Mirka

The whole thing was lucky because Mirka actually told me that this was a fake pitch and she was like not going to do it. This was something she pitched in the pitch meeting to Steve and it was a fake one. And then I think everybody was like interested in it.

And then she said the reason I was asked to do it, I think she said I was one of the only people who watched the American version of The Office and had written that monologue with Sudeikis in it. Yes. When Rainn Wilson hosted, and so I had written the characters, so she came to me, I think, and was like, oh, you know the office. I don't know anything about it.

Yes, that is correct.

Yes. So what I learned when I got to SNL was we go into Lauren's office to meet the host for the first time on Monday and you have to pitch them two ideas usually. What I found was that people were doing joke pitches just to get a laugh in the room. Yes. And you just try to get a laugh in the room just to get it over with. And you'd also don't want to burn your good joke. Yeah.

If you pitch something and you get this big laugh in the pitch meeting and then at the table, everybody's heard that joke. Nobody laughs at the scene.

Yes. The biggest thing I learned from the pitch meeting was my first year when Harper Steel, the pitch was, so something about you playing a baker. Yeah. Oh, these don't have to be a thing. Yeah. These are just so that the host sees everybody they're working with.

Well, Seth, also with the pitch meeting, my thing became that I wanted to make the other writers and cast laugh.

Oh, that's $50 well spent.

Yes.

For the pilot, Tina said she wanted to cast it all with people she could trust with a line if she needed to give it to them. Right. And then when it got picked up, she was like, oh, I have an episode that I want to write for you where you'll call me the C word.

Yes. And she was saying, I think when we wrote it, and I honestly don't 100% remember for sure, but I think we wrote it for it to be live. Yeah, I'm sure. And then I think you guys, I don't know how it got picked to be a digital short.

Yeah. And it's perfect for me because it also, the only digital shorts that I ever did never included Andy. Right. Yeah, that's just law. That's just law.

What would that look like?

yeah um but then i do think once it was made into uh like it was given to you then it made more sense because then it could look like the show yeah the show because it wouldn't have looked like the show live how long did it take to shoot i mean we didn't really even light very much it was very well executed i thought yeah watching it back the thing that struck me the most was how much it looked exactly like the show

America also told me that the extra, the bald extra who was in the digital short, he was really Japanese, and he wrote all the stuff that was on the board. Oh, the chalkboard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That was a good detail.

Because I don't want any of the regular cast members to be hated by the fans.

And she also wanted to make sure that, and we tried to make sure that everything that everybody said was as close to real Japanese. It wasn't like gibberish.

Mirka told me that she would say the dialogue to Steve and then Steve would just repeat back what she said to him. Correct. She was doing that to everybody. Yeah.

So that was great. Give it to Lutz. But yes, for the first two years, I think I was paid. I would be paid as a principal if I had a line or I would be paid as an extra if I didn't.

Yeah. Yeah. And when Miracle rewatched it, she said that Steve and Wig were both very good, like she could understand what they were saying and she was very impressed with them.

All the credits too were in Japanese and they were all like America's cousin's names and sister. Also, she said that Jason's credit in the episode was Mike Schur. Jason's character was played by Mike Schur in Japanese.

Oh, geez.

It really is all because the pilot, the American pilot, is basically the British pilot. It's very similar. They don't change a lot.

It had to be after Rashida was in the show because Rashida was in the monologue with Rain.

It's less. I bet it's season three.

Because first season, I don't think it really kicked off. Office premiered in 2005. And this is 2008. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. One other last thing I'll say that Merica gave me was that that music for the calisthenics that they're doing is real calisthenic music that she used to have to do with her school. Yeah. And she would do the calisthenics outside to that exact music.

Yeah. The extras actually make more money than a principal does. Yeah, that's how bad the public school system is. Wow.

Did we get residuals for those planes?

Well, I think also, though, Akiva, the way you shot it, you really did, like we were saying, capture how it felt. The intro, the music, everything. It just really came together. It was a very good parody. And I think it's also because The Office itself is shot kind of in bare bones, kind of a documentary style.

Yes. Named Lutz.

With all the same, like the set was the same. The carpets looked like 30 rock carpets. The elevator bank was the same. Everything was the same.

That's impressive that they went from a whole season. Like, does that ever happen? I don't remember anything.

By the way, are we talking about MC Usher?

You got above ground LUTs. Gotcha. Sorry, there's a squirrel right outside my window. That's what you get with above ground LUTs.

Yes. They flew Liz and I in. From Chicago. From Chicago. And we went to the Megan Mullally, I think, show. And we interviewed with Lorne, I think, the day before on Friday. And then they said, come to the dress rehearsal, come to the show and the after party. And then we did all that. And I remember in between dress and air, we went to Pasta Lovers in Times Square.

to get some fancy New York food and really feel fancy. And I remember that we did then go to the after party and that's where we found out we were hired. Oh, you found out that night? We found out that night, like Shoemaker and Higgins came up to us and told Liz and I that we were hired. And they wanted us to start that Monday.

And I actually, in my interview with Lorne, said if you could just call Pasta Lovers ahead of time for us, get us a good table, that'd be great.

He didn't want us going to La Tansy. Yeah. Yeah. It was, that was a crazy night. And then I, we, I had to go up to Lauren's table and I was standing up in my friend's wedding. My best friend's wedding was next Saturday. I talked to Shoemaker and Higgins and I said, I don't know if I can start on Monday. I'm standing up in my best friend's wedding.

And he said, Oh, and so Higgins and Shoemaker took me over to Lauren's table and And they explained it to Lorne and then asked if I could start a week later. Wow. Whoa. And Lorne was like, sure.

Who you are lying to. No, please don't. I need this story. This is my only Lauren story. This is my main anecdote.

Every day. Yeah, except he would say it like 10 times in a row.

And then we stayed after to meet the weird singers of that group.

They were like doing a little... Artists.

How long before this comes out, too? Like six years. No, this one's like a week. Okay. I'm just hoping that more people don't make that joke within the week.

Hi. The Lonely Island Sapphires Podcast.

I don't think. No, wait. I did in college when I took a girl out on a date before a dance at Olive Garden. Oh, my God. You greased an Olive Garden palm? How much did you give? So it's like $20. It was $20. To get what? I was just like, take care of us. To the waiter or the maitre d', the host? No, to the waiter. To the waiter, because I was really trying to impress this girl and it didn't work.

Did you get never-ending breadsticks after that? Yeah.

I wanted to be like anytime we needed something. Unlimited breadsticks. I think I just saw it in a movie. I don't know.

I don't know. Like, I don't know. Get us. Say it. Like, get the food faster. Get us out of there on time.

Oh, no. I don't know. We had a place to be. Just be attentive. I'm not sure.

I mean, it's shoes that look like feet. Oh, no.

Literally, yeah. But the first thing she said was we talked about Ricky and Ricky was added later. He just happened to be around. And I think we weren't sure who asked him, but we were thinking it was Steve. Yeah. And then we shot that. I think Akiva, do you remember? Was it Friday or was it Saturday that we shot it?

Yeah. So he came in real quick and we shot his thing, I think in one take, and then that was it.