Brian Baumgartner's Not Kevin IRL

Brian Baumgartner is best known as Kevin from The Office. He outlines the series' rapid growth on DVDs, streaming, and the video iPod after its original run on NBC. The series' universal reliability, impeccably stacked cast, and four-episode arcs helped make it a classic. A theater kid at heart, Brian stumbled into television acting after falling in love with Los Angeles. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, before we start the episode, this is Zach
Braff here. I just want to say, have a very
big announcement that you're gonna want to know about. So
check out my instagram on October seventeenth. You're gonna want
to check in because I have a very exciting big announcement.
So mark your calendars. Set an alarm October seventeenth around

(00:20):
ten am. Mega announcement coming. Here's the show.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
We have a live audience. No, it might be want
someone on his team or something. I didn't realize we
had a live audience. We don't if we have. If
we have a live audience, that'd be kind of cool.
If we could do that too. We could do the
show live. We should do it live. We should have
a live audience and sell tickets for the live Well,
you need to be edited and I need to be edited. Yeah,

(00:45):
but the live audience, the live audience can't record, can they.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
I'm sure they can record, and they're just gonna wait
for you to say something stupid right now.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It might happen today, and it might happen a day
and you.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I are still able to do this podcast is
because Daniell edits.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
It Listen, we've said some of the most. You're absolutely right,
we've been so insensitive sometimes.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, and when you clean for two hours and you
sometimes broach sensitive issues, it's it's nice to be edited.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
You don't.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
You don't always not everyone is going to stick the
landing with how they phrase things.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Now, listen, I'm gonna say this. Go ahead. My wife
was saying this earlier to me today. She's like, baby,
there's nothing wrong with middle of a road. I was like,
what are you talking about. She's like, when you strive
to be too famous, things can go wrong just by

(01:44):
one thing you say. But when you strive to be
just you know, do you man? Make do what you
do best?

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yes, Donald, I agree. And also, don't throw freak offs because.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Watch it. But I'm not.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Saying anything other than I learned what a freak off was.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I didn't know that freak offs were a thing. I
have so many questions where Daniel will have to cut
it all if we go into it. But I just
want to say I'm being educated.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Can we get a can we get a quick overview
of what a freak off is?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, but keep it one hundred man, I get it.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Let's on me talk about this in a way that
Daniel won't have to cut right, Okay, one is a
freak off Donald.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
First of all, there's levels to it, and I've ever
been to one. No, That's what I'm trying to say.
There's levels to it, and I am on a certain level,
and then there's a whole another level.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I didn't know that there was nothing about it. I
didn't know there was a freak off level.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I didn't know about the freak off level either, And
I like to think I'm well connected. I now know
that I am not.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
You have never been to a freak cough.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I'm assuming I've never been to a freak off, Daniel,
have you ever been to a freak off? I think
I left. I'm sure I left early.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I'm still not sure what a freak off. I assume
a freak off is. People try and outdo one another
with sexual acts so that people.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Are like, WHOA.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
I thought what I was doing was crazy. What you're
doing is next level. And this is a public space,
you know, think of it like think of it like,
think of it.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Like it's like a break, like step it, step up.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Step up the street.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I was he gonna say step up. I was gonna say, like.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
The you know, the NBA does the Basketball Dunking Company.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
No, the Dunking Company Saturday Night. Yeah, I dun like
step up, like you bring your crew, bring my crew?
Every freak off?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh no, I think it's absurd. In the freak off
you mean like you mean, like, what's time we were
Julia Stiles learns to break.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
The last dance. There's no battling.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
There's battling and say the last like not like but
all right, but listen, what's the other one that's doing
my analogy? Can we go with my analogy?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Please? In the NBA dunking competition, what's the one with
Chris Brown?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Ok, it's like the dunking competition, but with sexual acts.
I'm assuming where someone's like, yo, he just went that
was insane. The crowd goes wild, and now it's my,
me and Tom's turn, and we're gonna let me show
you what a freak is.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Freaking off.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, they free and then the audience is like, wow,
they freaked.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Off holding up tins nine. Yeah, it's a freak off.
It's a freak off. Dan, have you ever been to
one of those? Daniel? You know, I haven't.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
I'm sorry, I'm missing out on the freak Wonder if
I've been to parties where they are like, all right,
get everyone out of here who's like normal, and then
we're gonna have a off and I'm like, oh, the
party's over, going home. And then they're like and they're
like to get the yeah, get the normies out, like
turn off the lights. Like everyone like, oh, we're all leaving.
We're all leaving. And then I go home and I'm
like in bed, like reading my book, and there then

(05:01):
the freak off.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Starts right right. Wow. By the way, Donald, that movie
you were thinking of was Stomp the Yard. Stomp the Yard.
That's the one Columbus Short, Columbus Short and and Chris
Brown Donald one with a marion. Then there's one with
a marion and B two k in them and they
had a real popular one too, and they're trying to

(05:23):
it's like a community center that all the dances. I forget.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
The funny ship is Julia Styles learning to break dance.
That ship's amazing. Have you ever seen that video on
the internet when she like she finds the rhythm of
the city. It's amazing, Yo, you gotta watch you just
look on you like.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
A fucking exact Oh you know, said then doing that thing.
I told her rhythm.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
I just remember there's a clip that's so cringe where
she's like she's learning to break like by looking at
the rhythm of the city, and like she sees people
playing basketball, and then she's like she sees how they move,
and then.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
She think, that's honey, that's honey.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Oh I'm conflating two movies.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's fine, that's honey, that's what. That's what just.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, it's two different women who learned the rhythm of
the streets. Yeah, well, the Puffies, Puffy's in a lot
of trouble. Holy shit, I don't think out of shill.
I mean, I've just been writing so much about it.

(06:33):
I didn't know anything about any of this. I really
know very little about Puffy, but I've just been reading,
as I'm sure a lot of people have. It's insane
what's been going on over it just.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Goes deeper, Like it just is deeper than we thought
it was. That's all, Like, no, I don't know anything,
you don't know anything like that just shows we don't know.
But they were so many charges.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
I've been reading, like The Feds don't bring that many
charge arges unless they like have it all Like, they
don't they don't do what they did or the Rico
case unless they like have it all, right, Dan, you
know more about this than me. It's all allegedly. We
got to say it's all allegedly. But I'm saying little
I know about Rico charges and that's very little.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Like they don't show their cards until they like have
it all right?

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Right?

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, it's no joke at this point.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, I will say this man for a really long
it's it's heartbreaking in a lot of ways too, because
Puff was a hero to a lot of young men,
a lot of people, you know what I mean. And
if this is the way it goes down, holy shit. Wow.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
You know, well you might you might learn there might
be things proven that make him uh a really horrible,
horrible person.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
We don't know, Yeah, I mean, you know, videos don't lie.
You know already the video of him. I don't want
to go into it, but anyway, Yeah, Daniel, I.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Was just going to say, you know, it's it is
always disappointing when you find out people that you previously
looked up to are monsters. You could say the same
thing about Bill Cosby. He was America's dad. He was
also a monster, and it's like, that's tough.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
This one came out of the blue, thought, I mean,
just because I don't really know much about Puffy, to
be honest, I really don't. I know he was, I
know he was, I know all this like how he
influenced hip hop and everything, and I know very little,
but I this, this just came out of like all
of a sudden. This this is I mean, the articles
are everywhere and they're and they're so crazy, and people

(08:32):
are fucking quitting. Do you see all these people that
are that are quitting, stepping down.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
From the jobs, from their jobs. They were definitely at
the freak off. Well, I don't know if they were
at the freak off, but it's very unusual that all
of a sudden people are like, you know what, I'm
gonna I'm gonna retire early.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
But I'm thirty. What else would we talk about? I
don't know what else to say about the freak off?

Speaker 4 (08:59):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
I ran into two actors who love you, Donald and
both want to come on the podcast at the Emmys.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Dou Lay Hill, right, you know, I love me some
dou lay hill, hold on, what go ahead?

Speaker 4 (09:13):
I love me.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
I was at the Emmys recruiting people left and right
and I and I thought I got dou late to say, yes.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Okay, that's wonderful. Go and I'm listening. I look at
but I look good.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
Do you like my joke?

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Did you watch my joke? I didn't watch you.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
No, but my joke.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
You can watch it on YouTube. You said I'll watch
it on YouTube after the show. Come on, man, I'll
watch it after this show.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
I was texting you for your input, I know, and
I you didn't watch it. You know how I need
to watch it because after it crushed and it did
really well.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
You didn't text me.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
You didn't text me and be like, yo, you crushed.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Damn did you watch it?

Speaker 4 (09:50):
I did watch it. You did crush.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
So I'm not I'm not going to reveal it right now.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Because I know he knows the joke because I was
texting him for thought. I was texting him for thoughts
on it. And let me tell you something. I it's
pretty ballsy to do a joke you never rehearsed in
front of millions and millions and millions of people. Absolutely,
especially a joke that's got that's a little bit complex,
a little bit complex.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Just just just an instructure.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And and Bill was helping me with it, and he's like,
don't go for like four laps, dude, because you're gonna
be milking it. Go for like, go for like one
solid laugh. And I go, are you kidding me? I've
seen Christin wigg up there like get like five laughs
out of one sentence, Like I'm gonna try to like
milk the fucking thing. I only got like one line.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
And and so.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's so ballsy because we never rehearsed, and I went
up there and it fucking crushed.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
I got like four laughs out of like two sentences.
That's crush the dude. That's awesome. You know what it's
like though, it's being like a parent because you do
it to me sometimes, and I know why you do it.
I'll have something that's coming out, and instead of going
right away to go see that ship, I'll wait because

(10:57):
I want I don't want it to be bad, and
I don't want it to be you know what I mean,
And me have to look you in the face, so
I'll wait. I'm surprised you don't want to say a.

Speaker 4 (11:06):
Thing to me.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Fuck you, don't even try it. Man, it took you
nineteen years to see remember the Titans, So don't even
try it.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
That was really bad, But that's just because I was
I don't know why I was weird, but I I
got to tell you, I was really nervous about it
because to get up in front of that room. I mean,
it's like all of the all of the people killing
it in Hollywood, and and and then of course who
all the millions of people who are watching at home,
and it's one thing that just like you should have

(11:33):
seen what they wrote. For me, it was like, oh
my god, I'm not going to get up in front
of those people and say this horrible, stupid joke. It's
not going to get eat in a chuckle. So then
I was like, I gotta like, I gotta shine, I
gotta like try and write something, and it has to
be quick because these things are quick. So I really
worked on it hard and UH and got some input
from from friends, including you, and UH and.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Thought I thought it was funny. From the gate. I like,
I like the banter between you and men from the gate.
I think your sister gave you some really good fucking advice.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Ay the way, that's someone else we're gonna have on
is Jessica Curson, my sister for those who don't know,
is a stand up whose career is just beginning finally.
I mean she's been at it and and now she's skyrocking.
She's got a Hulu special. She's fucking blowing up. Jessica Curson.
Check her out. But she's a great joke writer obviously
as a as a pro stand up who's crushing it.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
She's been in it for a while. Man, she's been
in we first met well, it's kind of like at
the same time when Scrubs was happening. She kind of
Last Man Standing is a long long ride.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
She was on that comic competition Last Man Study. But like,
if you go to New York and you go to
The Cellar, which is, you know, the best comedy club
on McDougal Downtown, you know, she's like, you know, one
of their staples. She's like one of the And if
you ever watched that show, what's Pete Holmes's show called
Again Crashing, it was about stand up comics. Jessica plays
herself a lot of New York stand ups play themselves

(12:58):
in it, and Jessica played herself in it, and she
was really funny on that. But now you know she's
finally getting her flowers. She got a big special And anyway,
Donald's right, Jessica gave me a help me with a
joke because you know, I'm not a I'm not a
stand up comic, so she helped me refine it too.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
It takes a lot to be It takes a village.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Well.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Also, but listen, man, you think you think Eddie did
it by himself. He had two of the best with him.
He had Keenan and he had freaking Uh and he
had Robert Townsend. I'm just saying.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Saying that what stand ups do is they try joke out.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
It bombs. They go, I gotta work on it.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
They tried another joke out, and they refine it, and
they refine it and they refine it and by the
time you probably hear in the cellar in New York City,
it's fucking great. This was like a kind of a
big swing with no rehearsal in front of millions of people.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
It's either gonna it's gonna go one of two ways.
One way, you're sweating bullets.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Bullets dude, we get backstage, you'll see when you see this,
like they built this whole hospital set and we didn't.
I thought it was like we're going there and the Emmys,
you know, like anything. You get up and you get
at the microphone and you each say a sentence and
then we get backstage and they're like, okay, so when
you guys, when the curtain goes up, these these extras
are gonna run through with a stretcher and and uh

(14:16):
and you guys will come in and then you're gonna
come to these marks and then then they start giving
us like blocking and there it's like a countdown. I'm like, wait,
what what's happening with a stretcher? Like all this shit's
happening backstage. I can see Mindy Kaling starting and be like,
oh shit, we should have come to rehearsal. And mackay
Fifer's cool as a cucumber, cool as a cucumber.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
He went to rehearsal.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
No, I don't know if he went to rehearsal, but
he was like he's sitting there tunnel like, so, how's
Donald man? I'm like, bro, I cannot small talk right now,
Like we are about to go live.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
What I was already.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
God, he's gonna come on the podcast too. But McKay
was like chill, and I was like, I felt like
I was. I was trying to hold together because McKay
was so chill, too chill for me, because he was
trying to have a small talk mindy I can see
was kind of like, whoa, there's a stretcher, there's blocking.
We should have come to rehearsal. And I'm in the middle,
like you guys just got to say, like the setup sentences,
I gotta fucking crush this joke, and uh, it.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Was really funny. It was really funny.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Anyway, he's the sweetest guy and he wants to come
on the show and he asked about you.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
He couldn't be nice to that guy. He's a great dude.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
Man.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I've known him since New York City, before I left
New York City. We were young in New York City.
I remember I remember when he Oh my god, I
remember the heat when he popped in New York. Oh
my goodness, gracious, I remember everything.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Movie.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
What was the movie that popped him? Well? He did?
I think it was fresh? Was it fresh?

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Dan?

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Will you check? That was his first big break. I
remember because we're because we're in the same age that
he like, all of a sudden the guns. It was
the one where they were selling guns and stuff like that,
and it was him and Fredro Star and then he did,
I know what you did? And then it just went on.
He was like, and I know what you did last summer?
He did that high school high wasn't paid full?

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Was it no?

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Paidful? As much like that's the Dope Ship with him
Wood and freaking camraon that ship. Oh my god. He
has one monologue in that movie That's the Fire Ship
where he just gets out of jail and he automatically
wants to go back into selling drugs and he gets
emotional about that ship. He's like, I love selling drugs, yo,
this motherfucker yo. Sweat of course.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Man.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Then there's a like he has a and he has
a very long career also man.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah, and then he did then he did a yard
like yeah he he But he's so real and just
the nicest person, except I didn't know how to tell him.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
I didn't want to act nervous.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
But he's like, literally we're like thirty seconds to the
curtain going up, and he's like, so how is Donald.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I'm like, bro, now.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Pace, I need to pace, and I need to say
like the lips, the tip of the teeth and the tongue.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
And I was trying to make him go away. I'm like,
he's good, good, he's got kids. How was the kids?

Speaker 1 (17:06):
They go, yeah, yeah, he's got kids. He goes, I
got two kids. I'm like that's great, that's great. And
he's like, how many kids? How many ms? Donald have him? Like, Bro,
I cannot he has six, but I can't tell.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
He goes six. I'm like, I can't talk right now, Mackay.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
I gotta get together.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
But that's how cool he was about it. He didn't
give a fuck. It was like we were It was
like we were both like going to get coffee.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Right on, right on. I love it. We should talk
about our guests, guys, Brian baumb Gardner. Am I saying
that right? Daniel?

Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know everything bomb Gardner from the offices here, And
that's exciting because we have a lot of I have
so many office questions.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
What I have? I have? I have quite a few
office questions. Actually, yes, like you know, how did y'all
keep a straight face'll? You know, like that's a lot
of improms.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I want to know just people on our show always
ask like, how did you guys make it through that?

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well?

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I want to ask how they made it through Steve
Carrell because I find him to be one of the
funniest people in the world and very.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Quick on his toes. He's a savvy individual.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
I can talk to you forever. We have so much
to catch up on. But we should probably invite our
guests in Who's Waiting? Because I was a little bit tardy.

Speaker 5 (18:20):
Six seven Stories show we made about a bunch of
dogs and nurses said.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
He's the Stories news. No, so YadA here? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (18:41):
What is hey?

Speaker 2 (18:46):
What is really good with you? Brian?

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Hello?

Speaker 2 (18:51):
What is really good with you? Brian?

Speaker 1 (18:53):
I'm so sorry we're tardy. I fucked up the timing
of this, and we're so honored to have you on
the show.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
But now I follow, we're late, You're You're good? Are
we are we good?

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Here?

Speaker 4 (19:02):
Are you hearing me? Are you hear you?

Speaker 2 (19:04):
You look much like yourself?

Speaker 4 (19:06):
I look like myself. There you go.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
You don't sound like you don't sound like the character Brian.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
They don't seem simple and are already.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Disappointed he's a good actor. Is he's a good actor.
He he looks like like, yo, he's Kevin, dude, He's
totally Kevin in real life. Within two seconds, you're like, ship,
he's not fucking Kevin.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Does that happen to you, Brian? People like, please be
more like Kevin?

Speaker 4 (19:34):
Uh? For sure? But I mean I do have to say, Zach,
it's nice to see you recently in a role that
that's like you. So I really appreciated Bad Monkey. You
actually play a character that's like you. That is my
true or at least your Hollywood reputation.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, that's my true self. Lazy stupid guy.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
No, he's like a drug to who spoilers? I can't
say all the spoilers. Okay, yeah, go on, Brian, what
what when people come up to you? Sorry, we shouldn
jump right in because I fucked up the time. We
don't have to know you're good when people come up
to you and you're you must be so recognized all
the time because the show is one of the most
beloved shows of all time. Do they are they surprised

(20:19):
when you like form normal sentences and aren't a simpleton?

Speaker 4 (20:26):
I've little sometimes for sure. Yeah, you know, It's one
of these things where and I don't I don't know
you guys experience it, and I certainly don't want to
I don't want to overstate the case. But you know
what I say to people is The Office like we
were a hit, right, Like we were. We were big

(20:48):
on NBC and people watched and and you know, nominated
for the stuff and in some cases one but I
don't know of another show and television that actually once
we were done, we became much bigger, wow, like all
through you know, the streaming and the pandemic and the

(21:09):
Netflix and the whole thing. And it was sort of
like we've been done four or five years and and
and then I started getting mobbed in the airports, you know,
like it was this weird thing that is weird. It
sort of continued to grow, you know, way after I
think a whole I think there's.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Like maybe seven shows and you guys all came around
the same time. That grew strictly from And I was
talking about this earlier with our producers from DVD. Man,
if it wasn't for DVD sales back in the day,
man and The Office being the box set being on DVD,

(21:51):
it's right that's how people found you guys later on,
like you wasn't on Netflix. Well, we were looking at
we were looking at our notes and stuff like that,
and DVD, you guys weren't popular in the first season.
It wasn't I would say, like season three, Oh sure,
you guys took off, right, Yeah, DVD is what really
helped out.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
If you ask me, do you to some extent, But
I mean, I think more significantly back then it was, uh,
it was the video iPod, Like we launched in right
as we started, and then there was the video iPod,
and you know, our our mutual bosses over there at

(22:33):
NBC Universal they put us probably as like an experiment,
like well you can have this little show for free
or whatever. Oh and then you know, you started being
able to download shows right back in the day a
dollar ninety nine or two ninety nine a show or whatever.
And we were like in the middle of the second

(22:54):
season and suddenly those lists started coming out like they
have now, like most streamed or whatever, and we were
like number one on that. It was like, wait, how
did that? What? Who's you know? And I think it
was young people with iPods that you know, found the
show sort of subversive and you know, different that they

(23:18):
could appeal to, and that's kind of where yeah, the
success of like our original run started it.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yet I just remember having that box set and at night,
me and my now wife playing season one through five.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
All right.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
We were still making Scrubs at the time, but to
go to bed, we would play season one through five
in the box set and just thinking, holy shit, how
have I been missing? I was on NBC with you guys,
How have I been missing this show? And being so
fucking phenomenal?

Speaker 4 (23:51):
Man.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
I think another generation also just found it continues to
find it, you know. I think it is the streaming
platform Netflix that it's all now how we're on peacocky Yeah,
but whenever it was on Netflix, right yeah? And so
it just because it which allowed a whole new generation
of young people to find it. And it's so subversive
in a lot of ways. It's so on PC in

(24:13):
a lot of ways. Yes, And I think that there's
a lot of young people who are like, oh, like this,
this can't kind of show couldn't really be on in
this way anywhere?

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Right? Right?

Speaker 4 (24:25):
Right?

Speaker 5 (24:25):
Right?

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Isn't it sort of refreshing?

Speaker 1 (24:27):
I mean I was watching some episodes on the plane
because it's kind of on one of my go to
I want you to know, you're one of my go
to plane shows. When they when they have the office
on the on the plane, that's what I watch because
I know I'm gonna laugh.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
I know I'm gonna laugh.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
And also I love about it is like there is
a rough season arc obviously, but you can kind of
just bop in at any moment and you're gonna laugh
at whatever is happening.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Well that that's actually a big discovery. So this is
it's a little deep, and I don't I think meta
is the wrong word. But the show was built for
streaming before streaming exists. And I'll tell you what I mean.
He Greg Daniels, our creator, He wrote a lot of
like three and four episode arcs, right, So it's like

(25:13):
Idris Elba comes in to be this temporary boss and
he's there three or four episodes, and then he goes,
Jim goes and takes a job at the other paper.
Come and this lasts for a few episodes and it
goes or this relationship or this whatever. And so I
think that people, you know, it's twenty two minutes if
you're watching it or whatever, and it's like, Okay, we

(25:36):
can watch three episodes, have a little story, and then
be like, okay, we'll pick that up later. I think
some people have said that, but I think to your
point about the young people, I always said the subversive thing.
I think that sort of a new discovery for me
is that the relationship between an unreasonable boss who makes

(25:59):
his employees unreasonable embarrassing things is closely mirrored to an
unreasonable teacher who makes their students do unreasonable things while
sitting next to people who you don't choose to sit
next to, and you have projects and all of that.
And I think that relatability for high school, college, even

(26:23):
junior high, Like, I think that's a real, real thing.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
And also dealing with people who like Steve Carrell, never
says the right thing, and everyone in their life has
someone who's older who doesn't say the right thing, and
they're and they're trying to educate them and why they
can't say that. But watching him fumble through, I mean,

(26:48):
he's so fucking perfect in that role that.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Every everyone that's nice.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean tell us about sorry, let's go back
to the very beginning and just tell us about because
I always like to hear audition stories.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
How did you get this this amazing role? Well, so
you're a Northwestern graduate, aren't you?

Speaker 4 (27:09):
So I went I went to no. So I went
to northwesterns. Like they're the Cherub program.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yes, that's for people who don't know. That's like their
high school summer program.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
Yeah, which is like one year between junior and senior year.
And I did that and that was where for me
because one of the things that I talk about people
when I'm talking to them is like, when for you
did it become like, oh, this is what I want
to do as opposed to a hobby. And maybe that's
because for me, like it was like, oh, I'm going
to do this play in school, I'm gonna, you know,

(27:43):
audition for this or whatever. But I just felt like
it was an activity or I don't know what helped
me get into college. But then I'll be a lawyer
or whatever. And that was the moment for me where
I was like, oh, like creating a character and objectives
and all of the physical and I'm gonna do voice.

(28:04):
And I was like, Oh, this is like a thing.
And that's where I decided. I went to SMU in Dallas,
and I think the thing for me, which I don't
know if it's unique or not, but I never I'm
curious about you guys, like I never thought truly, I

(28:24):
never thought about film and television, Like I watched television
and I watched movies, but there was a disassociation for
it was like I'm a theater guy. Like that's what
I'm doing, and that was sort of all I wanted
to do. I didn't have any and it wasn't like
I thought I couldn't or I don't know. There just

(28:46):
was like a consciousness thing for me, Like I never
was like I'm going to audition for this commercial or
this TV show or whatever. So I was doing theater
and then visited Los Angeles and well, and also lived
doing eight shows a week in the theater and like
this is not easy for the rest of my life.

(29:09):
So I was primarily based in Minneapolis, and I would
say that, you know, there's the Guthrie Theater there, which
is like a huge regional theater. And I was traveling
around and doing shows, touring some of New York and
Chicago and San Francisco and Dallas and you know, sort
of doing that and I was getting jobs, and then

(29:31):
was like, okay, I think I think I want to
for I just fell in love with Los Angeles, like
the weather, like the city, like city outre nineties in
Westwood at a coffee bean, was like, wow, this. You
don't get this in Minneapolis. And so you know, I

(29:52):
struggled doing shows for not a lot of people, or
doing a lot of shows.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
When I how did you make a living when you
moved out to La.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
So well, this is my point, which I was a
bunch of excuses. And then to say I met the
folks on the office just a couple of months after
I moved. Oh wow, So I.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Don't they want to put a disclaimer to the audience
that don't do that.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
But that doesn't happen.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
It doesn't, It really does. It doesn't. But I will
say this, and this is kind of a new discovery
for me, which is I I think the fact that
I hadn't been here for that show really helped me
because I was so I wasn't like, there was no nerves.

(30:46):
I wasn't nervous, and there's sort of every step along
the way, I was like, well, of course this is
going to happen, Like I didn't have that like self
doubt or like feeling like this is the most important
thing if I don't get it, like I only.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Thought even though you moved here, you would knew you
would still be like, holy shit, this could be life changing.

Speaker 4 (31:06):
No, it's weird. I don't know why. I can't really
explain why, but the but I was but that that
part was certainly lucky. But think about this too, though.
When we started right, so I was hired in let
me get the math right. The pilot was like February

(31:28):
of two thousand and four, between February of two thousand
and four and September or you know, August when we
came back to work of two thousand and five, so
like over a year and a half. We shot six episodes.
So when Donald was talking about like we were, we

(31:50):
only shot six. You know, we shot the pilot and
then we shot five more and then it didn't air
until you know, like spring of five. So it was
over a year that it aired after we shot the pilot,
So it had start right, It wasn't it very slow,
So it wasn't they hit off the again.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
NBC is very you know what shout out to NBC
back in the day, they don't do that no more.
They don't do that no more. Well, I mean Extended Family.
We shot one season. It took us two years to
make that show, and we went to a strike.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
And they don't and the network doesn't have patients for
you not doing well now now back.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Then they didn't. Back then, if you had ten million viewers,
they were like, you know what.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
Sel Yeah, well now too.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
I don't think they got much patience if you have
ten million.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I was just saw Rob Reiner on a clip of
Rob Reiner talking about Seinfeld. I didn't know that he
was a producer of Seinfeld, which he is, and he
was talking about how it was not a big hit
at all, in fact that he had to go beg
beg beg them to keep it on the.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Air because the first whatever five or six didn't do
very well.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Yeah, our stories are very similar in this regard. So
I am told. What I am told is that the
only reason we got to make more than a pilot.
They have the what do you call them, the testing Yes,
so they bring people in and they have people test

(33:21):
and it did not test well except for one room,
which was they had one room which were the assistants
at NBC. So like the people who were like secretaries
and low level development people, they sort of put them
in like okay, why don't you weigh in? And those

(33:43):
young people liked it, and I was told the same
thing happened with Seinfeld. So they decided to give it,
give us a chance.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
It's amazing when you watch it now to go like,
how could you know any there's so many stories in
Hollywood of course, of like, how could you not think
this is genius? It was so it.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Didn't make it.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
But also it is so unique. It is so unique.
Obviously there had been the British Office, right, so we
had those of us. I loved that, and plenty of
us had a had a frame of reference. And I
remember thinking, how the hell? I mean, Steve Correll's genius,
of course, but how is he gonna top what Ricky
Gervais is doing. It's so it's so unique, and it's
so it.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Was also so also it was so graphic, and I
mean and dirty, like the ship he said yes on
HBO was like they were going to they were going
to get away with that.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
And also it was so English of course, so how
how does this get americanized? And and and I was so,
and then it does how many episodes actually reflect the
office episodes or the British only the pilot.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
Only the pilot, yes, which which Greg Daniel said, which
I learned this much later. He did that so that
he wouldn't get notes from the network on the script.
So what he did was he spent the time on

(35:08):
the cast, on the characters, on the world. So he
considered himself like world building of what dunder Mifflin was
and the relation, you know, like where everybody sat in there.
It was all very planned out in terms of the
type of characters they were and how they would interact

(35:28):
and you know, who they would associate with or not
associate with, or be forced to be next to someone
like Angela and I who really didn't didn't belong. But
there was a barrier in front of the only barrier
in the whole office in between us and all of
that stuff.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
It wasn't a set, right, wasn't it a real building?

Speaker 4 (35:48):
So the so we moved, Oh, the first six episodes,
there was there's an old God you guys, I'm sure
wouldn't know it. It was. I think it's was called
like Culver Studios.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
It was like it's yeah, it's still there.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
Our shut did it's like down.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
We shot the last episode of the season of Scrubs there.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Okay, so we ate lunch on the sound stage. And
so the production offices for that building is under Befalin,
so upstairs when you go upstairs and like where the
production offices would be, that that was our set. And
then correct said the first six and then everybody said

(36:38):
to him like we can't sustain this, like we're on
a second floor, like there's nowhere to move around. And
so he he was like, okay, but it's not changing.
Like there was so much that was like about realism
and really, you know, he wanted everything like ultra reel.
So he recreated that space exactly exactly clay on us

(37:01):
on the middle of a sound stage out in Van
Nuy's panoramic city. And the only thing he did, and
it's something crazy like this, like this is not an exaggeration.
He added eighteen inches to the conference room because he
want he was he was the camera people were like,

(37:23):
you have to give us somewhere to stand, like we can't,
like we can't fit you know, a cast of sixteen
and you know, two camera guys and a boom Mike
guy and all that in this space, and he was like, well,
we can't change it because it's been a stat you know.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Anyway, So I was completely fooled now where because I
always had it in my mind that it was in
that building that we see.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Where's that building?

Speaker 4 (37:49):
So that building is is? So that is the exterior
of the Sataquoi. I mean it's on Satokoy is what
it's called? Way, oh, Chandler Valley Studios. Yes, and yes,
that the exterior. There were two two independent sound stages,
and the exterior of one of the sound stages. That
is it? That is that is right?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Wow, it must become it must have become a tourist destination.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
It is. Yeah, yeah, I mean I.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Was so fooled by the way I my whole life.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
My whole life, my whole life, my whole life, my
whole time as a audience member, I believed you were.
I mean, this is so silly, because I'm a filmmaker
and that is what I do for a living. But
I was convinced that you were in that actual building
in the valley somewhere.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
No, well, I mean sort of, but not. It didn't
look like that yees.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
So, I mean that's the the warehouse I could tell
was a sound stage because that was kind of just
like a sound stage.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Right, Yeah, I couldn't pull it. I couldn't pull you
on that.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
But yes, no, I mean the warehouse is kind of
like what if we just put it in the sound stage?

Speaker 4 (38:55):
Oh yeah no, but he he you know, what do
you call it? Drop drop ceilings? With the with the
tile I'm like gesturing. I don't know if we're in
on video, but you know, the.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
The it looks like you're pushing DJ down.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
Oh yeah, like you can put, you can push, you
can put. Yeah, it looks like you're raising the roof
up down up down. Uh, you know the ceiling tiles move. Yeah.
So like no, they put that in so, you know,
on even on the sound stage, because he wanted it
to look the same. He wanted it to feel constricted

(39:33):
and and tight. Let's take a break.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
We'll be right back after these fine words.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
You know, we always get asked this on Scrubs, tell
us about not about the improv, how the improv was handled.
You know, we on Scrubs, you know we sort of
Bill Lawrence's rule was I definitely want it good as
written and don't and make sure you don't skip that.
I want, I definitely want to have a great version
as written and then time permitting, you guys can fuck

(40:05):
around and a lot of funny stuff came out of that.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Was that the same kind of vibe as you guys?

Speaker 4 (40:11):
Yeah, I mean, how was explained to us which and
maybe you're just now wanting to share this, how was
explained to us, right, is that we still have mega
conglomerate studios and ge or Comcast or whoever he was
the remember, oh gee he was it.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
That was the one man. But we but we had
left us in with spaceship. I'm just gonna.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Go on he uh no. So the scripts had to
be approved, like someone had to say it was okay
to say whatever the words were. And so they always
wanted us to say what the words were because they
wanted to make sure that we had a version that
was approved. But we all one hundred percent of the time,
we we changed and they started doing what did they

(41:02):
call a candy bag, especially for the little like direct
to the camera, you know, like you're being interviewed stuff.
We would have like eight versions of those, which essentially
was delivering the same idea, either opinion on what was
going on, or sometimes it would be like, well, we

(41:25):
can't really decide how Kevin would feel about whatever, so
give us both and then we'll sort of put it
all together. You know. Would he be delighted by this
or would he not understand it, or would he you know,
like whatever. So they would sort of build things, build
things in that in that way. Yeah, and that's fun.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Those direct to the camera things. You can just see
where there was so much opportunity there to riff where
you could be like, you know, because then you can
you can very easily get what's written. Okay, I got it,
I got what's right. Now let me just go off
and just see where my brain goes.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
Yeah, totally. Yeah, it was Uh, that was pretty special.
But yeah, we we you know, the amount of whatever
improv got into an episode obviously just varied per per
you know, per episode, but but we were always given
an opportunity even even the scenes too.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Was anybody brave enough to go against Steve Man?

Speaker 4 (42:25):
I mean it was really hard, and it's all it
was also hard just because of the structure, like he
you know, he's you know, especially like I mean, you
think about sort of the quote unquote famous scenes in
the conference room. So he's standing, you're sitting. There's sort
of no, I mean, you're already out of power imbalance there.

(42:45):
And then you have him who might be truly, like,
I honestly believe this the greatest improviser ever. And the
reason I say that is because not only is he funny,
not only can he come up with any thing in
the moment, but what he does, which without naming any
names other people have trouble with, is he's always on story,

(43:09):
like on topic. Like he's never going you know, he's
never saying something that's like, well, Michael wouldn't say that,
or but he also understands like what the whole of
the script, the individual episode or the season that we're on,
like where he's trying to get and he's just yeah,
I mean he's.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
I love watching clips of the bloopers. I mean, I
know scrubs fans love watching scrub yeahs. But when I
saw recently, my Instagram knows now that I love office bloopers,
and I saw see where he was explaining his home
entertainment system to Jim and watching his Carrell try and
he couldn't get through it. It was so funny watching

(43:50):
him not be able to get through his improv.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Probably the closest, you know, some of your audience may
have heard this before, but probably the closest to like
standing standing up to him, which wasn't even standing up
to him was if you remember the episode which, by
the way, can you even say the title of this
episode these days on television? But gay witch hunt? When

(44:16):
when when he kisses Oscar? That was improved? That was
the kiss? The kiss? Where was h r? Yes, listen
is the kiss?

Speaker 2 (44:32):
When this happened, Oscar had such a lawsuit.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
Everybody lawsuit against more than anyone I know, but everybody outed.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
He was outed in the freaking room.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Brian, Brian, is there anyone that works there that doesn't
have a lawsuit against under.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
No, No, there's Hilrius. The lawsuit every every which way,
at least against Steve and probably several characters as well. Yeah,
I mean, god, God bless Greg you know he You know,
we had such a huge cast and it never got smaller,

(45:15):
It just kept getting bigger. He would find a different
energy that he wanted to bring in from Ellie Kemper
or Ed Helms. You know that would just sort of change,
you know, he would sort of add that ingredient in,
it would change. But you know it was it was
an office where everyone at one point in time should
have been fired, like Kevin really like he was fired

(45:36):
in the last episode.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
You guys had to One thing that's unique about the
office that people weren't actors might not realize is, you know,
when we do our scenes on scrubs, we don't have
to be there when people are doing their other stuff.
You guys are one hundred percent of the time background.

Speaker 4 (45:54):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
What was that like, I mean what, that's a very
that's a very new that's a very unique situation, and
you have hours where you're just background.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
Yes, And that was again, that was a little bit
for me. I mean I I you know, I had
booked a couple of other you know, smaller jobs or whatever.
But you know, this was happened very quickly out of
the gate, and I think early on it was my
expectation that this was how it was because I had
come from theater and if you were rehearsing something, you're

(46:25):
always there and then you know, maybe they spend some
extra time on some other scenes. But no, it was
you know now, it really was like everybody had a
schedule of the number one on the call sheet, you know,
because because everybody was there every day all day twelve fourteen,

(46:48):
you know, plus hours. I mean we were doing we
were doing like sixty hours a week, and you know,
unless Michael had to go see Jan in New York
or whatever, especially early on, like we were just all there.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Was a Crossford puzzles, what was your secret?

Speaker 4 (47:06):
You know, well we were you know, we were doing
thirty episodes there for a while a year, so I
was paying bills. Uh, Like we were paying bills. There
wasn't a whole People always ask about, like what were
the pranks? Like we weren't really pranky, but we did

(47:26):
have Uh, I don't even know what it was. It
wasn't It wasn't Google, I don't know, AOL instant messenger
or something so we could like pop something up computers
and the computers worked.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yeah. I feel like that would a gutten a couple
of people fire. Definitely I would have been kicked.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
I would have been fired. Look at this totally inappropriate means.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
What did I do wrong? It's just it's just a
freaking egg quip that must be because you're like you're like,
oh my god.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
As much as you love the show and you're grateful
to be on the show, at a certain point you're like,
oh my god, I have to get out of this.
I'm in the background and you don't need me. Is
there is there a Brian lookalike?

Speaker 2 (48:10):
The con.

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Well, we did, we were, we did joke things. Things
started changing a little bit as we went on, I
mean ten years that early on it was like, so, guys, wait,
no one ever goes to the bathroom, Like, no one
has never in the other room making a cup of
coffee while this is going on, Like, I really think

(48:35):
Kevin should be somewhere.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, Kevin have the ship mindy and uh and and
no fact they had it lucky because they were in
a different room. And so did the dude Creed, right did.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
We No, so Creed was in our So here is
here's the here's the little nerdy insider info, right because
we Greg had come, not had come directly, but he
had worked on SNL and he was really wanting collaboration.
So like I directed. There were a lot of writers.
Here's the thing. Anyone who was in that other office,

(49:07):
they were writers. They were upstairs writing, so like Paul Lieberstein,
Toby Mindy, Kayling, bj Novak, there were the writers, so
they didn't have to be there until like a conference
room or you know, they would drift in for some
important you know, group scene or whatever. But yeah, they were,
they would, they would go up to the writers. Paul Liberstein,

(49:31):
he's one.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
He's so good. I mean, they were every every everyone
is so good. But he was also one of the
main writers of the show.

Speaker 4 (49:37):
Yes, yeah, and he was actually when Greg went to launch,
because Greg went with Mike Sure. Mike Sure was a
writer who played Mos. By the way, he was not
there very much at all. Yeah, when Greg Greg launched
Parks and Rec. And when he launched Parks and Rec,
Paul Liberstein actually was showrunner for a period of time.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Yeah, that's that's You guys have some great directors, man,
like your directors. I'm sure some of them.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
Some of them for sure.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
But then some of them are like freaking winners.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
And oh yeah, I mean you mean the guest appearance
directors didn't Yeah what was that about? Like he just
loved the show and they were like I wanted to,
I want to, But.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
They were definitely coming for you, Brian, that's exactly there.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
The rumor was, and I it's been so long I
was told, I believe God, I'm like making excuses that
JJ Abrams wanted to direct a season and Greg Greg
preferred the model where we had a different director every week.
So J. J. Abrams came in. Harold Ramis did ye,

(50:50):
I don't know, four or five, and some big ones didn't.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
It was always interesting. It was just always interesting to
see the director's names. It would be like what they
got his.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
Doing right right?

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Ken Whittingham directed, Yeah, some of the same direct I'm.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Curious, maybe Dane, you could ask chat Cheapt. This is
a good chat cheapt question. Which directors both directed scrubs
and and uh.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
In the office. I know Ken Winningham was one.

Speaker 4 (51:19):
Ken you must have had Koppus.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Maybe once or twice.

Speaker 4 (51:23):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
No, we never had Paul.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
Oh, you never had Paul. That's surprises.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Let's take a break.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
We'll be right back after these fine words. All right,
So let's talk about your chili for a second. Did
you have anything to do with I mean, did this
come out of the blue or do you really make
a good chili?

Speaker 4 (51:47):
Well, you're talking about there was the episode.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
I'm with the episode when it first.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
I know you made it, you wrote a book, but
but like both like.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
To the writers that writers, yeah, and you know I
I do, so I do think. All right, here here's
my here's my cheeseball pitch for you. Right. That the
reason that people respond to the show, and particularly like
during a global pandemic, right, is the last line of

(52:20):
the show. I'm getting serious with you for a second,
but the last line of the show that Greg Daniels
wrote the last episode. So he wrote it. Pam says,
you know that She's asked like, why would they make
a documentary of his paper company or whatever? And her
answer is there's beauty and ordinary things. Isn't that kind

(52:40):
of the point. And so for me, when you look
at sort of the totality everybody, you know, a lot
of people are mean. There's Michael says, inappropriate things you
could sue, but like there is sort of a genuine
kindness and a celebration of very small moments. Right. It's

(53:01):
like the opposite of twenty four or whatever, you know,
some big spy show or whatever. And so to me,
part of that chili thing is that it is like
this guy does this one thing that many people in
America around the world do. They make a great chili.
They're proud of it. They are celebrated by their friends

(53:24):
and family doing it, and this is the thing that
gives them great pride on the weekends and maybe goes
to chili festivals and participates in competitions, and he believes
this is the thing he does best. Now it's a comedy,
so he spills it on the floor and you know,
there's genius physical comedy by me whatever. Yes, but the

(53:44):
idea is like that celebration. To me, that is in
some ways like because people talk about it all the time,
but it is like a physical embodiment of that thing
that the show is trying to sell break, which is
like just a teeny victory or you know, a great

(54:05):
thing that an ordinary person does.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
So that led to you genuinely getting into.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
Chili, it did? I mean it started as a joke.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
I'll be honest, right, you were associated with chili because
of the show. Yeah, Like I made like I had
never made chili before. The people I associate you with chili?

Speaker 4 (54:25):
Oh one hun, do you go.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
To cookoffs and stuff like, oh yeah, he's made a book.
You wrote a bullets.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
A cookbook about chili.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
But did you write the cookbook about chili?

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Yes, so you must have collected collected yes, yes, yes,
so I put some of my but I made it one.
Let's take a shout out to it. Seriously good chili
cookbook chili recipes, all right, yes.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
One hundred and seventy seven. Well, actually, I'll tell you
that my funniest interaction was I was traveling, I was alone.
I was in a hotel bar, sitting there and like
the hat on like he and I just finished eating
and the bartender like it had been cleared away, and
the bartender comes by and sets something down in front

(55:09):
of me. I don't even really look or process. I
just sort of look up and I'm like, oh no, no,
I've already eaten, and he kind of leans down. It's
like the fifties, the forties, I don't know what kind
of movie, but he just kind of leans on the
bar and he's like, this is from the woman at
the end of the bar, and it's yes, it's a
bowl of chili. Like that is what I don't get

(55:31):
set a drake, I get like bowls of chili.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
That's hilarious. That's what happens. People associate you with it,
and it's like a it was smart of you to
lean into that, because have you become good at making
chili at this point?

Speaker 4 (55:44):
Yeah? Well now yeah, no, I like and I do
really ENLiGHT I do really like it. Well, and that's
where the inspiration for the book came is. I got
invited to and this thing is not like a couple
of years. It's now I don't know how many, it's
over fifty years. Actually happens at the end of September.
I'm not going this year, but the World Championship Chili

(56:06):
Cookoff you have to win like your state region. It's
in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and so I went there,
got to know them. They asked me to judge the thing,
and then I was I was like sort of blown
away by oh wait, this is chicken, this is white,

(56:27):
this is ver day like a green chili, and all
this type of stuff. And so we sort of put
that together for fun. But I know, I really do
enjoy it and the the culture of it too.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
I let you go, okay, but before we go, I
do love a good chow. I just wanted to say
I do. I just want to appreciate.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Okay, you want the audience to know that you love
Chili audience, have you registered the Donald audience?

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Dear audience, I do love.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
Now now I just read this in the notes. In
twenty twenty alone, Americans cum relatively streamed more than fifty
seven billion minutes of the Office, making it the most
watched show of the year. That was during Lockdown. It
was like the most watched show of Lockdown. I'm assuming, yes,
that's insane. So then that tell me about you have

(57:18):
your own podcast. It's obviously different from the Office Ladies.
They the Office Ladies were the inspiration for us, by
the way, we I'm sure they were. That popped off
and people started approaching Donald and I and it was
it was and we said, okay, that sounds fun. Shoot
the shit with Donald about episodes. That sounds great. But
you have your own podcast. What's tell people about that

(57:39):
who don't know about it so they can find.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
It off the beat is what it's called. You know
it started? Actually, so I did a Spotify exclusive podcast
that started right about the time that Jenna and Angelas
started Office Ladies, and it was called Oral History of

(58:00):
the Office and it was totally different than what you
guys do and what they were doing. What was curious
to me because these numbers had started streaming and by
the way, those numbers, this is what I mean like
when we started like getting approached in airports, it was
they started releasing for a brief period of time like
streaming numbers, and we were like the stepchild's of NBC.

(58:25):
And they released the numbers and it was like, not
only were we at the top and Friends was number two,
but we were double what Friends were doing. It was
this sort of insane thing, and so I put together
I interviewed everyone from the show, writers, crew, actors. We

(58:51):
did about one hundred and fifty hours of interviews to
answer the question of why why did this happen? Like
why has this now sort of come back? So I
started with that I loved it, then started talking to
other people. Love to have you guys on at some
point it's off the beat, which now you can you
can get wherever you get your podcasts, and yeah, it's

(59:15):
it's it's really fun for me. I love doing it.
It's uh and I love listening to you guys as well.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Well.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Thank you man, and thank you for coming on and sorry,
we relate, but I just wanted we find you Donald,
and I just find you so funny and uh and
I think I think I have all those people watch
any more questions I know to give the well, we'll
have him back.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
And all and all of that stuff, but we'll have him.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Back on Donald because I hope you'll come back. Brian,
we're such fans of yours.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
Well, thank you so much. And I can't. I can't
leave you without noting that that that that you guys.
I don't know if you're aware of this. You do
some T mobile commercials?

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Yes we do, Yeah, we do.

Speaker 4 (59:59):
Yeah? Uh? Are are you aware that that weird team?
Are you? Are you?

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Are you aware that? Yes? I said, it's okay footsteps again.
Dan will beat the company that he said.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Okay, We're definitely going to beat the company that you mentioned.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
That that gets no shine on.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
I don't know why you had to end on a
sour note that there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
You want to go, you want to go to walk?
Have you seen Showgun? Have you seen Showgun? That's what
this is going to be like, this is what it
turn into.

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
Yeah, I know we're following in your footsteps again. We're
just we're just we're just picking up the pieces and
trying to follow it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
You're proud to be competitors with that company that shall
not be named.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Yeah, all right, thank you so much, Bud.

Speaker 4 (01:00:46):
Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
That I love that guy. Huh.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
He's so funny. It's funny. It's by the way, I
gotta say, as a fan, it's weird seeing him make
full sentences.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
That's what I was gonna say. Man, like this, dude's
a fucking good actor. Man, you got to get into this.
We gotta really get when we have him on again,
I really want to talk about what he does, you know,
what else he's doing in his career and stuff like
that as an actor, and if he's gone back to
theater at all. Like we we just ran out of
so much time, and and he stayed, and he stayed

(01:01:26):
the amount of time that we need.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
I know, I appreciate him saying so many questions. My fault,
you know, I was trying to I fucked up the timing.
I was trying to. I went to hot yoga. Donald,
good for you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
I'm trying us to lose the weight that I gained
while in Europe. Zach, I'm going to say something to you,
and I don't want to sound like an asshole. Okay,
go ahead, I want I can't wait to hear what
this is. What did you gain five pounds? Like six?

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
Yeah, but I didn't want those six pounds. Don't don't
don't say something like petty.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
I'm going to keep it to myself because I have
something very petty about a six pound weight. Trop Well,
let me just say, can't nobody see no six pounds
off of your eye? I could see it, and I
don't one can see it. You vain motherfucker. You look good, bro.
You are a handsome go on, well, go on, well
liked player of the male human species.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Well, i'm single, Donald. When i'm when I have a
wife and children, I can let my body go.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
But there are plenty of women that would love to
be with you, my friend. Well, you just have to
be open to receive the love. I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
I'm ready to be so picky. I just I am
ready to receive. I just also don't want to have personally,
I have love handles. I'm working on getting rid of them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
I too worked out today. Oh there you go. I
put on a sweatsuit and went up to the top
of my hail good and started punching with my train
that we were good, kicking and swinging and yeah, I know,
doing our thing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
They're doing their day hot yoga. It really feels good.
You come out of there high on high on life.
It's really hard while you're in there and you want
to die, and then you come out and you're.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Like, oh, how's your posing?

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
It's really bad. I haven't been in a long time
because I have this horrible tennis elbow. But I put
this strap on and I you know what I mean,
I put this uh tennis.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
I wore my strap on.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
No one seemed to mind that I was wearing a
strap on it high yoga. No, I have a tennis
elbow strap on, and I thought, let me see if
my tennis lebow can survive this. So I took my time.
But it feels great. It feels really good. And I've
already lost a bunch of weight from not eating like
an asshole and drinking like an asshole.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
You know what it is, It really is the combination
of the like I find myself noticing I've noticed now
how much sugar I eat daily.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Yeah, that's just the waste of your of your efforts.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
But it's it's in everything though, And that's the thing,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Well, I mean, I mean, of course it's in everything,
but you cannot have sugary things on purpose.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Well, you know, wine is you said it yourself. Where
alcohol is the worst.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
I mean, the easiest way to drop weight is just
take alcohol out of the equation. But I was drinking
like a fish in Europe. It's hard to not It's
hard to be in Paris and not drink wine. That's advanced.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Don't drink wine in Europe, challenge level impossible.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
That's double black diamond. I couldn't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Ship That's like, that's like.

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
Here are the cities I know not how to be
healthy and Paris, Stockholm, New York in can be healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
New York City should be easy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
No, dude, Josh raid and I came back and he's like,
I'm gonna go and try and like dry out a
little bit in New York. I'm like, you're going to
dry out in New York, Good fucking luck. I'm going
to La where you can dry out.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
You can be healthy and silly dry out. Yeah, they
give you vitamin B shots at the health stores out here.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
No, I mean la is uh, well, who is like,
you know, the center of where I live, and you
know it's it's health culture and it's about it's much
easier to be healthy out here to me. By the way,
I was driving home and I had to comment, I
wanted to tell you this on the podcast for those
of you who don't live in a city that's doing this.
There's so many robots in West Hollywood. It's crazy. It's

(01:05:34):
just kind of creeped up. But you got all the
delivery robots on the sidewalks, and then you got the
weaimo of driverless cars on the street. And I was
tripping out driving home, being like, this is just kind
of happened little by little, but we live amongst all
these robots.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Now, So what did they say? Thirty two is the
year that California is going to be all electric, Right,
that's the year that they want to clean up the
West coast, Right, California is going to Was that a man?

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
I think it was that a mandate of when they'll
stop being allowed to get gas cars here. I'm sure
keep cars you have, but maybe you can't buy I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
I don't know any of the loopholes. But by thirty
two they want that though he's good like that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
They won't sell anymore cars. They're not going to take
your car away from you, but they don't take your anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
They won't sell, but you can also you'll just go
to Arizona and buy it if that's your steez.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
I mean, people always find a way.

Speaker 4 (01:06:23):
They'll import cars, right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
There's I'm sure there's a loophole. But thirty two it's
supposed to be electric and an electric city. Hell yeah,
the fucking robots are come in. Bro, they need they
can't gas don't help them, but it does help. What
does help is that electricity. Man, this whole thing is
going to be powered. Our whole would be all right. Look,

(01:06:45):
and I'm going to jump off on a tangent.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
No, don't costruct too long.

Speaker 2 (01:06:48):
It's not a real it's not a crazy one. Infrastructure
is very important and true and true, amen, And we
need to really focus on that in California actually, especially
because it shakes so much here on yesterday, two days ago.
I forget the robots, I get the clean air, I

(01:07:09):
get all of that stuff. But if these roads aren't
shaped properly, and these buildings aren't reinforced. We're gonna have
a real big problem because you know, ship's kind of
shit happens anyway, last thing I want to say, that
was beautiful, beautiful. I'm gonna I love that. I just
want you to remember. I'm gonna get that too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
I'm gonna get that whole paragraph tattooed on my chest
because nostructure is important.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Important.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Listen, did you watch Jim Crazy yet?

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
I watched some of it?

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
Hold on, first of all, Daniel, you watched him crazy? No,
you have to watch Jim Crazy, maker maker of Tiger King.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Everybody. You have to watch Jim Crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
I can't look it up, Dawn, right now, Donald, you
got to watch I watched.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
I watched two episodes. It's insane. Oh, at the end
of episode two, there's a twist, Daniel. Did you get
to the twist? No? I didn't get to the twist, Daniel. Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:08:01):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
There's a place in America where you can go and
buy a chimp. Yeah, fucked up. It's Minnesota, Yes, fucked up? Daniel.
Like bubbles? Yeah, no, Daniel, you can, Dan.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
That's exactly what ms where MJ got bubbles.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Look, Daniel, not only can you buy the chip, but
you can buy it from when it's a little tiny
baby and really cute and fun and ship like that,
and you can keep it to when.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
It kills you, if you can keep it all the
way up until it kills you, because that's what it's
gonna do pretty much.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
And I started watching him crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
I'm like, there's no way the guy in the Tired
King has found another fascinating story and this one's even crazier. Yo, look, Donald,
you gotta keep going please. I text Casey every night.
I'm like, what's TV?

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
They put two thousand and one a Space oysse on
TV to watch? They try to started going crazy, started
jumping around with the thing, bashing the fucking You got
to keep going, man.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
At the end of episode two there's a twist, and
then three, it's just it's only four episodes, so just
watch the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
It's insane. And then the guy that they hire to
be because this dude can't be Tiger King. Dude can't
walk around and like.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
That, well you can't.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
He can't.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
He can't interview people in the in the exotic animal
community because they obviously know who he is. He's a
bad guy to them. So he has to hire a
proxy director, and the guy he hires is like, I
don't even know what a proxy director is.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
I had to look it up anyway. He's also he's
also dude who's been arrested several times for being in
the exotic animal community. Yeah. Uh, it's Daniel when you
get the chick. Okay, yeah, Dan, watch my first episode alone.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
And also Showgun on the total opposite side of things.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
I got to say, is just now you watched it
because it won't that shit? Huh did you? I had
been watching. I wish you would, man, I know you,
I know you won't. Show them so amazing. It's so beautiful.
It's really really good.

Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
And obviously I started watching because I did read Showgun's
going to sweep the awards. Showgun's going to sweep the Awards,
And I was like, Okay, well I gotta check it out.
I love I love big sweeping stories that are like,
you know, it's like a it's you can't believe how
much money they spent making this thing. It's huge and
the actors are so good, and I was like, okay,
and it's amazing. I finished just in time. Don't watch
it sweep truly sweep. I think it's one more than

(01:10:41):
any show's ever won.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
That's crazy. It's so good. All right, we won't keep
the audience anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
We've gone long. We love you guys, Thank you for
listening to our little podcast. Donald, I miss you so much.
It hurts sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
I miss you too. My wife told me that you
told her you missed me socially.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
Well, you don't hang out, and I know that you're
a bit of an agoraphobe, and I do miss you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
I'll have to come to you. It's the only way
I'll see you. I'll come to you. I'll come out,
I'll get out. We can go eat some food.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Do you want to have a freak off just me
and you?

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
What words that you can you know what it means?
Just me versus you? How do we one up each other?

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
One freak So it's one on one baby, It's like,
oh my god, Now Donald, tune in next week when
Donald and I are gonna do a live freak off.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Dani will judge. That's blindfolded judge.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
We can't ask Joel Dane. You're gonna have to judge,
all right. It feels like an HR problem. If we
make Joel, would you I feel like it's okay.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
No problems there, all right. I love you guys. Five, six, seven, eight.

Speaker 5 (01:12:00):
Stories That show we made about a bunch of times
and nurses in Canada whole. I said, here's the stories next.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
All should know. So gather round you here, ur, gather
round you here our scot free shows and no