Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Jenna Fischer

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

More of my interview with Sitcom star and Office Ladies podcast cohost Jenna Fischer. Jenna tells me more about rewatching ‘The Office’ for her hit podcast (co-hosted with Angela) Office Ladies and her husband Lee Kirk’s surprising ‘Office’ cameo. Plus, she tells me more about her journey with her cancer diagnosis and treatment – how she navigated sharing the news with her kids, to how she’s channeled that pain into her latest project ‘Nimrods.’ This episode was recorded at Ca Del Sol in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and then there are those who immediately scale the cliff behind the hotel to go and look at the castle. Find this episode on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Jesse, Tyler Fer. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinner's on Me. This week I was at Caa del Sol in Toluca Lake with Jenna Fisher.

You probably know her as Pam Beasley from the NBC sitcom The Office, and as the co-host of the hit podcast, Office Ladies. She's now starring in the film Nimrods, which she made with her husband. Over Lazzania and Branzino, we get into the origin story of her rewatch podcast with her co-star in Bestie, Angela. and how she's tried to channel some of the pain of the last few years into her latest role in Nimrods. But to get back into the conversation, you're pulling up a chair as Jenna tells me what it's like when people see Pam and Jim in the wild. Wait, but what about when you and John are out together? Does it...

I think people put it together then. Yeah, because when me and Eric are together, they connect those dots. They have meltdowns in ways that I've never seen. I'm sure. Because they can't comprehend how, because he's so straight as well. And especially if we're out with our significant others. Yes. It really blows our mind.

Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, I was going to assume with John it would be a little different. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That can get dicey. Yeah.

For our significant others, which I imagine must happen for you. Right. Although, I mean, to be fair, like, John is married to Emily Blunt. So people often want their picture. So that's doing fine. Does Lee get asked to get into the photos? It's like a... Um, he's probably asked to hold the camera.

Uh, he gets a lot of, um, he's like, he's like, the name of my autobiography is you're not Jim. He's like, that would be like, that's what people say in them all the time. Like they'll, they'll be like, oh my God. I'm like, yes, Pam from the office. And then they'll see and they'll go, oh, you're not Jim. And he's like, I'm so sorry. He's just like, he's just like, I'm just disappointed for people. So disappointed. Oh, my God. No, Justin's been pulled into photos as like a, they're like, oh, they feel bad.

Like they're like, no, you get in too. And he's like, I'm really okay. It's fun. Yeah, that's how Lee is too. He's like, I'll take it. I'll take the picture. You don't want me in your picture. It's okay. Although Lee did play the lactation consultant on the office. Oh, did he? He did. Wait, is that I think he met? No. No, no. We met. We were already engaged. Okay. So there's the episode, The Delivery, where Pam delivers her baby and the writers had this funny idea. that she should have a male lactation consultant who comes in and is just super handsy with her. And it was very sweet. They said, we love this joke. But we're, like, sensitive to the fact that we would be hiring someone that you would be meeting moments prior to them than physically handling your boobs.

Yeah. And they were like, but what about, like, would your fiancé Lee want to do the part? Yeah. And Lee actually went to acting school. He's a writer-director now, but he went to DePaul. for acting. Yeah. And it's a great school.

Hardcore school. Yeah. And he was like, oh my God, that would be so fun. So he came and he did it. And he was the lactation consultant. And he requested a intimacy coordinator. He did. I don't trust this lady.

I don't know what she's going to do to me. Seriously. Exactly. I got to protect myself. Exactly. Oh my God. I love that so much. Tell me about, because I do love the office ladies.

and I think I can imagine that it must have been such a gift to be able to go back in and revisit the show with someone that was obviously so close to you and had experienced that thing with you and had experienced that thing with you and kind of look at it from another perspective. I can't remember of another show. at least another podcast that was sort of doing that? Were you guys the first that sort of did a rewatch podcast? So there was a West Wing rewatch podcast that had, that was being hosted by, there was a, one of the hosts had had a recurring role. Okay. So we were the first regular cast members on every episode of a show who rewatched their show.

that I think that's true. Yeah. But they had been a little bit of an inspiration to us. And there were a lot of rewatch podcasts, but they were more like either from a critical perspective or a fan perspective. So, but the West Wing podcast did have someone who had been on the show. Right. So they could give a little bit of an insider's view.

Right. A peek behind the curtain. Yeah. When you start something like that, I mean, I guess it's sort of like you're at the the bottom of a mountain than you, okay, if we're going to really do this, like, 201 episodes. So many, 201. Yeah. It's a lot.

It's a lot. Yeah. I didn't know if we'd finish because our first contract to do the podcast was only two years. Okay. And so I was like, well, we'll see how it is. But it's very hard for me to not finish things. I used to, like one of my problems early in my artistic career was not finishing things. I had lots of great ideas.

Lots of scripts I started. Lots of projects that never came to fruition, whatever, whatever, whatever. And I ended up doing that book, The Artist's Way. Yeah. And the first time I did The Artist's Way, I didn't finish it because I had a problem finishing things that I started. But then the second time I did it, I finished it. And one of the reasons I was able to finish it was because I didn't do it perfectly

because that's my other problem. The reason I wasn't, I realized the reason I wasn't finishing things was because I was having to do them perfectly. So when I gave my self-permission to do it imperfectly, I finished the artist's way. And from that point on, it was like a total shift for me in like finishing what I started. So when I agreed that I was going to watch every episode of the office and talk about it, part of me was like, will we really do it? But another part of me was like, I mean, Angela, even if we just watch it and call each other every week,

like, I'm going to need to finish this. Because now I'm a person who finishes what they start. So, and it turns out that we did finish. Did you both watch the show in real time? Yeah. You did. Yeah, we would have cast watch parties for years and years and years. Sweet.

A lot of times at Paul Figue's house, he hosted a lot of them. I hosted some, Angela hosted some. Steve hosted a few. It was really sweet. The watch party for Jim and Pam's wedding. Greg Daniels hosted. And he got like Eminems that said like Jim and Pam, you know, you can get personalized Eminem's. It was like really sweet. His wife Suzanne like went all out. It was like a little bit like a

like a mini reception. It was very sweet. So I had seen them all but I hadn't seen them since they aired. Right. And there were a lot of things that I forgot like whole storylines that I forgot of my own. Like things I did and said. I was like, oh my gosh. I remember that now. So people talk about specific episodes that they liked of modern family. I'm like, I have to really take a moment and think back and try and place if I was actually in that moment or not. Because some of it ends together. But, and my son and I were just talking about this the other day. He's like, Mom, you ever see those shows where they like match somebody who was on a TV show with a superfan and they make them play trivia?

He's like, the superfan wins every time. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, they would be eating. I would lose to a super fan. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Jenna tells me about her brief stint as a telephone psychic. Yeah, you heard that right.

Okay, be right back. Sometimes the hardest part of dinner isn't cooking. It's realizing that at 545 that she forgot to plan dinner at all, you know? I spent a lot of time eating at incredible restaurants for the show, but at home, I want something that's easy, reliable, and actually tastes great. That's why I've been keeping my freezer stocked with Omaha Steaks. It's honestly like having a really good butcher on standby. Now, lately, we've been making the burgers, and they have been fantastic. They're juicy, flavorful, and tastes like something you'd order at a really good neighborhood restaurant. If you've

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One thing I can always count on with Becca and Sully, if I make them a good sandwich, I know it's going to get eaten. And honestly, when you're packing lunches day after day, that is a win. You want something your kids are excited about, but you also want to feel good about what you're sending them off with. That's why I love Boar's Head. At the deli counter, our favorites are freshly sliced and made with the quality I can count on. Their maple honey ham and maple honey turkey are made with premium whole cuts and crafted

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Okay. And then the pandemic happened. And I continued the podcast. What a gift that you had that during that. I know. I know. We, every week, it was for our mental health. to have a job that we could do

that took us out of the insanity of that was amazing. But we recorded from home in our closets. I put a folding table because I was like, what's most soundproof? And it was like in each of our closets. And so also my kids knew, like, don't come in the closet. Mommy's in the closet.

Mom's in the closet. Yeah. Quiet. Quiet. Yeah. Oh, my God. I don't know why this reminds me of this, but I used to, when I was living in New York,

I had a roommate in Brooklyn, and she went away to do a theater job, and she got a sub-letter, and the door was always shut to the sub-letter room. Napshot. She didn't know me very well. Yeah. But one day, and there was a common hall

that connected the two rooms, and her room was right by the front door. So one day I was leaving, and her door was opened. And I think, like, there was something on the room. So I, like, went into the room to, like, turn it off. And then I heard, like, talking. And I saw, I was like, where's that coming from?

I thought she was gone. The room was empty. And I saw the phone cord snaking from the phone jack into the closet. And I was like, what is going on? And I was... I later... realized she was doing she was a phone sex operator you're kidding that was her that was her side job that was her side gig and I I mean I was like listen however you're gonna make money I mean we all hustle

in different ways yeah but yeah I was like I was like part of me like I was sort of like broken heart of that she felt like she had to like hide it I was like please like bring it out and so like the common space I'd love to be a part of this like I'd love to hear it what great story Anyway. I was a telephone psychic. Were you? Wait, how are you qualified for that? You're not.

I am not. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Maybe telephone psychics aren't super psychic. Who was the really famous one? Miss Cleo? Miss Cleo. Yeah.

Okay, so people would call in and you would what have a script? No. So it was really great. So I saw a listing in the back of LA Weekly. It said telephone psychic. I was like, I'll give it a try because work from home. I'm an actor and I have so many auditions to go on. I didn't have any auditions to go on.

But I thought I need a job where I can always be ready to go on these multiple auditions I'm going to get the second I step in L.A. And so, yeah, so what they do is they route, they would route like you dial in and you press a code and then that means your line is open. Your phone line is now open. So now every time your phone rings, it's going to be from... I think this is literally the same way sex opera. Yeah, it is. That's like how the... And then you have to like punch out.

Right. You do it all through the phone? But I called in there like, do you feel like naturally intuitive? And I was like, yes, I do. They're like, do you read like tarot cards? And I'm like, absolutely. Did you? Never read a tarot card in my life.

Immediately went to the bookstore, bought some tarot cards and like a little booklet. And I'm like... Doing it. And I'm like... And I'm like, no. And then I'll tell you what the sad thing is about who calls psychic hotlines. It's a lot of people who are very lonely. And it occurred to me, so the first five minutes are free,

and my job is to keep you on the phone past five minutes, because I don't get paid unless you've been talking more than five minutes. And my Midwestern values, I would always remind people that their five minutes was almost up, and I, they would hang. So, I'd be like, just so you know, your five minutes is, your free five minutes is almost up. Exactly, 100% every time. But there were people who really did just want to chat.

And I was like, I'll talk to you, you know. And then I felt guilty about it. So I only did it for a week and I never collected my paycheck. Never did. No, I didn't get it. And you honestly, you were just meant to like, it was like, basically like improv, like just. 100% just improv, yeah.

And you would just tell them whatever you thought they wanted to hear? Well, I tried to be helpful. So I remember one call really clearly. It was this woman and her husband had passed away and she wanted to know like what was in her future. And I just asked her like what are some of her interests. And she clearly was like not leaving her house. And so I was like, well, I see a book club in your future. So I want you to be on the lookout because, you know, the signs will be coming,

but you have to be looking for them and open to, you know, doing it. You know, like stuff like that. I was like, I would check the roster at your church because I think there's, I see a group of women. I see you in a group of women and I see you laughing again and like stuff like that, you just to kind of like plant the seed for her to have the courage to like join something. So you should have collected the money for that. I didn't collect the money.

I didn't. And also just let you know your five minutes are on this click. Exactly. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Jenna opens up about navigating her cancer diagnosis with her family, and she shares how she was able to channel her own trauma into her latest role. Okay, be right back. Support for today's episode comes from Square.

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slash go slash JTF. That's S-Q-U-A-R-E dot com slash geo-slash J-T-F. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. And we're back with more dinners on me. Telling the kids was difficult, but what I tried to do was explain

that all the ways that I was going to look and be sick were the treatments, not the cancer. And that they were side effects of the treatment I had to do. And they understood that. That was, you know, they got it. Another way of, I mean, it's not another way of looking at it. It's literally the factual way of looking at it.

Exactly. But, you know, when you see all those things, it does, especially for kids, you know, when they see their loved ones change so drastically. Yes. And it's very, it's, it's, it happens slowly. It's a little crazy I will be going through photos of that time. And I, like, found some pictures from Mother's Day. And I didn't wear things around the house.

I didn't wear the wickets and stuff. And I was like, why is Michael Keaton at Mother's Day? It was me. Like, oh, no, that's me. There I am. I was like, oh, what's he doing here? That's hilarious. But it was like, I just like,

I'm sorry to Michael Keaton. But that's kind of what I ended up looking like after treatment. I just like had like this, my face was bigger and I had just like a few hairs I was combing over. I was just like, I don't know. I actually did a side by side of me and Michael Keaton and I sent it to Clea, my cancer mentor. And I was like, look. Yeah. I could play.

I can use double. Yeah, totally. How do you feel now? I feel good now. Yeah, I feel really good. Now I'm still, I've got three more years on Tamoxifen, which is a brutal, brutal drug. I'm actually on three medications that help me deal with the side effects of the one medication. Because, you know, I can't do hormone replacement therapy.

So all my friends who are going through menopause and their traits, secrets about hormone replacement therapy to help them with symptoms like those aren't available to me. So I am kind of managing like this being sort of like slammed into menopause medically. You know, they're like, I'm getting hormone replacement therapy and I'm like, I sleep with a fan blowing on me. Almost the same. My God. But it is a really good tip.

My cancer nurse Ron did say my big advice. to you as to sleep with a fan blowing on you. So again, any ladies out there, I was like, Ron, you weren't wrong. It helps, yeah. It really does help. For sure. But no, so this, you know, this movie, Nimrods,

I went and I just tried to take the weight of the past year and put it into this character of Jody, who's a single mom, she's widowed. She's raising these two boys on her own. And she's, a grieving woman, but she's also has to be stoic for her children. And I'm like, well, I know an element of that, right? You're carrying something, but you also have to be a mom. And so it was this really great use. It was one of the greatest gifts as an artist is when you can take

your pain or your trauma or your whatever and funnel it into your art and make something something good out of it. Absolutely. And that's what this movie was for me. And so now that it's coming out, it's so exciting. And it was great for my kids to see me get up out of that chair and go on the set and sit and watch me on the monitor and see me do my job. Yes.

Because that was like, oh, Mom as well. Right. Yeah. I can't wait to see it. And I'm so happy that we this finally worked out. Because I just, every time I see you, I just have the nicest. Kline Park and being. Same. I was thrilled when we were like stuck together to Taylor Swift Conch. It's like, well, this is a three hours that it's going to be, it just got even better.

Yes. And so I'm just, thank you for doing that. I think you also for being just so open about like your cancer treatment. I think it's also, uh, it's so important. And like, you already know this, but just those stories, um, are so meaningful. I mean, you know, when Justin heard that you had cancer, the first thing he did is he wanted to talk to you because I feel like there's that, yes. There's that kinship between people who have gone through, you know, those similar experiences.

And I just, I don't know, I really appreciate you being so candid. Yeah. You're welcome. It's weird. It still feels, it's like I know it happened and I know I did all those things, but there's part of it, it's still hard for me to say, I'm a cancer survivor or even I'm a cancer patient. I'm still actively a cancer patient, you know?

Because you always are for the rest of your life you are. Yeah, I mean, Justin goes for every year, yes. Yes, you go to the oncologist for the rest of your life, you know? And yeah, and recurrence anxiety is a thing, you know? That's another big part of the cancer journey. My family actually we went to Kyoto and there is a special temple there that you can go to and it's specifically for if you are having medical issues or dealing with a medical issue and you can go pray before this very specific Buddha and this Buddha in one hand is. holding a vial that is medicine. Literally it's meant to be medicine.

And then the other hand he's holding up like this. And it was explained to us that this is half of your journey is receiving the medicine. And the other half is don't worry. Because those are the two sides of treatment like this is you also, there's the mental component. And releasing the worry as well. And that was really powerful for me to hear and for me to see, you know, because I've done this part.

I've done the medicine part. And so now I just have to work on the don't worry part. That was a little more from my conversation with Jenna Fisher. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to check it out on Dinners on Me. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Caud del Sol in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her as Queen Charlotte and Bridgerton. It's Golda Rochavelle. We'll talk about how being an ex-athlete,

and also dyslexic, has changed her approach to preparation as an actor, and navigating fame post-Bridgerton. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf.

Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Special thanks to Tamika Balanced Kalasni and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.