‘The Office’: Steve Carell Revealed Why the Show ‘Felt Special’ When They Made It
The Office continues to win fans over, years after it ended its nine season run, but why? Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson recently talked about why the show continues to attract viewers, with Carell sharing how making it “felt special” at the time — even if it wasn’t wildly popular.
Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson reflect on their ‘The Office’ experience
On the Oct. 15 installment of Wilson’s Instagram series Hey There, Human, he and Carell shared some insight about their time on The Office as well as theories about why people are still watching it.
“How incredible is it and strange that The Office has this second life that is just nuts,” Wilson said to Carell. “How has that been for you, this kind of strange Office obsession/renaissance going on?”
“I don’t know if you feel the same thing, but the people who watch the show definitely know the show better than we do,” Carell answered. “Maybe we watched it once when we’d all get together and we’d watch episodes. That was most of my watching of the show. So I don’t know all the details, and when people reference lines and bits … some of them don’t really ring a bell at all.”
He added, “It’s great that it caught on like it did, because we all felt that it was special when we were doing it.”
“We felt that we were on to something and kind of felt like we got into a bit of a groove as a cast and the writers were so fantastic. Like, all parts of it just seemed to be firing on all cylinders,” Carell said.
“It felt special when we were doing it,” he added, “but it wasn’t necessarily that popular when it was on.”
Carell shares the power of laughter as therapy
The former co-stars also discussed why people have turned to The Office during this “dark time.” Carell shared his perspective, explaining, “I think comedy is so subjective and The Office isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea. If you find something that makes you laugh, it is therapeutic.”
He continued, “There’s no better feeling than that pure joy of finding something funny.”
“It’s gratifying. Its something we should all be proud of,” Carell said about people finding The Office to be therapeutic.
Rainn Wilson pitched an interesting ‘The Office’ reunion idea
Fans have hoped that there would be an Office reunion at some point, with the stars of the show saying that they would be up for getting back together again.
Wilson shared his unique idea for a reunion concept that would have him and Carell switching their iconic roles. But could they pull it off? Carell wasn’t so sure he could bring what Wilson brought to his Dwight character.
“I just had a thought, what if we did an Office reunion but I played Michael and you played Dwight?,” Wilson asked.
Carell thought the idea sounded intriguing, but said there’s only one person who could play Dwight. “I could never … I think you’d do a great Michael Scott,” he explained. “I don’t think I could ever even get close to your Dwight Schrute.”
“It was a very singular thing you created.” Carell noted. “There is no Schrute but your Schrute.”
