What mystery game locale did they almost use instead of Savannah? Which line did Steve Carell improvise? What were Meredith’s brain chunks made of? And most importantly, what was the hamster’s name?
These questions and many, many more are answered by The Office’s Danny Chun, writer for the episode Murder. Thank you, Danny!
Q. Were the accents we saw make it to air fully scripted as such or did the actors play around with it? | phyllis*farm
Danny: The script had parentheticals like “(Savannah Accent)” or “(Bad Southern Accent)”, but the particulars of the accents were all up to the actors. Oscar’s accent was all him — we did about 6 takes and most of the time he was doing a really deep voice. On the last take, he did it high and it killed us.
Q. How long did it take to work on everyone’s southern accents? | Roscoet
Danny: No time at all. I didn’t coach the accents whatsoever. Good thing, too, because as Mindy is so eager to tell people, I suck at accents.
We played a murder mystery game in the writers’ room to get a feel for it, and I was a Frenchman, and Mindy seemed pretty entertained by how bad I was. (For the record, I was great.)
Q. When the gang wasn’t shooting did any of the actors keep their accents going? | Vicky87
Danny: A little bit. The crew got pretty into the accents though — they made one of our shoot days “Talk Like a Southerner Day.” It was pretty funny to hear someone’s bad Southern drawl coming over the walkie talkie.
Q. What was the inspiration/how did you come up with the voice Michael used when he said “That would be hilarious” when he was on the phone with Dunder Mifflin Corporate? | Allie
Danny: In the script, it just says “(Valley Girl).” I just thought that in a time of great stress, Michael would be tapping a pretty hacky comedy vein. And it seemed like a valley girl voice would be what Michael thinks would disarm Wallace’s secretary.
Q. Andy says something along the lines as “that’s more of a Florida panhandle…” Where did you get the inspiration for this line? | kyle
Danny: In my first draft, he does an Atlanta accent and then a Savannah accent, and they’re both kinda bad and sound very similar. But Paul thought that Andy might be very good at accents. So we changed it, and then while shooting, Ed threw out a few different options, including Florida panhandle. In other words, All Me.
Q. Where did you get the idea for such a ridiculous (yet hilarious and classic Michael) premise? Have you ever participated in such a game? | Morgan
Danny: I honestly don’t know whose idea it was for Michael to pull out a murder mystery game. I asked around and nobody remembered. My best guess is, a ghost wrote it on the mirror with its icy breath.
I’d never played a game like that, but we played one as research. It was basically impossible to solve. I was the killer. Mindy’s character was, Person Who Teases Others About Their Accents Even Though They Are Doing Their Best.
Q. Can you tell us more about coming up with the game, ridiculous names and props, the cassette etc? Did other writers get in on making up parts of the game? | what’s the dealio?
Danny: The game is actually a pretty faithful adaptation of the murder mystery games we bought as research. They all have silly pun names and a CD with a narrator doing a hokey accent.
Originally, we were going to do a “Murder in Little Italy” theme, but then we realized that might be too similar to the Mafia episode. So we pitched on a few other themes and liked Savannah.
As for the specifics of the game, I am proud to say the pun names were all mine. The props (and the game itself) were designed by our awesome props department.
Great interview! Thanks, Danny! I agree that one of the best lines from Thursday was “Just poopin’. You know how I be.” I chuckle often while I watch TV, but rarely do I laugh out loud. That was an LOL moment.
That was a great Q&A, very informative and funny.
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! So very interesting.
Thank you for answering questions! And I agree with you and #1. “Just poopin’, you know how I be” was awesome.
Thanks so much Danny! really funny answers and very informative. I’m also a part of the large group of people who “lol’ed” at “just pooping, you know how I be” It was so unexpected.
These were the best As of any Q&A ever. Thanks so much for all of the great behind the scenes info–it was really funny and interesting! I’d think I’d even be happy to read Danny Chun’s to-do list or grocery list any day–his writing is so fun to read! The collaborative, generous efforts that go into the scripts are so impressive. I loved this episode, it was so funny and well done. (I wish that Michael’s line about Shawn Mullins had been in the final cut too!)
Funny that he didn’t know the abbreviation for Jim and Pam! JAM<3
Loved the Q&A. Thanks Danny!
Thanks for the Q&A! And also thanks for answering my question :)
Danny, you just broke the first rule of Fight Club!
LOL i thought that i was the only one who ROTFL when andy is talking to michael about his standup comedy
I literally died laughing when I was reading the Southern pun names. Being from the south, I love that he made a pun using the name of the city where I live. Awesome. And the accents cracked me up too, mostly with how far off some were.
Awesome interview! He’s hilarious! Thanks Danny for answering our questions!
I agree with #7! Someone should have told him that the shorthand for Jim and Pam is JAM! :D
#7 and #12: Are you familiar with sarcasm? ;) Lol. I’m pretty sure he was being ironic. This is an Office writer after all.
But yeah, thank you so much Danny Chun! GREAT Q&A, and keep up the good work!
Ahhhh!! Oh my goodness :D All my questions were answered! Thank you so much Danny and Tanster. I’ll just believe the hamster was really named Tina. lol
Danny, thanks for doing the Q&A, you are such a wonderful asset to The Office team!
I love that your episode is titled MURDER – every time I see that, I think it’s called MUKDUK :)
*** You guys, I’m pretty sure he was being funny re. JH & P ***
I’m pretty sure Danny knows about the term ‘JAM’. :)
Thanks DChun! Loved the episode and the Q&A!
What a fantastic, funny, in-depth Q&A! The Southern pun names are so great – I think Carl Erdgreens is my favorite. And I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at the Michael line about Shawn Mullins. I wish that had made it, too.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for us, Danny! Awesome read. :)
Thanks for taking the time to do a Q&A Danny! And thanks for answering one of my questions! Wooo! A first for me!
I loved all the pun names as well. So clever!
And it’s a shame Michael’s line about Shawn Mullin’s didn’t make it into the ep. It was a good one.
(And yeah, I think he was joking about the JAM term, too.)
I agree – the Q&A was just as funny as the episode! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud at a Q&A. Hopefully we’ll be seeing Danny’s name in the writing credits more often. Thanks for answering my question too. (You’re sure the hamster wasn’t named “Stapler”?)
:)
Thanks for answering my question, Danny! It’s awesome that an Office writer acknowledged my existence! I loved the answers. One of the funniest Q&As ever. I love Rainn’s response.
thanks! keep up the great work
The Murder Mystery episode was one of my favorites; it was just too much fun. They did such a great job with everything, awesome work everyone.