We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: If you think The Office is funny to watch, just imagine how funny it was to film.
Though the cast of the off-air NBC comedy is full of incredibly talented professionals, they’re only human, which means they weren’t immune to getting the giggles when filming.
On the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey chatted all about a particularly hilarious Season 4 episode, “Branch Wars.” The episode features Karen trying to poach Stanley from Scranton; the Finer Things Club gathering in the break room; and Michael, Dwight, and Jim taking a road trip to Utica to pull off some pranks.
As you can imagine, the cast broke several times during filming, but Fischer and Kinsey recalled three scenes that were especially challenging to get through.
1. Storming the Finer Things Club
The first of Steve Carell’s giggle fits came when Michael and Dwight tried to crash the Finer Things Club’s party.
“Michael and Dwight storm into the break room where the Finer Things Club is setting up. They have some Vivaldi playing in the background,” Fischer explains.
“This scene is so funny. I don’t know how you guys got through it, but you couldn’t. I saw the bloopers. You guys were losing it,” Kinsey replied.
“Listen, every time Toby walks in and he’s wearing his bow tie and Michael reacts to him, Paul [Lieberstein] could not get through that moment. He laughed every time Steve looked at him. It took us so long to get through that. It was so funny,” Fischer said.
“He’s walking in with, like, stacked China teacups. And there is a time that Steve broke, which you guys know was rare, but Steve completely broke in one of the bloopers,” Kinsey said. “Paul as Toby just says, ‘bow tie.'”
2. The car ride to Utica
Steve (and Rainn Wilson and John Krasinski) also lost it when filming a scene in the car on the way to Utica. Remember when Dwight tries to pee in a can in the back seat? Yeah, of course it’s that scene.
“So Jim is like, let’s play that Alphabet game that you want to play,” Kinsey recalls. “And Michael is like, OK, ‘A is for Alan. And he’s married to Alice and they live in Alaska and they sell…what do they sell? What do they sell?’ And then he’s like, ‘Wait, what is that noise I hear? Is that water like in the engine. Like what? Is that air conditioner leaking? What’s that sound?'”
“Oh, that sound is Dwight peeing in a can in the back seat,” Fischer answers.
“And they freak out. They’re like, oh, gross. And then Michael starts swerving and Dwight’s like, you’re making me spray. This scene is like so fun to watch. I was laughing so hard,” Kinsey explained.
Just like the storming of the Finer Things Club, Kinsey says the bloopers from the car scenes “are so worth it.”
“They were cracking up. I mean, it’s one of the rare times where Steve could not keep it together. Steve,” she said. “Every time, too, Rainn would have to say, ‘I think I cut my penis on the lid.’ And then this is in the deleted scenes, but it’s also in the bloopers, at the very end, Dwight goes, ‘I cut a chunk out of my penis for nothing.’ Those guys could not get through it. They were like melting into laughter.”
“I mean, just imagine being in a car together, these three comedic actors at the top of their game. I mean, brilliant,” Fischer said.
3. Walkie talkie time
When the three bros finally get to the Utica office Dwight and Michael leave to carry out their big plan and Jim stays behind in the car with a walkie talkie to stay in touch.
“…[Jim] sees Karen, he’s like, ‘oh my god, she’s here. Go, go, go.’ And he leans the seat back trying to hide from Karen,” Kinsey recalled, to which Fischer said, “In the meantime, through the walkie talkie, we only hear it, which I personally think is so freaking funny. Michael and Dwight decide to steal the industrial copier. Then you hear a very loud crashing noise and then you start to hear Michael talking about his hip. He’s saying, ‘Jim save us.'”
“He’s saying, ‘Jim, if this is my last moment please tell me you’ll take over The Dundies,” Kinsey added.
For those wondering, Fischer said that Wilson and Krasinski were actually communicating through the walkie talkies, and whatever they were saying seems pretty hilarious.
“I don’t know if this was in the bloopers, Angela, but John was laughing so hard at what he was listening to. I remember him telling me stories, wait until you see this scene. These guys were so funny over the walkie talkie,” Fischer said.
Be sure to listen to the full podcast episode for more behind-the-scenes stories about filming “Branch Wars.”
You can stream episodes of The Office on Peacock and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.