SuicideGirls interviews Paul Lieberstein

Daniel Robert Epstein of SuicideGirls.com interviews Paul Lieberstein (a writer for The Office who also plays “Toby” the human resources guy).

This is one of the best writing-centric interviews I’ve read in awhile.

Here’s an excerpt:

DRE: In the casino episode Michael went all in on the first in a game of Texas hold ’em and Toby had a pretty darn good hand, two Jacks, but it’s not even two kings or two aces.

Paul
: It’s pretty clear that Michael was bluffing. It was a ridiculous thing to do. There was a very subtle little bit there because Toby is just willing to call him out. There was another scene with a suggestion box meeting. One of suggestions was “You have bad breath” and Michael said that could be for anyone and Toby said “Aren’t these suggestions for you?” That was past anything Toby had done before in terms of trying to insult Michael. It was a lot of fun saying that one little line.

Read the full interview here (warning: NSFW).

Thanks, Daniel, for sending this in!

16 comments

  1. What do they do with the other 16 minutes of film for each episode? I wonder if the DVD has those extra tid bits for each episode.

  2. I love that Paul and Greg are brothers-in-law. The Office gets more incetuous day by day. This was a GREAT read. THanks for sharing it with us.

  3. Im sufficiently amused. Interesting website to find an interview like that on. Paul’s so cool.
    J

  4. Paul gave a great interview – good find!

    Incidentally, I didn’t get to spend much time visiting OT last week, and now I’ve got like 10 hours of videos and reading to catch up on! Wow. Good thing the boss is on vacation…

  5. I love reading the interviews that focus on the writing. Obviously I love what happens in front of the camera, too, but the whole writing process really intrigues me. Thanks for this!

  6. Thanks! Very interesting. Was surprised, though, that the interviewer didn’t get that Michael has a good heart. That’s what makes him such a great character; he’s not just self-centered bafoon.

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