The Office stars Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer have revealed the season 6 scene that had the entire cast laughing. Based on the British series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, The Office debuted in 2005 and ran until season 9. Although every scene was scripted and carefully rehearsed, the cast was known to break frequently. The home video releases from every The Office season included numerous outtakes and bloopers where the cast (which also included stars like Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Mindy Kaling and Ed Helms) could barely hold it together. Adding the fact that many members of The Office cast were former improv artists, they were given plenty of opportunities to practice their craft, often leading to fits of laughter.
One particularly memorable scene in season 6, episode 13, "Secret Santa," involved Michael Scott (Carrell) arriving at the office Christmas party dressed as Santa Claus to find Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) already playing Santa. Michael allows Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) to sit on his lap to gain favor, as Phyllis would not do so due to his large size. When Kevin sits on Michael's lap, Michael immediately regrets it, doing his best to rush through the conversation while Kevin takes his time to think of something to ask Santa.
During an episode of the Office Ladies podcast (via Mashable), Kinsey and Fischer revealed this scene had the entire The Office cast laughing uncontrollably. The actors apparently found the interaction so funny that, in any given take, there wasn't a single cast members who could contain themselves. Ultimately, the final cut of episode 13 has actors laughing in every shot. Read what Kinsey and Fischer said about the scene below.
Kinsey: "I would say overwhelmingly this was one time where the entire cast broke. The entire cast. I've read so many interviews in prepping for this episode where John, Ed, and Brian all talk about how they were all breaking. I read where Veda [Semarne], our script supervisor, said how she would have to mark whenever someone laughed in a take and it was like everyone."
Fischer: "They didn't have any footage of us not laughing. They didn't have any. We never got it. That's why all the footage shows us breaking in the background."
While filming the now-iconic The Office scene, Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapoor, immediately started laughing, causing the camera operator to zoom in on Kevin and Michael to cut her out of the shot. During a brief moment when the camera finally zooms out, Helms has disappeared from view, only to reappear at the end of the scene with a large grin on his face. Kinsey further explained how difficult it was to edit the scene due to everybody breaking in each shot, admitting that "[Helms] literally had to go behind the wall."
Breaking is common during filming, even in dramatic projects. The long-running television variety show Saturday Night Live is well known for its on-stage bloopers, which happen multiple times in nearly every episode. Due to SNL being live, the show doesn't have the opportunity to edit out actors' laughter or re-shoot a scene as in scripted pre-recorded shows like The Office. However, the fact that the final episode 13 cut included The Office cast breaking character is a testament to just how funny the scene was in real life. And while The Office is stuffed full of memorable moments that have helped propel the show to its cult status, sometimes watching actors have genuine, unbridled fun on screen is just as entertaining as the fictional story itself.
Source: Mashable
