Office Ladies - Christine Taylor

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela are joined by the incredible actress and podcaster Christine Taylor! The ladies kick things off with a nostalgic chit-chat question about childhood lunchboxes, before diving into Christine's '90s-inspired podcast, Hey Dude…The 90s Called! (which unlocks a core memory for Matt). They chat about her iconic role as Marcia Brady, her early audition days, and her deep love for The Office and why it remains such a timeless family favorite. So grab your favorite lunchbox, get your VHS recorder ready... 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: OfficeLadiesPodFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on TikTok

I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together and we're best friends. And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you. Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews behind the scenes details and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0. Hi there. We are really excited because today on Office Lady 6.0,

we got to speak with actress and podcaster Christine Taylor. What an absolute delight. I love her. We want to be besties. We're going to try not to stalk her. Yeah. All right. So you guys might know Christine from her time on the Nickelodeon 90s teen comedy,

Hey Dude, our very own Matt Beagle. Very much knows her from that. Very much knows her from that. You'll hear it. Or you might know her from her role as Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch movies. She's phenomenal. Mm-hmm.

She has also starred in a number of other comedies like The Wedding Singer, Dodge Ball, Zoolander, and now she is the host of a new 90s-inspired podcast, Hey Dude, The 90s Called. We had such a great time talking with her about all of this and also her love of the office, you guys. Her and her family have watched The Office. That was really fun to hear about. Well, listen, let's get to it. Hello, Christine.

Welcome to Office Ladies. Hi, ladies. This is so fun. First of all, I'm so honored. I was like, I can't believe they're asking me to be on because I'm just such big fans of yours. I mean, obviously a fan of the office, but both of you, Jenna, I've gotten to meet you a few times and saw you recently, but Angela, I've never met you. And I just feel like I'm such fans of both of you. But I was like, I don't have any ties to the office.

I mean, other than I watched it and I love it. But yeah, so I was like, I'm never going to say no to spending an hour chatting with you girls. Well, listen, this is Office Lady 6.0 and we get to talk to people we think are freaking fantastic. And you are one of those people. We're so thrilled to have you on today. Yes. Thanks. But before we dive in to our interview, we're so excited you're going to join us for our chit-chat question of the week. Oh, I'm so excited. This comes from Judy W. in San Jose, California, who says, Hi, ladies, I met Angela at the Fan Expo Convention in San Francisco last year, and she gave me an office ladies lunchbox.

I absolutely love it. I have it on my shelf in my office. It got me thinking back to my grade school days and how I would get to pick a new lunchbox each year for school. My favorite was the year I got a Wonder Woman lunchbox. So I'm curious, what lunchbox did you have as a kid? Aw, this makes me so happy. Christine, just for your information, I somehow ended up with a whole bunch of our merch delivered to my house.

And my husband's like, babe, what are we doing with all these lunchboxes? So I brought a bunch of them and handed them out to people as I met everyone. So Judy, I'm so glad you liked it. Yeah, we should say our lunchbox is no longer available for purchase. And Angela, you got these. overflowed. I just said, you can deliver it at my house. And I want you guys to know a truck showed up that was like the biggest thing I've ever seen. It had like a crane that was like, beep, beep. Wait, where did you store them all? Exactly, Christine. They're coming out of our ears,

which is why my husband and I caravan to San Francisco with the back end of an SUV full of them. But they're so cute. And chances are if you meet me at a convention, you're going to get one. Oh, that's so great. I mean, our podcast is a 90s podcast, so it is so nostalgic and it's very retro. So we talk about a lot of these things on our podcast, but I have to say, like, I am so cliche. Like I had a Brady Bunch tin lunchbox. Did you really? Stop it. Like an original from the Brady Bunch because that was like my favorite growing up. And I think I might have also had a Charlie's Angels lunchbox. Is that? Oh, that's a classic. It's like definitely click. for me. So those were two important ones for me. What about you guys? Well, I just remember what Judy is saying about every year as part of back-to-school shopping going down the aisle and looking at all the lunch boxes and just painstakingly, it felt like such a big decision. Like what am I going to represent with my lunch each day for this year? And I think my first,

My first lunchbox, the one that I really remember, was strawberry shortcake. Oh, yes. Yes, I had a strawberry shortcake. Strawberry shortcake with all my heart. She smelled so good. She was so cute. And all the different shades of pink. Yeah.

So pretty. Yes, but then there was also blueberry muffin who I also thought smelled great. And then there was that one that was like an apricot, right? Wasn't there someone who was an apricot? I don't know. But the thing that came into my head when I heard this question was my strawberry shortcake lunchbox. I had, wait for it, this is going to make me sound like such an old lady. I had Holly Hobby.

Oh, Holly Hobby Hobby Hobby. Do you remember Holly Hobby Hobby? Holly Hobby is coming to mine too. Oh, my gosh. That was my very first lunch box, and I was so tickled by it. And then I think I had one that was the Muppets. I had like a Muppets lunchbox. already in the comedy, already into it.

Already got it. I know. You've already got it. I'm just an old lady who likes to laugh. But you know what's funny? Speaking of Holly Hobby, I have a paint by number that my dad made me from when I was really little. And it's a Holly Hobby paint by number that we found it somewhere in storage. And I have it just like with a bunch of pictures and things that I have. on a little desk, but I have it kind of pushed in the back. So I see Holly Hobby almost every day of my life. And I love that you are into Holly Hobby, too. Well, since we're talking about old toys, did either of you have my friend Mandy or my friend Jenny? No. Did you have one of us? Did you have one of us? No. They came in like a case, like an old-timey steamer trunk that you might have to put on the Titanic to make a long voyage. And the friend, either Mandy or Jenny, the doll, was in one side of the trunk. And then

her closet of clothes was like the other side of the trunk. And she came with one change of clothes and little shoes. Does she have like little hangers? Like little hangers for her clothes? Oh my gosh. Little hangers. I still have it. What was the scale? Like how big was she? She was about the size of an American girl doll. Well, it sounds. like a precursor to an American girl. Tell us what I was going to say. It kind of was. Yeah, I think it was. But this predates the Cabbage Patch Kid. That was the craze. Yes, the Cabbage Patch Kid 80s. I feel like it was. And I was like obsessed with my Cabbage Patch Kid. Oh, yeah. Whose name was Christine. Oh. What? Yeah, Christine Marie and Casey Alexander.

were my two cabbage patched children. I loved them. Beautiful girls. Well, Judy, thank you so much for that question. I think we had a lot to say about our lunch boxes. And why don't we take a quick break? And when we come back, Christine, we heard you're a real big fan of the office, so we can't wait to ask you about that.

But also, you and I have three things in common that are kind of fun. Ooh. Dun, dun, done. That's a good cliffhanger. All right, we're back. Christine, are you ready to hear what you and I have in common? I cannot wait. This was really fun for me to find out. Well, first of all, we both love tennis. And we were both at Wimbledon this year, not on the same day. But we both had tickets to center court. But you, am I correct? You were in the royal box. Is that right? We did get ourselves into the royal box. Yes.

Oh, my gosh. I take no responsibility. That's a person. perk of my husband. Yes. Oh my gosh. It's so special, the tennis experience, don't you think? Yes. I've been to the three of the four grand slams. Wow. I have not been to the Australian Open, but diehard tennis fan. Like grew up watching it. I played a little, I played okay. I was never great. I played in my high school tennis team. Mediocre. But the watching it. And from a really young age, but we belonged to like a tennis swim club growing up. I grew up in Pennsylvania and they'd do a trip to the U.S. Open, nosebleed seats, but like we would all bus in and everyone would just scatter and then meet back at like 10 o'clock at night. And so my

memories of those years were the early 80s of like McEnroe and Becker. I mean, so many of the big sort of icons were playing still back then. And I just fell in love with it. Steffie Graff and Kim Kleisters. Oh, my God. I know. All of them. Okay, so that's one thing. Okay, that's tennis.

And then my second thing, and this is the thing that just completely floored my family. So you're in many movies that are my family's favorites. All my kids are so tickled that I'm meeting you today. But as we were going through your filmography, because each night we're on a little mini vacation, we've been watching a movie that you're in. Oh, my God. Okay. That's mortifying.

No, no, it was great. It was great. But so as we're looking up your filmography, my husband was like, wait a second. We were in a Hallmark Christmas movie together. And I was like, what? Wait. First of all, my kids and I didn't even know my husband was in a Hallmark Christmas movie. It's called Farewell. Farewell, Mr. Cringle. Because that's the only Hallmark movie I did. Okay. Are you ready for this? He played your husband who died in the plane crash. Stop. Who I never met. No, you had no scenes together. Shot on another day, like a flashback. Yeah, yeah.

They're all your flashbacks, but yes. No. Isn't that crazy? I have to track down how to watch that. That's an easy find or no? That's an easy find. And also, we found the scene where you drift off and thought and then you flash back to him talking to you.

And my kids are just maybe the same. is one of their new favorite things that we've ever discovered. Like, they can't get over it. It's, you know, I, by the way, that was one of the most fun jobs. Like doing a Hallmark movie, you know, it's like so dialed in and, you know, you shoot like in Santa Clarita or somewhere up there. Oh, I did a Hallmark Christmas movie. Was it two years ago? And it's still one of the most fun experiences I've had. Oh, my gosh. It was so great. Everybody's so nice. It was just like they treat you so well and it was so great. but I don't think I've seen it since it debuted. Well, you're very good in it.

Thank you. Okay, my last thing is you and I both graduated in the class of 1989. Well, hello. Hello. Hello. And I told my kids that. And then I told them, I guess this isn't so much a thing anymore. But like when we were in high school, every graduating class had their own chant.

Do you remember? Like ours was, we're so great. We're so fun. the class of 89. And my kids are like, what? I wondered if that was a Texas thing because Angela asked me what my school chant was. And I thought, well, I don't remember having one necessarily. I don't either.

And I went to Catholic school in Pennsylvania. But the tune you just gave, and I wasn't a cheerleader in high school, but I just remember that same chant is, it's all right, it's okay. we're going to beat them anyway. Yes. So it's just whatever words. Exactly. I know.

We thought we were so cool and we would chant that. Like at pep rallies, each grade would go and say their grade chant. And then there were like the party girls, like the kind of wild gals. And they extended it to we're so cool. We're so fine. We drink wine or something like that. We're the class of 89. Yeah.

But yeah. I feel like even in the way. world that I was in, which was very different than the John Hughes Breakfast Club world, that was so relatable because of all the clicks. You know, there were the jocks, but we didn't call them the sportos or the, you know, we didn't call them that. But the people that when you would bus in to the parking lot in the morning and you see the kids standing on the street corner smoking, like there were kids that smoked in

high school. Oh, yeah. I was not one of them. We called them the drugies. Yeah. Just for smoking their cigarettes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I mean, they probably did drugs if they smoked cigarettes, right? They probably smoked a little marijuana, too. And I bet they might have like had a wine cooler. It was such a simple time. It was. What is so enjoyable about your podcast, Christine, we have to shout it out. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, that's something that we all.

three have in common. We're all ladies who podcast. Your podcast is called Hey Dude, the 90s called. And you discuss the 90s. We do. Now, this is with your co-host, David Lashar, who was also on Nickelodeon's Hey Dude. Is that right? Yes. Hey Dude for any of your listeners was a show that I was on from 1989. It was my senior year in high school to 91. And it was just sort of one of Nickelodeon's first scripted television shows. And it was the early Nickelodeon. It's not the Nickelodeon now of the Icarly. Like it wasn't flashy. It wasn't cool. It was like new programming that they were really trying out. So we did that show for a couple of years. But it ended in 1991. And nobody had cell phones. Nobody had email. Like we all had home phone numbers and home addresses that we had collected from each other.

and not all of us stayed in touch. A lot of us had moved to L.A. and stayed in touch for a bit there, but it really wasn't until we started having reunions. And we did an event for the 20th reunion that we all reconnected and got on a group chat. And so David Lashar,

you know, our little story is that we dated while we were on the show. We shot in Tucson, Arizona. We dated. We broke up before. the show ended. So it was a lot of teenage, angsty, dating, broke up, broken hearts, drama. And we still had to work together on location. So we really didn't stay in touch. A long time. And he's the one who came to me with the idea for the podcast. And so I was really

honest. I said, I have to be honest with you. Like, I know podcasts are all the craze, but I am, would not even know how to go about it. And he's like, no, We would just talk about our show. We'd talk about us. Because Haydude sort of found this little cult following. So if you were a certain age during those years and you had Nickelodeon, people started recognizing us out in. Yes.

Our producer match is pointing to himself. But also, our sound engineer, Sam, who's not with us today, made us promise that we tell you that he was a huge fan of Haydud as well. I love you guys. I'm sorry to interrupt, but that was me. I was born in 84. That was just like my show. And that's so interesting that it was the first one of those

because I didn't have any context, but it was that and salute your shorts. Exactly. All in. And just kudos to you and the entire crew. It was so well that I still remember the plot points, the characters. You guys were dating behind the scenes? Yeah.

Yeah. Blowing your mind right now, right? So sorry to interrupt, just wanted to say, love that show, love the theme song. Jen and Angela, do you know the theme song? I don't. I don't know this show. I watched a little bit of it. So I now know the show.

But what is the theme song? I kind of want to hear it. It's very catchy. Once you sing it, it's kind of in your head. Christine, in the anticipation of this, I've been singing it around my house and my kids are like, what are you doing? What is this song? Matt, please sing it.

hear it now. Christine, are you ready? Yeah, sure. Five, six, seven, eight. It's a little wild and a little strange. When you make your home out on the range, start your horse and come along. Because you can't get a ride if you can't hold on.

Singing. Yippie tie, aye. Yippie, guy, aye. What? Like the cowboys say. Say it again. I don't know why I'm singing this. solo.

Guys, is this on a dude ranch? Is that why it's called? Yes. It's on a dude ranch. Yes. On a dude ranch. Got it. I'm getting it from the theme song.

You're getting it. See, it told you the whole story and this is the most animated I've ever seen Matt Beagle. This was just a life moment unlocked for me. I love that show. Love that song. It found its little audience. Let's just put it that way. And then you all grew up and started to recognize us and see us.

And then people came to us and said, let's do a reunion. And so anyway, long story short, David came to me and said, let's do a podcast. If you'd be into it where we talk about our show, but also just the 90s, which was the sort of the decade that we truly got our career started in. So it's been a blast. The podcast has been so much fun. We're like the little engine that could. We've got lots of friends who come on that we reconnect with, but then we meet a

a lot of people that we've never known, but have been fans of. So it's just been so much fun. And I get it for you, too, to be doing this as besties and to sort of have that time appointed to sort of carve out and be together and chat and, you know, bring people on and talk about your shared experience on the show. I just love it. I feel like it's such a great platform. And so, yeah, so I love doing it. And yeah, he'd do the 90s called. Yeah. Well, Christine, you mentioned earlier that you and I have crossed paths many times. And very recently in New York City, I saw you backstage at Death of a Salesman, which was amazing.

And you're just always so delightful and so wonderful. You remind me of my BFF, Angela, who's never met a stranger. You're just one of those people. And I think I've told you this before, but I did not know you from Hey, Dude, but I discovered you when you did the Brady Bunch movie. And you very quickly became one of my comedy inspirations. I remember seeing you in that and just thinking, how is she doing that?

How is she nailing that incredible satire and comic timing? And then I stole from you when I did Blades of Glory. And your husband, Ben Stiller, was a producer on that movie. And I remember meeting him. and telling him on set that I was a huge fan of yours and that I was stealing from you. And so I need to know how you approached that role of Marsha Brady. How did you build that character? What a phenomenal character you created.

First of all, thank you. That's like the greatest. And by the way, Jenna, I remember when Blades of Glory was happening and then came home and told me that story. And I was like, what? That's amazing. That's so cool. So thank you for that. Listen, you know, when we talked about the lunchboxes, like the reality for me was the Brady Bunch was my after school treat. Like I just remember whatever time it was on in syndication, you know, I don't remember seeing it when it was on in primetime and the original run. But it was on every single day, probably in like the 430 or 5 o'clock hour. And I just remember, kind of. coming home from school and watching the Brady Bench. Like every single episode I've seen backwards and forwards inside out. Obviously, when I got the part, I dug deeper.

But I dug deeper even to audition for the part. But I knew it so well. And growing up, like, I did have that long blonde hair. I mean, I didn't have a 70s look, but I would just kind of do impressions of her because we loved the show so much. Like, we were obsessed with the episodes of when they'd go to Hawaii and the, little tiki and the, and then the episodes of the kids scaring each other and the fake ghost in the attic. Like, there were episodes that I would remember coming home from school and you turn it on

and in the first two minutes know, oh, it's the Grand Canyon episode. It's the three-parter. And I started recording them on our VHS tapes. And I had this collection of VHS tapes of the Brady bunch. When the part came along, it's not like I come from a comedy family the way Ben comes from a comedy family. Mm-hmm. Because my family, Allentown, Pennsylvania, not in show business, knew nothing about show business, but I love theater. And I started doing theater from the time I was just, you know, like, I would do all

the school plays and I loved it. But my family was funny. Like, my dad was just a funny guy. He always just had a funny, sarcastic joke. We just got it. We got humor and we watched a lot of comedies growing up. So my memory of movies, the classic movies that we'd go to the video store to rent, like, stripes and caddyshack and like, you know, just like classic comedies that we just really enjoyed.

And Hey Dude was a sitcom, like a situation comedy set on a dude ranch. It was a multi-camera show, but it was outdoors. So I got to learn a little bit of sort of acting it on camera. But the Brady Bunch audition, I think I had done two little movies when I'm moved to L.A. And then they were casting a replacement. I don't know if you guys remember. There was a tour that started in Chicago called The Real Live Brady Bunch, which was a bunch of sketch comedy actors. Andy Richter was in the bunch and Jane Lynch. And they did this in L.A. In the early 90s. I saw it in L.A. Okay. So. I saw it in L.A. It was like a live satirical,

comedic Brady Bunch. Exactly. They would do an episode every week and they'd have like a game

show element beforehand and they made it really groovy in 70s and it just became like

a cool thing to go see and they were replacing the Marsha for like a month because she had gotten

a pilot or something. So my roommate at the time read about it and one of those you know

breakdown backstage West. Yes, exactly. Exactly. And she just said, you know,

you should go in on this. Like, you should get an audition for this because you're so Brady obsessed. Like, it was no surprise. Like, everyone in my life knew that I loved the Brady Bunch. So I asked my agents about it and I went in an auditioned and I really feel like it was almost like they hired me on the spot. Wait, you were in the live show before the movie? Yes, but only for like four weeks. But the thing about the real live Brady Bunch was they were all older. I was the youngest one in the group when I came in. They were adults doing the characters. Right. Right. Playing teenagers. Yeah. So I was the youngest and I remember when I wrapped it up,

the team that, you know, they just said, you know, there is a like, Brady movie that we heard is in development and we have nothing to do with it. But you should just get that on your radar because you'd be the perfect age for it. So I didn't say anything. And then out of the blue one day, I mean out of the blue on my answering machine in 19. 90, whatever year this was, 92 or 93, I got a message from Sherwood Schwartz calling me, just cold calling me, saying, I'd love to meet with you because they were producers on the movie, but they did not really want their creative input. But he was like, I'd love to meet with you. I went Sherwood Schwartz's house and got to talk to him about the Brady Bunch. Sherwood Schwartz is the creator

of the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island. Anyway, were you just like pinch, Pinching yourself? Yes. This is the kid that had the Brady Bunch lunchbox. Yes. Oh my gosh. And all I would see was Sherwood Chords his name at the, you know. So yes, it was a pinch me moment that I cannot believe to this day that I still didn't keep my little tape from the answering machine. But who knew? So I have to ask you, Christine, as you're going through the process of auditioning for the movie, what was your like internal feeling? Were you confident? Were you like, this is mine? Because I'll just share that when I was auditioning for Pam for the office, I was like, I am Pam. I'm Pam. I feel it. Everything about me knows that I'm Pam. And I don't feel that way about most auditions. Most auditions, I think, well, listen, I could do a great job, but probably so could someone else. But for Pam, I felt like deep in my bones and ownership of this character. I felt like this is why I became an actor. I'll do many other

things, I'm sure, but this is why I got in this business in the first place. And so I'm just curious, where were you internally as you're auditioning for this role? Well, you nailed it, but I knew it in my core that there was nobody who could do it better than me. Yeah. And whether or not they saw that, You know, and this was, by the way, it wasn't like I immediately was meeting with a director and producers. I was meeting with Deborah Quilla, the casting director. Yeah. And walking on the paramount lot and walking in. And she was so positive.

I remember, I felt great because I was so confident. I mean, it's what I'd been doing my whole life. I just felt like, you know, you get through the nerves of the audition. But I really felt like if I don't get this job, then I don't know that this is the business. I should be in. Yes. Like this was made for me. This doing this was for me.

So my audition, Deb brought me back immediately for Betty and the producers. And I'm fairly sure that I met with them. And that was pretty much it. They didn't tell me I got it, but I never had to go back in an audition solo again. The next rounds were matching me with different jans and different Cindy's. And so I think it was like sort of all in going in three times and feeling like, obviously, when you start seeing that I'm the only one being matched, you start to feel more confident too. That's the thing. When you know they love you. And I just remember Betty, who was not even a Brady bunch. Obviously she had been studying it, but it wasn't like she knew everything Brady. So I was bringing things that I don't think they even knew were Marciaisms or Marcia. or Marine McCormick's way of how she. And by the way, and I say it all the time when I talk about it,

it was so important for me to do it in a way that was not making fun. Because I loved it so much. I didn't look at the shows. Yeah, I didn't look at the shows and say, this is ridiculous. This is so funny. This is how I'm going to parody this. But it was like, I love it so much. I want it to be so pure and so genuine.

and so Maureen. And so that was really how I approached it. And then I say this all the time because on our podcast, which is so 90s, and it was a very different time in the industry, the one thing that I got, and I was not a super heavy person, but they asked me to lose 10 pounds. What? Are you serious? You're so petite. Yes. And I say it because I've been, I'm not petite like you. Angela, but I'm like, I was not a big person, but they, you know, they wanted me to lose 10 pounds, but it didn't matter. I was like, I'll lose 10 pounds. Like I'll, of course, I was embarrassed when that ask came my way because, by the way, it would never happen today. And also, it just was like, I wasn't the only person ever being asked to lose weight for a roll back then. That was just how

things went. But I was like, I'll do it. And then the judge. joke is over the course of the movie, which if you watch it very closely, I start to put the 10 pounds back on and you can see it. Like I'll come into a scene looking a little rounder and then like I exit the scene looking a little thinner just because of how they had to reshoot things. But no, over the course of the movie, I really started to treat myself. Non-fat frozen yogurt was the big craze at the time and that was my treat. I was like, oh, I wrapped. I'm going to meet my roommate, we're going to go to the big chill and get a frozen yogurt with a huge thing of sprinkles on the side. It's so funny you tell that story, Christine, because I was in a movie

called Walk Hard. And they didn't ask me to lose weight, but they got me a trainer and a dietitian. And I was on like these box meals. It was never explicitly said. Yeah. But it was definitely the tiniest I ever was. And in that movie, I had something like 90 wardrobe changes. And one of my pieces of wardrobe was this couture riding outfit. I had to ride a horse in like a hand-beated couture riding outfit that matched John C. Riley. And the night before, or maybe a couple nights before, I had stayed up late in my hotel room. Chris Parnell was in the movie, and we ordered room service cheeseburgers. I was like, I can't fucking eat this boiled chicken and whatever. Like, it wasn't even kale back then.

It was like this other sort of like weird boiled green on the side. I was like, I'm going to lose my mind. And so we got cheeseburgers and a shake and we watched a movie just, hanging out and then I went in the next morning to put on the riding outfit. I swear, it was like the next morning and it didn't fit. The riding outfit. The couture hand-beated, made-for-meed, riding outfit. Panic. Panic and suit. What do you mean like it? No. It was, it wouldn't buckle. Like overnight. Like overnight. My body was like, oh, I love this, right? Yes. Your body was so. So. For this cheeseburger, that it was like, we're keeping this cheeseburger forever.

Right. We're keeping it immediately. Yes. And yeah. How do you cheat that? Like if it doesn't buckle and it's couture and a bodice. You know what they, no. I couldn't get it on.

At the last minute, they got like, just like a standard black riding outfit that they, like, did their best to embellish in three hours. It did not match. We did not have matching writing outfits. in the movie. But that was a crazy time. That's the only time that ever happened to me on a movie. And you know, you hear stories all the time of people changing their appearance for a movie role. Like they get muscles or they gain weight. But for me, with this, I left that experience thinking, wow, that was a scrutiny I did not enjoy and is not something that I wanted to

repeat in the future. Right. And luckily, when it was all over, I just kind of went back to eating and living the way I had before. But it could have, you know, it's hard, especially if you're younger, I think. And that's the thing. By the way, I was 23 years old, right, when I did it. So that's the time you're actually really coming into like a woman's body at that time, right? You know, it's not like that. And I just remember, I was so confident in what I was doing.

So I never worried that the job was in jeopardy. So I always felt very confident in that role. And going back to it, the way I knew it was mine, yes. Like, I knew it was mine. And the fact that the way the universe aligned and they saw that, that's always the thing. You just hope that they see it. But they get what you know inside. And it's the greatest gift that keeps on giving. Like, I just love it. I never tire of a Brady Bunch conversation. I never tire. And I recently met Maureen. I met Maureen very briefly. at the premiere of the sequel, I think. A lot of them did cameos in the first movie. She didn't do a cameo in it, but she came to the premiere. So I met her briefly. But very recently, we got to connect doing a Zoom reading for something. And we hung out and had lunch.

And, like, it was just her birthday. Like, we text. She sends me recipes. Like, the greatest one way. Wait, were you in a restaurant together? Like, the two of you having lunch? Were people losing their minds? No.

We were in the valley, in the waitress that, you know, our server who was probably like 21. Like, no idea. We took selfies. Nobody knew, which was so great. Like, we just had this sacred space to just get to know each other and so many similarities. And by the way, the greatest gift to me is that I'm not on Twitter, but I remember Ben over the years would say, like, Maureen McCormick just wrote something really nice about you on Twitter, about you playing the part. And I was like, oh my God, like that's the greatest thing ever that I got her stamp of approval.

Like, that's all I ever wanted was for her to know that I was doing it with so much love. Like, you know, she was a California girl. So she had very specific way. I was a Pennsylvania girl. So her sort of California dialect is very specific to her. And so I needed to hear it. I needed to do it. I needed to honor it.

And so yeah, it's my greatest joy. That's amazing. And you know, it lives on and on. Obviously, you know that. I mean, my daughter showed me a TikTok reel. I am not on TikTok, you know, because I don't want to embarrass my kids. But she showed me. And it's like, it's you.

And it's like something like 10 times when Marcia was iconic or something like that. And it's all these clips. They're fantastic. Yeah. My daughter told me the same thing. She's like, the Brady Bunch is like having a moment, right? how on like with the Shore Jan meme and some of those Bradyisms. But I think it's great.

I love it. I love that it lives on and that I got the stamp of approval. Like mission accomplished. Should we also chat with you about some of the office questions you had for us? Well, I just want to say that my office experience, and I know Ben has talked about this before, because the joke in our house was that we were huge. fans of the original, the British series. Like, we felt like that was like about as perfect a show that you could possibly make.

Like, it was just, we loved it, you know, it was so sacred in our house. And Ben, as a production company, remembers getting the potential. He was like, oh, they're going to be doing an American office. And it came to his company. And Ben was like, there's no way you can touch that. There's no way you can touch that material successfully. Like there's no version. And I think in his mind, too, he was like, there's no version where I can see myself figuring out how to do that because that's so unique.

It's so specific. So for Ben, it was like, no, that's not for us, which he's still to this day is like, clearly I can't see things. Listen, that show was a hot potato that was just passed around. Like, people, it landed. They're like, would you consider? And they tossed it as quick as they could for all the reasons you're saying. Right. And for whatever reason, Greg Daniels was like, I'll meet with them.

Okay. But not at first. You know, that he was really going back and forth about it. See, that's so interesting. Because I think Ben always says, like, Greg obviously had this, like, he knew. He knew. He saw it. you know, you, so I'll be so honest, like, we were late to even watching it because it was like,

yeah, when did you discover it? Was it on streaming or was it even when it was on live? It was on streaming. It was on streaming. And also, the other thing, too, for me, I was always, like, even my TV taste as a consumer, you know, in the early 2000, I was like 24. I'll stop my life to watch 24. I loved 24. I will stop everything. I'm obsessed with Jack Bauer. I would say 24 arrested development. I had a couple shows that I was like all in.

And then you got to be on arrested development. Sally, by the hell. That was Sally Sitwell. By the way, that was I think one of those perks where I, when I saw that show, I reached out to my agents and I was like, I will do anything on that show. Like anything on that show. And so that was one of those nice things where it was like, oh, they're offering you a little arc as this character.

So cool. Not knowing it would have a couple different reboots and that character would live on in weird ways. But so for the, for us with the office, it was. And by the way, I had worked with John and Ken Quappas on License to Wed. Oh my God, Christine, I'm in that movie. I know. I know. I can't believe I didn't bring that.

up on there are three things in common. I thought that was going to be one of them, but then we got sidetracked on because yours were so good. But yeah, there were, you know, a bunch of you guys popped up in it. And so, and I was like, oh my God, they're all so funny. They're so good. So it was like in my ether of like to Ben, I was like, we got to just watch. Like, we have to start watching the office. And as anybody who has a husband or partner where you always say you're going to watch it and wait for with the other person to watch it. Like it'll, it never happens. It's always like you never started.

It takes everybody's lives, get busy. So our daughter, in her teen years, she started watching it. Well, started out as her thing with Ben and they would watch together. And it was just like one more, one more. And then I fed into it. And then I had to go back and rewatch season one to start to get caught up. And I just feel like for someone who came to it late, it is such a joy to have a show and the way the show went for it and the way it worked.

And I think it's just like it transcends time. Like I feel like the thing about the office for you guys is it's so timeless the show. Other than jokes that you know would not be shot today from some of the earlier seasons. Like I went back and started in the, I think it's the beginning of season five, the weight loss episode. Speaking of weight loss. Speaking of weight loss. Right. Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. What business would throw a weight loss contest today, nobody. And make all their employees stand on a scale. Dying. And Dwight literally driving Phyllis to a bad neighborhood to make her walk back because he feels like Phyllis is the one who's like secretly

binging the food. And gaining weight. So it just is. like the gift that keeps on giving in a show that I feel like it gave us the gift of being able to watch it together as a family and just belly laugh, but also, you know, weep at, you know, your stuff, Jenna, with John, like the, you know, Pan, like those moments of like him getting on his knee and proposing to you at the gas station and the pouring rain when you guys have met halfway. So I just kept watching. I was like, I'm just going to keep watching it. This is going to be my summer binge again.

Like, I'm just going to keep going. Okay. I love that. Do you have a favorite character? Is there like a character you're always like that? That's it for me. Well, what I wanted to ask you, Angela, too, is like, and all of you guys. And I know you're all playing characters.

But did you feel like the writers and collectively, as they got to know you guys in the early stages, started to write towards things they knew specifically about you or about things that you liked. Like, did they play into that in an exaggerated way? Well, sometimes you would be having a conversation on set and then something you said would end up somehow in an episode. You know, you'd be like, oh, my gosh, the writers are on set with us because so many of them are also characters on the show. But no, my real life personality is nothing like my Angela Martin personality. Your rigidity.

Yeah, yeah. So that didn't often. In fact, sometimes they had to change words because I'm Southern and I couldn't say them. So like, you know, everyone that we work with here on the podcast knows I have a very hard time with vowels in front of L's, you know. So like I famously, like had this moment where I tell Andy that I want to, in the script, in the script it said hand tealed field. Hand, what? Hand tilled field. Hand tilled field. Did I say it? No. Hand-tealed field. Oh my God. See? Okay, so we did 14 takes and they're like, just forget it. Say hand plowed. You're just, you're not getting it.

And so I think they would try to help me find her, you know? Yeah. But yeah, I think some of our things would end up in scripts that we would sort of be chatting about. Like Jenna and I both worked in corporate America, temping when we started our acting careers. And, you know, there was a man in the parking lot one time. I worked at 1-800 Dennis as an operator, and this guy got in and he flashed a few people, and I told the story, and that ended up in a script that Sillus gets flashed in the parking lot. And Jenna and I talked about these ridiculous, like, human resource meetings we'd have to go to.

And some of that made it into some episodes. But Jenna, what about you? Well, I feel like character-wise, there is an aspect of me that they moved into Pam, which is a little bit of sass and a little bit of snark. So when you see her take on Ryan, I think that is my personality that got written into Pam's personality. Because I think where Pam started, I'm not sure you'd ever see her do that. But my personality, I am like a speak up for yourself kind of gal.

and I'm not a suffer in silence gal. And so I think they gave Pam a little bit of me in her way that she sasses at Ryan. Well, that's so funny that you said that because when you're talking about favorite characters, because everyone is so beloved. Like, it's so hard to pick, but there's so many great storyline. Like, obviously, Jim and Pam is like the iconic, but I just also feel like Angela and Dwight. it's like so wrong yet so right. And there's so much, there's so much satisfaction with you two together. Like it's so meant to be. I saw an article one time that said people would describe Jim and

Pam. They'd say, aw. But if they had to describe Dwight and Angela, they'd say, ew. Exactly. I was like, okay. It's so cute. Like, it's so oddly. It's so oddly. Like happy making of, you know, I don't know why. I don't know why it's so satisfying. But then when you go into like, Ryan is the worst. The worst. But also I love, on our rewatch doing this podcast, he became my favorite character. I was like, I love this character so much.

And then when Pam sassed him finally in the later seasons, I was like, this is my favorite thing. It's so good. When they do their whole Michael Scott paper company. and she has to, like, sit at that little table with him. Exactly. Amazing. I was just going to say, like, when he sort of comes back, tail between his legs, and he's in, like, the temp mode, but he's also still just being such an ass.

Like, he's just... Such an ass. He's just still thinks he's got this power. And it's just... PJ's so funny, too. I mean, just the way he plays it. But I love that big stand-up moment, too, where Jim is, like, I need to show them because no one has respect for Jim in that sort of management position, right?

So, and I really love the moment when Ryan gets sort of demoted into the little like room, the closet. Yes, the closet is so great. It's so good. Which, funny enough, was partly because they really needed him in the writer's room. And when his character moved into the main bullpen, it was like kind of a problem. Because he was in the background of everything. So they're like, how do we get him? come out of here again and their idea was, oh, this would be a great plot point that he has to work in that closet.

It's so good. That's just what I love. It's like it's for us in the house, what it's on. I don't know what night it was. And obviously they just keep going if you don't hit exit out. Right. And I saw like my family start to like fill in around me. Oh.

And it's just so great because new generations are seeing it for the first time and falling in love with it again. And there's not lots of shows anymore where it's like the whole family can watch, you know? Like there's shows where you as parents can sit in on a show your kid likes, but this is to me, I mean, obviously kids of a certain age, and my kids are adult, you know, children now. But it's just been like a joy for us. And I just think you guys are amazing. Like in everything else that you've done too, like you're both such good actors who just need to just keep doing it because comedic geniuses as well. And I'm such fan. Christine, this has been so lovely. And I'd like to say, okay, Angela's husband has played your

husband in a movie. I have played your husband's wife in a movie. But what is missing is some combo of you, me, and Angela playing, I don't know. Definitely you and Angela could play sisters in a movie. maybe I can be your crazy friend or neighbor. I don't know, but somehow I think the three of us need to be in a movie together. I think so too. You can be our cousin. I'll be our cousin, Jenna. And like we're manifesting it.

Let's manifest. Let's do it. We're putting it out loud. We're saying it out loud. I think we have to find each other in a, like, something really fun to work on together. But clearly the universe is bumping us into each other, right? It is. Totally.

We're getting close. We just have to solidify it now. Yes, we will. And I also need for the three of us to like have ladies lunch in person. I need an in person hang. I'm putting it out there. 100%. I'm in. Great.

I love this. Well, that's perfect. Until our lunch when we meet again, Christine, thank you so much for spending time on office ladies. This was the best. Thank you guys so much. Lady, I'm going to say it again. We need to be her best friend.

Yeah. Also, just putting it out there. Could she be another mom detective? Oh, lady. I know. Do we need to do a movie called mom detective with Christine? You know, I was wishing that we could have done this interview all in studio together. But honestly, I think if she had been here in person, I don't know if we would have ever let her leave.

it might have been good she was on Zoom. Well, you know, we're already on a text thread. We have been texting. It's true. Listen, everyone, thank you so much for listening. Please check out Christine on her podcast. Hey, dude, the 90s called. You know, Malora Hardin was her guest.

And there might be two other gals guesting on that. Two office ladies might pop on by. In the near future. All right, you guys. Thank you, Christine, for just giving us so much of your time. You were so gracious. And thank you all for listening. We'll see you next week.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.