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The Office ‘Sabre’ Q&A

Who was the real inspiration behind the Suck It? Was there an unaired Jim/Pam scene? How did cast members react to John as a director? Did NBC censor Michael when he said “Suck b—–“? Which cast member plans to direct an episode of The Office?

But most importantly, will Jen ever fulfill her dream of playing a Schrute?!

These questions and many, many more are answered by The Office’s Jen Celotta, Sabre writer, with a special appearance by John Krasinski, in his Office directorial debut. We also have some surprise visits by other show members!

Q. Jen- Did you write the cold open or did that come from the writers room? | sombrerosarelove

Jen: I wrote the cold open but the idea for it came from the writers room — at one point, opening the box by mistake and putting it back together played a bigger role in an episode idea — but then we decided on the A-story of Michael not being able to deal with Sabre’s changes and the box idea was made into a cold open.

Although the “I’ve got a bix box, yes I do…” joke came from someone else. I think it was Gene. It’s funny. If you’re reading this, Gene, and it was you, thank you!

Q. How many times did Steve cut his fingers off when trying to catch the scissors? | ASFan

Jen: The scissors were rubber scissors! They looked really real, though. Phil, our props guy extraordinaire, had them made (in an open position) so Ellie could throw them to Steve without damaging anything!

Q. Who wrote the Sabre song to Party in the USA and how did you decide to write it to that song? It was hysterical! | Meliss

Jen: Warren Lieberstein and Halsted Sullivan wrote the Sabre song to the tune of “Party in the USA.”

And because we have to get clearance/pay for songs whenever we use them, we always need to have backups — so the guys also wrote Sabre songs to the tune of “I Gotta Feelin’” (Black Eyed Peas) and “Surfin’ USA” (Beach Boys).

Often times after a writer/writing team has gone off to write something, they’ll bring it back in the room and we’ll all read it over — taking parts — or going around the room, taking turns reading talking heads (it’s really fun to hear everyone read Kevin).

So, naturally, when Warren and Halsted came back, we had them sing the songs they wrote — it was fun to watch. Here are some more of the lyrics they wrote for the song:

To the song “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus

ANDY/ERIN
Hopped off the plane in Scranton, PA
Another cloudy gray afternoon
Welcome to the home of the Houdini Museum
Have a copy of the Times Tribune

Jumped in the cab,
Here you are for the first time
Look to the right, you see the Electric City Sign.
This is all so crazy
Spaghetti Bolognes-y

You’re wondering what to expect when you walk in
Andy: Then you see our receptionist Erin
Erin: And I say come on Gabe, let’s go over here
So we can sing you a welcome song
So we can sing you a welcome song
We’re singing you a welcome song!

CHORUS:
So kick your feet up
We’re playing your song,
Take a desk that you’d prefer
Noddin’ our heads like yeah
Moving our hips like yeah,
And you got your feet up,
If you need a ride home
Creed will be your chauffeur
Yaaayyy, Dunder Mifflin is a part of Sah-bray–
Yaaayyy, Dunder Mifflin is a part of Say-ber.

Q. The bit with Dwight trying to figure out where to put the tray of hot dogs only to put it on the floor – was that in the script or was that completely Rainn’s idea? | Vicky87

Jen: That was in the script. Although Rainn is always coming up with fun things for Dwight to do that add comedy to the scenes.

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46 comments

  2. I thought when I heard it that “Taste a Rainbow” was a shout out to Chris Kattan’s Mango character, who always said crazy stuff like that. Love these Q&A’s.

  3. You are all so talented. The show is just so great. I am 55 and worked in banking for 32 years, I can’t tell you how many scenes from all the shows I could relate to over the years. I envy all of you for getting to do what you love and are all so great at.
    The Q & A’s are great. Hoping the show will be on for many more years. Thanks for keeping me entertained.

  4. This was definitely one of the best episode Q&A’s ever! I loved all the surprise guests, especially Andy Buckley, that was fantastic. And I’m super excited for Rainn’s directorial debut, who knows what crazy things he might come up with? JKras did an incredible job and I hope he can do more episodes in the future! Thank you so much to the cast & writers, you’re the BEST :) Tanster, you rock for being in such close contact with all of them!

    [from tanster: my pleasure! i love these Q&As. and it was fantastic to get so many Office members involved this time around!]

  5. Thanks to everyone and Tanster! It is so amazing and unusual to be able to learn more details like this. Fantastic!

  6. Wow, what a great Q&A…especially since we get no Office tonight. I think that made up for it.

  7. Wow, what an amazing Q&A! Thanks to everyone – we really do appreciate you putting the time and effort into doing this and doing such a thoughtful job answering the questions.

  8. That was GREAT! Thanks to everyone for participating.
    I still want to know.. “John.. how did you become so awesome?”

  9. That was SO much fun to read. Hearing the fun behind the scenes stories make the episode even better, in my opinion. Thanks Tanster! :)

  10. Thanks everyone for answering the questions. It is amazing the information that you share with us fans!

  13. W00t! This made my day! Thank you so much, Office Cast and Staff! (And a special thank you to Tanster. You’re the best!)

  16. Best Q&A ever! …but that was with John Krasinski so I might be biased… ;) Creed: perfect answer!
    Thank you so much everybody: Jen, John, Andy, tanster… :)

  17. To echo others – that was amazing! I always love the Q&A’s, but this one very well may be the best one yet. Many, many thanks to everyone involved!

    And Creed’s answer nearly caused me to spit water all over my computer monitor. Classic!

  18. Loved Creed’s answer,spot on. And I loved the insight into the shenanigans of the writer’s room! Making magic wands out of chopsticks is a fantastic idea…I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

  19. Woo! One of my questions was answered! Thanks Jen! And thanks Tanster for setting this up! :-)

    Awesome Q&A! One of the best! I love all the behind the scenes stuff. Any chance we may be getting one for the birth? Please?

  21. Hooray! Andy answered a question from me. So fun. Thanks to everyone! What a fun Q&A!

    Oh, and I love the Harry Potter stuff! Too funny. I had to read that out loud to my coworker.

  23. Seriously, how can you not love these people? Cast, crew, and of course, Tanster, all totally awesome.

    We are not worthy.

  27. john answered my question… i can die happy!

    the answer was great too… 9ft. 2in… heeeeeee. oh john how i love you.

  28. Thank you so much! This was the best Q&A — it made me laugh and smile and made my day! All this insight and funny stuff was such a great added bonus to yet another truly great episode. There is no other cast, crew, writing team in the business that gives so much to their devoted fans! What a truly functional, happy, crazy-talented bunch. Thanks again to Tanster and The Office!

  29. Thank you Andy for answering my question. In my opinion your David Wallace and Amy Ryan’s Holly are the only ones who have managed to bring out the most tenderful and precious side of a man who has a tendency to create havoc for himself and others. Michael Scott of course.

  30. Yay! My question was answered. Thanks again Tanster for putting this together. I love all the behind the scenes info!

  32. “Which one’s John?” – Classic.

    Loved this Q & A! Best one yet! Thank you Tanster for making this happen! it certainly helped my Office withdrawals (1 more week!)

  33. This was great! And John answered my question!! *dies a little* Thanks again for having this Q&A, reading all these answers and the behind the scenes tidbits was so much fun. :)

  34. So great. I loved the Harry Potter story, the true story behind the awkward interview, learning that it was John’s idea to have Wallace be so creepy, and of course, Creed’s statement. Thanks so much to EVERYONE for chipping in and answering our questions! (And thanks, Jen, for answering mine!) This Q & A just reminds me why I love you guys so much– thanks for loving us back!

  35. Wow, so so fun. THANKS again, Tanster and amazing Office peeps who make us fans love you and your show so much!

    As far as Office Withdrawal goes, I can only be thankful that these two weeks at work have been crazy! (plus, this Q&A allowed me to spend Office Time – which would start roughly 20 minutes from now if it were a good Thursday – doing some Officey-thing : ) Woot.

  39. Thank you so much for this. Great Q&A. Special thanks to everyone for taking the time to give interesting and funny answers. :)

    I noticed that John mentioned making a Director’s Cut of this episode. Is that why we never saw any deleted scenes on NBC.com? And does this mean the cut will be shown at some point on the website and/or included on the DVDs?

  42. Awesome Q and A for an awesome episode. The cast and crew are some of the most likable and naturally funny people around, and it’s always interesting to hear how much thought goes into even the minor details. Thanks to everybody involved!

  44. Great Q&A! Huge thanks to everyone involved, especially John, Jen and Tanster :D

    It was an honour to have one of my question answered… It’s not very often that fans get this kind of opportunity to interact with the cast and crew like this!

    Also, did anybody else think of Skittles for the “Taste a rainbow” quote? Maybe it was just in Canada, but a couple years ago, Skittles had a promotion called “Taste THE rainbow” =P

  45. Thank you so much for this tanster, you never fail!

    Michael Scott with a sixpack would’ve looked weird, indeed.

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