‘The Office’: This Cast Member Was Actually Pregnant During the ‘Dinner Party’ Episode
One of the things that makes The Office such an amazing show to watch, aside from the talented cast, is the way it is shot. The documentary style of shooting gives a great sense of realism and groundedness no matter how absurd the situations are. One of the best examples of this comes in the series’ fourth season, in the “Dinner Party” episode. The episode, which is well-loved by fans of The Office, is filled with awkward moments and laugh at loud antics.
In fact, the episode was so funny that the cast had a hard time holding their laughter. Instead, they had to actively fight against the giggles and find tricks to stay in character. But, bouts of laughter weren’t the only thing that The Office cast had to contend with. Angela Kinsey, who plays Angela Martin on the show, also had to deal with successfully hiding a pregnancy. As her character was in a fairly new relationship with Andy, it wouldn’t have made sense for her to be pregnant at this point on the show.
Angela Kinsey was pregnant during Season 4 of ‘The Office’
“My pregnancy wasn’t written into the season arc because it didn’t exist for part of the season. Then, after the writers’ strike, I came back very pregnant – and I’m a petite person. So then it was, ‘Oh, my God, how do we hide her belly?’ because if you’re just picking up where we left off, you can’t have a pregnancy overnight. One of the reasons why Ed Helms shows up with that enormous bouquet of flowers is because it was hiding my belly,” Kinsey shared with Rolling Stone about how The Office writers and cast sought to hide her pregnancy.
But, flowers weren’t the only things utilized to hide Kinsey’s pregnant belly. Jenna Fischer (who plays Pam) revealed that there were a bevy of items used to help hide Kinsey’s pregnancy. “Angela Kinsey was very pregnant when we shot that episode, and she was having to, like, carry weird items or sit with her purse on her lap to cover her pregnant belly,” Fischer shared about her best friend and fellow cast member.
How ‘The Office’ cast handled the pregnancy
Though Kinsey may have been able to hide her pregnancy from the camera, it proved to be very difficult at times. Particularly when her daughter decided to make herself known. “I’ll never forget when we were filming the scene where we finally get to try to eat. My daughter was kicking like crazy. I reached under the table and grabbed Ed Helms’ hand and put it on my belly. He turned to me and his eyes got so big because he could feel her kicking, like, ‘Oh, my gosh,'” The Office alum recalled about the experience.
Clearly, Kinsey’s pregnancy presented a few obstacles for The Office cast. But, without the pregnancy, we never would’ve gotten the iconic moment when Angela reacts to single rose Andy has given her. She looks on disgustedly and asks what she’s supposed to do with it. We love how the actors have the ability to take any moment and make it special. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be rewatching the “Dinner Party” episode to see what other items were used to hide Kinsey’s pregnancy.
