Office Ladies - The BBC Office Pilot with Lucy Davis

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

This week on Office Ladies 6.0 the ladies break down the BBC pilot of “The Office” and they are joined by the wonderful Lucy Davis who played Dawn Tinsley! Lucy shares how she got her job on the BBC “Office” and what it was like to film the show. The ladies then break down the pilot together and point out similarities and differences between their two versions of “The Office”. Jenna shares how she met Lucy before filming the US pilot of “The Office” and Angela and Lucy talk about journaling during the run of the two shows. This is such a great episode with the original Office Lady, Lucy Davis! Enjoy!  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTube Follow Us on TikTok To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 VFF stories. We're the Office Ladies 6.0. Hello everyone. Welcome to Office Lady 6.0. Hello everyone. Welcome to Office Lady 6.0.

Today we are going back to the very beginning of the world of the office. And we have a special guest to help us travel back in time. Angela, that is such a poetic way to describe this episode. I'm sorry, I got here early. I had a lot of free time on my hands. Maybe I overthought that one.

You know, I don't know what got into me. I love an origin story. What can I say? Well, it is true that today we are starting at the beginning. We have rewatched the BBC pilot of The Office. And as it turns out, I have a connection to someone from the BBC office, and they're joining us today. You do. Tell them who it is, lady.

My lady friend just texted Lucy Davis because they're pals. Lucy plays Dawn Tinsley in the BBC The Office. She's joining us in the studio today to give us all the behind the scenes details of how the show began. Well, you know Lucy from The Office and she was also in Shaun of the Dead, Wonder Woman,

and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She's just the loveliest person and very, very funny. We are so excited to have her here with us. Lady, she is the original Office Lady. She is. So I think we should just jump right in. Here we go. Hello, everyone.

We have such a fun guest here today. Lucy! Hello. It is Lucy Davis, you guys. Dawn Tinsley from the original office. The UK version of the office. Why we ever had jobs in the first place. Oh, I'm glad this is down to me.

Okay, good, good. Thank you. We can leave Ricky and Steve way out of this. Oh, I'm glad this is down to me. Okay, good, good. We can leave Ricky and Steve way out of this. Well, they're not here today. They're not here, so there we are. The show is mine. That's right, that's right. You know, we're so excited to have you on today.

We're gonna break down the pilot episode of the BBC's The Office. You're gonna take us through it. We're gonna ask you questions. It's The Office. You're going to take us through it. We're going to ask you questions. It's pretty cool. But, you know, we always like to kick things off by asking people, how did you get your job on The Office? Ooh, I tell you, it was 1999,

and it was just, everyone was breaking up for Christmas. And I had auditioned for a bunch of comedy pilots, none of which I had particularly gelled with. It was still in a time when those, you know, live audience comedies were very, very broad and nothing against that. I just didn't fit easily into that. And so I went in and I auditioned,

Ricky Gervais wasn't there then. And I auditioned, then I got a call back and then Ricky was there and Steve Merchant. We were in a tiny room with an extremely large table. So you had to kind of shimmy your way around it. And I did a scene, which stayed in the pilot, where Dawn gets fake fired. That's what I auditioned with. That's what I auditioned with.

Oh my, okay. But that was so funny, that was our audition scene. Yeah. That was our audition scene. Yeah. That's mad. Yeah. And originally, I don't know what was in yours, but in ours, originally, when Dawn then is crying and breaking down, Ricky tries to explain it's a joke, she says something to him and walks out the room,

but trips and falls. So when we were in this audition room, I was thinking, I'm not gonna trip and fall because it just feels so weird and uncomfortable in this room, not uncomfortable in the good uncomfortable way. Yeah, right. So I didn't.

And then at the end of the scene, Ricky kept going as David Brent. And so I kept going. And then after a while I was like, yeah, I'm probably going to run out of things to say. So what do I do? Oh, I know, I'll just leave the room. So I just exited the room and went. I just heard Ricky roaring. I was like, apparently that was okay. And then I got it. And I was really pleased. And I had to sign a contract, I think, for six years. And that was very new in England. And I remember, isn't this awful?

I remember thinking, six years? I don't want to be doing the same thing in six years' time. And now, of course, I couldn't be more glad to have got this job. It was a joy. And the fact that no one said, don't forget, this is a funny line, so really make it funny. Don't, you know, and everything had to just be as real as possible with my comfort zone and my, like no one had ever asked me to do that before. It was all like, be a good actor, but it's acting.

And now this is just being. You were so good though, your timing. And when I watched it the first time, you know, years before the US version, I really didn't think it was scripted. I was one of those people that thought they just, you know, I thought, well, David Brent is a crazy character of a person, but I'd also worked for some really weird bosses. And so I kind of bought it. But I thought you were just in the moment.

Yeah, we were. It was, it was really a joyous freedom. I don't know if you felt this, just to, you know what's happening is also funny, but you just get to be, you just get to be real. No one's trying to make a big thing about a joke and making sure you have three laughs a page and all of that kind of stuff. And that was a freedom for me. I loved it. The rhythm of it, like what Angela's saying and what you're talking about, when I saw it again,

before I ever even knew I was gonna audition, before I even knew there would be this American version, I was just completely struck by how funny it was to be off rhythm and to sit in things for awkward amounts of time. And it was a new comedic rhythm that you guys just invented together. It was so cool.

There was a show in England that had already started airing called The Royal Family, R-O-Y-L-E. And that was a similar style. And if you've never seen The Royal Family, please see it. If you guys have never seen it, it's so good. It's so uncomfortable. And it's really just a family on a couch in a living room. And anyway.

I can't wait to check it out. Yeah, check it out or I'll send you a link. Yeah. But yeah, when I watched that, I remember thinking that would be a fun role as an actor to play. So doing The Office, ever since then, I did my first multicam a couple of years ago. I knew, of course, that the style isn't going to be the office or whatever.

But it was interesting for me and a strange experience to have to make so much of the comedy lines. I was like, but if they're funny, they're funny. You don't have to add a bell and whistle on it. Yeah. I came from sketch comedy. So when I, my first scene, you know, the first, like few lines I had, I thought, oh, I'm getting fired.

I was doing so much, but I was, cause I was doing that, da da da da da. But it is such a different style. You guys did it so well, but I have a question. When you were filming the pilot, did you feel like, oh, we've got something here. Like this is gonna be a hit. Because we felt that way.

We didn't know if everything. I wouldn't say a hit. Well, no, but I thought. I thought we had something special. Amazing. I didn't think anyone was gonna watch it. That's how I felt. Yeah, that's the thing. I was like, if people will watch this, it's gonna be a hit. I don't think anyone was going to watch it. That's how I felt. Yeah, that's the thing. I was like, if people will watch this, it's going to be a hit.

I don't know if they're going to watch it. Is that, that was your experience? That's how I definitely felt. I just remember really praying that it would go because I loved doing this so much. And we may, I think I told you this, Jenna, that we actually made a pilot and then we remade the pilot. And the original pilot, there were some different things. But the biggest difference was there had been this documentary reality show in the very early days called, I think it was called Airline.

And it was just cameras following an airline in a smallish airport in England. It became huge and suddenly these people were famous. There was an actor called John Nettles who narrated the documentary. So we had him narrate the pilot to make it as real, this genre and this style. But then I think, I believe, this is such a long time ago now, but I believe they felt that it took time away from story and comedy.

So we redid it again. Without him. Without the narration. Yeah. The original theme tune just for that pilot was ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. What? That was our original theme song. It was? Yes.

Yes. Is that? I never knew that. Did you know that? No. I'm getting chills. Did Greg know that? I don't know if Greg knew that, but when Greg gave us a screener of the pilot and we all

got together and we watched it, the theme song was Mr. Blue Sky. You have to ask him if he knew that that was... Because in ours, obviously, it never got aired. Yeah, same. Yeah. But we couldn't... Greg told us, oh, we can't use that song because... Another show nabbed it.

So then he had a friend who composed the song that we ultimately used. It's a great song, though. It's a great song, though. Yours is a great song, too. Yeah, because obviously ours was Stereophonics. And bless them, which is fine. They didn't give us permission to use their song, Handbangs of Gladrags. So it was kind of rewritten to be that.

And then when it got big, they said that we could use it, but we liked ours by that point. And originally with Mr. Blue Sky, the opening credits weren't images of Slough. It was David Brent walking into work all proud and pompous in his suit and his briefcase stuff. So yeah, it was pretty different. I love the opening images. We were in London a few years ago.

We actually crossed paths and it was so fun. But I was on a train with my husband and kids and we I didn't realize that we were going to go through slough. And so I said to them, we have to get off. And they're like, what? This is our song. And we jumped off really fast just so I could get a picture. And then we jumped back on the train. Did you post the picture? I did, I did. I had to go look for it. So I remember a story that Stephen Merchant told when they first came to visit the set. He said that after the very first episode aired, he was sitting on the train and he

overheard a woman asking her friends if she had seen the documentary about the crazy guy in an office. Oh, God. And that the friend said, Oh, that's that's not a real documentary. That's a comedy show. And that the woman said, Oh, well, then it isn't very funny. Oh, that's great. But what was crazy was he said, like, she loved it when she thought it was a documentary. And then when she found out it was a comedy show,

she was like, oh, no, no, I don't care for it. But what was the reaction when it came out? Do you remember? Um, it was slow. Um, we were on a network called BBC Two, which tends to have a lot less viewers. I think our... They told... I think Stephen Rickey told me that the pilot got only just a few more viewers than women's bowls.

Yes. Yes. Hold us that too. Yeah. I actually read that it was, in fact, scored one of the lowest ratings in BBC history. Yeah. Yeah. But that was the great thing about, I mean, in England they do this more because A, we

only did six episodes as our whole season. So they're already shops. You may as well air them, I guess. And it was BBC Two is not as big a channel as BBC One. So I think it was always just going to air and it just gradually picked up. And over time, but a lot of people did say I thought it was a documentary at first. Yeah. Did you ever have that?

No. I think because we were on like NBC, must-see TV. Right, yeah. And your show had been so popular. Right, right. That everybody knew. I mean, the big hill that we had to climb

was living up to the original. Like there were so many critics and fans who were like, sort of, I feel like, actively rooting for us to fail. Because they didn't want to take anything. Yeah. They didn't want us to like tarnish the reputation of your show. I will say there have been times and certainly back then where people would say to me back then, as if I would want to hear this, oh, it won't do very well.

And I was like, wouldn't it be great if it did? Like, it doesn't affect me one way or the other what it does. That's so nice of you. But why would anyone? I find it very, it's just strange when anyone wishes some failure on anyone. I remember getting a pilot once and I got let go before we even taped it. And it's very hard to be let go from a pilot. But when they got picked up, I couldn't have been more happy. And I emailed everyone and said, congrats, it's just live, just move through it. You don't have to hope that someone fails so that you feel better about yourself. So it's, it was quite fascinating that and I bet you did, I bet you did have that a lot.

But I will tell you that I've watched every episode of your show through 10, 12 times. I bet I know it more than you do. Really? That is so wild to me. When you told me that, that I was like, I mean, well, what did you think? Like, do you remember the first episode you saw? The first one was the pilot. Yeah, I watched it straight from, I can't remember. So I would have been living in England still when it first aired. And I do know if it came out over there, because I think I watched it over here first. So I feel like you might have had a couple seasons out by the time I was watching it. So then I just started watching it.

And at first, it might be a little strange because you go, oh, that girl's playing my character and that guy's playing his character. But you have to go, no, they've got to find their own feet. And you did. Well, especially the pilot, you know, is almost a shot by shot remake, which when I rewatched the BBC pilot this week,

I'd seen it a while back, but I couldn't believe how much of a remake we did. I couldn't believe how much of your performance I stole from you when I watched it. Delight, I couldn't believe, I've stolen so many performances. Has anyone ever stole any of mine. Delighted. Can die happy. So much.

I mean, and I also noticed like this scene with and we'll get into a bigger breakdown, but I noticed the scene with Tim and Lee at the desk when you walk away. I was like, oh, my gosh, like the three of you and then me and Jim and Roy, I was like, oh my gosh, like down to the like carrying in an odd box. Yes. I know.

Yes. So what's in the bag? Exactly, what's in the bag? But when I watched it, I always thought there was a bigger story to the big trash bag box thing. And I was like, no, there's nothing. In both pilots. In both pilots, no.

That's true. I've forgotten that. You'll know it more than I. I'll know yours more than I'll know mine. I'll tell you that. Well, maybe we should take a break and when we come back, we'll start going through the scenes.

Yeah, let's do it. You can remind me. ["The New York Times"] Breaking news, McDonald's international menu items are vanishing. McPizza bites missing in Italy. Big Rosti stolen from Germany. Teriyaki chicken sandwich disappears in Japan. An Abysscoth McFlurry blackout in Belgium.

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We've built a space where athletes, changemakers, and people creating the future of women's sports can show up and show off as their full, unapologetic selves. Follow and listen to the Recap Show wherever you get your podcasts. All right, we're back and here we are. We're talking about The Office, episode one, season one. The title of your episode was Downsize. It was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

They wrote all of them and directed all of them, right? How did that work? Well, I mean, I guess so. I mean, certainly from my point of view, everyone, they seem to get on very well, obviously. I don't know how you could do that if you don't get on well. They were both extremely, because Ricky was acting in it as well,

obviously, really extremely generous. Ricky kept, oh my God, he made me laugh so much. There were times when I'm like, you're ruining your own show because we would do things. I remember having to come into, the scene was like, come into David Brent's office. I think I have to open a drawer for something and every single take,

Ricky had left me a fresh obscene drawing. I'm supposed to carry on and I'm like, but I can't because it's new. I'm supposed to carry on and I'm like, but I can't because it's new. I'm responding. As soon as Ricky knew he was doing something unexpected that would make you laugh, it would just get bigger next time until just so you couldn't keep going. One time I was actually sent out the room in the scene.

It was when there was Jennifer Taylor Clark, who was the boss. Yeah, yeah. And we were sitting in, ooh, that might have been the pilot, was it? When she said, where's the... The faxes? The faxes.

Yes, that's the pilot. I saw these bloopers. Yes. It was like every time you came in to take notes, Ricky had a different like bit he was saying at the top. Oh yeah, I saw these too. Yes. And it was like 20 takes of you just, you couldn't even start the scene.

You were just trying to enter the room. I was. And he couldn't make you guys stop laughing. And then you hear Steve off camera say, all right, just stop it. Just stop it. Just say it the way it is. Just stop changing it.

And so after a while, I don't think I might have had, I think I had a line or two. But after a while, once it got to close up for Ricky and Jennifer, it was like, Lucy, maybe you would like to maybe stand out here. And I said, am I being exited from the scene? Yeah. It's a highlight.

I had a few of those. Do you do it? Yes, I had a few. There's a, when Michael Scott is doing the running man to piano, forget it. Cha cha cha cha cha cha cha cha. it. Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha. Yeah. Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha.

They had to get my reaction, which is me not laughing. They had to get my reaction that he couldn't be there. No. Actually, I guess that's the opposite. They had to make him leave so that I could do it with nothing there because I couldn't do it otherwise. Yeah. We did.

We had a bunch of those. When I had to ask her if Roy had ever mercy killed an animal because poor Sprinkles was in the freezer, that we, Jen and I couldn't get through it. They actually were like, we're gonna like go to lunch because you guys are... Yeah, we need to shift in energy. Yeah, we felt the room turn against us. We're like, oh no, we're not gonna mess up everyone's lunch. Did you really find it hard to not laugh through what I call this big group things, like when Andy Bernard comes in singing Sweeney Todd. I love that opening.

Yeah, so fun. So fun. That one, you know, they'd put so much work into that. I mean, I would just not make eye contact because I'm like, I can't mess this up. No. Yeah. Yeah. But a conference room scene, when we were there all day, and we would just get loopy. Yeah. And we'd all go. We'd all start just dropping. Yeah. And laughter. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about how this episode opens. Yes. David Brent,

who is the manager of Wernham Hogg Paper Company's Slough Branch, is interviewing someone about a forklift position. The guy doesn't know how to drive a forklift though. He doesn't have his license. But it's not going to be a problem. It doesn't matter. No, he's going to call his friend Sammy, who he's just going to push him through basically, is how this is going to happen. Can I point out one thing that was cracking me up? There are probably eight outlets

behind David Brent in this whole scene. I'm like, how many, they go up the whole wall like a strip to plug things in. Yes, I'm like, how many things are you plugging in this office? Was anything plugged in them? No. Unused.

Now, is it true you guys shot in a real office? And that I heard a story that like at one point the business next door came over and told you guys to quiet down? Like literally you were sharing the wall space with an actual business. We were, yeah. So this part of the office was disused, not used. I don't know how to speak.

And so it was decorated for us. In the original pilot, Brent's office was actually what became our recreation room. And so they kind of switched those around. Yeah. So we were asked to keep the loft down. And I was like, is someone actually complaining about joy? Yes. Is someone actually complaining because someone's having, if we were fighting and screaming and calling each other names, sure, okay, have a go. This, no. What were they doing? What was the other business? I'm like, if you're really grumpy at your job and all you hear is people laughing, you might complain.

I know. You know, I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. But was it Ricky's laugh? Because Ricky's laugh is really loud. It's loud. It's loud. It's really, really loud.

It's a cackle. They must know we were filming. I mean, like maybe it was part of the scene. Yes. It doesn't matter. They didn't like it. Did you film all the episodes at that same place? Except obviously anything on location,

like the nightclub or... Sure, right. Yeah. Well, I'm curious, like, you know, the first season aired and then became very popular and then you had to go and do the second one and you had to do the Christmas special. Did people figure out where you were filming?

Did fans come or did this other business suddenly become enamored with you? Yeah, I don't think they complained in season two. I don't remember any press or any fans coming to the studio. That's good. You still had privacy. Yeah. We wanted to ask you about the front reception desk where you sit, because we were asked by Greg and our director, Ken Quapus, to personalize our desk to bring things in from home so it really felt

like your workspace. So we brought pictures and little tachiki kind of things. There's a great shot when, you know, in the next scene David Brent comes over to introduce you and there's a great shot of your desk. There's so many things. And I made a list of what you have. What's on it? I took a picture of it. You have a monkey calendar, a snowflake cup. You have two telephones. Two telephones.

Oh, that's greedy. Mm-hmm. That was nothing to do with me. I don't know why you have two telephones, but you do. So did you put anything on that desk or was it all there for you? I didn't personalize it in terms of what's seen on camera, but I had a ton of stuff that I brought in. I was a bit of a medicine desk for people.

It was like, oh, have you got a paracetamol, which is like Tylenol. Tums. Tums or, yeah, I just had, I don't know why. I had so much stuff under there. Oh my gosh, you're the medicine lady. Angela's the sauce lady. Are you? If you need like a, she literally today brought in three little ketchup packets

and a salt packet that she saves and then she puts them in a drawer for us. When you walked in and the first person you saw was Jen and you guys hugged and I stood there holding my ketchup packets because you walked in right as I was putting them in the drawer and I was like wondering if you saw me holding ketchup packets. I didn't but I do have a cupboard at home with

things like that in. Oh yeah because I do love making a packed lunch. Yes. And you need a portable sauce. I get very happy when I go oh I really need some I've got it. Yeah. I've got a sachet of ketchup. Do you remember when like all of a sudden you couldn't get like the sriracha sauce? Remember? Like it was like in the stores, anyone else, Sam? Sriracha sauce? I remember this, yes.

You remember it. Thank you, Sam. I've never eaten sriracha sauce. Well, let me tell you who has sriracha packets. And they're not easy to come by. I have a drawer, I have some sriracha packets. And they're not easy to come by. I have a drawer, I have some sriracha packets. I kind of covet them in my sauce drawer. At least it's not an expensive habit you have. Thank you. Thank you.

Do you remember, like, what was the first scene you shot? Was it this scene where, like, did you kind of shoot in order, like him coming up to your desk or no? What do you remember from that scene? I'm pretty sure we did film in order, except for like, you know, so here's a scene at my desk, and then there might be a scene in Brent's office, and then there might be a scene in the rec room. So we wouldn't necessarily have then gone in order. But we definitely went as in order as possible,

which was why for me to play Dawn at the end where I get together with Tim, the nice thing about that is everything was played so much in order that it felt like the story that you were playing it out yourself. And that was actually pretty nice. That is really nice. I loved that.

I was curious about your wardrobe, your costume for Dawn because I wore my own clothes in the pilot for ours. And I didn't really have a business suit. I just kind of threw together what I had in a color palette of gray. But I didn't know, did you have any input in your look for the show? I mean, I don't think anyone came up and said,

I think it was just like, you know, you've really got to just look officey. So that might pretty much be a suit, skirt, and a shirt, and it's dawn, so I'm not like the boss, like Jennifer Taylor Clarke. So it wouldn't be as smart or as expensive or as cute. You know what I mean? It was like soft colors. So before the season started,

I would go and meet with the wardrobe designer and we would go and walk around Oxford Street and look for... I hate shopping. Hate it. And so wardrobe was always my least favorite part of any job because now I have to go around the shops. So when I came here to America and I was like, they go to the shops for you? Oh, you went with? I was delighted, yeah. Oh my goodness, I'm just putting that together.

That's so wild. Trying on 80 million things, spending the whole day. I'd be like, anything, I'll wear anything. You just tell me and I'll wear it. So is that standard? Like if you book a show in the UK, you go with the costume department? I can't remember a job I've done in the UK where I haven't.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I did a show in the UK for Sky TV. Okay. But my character was in prison. Right, so that might be different. And spent most of the show in a prison jumpsuit.

Got it. Yeah. You can't go to gas for that. No, you can't. You said it was the happiest wardrobe you had ever on a show. When I realized I would be wearing the same thing for most of the show, that I wasn't changing, I didn't have multiple fittings, I was so delighted. And it was like pajamas.

It was like nice and like cozy. It was. Didn't hug anywhere. Yeah, that would be a dream. It was the best. You don't have to look at a ton of clothes. But that does explain why you didn't go shopping for a prison jumpsuit. Correct.

They might not do that now. It's been a while. It was 2009 when I last worked in England. So well, no, it wasn't 2009, but it's 2009 when I last did a British job. I did Wonder Woman in England in 2016 or something. But again, that was period wardrobe. So you weren't and they were all made by hand. So you weren't going shopping for it. Yeah. Oh, so maybe period wardrobe. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, period wardrobe I wouldn't,

but regular wardrobe. I've never not been able to shop for it, yeah. Side tangent. Would you come back sometime and talk about Wonder Woman with us? Because I'm also a huge Wonder Woman fan. Love you in it. And would love to have that conversation as well.

In my little curly ginger wig, yeah. I love that look. I love that look. I love that look. Of course. Yay. Put that on our list, Cassie. Well, in this scene at front reception, David Brent is telling Dawn about sort of his drunken night

out, and he's going on and on. And we talked about the timing of how things are said, but for me, it was also about things that were just left out and not said. And one of my favorite quotes from this whole episode is David Brent telling you what professionalism is, telling Don that, and I think we should hear it. Because I'm a professional, and professionism is,

and that is what I want, okay, that's all. That's it. And professionalism is. And he, okay? That's all. That's it. And professionalism is... And he has no idea what it is. No idea. Yeah. And that is what I want. Was that the scene or was that episode

where he says every guy has woken up at the crack of dawn? Crack of dawn, yes. And you're like, what? Because that's the thing that's quoted to me the most. Oh no, really? Really? The crack of dawn. You must get sentences that you've said or something that's quoted to me the most. Oh no, really? Really? You must get sentences that you've said or something that's quoted to you.

Oh yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think we had, but we might've cut it. Our version of that line, which I think might've gotten cut by standards and practices, I'm trying to think, is every man has sprayed on Pam.

Oh yeah, that was cut. Oh. Like Pam was like, you know, a spray that you put in your Pam. Oh yeah, that was cut. Like Pam was like, you know, a spray that you put in your Pam before you cook. Yes, I'd forgotten that. There was this line, sprayed on Pam. Oh, those standards and practices. That didn't get past them for sure. You could have said it would have to be bleeped or something.

All right, so next up, we're gonna meet some more people in the office. We're gonna meet Gareth Keenan, who was played by Mackenzie Crook. And also we're gonna meet Tim Canterbury, played by Martin Freeman, who I read originally auditioned for Gareth, which is so funny because John Krasinski

originally auditioned for Dwight, which is so funny because John Krasinski originally auditioned for Dwight. Oh. Look at that. That's interesting. The similarities. There are a lot of similarities, especially too with character names. Like everything's like one syllable.

It's like Tim, Jim, Don, Pam. That's true, yeah. And then you have two lead characters with first names. Michael Scott and David Brent. Yeah. Yeah. You have two lead characters with first names, Michael Scott and David Brent. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, Gareth was originally written as a large man who was like kind of a big drinker, red in the face and very crude. And they auditioned many, many people, all who they thought were, there were some wonderful auditions, but something just wasn't sitting right. And the casting director, Tracy Gillum, said, what about Mackenzie Crook? And they were like, we love Mackenzie Crook, but it couldn't be more opposite than

what we were originally wanting. But eventually they auditioned him and it was just like that. And he said, the great thing, I think Ricky said, his words are something like, the great thing with Mackenzie Crook is because he's got such little bird-like features, you can make him much more crude. And harsh. And harsh. Because he's a little bird guy. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and it's going against what you're expecting. 100%. And I think it's really fun how like, and this was true of the Dwight character on our show too, but like, but especially with Mackenzie playing the character is just, you know, the military, like the interest in like all of the order and all of that.

It's like. And the need, I mean, same as David Brent really, that importance and ego in how he comes across and how he's perceived in, you know, Assistant Two or Assistant Four. Yeah. Mackenzie was very funny. He made me laugh a lot.

We all did. Well, they start the scene with the scene that we have. It's the whole Wes app. He actually hits Tim in the back of the head with this newspaper. He does. As he enters. As he comes in, I'm like, I was like, any wonder the rest of the episode Tim's trying

to block his view of him. He's like, this guy's such a jerk. It's so true. Also, at six minutes and one second, the character of Tim is holding a very tiny dictionary. I saw that too. He's working on something on his computer. He's holding a teeny tiny dictionary. And I thought, I looked it up because I'm like,

when did this episode come out? It came out in July of 2001. And I was like, does he need a physical dictionary to check his spelling? I think I would have used one at that time. Maybe so. I did a lot of crosswords and I used a dictionary. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, our shows, you know, they predate internet stuff, guys. Yeah. So. Our desks had working computers. Not at the beginning, though. Not at the beginning, but eventually.

Did you play a lot of Solitaire? Yes. You know we did. Yes. Minecraft. And I played so much Solitaire. I didn't play that. Or not Minecraft, Minesweeper.

Minesweeper. Very stressful. Minesweeper. Minesweeper, very stressful. Minesweeper would stress me out. Yeah. Yeah, sometimes I'd be getting into it and be annoyed if I was having to stop to film and work. Yeah. All right, so now we're gonna meet David Brent's boss, who, like you said, is Jennifer Taylor Clark,

who is played by Sterling Gallacher? The Sterling Gallacher, yeah. Oh. Wonderful woman. She's so no-nonsense. And she just does not care about any of David's shenanigans. She stays focused. She doesn't take the bait for any of his jokes.

And isn't she brilliant at it? Yes. Sterling, yeah. Sterling became a dear friend. And she's in England now, so I don't really see her, but we are on Instagram. One of them anyway. On one of the chats?

On one of them, yeah. She's so wonderful. Yeah. This is the scene we were talking about earlier, where Ricky kept improvising the opening line. Yeah. About his tie. About his tie, random.

But she's trying to talk to him about the agenda for the day, but of course he made you throw it away. But then we get into the news, which is there's going to be redundancies, aka downsizing. And these two branches are going to have to merge and she hasn't decided who's going to merge with the other one yet. They've got to sort of prove themselves. Yeah. And then Chris Finch leaves a message in the middle of this meeting. I mean, so much happens.

Also, David Brint is completely like panicking. She's like, don't panic, David, David, don't panic. He's like, you just have to sit through all of it. Yeah. I remember doing our version of that scene with Jan and Michael and me sitting in the chair. It's one of my favorites from the series. Took a long time to get through that.

But Ricky saying, did no get an agenda, was every time I don't know that I could, I think that was the bit where I was fired from the scene. No get, an agenda. Anytime I got to watch Steve as Michael and Melora as Jan, like Spar, I almost became an audience member. I would lose my place in the scene.

So I can't even imagine how fun that was to be in those scenes. Yeah, it was. Well now, even though these branches are merging and people are gonna be let go, David Brent has hired a temp. Right. And he's going to show him around the office.

Yes. I did have a question for you because there's been several David Brent talking heads by this point. And we used to, every once in a while in our talking heads, because we would get multiple alts for the same talking head, they called them the candy bags. We would get to improvise a little bit here and there in those.

And I was wondering what your talking heads were like. Did you get to play around at all or were they really scripted? I mean, everything was scripted. We would do a lot of things like like on action, we would often already talk, especially the fewer the people, the easier that would be. He would say, talk your way into the scene. And then when the scene was finished, he wouldn't shout cut, it would carry on. And I don't ever remember, I mean, I'm sure the poor continuity lady had a nightmare because I don't remember anyone coming up and saying about continuity.

So yeah, so really we just got to like chat and nothing was exact and you could add things and not add things and they loved that. And what Ricky did, he would, you know, with adding things and doing new things, he would do the most of, but for sure we had the freedom to do that. Oh yeah, I bet you guys, when I watch you guys,

I was like, you know, I bet they have that freedom as well. You can tell with the bloopers, you know, the amount of times a line will change just on take two or three or four. Yeah. In this sequence where David Brent is showing this temp named Ricky, who was played by Oliver Criss around the office, this is also when we're kind of starting

to get background reactions from people, we're seeing the scope of the space, the scope of the office. I was really curious how you guys shot. I looked up, your cinematographer was Andy Hollis. Yeah. I love how the show is shot. We obviously stole so much from that with

the low angles and the spy shots and all of that. We had two cameras going at a time. Right. We mainly had the one. so much from that with like the low angles and the spy shots and all of that. We had two cameras going at a time. Right. We mainly had the one. OK. Unless, I mean, you know, menopausal here. Unless I literally don't even remember that I was in it at this point. Probably when we did bigger scenes out, like at the pubs or the nightclubs, we may have had more than one. But I remember one. Yeah. Well, in the pilot, it does we may have had more than one, but I remember one.

Yeah. Well, in the pilot, it does look like you're following the one camera around. Yeah, it does. You don't have sort of like two angles of the same scene. You don't have a wide shot and a tight shot. It looks like just the one. Yeah, and I know because obviously like with yours,

the office is one big area. So even if you weren't in a scene, like speaking or part of it, you'd still be in it because you would be caught in the background. Yeah. So you had to be careful. It didn't look like you were playing solitaire. Right. Well, ladies, why don't we take a break?

Because when we come back, David Brent is going to introduce the accounts department. Those three over in the corner. It won't take long to tell you Neutral's ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral, refreshingly simple. Well, we're back and David is

showing the tip over to the accounting nook. Now there's only an Angela and a Kevin over there. There's not an Oscar. There's not. Who did we have over there? We had Keith. We had the Keith. And Jane, I think.

Yeah, and they have a little moment, and they definitely have that same vibe that we completely copied, which is when David comes over and is like, look at this crazy corner, you know, and it's just like the most drab, expressionless people. Yeah. Plus you're in accounts.

Yeah, you're in accounts. What's happening over there? Gareth is going to continue to bother Tim. While David is pointing out all of the just genius details he's added to the office. He makes a big show of a plant. Yeah, we had a plant. We had a plant. Planty. Planty.

Yeah. Then he shows off like a big mouth bass. Which we had as well. It came in Daryl's office years later. I feel like I remember that. Little Easter eggs there. Yeah. Yes. And then David is going to introduce Ricky to Gareth.

And we get into the assistant regional manager, assistant to the regional manager. Yeah. Yes. And Gareth is really upset because Tim has pulled another prank on him. He has put his stapler in Jell-O and we both had a question about this scene. We did.

At 14 minutes and 39 seconds, the camera swings over to Tim and he is eating, you guys called it jelly. Yeah. We call it jello. Yeah. But he's eating jelly out of a box. Out of a box. It looks like one big square. So how do you make jello then? In a cup? With like water and you have the little packet and you mix it up. Is it like powder? Yeah, powder. Oh, no, so ours is, it's like a rubbery hard thing that you put in a bowl and pour boiling water on. And then it melts.

The rubbery thing melts. The rubbery thing melts. So the thing he's eating, he's eating the concentrated. I used to, when I ate, because it's not vegetarian, when I ate meat, I would eat it raw. I loved it raw. Does it taste different than once you've put the hot water on it? The flavor's the same.

It's just, it's harder. Oh my gosh. Just sort of like tug at it like you're eating an eraser. Oh my gosh. This is fascinating. I loved it. We both were like, wait, what is he eating in the box? It's like.

I would buy it just to eat that rather than make the jelly. Yeah. So this is interesting because in our episode, when we did this in the pilot and they swing over to Jim, he's eating some jello out of like a little cup. Yeah. Cause they make like pre-made cups, but they're just for eating. You could put them of like a little cup. Yeah. That you, cause they make like pre-made cups, but they're just for eating.

You could put them in like a kid's lunchbox. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not as good of a tell, I don't think. Right. Because like Tim is eating the ingredient. It would be like if Jim were holding a box of powdered jello. And then poured it into his mouth.

Yes. Exactly. That's what I'm trying to get at. It's very clumsily, but yes. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, because I remember that. He was like, wasn't Tim saying something about, I have no idea what happened as he's eating it in the jelly? Yeah.

Yeah. I wonder how many people have put their staples in jello and tried to do that since. So many. I think a lot. So many. We see so many pictures. Not only that, I got as a gift a little mini stapler

that had been put in a yellow mold that was soap. And so you use the soap and slowly you get the stapler. That's really cute. I know. People are really creative. It is, I have to say. Soap. Geez. All right, so now we have a scene coming up. This is where Dawn is on her lunch break.

She's trying to read a book. She's eating a sandwich. Oh, is this in the pilot? Yes. Oh, I thought that was later on. Oh, that was really hard to do. That was really hard to do because what you can't tell on camera is the close proximity with which Ricky was standing next to me talking about testicular cancer.

And grabbing his balls. And since you're seated and he's standing, your face is exactly even with his crotch. Right there. Yeah. And I didn't, and because it was the pilot, we weren't so used to, you know, how this was going to play out and how this was going to be. So when I sat there and I had already this bit of Brie sandwich in my mouth, that's another line I get a lot of,

bit of Brie. Bit of Brie. Bit of Brie. And I turn, what you can't, you just can't, you know this, you just can't tell it on camera because you know on camera you have to stand closer to someone than you would in real life. Right. In real life it would be like, it's so awkward that you were this close, but for camera you have to be close.

Who was close? I'm not going to lie. And I didn't have to hold the brie sandwich in my cheek. It just wouldn't go down. But it was a wonderful, wonderful little moment of seeing. We shot that same scene for our pilot. That was my other audition scene. So I had the fake firing scene as my audition scene.

And then I had this eating lunch scene. But ours got cut. I know, it didn't make it in for time. Because we had to get our episodes down to like 21 minutes, 30 seconds. Oh, that's hard. So we were like 29 and a half. Yeah, you guys had extra time.

Yeah, yeah. But this sort of like physicality where you're in someone's space awkwardly, I feel like just kept coming back, especially for Michael Scott. Like he would talk to Jim and put his foot up on the desk. Like basically lean in, so it's just like crotch facing you. And there were a lot of moments like that.

I love those things, especially when when if they're not in the scripts and you're not expecting them at all. Yeah. I mean, obviously this brief scene was scripted, so I knew what the script was and the lines were, but I just didn't plan on having Ricky's crotch quite so clear to my brain. Quite so close. It didn't count for that one ball to be so close to your sandwich. It was, yeah. Speaking of not being able to swallow your brie and breaking, you know, we broke all the time, but there were a few people that broke the most.

Like, Rainn Wilson cracks himself up. He broke as Dwight a lot. Mindy broke in almost every scene. I remember Mindy doing the character doing the cabbage soup diet and looking awful. I will do this now and I'll know if someone watches your show well. Because she'll go, "'You kind of look amazing.'" LAUGHS Oh, I love it. OK, so Mindy cracks up a lot. Yes, yes. But so on your set,

now we know you had to exit a scene, but was there someone that broke the most? Was it Ricky? Probably Ricky, but he broke more because he would see us breaking or trying not to. There was a scene, I think you might have seen it in Bloopers, where Ricky and Martin are doing a scene. It's the job evaluation scene. And I came in to do my job evaluation scene, and they were already nowhere near finished.

So we went over and over to lunch, and then had to go back to it over lunch. So because they couldn't get through it. I saw that blooper and they keep clacking the clacker, and it was upwards of 30 takes. Oh my goodness. Yes, and there was this moment that I remember from watching the show that was breaking them up

and it's so funny, it's just a gesture that where Ricky is saying, if you play your cards right, someday you might be in this chair. The hands. Yeah, and he does this like point down to his seat and like bites his lip. He's like, mm. Yeah.

And the first time he did it, they both broke. And they're like, no, no, no, we gotta get that. We gotta get that, do that again, do that again. But they never, I don't know how they ever got through it. It was, but it was so funny. Especially as it would get bigger. I remember doing a scene later where Ricky is playing the guitar for me. Yes.

In his office. Yes. It's so funny. It really is. And that was hard. I had written a song, oh my God, when I was 15, where I played the piano and sang this song. It was for my GCSE music, which is, I don't know, whatever exams you take here when you're 16. And I got an A for my music. It's the only thing I ever got an A in.

It was so bad because it was also kind of good, but it was a really cheery ditty that I was like, and yet it was about the most horrific things, pedophiles. Oh no. And I'm not religious at all, but in the chorus it would be like, at the end of the worrying terror, there's heaven not far away.

And I remember telling Ricky and Steve this and they were like, we have to have this in our show. They worked their asses off in season two to try and get it in. I couldn't find a way to legitimately get it in. It was so bad and it was so good because it was so bad. Yeah. It was crap-tastic. This was, I feel like this story is why you were destined to be cast on this show.

Because your senses of humor were so aligned. This idea of like a song about all the things you kind of aren't supposed to say or discuss in a peppy manner. In like a peppy show tune. Yeah, it entered my head at 15. It was like a peppy show tune. Never entered my head at 15. It was like a peppy show tune that could have opened a sitcom. Yes, and about the darkest stuff. Yeah, about the darkest stuff, not religious at all.

And I went, I desire a Micah prophesized, a friendly world of peace. What? Did they? I have no idea. But you got an A. I got an A. You got an A. So bar was low. They might have just been in shock, didn't know what to make of it. I think it was like, poor girl. She's going nowhere in life. Let's give her something. No. All right, there's gonna be a conference room meeting. We have to discuss conference room scenes with you. David Brent is going to discuss these rumors of downsizing.

How was this to shoot? Okay. Probably very like your conference scenes, which they take a long time. Yeah. And at first you are genuinely trying to like be professional. Let's get it done guys. Come on. Do you know what I mean?

This is fine. And then of course, as Rick is doing his speech and all of this, he'll change his speech and so you're listening and so you're doing it. And then I have one bit where I was doing, I had a line, something like, well, Jennifer said there might be some job losses or downsizing. Yes. He calls on you hoping that you're going to save the day, but instead you make it worse. And Ricky was sitting, Steve was sitting at the monitors for me doing this line.

And I did it. The note was, a little less soap opera loose. And I went, oh, okay. I think because I had this one line in this long scene, I think I might have been trying to really make it last a while. Make a meal. Yeah. So I made it less soapy. That made me just have a question.

So was he the one usually yelling things off camera to you guys? Was he, they co-directed, but was Stephen Merchant more the one sort of like yelling action, giving notes and stuff like that? Yeah, I think Steve would have done action more or our first AD, more so if Rick is in the scene. If he's not in the scene, he's usually changed back into his sweats and chomping on a sandwich, watching the monitor. But yeah, so that would be Steve normally.

Yeah, that makes sense. It's kind of fun, like co-directing and acting in the thing that you've written. I can't really, that seems so written. Yeah. I can't. Really? That seems so stressful to me. You would like that, Angela. I feel like because you have the all creative brain.

I don't. Right. I can't direct. I don't know if I could direct, actually. I would love that, but I would love to have you there with me, Jenna. Because then. What am I doing?

You're doing what Steven was doing. Oh, I'm your Steven Merchant. Yes. Oh, I do that. Exactly. So you could sort of like be the eye outside the scene and I'm in it. Oh, now I'm directing again, which I think I can't do. Oh, OK.

Well. I don't know if my brain goes there to direct. I like producing. Yeah. I really enjoyed that side of my career. And I obviously love acting. But yeah, the directing, I'm like, my little brain,

I don't know if I could take it all in. You've got to be aware of every single area ever going on. And I think my brain would explode. I'm also such an inside out performer as an actor. So like, I'm very much about like, what am I feeling? What do I want? What's motivating me?

And I'm not really aware of my surroundings. Like, I'm not good at decorating a room. Like, I don't know where to put the chair and the couch and the things. And my husband, who's a director, like, he's really good at that. Like, he knows how to build a visual picture. Right.

I just know how to like, come from like, sort of an emotional place. Got it. Yeah. I think. Yeah. So that's why I think I can't direct. Maybe. I don't know.

I don't know. Don't say never, lady. You'd be surprised. Don't say never. Well, I did sign us up. We'll all direct together. I did sign us up to direct a show together, me and you. Oh dear.

No, I'm kidding. We'll all direct something together, but we'll really leave it to Angela. No. I like to Angela. No. I like this idea. Yeah, and we can sit and have coffee. How many directors do you have? Three. Three.

Technically one, but. Okay, we have to talk about this moment where Don is attempting to fix Tim's hair. And you have like these great fingernails and you're kind of going through his hair. How much of that moment was improvised between the two of you? All of it.

So what was the idea? The idea was like, okay, we need to see you guys be kind of flirty. Like, yeah, just watching it. You know that moment, you know, well, you know when you fancy someone, but you've never acknowledged it between you. So really what you're trying to do is engage in some way.

Of course, touch is always a nice thing to get in and I'll do anything for some. I mean, I remember improvising a scene and I said to Tim, play with my hair in the scene. I was like, oh, this is a great way of getting a massage. Yes. Just telling him to, like in the scene. And I was like, oh, this is a great way of getting like a massage. Yeah. Just telling him to do it in the scene. But yeah, a lot of our scenes like that were improvised, just play together. Martin really helped me in those because I wasn't as confident then.

Now I'd love to do things like that. And I've done a lot of improv-profit groundlings at UCB. But I was much more nervous of it then. And Martin was just great chatting away. So I really, I relied on him and I'm grateful to him for that. Did you guys have to do like chemistry reads as part of your audition process? No. Really? Yeah. So how did they know you guys were gonna do like chemistry reads as part of your audition process? No. Really?

Yeah. So you, how did they know you guys were going to be so great together? I don't know, that's a very good point. I mean, I did two castings and the last one was with Ricky and Asha Teller, our producer and Steve and casting and that was it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you guys, the chemistry between you two and and it's just so like, oh my gosh.

You're just rooting for Don and Tim. You're just rooting for them. Oh, it was a really, but Ricky always said, people come for the comedy, but stay for the story. And I think that's probably good in any comedy show. I mean, you guys have so many great stories playing out, your relationship with Dwight. And you remember that the office is funny

and you come for that and you laugh your head off. But you see all of these stories with characters you love play out and have time and have lengths of time to do it. And it's why you keep coming back, I think. Yeah, for sure. That's, for me, I'm like, what is the heart of the show? It's the people and the connections they make. Yeah.

Well, unfortunately, Dawn's fiance, Lee, is gonna arrive. This is a big shock. We're not expecting it. No. Lee with his giant garbage bag box thing. Yes, because Tim was just suggesting that y'all go out and get drinks. And so all of our hearts are swooning, of course. But no.

And then they have that awkward, awkward silence. Oh, it's so good. And then Tim says, what's in the? And he goes, just tell her I'll be outside. Yes. It's so awkward. He's like, I'm not going to talk to you, man. And I love that they never made the character of Lee a bad person.

He was never a baddie. You know, part of you might think, well, maybe he beats her or maybe he's cheated on her. No, he's just not someone you want her to be with. He's not her person. He's not her person. Yeah. And you could call him things like a loser, blah, blah, blah. But he's not. He's decent enough.

Yeah. Yeah. But it's a, one of those things where so many people settle because maybe they're looking for marriage and some, some kind of continuity or consistency and, and they settle and that's what Dawn has done for all of her life until the very end. You know, she didn't pursue her dream with the drawing. She didn't pursue Tim and, and she stayed with this guy just because it was easier to stay than go, I think. Yeah.

And how many, I mean, I've done it before. Yeah, yeah. No, and I do like that Lee's not a bad guy and I liked that Roy wasn't a bad guy. And one of the things I did love, of course, we had many more seasons and time to show the storyline than you guys did, but I love that Roy found his person. Right?

And learned how to play the piano for her wedding. I mean, it just goes to show that he was meant to be happier too, just the way that Pam was. And, but yeah, so I did like that they didn't make him like sort of this villain person. Yeah. He just wasn't her person. Yeah.

It just wasn't her person and he wasn't a bad person. You just looked at him and knew, please don't end up with him. Right. Please don't. Because he's just going nowhere. He doesn't have any, he doesn't encourage her in any kind of dreams whatsoever. Yeah. He doesn't have dreams for himself.

And I think that's a shame for anyone. She lights up around Tim and her light goes out around Lee. And you just see it in how you played the character. And when I talk about stealing things from you, that was like something that I really noticed in your performance. And I thought, okay, yes, I like this. I like this way that you have different body language around these two different people. Right.

And so, yeah. Yeah. I remember doing the scene at the end of the Christmas specials where Dawn goes home in the taxi with Lee. Yes. Yeah. And then she opens. Oh, it's giving me chills just thinking about it. She opens the paints. Yes.

Just never give up. And just before we filmed that, Steve Merchant came up to me and he said, I'm going to tell you how I'm imagining the scene. I went, okay. And then he said, imagine you open it and then we're going to pull in on you with the camera. it and then we're going to like pull in on you with the camera and just one solitary tear comes down your right eye and I went, geez, Lou, I said, have a word, go home. But I think one did, weirdly. I don't know how many takes we had to do for me to like do that. Sometimes I can cry

naturally and sometimes I have to stick Vic in my eye. Same. Yeah. Same. In this scene where David Brent fake fires you and you have to break down crying, how many times did you have to do that? Do you remember? And was that more like,

did you get yourself really crying? You look like you're pretty upset. I didn't really cry in that scene. I think I put my head in my hands, right? Yeah. You look like you're pretty upset. I didn't really cry in that scene. I think I put my head in my hands, right? Yeah. I think I did that probably to disguise the fact that I wasn't crying.

I know that trick. And then you get the breathing and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. The sniffling. Maybe the end of my pointy nail will stab my eye and then it will cry. It's watering a little. Also, when I really let myself go and cry in a scene,

it's not attractive. Like I don't have the single tear. It's just a big blubber fest. But I quite like that. I like seeing real crying. Emma Thompson always says, you have to earn your cries. And don't just, I've done shows where, you know, everyone's crying all the time.

And I'm like, aren't we desensitized to it? And I remember her in Love Actually. I don't know if you've seen it. I love Love Actually. You're speaking Angela's language. That scene with Joni Mitchell, and she opens it up. She thinks it's to be the necklace.

And then she makes the bed and has this resolve that she's going to go and go to the kids' Christmas play. But her dignified crying. Oh, so good. I have to say, just her story with Alan Rickman in that movie alone was worth watching it for. Oh, my goodness. And I was like, yep, was worth watching it for. Oh my goodness. And I was like, yep, you're right, you're crying.

Yeah. Oh, yes. Well, listen. Yeah. I want you to come back and I want us to do the Christmas episode. Oh, let's do that. The special. Wouldn't that be so great?

Yes, let's do that. Because now I want to watch it again. We're talking about it and I want to watch it again. And also, by that time, I've got things that I can certainly bring you guys. You can't show it on here. Because I went to look, but I don't have the pilot script. But I do have some scripts still from the show. Wow.

And some really cool focus. We didn't then have, I didn't, but we didn't have cell phones where you could take a million photos. No, no, we didn't either. So I do have some really cool pictures and stuff. Oh, I would love to see those. Yeah, we'll have to do a Christmas episode. Okay, done. Well, the episode ends with the David Brent talking head

where he's talking about how the most important thing about a company is not, you know, it's not the building, it's not the stock, it's not the stock, it's not the turnover, it's the investment and the people. We did a very similar Michael Scott talking head. It has the same sort of joke where he's like, you know. Gonna be godfather to someone's child. Yeah.

And then fires him. Yes, it didn't work out. It didn't work out. That kind of completes the episode, but before we go, I have to ask, what has it been like for you to be part of this legacy that is the office? People ask us this all the time, but I mean, for you, it's like you started it all.

I think also because we only did the 14 episodes, where you guys, how many episodes did you do? 201. Oh my God. Yeah. Oh my God. That's where I envy you guys. 200 and one. Oh my god. Yeah. That's where I envy you guys. I'd have loved to have done.

Just to have, that have been my life for several years. Yeah. So obviously to some degree, because we started much before you, and we only did 40 episodes, to some degree it's a blip in the ocean. But it isn't because of the impact that it had. Yes. I remember the first time we were nominated for awards, it was for the Comedy Awards in England, which are quite big award show and a really fun award show to go to.

We were nominated for Best Comedy and Ricky for Best Actor. We were like, what? We've been nominated for the Comedy Awards? And I remember chatting with Ricky on the phone that night when we'd heard and he was like, he said, God, I really hope this will become my cult following. Like, and he gave a, I can't remember what comedy he gave an example of. And we're like, would that be amazing if like people actually watched us more and stuff like that. So we just never saw this.

Yeah. And that lasting-ness of it. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, again, I will know your show more than I will know mine. But that's partly because I don't watch myself hardly ever now. And I've done things that I've never seen. But obviously I've watched all the office. Just don't remember a lot of it. And I wrote a little diary through one of the seasons.

At least one of the seasons. You had a journal? A journal. And I wasn't a big journal writer. Lucy, you know I read from my journal that I kept while we were filming the office on here. They love to make fun of me because I, my journal writing, I write like, I don't know,

what would you say? A fourth grader? Well, we don't know who it's for. It's like you're writing it to your future self so you don't forget things. But with like, it's like you're writing a letter. You'll be like, guess what I did today. Oh, that's great.

You'll never guess. Rain came by my desk. He farted, it was so stinky. Gross. And then I'll say, and then I'll write something like this, story for later, gotta go. Story for later, like to myself, to yourself. That's what it is.

I'm telling myself like diaries. But anyway, you're gonna come back, we're gonna break down the Christmas episode and you're bringing your journal. I like this plan. Okay, I'll do that after we... I remember I did it for a few jobs and I remember thinking it needs to be written so that if God forbid it got into the hands of press or something, it's nothing bad. It's just my day to day or something funny that happened or whatever that is.

Yeah. I can't wait to hear your journal voice. Thank you. I'm really looking forward to what I'm feeling like. Yeah. I mean, you are an office lady. Mm-hmm. You're the original office lady.

You are. I really can't tell you how excited I was to hear from you. And I was like, I wanted to go on this show for ages. Yay! Oh my goodness! Yes. Oh, well thank you so much. I mean, we should tell people how we met.

Yes. You were doing a show. A pilot. Yes, here in LA. Yeah. And my manager had another client on the show, and she said, Jenna, you were just cast on the pilot of The Office. Oh, my gosh. And I think it would be really neat for you

to come and meet Lucy Davis, who originated the role. Oh, my god. And I did. I came to your set, and I think I watched your taping. Yeah. And that was the Aisha Tyler project, I think. Yes. Produced by Lisa Kudra and Dan Kudjinski.

Yes. Yes, that's right. And I mean, I was so starstruck, I didn't even know what to do. You took a picture with me backstage. She showed us the picture when she came to set. I remember we were all abuzz that she had met you. It was my big brag that I had met you. Oh my gosh. And you were so sweet, and you just were so encouraging.

You said, like, I wish you all the success. I mean, everything you were saying at the beginning of this podcast about like, there's room for all of us. And you can be just as big of a success with your version. And it just, you know, we were so nervous about doing it. And that really helped. I think the cast of our office, we were all rooting for you.

We just, we were so, no, God, yeah. You said that and that meant so much. And that gave me so much confidence. So thank you. I am so happy to be back in touch with you. Same. Yeah, me too. It's lovely to meet you, lady. Yes, so lovely to meet you and I can't wait to meet the journal version of you. Oh my God, yes. Lucy, thank you so much for coming by.

Yes. What a wonderful day. Thank you. Thank you. Bye, ladies. Bye, original lady. How lovely was that? I mean, I love that I'm back in touch with her. We've been texting up a storm again and it's just, you know, this podcast, we get to reconnect sometimes with people. And it

just makes me so grateful. Yeah, I'm so grateful that she came in. She was so excited. She's just such a wonderful person. Like the minute you're in the room with her, I just was like, when are we hanging out again? I know. All right. Well, thank you so much, Lucy, for coming in today. And thank you guys for listening. And we'll see you next week. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer

is Cassie Jerkins, our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz. Our theme song is Ruppertree by Creed Bratton.