Office Ladies - The Paper Interviews #4 with Ramona Young & Gbemisola Ikumelo

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

This Friday on Office Ladies 6.0, we have another special bonus episode where Jenna and Angela interview both Ramona Young and Gbemisola Ikumelo who are in the upcoming “Office” spinoff “The Paper”! Ramona talks about how she got her job on “The Paper” and how working on the show differs from past projects. Ramona also shares how she’s worked with Angela three times! Then the ladies talk with Gbemisola Ikumelo who both writes and acts on “The Paper” and she shares how she was cast first and then was invited to the writers’ room. Gbemisola also talks about how her character’s look evolved. This is another great bonus episode, are you ready for “The Paper” on September 4th?! Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTubeFollow 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

Hello, hello. Happy Friday, everyone. We are getting really close to the premiere of the paper. Yeah, it's next week. It's Thursday, September 4th. And then our breakdown of the pilot comes out September 10th. I know. Ah! There is no special episode next Friday because we assume you're all going to be busy watching the paper. Yes. So today we have two interviews for you. The first one is with Ramona Young. You might know her from Mindy Kaling's show Never Have I Ever. She played Eleanor or maybe on D.C.'s Legends of Tomorrow. And you know, we've been sharing in these interviews how during our set visit, we were just grabbing people as they became available. Well, within like seven minutes of talking to Ramona, a production assistant came over and pulled her back to set. I know. And she's so lovely. She shared some fun tidbits. But because our interview with her was cut so short, we thought that,

after the break, you could hear the interview we did with Bemisola Ikumelo, who was both a writer and an actor on the show. She was also a writer and actor on the TV series, a league of their own. Yes, carrying on the tradition of having writer performers on a Greg Daniels show. Yeah. You know, we'll have even more to share about that when we get to our full breakdown of the paper. But let's jump in. Here are your interviews with Ramona Young and Bimisola Ikemello. Ramona, thank you so much for talking to office ladies today about your role on the paper. Can you tell us your character's name and who she is in the world of the show? Yes, I like that you're holding the microphone like a reporter.

Yeah, so my character's name is Nicole Lee. She works in circulation. So basically that means she mass emails people who are signed up and she keeps subscriptions going. How did you get your job on the paper? We always like to hear people's like origin stories. I sent it was a long process. It took like several months. And so it felt like a really big deal and it is.

But I started off with a self-tape. And then I did like a like a like a. like a sit down. Did you guys have that too? Like a sit down with just like Greg and and I sat down with Greg and Michael and we just like talked for like over an hour about my life and I didn't know what to expect. I was just told to show up. This is very Greg. You know, Kelly Cantley, who's one of the first ADs on the show, was also first AD on the office. And her interview when she shares about when she interviewed with Greg was they talked for like an hour and he just asked her about her hobbies and and that she likes to sail and didn't ask her

at all about being an AD. But I think he likes to get to know the essence of a person so he can see if he can be like a creative collaborator with that person. Yeah. I mean, I think there's there's so much about, like, building a community when you're making a show. And I think Greg is really cognizant of that. And so I think he's looking for people who inspire him, you know? And so I think that's part of his process. It's weird, though, right? Because as an actor, you think it's just all about the audition. Right. Like, I'm used to just kind of like showing up and doing my job. But I do feel like this is one of the first projects where I feel like, oh, this is like really personal and they do want to like, you know, they do want me to like share

ideas. And if I want, I can like reach out. Like I, you know, like I never felt really comfortable or as comfortable doing that in the past. But I feel like on this show, it's kind of like a necessity. Yeah, we felt that too. We were able to pitch storylines or ideas that we had. And some of them ended up being episodes. And when we both left the office, we learned pretty quickly that is not the norm on a set. Yeah. Are there any character traits or storylines that you've pitched so far that have made it into the episodes? Storylines, no.

I don't know if I've actually like pitched anything just because I love seeing what the writers come up with. But I do like journaling a lot. And so I'll journal like what I think Nicole's been through in her life and stuff so that maybe it'll inspire something for. other people to write. You know what I mean? Oh, I do. I had a whole Pam document and her whole backstory were things that I invented. And every once in a while over those nine years, some little thing that was in my journal, my backstory, would find its way into the show. Just little

bitty details. So keep it up. Yeah, it makes a difference. Sometimes I'm like, oh, I hope I'm not like overstepping, but they kind of make it feel really welcomed. No, I knew my character really well. I still know exactly how she would react in any moment. In fact, we were watching a scene with Oscar, and I was like, oh, I know exactly how Angela Martin would react in this moment. I could just walk right on that stage. So it's really fun to know your character that well, because then you can play.

Whatever they throw your way, you know what she's going to say. We would love to ask you about your journey in your career. and like how it started and what your background was sort of like how you got to where you are today. Yeah, I guess I started off just kind of like everyone else.

I started making a profile on Actors Access back when I was a teenager and did a lot of background work and YouTube shorts and booked my first co-star and did that. And I don't know if you know this, Angela, but we've worked together like three times.

Oh my God. We've never had any scenes together, but we were on three projects together where I watched you do scenes, which is really creepy to say. I... Hi. Oh, no.

Okay, can she finish this one thing? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I will fess up and say that we were on the real O'Neils together. We were on a Netflix show that I was then recast in, but I showed up for that week together. And we were... What show? I forget the title.

It was like Miranda. Haters back off? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I was there. And we also did Never Have I Ever together. Never have I ever, yes. I mean, I have a very small cameo in that.

You're great. I have, like, I'm barely in it. But that, wow. So, you know what this means? we're meant to finally be in a scene together. Someday, me and you are going to have a scene together. We're just putting it out into the world. I really hope so.

That would be great. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. We hope we get to talk to you again. We know you have to go to work now, but thanks for making the time for us. Thanks. And I just want to say, like, I love the original office cast so much. And you guys seem so intelligent and thoughtful.

And that was one of the things that made me really excited about this project was how great everyone was. Thank you so much. This is an ad by BetterHelp. You know, it feels like nowadays there's advice for just about everything. It's like, do you write in your journal, do you do, I don't know, cleanses or the cold plunge or, you know, what helps you get through the day? helps you get through stressful moments. Mm-hmm. For me, it's talking it out.

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This episode is brought to you by Defender. With its 626 horsepower twin-turbo V8 engine, the Defender Octa is taking on the Dakar rally. The ultimate off-road challenge. Learn more at landrover.ca. Hello, hello. Hello. Could you please tell us your name and your character name?

My name is Bimisala Ikumelo, and I play Adelola Aloffin. Or as you guys may say, Adelola Alofen. And will you tell us what your character's story is on the show, who she is to the world? Yeah. I mean, I think Adelola is. She's an accountant, so she works under Oscar and she works with Adam and I think she's been there for a while. And I think her whole aim in life is just to get through the day, have as little interaction with humans as possible and get home and get under the covers and sleep and generally sort of build up enough money so that she can move out of the place that she lives with with her brother. and his fiancé.

That's kind of the story I have in my mind for her. Yeah. I love that. We both knew our characters very well and kind of had our own backstories. We would love to know a little bit about your audition process and how you came to be on the show.

Yeah. I mean, it was just like, it's just like any other day. I got a sort of a tape sort of come through a sort of self-tape for a top secret show. And they was like, we can't tell you what it is. And it was just, and it was obviously sort of dummy script.

And there was sort of lines in there that were said talking head stuff. And I started going sort of stroking my whiskers going, could it be? Could it be? But I didn't want to assume anything. But yeah, so I just sort of did a lot of tapes for a random character whose name I don't even remember anymore. And then my agent after that was like, yeah, Gregory liked the tape. And we can confirm it is for a show that's going to be set in the office universe. I was like, okay. And then I met with Greg and with Komen via Zoom, because I was in the UK. And he was just like, yeah,

we loved it. And talking a little bit about what this is going to be. Because it, I mean, even the scripts didn't, weren't what they were. So it is all, we have no idea where we're going with this story, with this character. So it's all sort of just trusting the genius that is, you know, the other of the creatives on this show. And then, and then we started bringing up writing, because you're a writer, right? And I said, yeah, yeah, I wrote on another US show. I was in the writer's room for another US show called League of Their Own. And he was like, oh, great.

And I said, I'd love to, you know, be in the room if that's an option. He was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's look at that. And the next thing I knew, I was in the room and in the cast. So it kind of, yeah, it happened really quickly, you know, yeah. So you're one of our crossovers. You are both a writer and an actor on the show. I am one of the crossovers. I am both a writer and an actor in the show, yeah.

So is that something? I'm sorry. No, you go, you go. Is that something you've ever done before where you've done both on the same project? Yes. So with Liga their own, it was the same thing. I'd auditioned as an actor and when they were put in the room together

I just went, hi, I'm also a writer and I would love to be considered and they considered me and it was such an amazing experience and that was sort of in the height of COVID and everyone was so it was very remote it was the first sort of remote writer's room thing that I'd done

that was for Liga their own and it was kind of as it was a similar vibe with this because I, for the first 40% of the room room, I was in the UK zooming in, and then in the summer I flew out and joined the room in person. So, yeah. Okay, well, I'm very curious, where do they have you seated in the world of the show?

You're right in the middle of the bullpen, right? They don't have you tucked away somewhere so you can sneak off to the writer's room. God, I actually, in hindsight, I'm like, yeah, we should have tucked me away somewhere because I'm, yeah, I'm there all the time. There were days, I'm like, oh, I just, I just, I just sit here and then the shot and just type away, cool, got it, got it. But, yeah, so there's no sneaky, there's no sneaky offy. I'm right there. But not in the middle.

It's a very, it's a very, much a bigger kind of office than the office. And so there's sort of lots of, there's a very few staff for the space that it is, you know, which is, I think, an interesting commentary on where we are with journalism, you know. So, yeah, so we're in the encounter's corner of the room. But yeah, we are definitely in that, the middle of that space. Right. You're not back in the annex. That's where they put Paul and Mindy.

They were way back there. How much input did you get to have into your character's look, into your hair, makeup, wardrobe? Sabrina talked a little bit about how maybe she had some ideas about how her character dressed. And I'm just curious, we had a lot of input on the office. So how has that been here? actually really great it was actually really interesting because she went on a very interesting

journey the character and I think Greg was and Coleman were really great at sort of letting me figure her out and kind of go in a little bit of a different direction and I sort of woke up one day

and I said I think she I wanted to feel more a bit weirdo burnout vibes just I wanted to feel a little bit less professional like she sometimes hasn't figured out what she's going to wear and she's running late for work and she just you know effortlessly picks out the most clashy clothes but she's not doing it on purpose she's just like these will do and i'd sort of put a character bible together as well so i'd sort of nerded out a bit and because i really was trying to it was a little bit it's

a bit of a challenge when you're you've got other characters in your head as a writer that you're pitching for and, you know, to actually spend time with just Adelola and figuring out who she is. So I had to go away and just go, who is she for me? And so I did this big old document and with images of what she looked like and what, you know, where she, where she studied, where she was born. And so when I gave that reference to Grecky was like, yeah, that look, let's do that. And to the wardrobe department's like credit, they turn that whole new look around in like a 24-hour period and the next day came in and she was just it was just color it was vibrant septum rings and you know and things like that so um so no i was really so i did get some input in there but the

team turned that around in such a and elevated what was in my head in a you know really different way this is our favorite thing this is our we love investing in getting to know your character and what's their backstory and the fact that you did a character like bible that's we just love it We love going back and looking at the characters from the office and reading their show Bible. It's just so cool. I love that you did that. I don't always do that for characters as an actor, but for this one, it was just like, and, you know, I think there's, you know, there are some characters that are, that kind of, you know, will grow as a story gets along. So, and especially in the office as well, it was just characters that suddenly, you know, they had smaller parts and then they became fan favorites and they sort of grew and they, you know, became.

sort of really iconic and some characters are just like it'd be a look that they do that would that the audiences loved and so with Adelola I don't think she's right you know she doesn't always say much it's always that sort of look and it's always the sort of her interpretation of what's going visually what's going on in the space around her but so for that I felt like I needed to know what her inner life was even more than I would normally because actually maybe she, it's a lot of what's going on in her head rather than what she says. So that was, yeah, it felt really necessary for me. What she's not saying says more, yeah.

Yeah, and how she's not saying it with like a roll of the eyes and, you know, and an inhale of breath and, you know, what that is. And yeah, so it was really good for me to know what her inner life was and what she's going back home to and where she's come from and what the expectations of her are. so I can yeah so in your backstory she lives with her brother she lives with her brother and and his fiancee who both have the same first name and she finds it really annoying this is what you've created I love it has Greg signed on to that I mean this is I mean it's there it's there for the taking who knows with that you know that'll happen down the line but

but yeah that's um yeah I love that you know I My husband on his side of the family, his cousin's name is Corey, girl, Corey, married a man named Corey. So they're Corey and Corey. Yeah, I kind of, yeah, in my mind, I'm not sure if I should say if it ends up getting used, but in my mind, they're Bola and Bala. And one Bala is spelled with a GB and one is with a B. And that's those are their names. Is your character British or is she, she's American? Can we hear your American accent?

Oh, God, don't make me talk in an American accent, please. But, like, literally, I have to just talk like this the whole time on set. Otherwise, like, people start making me feel British. So, like, every time I open my mouth, melvin the blah, oh, my God, trumpet, clumpet. And it's like, dude, I can't. Top of the morning, too, you, governor. It's all that nonsense. It's all of that.

It's like, scones, what in it, blood? So I've, I sort of, and I don't know that I'm doing it anymore, that I'm sort of slipping in and out of the accent. I'll just suddenly start talking like that. And then I'm like, oh, God, I'm here. I didn't realize. So, yeah, it's, that's so wild. I worked on a show over in London. I did a show called You, Me, and the Apocalypse.

It ran for one season. The three Americans in the show were Megan Malawi, me and Rob Lowe, and then otherwise a fully British cast. And one of the things that I remember when I would get to work, I asked for a cup of coffee. And it was like 15 minutes later, a single cup of like French press coffee in a mug. And it was so civilized. And I coveted this cup of coffee. And then around 4 o'clock, the craft services would, bring in tea and biscuits like a whole tea setup and little biscuit cookies and i thought oh my gosh it's

real they really they really stop for tea and biscuits at 4 pm this is wonderful what are some of the quirks coming the other way as you've come to america to work what are you tell us our quirks oh no your crafty is like is like on steroids it's like you talk about little quaint cuts and then cut and then little biscuits. You guys have donuts on donuts and then there's and then there's like hot crafty. They're like hot crafty. I'm like, aren't we about to have dinner? No, but there's also hot crafty.

There's like the kimchi bowls and pasta. We had ramen noodles like an hour before lunch. And then there's like hot dogs and and and and bagels and juice and and then little like pasta salad. of things in the fridge it's endless and then obviously then the just the popcorn

and the nuts and the this and the that so it is like going into a corner shop like a or call it like a

a a um oh the a bodega a bodega yeah going into like a bodega and not having to pay for any of the stuff in there

and just and you'll see me often just taking shopping for the like at the end of the week I just like well I'll just take that for the week home or for my trailer. Also, you have the best caterer because you have Sergio, who we also had.

And if you haven't tried his homemade salsa yet, it's his mother-in-law's recipe. It is the best salsa I've ever had. I have years have said, you need to sell this salsa. And he goes, no, it takes too long to make it. We couldn't turn a profit. So you have the best of the best on this set. No, food is amazing. The first day I did a sort of video of it when it was just steak.

and everyone would like, how would you like your steak? I was like, how would I like my steak? They were making steak to order. I was this just, it was, it was insane. The food is amazing, like on, like, yeah, it's just crazy. And I, every time I come to America and film here, it's, it's the same thing. It's just so much food. And it's a beautiful thing, but for someone like me who never says no to food,

like it's the African in me, it's like it's rude. And I can't waste food. So I become like a human dumpster, even when I'm full. I'm like, oh, God, I'll keep eating. And so it's not good. You just slipped into American. It's not good. I don't even know that I'm doing it anymore.

Well, thank you so much for talking with us. This was amazing. We are wishing you much success on the show. Can't wait to see it. Yes. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. You're so lovely.

Andge, I'm bummed that we didn't get to interview Melvin during our visit because he is so great. He is one of my favorite supporting characters. Yeah, we did get to meet him on the set, but we didn't get an actual interview with him. And now that I'm four episodes in, I want to see more of his character. He's so good. And he really makes me laugh. Yeah. I love his character's take on things as they happen.

Also, I can't believe how many times Ramona and I have always. almost shared the screen together. I feel like fingers crossed, Ramona, the odds are in our favor here. Well, maybe in season two of the paper. Don't put it out there. Someone's going to write it up that we're in season two. Well, I also love how much input Bimasola had in her character's wardrobe because it reminded me a little bit of Mindy how the first instinct for the character of Kelly was for her to be this buttoned up, like high neckline conservative character that Mindy slowly transformed her. I just kind of like it. That like Bimisola was like, no. From the beginning. I'm unbuttoning her immediately and from the beginning. Oh, and also her backstory for her character, that her character

lives with her brother and her brother's fiance and they have the same names. It was so, so detailed. I know. I feel like that is something that would totally make it into an episode. someday. I hope it does. I thought it was hilarious. I really loved her story of how she usually stays in her American accent while she's on set. It must be so wild for her castmates when she is suddenly very British. I wondered if Donald Gleeson stays in his American accent, too. Yeah. I don't know. A question for next time. Yeah. Okay, everyone, thank you for joining us these past few Fridays. This has been a lot of fun. Yeah. Thanks again to Greg for inviting us to the set for that visit. We will be back next Wednesday with All About Phyllis Lapin, and then on September 10th, with our breakdown of the pilot of the paper.

See you then. 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 Bubico. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

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