TRANSCRIPT
Office Ladies | Episode 307 - Randall Park
Jenna [00:00:04] I'm Jenna Fischer,
Angela [00:00:05] and I'm Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:06] We were on "The Office" together,
Angela [00:00:08] and we're best friends.
Jenna [00:00:09] And now we're doing the ultimate Office lover's podcast, just for you.
Angela [00:00:13] Each week we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories.
Jenna [00:00:21] We're the Office Ladies 6.0.
audio cue [00:00:01] [musical sting]
Jenna [00:00:00] Hello lady!
Angela [00:00:01] Hi.
Jenna [00:00:02] Happy Wednesday.
Angela [00:00:03] Happy Wednesday. Do I look like I'm stiff, in my neck a little?
Jenna [00:00:06] No. Are you?
Angela [00:00:09] Ugh. I'm a little stiff.
Jenna [00:00:09] Did you sleep weird?
Angela [00:00:11] I slept weird but also I've been traveling a lot and I fell asleep on the plane in a weird position.
Jenna [00:00:15] That's never good.
Angela [00:00:16] Never good. But also, the last time I traveled... I think I need to up my travel game because I flew with Rainn. Rainn Wilson, you guys.
Jenna [00:00:25] He's one of my favorite people to travel with.
Angela [00:00:27] He's a very courteous traveler.
Jenna [00:00:30] A gentleman.
Angela [00:00:30] Gentleman, help me with my bag. Here's an example, right? We got a cup of hot tea to go. As I'm carrying it around, he goes, "Your tea bag has been in that cup for a long time. I think you should take the tea bag out. Don't you want to take the teabag out?" I was like, "I do, but I'm holding too many things." And so he took the teabag out for me. These are the types of things.
Jenna [00:00:50] Details.
Angela [00:00:50] Here's the thing, I guarantee you, Rainn does not have a sore neck today.
Jenna [00:00:54] Because?
Angela [00:00:54] Because that man travels with a really big neck pillow.
Jenna [00:00:58] No, he does not.
Angela [00:00:59] Yes he does, and he puts it on the minute he gets on the plane and his neck disappears and then he's just a little floating head.
Jenna [00:01:08] Please tell me you took a picture of this.
Angela [00:01:09] I did. It's the biggest neck pillow I've ever seen. I didn't even know. Do they come in multiple sizes? Do you want to see what it looks like?
Jenna [00:01:18] This sounds like a neck brace.
Angela [00:01:18] It's not. He's got it in his bag and then he falls asleep and his face is wedged in it. Oh, and then, he puts his AirPods in, the AirPods with the string. What are they called? They're not called AirPods.
Jenna [00:01:33] They're they're not cordless?
Angela [00:01:35] No, they're not cordless. He puts them in his ears. Then he puts it into the little TV and then he puts headphones over those.
Jenna [00:01:43] Okay.
Angela [00:01:43] And then his neck pillow. So he's wearing two pairs of headphones and a neck pillow. I'm showing Jenna picture
Jenna [00:01:51] That's pretty great.
Angela [00:01:53] Yeah, anyway, I'm sure he doesn't have a sore neck. I might have to stop making fun of him and get his giant inflatable neck pillow. It looks like something you plug in and blow up.
Jenna [00:02:03] He had to blow it up?
Angela [00:02:04] No, he didn't, but that's what it looks like to me. That's how big it was. Anyway, sorry.
Jenna [00:02:09] I bought so many neck pillows over the years, and I never used them, ever. They just become this thing I'm carrying. I don't know.
Angela [00:02:18] Rainn uses his. Sam, do you use a neck pillow?
Sam [00:02:21] I do, and then I forget them. I have probably eight or nine in my closet.
Jenna [00:02:25] Exactly. I get to the airport. I realize I don't have one. I go through a whole thing in my head. "Should I get one? But I have one at home..."
Sam [00:02:31] I spend the $25 at, what is it, City News or whatever the airport shop is.
Jenna [00:02:36] And then I bring it on the plane. I use it for like four minutes. And now I'm saddled with it. Well, listen, everyone. We have a great episode of Office Ladies today. Randall Park stopped by our studio. We have great conversation with him. You all know that Randall Park played Jim's friend, Steve, who helped Jim and Pam play the ultimate prank on Dwight in the cold open of season nine's "Andy's Ancestry." We talk all about it.
Angela [00:03:03] We talk all about that. We hear about his time on the set, how he got the role. But then we also just talk about his amazing career and all of these different fantastic characters he's played over the years. We're big fans.
Jenna [00:03:18] But guess what? Not just that. He did our fan chitchat question with us! So without further ado, let's get to it.
audio cue [00:03:28] [musical sting]
Jenna [00:03:28] Alright. Well Randall Park, welcome to Office Ladies!
Randall Park [00:03:31] Thank you for having me, it's an honor.
Jenna [00:03:33] We're excited that you're going to join us for our fan chitchat question this week.
Randall Park [00:03:36] Yeah, yeah, I'm excited.
Angela [00:03:39] It's lovely to see you, too, by the way. Just in person.
Randall Park [00:03:40] I know, it's so nice to see, you.
Angela [00:03:42] Yeah
Randall Park [00:03:42] It's been a while.
Angela [00:03:43] It has. Alright. Are you ready for a chitchat?
Randall Park [00:03:46] I'm nervous, but let's do it.
Jenna [00:03:48] Okay, well this is from Joey R. in Rochester, New York who says, "I was at a company retreat years ago where they had us play some icebreaker games. There was one question we all had to answer that proved more spirited than the rest. If I'm ever at a boring dinner party, I like to pull this one out and it always gets people going. It's really simple. I thought you guys might like it. Here we go: rank your favorite forms of potato. To help you out, here's a list. You could also just pick your top three. People get really passionate about their potatoes."
Angela [00:04:21] Okay, I will just say this, Joey, this list is very long. So I think we'll read them and then pick our favorite three.
Jenna [00:04:27] Yes. I like it.
Angela [00:04:29] Okay, Jenna, read them off.
Jenna [00:04:30] Here are ways to eat a potato. French fries, tater tots, latke, baked, scalloped, roasted, potato chip, mashed, hash browned, or gnocchi.
Randall Park [00:04:47] I forgot gnocchi is a potato. That's right.
Jenna [00:04:50] That's a good one.
Randall Park [00:04:50] That's right.
Angela [00:04:52] That's sneaky potato.
Jenna [00:04:53] I have to add one.
Angela [00:04:55] What?
Jenna [00:04:56] Well, we have baked, but we don't have twice baked. I personally really love a twice baked potato and it's gonna be in my three.
Randall Park [00:05:04] What's a twice bake?
Jenna [00:05:06] You bake the potato, then you scoop all the stuff out, you mix it together with some cheese and milk and stuff and chives, and then you put it back in the skin and then bake it again.
Randall Park [00:05:16] Oh, and it crusts over a little bit. Oh, okay, I've never had that.
Jenna [00:05:21] Oh, they're real good.
Angela [00:05:24] I get it. I also want to just say, Jenna, that should you ever want a job being the announcer on a game show, I think you got it.
Jenna [00:05:32] Did I sound like that?
Angela [00:05:33] You did. It sounded like that moment in "Million Dollar Pyramid" where it's like, "The answers are french fries, potato latkes..."
Randall Park [00:05:40] Yeah, and I was riveted the whole time too. I had a list.
Angela [00:05:44] I was in.
Randall Park [00:05:45] Yeah.
Angela [00:05:45] Okay, top three. Who wants to go first?
Randall Park [00:05:48] I mean, number one for me and also on that list (and I would think for a lot of people) is french fries.
Angela [00:05:55] Yes.
Jenna [00:05:56] Is there a better way to make a potato? I think not.
Angela [00:05:59] No, no. I love my french fries with seasoned salt. Like, if you're anywhere where they offer that, I take it.
Randall Park [00:06:05] And any kind, you know, shoestring, waffle. I mean, that's a whole nother list, right?
Angela [00:06:09] That's true.
Jenna [00:06:10] How to have your fry.
Randall Park [00:06:11] Yeah, yeah, but any fry.
Jenna [00:06:13] Even wedge?
Randall Park [00:06:15] Wedge, I love a good wedge.
Jenna [00:06:16] Really?
Randall Park [00:06:17] I love a good wedge, yeah.
Jenna [00:06:18] To me, there's not enough ratio between potato and fry when it's in a wedge. It's too much potato to me.
Randall Park [00:06:26] I almost see it as like a baked potato and a fry.
Angela [00:06:30] Mm-hmm.
Randall Park [00:06:30] You know, kind of in one.
Angela [00:06:32] It's a grab and go, baked potato. And then I need my french fries with ranch, or mayonnaise.
Jenna [00:06:40] That's fine, you can have it.
Angela [00:06:42] Okay, okay.
Jenna [00:06:43] Alright, so we all agreeing that french fry is number one. So are we in agreement?
Angela [00:06:47] Sam, are you in on french fry?
Sam [00:06:49] French fries are a solid number two for me. First prize is a baked potato, specifically from Wendy's. The amount of sour cream and cheese on it, you have no idea it's a potato.
Angela [00:07:01] Okay. Wait, does Wendy's have a potato bar, Sam? Are you making that or is it coming at you with all that on there?
Sam [00:07:05] It's all coming to you as a chewy, sticky goodness.
Randall Park [00:07:09] Wait, Wendy's still has baked? They do baked potato? I didn't know that.
Sam [00:07:14] And chili, it's great. Give it a shot next time you're there. That's all I'm gonna say.
Randall Park [00:07:19] So you like it because it's kind of taking you further away from the potato, if anything, because you're just putting all this junk on it.
Sam [00:07:26] Yeah, at a certain point, it's just spoonfuls of sour cream and cheese and bacon. That's what I like in a potato. Is zero potato.
Randall Park [00:07:33] What about just the bowl of sour cream and bacon?
Sam [00:07:36] There you go, yes.
Randall Park [00:07:37] Okay.
Angela [00:07:37] There it is.
Jenna [00:07:38] That's how Michael Scott would eat it.
Sam [00:07:39] That's his ice cream, yeah.
Jenna [00:07:40] Incidentally. Okay.
Angela [00:07:42] What's your number two, Jenna?
Jenna [00:07:44] My number two? You know what? Every time, I forget about them all the time because I'm not a child, but any time they're available, I love a tater tot. I really do love it that way because it's like a hash brown, but tiny. I can pop it in my mouth. So I'm gonna go tater-tot. I'm going to go french fry and then tater tots.
Randall Park [00:08:03] That's my wife. My wife is the same. I'm not that into tater tots. For me it would be baked potato.
Jenna [00:08:08] Baked potato is your number two.
Angela [00:08:10] Yeah, baked potato for me too. I love a baked potato. I had one last night.
Randall Park [00:08:14] Oh, it's the best.
Angela [00:08:15] My husband will put a little bit of olive oil or butter on the outside and then the big chunky salt and so the skin has that...
Randall Park [00:08:23] So you eat the skin?
Angela [00:08:25] I will, when he does that, yeah.
Jenna [00:08:26] Yeah, oh, I love the skin when it's oiled it up and all that.
Angela [00:08:30] Yeah, exactly.
Jenna [00:08:31] That's what she said... I think.
Angela [00:08:33] I know, there's going to be a lot, I think, in this potato talk.
Jenna [00:08:36] Okay, so we know Sam's number two is french fries. What is our number three? Mine is twice baked potato.
Angela [00:08:45] That's your number three? You know, I love a good breakfast hash brown. Love it.
Randall Park [00:08:50] You know, I really like a good boiled potato. Was that on there?
Jenna [00:08:53] It's not, but neither was twice baked.
Randall Park [00:08:57] Yeah, a boiled potato with, like, rosemary and salt.
Angela [00:09:03] Some butter, yeah.
Jenna [00:09:05] It's how the English prepare their potatoes, I believe.
Randall Park [00:09:07] Yeah, I really enjoy that.
Angela [00:09:09] Yeah, my mom would always do some boiled potatoes. Yeah, those are good, too. You guys, I think we crushed this potato list.
Jenna [00:09:15] Well, Sam, what's your number three?
Sam [00:09:17] Tater tots.
Angela [00:09:19] Okay.
Jenna [00:09:20] Alright. Before we take a break, I want to say something possibly controversial about potatoes.
Angela [00:09:32] About potatoes?
Jenna [00:09:32] [whispering] I don't love mashed potatoes.
Sam [00:09:32] Blasphemy.
Angela [00:09:32] Oh, yeah.
Randall Park [00:09:32] We're done. I'll see you guys later.
Angela [00:09:34] I'm sorry.
Sam [00:09:35] Thanks for coming.
Angela [00:09:37] We've been friends a long time and it ends today. I love mashed potatoes!
Randall Park [00:09:41] How can you not love mashed potato?
Sam [00:09:43] Is it a texture thing?
Angela [00:09:47] What about mashed potatoes with gravy? Come on.
Randall Park [00:09:49] Oh, come on. Yeah, with the scoop and then the scoop of the gravy.
Angela [00:09:53] Yes, and then you make a little pond.
Jenna [00:09:55] I liked that when I was younger, but something has happened to my potato palate. I just... It's a pass.
Randall Park [00:10:02] Do you just equate it with like, kind of, being juvenile?
Angela [00:10:06] No, it thanksgiving!
Sam [00:10:07] Is it too many starches for your all-protein weightlifting diet?
Jenna [00:10:12] Yes, Sam. It's that I'd rather roast them than have them mashed. In my family, this is the big thing, because everybody else likes mashed potatoes. Sometimes I hit a wall and I roast the potatoes and it's a whole thing at dinner. They're like, "Oh, Mom roasted the potatoes at dinner tonight."
Angela [00:10:28] This is so funny. I have the complete opposite. I'm the one that loves mashed potatoes and my kids don't. I'm like, "How can you not love mashed potatoes? How is this possible?" Mm-hmm.
Jenna [00:10:38] It sounds to me like potato-eating wise, we need to switch families.
Angela [00:10:41] [laughing] Yea, okay.
Jenna [00:10:41] And then everyone's happy.
Randall Park [00:10:46] Yeah, I don't know. I'm just really disappointed in you.
Jenna [00:10:48] Shoot, they'd be at the bottom. They'd be on the bottom, I'd rather have a scalloped, I'd better have gnocchi. Last kind of potato I want is mashed. [whispering] I'm sorry. I said it!
Randall Park [00:10:58] Scallop is at the bottom of my list.
Jenna [00:11:00] Really?
Randall Park [00:11:01] Yeah.
Angela [00:11:01] You know, they're fine. I like a scalloped potato. My husband makes a thing called a potato stack. So good, thinly sliced potatoes and then you bake some stuff.
Randall Park [00:11:10] Oh, that's good.
Angela [00:11:11] Yeah, but I don't know. I'm just always gonna go french fry.
Randall Park [00:11:14] Yeah. Same. Yeah, same.
Jenna [00:11:16] Alright, we didn't know we could talk about this for so long.
Angela [00:11:19] We didn't, we didn't.
Jenna [00:11:20] Joey, you were right. Well listen, why don't we take a break and then when we come back we will talk with Randall all about The Office and other things.
Angela [00:11:28] Yes.
Randall Park [00:11:29] Great.
audio cue [00:11:29] [musical sting]
Angela [00:11:32] So, Randall, we have to ask you a few questions about your time on The Office.
Randall Park [00:11:36] My very brief time on The Office.
Angela [00:11:38] Brief, but iconic. First of all, how did you get your role on The Office?
Randall Park [00:11:42] You know, so I was in the last season,
Jenna [00:11:45] Yes.
Randall Park [00:11:46] Somewhere towards the end there at the last season. But a few years before that, I auditioned for a regular role. I was very excited because it's The Office.
Jenna [00:11:58] Mm-hmm.
Randall Park [00:11:58] And I got a call and it was like, "They really like you, they wanna meet you." So I went to the studio.
Jenna [00:12:05] Mm-hmm.
Randall Park [00:12:06] And I knew Brent Forrester, because I had done a pilot of his years before, and he was showing me around. I was just like, "Oh my God, I'm gonna be a regular on this show." I met with all the writers, in a big room all the riders met with me, and I met Mindy and Daniel and Paul.
Jenna [00:12:23] Mm-hmm.
Randall Park [00:12:25] It was great. And then I went home and I was like, "I'm gonna be a regular on The Office, this is crazy."
Jenna [00:12:32] Oh, no!
Randall Park [00:12:34] And then I waited, and then I didn't hear anything, and I was like, "It just takes time. You know, these things take time." You know? They're just getting my trailer ready, you know what I mean?
Angela [00:12:45] Getting all their ducks in a row, yeah.
Randall Park [00:12:45] And then, I just waited, and it didn't happen. And I was, like, "Oh my God, what did I say in those meetings?"
Angela [00:12:52] Oh, nothing.
Jenna [00:12:54] But that's the worst.
Randall Park [00:12:55] Yeah, and I moved on, you know? Started doing other things here and there, and then a couple years later, I just got a call, "Hey, do you wanna come on and play?" And I was like, yeah, sure. And I figured, you know, they all knew me at this point. So I didn't audition or anything. They just were like, "Come on and do this." And then it was just for cold open. It was really funny and it was great. And I was like, "Great, I get to be on the show. Even if it's just a scene." And then, it was kind of a whirlwind. It was all very quick and was I kind of in and out and had a blast. And then that was it.
Jenna [00:13:31] Well, this cold open has has gone on to become a fan favorite. It is iconic. Should we hear it?
Angela [00:13:40] We should. It's season nine. The episode is Andy's Ancestry. Here it is.
clip from The Office - Steve [00:13:50] Morning Dwight.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:13:54] Who are you?
clip from The Office - Steve [00:13:56] Who am I? I'm Jim. We've been working together for 12 years. Weird joke, Dwight.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:14:03] You're not Jim. Jim's not Asian.
clip from The Office - Steve [00:14:06] You seriously never noticed? Hey, hats off to you for not seeing race.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:14:12] Alright then, Jim, why don't you tell me about that sale that you made yesterday?
clip from The Office - Steve [00:14:19] Wellington Systems, sold them 10 cases of 24-pound letter stock. Or, were you talking about Krieger Murphy, because I didn't close that one yet, but I'm hoping I've got a voicemail from Paul Krieger waiting for me.
clip from The Office - phone voice mail [00:14:31] Please enter your password.
Jenna [00:14:35] Oh, and this is when you cover the phone with your hand, so great.
clip from The Office - phone voice mail [00:14:39] One new message.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:14:40] How did you know? No, no, no. That is sensitive information. Only for employees, not outsiders.
clip from The Office - Steve [00:14:46] Dwight, cut it out. I'm trying to work.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:14:48] You don't work here! You're not Jim!
clip from The Office - Pam [00:14:50] I got us that dinner reservation. Greeko 7:30.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:14:53] Oh great, can't wait. [Steve and Pam smooch and Pam walks off]
clip from The Office - Pam [00:14:58] [talking head] Jim's at the dentist this morning, and Steve is an actor friend of ours.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:15:02] I don't know who you are, but you are not Jim. This is Jim.
Angela [00:15:08] And it's you in the picture frame.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:15:11] [stammering] Oh, how did...
Angela [00:15:16] And then Dwight's mind melts.
Randall Park [00:15:20] Yeah, so that was my entire Office experience.
Angela [00:15:24] But for a cold open, Randall, you had a lot of dialog. You had to just rifle it right off, like you had been working there the whole time.
Randall Park [00:15:33] Yeah, Yeah.
Jenna [00:15:34] It was kind of like the medical drama kind of jargon. Like, people's names and all the sales and all that.
Randall Park [00:15:40] Yeah, yeah, it was a lot but at that point I was well prepared. I think I had some time before the shoot day with the material. It was so fun and so surreal, just to be acting with you guys on this show that I have loved so much and that I got really close to getting.
Angela [00:15:58] Well, the writers have shared with us when people would come in that they loved and for whatever reason they made the character something different, they would have a little folder for people we really like. That's why they just called you up and said, "Come do it," you know? Because they had already fallen in love with you as an actor and thought you were in the world of the show. So I love that that was able to at least come back around in some form.
Randall Park [00:16:22] Yeah, yeah, and I was just so happy just to be a part of it. Especially the final season, you know, just be on that set and to be able to act with you guys. And yeah, it was such a whirlwind that day because I mean, I think I was only there for a couple of hours. And then I remember they whisked me into another room and we took the photo with the kids. And it was very fast and at that point, you guys were such a well-oiled machine. I was done in a couple of hours. I was like, "Wow, that was amazing. That was amazing!"
Jenna [00:16:52] Did you get to stay for lunch? We had a really good catering.
Randall Park [00:16:56] I don't think I did.
Jenna [00:16:57] Oh no! I'm so sad you didn't get to have it. Well, something I remember was that we had to kiss.
Randall Park [00:17:05] Yes, yes, yes.
Angela [00:17:06] I was going to ask you guys about that.
Jenna [00:17:08] I remember laughing with you about it. We're like, "Well, hello!"
Angela [00:17:12] Also, we usually film those cold opens first thing in the morning. I don't know if that's your memory, if it was an early call time.
Randall Park [00:17:18] I believe so, it was first half of the day for sure.
Angela [00:17:21] So you guys are like, "Good morning, how are you? Nice to meet you, let's kiss."
Randall Park [00:17:25] Yeah, and of course, you know whenever you have to kiss someone it always adds to the nerves a little bit. Even though it's just acting. It's still like, "Oh my god."
Jenna [00:17:36] And it wasn't this crazy smooch or anything, but it's a very intimate thing to do, to just put your lips on someone else's lips within four minutes of eating them.
Randall Park [00:17:48] [laughing] Yeah. I remember, of course, being nervous about that, but not saying anything. "Just do it. Be professional."
Angela [00:17:52] Professional, yeah.
Randall Park [00:17:53] But it's always like, o"Oh my gosh. This is like... This job is so crazy."
Jenna [00:17:57] So crazy. And even something as simple as that, I even remember being nervous too, because I'm standing up and I have to kind of hunch around to get to you. And I'm like, "God, just don't accidentally kiss his eye or part of his cheek. Like, just land it."
Angela [00:18:14] It was a walking kiss.
Randall Park [00:18:14] It was, it was like a drive-by kiss.
Jenna [00:18:17] It was. Yeah, yeah.
Angela [00:18:19] If you think about the world of the show too, Pam has kissed Roy, Jim, and Steve.
Jenna [00:18:26] But everybody calls you "Asian Jim."
Randall Park [00:18:28] Yeah, I think that's what it's credited as.
Jenna [00:18:31] Is it? In the credits?
Randall Park [00:18:32] I think so.
Angela [00:18:33] No.
Jenna [00:18:34] Oh my gosh, I'd have to look.
Angela [00:18:35] Because in the script your character's name is Steve.
Randall Park [00:18:38] It's Steve. Yeah, in the script.
Jenna [00:18:40] I feel like I need to check. On IMDb, you are credited as Asian Jim Halpert.
Angela [00:18:47] Oh my gosh.
Jenna [00:18:49] Yes, that is true. That's crazy.
Randall Park [00:18:55] And I think, gosh, I should track down the script.
Angela [00:18:58] I'm bringing up the script.
Randall Park [00:19:00] Oh, you are?
Angela [00:19:00] Yeah, wait for it. Okay, "cold open Dwight is at his desk. A 30-something guy who looks sort of like an Asian version of Jim approaches"
Jenna [00:19:08] In the script your name is "Asian Guy"
Randall Park [00:19:12] Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah
Angela [00:19:15] But you have all that dialog. "I'm hoping for a voicemail from Paul Krieger Murphy."
Angela [00:19:24] "They kiss, Pam walks off."
Jenna [00:19:27] Amazing. Do you get recognized from being on The Office?
Randall Park [00:19:33] Yeah.
Jenna [00:19:34] How has that plagued you?
Angela [00:19:35] Because people shout random things at us. Like, someone has shouted to me "Green is wh**ish" because I had on a green tank top. I was like, "What?" And then I'm like, "Oh, right."
Randall Park [00:19:47] Yeah, well mean, after I filmed it and even after it aired, I didn't get recognized too much from it. But eventually (I would say several years later) it became a meme and when it started really circulating online. That's when, yeah, people would... I think I was talking about it on "Conan" once. I had kind of forgotten about it. Not forgotten about, but it just wasn't top of mind.
Angela [00:20:18] Sure. It was a long time ago.
Randall Park [00:20:19] And somebody screamed out, "Hey Asian Jim," and I turned around and I thought it was some racial thing. Or I didn't know, you know? Because I just didn't put it together. And then soon enough I'd hear more Asian Jims and I'd go, "Okay, okay. It's online."
Angela [00:20:37] It's online, and now, also, in some small way, you guys brought it back because you did this thing with John Krasinski for the trailer for his movie, right? For "If?"
Jenna [00:20:47] That was so funny. How did you even do it? If you're pranking Ryan Reynolds, and you're saying you are John Krasinski.
Angela [00:20:56] And it kind of broke the internet. People went berserk for it.
Randall Park [00:20:59] I mean, I think it was such a big thing online for so many years, and John was directing that movie, and I don't know if it was Ryan or John. I think might have been Ryan who came up with it and asked if I'd be down to do it. And I'm like, "Yeah, of course, of of course." Yeah.
Jenna [00:21:16] But you had to change your clothes multiple times to be inserted into scenes of you directing the movie.
Randall Park [00:21:23] Yes, that's right.
Jenna [00:21:25] It's really impressive.
Randall Park [00:21:26] I just shot on a green screen in different outfits and they just kind of somehow put me in there in these shots, BTS shots that they had made for the movie. It was crazy, it was fun, it's very fun. But yeah, I mean, it just speaks to the power of the internet. It was just such a big thing. It's funny because it was such a big thing online that some people come up to me thinking that I was a regular on the show, even though I wasn't. It was just one scene.
Angela [00:21:59] Well, but you stole the scene, you know? I mean, that's all you can ever hope for, no matter how big or small your role. Like, if you get that moment where you're like, "I just owned that."
Randall Park [00:22:09] Yeah, For me, literally on the day, it was just like, "I'm just so happy to be a part of this. I'm so happy be on set, on this set in particular." And it was one of those like, "Okay, that was great." That was great, and what's the next thing, you know?
Angela [00:22:23] Well, we reunited after Office on "Fresh Off the Boat," which was a really great show.
Randall Park [00:22:28] That's right, you were so great. Yeah, you did several episodes.
Angela [00:22:31] I did, I did. I played Jessica's (who's played by Constance Wu) nemesis.
Randall Park [00:22:35] [laughing] Her nemesis, yeah.
Angela [00:22:36] Just such, again, a b***h. It might have been typecasting, but that was super fun.
Randall Park [00:22:42] Yeah, it was, yeah.
Angela [00:22:43] Everybody there was so nice, and that was on for six years, right?
Randall Park [00:22:47] Six seasons. Yeah.
Angela [00:22:48] That was great. On ABC.
Randall Park [00:22:50] It was great. It was super fun and yeah, it was so great having you on Yeah, I was just tripping that you were on the show. Because again, I'm such a huge fan of The Office and... Yeah. It was very cool.
Angela [00:23:01] I was really hoping that our two couples, I was hoping we had some more double dates because those dinner scenes were fun.
Randall Park [00:23:09] Yeah.
Angela [00:23:10] But Jenna and I have both just sort of been going over your filmography and watching all kinds of stuff and we're such fans of yours. I have something I wanna talk about and you have something you wanna talk about, but I wanna go first.
Jenna [00:23:22] You can go first.
Angela [00:23:23] Okay. So last night with my teenagers, we watched - Cause our producer, Matt Beagle, was like, "If you guys love rom-coms, you have to see 'Always Be My Maybe'" that you did.
Jenna [00:23:34] He couldn't be here today and he wanted us to tell you, it's his favorite rom-com.
Randall Park [00:23:38] Oh my god.
Angela [00:23:39] Yes. So I was like, "I love a rom-com. I don't know how I missed that one. I want to watch it." It's so good. You're so funny in it. There's so many funny people in this. Ali Wong is great. But for those of you who have listened to Office Ladies for a long time, you know that Jenna and I are slightly obsessed with Keanu Reeves. You have a hilarious scene with Keanna Reeves and you punch him in the face!
Randall Park [00:24:02] I punch him in the face. I do
Angela [00:24:04] And I'm sure you've talked about this a lot, but please can you tell us everything about being in scenes and what was that like? And you're so funny in it, and you get so pissed off at him.
Randall Park [00:24:13] That was another surreal... I mean, you know, this this job is just filled with surreal experiences. As you guys know.
Angela [00:24:21] We should say Keanu plays himself, right?
Randall Park [00:24:24] Yes, yes.
Angela [00:24:24] And he goes out on a date with the person that you're in love with. And you have to watch the person you love be on a day with Keanu Reeves.
Randall Park [00:24:33] Yeah, we're on a double date.
Angela [00:24:34] Yeah, on a double date. And both of the women, though, are just in love with Keanu Reeves.
Randall Park [00:24:41] It was pretty real in that way, right? Yeah, that whole project was so fun because I got to work with Ali, who's an old friend. We wanted a celebrity cameo, a celebrity to play himself, and I believe we had a list of people who we thought we could get. They were all people we loved, not nearly as famous as Keanu Reeves. We presented that list to Netflix, and Netflix was like, "Why don't you dream bigger? Like, who's the ideal?" And we were like, "Keanu Reeves is the ideal." They were like, "Let's try for that," and we somehow got him. He was shooting "John Wick" at the time, but he had an opening and he loved the idea of playing himself in this romcom. He came out for a few days in the Bay Area and he was just so incredibly nice. He was just so kind. I mean, all the stories you've heard.
Angela [00:25:34] Isn't that everything you want to hear? Sam, are you so happy right now?
Sam [00:25:37] I'm thrilled.
Randall Park [00:25:39] Yeah, he was so kind, so open, just sharing so much of his life and his stories with us and so game in the scenes, just coming up with pitches. There's a moment where he's wearing glasses and he takes them off and I put my fingers through the glass. I'm like, "There's no lenses in these glasses." And he's like, "I know."
Angela [00:25:57] That's great.
Randall Park [00:25:57] And that was his pitch, you know? He had a bunch of pitches like that. It was just so fun and surreal and we were doing overnights. So it was kind of stressful to do overnights but he was just so professional, you know? So just down to play.
Angela [00:26:15] Down to play. I do have to read one more thing. There is a song that you rap called "I punched Keanu Reeves."
Randall Park [00:26:23] [laughing] Yeah.
Angela [00:26:23] And this is one of the best lyrics. You say, "best believe I punched Keanu Reeves and it was better than any scene you could see in 'Speed' / I hit John Wick and now I'm feeling so appealing." But you do it so much better than I just read it.
Randall Park [00:26:37] Yeah, so my character is in a band in the movie that was kind of based on this band that I was in out of college. After we shot the film and edited it, somebody had pitched like, "Why don't we, to the closing credits, do a song that your character made after Keanu Reeves?" So we recorded it and we put it in the closing credit and yeah.
Angela [00:27:04] It's great!
Randall Park [00:27:05] Yeah!
Jenna [00:27:06] I have a follow-up question to that nugget, which is what did you do in the band? Were you the front man? Did you play guitar? What did you do?
Randall Park [00:27:14] In the college band, it was a kind of a hip hop band. I was one of two front men.
Angela [00:27:23] What was the name of your college band?
Randall Park [00:27:25] It was called "Ill Again"
Angela [00:27:27] Ill Again?
Randall Park [00:27:28] [laughing] Yeah.
Jenna [00:27:29] Do you still make music?
Randall Park [00:27:30] No, no, no.
Jenna [00:27:33] Just for the movies.
Randall Park [00:27:33] Just for that movie.
Jenna [00:27:35] Okay.
Angela [00:27:35] And around the house.
Randall Park [00:27:38] In the shower.
Jenna [00:27:39] Okay. Well a couple of months ago, I was scrolling for something to watch. I'm on Netflix and this show called "The Residence" pops up which I was not familiar with but which I am now obsessed.
Angela [00:27:55] She's obsessed and now I have to go watch it.
Jenna [00:27:57] I won't shut up about it.
Angela [00:27:58] I'm like, "Okay, I'm gonna watch it."
Jenna [00:27:59] It is such a great limited series. I have not finished it, so I do not know the ending. But you are in it, and it is fantastic. I just wanna throw it out there to everybody. I mean, this is one of those we always say late to the party, like, "Welcome Jenna, late to party." And people were nominated for awards, but what was it like making that show? Like, as a fan of that show, I just want to hear. It's so cool, the camera work, and all of it, all the levels, and it takes place at the White House.
Randall Park [00:28:27] At the White House, yup, and it's a murder mystery.
Jenna [00:28:30] Yes, you play an FBI detective.
Angela [00:28:32] So fun.
Randall Park [00:28:32] Yeah, who's partnered with Uzo Aduba.
Angela [00:28:35] Oh, she's great!
Randall Park [00:28:36] Yeah, she is amazing. She's the best.
Angela [00:28:37] She's great. I played tennis with her. I know that's random. But at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, we played tennis.
Randall Park [00:28:42] Really?
Angela [00:28:43] Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Sorry
Randall Park [00:28:44] Yeah, she's the best. We shot it not too far from here, right down the street from here. It was one of the best experiences but also a tough experience because we were shooting and then the strike happened.
Jenna [00:28:58] Oh wow.
Randall Park [00:28:59] Yeah, during the shoot. Then one of our cast members was Andre Braugher who passed during the shoot and that was very difficult for all of us. And also just for the show, you know... It was a very... Not tumultuous experience, but there were a lot of heavy challenges. We got through and the show turned out great. We're just so proud of it and we're all so close. I think because we bonded so tight over all the things that happened during that. But yeah, I'm so glad you enjoyed the show.
Jenna [00:29:34] It's really special, it's special. And I love hearing how close you guys are.
Randall Park [00:29:40] Yeah.
Jenna [00:29:41] You feel it. There's a quickness to the comedy. There's a lot of timing in the show. But then there's also this very riveting mystery.
Randall Park [00:29:51] It's very intricate and that's one of those shows where it was kind of like word for word. Like, you do it as written. Do not stray from the script. If you get one word wrong, the script supervisor will come in.
Angela [00:30:04] Because you're building so much together, you can't go off too much.
Randall Park [00:30:07] Yeah, it's just so intricate and the timing of it was just so important. We also just wanted to honor the writer, Paul William Davies, and just make sure that we just did it just right. I mean, I've done that a few times on different shows where they're just like, "This is word for word." And that's challenging. But on this one, it was actually quite easy because the writing was just kind of lyrical and... Rhythmic and and bouncing off of these great actors like Uzo. It just kind of became like very... I don't know. It's almost like making music. It's fun.
Jenna [00:30:47] Well, I love it.
Angela [00:30:49] Jenna actually told me, you know how shows or movies or music you listen to that you then need your best friend to listen to or watch so you can discuss? This morning, she was like, "I'm going to need you to watch The Residence."
Jenna [00:31:03] It's true. But you've also had roles in "The Audacity," which just got renewed for a second season. Can you talk about that?
Randall Park [00:31:10] It's a really great show on AMC about characters in "Silicon Valley," but very different from Silicon Valley, the show. Really funny, really kind of dark and scary, you know? I play this kind of tech mogul who's since retreated from the world and is coming back again for the next season because it got ordered for another season.
Angela [00:31:33] That's great.
Randall Park [00:31:35] Zach Galifianakis is in it. Billy Magnuson. It's just a killer cast. A really, really fun watch.
Angela [00:31:42] Well, that's on our list, and also, I have to say, my sons loved "WandaVision." And I know Sam, you have a question.
Sam [00:31:50] Yes, I do. Jimmy Woo's my favorite character. No joke, in the MCU, the ending of "Ant-Man," the exchange where you're like, "I thought you were inviting me somewhere," is my favorite moment in any Marvel movie. My question was if you had any plans to revive that character in anything coming up.
Randall Park [00:32:07] Nothing for sure. There are some things that may happen, but we'll see, but it's kind of like... You know.
Jenna [00:32:13] I'm sure you're not even allowed to say.
Randall Park [00:32:15] Yeah. And then they may not, and they may or they may not.
Angela [00:32:19] Let's just put it out there. Alright, it's coming back.
Randall Park [00:32:21] But yeah, being in the Marvel world is just such a... Again all of these experiences, where it's just like...
Sam [00:32:29] Well, while I have you, I realized this morning I saw you about ten years ago (speaking of surreal moments) right down the street at the Montalban theater. You did a live stage reading of this script called "Saving Charlie Chaplin."
Randall Park [00:32:41] Oh, yeah.
Sam [00:32:42] My question to you was, I remember distinctly you're on stage between John Hamm and Paul Rubens, who's my hero. What was that like? Getting to do a live-stage reading with Pee Wee?
Randall Park [00:32:53] I mean, come on, it's Pee Wee.
Sam [00:32:54] Yeah, right?
Randall Park [00:32:55] That was, gosh, I forgot about that. That was really fun. It's one of those kind of, you look around and you see these people that you're on stage with and it's another kind of surreal thing.
Sam [00:33:08] Okay, excellent.
Randall Park [00:33:08] Yeah, it was very surreal. I love doing stuff like that. If I get invited to take part in a read of something or any kind of opportunity to just meet people. It's always fun and sometimes you meet your heroes.
Angela [00:33:24] It's so fun to have those creative bursts that you're not expecting, you know? And run-ins with people and what that brings out of you. And you've worked for so long, you've done so many amazing roles. What was the very first job you got in entertainment?
Randall Park [00:33:39] Well, the real first one I got I was in college at UCLA and I thought to myself, "I think I would love to be an actor one day." I didn't end up pursuing acting till way after college but at the time I started auditioning for things that I would find in the back of "Backstage West."
Angela [00:33:58] Oh, yeah.
Randall Park [00:33:58] Does that still exist, Backstage?
Jenna [00:34:00] I don't know. Does it exist digitally? I don't even know.
Angela [00:34:03] I feel like it probably does online, right? We would go get the paper and flip to the back and circle things.
Randall Park [00:34:10] Yeah, circle the casting announcements and the student films and kind of anything. I auditioned for a commercial. It was a non-union commercial that was going to appear on channel 18 in LA, which was kind of like the Asian Channel at the time. They would have the Cantonese language stuff. Then later that night they would have stuff in Mandarin and Korean, you know. I booked it and it was basically a commercial for these liver pills.
Jenna [00:34:40] Oh my goodness, how old were you?
Randall Park [00:34:44] I was in college. It was for these liver pills and I played a dad. The whole thing was in voiceover, in Mandarin. So I didn't understand what I was selling, really. I come in and I'm super tired from work and my kid runs up and he wants to play but I'm too tired. And then the kid is like, "Oh my gosh, liver pills." And then he runs to the cabinet, pulls out these liver pills and hands them to me.
Angela [00:35:07] For my 19-year-old dad.
Randall Park [00:35:10] And then I was suddenly full of energy and that was my first thing. At the time I was like, "Oh my god. This is gonna change my life. This is my entry into Hollywood."
Jenna [00:35:21] Do you have a copy of this?
Randall Park [00:35:24] I do.
Jenna [00:35:25] That is amazing.
Randall Park [00:35:27] I'm really bad in it. I'm overacting everything. But yeah, that was my first, very first thing that got a modicum of airplay, I guess. Some of my friend's parents saw it.
Angela [00:35:40] They were like, "Wait, you're the liver pill guy."
Randall Park [00:35:44] Yeah, and I was like, "Yep, that's me."
Angela [00:35:46] That's me! Swagger, swagger.
Jenna [00:35:49] So what were you studying in school? Were you studying theater or acting?
Randall Park [00:35:52] I was an English major. There was a creative writing specialization. So I was basically majoring in kind of short fiction writing. Then I minored in Asian-American studies and yeah.
Jenna [00:36:06] So later, when you decide to become an actor and take that seriously, is there a role or an experience that you consider to be your big break?
Randall Park [00:36:17] Yeah, I think for me, I could really sense a change in just what was incoming when I did "Veep."
Angela [00:36:28] Oh yeah.
Randall Park [00:36:29] Yeah. That was a real kind of like, "Okay, things are different now." I think because the show was so good and people loved it, it was so well respected. In the industry, especially. When I was doing Veep, that's when things started to come to me. And that was after, I believe, I did The Office. Fresh Off the Boat came from that. A lot of things kind of came from there. Yeah.
Angela [00:36:56] Such a great show, so critically acclaimed. Yeah, it just elevated probably everything.
Randall Park [00:37:02] Yeah, yeah, I really could sense like, "Oh wow, people watch, in the industry especially, watch this show and love it." That's when things just started changing.
Angela [00:37:13] Have you ever written a character for yourself? You know, you are a creative writing major.
Randall Park [00:37:18] Yeah, I mean, Always Be My Maybe was, Ali and I wrote that along with another writer friend, Mike Golamco, and that was so fun because I put in so much of my own life into that, including the band that I was in, stuff like that. Yeah, so that was my first taste of that and I've been doing more of that lately.
Angela [00:37:40] Would you ever write something for you to do on stage like that?
Randall Park [00:37:44] I've been thinking about that.
Angela [00:37:46] Yeah.
Randall Park [00:37:47] I've been thinking about that because when I was in college my initial kind of introduction to acting started out in playwriting. There was this college theater company that I had co-founded with some friends and we wrote our own original plays. That was kind of my way in, you know, in terms of just discovering my love for performing.
Angela [00:38:06] Mm-hmm.
Randall Park [00:38:06] So yeah, I would love to one day. Yeah.
Angela [00:38:10] A long time ago, I wrote a one woman show and I wrote all these different characters and I look back on it now and I'm like, "Oh, they were so..." I don't know.
Randall Park [00:38:19] Was this pre The Office?
Angela [00:38:21] Oh, pre-everything, pre everything. I wrote this one-woman show. Some people came to it and I got a manager out of it and I got a little review and all that stuff. But I've always wondered what it would be like to revisit those characters.
Randall Park [00:38:34] Oh, you totally should.
Angela [00:38:35] Now, like 30 years later, oh my god, I'm so old. But yeah, Jenna loves theater so much, and my daughter does. I love theater too, but I feel like I've become more patient, in a way, in how I take entertainment into my life. So I have such patience that I wanna go and see things now and sit there and take it in.
Randall Park [00:38:58] Yeah, I don't know. I feel like it's just so fun. There's nothing like theater, you know? There's nothin' like it.
Angela [00:39:04] You're speaking this one's favorite language.
Jenna [00:39:05] I'm going to a show tonight at the Pasadena Playhouse with my husband.
Angela [00:39:09] What are you going to see?
Jenna [00:39:10] It's this show called "Mexodus." It's an original musical. He got us the tickets. That's a way to my heart. He's like, "Sweetie, there's a great new show at the Pasadena Playhouse."
Angela [00:39:22] Date niiight
Randall Park [00:39:23] Yeah, I love that. Do you ever think of doing theater? Like, performing in a theater?
Jenna [00:39:28] Yes, I've done it. But I hope to make it my habit I hope to make it my regular gig, in the future. After my kids are grown.
Angela [00:39:38] We can call it our third act. "What's happening in your third act?" Yeah, Jenna's gonna be a lady of the theater.
Jenna [00:39:44] That is the plan, if I can make that happen. I've said this before. There's really two things I've always wanted to do: to be an actress and to be a parent. And I was like, "Gosh, the parenting years, they're finite and they only happen right here." Like, the acting part can happen in many years when I'm 70, when I am 75, but the parenting part... They go away. Eventually they grow up.
Randall Park [00:40:09] Yeah, and it happened so fast.
Jenna [00:40:12] And I'm like, "I want to be here," like, selfishly, I want to do it all.
Randall Park [00:40:17] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jenna [00:40:18] So yeah, stepping back from acting in these last few years, but stepping back in now that they're going into high school and middle school.
Angela [00:40:26] We both kind of have itchy feet but the podcast has been amazing because one of the things we've always shared in our friendship was our love of family and family coming first and having to be away just broke our hearts. So this community and this podcast has been so wonderful.
Randall Park [00:40:45] Yeah, and it's so successful. You guys are doing so great and it seems like you would probably do this anyways, like, just hang out.
Angela [00:40:53] You're absolutely right, because if you are going to have a job where you get to hang out with your best friend and chat, this is it.
Jenna [00:40:59] Yeah, because we were already doing that.
Randall Park [00:41:01] Yeah, exactly.
Jenna [00:41:02] We might as well record it.
Randall Park [00:41:03] Yeah, but that third act that's like such a kind of exciting thing to think about. Because it could be anything.
Angela [00:41:11] Could be anything!
Randall Park [00:41:13] Yeah.
Angela [00:41:13] Oh my gosh, Randall, this was lovely!
Jenna [00:41:16] Yes!
Randall Park [00:41:16] So fun.
Jenna [00:41:17] Thank you for coming and talking about your experience on the show.
Randall Park [00:41:20] Yeah, thanks for having me.
Jenna [00:41:23] It's just so wonderful to get that on record.
Randall Park [00:41:24] Yes, it's on record. It's on the record.
Angela [00:41:27] And when you write your next play, if you need two ladies of a certain season in life.
Randall Park [00:41:32] Yep.
Jenna [00:41:33] Yeah.
Randall Park [00:41:33] Yep. It's you two.
Angela [00:41:37] They're going to be like, "Why are an older version of Angela and Pam in this play?"
Randall Park [00:41:42] It's a Korean family and you too will yeah be the matriarchs. Yeah.
Angela [00:41:49] Great, great. I'm in.
Jenna [00:41:50] We could be your crazy neighbors.
Randall Park [00:41:52] We'll figure it out.
Angela [00:41:56] Alright.
Jenna [00:41:57] Thank you so much.
Randall Park [00:41:58] Thank you guys.
audio cue [00:42:04] [musical sting]
Angela [00:42:04] Well, welcome back. It's time for...
audio cue [00:42:06] [Around the Town jingle plays]
Angela [00:42:10] I'll kick us off with this from Megan S. in Troy, Ohio. Megan says, "In August, thousands of people from around the world descend upon Troy, Ohio to celebrate the Tour de Donut bike race."
Jenna [00:42:23] Oh, boy.
Angela [00:42:24] With a thousand dozen donuts, lady! Megan says "Riders choose their course from the 9.72 mile donut hole to the 58.5 mile Double D Challenge, which winds throughout the county. Each race includes pit stops for donuts donated by a local bakery. For each donut a rider eats and can keep down," uh-oh, "five minutes are deducted from their final time. A special stop called 'The Glazer' gives out jelly or cream filled donuts and riders can eat one of those to deduct ten minutes from their time. Last year I did the donut hole race with my nine-year-old son, Isaac, and between the two of us, we ate five donuts. Isaac is looking forward to beating both our doughnut, and less importantly, our time record this year."
Jenna [00:43:15] Wow.
Angela [00:43:16] Wow. Okay, I could see, though, how that could take a turn.
Jenna [00:43:20] Yes, that you are now Michael Scott and you've eaten some fettuccini and you're gonna run. This is a very similar situation.
Angela [00:43:28] I'm so curious, like, what's the average temperature for Troy, Ohio in August? I'm googling it, Megan. I need to know how hot it is when you're riding around and eating these donuts.
Jenna [00:43:41] What does it say?
Angela [00:43:43] Temperatures can average between 79 to 85 degrees.
Jenna [00:43:46] Well, that's not bad.
Angela [00:43:48] But still, 80's on a bicycle...
Jenna [00:43:52] That's pleasant.
[00:43:52] I didn't look up the humidity. Okay, I won't get into it. Way to go, Megan. I love that. I would just like to work the donut stand and maybe not be on the bicycles.
Jenna [00:44:02] You'd need to test the donuts to make sure.
Angela [00:44:04] I would. I would make sure that they're good quality. Yes.
Jenna [00:44:08] Alright, well, next up, Angela S. from Athens, Pennsylvania said, "My home county, just a couple hours north of Scranton, recently hosted a beauty pageant for cows. Bradford County held the 'Pasture Perfect Beauty Pageant' on June 20th. This event recreated a cow beauty contest that took place 100 years ago in the same location. Local farmers gathered in front of our county's courthouse with their most beautiful bovine. This year's winner, a red and white Holstein named Shakira received a floral crown as her prize." That is so sweet.
Angela [00:44:47] That's so cute. And to wrap up our Around the Towns, here's something from Lucy, I. in Edinburgh, Scotland, but currently living in Spain. Lucy says, "I'm on holiday in Spain at the moment and went to a town called Javea for a wee day trip and we walked past a shoe shop called 'Shoe-la-la.'"
Jenna [00:45:09] Incredible.
Angela [00:45:09] "I was so excited to see Michael Scott's dream shoe shop name from "Golden Ticket" come true. I wonder if the owners are Office fans. I also wonder how many people in the town have picked up on this connection."
Jenna [00:45:22] Clearly need to go to Spain and find out.
Angela [00:45:24] And go to Shoe-la-la.
Jenna [00:45:25] And go to Shoe-la-la.
Angela [00:45:28] You guys, thank you so much for writing in with your Around the Towns. Up next we have our Office question of the week.
Jenna [00:45:33] This is coming from Katen L. in St. Petersburg, Florida. "Hello, Office Ladies. I am a longtime listener. I'm currently listening to your Office Trailers podcast. When I originally read the title, I accidentally thought you were talking about TV trailers. However, that made me think that I would love a discussion about how promotional videos, magazines, articles, TV interviews, all the things The Office promotional materials came to be for the cast and crew. What does that process look like? Thank you, I love ya, you two are sunshine to the world."
Angela [00:46:08] Aw, thanks so much, that's so nice. Gosh, a lot goes into all of that.
Jenna [00:46:14] It is a little bit like a part-time job that gets attached to your full-time job. The full- time job being making the show, or making a movie, whatever you made.
Angela [00:46:24] Mm-hmm.
Jenna [00:46:24] There becomes this whole other job which is promoting it, getting the word out about it, creating promotional materials.
Angela [00:46:32] And you know, depending on what project you're working on, there can be a whole team of people assigned to the marketing. So you might have a day where you go and you do a photo shoot with different people in the cast. Then also they might say, "Hey, could you guys take these phones and capture behind the scene content?" Or they'll send someone to capture behind-the-scene content. Then they use that and make it into little clips. And then you have a day where you talk to people who write on magazines. Then sometimes you go on TV shows, talk shows. It's a whole machine.
Jenna [00:47:09] Yeah, before every new season, they would arrange some sort of full cast photo shoot on our set. One year they set up a bunch of paper boxes in the break room.
Angela [00:47:23] Yes, and a lot of you have seen that picture. Trying to fit us all in that break room, I don't think they thought that through.
Jenna [00:47:29] Well, I think that's why maybe the following year, they put us all in the warehouse in front of a bunch of paper boxes. But they would have us do a group photo. They would put us in different pairings. They would have single photos. And that would be our morning. We would spend four or five hours just cycling through doing promotional photos. But we also had to be doing the show. So if you weren't getting your picture taken, you were shooting a scene. And my goodness, if that wasn't a crazy scheduling job for Kelly Cantley and Rusty Mahmood, our ADs.
Angela [00:48:05] And then also you would have sort of a full on press junket day and you would get paired up with someone. Jenna, you and I would get paired up together and we would have to be on set super early. We would arrive at 3 a.m. to be camera ready by 4 a.m.
Jenna [00:48:22] Yeah, and they'll sit you down in two chairs, and then you are via satellite to all these different live morning news programs. But those programs are starting on the East Coast as of 7 a.m. and you have the little thing in your ear, and you can hear the newscasters, you can't see them. You can hear them, and their asking you questions. You do that for three minutes, and they're like, "Okay, and now we're going to New Hampshire."
Angela [00:48:49] Yes, there's someone standing on set with you, and we often did these on the set of The Office as our backdrop, but there was a person's role at NBC who would have a list of all the cities in the United States that we'd be popping on to their morning show. They would say, "Alright, guys, up next, Toledo, Ohio, in three, two, one, you're live!" Right? Then it would be like, "Up next, you're on with St. Louis, Missouri, in Three, two, one!" And on and on, and by the end you have no idea who you're talking to anymore.
Jenna [00:49:20] And also, by the way, if you need to go to the bathroom, you gotta hold it. They would have little breaks that they would work in. There'd usually be a slightly larger break where you could get some breakfast while you waited for all of the West Coast news programs to start at actual 7 a.m. And then after you did that, you started your regular work day.
Angela [00:49:42] Yeah. So we would be there for three hours and then go into our regular workday. Everyone was always so gracious, but I do have a new appreciation for everyone that ever has to call in or pop in via satellite to a talk show because there is that delay. I'm sure all of y'all listening have seen this before. Someone's on your news program and they pop in and the person asks the question like, "Alright, can you tell us about this new season of your TV show?" And then they're like, "Yes. [stammering] I can't. I'm sorry." It's so clunky sometimes.
Jenna [00:50:23] And they haven't fixed that, which is funny.
Angela [00:50:25] There's a delay and it's always a little tricky. But anyway, it is a lot of moving parts, the way shows and movies come together and the promotion. I have a lot of respect for all the different departments.
Jenna [00:50:39] But it has to get folded into your already very busy work week and all of that scheduling would have to go through the producers. If someone needed to go do a taping of the "Tonight Show," we would have to move the whole schedule around because the rest of us would still be filming.
Angela [00:50:56] And none of those late night talk shows are filmed late at night.
Jenna [00:51:00] That's correct.
Angela [00:51:01] They're filmed at like 5 p.m. or 4 p.m. You know, it's late afternoon. So a work day is still happening half the time.
Jenna [00:51:09] Well, and one of the things that would be tricky for me (and Angela, I'm sure this was true for you as well, not so much for the gentlemen), but our hair as our characters of Angela and Pam was very specific. But if I was gonna go be a guest on a late night talk show and wear a cute little dress or whatever.
Angela [00:51:30] You'd have to be de-Pammed.
Jenna [00:51:31] Yeah! I would have to de-Pammed and you would have be de-Angela Martined
Angela [00:51:35] I know! I didn't want to go on a late night talk show with a bun, with a severe bun.
Jenna [00:51:40] Exactly.
Angela [00:51:41] Maybe I should have one time.
Jenna [00:51:44] Well, there was one thing, I can't remember what it is now off the top of my head, where we had something we had to go to, Angela. I feel like it was a panel that we all had to talk on after work, but we went late. Kim Ferry was just like, "Jenna, the best I can do is throw that hair up into a crazy ponytail for you. Otherwise you're going to have Pam hair." I was like, "Do the ponytail, do the ponytail!"
Angela [00:52:11] I went to an awards show in my Angela Martin ponytail because we filmed so late.
Jenna [00:52:17] Yes, I think it was the Golden Globes almost.
Angela [00:52:19] Was it the Golden globes? I was in a red dress and I'm in my Angela Martin hair.
Jenna [00:52:25] With the suit, with the swooped bang?
Angela [00:52:25] Yes.
Jenna [00:52:28] Well, there you go. Thanks for asking that question. That's a little bit behind the scenes.
Angela [00:52:33] Mm-hmm, we love hearing from you guys. I'll put a swipe up in our stories where you can write us. A huge thank you to Randall Park for coming into the studio with us today.
Jenna [00:52:43] It was so generous of him to come in the studio and speak with us today. Thank you, Randall. Everyone, be sure to check him out. He's everywhere, okay? He is. Look for him in AMC's The Audacity. Look for in these two indie films, "Brian" and "Wishful Thinking," and then, of course, there's the show that I am obsessed with. I'm late to the party, but I am obsessed, which is The Residence on Netflix.
Angela [00:53:05] And for you folks out there that love a rom-com, as much as me and Matt Beagle do, check out his 2019 movie, Always Be My Maybe. It's so fun and you get a little Keanu Reeves.
Jenna [00:53:18] Alright, everyone, thank you so much. We'll see you next week.
Angela [00:53:21] See you then.
Jenna [00:00:17] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [00:00:19] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:24] Our senior producer is Matt Beagle. Our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.
Angela [00:00:32] Audacy's executive producer is Leah Reis-Dennis.
Jenna [00:00:35] Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
Angela [00:00:37] Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.