Here are the answers to your questions about last week’s wedding episode, Niagara — courtesy of The Office’s writer/producer/actor Mindy Kaling.
Mindy wrote “I answered as many as I could while on set — we’re shooting the Christmas episode right now. I’ve loved reading all the feedback about the episode!”
Thank you so much, Mindy!
Q. Who wrote most of the romantic type of parts? Was that mostly you or Greg? | TheInjury’sBiggestFan
Mindy: Hi Injury’sBiggestFan. Love your name.
Given my personality, people usually think I’d probably gravitate towards the “romantic” part of romantic comedy. Actually, I tend to worry too much that things will get sappy and slow. We’re a comedy, after all. So I err on the side of LESS romance.
Interestingly, Greg (who is probably the funniest person I know) has a great love for pure romance. Five years ago, Greg directed The Dundies, which I wrote, and we had a long protracted battle over whether Jim and Pam should kiss.
Greg was for it, and I was against it! Can you believe the terribleness of my choice? And I, like, FOUGHT him about it. We still fight sometimes, but he mostly wins because he’s usually right, and also because he’s my boss.
Q. How did the responsibility of writing ‘Niagara’ come to you? Did you say you wanted to do it or did the other writers feel you would be the best at it? | Scott B.
Mindy: Paul Lieberstein, our showrunner, assigns episodes. He assigned it to me fairly early on, and then Greg said he was interested in writing it with me. Greg is so busy (directing and running Parks & Rec too) that he doesn’t get to write as much, and so that was pretty exciting.
This script had many, many dramatic changes in it from the initial writers draft, and our staff did an excellent job helping write it.
Q. I’m just curious as to why none of the typical wedding-y things were shown, i.e. the vows and reception and whatnot. | holly-gram
We shot vows on the Maid of the Mist while in Niagara. When Claire and Greg were editing it, they showed us an initial cut where you got to hear the vows. It somehow didn’t pop as much as just seeing them say their vows.
As for the reception, the original draft had quite a funny act that was purely the reception, and that is when Jim and Pam ran off to the Falls. I don’t miss it, because you got the joy of dancing and the cast interacting in the rehearsal dinner.
Q. Who wrote the cold open? | Jim
Mindy: Greg and I wrote the cold open in a diner together on a Sunday morning.
He came up with “three ounce fetus,” which makes me laugh in its weird specificity. It’s really fun writing with Greg, because he is impatient like me, and likes to work quickly like I do. Also, he gets the giggles sometimes which is just great.
Q. What are the production logistics of getting several people to “vomit” all over the place? How do you do it? How many takes? | JJ An
Mindy: What’s funny about vomiting on TV is that the actors have to hold “vomit” in their mouths before they spit it out. I wasn’t in the scene so I didn’t get to do it, and I was jealous!
I think it’s mostly soup and mushed up bread. I do like a good vomit joke, I put one in the cold open of The Injury many years ago.
Seeing Jenna vomit made me very proud of her. Here she is, an attractive young actress in her most anticipated wedding episode, and she has to barf right off the bat. Very cool.
Paul Feig wears like, a Prada suit every day to work, so it was funny seeing this classy guy direct vomit take after take.
We spent a long, long time on the cold open. Greg and I pictured it in different ways and there meetings about it. How much vomit? Should Ellie vomit on the floor or in a cup? How do we show Angela’s vomit coming through her fingers most convincingly? I love my job so much.
Thanks so much Mindy (& Tanster)!
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!) :-)
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.
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
Thanks for the insight! Now I have to watch it again!
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!
Thanks Mindy and Tanster!!! The episode was so great! It is fun to learn more about the “behind the scenes” aspects. Thanks again!
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!
This was so funny! Thanks for posting!
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!
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.
Love Mindy….so freaking hilarious!
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!
@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’!
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!
This was amazing! Everyone associated with this show is AWESOME!
Big thanks to Mindy, I really loved this behind the scenes info.
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!!
Mindy, I just adore the episodes that you write! A tip of the hat to your vomit jokes!
I love Q&As! Now I have to go tell it all to my husband…! Thank you Mindy, you’re the best!
Thanks tanster and Mindy! It was a great episode…thanks for answering some questions (:
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!
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. :)
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.
Ahhh! I want more! I think this is probably one of the best Q & A’s EVER! Thanks Mindy!!!
Thanks for the Q and A Mindy, and also for answering my question, haha!
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?
I can’t be the only one who grins like an idiot whenever Mindy talks about her friendship with B.J….
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?
I love these Q&A’s especially Mindy’s.
Awesome – Mindy answered my question . . . last! Thanks Mindy and Randy!! Great episode, looking forward to more . . .
@ 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!
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!
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!
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
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.
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.