Brent and Justin answer ‘Did I Stutter?’ questions
Monday, May 5th, 2008Q. Brent, how much of a strain was it on you both physically and mentally to co-write this episode with, as Greg Daniels calls him, the “Toby Flenderson” of the writer’s room? | William
A. In my 15 years as a celebrated TV super-writer, I have never co-written 3 act comedy with anybody. It’s shocking that Justin and I have co-written two episodes of TV now. In this case it was just a practical issue: we came back from the strike, and there weren’t enough episodes to go around, so the head writers gave us one to share.
I love working with Justin. He’s ten years younger than me and already a proven talent, but what’s crazy is the guy is on a steep learning curve as an artist, and will no doubt be running multiple TV shows by the time he’s my age. At that point I will go to him for pity work. I’ll be like, “Buddy, co-writer, come on. Remember that nice stuff I said about you on OfficeTally? Give me something here, co-writer buddy please.” — Brent
Q. What was the process like writing as a team? Are there parts of the episode or certain jokes that can be credited more to Brent or Justin or was it more of an overall collaborative process? | Littlekidlover
A. Brent’s worked on some amazing shows — his IMDB page reads like a syllabus for a comedy writing class. So working with him is great because you get the breadth of that experience. There are some jokes I wrote, some he wrote, and a lot more that were written by the rest of the staff. In the end, you forget much of who did what. — Justin
Q. Michael’s “no respect” talking head was brilliant. It was absolutely true to form for his character. I counted at least 5 comedian references. Was that written or did Steve come up with some of it? | Sarah
A. It was pretty much written. He may have improv-ed a little in there. Justin had my favorite joke in that whole rant: “What’s with airplane food? Just make the whole plane out of airplane food!” That is a brilliant joke. — Brent
Q. How do you get Steve Carell to cry like that? | Tina
A. The same way you get any actor to perform. Simple commands, followed by a milk bone if they get it right and a zap from the shock collar if they don’t.
Actually, at this point it doesn’t need saying anymore, but Steve is the most ridiculously talented actor most of us have ever or will ever work with, and he consistently amazes us with the options he gives us. I think the script didn’t call for him specifically to cry at that moment, and he probably did nine different takes with nine different levels of vulnerability. We picked #8. — Justin
thanks for answering questions! i love reading these :]
p.s. i’m looking for a car and i’m definitely interested in your honda civic, haha!
47 | Glenna Wed. May. 7, 2008 at 9:42pmSorry, but mark me in the Toby has an agenda column. I smelled something fishy as soon as he wouldn’t allow Pam and Jim sign the disclosure agreement.
46 | J'osh Tue. May. 6, 2008 at 3:38amSo Toby wasn’t supposed to be a complete A-hole? Hmmmm. I’m not convinced the writers don’t have something up their sleeves.
45 | Fancy New Beesly Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 11:32pmGlad they answered the Toby/Jim/Ryan question. Discussing it with my other OFFICE fans at my office, we all thought Toby was using Ryan as a way to break up Jim and Pam.
44 | StephP Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 6:26pmIt’s so fun to get all of the insight from the writers (and their responses were hilarious!) Not only did we get to watch a wonderful and well written episode to start with, we then are treated to this awesome Q&A–icing on the cake! Thanks so much to Office Tally for facilitating this and to Justin and Brent for the generous time to share the cool behind the scenes information. No wonder The Office has such devoted fans–we’re treated so well!
43 | what's the dealio? Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 6:03pmThanks! Justin, I would have had your back on “The Reprimand.”
42 | Post-it Thief Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 5:35pmWoo!! Yay! My question got answered thank you so much Tanster, Justin and Brent!!!!
I died laughing at the ’shock of a collar’ part! lol
41 | Tina Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 4:48pmOn NBC.com, there’s a photo of Michael attempting the fluffy fingers on Stanley - too funny:
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions! It’s very cool to hear the inside story.
40 | rspad Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 4:32pmThank you, once again, tanster and The Office writers, for doing this for us fans. What class acts you are! I adore this show more and more every week!
39 | dying star Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 4:21pmthese are great! i think this was my favorite questionnaire yet!
38 | jkrasislove Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 4:13pmI love these Q&A’s! Thanks for setting them up.
I’m still wondering if Angela’s “tall” adjective was a reference to Dwight…
I remember hearing somewhere (maybe it was in the video commentary on the DVD) that in one of the scripts for Stanley’s previous rants, all it said was “Stanley rants” and then he got to just… rant. It’s interesting that they scripted this one. I loved it.
37 | Michelle Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 3:19pmThank you Brent and Justin for answering these questions!! I love reading these.
36 | Lisa Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 3:16pmThanks writers and OfficeTally!
35 | In2TheRoses Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:57pmHaha. Amazing. Tanster, please say Gene & Lee are coming back for Job Fair questions?
34 | Pam Scherbatsky Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:53pmThe writers always answer everyone’s questions and it is so nice of them! They are all so talented. This Q&A is hilarious, this pair crack me up. Thanks so much Brent and Justin! :)
33 | Amie Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:51pmThey HAVE to post the fluffy fingers scene on-line. I can’t believe that got cut out!
32 | Shrutastic Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:39pmGreat and interesting stuff! Thanks for answering, Justin & Brent :)
31 | Jill Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:09pmThe writers are awesome :) I can hardly get through reading a Q&A without cracking up. Thanks tanster for putting these together, and thanks to all the writers who take the time to answer the questions.
30 | Joy Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 2:07pmThanks for taking my question, guys (and Tanster).
29 | Jim Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 1:59pmI LOVE these little questionairres. Keep ‘em coming. It’s so much fun to read the behind-the-scenes takes on these episodes.
Thanks again, Tanster and “Office” writers.
28 | Cayce80 Mon. May. 5, 2008 at 1:15pm