‘The Office’: Jenna Fischer Said She Gave the ‘Girliest Present’ to Her Co-Stars During Season 1
When season 1 of The Office wrapped, Jenna Fischer, who played Pam, gifted her co-stars with a thoughtful homemade gift. She said the gift, a Scranton-themed mixtape, was probably “the girliest present” she could have given — but it’s the thought that counts, right?
Jenna Fischer made a custom wrap gift for her ‘The Office’ co-stars
While discussing The Office episode “Health Care” on the Oct. 30, 2019 Office Ladies podcast, Fischer shared how she gave a wrap gift to some of her co-stars when season 1 ended. The actors worried the show would be canceled after their first season and the “Health Care” episode was the last one they filmed.
“We were really a tight-knit group by the time we were filming this,” Fischer shared. “And I think it shows in the episode. And I think that might also be why I have such a warm place in my heart for this episode because when we were filming this episode we really believed that this was the last one we would ever do.”
Fischer made a sweet gift for her co-stars when season 1 ended. “You know what I did? I made a mixtape.”
“I made a mixtape and I called it something like Scranton Sounds. Sounds of Scranton,” she admitted. “And I gave it to John, Rainn, Steve, and B.J. along with a tiny homemade scrapbook of some photos.”
“I’m sure those guys were like ‘This is the girliest present I’ve ever been given,” she added.
Jenna Fischer listened to the mixtape to get into her ‘The Office’ character
Fischer went on to explain that it wasn’t a tape but a CD and that she was pretty sure her co-stars didn’t even listen to it. She, however, would have it playing during her commute to film The Office.
“It was a CD. I am certain if I had to bet money, I am certain no one ever listened to it,” Fischer said. “I listened to it all the time.”
“This is real. So my commute to where we filmed the first season of The Office was very long,” she explained. “It was over an hour because I lived in the San Fernando Valley and we shot in Culver City and if you live in Los Angeles or have ever been here, that’s a very long commute in the morning.”
“And I wanted to ‘get in character,’ so I wanted to pretend like I was driving in Scranton,” Fischer said. “So I wanted some Sounds of Scranton.”
The actor didn’t, however, really know what the sounds of Scranton were, so she got creative.
Fischer admitted, “I’m gonna say I made a lot of assumptions and I kinda went back to my college days and I had some classic rock and a little bit of Garth Brooks but now that I’m saying it I realize that I don’t really know what East coast people listen to.”
“It put me in a headspace … I would listen to it on my drive to get into the character of Pam,” she added.
Fischer said the ‘Sounds of Scranton’ CD cover art was also customized, with “a collage of different pictures that reminded me of Scranton.”
The Office Ladies website provided the tracklist for Fischer’s special mixtape, in case anyone else wanted to hear the ‘Sounds of Scranton’:
- “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” Journey
- “Talk Dirty to Me,” Poison
- “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” Def Leppard
- “Home Sweet Home,” Motley Crue
- “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth,” Meat Loaf
- “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Guns N’ Roses
- “Fallen Angel,” Poison
- “Poison,” Alice Cooper
- “Cherry Pie,” Warrant
- “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Foreigner
- “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Journey
