The Office wedding Q&A with Mindy Kaling

Q. I’m wondering how many ties were sacrificed when John and Jenna were filming the scene in the back of the church? | Molly

Mindy: I love that tie moment. This was 100% a Greg conceived idea (I’m telling you, he’s the third Ephron sister). We did about 7 takes of this.

Q. Stanley bringing his mistress to a company attended wedding was an interesting turn of events. How did that idea come into play? | Jaime Marie

Mindy: I thought it was edgy that Stanley brought his mistress. He said he was going to end the relationship and then he didn’t, and since everyone at work knew, he brought her on a little romantic getaway.

Stanley is kind of a cad!

Q. Why was Jim’s dad in a kilt? | NotABadDay

Mindy: Jim’s Dad is in a kilt because we thought it would be funny and interesting for Jim to have strong Scottish roots. Pretty layered dramaturgical work, huh? Impressed?

Q. I noticed Ryan and Kelly dancing together in the hotel, are they back on? | lindsay

Mindy: Sort of. BJ is my best friend and I like to do scenes together so we can chat, so sometimes Ryan and Kelly look de facto back-on because we like to hang out on set. Lazy, huh?

Probably Paul would want me to answer this in a much more articulated, motivated way, but he’ll never read this, he’s totally checked out til the New Year.

Q. What did Kelly give as a wedding present? And what would Kelly have been listening to through those headphones in Andy’s car? | Lindsey

Mindy: I could see Kelly giving them a gift certificate for couples pedicures at the Steamtown Mall. Maybe a rhinestone baby onesie? Something horrible like that?

In my mind, Kelly and Erin were listening to Lady Gaga on headphones but in actuality I think we were listening to some public domain Christian music or something.

Q. What happened to the actress that originally played Pam’s mom? Was there a reason why she was played by a different actress in this, and the upcoming episodes? The Office is usually so dead on with continuity that I was rather shocked to see Pam’s mom played by someone else. | BC

Mindy: The actress who originally played Pam’s Mom [from tanster: Shannon Cochran] was on tour doing August: Osage County.

Believe me, we were so worried about the re-casting of the part because of continuity and not wanting to lose cred with fans.

Ultimately, we had no choice but to recast it with the wonderful Linda Purl. The part of Pam’s Mom becomes bigger this season, post-wedding, and she’s just great.

Q. Did Ed Helms ever actually injure himself while performing his split dance move? | JMJ

Mindy: I just went on set and asked Dward (my new nickname for Ed, really cool, huh) and he looked at me blankly and said “Of course I didn’t hurt my scrotum, I’m an actor.” Well la-di-da, Dward.

Wasn’t he great though? He does a ton of dancing (and singing) in the upcoming webisodes Subtle Sexuality, so check that out.

Also, weirdly, did you know that Ed tore his penis open and talked about it on Leno many years ago? I had no idea. He just reminded me. Here’s the link. [from tanster: unfortunately, the video is no longer available. :( ]

Q. Whose idea was it to have Kevin walking around in Kleenex boxes? Yours, Greg’s, Brian’s or the director’s? | Zac

Mindy: The scene with Kevin in the hotel lobby with that fancy and irate hotel manager was born in the writers room. I remember Charlie Grandy in particular pitching on it with joy.

It is the kind of scene that is so gross and weird and off-story but so funny that I was glad it made it in the script. Kleenex was Greg I think — those were custom made.

36 comments

  1. Thank you! That was such a treat to read! (And an “Office-themed wedding” — oh, how I wish I wasn’t already married! That would be too cool!) :-)

  2. The Q&As are always my favorites. Thanks, Mindy & tanster. I thought this episode was absolutely hilarious — classic Office! Cans bursting, Dwight, Andy, horrible Michael toasts…all perfect.

  3. Thanks so much Tanster! And Mindy! I love writer Q&A. Hopefully maybe they can put the actual wedding vows and other Niagara scenes that were shot on the DVD extras! A girl can dream LOL

  4. Heehee Dward! The sound of that makes Ed Helms seem even more adorable. John Krasinski breaking? Not surprising, but definitely always a treat; in fact, I hope it’s one of his man-squeal breaks cuz those are the best. :) Also, Greg Daniels giggling – ’nuff said.

    Very cool Q&A! Thank you muchly, tanster & Mindy Kaling for your time & just for being downright awesome!

  5. Thanks Mindy and Tanster!!! The episode was so great! It is fun to learn more about the “behind the scenes” aspects. Thanks again!

  6. It’s so nice of Mindy to do this, especially in her free time on set. I hope the actual vows are on the DVD extra too. It almost seems like too much of a good thing though. Thanks so much Mindy & Office Tally!

  7. It was so awesome of Mindy to answer the questions for us. And thanks for getting those extra answers from other crew members too, tanster!

  8. Thanks for answering my question, Mindy. Now I’ll have to go back and watch the scene with Jim and Michael and see how close John is to breaking in that scene.

  9. Man, I love these Q&As! I simply cannot get enough behind-the-scenes details about this show. Who knew Greg was such a romantic? ;) And how cool that the boat passengers were actual vacationers!

    Thank you so much, Mindy, for taking the time out of your busy shooting day to answer questions for us! And to tanster, as always, for arranging it!

  10. @13, i love her more! :) so clever. i’m a big fan of her shopping blog, “things that i bought that i love”, and have used it to buy some great presents for people. how fun to tell them where i got the idea! wish she’d write more often, though (come on mindy, the holidays are comin’ up!)

    i can’t get enough of these q&a’s, it’s SO neat to hear the stories behind the episodes. thanks to both of these awesome ladies! keep ’em comin’!

  11. This once again proves my theory that Mindy is one of the most awesome women in showbiz. Thank you so much for this, Mindy and Tanster! You both rock!

  12. This was amazing! Everyone associated with this show is AWESOME!

    Big thanks to Mindy, I really loved this behind the scenes info.

  13. Well, I guess I’ll have to watch the episode one more time. It’s hard being such a fan. :)
    Thanks so much for all the info!!

  14. Mindy, I just adore the episodes that you write! A tip of the hat to your vomit jokes!

  15. I love Q&As! Now I have to go tell it all to my husband…! Thank you Mindy, you’re the best!

  16. Thanks tanster and Mindy! It was a great episode…thanks for answering some questions (:

  17. I watched the episode again just to catch all the little things Mindy was talking about. I tried to see if I could catch John Krasinski breaking when he was talking to Michael, but I didn’t have much luck. Did anyone else see it? On another note, I still love the episode as much as I did the first time. It’s truly wonderful :)

    Thank you Mindy and Tanster for being so delightfully good to us fans!

  18. AWESOME. Thank you so much tanster and Mindy! That was so much fun to read. How incredibly generous of Mindy to take out time to answer so many questions! I can’t wait to watch the episode again with all of that behind-the-scenes fun in mind. :)

  19. Thanks Mindy for this Q&A and also for this WONDERFUL episode. My favorite ever! A classic, hilarious and sweet episode. Dwight kicking the bridemaid and the boat wedding were my favorite parts.
    Very niiiiiice. Borat.

  20. Ahhh! I want more! I think this is probably one of the best Q & A’s EVER! Thanks Mindy!!!

  21. This is great! There hasn’t been a Q and A in a while and I’m glad it was for this episode. I never got to ask my question, though; I wonder if they asked the couple who did the original “forever” dance down the aisle if they could copy that?

  22. I can’t be the only one who grins like an idiot whenever Mindy talks about her friendship with B.J….

  23. Q&As are always special treat–thanks Mindy and tanster! How cool is it that Mindy casually texts Greg about things like his thoughts on a Jam wedding location?

  24. Awesome – Mindy answered my question . . . last! Thanks Mindy and Randy!! Great episode, looking forward to more . . .

  25. @ 27:

    No, I love Ryan and Kelly together too and loved the deleted scene with them flirting in the church. And when I saw them dancing in Andy’s room during his party I was like, “Yes! Another office hookup!” :)

    If (hypothetically) they were dating in real life, I would be so excited for them since they are a great team!

  26. I was so glad she talked about “the sprinkler” – it was my favourite of all the dances, so you can tell BJ he did a great job!

  27. I love Mindy Kaling, she is so amazing. I think she (and her character Kelly) are hilarious and I relate to so much that she says and her pop culture references.

    I loved the info as well, and her humor about Jenna being mean so they loved her instead, and Paul never reading this. Ha ha! Thanks Mindy!

  28. FYI – there are actually four Ephron sisters (Nora, Delia, Amy & Hallie) – all of whom write! I heard Hallie speak about mysteries and she’s great:

    Link

  29. Mindy and BJ are so absolutely adorable. I wonder if it affects their friendship that they have to make out all the time… Because, they DO write the show, so they must plan it. Maybe they are secretly going out? I would love that. It would be the cutest relationship on the office right after JAM.

  30. I can’t believe the captain isn’t an actor. He was one of those small part/steals the scene people for me. I actually tried to look him up on the internet to see what else he’d been in, I was so amazed by him.

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