Angela Kinsey - Pt. 2

to save this part until now for two reasons. The first is that today is an Angela's birthday, or as Dwight would say, it is your birthday. Happy birthday, Angela, Uh. This is my this is my homage to you on

your very special day. And the second reason is that today Angela and I are really getting into the camera's role on the show and her relationship to it as an actor, so I wanted to save this part for our camera as character mini Deep Dive, we also talk about Angela's love life, the character Angela uh, and the time I almost literally broke her on set, and lots of other fond memories. So pull up a chair, or strap on your seatbelt tighter however you're listening to this,

or run on your peloton faster. Enjoy Angela, Kenzie, Bubble and Squeak, I love it. Bubble and Squeaker, Bubble and Squeaker Cookie every more live over from the nut before. In terms of the shooting of the show, the thing that I'm the most um proud of is the artistic integrity that came with having the camera be a character. Do you have any specific moments that you remember about

interacting with the camera or having the camera as a character. Well, I have years of a clandestine relationship, you know, So that was always something we had to consider when Dwight and I had scenes, is like are we camera aware? Do we know that the camera's picking this up? Our secret rendezvous and our characters look around for the camera, and there's times when we see that we've been caught and when we react to being caught. So that the

camera truly was a character. That crew member was there and we were trying to hide from that crew member and not be exposed. So that that was always a really fun um fun thing to play off of. And then I loved at the end that we then get to see the footage and we all crowd around Oscar's desk and the revelations that come from that. Um So I I love that that got to pay off. And so when Angela and Dwight were going off on their trysts, you were always camera aware. You were always aware of

where the camera was. Did you ever forget? Oh we did. I mean we would get caught in the throes of passion and forget. But there was always a moment where we looked around before we spoke or did something. There was always some moment where we were checking in, like in the warehouse, did we get away kind of look around, and sometimes we never saw the camera. They truly were hidden and a spy shot. And then there were times where one of us would find it, usually me, and

then I would walk off in a huff. That's such an interesting There's something so interesting to me about the camera being a character and thinking about Dwight and Angela that that they were really trying to figure you guys out. Yeah, Like if you think about it, like reality TV, there was some segment producer that's like get on that they're meeting in the warehouse find him. We want that. What, Um, how did your relationship? How did it change Angela? Well?

I think for me, it just opened her up because you know, there's a lot of people that I guess in the beginning could sort of see her as one note, like, oh, she's just the office bitch. Well guess what, the office bitch can be a bitch in love. There's there's a there's you know, sneaky bitch. They're super dishes bitch, there's uppitty bitch, there's madly in love bitch. Like there's layers to her grumpiness, and um, she just as someone I

think who's very fear based. And I think her falling in love with Dwight and having to step out of her comfort zone and trust someone and let someone in and made her just more three dimensional to me. Right when Angela and Dwight started together, were you aware of what it was going to turn into? No? No, absolutely not. And I mean I've talked about this quite a bit that we would find out things at the table read.

So we're at the table read and it's the episode where Jim has a barbecue and all of a sudden there's two barking stocks rubbing back and forth in the dollhouse outside. Rain and I were like what and um, Greg had told me that in the writer's room, Um, they like to try to pitch like different people, different characters within the show that might bring out an interesting other side to the other person. And so they would

like sort of brainstorm name on you know, postcards. And they love the idea of Dwight and Angela and that that kind of couple seeking power you know. Um, and they make sense right. It was ridiculous. I mean, having a you know, contract to have a baby and your rules and his rules and your needs and his requirements juxtaposed with Pam and Jam and they're sort of sweet, normal,

well somewhat normal, unrequited. Yeah, um, I thought brought great comedy, but also it's a testament to you and your work and Rain that people bought into it and and believed it as ridiculous as it was. Well, I think in their own way. There's their story isn't much different than

Jim and Pam. It's two people that love each other and are both a little too scared to let the other person know how much they love each other and find ways to throw up all these roadblocks, roadblocks, until they finally just step out into that scary place and say, all right, I'm in it to win it. This is me. You got me right. And but they have their you know,

Jim and Pam. Maybe maybe hers is flirting with him a little bit and then he picks her up and her shirt comes up and you can see your belly and she gets embarrassed and then she doesn't talk to him the rest of the day. Maybe that's what's happening there. For us, it's like, well, I you know, I will here is my like card that we whole punched whenever we had sex, like what was it called like a

frequent like it was an intercourse like punch car. I mean, we had our own weird things of just stalling what was ultimately what we both wanted. And how much communication did you have with the writers about that story? It really was the writers. It was they would come up with these ideas and I really didn't go to them very many times in the course of the show with anything that bumped me. Now I would have pitches for them,

you know. Jim and I pitched to Greg one day on set about these ridiculous kind of workshops we'd have to do. We both worked in corporate America and there were these things like a women in the Workplace kind of seminar, and we were telling him about it and he was like, hold up, hold up, b J, come here, write this down. And he made b jaket a notepadded that one little nugget. Of course, BJ took it and ran with it became I think the episodes called Boys

and Girls. Is that what it's called now I'm looking Yes, boys and Girls is the fifte episode of the second season. So that was Jenna and I pitching that, you know, are women in the workplace stuff? Interesting? Um, so Dwight and Angela are together. What was it like bringing Andy played by Ed Helms into that well, that just seemed doomed from the start. Yes, I mean, you know, it was revenge dating. I always felt bad for Andy. I

felt bad for Andy from day one. Andy so desperately you just wanted someone, you think, anyone, you know, and I just I just always felt really badly for him. And again, it was that thing like Jim and Pam, where they had to have these foils, you know, to sort of keep them apart, you know, Dwight and I I mean, Dwight did put my cat in the freezer, which was really sucky. And then she dates Andy, and then he dates and then you know, so we had all of these sort of foil relationships. But Ed Helms

as a person was so fun. He was so fun to work with. That was nice to throw that in there. At the end. I felt really bad. I felt my character. I felt bad for Andy, But it was really you were saying, how was it? Having Ed around? Ed is delightful? And his trailer was next to mine. He'd played the banjo and I'd go over and hang out and he was so fun. There's a behind the scenes story for

you folks. Ed playing the banjo? Um, so are obviously are things were happening in our personal lives, and we were, well, you got during the writers strike, righty, and you came back and you were really pregnant. How was that? Well? It was? It was. It was a little tricky because I was very early pregnant right as the strike started, right as we all went on this kind of odd hiatus mid season. But my you couldn't tell my body. I didn't really start showing for a bit, and then

we came back. Was it three months later. Yeah, and then all of a sudden, I was completely showing I was having a baby. And so I remember us sitting around being like, Okay, how do we hide this? How do we hide it? Because it wouldn't have made sense for my character to all of a sudden be pregnant. It maybe would have been different had the series had its full run that year. Um, So we had to

hide it. There was no other way. And I had one of the most hilarious conversations with Paul Feig, who was directing an episode where Phillis Watson on UM Dwight and Angela making out in the office, and I was, oh, seven and a half months pregnant, and they were trying to have Rain hide my belly with his body as we're like making out and and we're supposed to be in like stages of mid undress, you know, like Rain

has a shirt off. So they were like at first, they're like, well, what if Angel looked out on her force or I stood here, or what if we put her here? And it was like, where do you put the giant pregnant belly? What do we do that doesn't also look really inappropriate? And instead of mildly inappropriate. I did not know that story. Wow. So the show also sort of rode this wave of technology social media. Talk

to me about your you were on my Space? Well, Jenna got on my Space and then got a few of us on it, and we did these MySpace blogs. We weren't just convinced, probably for two and a half years, that we were going to get canceled, so anyway we could try to connect and get the get the word out about the show, So we would do these behind the scenes blogs and stuff. I actually printed out all of them. I have all of mine, and you do. I do, and um, it is really funny you you

really see just your journey even as just a young person. Wow. Yeah. And some of it is like embarrassing, like the stuff that I'm like, oh my god, here was the thing we had a chocolate fountain. You're like, okay, lady, relax, Well you were involved with that. The show. You know what we talked about before iTunes becoming big, and then we were the first show that did original content for the internet NBC dot com. We did webisodes. Of course, no one knew what the Hello We episode was. We

didn't either. They were going to be little vignettes that would live on the Internet. And we won an Emmy for one The Accountants, The Accountants and a cameo by Rain as Dwight cameo by Rain, but he didn't win an Emmy. No, he did it. He did it. I know jennat so you let Jenna, you can touch mine, That's what she said. Um, so this is something that

you know. I don't know that everybody knows. But when the show won an Emmy for Best Comedy Ensemble, you would think as the comedy ensemble, we would all get an Emmy, but we were not producer credit and only the producers get an Emmy. And I think that is a bunch of bs so um television and out of me. I think everyone should get an Emmy. That's what I think. But then as the webisode series, we were nominated Brian and Oscar and I for a Daytime Emmy and we

got it. So Jenna does not have an Emmy because the year we won, she was not a producer. Years later some folks got producer credit, but we did not win again. So I told Jenna our idea that there should be The Accountants spin off, and she was like, yes, why is that happening? So Bonnie Hammer at NBC dot com, if you'd like to see the Accountants spin off, you know if we if we're available, we'll make it happen. What what do you remember some of your favorite moments?

I just wanted to see what the Booths reaction of that was. Um, some of my favorite moments from the Corner, Brian. Every week, every week there was a favorite moment every week. One of my favorite things that Oscar would do is whenever I had lines that I had to say really

seriously because Angela was always very serious. In the background, he would be pretending to add on his adding machine, but he only uses knuckles like a caveman like cluk cluk cluk, But he did that try to mess with me and then you and I there were times that there was a scene happening. I could not make eye contact with you because if I did, we'd both go.

I love in the healthcare episode that you full and see us break and you do this thing, Brian that when someone breaks, it's it's like to deflect from you. You call him out. And so so Rain comes out and says hot dog fingers and I start laughing. I double I kind of double over and start laughing. I fully break character and you laugh, but you point at me like she did it, and it's in the episode they left it in. So every week was great. What do you think made our little group of the accounts

in the corner so special? I think the dynamic. I mean, I just always felt like Oscar and I were your parents and you were our idiot son who still lived at home. I mean, I just the three of as, we're just so in sync. From the very beginning, I view it the three of us there as sort of this perfect comedy triangle. Right. You've got the stern one who's got to be in control, You've got the slower one who kind of likes to get under the skin

of the one who likes to be in control. And then you have to put upon one Oscar and you have this, but he has to also be the referee totally. He's the referee in between you and I. But also then the alliances keep shifting. It's Kevin and Oscar against Angela whenever they want to play. It's Angela and Oscar against Kevin whenever they actually have to get things done. You know, is it ever Angela and Kevin. No, I

don't think so. I don't think so. Well. Actually, one of my favorite pictures that I have is a picture. It's a selfie that we took in a car and we were filming the episode at your house with the creepy portrait of Angela. Yes, because he's mean to you. Oh that's right, you come up, you stand up for me. Kevin stands up for you. Oh that's really sweet. Yeah, you know what. It's Kevin and Angela versus Oscar when Angela finds out Oscar is sleeping with her husband. Yes,

but Kevin knew, but Ken knew. Kevin knew, but he was more just happy that he kept a secret. Yeah, he was so proud of himself. Well. One of my favorite running bits that we had, and I know you know this, was that we would say, first of all, whenever we had the smallest scene, you would think it was gonna like we were going to get an Oscar or something like that. That sounds serious. We took it and there were times I would turn to you guys, and I'd be like, guys, it's not our show. It's

not our show. Today is not about us. It's not our show. But one of my favorite things. As Oscar said, well, maybe we'll have a spin off on Telemundo and it would be Oscar and Hello Caban that. Oh gosh, I think that no one thought that we were funnier than we did over an accounting. Yeah, well just all of us over there. I just referred to um, I would injure you a lot. Okay, I have to say one

thing about that. Creed just came on Jenna Nice podcast Office Ladies and we're talking about Halloween, and then he referenced another another episode and he goes and that's when Brian like like body checked you, Angela and you went flying. He was like he was always doing that. That was hilarious. Creed thought it was funny. That that's good. It cracked

me up. I always just had the idea that Kevin was not aware of the size of his body and so he wouldn't think that he would, you know, potentially injure a smaller person walking by or anyone, because it would make me laugh so hard just nudging you and having you go flying one time into the well. I think I hurt you that one time into the bushes. The bushes when there was an actual physical imprint of my body in the bushes and I got peeled out.

That was that wasn't a good my, my. And then there was one time you you checked me into the blinds in the conference room that I didn't think John was going to be able to recover from. But my personal favorite was one of the first times it happened. It was purely by accident, and you had to walk around behind me. They gave you the action at the top of the scene accounting. You were to walk behind me to the file cabinets behind me, and I'm standing at my desk and I had a line where I

had to say, Oscar, did you do the payroll? And when Brian walked by, by accident, you bumped into me and I you you pump into me and I went flying and I said, Oscar, but I was midsing and so I said, Oscar, did you the and I didn't you hit me? I went up on payroll like like that, and you could not could not get back from that. You started laughing so hard. O god, And that was the beginning of that, the beginning. Yeah, um, who is your favorite guest star we ever had? Oh gosh, we

had so many good ones. I mean I have favorites for different reasons, do you know what I mean? Like a dressed Elba he was just like so cool. I was like, maybe if I hang out with him, I'll be cool. Uh and then um, I loved Oh wait are you good? But you look you three? Brian laughed and throw his head back and his headphones came head fans went flying off. That was funny. Alright, um, did you say head fans, head fans, welcome to the podcast world.

Shut it. That's Brian's favorite thing. By the way, when I would give him hard time, he'd go shut it. Um, Okay, So I loved it dress because he just was cool. I mean I talked to Cathy Bates about r VS and traveling around America and RV and I'm like, you're really cool. Um. James Spader though one of my all time favorites because, like Creed, he just would say things and would be like, wait, is that he has lived

a life and and I'll never forget. We had hair and makeup side by side, Like we'd get touch ups at lunch side by side. So I'd be sitting in a chair next him and I was talking to Kenneth Paul, who did my makeup about the fact that my daughter liked to sleep in bed with me, and that I felt bad. And you know, I knew she was getting older.

She was like four years old, and I knew I shouldn't let her crawl in a bed and sleep with me in the night, but she's so snugly, and and I just thought I was talking to Kenneth Paul because when James Spader would come in to get his makeup done, it looked like he went into a trance, like asleep, like some meditative trance. He looked asleep and he sat up, because at this time in my life I was a single mom. He sat up and he looked at me, and he goes, Angela, get that baby out of your

bed if you ever want a man in there. I was like, what, You're alive and you're talking, And I was like, all right, James, I guess, okay, huh what what so James James being there? Now? What? Um? When did you find out Steve was leaving? And how did you feel did you feel the show could keep going? I mean, I can't remember the exact moment. I kind of feel like I was with everybody somewhere, maybe they

announced it at a table read. I know there were some people who were privy before some of the rest of us, but I kind of like Steve talked to us on that one day and gave us the heads up before the announcement because he's just a class act like that. And I just remember thinking, well, God, I felt like we had such a deep bench. You know, Bryan, that's a basketball term. I don't know if you know

basketball well. In a basketball game, you have your starters, but you want a really solid second string, right, So you want a deep bench they call it because in basketball you all sit on a bench. Now, I felt like, you're welcome, Bryan. Thank you for explaining that to me. Brian, who should, by the way, you have a spin off where he just has famous athletes coming here and talk to him because the guy knows everybody. I'll never this

is like me getting off topic. But we were at like a fancy kind of restaurant bar place, and Brian was like, my friend's going to meet us here, Aaron, And I was like, okay, great, I meet Aaron. I'm like, Aaron, what do you do? How are things? He's like, good, I'm I play football. I was like, oh, that's fun, Like what team are you playing on? He's like, I played for Green Bay and I was like that is so cool. Well good for you. And then I tell my boyfriend. I'm like, so I met this guy Aaron.

He's a quarterback for like, I don't know, something with a bay, like a Seattle maybe, And he's like, what did you meet aarn Rogers? Anyway, I digress. Brian needs to have also famous athletes show, so make that happen. But yeah, I just remember thinking we had a deep bench, and I thought that I was really hopeful that we could continue. I was scared, and I was sad. I was sad, and I was scared because I felt like Steve was such our anchor, but I never doubted what

the rest of us could do. And I was also excited. It was kind of a complex range of emotions because I was excited to see how it would blow out the world and what other sort of cool things might come from it, and the ways we might see other characters take on new responsibility. Absolutely, I feel like it was more emotional for me when he left than when the end of the show happened. I don't know why. Well, he was like our you know, sort of the father figure of our show, and it was really hard to

imagine walking on set without him. I actually went back and I found an email that I wrote him, um, a few days into our first episode back without him, and I was like, dear Steve, like in the email, like, it was really weird to walk on set today and not see you. I miss our talks about our weekend because he would walk over and talk to us about his weekend, to Jenna and I about what he got at Target, you know, And I was like, I just really miss you. And I sent him a picture and

and we email like that from time to time. Um. But yeah, I just remember really missing him his presence. He's also just brilliant. He's brilliant. We all got the best ever comedy like on site training from just being in scenes with him and watching him, because not only can he just make a character just be hilarious, but then in a second he and flip it and rip your heart out. Mm hmm. For the finale, our finale, the finale of the show, how are you leading into that?

The end? I was emotional. I was emotional. I I had heard that Greg really wanted Steve to make a cameo in the finale, and Steve was like, well, I just feel like my characters wrapped up, Like why would Michael come back? And Greg was like, is there a scenario where Michael would come back to dunder Mifflin And Steve said, well, if Dwight and Nangela got married, Michael would come to their wedding. But they Greg really really really didn't want the press to find out, and things

have a way of leaking. There's a lot of people that coming come like back and forth on a set, and he really wanted it locked up just for the fans. He wanted that surprise. We've talked about this before. Um, but what do you think about the idea of a reunion show? Well, obviously, you don't ever want to mess with what is such a beautiful thing, right, Those seasons are beautiful and they mean a lot to people, and you you would never want to open them back up

and not do them justice. Um. But when I think of like a reunion movie, like one one moment, one glimpse to see where these people are, I think part of the reason why I love the idea is because I miss these characters. Not only do I miss my friends and to be in one room with all of them, Like the the brunch that Greg hosted at his house and a bunch of us were able to attend. Phillis walked in the door, and when I saw her, I

burst into tears. I hadn't been in the same room with Phillis in a long time, just because of life. We stay in touch, you know, but it's different getting to all sit around a table together. And so I kind of get emotional when I think about it, because you know, life is short, and I just think I'd love to know where these characters are, and I'd love to sit around a table with those people I love. Again, why do you think the show has become more popular now than it was when it air? What is it?

What is it that that attracts people to it? Well, Brian, we can ask this a lot, right, I Mean, we both sort of have our things, our theories on it, but um, you know, undeniably, it's the way that we consume media. The fact that it can just be on anytime you want. You don't have to wait for Thursday night at eight o'clock. It's always there, It's always available. But I also think on the other layer, is it

is comfort. It is comfort. You turn it on and you know where everyone's going to be, you know where Pam is that reception, you know, accounting, Those people become like your extend family and you're just sort of checking in with them. And I have people tell me all the time, as I know you do as well. Let's say that they put it on at the end of a long day or a bad day, or maybe something they're anxious about. They put it on in it it's just comfort. Yeah, what are you the most proud of?

I guess it's legacy. I'm so proud of the show. And I'm so proud that it keeps finding an audience because we all thought it had the staying power, but to see that affirmed in millions of people that still watch it, I'm really proud of that we made something that will last. Right. It's crazy to me the attachment that eleven, twelve year old, thirteen year old you know, high school kids have to that show. Now, what is it? Is it? The characters, the relationships. It's also funny. It's

also really really freaking funny. Like I was watching it and like I'm like, it's funny, and there's stuff out there that I ain't so funny. And it's funny. I mean, you know, my daughter is eleven and she had never seen the show. She grew up on the set she was born. Season five was there every day. I mean, you know, I had a little kind of baby nursery trailer next right there. But um, you know, it's interesting.

She came back to school this year, she's in fifth grade, and she said, Mom, everyone in my class watched The Office over the summer. Everyone I see a kid with a dunder Mifflin shirt. These are kids I've known since kindergarten and now they're like seeing me and they're like, I'm like, what are you talking about. You've been over my house so many times. I make you snacks. But

she was like, can I watch it now? I was like, okay, alright, fine, I think there's some content that might not be appropriate, but well, muscle through it together. But um, and she's into it. And my my stepsons are into it. They're eleven and nine. They love it. My son Jack, who's eleven, loves it so much that he's now he's watching it and now he listens to the podcast. He'll listen to

this one too, so like he's he loves itable. It's unbelievable, and they I feel like they kind of see me in a different way now, Like my own kids are like, oh, wow, you did that. I'm like, yes, what do you guys think I do when I leave here? Did something? Mom? You did something other than give me some goldfish and some pretzels? Um? All right, So you're doing a podcast now, office Ladies? Tell me about it? Um? Yes, Brian, I am doing a podcast called Office Ladies. It is with

my bff, Jenna Fisher. You know, she and I became best friends on set and I talked. We talked every single day and we have for years. I mean Rain used to say he would turn to us and say, what more could you have to say to each other? But she's just my best friend. I feel like I don't even know how to like really relate to life until I bounce it off of her. And my husband is not a big talker, so he's like, I'm like, oh, I probably should you know, talk to jenn about it.

He's like, yes, do please because he thinks I yeah. He's like, filter it through and then he goes I get the condensed version where you're like more rational, you've bounced it through your BFF filter. Um. But Jenna and I were trying to like think about, well, what can we do together? And one of the big things for us is that we wanted to work in l A. Well, it's really hard to get an acting job in Los Angeles these days, folks. Most of them are filmed in Vancouver, Atlanta.

And we didn't want to be away from our families. And I love being the architect in my own time, and I've never really been able to do that. And we get to hang out and talk about one of our favorite chapter of our life. So it's just a rewatch, and it's it's our love for the show. It's just it's just a little bit of everything awesome. Um. All right, Can you do one last thing for me, just so we can identify you? Um for people listening, can you say your name and your role on the Office. My

name is Angela Kinsey and I played Angela Martin. Should I say Angela Martin? Shrut? I don't think so, do you know? Why? Can I tell you? I always say Angela Martin And I've had people right in and say why don't you say, Angela Martin shrewt. So I was like, okay, fine. So then one time I wouldn't you just be Angela's shrewd? Yeah? So then one time I wrote and I said, okay, fine, I guess I'm Angela shrewt. And then I had someone right to me and say thanks for ruining the series.

I'm like, buddy, what is the statute here? Six years is not a spoiler alert? Yeah? At what point? So now I just say, Angela Martin, dude, thank you, You're welcome. Did I do? Okay, You're so great. I told you she was great. I mean I told her that she was great. Now I'm telling you, so both you and her know that she is great. All Right, that's it. Huge thanks to Angela for sitting down with me. Huge thanks to you or listen thing. I hope you enjoyed that.

If you didn't, let's blame Angela, all right, just write to her about it, complain away. I will not take any blame for Angela. It's a policy I have. It's strictly enforced. So blame her. Have a great week, everybody. I will see you next time for even more office deep dive. The office deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer, Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer, our associate producer is

Emily Carr, and our assistant editor is Diego Tapia. My main man in the booth is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by Seth o'landski. Maybe there were a few more who were in. I think just Roy and you and Leslie, David Baker, you know, not Stanley Stanley. But it's weird to say you and right, right, right, because you are not Kevin right, Whereas it's funny you're

exactly like your character in the show. So that's the thing that Bryan loves to do that you guys love that bit.