look up the humidity. Okay, I won't get into it. Way to go, Megan. I love that. I would just like to work the donut stand and maybe not be on the bicycle.

• 44:29Speaker 00

  You'd need to test the donuts to make sure-

• 44:31Speaker 01

  I would. I would make sure they're good quality. Yeah.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  Yes. All right. Well, next up, Angela S. from Athens, Pennsylvania, said, "My home county, just a couple hours north of Scranton, recently hosted a beauty pageant for cows."

• 44:46Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 44:47Speaker 00

  Bradford County held the Pasture Perfect Beauty Pageant on June 20. This event recreated a cow beauty contest that took place 100 years ago in the same location. Local farmers gathered in front of our county's courthouse with their most beautiful bovine. This year's winner, a red and white Holstein named Shakira

• 45:08Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 45:09Speaker 00

  received a floral crown as her prize.

• 45:12Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 45:13Speaker 00

  That is so sweet.

• 45:15Speaker 01

  That's so cute. And to wrap up our Around the Towns, here's something from Lucy I. in Edinburgh, Scotland, but currently living in Spain. Lucy says, "I'm on holiday in Spain at the moment and went to a town called Javia for a wee day trip, and we walked past a shoe shop called Shoe La La."

• 45:35Speaker 00

  Incredible.

• 45:36Speaker 01

  "I was so excited to see Michael Scott's dream shoe shop name from Golden Ticket come true. I wonder if the owners are Office fans. I also wonder how many people in the town have picked up on this connection."

• 45:48Speaker 00

  I mean, we clearly need to go to Spain and find out.

• 45:50Speaker 01

  And go to Shoe La La.

• 45:51Speaker 00

  Go to Shoe La La.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  You guys, thank you so much for writing in with your Around the Towns. Up next, we have our Office Question of the Week.

• 46:00Speaker 00

  Yes, this is coming from Kate and L. in St. Petersburg, Florida. "Hello, Office Ladies. I am a longtime listener. I'm currently listening to your Office Trailers podcast. When I originally read the title, I accidentally thought you were talking about TV trailers. However, that made me think that I would love a discussion about how promotional videos, magazines, articles, TV interviews, all the things the Office promotional materials came to be for the cast and crew. What does that process look like? Thank you. I love you. You too are sunshine to the world."

• 46:35Speaker 01

  Aw, thanks so much. That's so nice. Gosh, a lot goes into all of that.

• 46:40Speaker 00

  It is a little bit like a part-time job that gets attached to your full-time job, the full-time job being making the show-

• 46:48Speaker 01

  Right.

• 46:48Speaker 00

  Or making a movie, whatever you made.

• 46:51Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 46:51Speaker 00

  There's becomes this whole other job, which is promoting it, getting the word out about it, creating promotional materials.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  And you know, Kate, and depending on what project you're working on, there can be a whole team of people assigned to the marketing. So you might have a day where you go and you do a photo shoot, right, with different people in the cast. And then also, they might say, "Hey, could you guys take these phones and capture behind-the-scenes content?" Or they'll send someone to capture behind-the-scenes content. And then they use that and make it into little clips. And then you have a day where you talk to people who write on magazines. And then sometimes you go on TV shows, talk shows. It's a whole machine.

• 47:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, before every new season, they would arrange some sort of full cast photo shoot on our set. And one year, they set up a bunch of paper boxes in the break room.

• 47:49Speaker 01

  Yes, and a lot of you have seen that picture-

• 47:52Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 47:52Speaker 01

  Trying to fit us all in that break room. I don't think they thought that through.

• 47:56Speaker 00

  Well, I think that's why maybe the following year, they put us all in the warehouse-

• 48:01Speaker 01

  Warehouse, yes.

• 48:02Speaker 00

  In front of a bunch of paper boxes. But they would have us do a group photo. They would put us in different pairings. They would have single photos. And that would be our morning. We would spend four or five hours just cycling through doing promotional photos. But we also had to be doing the show. So if you weren't getting your picture taken, then you were shooting a scene. And my goodness, if that wasn't a crazy scheduling job for Kelly Cantley and Rusty Mahmood, our A.D.s.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  And then also, you would have sort of like a full-on press junket day, and you would get paired up with someone. Jenna, you and I would get paired up together, and we would have to be on set super early. You know, we would arrive at 3:00 a.m. to be camera-ready by 4:00 a.m.

• 48:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, and they'll sit you down in two chairs, and then you are via satellite to all these different live morning news programs. But those programs are starting on the East Coast-

• 49:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:02Speaker 00

  As of 7:00 a.m. And you have the little thing in your ear, and you can hear the newscasters. You can't see them. You can hear them, and they're asking you questions. You do that for three minutes, and they're like, "Okay, and now we're going to New Hampshire."

• 49:16Speaker 01

  Yes, there's someone standing on set with you. And we often did these on the set of The Office as our backdrop. But there was a person's role at NBC who would have a list of all the cities in the United States that we'd be popping on to their morning show. And they would say, "All right, guys, up next, Toledo, Ohio. In three, two, one, you're live," right? And then it would be like, "Up next, you're on with St. Louis, Missouri. In three, two, one," and on and on and on. And by the end, you have no idea who you're talking to anymore.

• 49:47Speaker 00

  And also, by the way, if you need to go to the bathroom, you gotta hold it.

• 49:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:51Speaker 00

  They would have little breaks that they would work in. And there'd usually be a slightly larger break where you could get some breakfast while you waited for all of the West Coast news programs to start at actual 7:00 a.m. And then after you did that, you started your regular workday.

• 50:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, so we would be there for three hours and then go into our regular workday. And, you know, everyone was always so gracious. But I do have a new appreciation for everyone that ever has to call in or pop in via satellite to a talk show, because there is that delay. And I'm sure all of y'all listening have seen this before. Someone's on your news program, and they pop in, and the person asks the question like, "All right, can you tell us about this new season of your TV show?" And then they're like, "I, uh, yes, I, I, yeah, I can't, I'm sorry, what, uh, yeah." It's like so-

• 50:48Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  Clunky sometimes.

• 50:50Speaker 00

  And they haven't fixed that, which is funny.

• 50:52Speaker 01

  There's a delay, and it's always a little tricky. But anyway, it is a lot of moving parts, the way shows and movies come together and the promotion. I have a lot of respect for all the different departments.

• 51:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, but it has to get folded into your already very busy work week. And all of that scheduling would have to go through the producers. If someone needed to go do a taping of The Tonight Show, we would have to move the whole schedule around, because the rest of us would still be filming.

• 51:23Speaker 01

  And none of those late-night talk shows are filmed late at night.

• 51:27Speaker 00

  That's correct.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  They're filmed at like 5:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. You know, it's like late afternoon. So the workday is still happening half the time.

• 51:36Speaker 00

  Well, and one of the things that would be tricky for me, and Angela, I'm sure this was true for you as well, not so much for the gentlemen, but our hair-

• 51:45Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh.

• 51:46Speaker 00

  As our characters of Angela and Pam was very specific. But if I was gonna go be a guest on a late-night talk show and wear like a cute little dress or whatever, and, you know-

• 51:56Speaker 01

  You'd have to be Dee Pam.

• 51:57Speaker 00

  I would have to be Dee Pam.

• 51:59Speaker 01

  I know.

• 52:00Speaker 00

  And you would have to be Dee Angela Martin.

• 52:02Speaker 01

  I know. I didn't want to go on a late-night talk show with a bun, with a severe bun.

• 52:06Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 52:07Speaker 01

  Maybe I should have one time.

• 52:10Speaker 00

  Well, there was one thing, and I can't remember what it is now off the top of my head, where we had something we had to go to, Angela. I feel like it was a panel that we all had to talk on after work. But we went late, and Kim Ferry was just like, "Jenna, the best I can do is throw that hair up into like a crazy ponytail for you. Otherwise, it's, you're gonna have Pam hair." I was like, "Do the ponytail. Do the ponytail."

• 52:37Speaker 01

  I went to an award show in my Angela Martin ponytail, because we filmed so late.

• 52:43Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 52:43Speaker 01

  I can't remember which one it was.

• 52:44Speaker 00

  I think it was the Golden Globes, almost.

• 52:46Speaker 01

  Was it the Golden Globes? I was in a red dress, and I'm in my Angela Martin ponytail, because I didn't have time.

• 52:51Speaker 00

  With the swoop bang.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 52:54Speaker 00

  Well, there you go. Thanks for asking that question. That's a little bit behind the scenes.

• 52:59Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. We love hearing from you guys. I'll put a swipe up in our stories where you can write us. And a huge thank you to Randall Park for coming into the studio with us today.

• 53:10Speaker 00

  Yes, it was so generous of him to come in the studio and speak with us today. Thank you, Randall. Everyone, be sure to check him out. He's everywhere, okay?

• 53:18Speaker 01

  He is.

• 53:18Speaker 00

  Look for him in AMC's The Audacity. Look for him in these two indie films, Brian and Wishful Thinking. And then, of course, there's the show that I am obsessed with. I'm Late to the Party, But I Am Obsessed, which is The Residence on Netflix.

• 53:32Speaker 01

  And for you folks out there that love a rom-com as much as me and Matt Beagle do, check out his 2019 movie, Always Be My Maybe. It's so fun, and you get a little can of reeves.

• 53:44Speaker 00

  All right, everyone. Thank you so much. We'll see you next week.

• 53:47Speaker 01

  See you then.

• 53:51Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

• 53:53Speaker 01

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

• 53:58Speaker 00

  Our senior producer is Matt Beagle, and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 54:03Speaker 01

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

• 54:06Speaker 00

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 54:09Speaker 01

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.