Ed Helms - Pt. 1

went to the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. We were in the same ensemble choir I think, or corral or something anyway where we sang back when I pretended to sing. He still sings, but I don't. I don't think so much anymore. But we had a bond and we're not just Georgians or Atlanta's. We are those things, but we are from the same high school in the same area and grew up with the same people. So our history is very very shared. And Ed and I lost. We

weren't in touch for a number of years. He was doing stand up comedy and was on the Daily Show in New York and I was traveling around doing theater, and eventually landed in Los Angeles and when we were shooting the webisodes, this would have been the summer of two thousand and six, and uh, I was shooting a talking head and suddenly, right behind the camera, I see Greg Daniels walked by, followed by Ed Helms, and all I I can't even I don't even think at that moment, Oh,

that's actor Ed Helms or that's Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms. My mind goes, that's why is Ed Helms here? My friend from high school? Like that's all. Like he didn't call and tell me he was coming. And uh, of course he was in the middle of an interview and tour with Greg Daniels, who he was meeting with about about coming on the Office starting in season three. So that was the first time I had seen him in

a a long time. But oh man, if you ever get a chance to spend in the evening with Ed Helms, you will not be disappointed. He is joyful above all else, more than anyone else who was on the show, or maybe anyone that I've ever met. He is a joyful, soul fulful person, soulful. I'm having trouble saying the word soulful, but I think I got it the second time. I don't know. Here is ed Helms, Bubble and squeak I love it. Bubble and squeak on Bubble and squeaker cookie

every month left over from the NAT before. Hey, dude, are you wonderful? Oh my god, it's so good to see you too. You look so much older. Okay, alright, alright, here's your ginger snaps? What is That's so funny? I don't know why that's there. May be there for your assistant. Um, she just started a week and a half ago, and you're not like I've never had a conversation with her about ginger snaps. So do you like ginger snaps? Well? Sure,

who doesn't like ginger snaps? I know, but it's that like a thing that you ask for it when you go to work. Never, never, ever, have I ever asked for ginger snaps. Yeah, I don't know. How are you? When was the last time you were back in Atlanta? I haven't been to Atlanta and way too long I did. Uh, I did three movies there over the last few years. But um, I am getting a little homesick for Atlanta, which I never thought i'd say, I'm very happy to be not living there, but but I do like it

when I go back now. Right, my last three years, I've shot movies in North Carolina, Mexico, and Columbus Georgia. And Columbus Georgia was far the hottest. Well, the hard part about hot weather in the South, and I really hope we can stick with weather as a subject. Sorry, but I love it. No, honestly, it's fun to talk

about Georgia. I know, I know, I know both from there, but it's it does there's no reprieve like in l A or in in desert climates, or or like even in the Northeast it cools off at night, whereas in the South there's no escape, Like if you're in the shade, you're still muggy and hot, and then when night comes, it's just a hot night. It's not like a cool like the temperature does not go down. Autumn, Yeah, Halloween is when I miss miss Atlanta because that the autumn's

there so long. They're so it's so protracted, the trees are changing forever. That's when I get Missy for right, So you moved out of Atlanta, you went to the Northeast, Now, what were you doing right before you came onto the Office. I was on the Daily Show. Yeah. Yeah, I've been on the Daily Show for four and a half years. And I had done a pilot for NBC for Kevin Riley. It was really fun. It was a multi camera pilot that I that the Daily Show let me kind of

sneak away to do it. It It was just a few weeks of work and it did not get picked up, but it was a ton of fun. And then it went really well, and Kevin Riley was I guess he liked he liked me, so he so he made a talent deal with me at NBC. It's funny. I you know, I remember I remember being at the Daily Show and and and I knew Steve from the Daily Show. You worked with him? Yeah, we we overlapped, not very much, but enough that you know that we were acquaintances. Uh.

We overlapped probably five or six months or something. And then I just remember getting word that he was gonna do the Office and just thinking like that is so perfect, that is going to be so good. So you knew the British version of it? Oh, I yes, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I you know, I'm I'm a comedy nerd

and was very much in the comedy universe. And uh, and so then the idea of I mean, Steve's character on the on the Daily Show was at its best when he was of sort of a version of Michael Scott, like not self aware, kind of usually less informed than everyone around him. Um, he was brilliant on The Daily Show because he really kind of pioneered the form of Daily Show segments in which the correspondent is the butt of the jokes as opposed to really just making fun

of somebody else. Yeah, which is which is easy and means spirited. Usually it's kind of shooting fish in a bucket and it's not as interesting. But Steve kind of really shifted that and found this way of being kind of an idiot news porter, and that was so funny and fresh and and still able to get great satire into the pieces. Um, that's true. Often he played like the pseudo expert or the you know, the teacher in a way that then became yeah, just confident about the

wrong things, right. And and so that's why when I heard he was going to do The Office, I just was like that, I mean, yes, Ricky Gervais is a genius. This version will also be great. Uh And then it was. And what's crazy, I think I told you this recently too, is that was so around that time, I was just sort of looking for my exit strategy from the Daily Show. I I loved working there, but I knew that I had to just shake things up because I was really starting to feel like in a rut. So I was

auditioning for a lot of things, and I did. I got. I auditioned for the The Office, like the original cast of the Office, And you auditioned Jim. Is that right? Yes, I'm almost positive. Then I auditioned for Jim. Yeah. And you know, obviously it would have been a better show if I were Jim, clearly, Um, but this wasn't you were in New York because in New York City, and and you know, I went to thirty Rock at the casting office there, and I forget the casting director's name.

It was the head of casting for NBC in New York. In New York, Yeah, and I just went in. It was I was. I was excited about it because I knew the British version, but I wasn't super optimistic or anything. And I don't remember it being an especially good or bad audition. I just kind of went in and I'd love to see the tape. I don't know if it's so so great. I know that, but like, yeah, Rain and Jenna's and I've seen a few of them out there,

but that's so crazy, that funny. I'll ask Allison Jones, Um, so okay. So then so you don't get Jim. Don't get Jim. It's just sort of back to business as usual at the Daily Show. I'm trying to cultivate some ideas to bring back to NBC, maybe just you know, on the off chance that they take a shot on developing a real show with me. And I was out here for some reason and word came down, why don't you meet with Greg and just have a chat. And so I went in and we had a chat and

it was great. I remember Greg had seen this short that I did with my friend Nick Poppy called Zombie American, and it was it was basically a mockumentary about a zombie just trying to get out on the dating scene and all the sort of um, all the it falls of being like why being a zombie is like the problem.

It's a liability on the on the dating scene. And uh, it was you know, tiny little short with no budget, but we spent all the money on the zombie makeup, so it was like a hard commitment to full on press thattic zombie, which made it super funny because I the character was just a guy talking to the camera and you know, talking about how like it's awkward on a date when your finger falls off or or um or when people you show up for a blind date and they see you from afar and turn and walk

away and and and it was like a this really poignant, very real but also obviously very silly piece and it's it was like a ten minute short and Greg had seen that. I don't know how it was not out there, but um he got in his hands on it. That I think was probably my best foot forward as an office character, because it was talking heads to the camera, it was small performance, it was very it was just totally in the same family as the office. So that

was part of the conversation. And then they then he and Paul Paul Liebersteon came in and he started talking about this character Andy Connecticut Yacht Club spoiled and obviously we're not from Connecticut. We're not from yacht clubs, but we're from you know, we went to prep school in Atlanta with I think kids that are totally analogous to Andy Bernard, and so it was a type that I understood immediately, white white belt with the yeah, just like

yeah loafers upbraided white belt and polos and that. So yeah, we just started talking about it and it and it was making us laugh and pitching kind of like, oh, yeah, he probably took sailing lessons, but uh, never passed the test that allows you to actually take sailboats out from the yacht club because he just wasn't good at I don't know, just like dumb fun stuff that when we were laughing about it, and then I went back to work at the Daily Show and got the call that hey,

we're gonna do a couple of episodes, you know in this Scranton off I mean in the Stanford Stanford office, and I was told it would be two months of work. They had in mind eight episodes, I think. So I went to my ep at the Daily Show and I said, look, this is Steve's show, it's in the family. What do you say. Can I go and do this? It's two months. It's a long time. This was also right around the time that Colbert had left to do the Colbert Report.

It just was kind of a fraud time for correspondence at the Daily Show. Um, and they were very skittish about it, and they were like, I just we don't think we can let you go. You know, it's there's a lot going on in the world and we just need And I was very I was very disappointed, but you know, tried to kind of understand that, and it put me in this bind where I was like, I can either resign from the Daily Show for two months

of work or turned down The Office. And my analysis was, well, I've been on the Daily Show for four and a half years. There's nothing I can do on this show now that's gonna like change how I'm perceived out there. I'll get better and better and do hopefully do funnier and funnier stuff, but it's not no one's gonna see that I can act. No one's gonna see that I can do other stuff. And The Office was not a hit at this point either. Like it was it was.

It was like a very show that I loved, but it was by no means like a sure thing to jump into, but I just decided it was worth the risk and I had to. I had like, even if I only worked for those eight weeks, I would have a really good new thing. So I took the plunge,

and the rest is history, as they say. So, Greg talked to me about the idea of Andy and Stanford as being basically to Jim Dwight in Scranton, but with a whole different demeanor, right, like you talked about preppy East Coast waspy, little ivy but incompetent and idiot, but in a totally different way than the trans am heavy metal engines and dragon weird nerd in in Scranton. Right,

Were you aware of that? I don't think I understood at that time exactly how analogous Stanford was supposed to be to Scranton, and I didn't think too hard about it because it was really interesting because this we shot obviously, all of our stuff was on the on another set, and we didn't interact with you guys much at all during that time, just by virtue of the fact that we were shooting on separate stages at different times and

different stories and all that stuff. So I really felt like we were in our own show, Like we were kind of doing our own thing. Um, And it was instantly the most fun thing I've ever done. Like it was instantly, it just was so joyful. Rashida and I were kind of the new kids, like we we were a little click that kind of had each other's back. The rights were clearly having fun with our characters, which is the best. I mean, that's when it's you're really

having fun. The writers were showing up to set and joking around with us, and John was I mean John, he obviously was such a stalwart of the show at that and and central character, so his disposition towards us really mattered, I think to us and to our kind of like self esteem coming into this, And he could not have been more warm and fun and playful, and but like having the confidence of somebody who had been there a couple of years or you know, it was

really just a year, two seasons. Um, we just jelled and were instantly having fun and making each other laugh um a lot. It just felt great. Yeah, I never thought about this before until you started talking that. It's almost as the John in the middle of doing a show basically had a spin off that then was still a part of the same show, right, like a spin office, taking a character and going and creating another show around that character in a different environment. And in a way,

that's what was happening. I think looking back, I I mean, I think that that was a test of us about an actual spinoff. But I don't I mean, I'm not in Greg's head. I don't know the answer that. I've never asked him that, but I years later, looking back, it just seemed like it was just like a set up for a spin It's it's the way sit coomes at that time. We're spinning shows off, like you put someone in a new environment and all of a sudden introduced new characters that all of a sudden like they're

in a new Times line. Um. But but I don't know that. I don't know if it's two or not. But you're you're right, it did. It was kind of a classic spinoff move. It just wound up re kind of merging back into the into the original show. Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about and you hear about the office. You think of the Office as being sort of in a place of stasis, right that there's the bullpen and that's what the office is, and people get used to that, and people like that, and they don't

typically like it when something changes. But I felt like what Greg did, he kept, whether it was conscious or not, creating sort of a new kinetic energy by disrupting by making Jim go to Stanford, by making Pam go to art school, you know, And that helped the momentum of the show, and I think provided a stark relief for comparison, because, like you were saying before, it really was an analog Chip as the boss was so different from Michael Scott

like he was. He was sort of like the cool jock bas right, but but problematic for other reasons, you know, like wanting to play Call of Duty all the time. And and then I my my character being sort of like a Dwight analog as you said, but totally different, Rashida being romantic competitor. It's all like, yeah, I think it it's just served to really heighten all of what

was great about Scranton. Yeah, so at some point you are told that you're going to stick around and now you're going to come in and join scrant How was that transition? So I can't remember when it became clear that I was going to stick around, if it was before we did started doing episodes in Scranton or after, because I think Andy's departure to Anger Management was sort

of like the end of my agreed upon time. I can't quite remember all that timeline, but I will say this, those first few episodes in the Scranton office was like it's like a little kid walking into Yankee Stadium. Like even though the show wasn't huge, it was huge to me. And I loved it, and I loved what everybody was doing, and I just thought it was the funniest thing in

the world. And so to walk in onto that set and actually have lines and have like fun stuff to do, I just felt like I was in the major leagues and uh in it, but not in an intimidating way, in a like supported way. And um, you guys, everyone was so cool, right. It just was such a great group of people. Uh, it was just fun. Well and and you know, now hearing more of the specifics of

your story. Early on, I mean, we were all a group of actors that had had minimal to no success in television and film at that point, from varying degrees like six months before I was doing theater and just just starting right. And you know, Steve had done obviously the Daily Show, but when even when Steve was on, it was kind of before the Daily Show was cool cool, it was it was the Bush administration that really I

think launched it. I mean, Craig Kilborne was great and I was a fan from then, but again that's just because I'm a comedy nerd. I think in the zeitgeist, it really was George Bush that kind of catapulted the Daily Show. Um, and so yeah, everybody I think had the attitude that they had because no one seemed bigger than anybody else. You know, there wasn't the structure that exists where there's the star and there's the kind of star and there. You know, like everybody was kind of

figuring it out. And as the show started to pick up and we were all sort of a part of that together. Yeah, I remember that that year, so I got kind of officially brought into the cast and was in the regular season after Anger Anger Management, I was just there. I was like part of the show. And the Emmys were around that time, and that year the Daily Show and The Office one Emmys for Best Show and I was like, I'm doing something right. This is going pretty good. But that was that was really fun.

That was and the Emmy's of course, was such a fun thing for the cast and everybody just oh man, those are those are great, the salad days, the salad days, good times. How much do you think the character of Andy is like you? Well, I would say that not very He's not very much like me, but only because I'm I have better editing mechanisms for my own behavior. But I think a lot of Andy's impulses and instincts are you know, I relate to Um. He's just not

self aware enough to put a check on them. There are things that I actually really envy about Andy that I wish I was more like Um. And the Angela storyline, really, I think brought that out. That that was a thing that made me. I mean, I was kind of loved Andy's douche baggery from a comedy standpoint, it's just fun and ridiculou liss. But the Angela stuff like just seeing

him really put his heart on his sleeve. I felt that's when I really fell in love with this, this character and I and that's something that I I've always struggled with maybe it's part of just our southern upbringing, but like expressing emotions in real ways and being transparent and being you know, just chasing something that you love and that means a lot to you. It's that was that's hard. That was hard for me. It was hard

for me to kind of mature in that way. Uh. And Andy is just he's the best, Like, that's the he's he fell in love with Angela and I was like, this is it. I'm all in and I love you, and he and everybody knew it, and he was. There was no shame, there was no kind of reticence. And I think I just always loved that about Andy. And I think that his rage was a kind of the flip side of that, like he just wasn't able to

kind of control the expression of his emotions. Uh, and sometimes when he should have, and it had beautiful consequences in in some of his romantic relationships and then obviously devastating consequences and in other ways. Right. But I think that that's what you know, Greg and the other writers and you obviously in creating that character and and everybody, but you know, we talked a lot about I've talked a lot about the more specific the characters are drawn,

the more universal they become. And so you think, oh, let's paint in broad strokes, this is generally who this guy is, right, and it's the white braided belts and the polo shear, right, that's who that guy is. Okay, I get Andy, That's that's who Andy is. But no, he had one of the biggest hearts on the show and was able to express that in a really specific, true, genuine way, and that that dichotomy and complexity I feel

like made him really real and lovable. Yeah, I think you're you're onto something specificity, which I think a lot of comedy writers sometimes shy away from because the the the instinct is like the more specific I draw a character, the more people won't relate to that character. But it's the opposite, Like to your point, it is the exact opposite, and I think of like I was just having this conversation with a writer the other day about how John

hughes movies we're you know on paper. John Hughes shot all his movies in Glencoe, Illinois, which is one of the most affluent suburbs in the country. I mean all mansions,

all beautiful lawns, everything. You know, it shouldn't be relatable, right, that should be that should be alienating to everybody, And yet there's so much specificity in those characters, and that's what people find themselves in that specificity because audiences say, you know, I may not understand how a teenager can drive a BMW, but I can understand how that character is devastated by that breakup that they're having, or or the fact that the way that they're acting out, or

the way that um, this little passion that they have is getting made fun of by their friends or whatever. It's. It's those details allow more people to connect. Um. You talked about your relationship with with Angela UM and how that's how you began to fall in love with Andy UM. Do you think that his well, the fact that he was a cuckolt like to that begin to him more

sympathetic to audiences as well. Yeah, for sure. Uh, that was a pretty sly move, I think on the on Greg's part, I'm trying to kind of tap back into

my my thoughts at the time. It felt really fun to unleash that part of Andy because so much of what he did was antagonistic and sort of confrontational or passive aggressive, and for him to have to be putting positive energy out there, even though it was so misplaced or so well it was misapplied to Angela, that was so fun and it just it made It's part of what I think positive energy makes someone like makes an audience like a character. Um, you don't get Angela and

then Aaron shows up. Talk a little bit about that relationship as I didn't remember that you're love for her or your initial fascination starts like the first day she's there, it's like, oh, well there's there's a new one in the office. Let's go for her. We've got no baggage with this person. We can write our own story. Let's

start from scratch. Here we go. Yeah, that's yeah, that's great. Um. I think that in thinking about it, that the Andy and Aaron storyline becomes, you know, kind of a parallel with what was happening, what happened with Jim and Pam earlier. It just had a slightly more absurdist bent to it. There were still tender moments, there was still that longing

on both sides. Um, But I think that I don't know, talk about that a little bit, if if you recall your approach to it, or did the writers talk to you about where that relationship was going to go from the beginning or know. I don't think so. I don't think there was a uh an arc spelled out early on. But you know, Aaron's energy was just so funny and it felt right for Andy in a way, both of them being very left footed socially kind of made them perfect for each other, but also like gave them lots

of stumbling. You know, it's like a pigeon toed person dancing with a bow legged person, Like does this it looks like an egg beater? Like is this this is weird? Um? And I guess, um, it just felt right and fun. And then there was a lot of, um obviously, just a lot of complication that I think emerged in ways that Andy and Aaron sabotaged the relationships and their their own relationship in different ways. Um. I loved that chapter.

I don't I don't remember exactly how it wound down, but I remember being a little confused about sort of like how how that storyline kind of got wrapped up? And I think I remember not enjoying the shooting the episodes as much where we were in conflict, you know, when there was like real bad stuff happening between Andy and Aaron, it wasn't as fun like it just but

I mean, that's that's just an actor complaining. Um, But I think there was something so breezy and simple and natural about just kind of goofing off with Aaron and finding that comedy was very fun. And then later on tapping into darker parts of these characters that, like I said, they sabotaged the relationship in different ways. It felt a little harder to make funny or harder to make silly and um but yeah um. In The New York Times, Paul said about you and Andy, he had so much

in common with this character we wanted to create. I can't remember when they started merging. He has this undeniable likability. When he's at his most awful, you can't help but love the guy. I think that's true about me or about Andy, Well, I do. I that's a really flattering thing, and that's uh, and it speaks to what a sweet

and wonderful person Paul is. But I that is my greatest hope for the character of Andy, that that he can be kind of wretched, but in a way that you can tell is in spite of himself, and that he really does want to be better. You know, That's the part I think I connect with the most and feel like it's the most I have the most in common with. Andy is like I. I I stumble through the world socially and in relationships and all of it.

I think, like most of us, I just I always I am frustrated at myself when I screw it up, whatever it is, and whether it's a simple social interaction or a big meaningful thing in my life, whatever it is. I but I want to be better. I just want to be better, and I try to be better, and I still fail a lot. Um. It's why I'm so grateful to everyone in my life who loves me, because it's always stumbling through all of it. But um, Andy at his core wants to be good. He wants to

be a good person. He wants to say the right thing, and only occasionally does he nail it right. There's times where Andy was not just beautiful in his expressions of love, but sometimes really tender and like a good listener, right, And that's not something we associate with Andy Bernard at all. But those are those are moments where I think his better angels are really intervening and kind of guiding him because but they're they're like his his desire to be better,

and his instincts are constantly fighting his reactionary impulses. All right, we're gonna stop there for now. Sorry. I know Ed is amazing to listen to, and what I love is the love that he has for Andy Bernard. You know, there were a lot of people who didn't love Andy Bernard, but Ed Helms loved Andy Bernard. And that is the sign of a true artist and great actor. Lesson lesson one from me, never ever judge your characters. Just find

a way to fall in love with them. But we are going to hear more from Ed h in an upcoming episode, so stay tuned for that. Thank you to Ed for joining me for part one, although you'll you'll be back for part two. Uh, and thank you all for listening. We will see you next week. The Office Deep Dive is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley. 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 Brett, and the episode was mixed by Seth olandscape H