Bonus: Rainn Wilson Fantasy Edition

on The Office Fantasy Football League. I am the manager of Satan's Ballerinas. Hi, guys, welcome to a very special edition of The Office Deep Dive. I. Well, I'm your host, Brian Baumgardner. But I may sound a little different. You might notice things a little different, right, Well, that's because we're not in a studio. No, we're at one of my well favorite establishments here in San Diego, California, getting ready to cheer on the Green Bay Packers. That's right,

football is back, baby. But before we get to hid join the game, I hope I told you before I was going to bring back some of the other managers of our fantasy football league, and that's what I'm gonna do today. Today's guest is none other than mister Seahawk, mister Rain Wilson himself. Now, Rain has been a part of our league since the very beginning, like myself. Some

might say he's oldest time. Okay, nobody says that, but he does have a certain reputation, if you will, in the league for being how do I put this heat? He's a trash talker. Okay, he likes to stir the pot, but hey, that's what makes us loved, right or at least tolerated. Now, Rain and I we're gonna go deep. This is a deep dive, after all. We're going to talk everything from the kickoff of the football season to some of his big blue projects, his adventures, and the

meaning of the universe. So that's right, this this is gonna be a big one. That's what she said. So settle in, grab a cold one if you want no pressure. I definitely will, and get ready for the incredible, the unmistakable Rain Wolson. Bubble and Squeak, I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cook at every month. Left over from the Nattyfore I was gonna say I have absolutely the worst fantasy football team in our league.

But then I looked at yours. But I don't understand how with the team that I have, I don't understand how I got seventy six points. All right, So we're gonna get into well discussing some of life's big questions and Dwight shrewt. But we're here for some football ragin seventeenth year of the Office Fantasy Football League. First off, let's let's talk about the draft a little bit. Now. We did the draft. We did a zoom draft, yes, and a snake draft, not an auction draft, a snake

a snake draft, not an auction draft. And we were on zoom most of us, most almost all of us. Now, I do have to say this, I thought that the zoom idea is great, but nobody talked and everyone was looking at their sheets and the thing. So every time I would look at the zoom, all you see are people looking down or looking straight ahead, but not looking at the camera. They're looking at their things. That's true,

it's kind of ridiculous. I feel it's true that it was kind of still it was not it was kind of a letdown socially, and it wasn't. It wasn't the rip roaring fun I thought it would be. I was the one who pushed for a zoom, although you had done it last year. But I couldn't do it last year, and last year was more fun. I don't know why. Yeah, people are taking take it seriously. People, Well they should, Yes, they do take it now, you, I would say, you take it as seriously as anyone. Sure, yeah, I take

it very seriously. Now. You you played David Wallace, Yes, you played David Wallace and son and and it's mostly his son. Yeah. Then they smoked me and Tyreek Hill thirty two points, Kelsey twenty three points, Jamar Chase from Cincinnati nineteen points, Robbie Gould from San Francisco got fourteen. Give me a break. That's more than Austin Ekeler, my first pick in the kicker from San Francisco. So, but what about all the office fans listening right now, going,

I don't play fantasy football. I don't understand what the hell you're talking about. Well I don't. I mean, I'm not that concerned about that right now, because here's the thing we do. And so I want I want to I want to talk about about about me for a second and our friend John Krasinski. We had our draft at a at a normal time in the United States.

He was in Romania. The point about bringing him up is that I played him and because he was traveling in Romania, he was auto drafting, and he destroyed me. I mean that's particularly frustrating. Like he got Jalen Hurts, who scored I don't know, seventy two points. Yeah, he's got thirty thirty five points from Jalen Hurts, who would have thunkt Aaron Rodgers one point three two, Your good buddy, Aaron Rodgers, MVP Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, it was, it was. It was not the best week for the Packers and

certainly for me. It's very What's what's the name of your team? Satan's Ballerinas. That's my old school names. Times I mix it up when I have a good pun. I have another league where I drafted as an auction league. I drafted Russell Wilson, and I call it let Russ cook meth. Why is he cooking meth? I don't know, because everyone says let Russ cook. That's kind of the Seattle chant because they want him to get unleashed so he can just kind of do his thing, which they're

finally starting to let him do. And he threw for four touchdowns and he's kind of unstoppable. But I like let Russ cook meth because it makes me laugh. You you have, well, you have Jason Myers, you have the kicker. You have Oh, I have you? You have no other? Was that disappointing? I'm gonna get I'm gonna I'm gonna trade for someone. I'm gonna get someone going here. How

do you feel about Seattle this year? I feel really good about Seattle, But there are some other teams out there that are really you know, the Rams are going to be tough to beat this year. The NFC West is going to be tough across the board. Yeah, and Arizona as well. And I think there's gonna be a few others that pop out there. And Tampa Bay was looking surprisingly stout after their Super Bowl win on Game one against a tough Dallas team. Listen to us, we

should have our own ESPN show. I mean, really shouldn't we should? I mean we want to talk about the office at all. I feel bad for the people going, I'm want to talk about us, Well, we will, we will, we will talk about the office. But I talked to Stephen Socks recently, our commissioner of the Fantasy Football League. Yea, he told us that you offer the worst trades to anyone in the way. Yeah, now is this true? Now?

Is this? Do you when you're when you're proposing that trade, are you just hoping that the other person is not paying attention? No? I When you offer a trade, it's like it's like you go to a market in Morocco and you're like, oh, that's a nice rug. How much is it ninety dollars? You know what, I'll give you thirty Oh you are you're crazy, Okay, sixty, I'll give you thirty seven. Okay, and you meet and you you

buy it at fifty dollars. What I mean like, that's how you're supposed to do the draft or a trading. That's what you do a trade too. So it's like when I say, like, oh, I'll trade you, you know, Ryan Tannehill for Russell Wilson, that means like you we're gonna meet in the middle, We're gonna find something like like work with me here, work with me. That's my idea is that you kind of work it along. But some people are like they get insulted and like no,

and then it's done. What about what if I what if I offered you Ezekiel Elliott for Austin Ekeler, I would seriously consider that. Do you want to trade? Do you want to consummate that right now? Yes? Okay, let's do it. Okay, let's do it Ezekiel Elliott for Austin Ekeler. Yep, we're done. And now we have a trade done, consummated publicly, so we'll see what happens. So what else is going on with you? Besides fantasy? What are you? Are there

any work projects that are happening right now? Yeah? Thanks for asking, Brian. I just did a movie with Brian Cranston and Annette Benning called Jerry and Marge Go Large, and it was a very funny and interesting film. I'm really excited for people to see it. It's based on a true story about this couple in Michigan that figured out that this certain lottery game, if they played it

the right way, they could be guaranteed winners. So they got all the people in their small town in Michigan to over the years to be playing this lottery game and made dozens and dozens of people, I won't say like millionaires, but kind of saved their town a sense. Actually, wait a second, this is this is a true this is based on true story. True story. I've heard this story. Yeah, yeah, it's an amazing story. And the name of the article, if you want to google it is Jerry and Marge

go large. And I play a supporting role of the guy who runs the liquor store where they buy all their thousands of lottery tickets. Okay, I kind of come along for the ride, So that's it was. It was a lot of fun working with Brian again and people who know that he directed the work Bus episode of The Office terrific director, multi talented human being, great human being. And I shot in Atlanta, your hometown, which I have to say was the first time I've shot there. I've

been through a bunch of times. I loved it. Atlanta as an amazing town, great food, culture, diversity, vibrant, traffic sucks, but it was really a phenomenal where and then I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go do a part on this new AMC Limited series called Dark Winds, which I know sounds a lot like farts. Warm Winds would be more so, but Dark Winds, Okay, go ahead, It sounds like farts. So I'm gonna go do that for a few days. And then I got a bunch of other thing. I'm

always cooking up stuff, Brian, I got a lot of stuff. No, I know, you're always cooking up stuff. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna for one moment, I want to go back to your other movie I did. Hey, let's see if

I can reconstruct the plot of this. The first movie I ever did was called Herman Usa Okay, and it was about a small town that, oh gosh, I don't want to mess this up, that had too many men in it and not enough women and the town was dying, and so they similarly put out an ad basically like we're looking for women to come to town, basically to try to get the ratio up. And it worked and that town was saved as well. Herman Usa Available. I have no idea where from somewhere circa late nineties, ish,

I don't know, Okay, So I did, I did. I did a movie like that where not your address, But where were you? What area were you staying in Atlanta? I stayed at eighty four Willoughby Street. Why I just literally said, don't give the address. Now, that's why I stayed. It's an airbnb. You can go, oh my god, you can go rent the airbnb that I stayed in and then think about you in that airbnb yep, and the things that you did there. I didn't do anything to fire,

as I promise you. I hear you. Also, you have a new pet. We have a My wife is insane, which I love, right, she's it's very funny. There is a picture of her that she has framed on her desk of her feeding these geese that are on her port or her deck, like in the seventies when she's a child. She's a little girl in a white dress like just just with eyes filled with wonder feeding these geese. And she loves animal I mean, she's animal gaga crazy. And she has horses at a nearby stables. And this

is a true story. Her horse died, which was very sad, but it was old. It was about twenty six years old and it had some health problem. Her white horse named Gust died and then they cleared it out. They left the stall empty, and then moved into the stall a week two weeks later was a white peacock. It really was a phn a white pea hen, female peacock, and we just moved in on its own. Yeah, there's

no one knows where it came from. They'd never seen it before, they'd never seen any p hens in the area. All of a sudden, it was just living in this stall. Why no joke, a white peacock. It couldn't stay in that in the stables because it was flapping around and spooking the horses. So and we learned by the way that peacocks are the largest flying birds. I always thought like a condor was bigger, but I guess a peacock's

heavier than a condor. So she trained it to go get bird feed in a big pen and then closed the pen, and we brought it and brought this peacock Almah which means soul in Spanish, Almah to our house. So now we have in fact, I'm looking at Almah right now, right outside my window. She likes to sit in this olive tree and groom herself and look in at me in the window. That is c and it won't. It doesn't fly away. It likes it's home. It like because we feed it. We'd give it some bird seed

and berries and stuff like that. So, so you have horses, you also have my favorite of your animals. And what I didn't know that it existed before a zonkey. We have a zonkey. Yeah, yes, we have a zebra donkey hybrid named Derek. But now do you have the zonkey because you like the word zonkey, because that's why I would have it. I do love the word zonkey. But this is my wife again. I think this is what happens when you marry a minor television celebrity and you

have too much time on your hands. She saw a zonkey and she was like, oh my god, it's so beautiful. It has zebra stripes but looks like a donkey. And then she googled zonkies and the first thing that came up was zebra Zaras dot com. Okay, she went to zebra Zaras dot com, which used to be located in Riverside, California.

She called them, She's like, do you sell zonkies? And they said, well, as a matter of fact, we just had a new zonkey that was born yesterday named it didn't have a name, And for thirty five hundred dollars, when he's six weeks old and can be weaned from his mother, we will have him delivered to your house. And we had a horse corral behind our house, and my wife was like, okay, here's my credit card number. It was six weeks later there was a zonkey at

our house. Oh, and this is why people hate the elites of Hollywood. You have old You have a white, semi albino peaca. Yes, okay, a zonkey. We also have a donkey named chili Beans. And by the way, chili Beans is adorable. And donkeys are the best animals in the world. I love donkeys. They're just sweet, they're cuddly, they're loyal, they're just wonderful. Highly recommend And then in our backyard we have two pigs, Snortington and Amy. Yeah.

And then we have two pit bulls rescues, Poe and Diamond. Right. Yeah, So you're so your dogs, you rescue, You're you're more exotic rescue to pay Chili Beans a rescue. Derek is not a rescue. Derek is a genetic monstrosity. Z Yes, because they put the spermatozoa of the go ahead, oh, go ahead. Problem with spermatozoa, you can't say that on your show, No go ahead. You can say spermatozoa, spermatozoa, potato, pato, go ahead. You put in, you put the spermatozoa into

to fertilize the female donkey, the zebra. Spermatozoa into the way into the vagina right of the donkey. Okay, that's how thereby creating Derek the zonky. Okay. So now this is a perfect transition because for those of you listening, are we going to talk about The Office? For Christ's sake, Brian, this is here an abomination on the set of The Office.

This is this is what I'm going at now. I've talked to several people about this, right, and about certain actors' personalities, and for me, and I think for most, you are a crazy dichotomy, right, because you are spiritual, which I want to talk about in a minute, incredibly spiritual, thoughtful, lover of people and the world. And you are the crudest, most inappropriate. Because now if we were on the set of the I don't I mean you talk about people

talk about you couldn't do the office today. You couldn't do the office today. The reason you couldn't do the office today is because you on set and the description and I was baiting you a little. The description that you would have given publicly to everyone on set, cast and crew about how exactly the zonkey was created would have been way more triple X rated than what you just did. And you happened to you you were trying to use scientific terms. But yes, go ahead, go ahead now.

And this is interesting because I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily a spiritual person. I aspire to be a spiritual person, which is a person who's thoughtful and of service and connected to you know, the reality of God and the beauty and harmony of the universe. And I seek to kind of let that joy seep through what I who I am as a human being. But at the same time, yes, I am an inappropriate, raunchy, little thirteen year old at heart,

and that's just part of who I am. So and I also play these weird characters on television comedies, so people it's kind of weird when people see me talking about the high faith or you know, spiritual concepts or conversations and they're like, wait, this is the guy who played Dwighten was always taking his shirt off and was telling fart jokes on the side of the office fart jokes. Well, worse, worse, yea, yeah, So there's some dichotomy there, but it's all it's all

in good fun and it's all to uplift the spirits. Brian, it's all to uplift the spirit. I want to go into this with you a little bit because people ask what you're most thankful for about, you know, working on the office or things that I've gotten from it, And I think, in truth, the tremendously powerful messages that I hear from people that the show has given some comfort in very difficult times that for me, that gift that people give back to me or to us is the

greatest gift that we have. I mean, you know, service members overseas or someone who's gone through, you know, having a medical issue or a medical procedure, or watching the show in the hospital, that it gives great comfort. And my point is, I don't feel like that was ever something we talked about. I felt like we were just kind of being idiots and trying to create this funny

show and that sort of underlying comfort or nostalgia. Some people have said that wasn't something that we were trying for, right, you know, you said that perfectly, and I one hundred percent agree with everything that you said. And it was literally the most surprising thing about doing The Office for me. And it started relatively soon. Where you know, people early on in season two they started saying, oh, I love the show, and then you know, season three, you know,

oh I watched the show. We watch it together as a family, and then all of a sudden, I started hearing these like, you know, our parents were getting a divorce, and the siblings we would all gather and watch The Office and it was a time when we could just laugh together. My sister had cancer and we would watch it in the in the hospital, and then the stories just go on and on and on of how much the laughter, camaraderie, bonhomie, uplifting kind of spirit of what

we created. And by we, I don't just mean the actors. I mean Greg Daniels being our leader, really set the tone and the great writers room that we had and directors and the whole crew. It carried through, you know, the love that we had on the set, carried through into the characters and into that world, and it has brought a lot of joy to two people and solace and especially during this pandemic. And I You're absolutely right, Brian. While we were shooting it, that was not what I

was thinking about. None of us were there kind of going, Wow, this the laughter that we generate will bring so much peace to people's aching hearts in the world. We just were like, you know, maybe Dwight could take a shirt off in this scene. Known, what if Kevin bumped into the furniture or something, you know, but what a wonderful bounty. And you're right, it's it's the thing I am the

most grateful for. If I have to look in my whole life, you know, if I'm going to set aside gratitude for my wife and son and you know, wonderful things in my family professionally, when I'm I most grateful for the fact that I've got to be a part of the office and that it has uplifted people's lives. Yes, well, you actually just said something had not occurred to me

that I think is really interesting. We did truly care about each other, and that that that there may be something there that on screen people can appreciate and observe

as truth. Yeah, I think that carries through. You know, I think the the warm, supportive, loving environment that we created on the set kind of seeped into dunder Mifflin as kind of like the whole idea is that it's a it's a cold place and a weird place in an alienated place, and where in these cubicles and we have this terrible boss and whatnot, But there there was

a family that we created. I couldn't I can't believe and I couldn't believe the number of teenagers who said, like, I want to work at a place like dunder Mifflin. No you don't. I have worked and soul sucking offices before. You do not want to do it, And they don't have that same camaraderie. And yeah, but you know what's crazy.

I had the opportunity to talk to a television critic, actually, Emily Vanderwirth, and she said something about that point right there, that is fascinating working in a dying industry in as drab a place as possible, that there is now a nostalgia for that because now it's become way more corporate and commercial. You know, it's like the difference between dunder Mifflin and Staples or whatever, like we talk about it

in the show. But the transition to today and you're graduating college and you're looking for a job, that there is sort of a weird nostalgia. Yeah, for a small, old fashioned office building, people getting together and selling things, good old fashioned madmen capitalism. I was just reading an article to about how the auto industry is dying, like auto dealerships, that whole model is dying, you know, with

like Carvana and online sales and stuff like that. And I do think like ten years from now, there's it's gonna be a lot less auto dealerships. So maybe there's a time when we're like we long for like a good old fashioned car dealership where you get to walk in and look at the cars. Never like a car museum. Never. Although no and no, I can't stand car dealerships. But I don't know, is it age? Is it just like my personality, I need to feel and touch something. That's

what he said. I need what they said, thank you. No, But the online stuff is really difficult for me, like shopping fully online. I mean, you know, toilet paper or whatever. If you don't like the car dealerships and you don't like to shop online, yeah, cars are different. What are you gonna do? Well? I think the issue with the car dealerships is I feel like intentionally the car industry.

Here we go, we're talking about the car industry. The price of car has always been a mystery, and now you can find out more and more and like that whole idea, like, well, let me go talk to my manager. Now. It's like you go online and some of these sites and you're like, no, this is what the car costs. This is what you can get it for me. Like that, I think the whole thing is a scam. We should just go to the assembly line and they come off and they say, here's how much the car is. Like

here you go and drive it away. You know, I'm with you. I'm with you. All right. We're gonna fix capitalism, Brian, You and I two characters on a comedy television show. We're gonna fix We're gonna fix capitalism. Speaking of I want you to tell people about the amazing organization you and your wife founded, Leada Haiti. I know you've been there a number of times. There was just another earthquake in the region. Tell me about how that is going and how are you How are your people there doing well?

Thanks for asking. Yeah, So my wife and I went to Haiti before the big earthquake. So we were there in two thousand and nine and we visited all over. We stayed there for like nine or ten days. We really fell in love with the country. And then the giant earthquake hit in twenty ten and you know, three hundred thousand people lost their lives, one of the biggest natural disasters in human history, and we knew we needed

to do something. We both volunteered for this un sponsored arts workshop with adolescent girls that we're all living on a The one golf course in Haiti got turned into a refugee camp, so we were teaching there and we saw the power of teaching the arts and literacy to adolescent girls and learn more about kind of girls education. Michelle Obama, her whole thing is girls education is the very It's one of the most effective means of creating social change and real economic change in a country is

through girls education. So we along with our good friend doctor Katherine Adams who recently passed away, we started leade Haiti in rural Haiti teaching girls. We're known about eleven locations teaching about working with about eight hundred girls. We do scholarships, we have a computer lab, we do tutoring and a lot of health work because you can't disregard health.

There's a food program that's connected as well. But I haven't been able to go down to Haiti in about two or three years because there's been a great political unrest down there. We just hired a new I I said, Katherine passed away earlier this year of cancer, was very sad. We were able to hire a new in country director who's wonderful and she's Haitian. Her name's Regine, and we'll

be going down soon. And we did have programs in the south right where the recent earthquake hit, so we just took a camera crew down there and documented kind of what was happening and fortunately our girls all right. Many lost family members, however, and we're trying to kind of shore up that that program. And it's been great

because basically what I do, Brian is every year. In fact, very soon I'm going to be launching a prizeo campaign to raise money and I whore myself out as dwite and I take all that money and I put it all into Le Da Haiti and I'm able to raise you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars a year just from doing that, and it's great. It's worked out great. So it's a it's a wonderful organization and it's really challenging and also really fun to be working on it

with my wife as well. And we have an amazing Haitian staff, incredible Haitian staff, twenty five Haitian employees that are good friends of ours that we collaborate with. That's awesome. Yeah. If people who are listening they want to get involved, where where should they go? Leade Haiti dot org l I d E d l I d E Haiti dot org. Yeah, okay, great, and follow us on social on Instagram lead a Haiti

on Instagram. And I know, even when we were working together on the office, I mean, this is something you've been doing for a decade now and I know made huge impact. They're in Haiti. We try well. So you've got fantasy football. That's basically enough for me. You're also just shot a movie, gonna shoot this other show, you're working with Leada Haiti and you also have a new

new podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake. How did that come about? So a long time ago, while I was doing the office, some friends of mine and I started a digital media company called Soul Pancake, and some of you may know some of the videos. We had a very successful YouTube channel. We did shows like Kid President and My Last Days and a lot of viral video hits. Yeah, music video. Did do a music video. Yeah, that was really fun.

You were great and Pajamas wonderful. Yes. I did a little show on that called Metaphysical Milkshake because I love deep philosophical conversations. I just love to kind of dig into the biggest possible, big ideas, and that's something I've always loved to do ever since I was a preteen.

So along with my friend doctor Reza Aslan, who was a fantastic historian, writer, commentator, we started this podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake, which is exploring life's big questions with some of the biggest authors and thinkers and movers and shakers out there. We've had Malcolm Gladwell on the show and Naomi Kleine, so many great thinkers and the topics are all over the place. You know, it's it can be. This week

we're interviewing. I'm so excited this guy, Ave Loebe, who's a astrophysicist from Harvard who has this new book, Extraterrestrial. It's all about the search for alien life. It's a great, great book. And so sometimes it's science, sometimes philosophy, sometimes spirituality. We're unafraid to talk about, you know, God and life and death and the soul. And so that's been really fun. We've been doing this for cast Media and there's you know,

there's about twenty episodes out. They come out about every week or so. You can subscribe wherever you get your fine podcasts. You're talking to great thinkers. I haven't been on yet. Oh god, how did we let that happen? I mean, great thinkers of our day. I don't know. I think that when we think about some life's big questions that might be involved with topics like golf and

fantasy football. Yes, you know, I don't know why I'm even I know I'm setting myself up here even beginning this subject, but I have to tell you that for me, golf does bring me to a place of spirituality and This is not a This is not a joke. I know I'm opening myself up, but I know it's not a joke. For me, I believe it's the It's the

equivalent of you know, I don't specifically meditate. I will at times try to take moments of quiet, but for me, on the golf course, it is the only time where everything else falls away from me, which I feel like is a form of meditating. And for me it is strictly about accomplishing this one task and finding focus on that one thing allows everything else to go away. Any other anxieties or work or family stresses or anything else goes away, and it's simply me attempting to accomplish one goal,

which is to get the ball in the hole. Is that weird? Does that count? No? I relate to that completely. Now. I do have a meditation practice, but as you know, I play a lot of tennis. We used to play tennis together, and you are a pretty damn good tennis player, and you used to kick my butt sometimes not all the time, well most of the time. But I've gotten a lot better since then. Yeah that was like twelve years ago. But I feel the same way about tennis.

Because I think there's something beautiful about sport because it forces you to be the moment. So when I'm on the tennis court, the only thing that exists is that green, yellow ball and where is it? And how am I going to address it? So all of my natural I'm a very anxious person, my anxiety lifts away and I'm simply in my body, breathing, moving and witnessing this ball

and it's exhilarating. And all of a sudden, you're done playing tennis an hour and a half two hours later, and you're like, you just feel so refreshed and uplifted because I've been looking at your phone and you haven't been pondering things and obsessing over things, and you've just been in the moment and been outside. It's glorious. So I relate. Yes, you see, here's what we did. We just talked about a life speak question just like this, irreverently,

with fun and in a relatable way. And that's what we try and do on Metaphysical Milkshake. Oh well, that doesn't seem so hard. Yeah, so I think I could be a guest then, Yeah, I think so that's if it's as easy as that. Well, there you have it. Do you have a favorite big question to ponder or

one that you're currently pondering. Well, I think all of the life's big questions that are the most meaningful to me are we are living in really difficult times and with climate change, with political divisions, with racism, with fears of international divisions, and saber rattling going on, economic insecurity.

It's a really difficult time to be alive. And I have you have kids, and I have a teenage son, and for so many young people, as mental health epidemic is really extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, it's a very difficult time. So anytime that you have a question about like what is my life's purpose? Like why are we here? And what can we do? On two levels, one make the world a better place, but also to give our lives kind of a deep satisfying rich wellness and wholeness.

So those two things go hand in hand. I believe like we feel more rich and fulfilled and more well the more we're giving to others, and the more we give to others, the more rich and whole and fulfilled we feel. So I think that's what young people need to think about. There's so many young folk just to have given up. You know, it's just like, why should I care? It's all the world's going to hell and everything's falling apart anyway, But you know, we can make

a difference. We need to make a difference, and in making a difference you will find your fulfillment and eventually your enlightenment. Excellent. On a recent episode of the podcast, you mentioned that you were raised by aliens, not wolves. Well, first of all, what does that What does that mean to you? So you know, this goes back to Dwight. So my parents were world class weird and I had a very fractured family and it was a difficult place and way to get raised. I did not have a wholesome,

loving familial unit. My mom, who was just a crazy hippie, took off when I was two, and this in the late sixties. My dad raised me. He had been traumatized with a really horrific childhood. Then he married my stepmom. They didn't love each other, they were she was a very odd duck herself. So we had on the surface

what looked like a normal human family. I mean, we had meat loaf and we'd watch episodes of mash or cheers or whatever what is on the television, and it would seem, you know, they would drive me to soccer practice or what have you. But it seemed like a family, but it really wasn't a family. So they were so kind of odd and disconnected and awkward that I didn't

know how to fit in. So I felt like I was being raised literally like third rock from the Sun, like in an alien family where I was My goal was to like, how do normal people act in the world, because I don't I'm sure not getting it from my parents.

So and I do think that that ultimately, that awkwardness has helped me play roles like d White, because I'm good at playing misfits and outsiders and loaners and weirdos, and I've played a lot of I'm not just Dwight, I've played a couple dozen of those along my path as an actor. But I think it all comes from my childhood. It all stems from that really weird Petrie

dish that I grew up in. Yeah, well it's so much occurs to me about that, but mostly I mean, you are you know, for people who haven't seen rain either on the stage, I've said this before. This is public or in other movies. I mean, Rain is truly one of the great actors, and he, like I, are very interested in human behavior and creating a character physically, emotionally, you know, creating a character by using all aspects of a person to create that character. Do you feel like

that helped you? I mean you're having to you're having to observe others to figure out how you should behave when you're a kid. Do you feel like that helped you as an actor or made you want to become an actor at that point? Like that study of human behavior, Yeah, that's it. I hadn't the thought of it in those terms. That's a great question, you know. Yes, I mean I was always because I was such an outsider and I didn't really know how to act, and I'm naturally just

kind of weird. The study of people and learning from them and kind of watching how humans work and what makes humans tick is definitely a same set of skills that one needs as an actor. So I'm sure there's a correlation there. Yeah. Absolutely, And you know, no need even to respond unless you have one, But you know, this speaks to you know, he just talked. Rain just talked about some deep stuff very candidly about his family.

Yet I know you and you have a relationship with your mom and had a very close relationship with your dad, and your your ability to not judge people, obviously including your family, is well, it's a very special thing about you. Well, Brian, you're so kind, and thank you, thank you so much. I do judge people way too much and I need to work on that on my spiritual journey. But I think you know, listen, we're all just We're very flawed,

all of us, God bless us all. Just like the characters in the Office, We're just we're flawed people and we want to be loved and we're we struggle and we make mistakes, big, big mistakes. So we have to forgive everyone, you know, our parents, ourselves, the characters like you know, Michael Scott and Dwight Shrewd and Kevin Malone that are just doing their best. And I think that that human that basic human spark of humanity that drove

the Office. You know, these are people wanting to conduct and wanting to be loved and wanting to have meaning and wanting to fit in and be and that everyone has character flaws, even Pam and Jim have character flaws and they're working them out over the course of the show. We never really get much. We get a little better. Dwight is at the end of the show has a little bit, a little bit more wisdom than when he began.

So that was cool to be a part of that very slow You can't have a One of the problems with TV comedies is that everyone gets very wise, very quickly, and then after two seasons there it's a different character than when they started. You've got to have these deeply flawed characters striving to be human, and you've got to have them continue to be flawed or maybe even more flawed season seven, eight nine, so that it's still interesting

and funny to watch. You can't have a you can't have the Office with a Michael Scott who's self aware you know so well. And maybe that, maybe maybe that is how The Office helps to answer, or at least pose, one of life's big questions, that that flawed individuals, there's a humanity, there's a love that exists even amongst flawed individuals, and I don't know, maybe gives all of us a little more tolerance. Is that too much? I think that's maybe right, No, I think I think that's what art does.

You know you and I did worked on that Chekhov play together way back on the day. You know, we love Anton Chekhov and we both come from a theater background. And you tell these stories and you're hoping that people go into a dark theater and watch characters try and live their lives and try and fail and try and succeed occasionally, and they do the same thing on a television show, and it hopes that it just increases the humanity, that we have a bigger heart and more compassion one

for another. It's it's incremental, it's by degrees, but hopefully the office has made a little bit of difference in that respect. Up Rain, thank you so much for talking to me. I love you. I appreciate our friendship so much. And and good luck, Brian. You're such a kind and good person. And congrats on the success of this wonderful show. And it's been an honor being on it. I miss you living way down in extreme southern California that you live.

I'm not going to say any town names, but I hope that when you're up here too, we can actually see each other and have a nice big hug and a big slobbery kiss because you know I'll go for it. No, there's no doubt you'll go for it. Well, I have to come because I have That's what I said. There you go, No, I have to see them, the white Peacock. I gotta go see. You've got to meet Almah. Yeah, and bring the kids up to see Almah and the

feed the pigs. Okay, done. It's a promise. We'll get Oscar and Ursula and we'll make a day of it. All right. I love it. Thanks Rain, love you, Brian, Thank you. Well, folks, there you go with Rain Wilson. It is always gonna get really deep. There you have it, a brief glimpse into the many facets, the many, the many sides of Rain Wilson and well a taste of what you're gonna get if you tune into Metaphysical Milkshake with Rain and Rezza on Apple Podcasts or wherever else

you listen to podcast. It's everywhere again. If you want to find out more about lea day Haiti l I d e Haiti dot org. Rain, thank you so much. When you talk to Rain, You're going to cover a variety of topics. Next week, we're going to hear from the incredible, the hilarious Ellie Kemper, of course, who played Aaron Hannon on the show The Office. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope that you have a

fantastic week. We'll see you next time. The Office. Deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Bumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers for this episode are Liz Hayes and 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 Olansky. This episode was brought

to you in iHeart three D Audio. To experience more podcasts like this, search for iHeart three D Audio in the iHeartRadio app.