Advice from Phyllis

Before becoming Mrs. Bob Vance, Phyllis Smith worked in the casting for some great shows like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Spin City", and "Arrested Development".

Check out her advice for newcomers on breaking into the biz here.

Who would YOU hire?

CareerBuilder.com has posted a new essay entitled "Three Tips on How to Find the Best Salesperson" using characters from The Office as examples. The best Dundee choice, according to Mary Ross, a corporate recruiter with CareerBuilder.com, is... I'm not going to tell you, silly! Just go read the article! You can even vote for your favorite and view the results!

Watch "The Office" on Family Feud

Simply click HERE. Enjoy! Poor Creed - he rarely got to speak!

You can also see a photo gallery from the episode by clicking HERE.

Office Stars Talk about Family Feud

Office vs Gladiators!!

Don't worry - we won't see Creed enter the Joust versus Wolf, it's all on Celebrity Family Feud!

The episode airs on July 8th.

"The Office" is the multi-award-winning NBC sitcom that airs on Thursday nights. The show is based on the fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the day-to-day life of those who work there. The entire show is shot in "mockumentary" style.

Charity: Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania
www.nepacac.org.

E!'s Watch with Kristin's Office Spoilers

Or are they? If you're brave, you decide. :)

Steve Carell Interviews Phyllis Smith for E!

Oh MAN this is funny!

Angela's Adventures Continue

Everyone Loves Phyllis and Bob Vance!

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has listed their favorite TV Moments of 2007. Their favorite weddings include OUR favorite wedding!

"Bob Vance and Phyllis Lapin
The Office's Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) and Bob (Bobby Ray Shafer) tied the knot back in February. But leave it to boss Michael (Steve Carell) to make a memorable toast to the happy couple, noting that their celebrity nickname would be Phlob and that Phyllis was known as Easy Rider in high school."

Read the whole list HERE.

Scranton Story - Cast Q&A

An enormous crowd was spilling into the University of Scranton's gymnasium. We were at the very end of this throng and I didn't know how far away we would be sitting. Lord beer me strength if I need to sit in the back of this place.

One glance at my Corporate ID and I'm led to the front seats. We end us third row, just off center of the stage. We are about an hour away from the cast arriving and are treated to the song stylings of the Univ of Scranton Jazz Ensemble. They did a great job of playing upbeat songs while we all waited.

Finally the magic hour of 5pm hits and the large jumbo tron goes into the video that the people in Scranton made and sent to Greg Daniels and company at The Office to convince them to come. Big applause. However the real treat was a 10 minute video clip of bloopers from this current season! I'm already excited for the season 4 DVD now!

Finally Matt Smith and the local Scranton Weather man take to the stage to introduce us to our cast! Andy Buckley (CFO David Wallace) leads the charge with his hand up in the air. He's followed by Bobby Ray Shafer (Bob Vance), Phyllis Smith (Phyllis), Creed Bratton (Creed), Oscar Nunez (Oscar), Kate Flannery (Meredith), Craig Robinson (Darryl), Mindy Kaling (Kelly), Leslie David Baker (Stanley), Melora Hardin (Jan), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin), Angela Kinsey (Angela), Ed Helms (Andy) and Greg Daniels (Executive Producer).

The cast spoke for almost 2 hours. Questions were pre-submitted via the internet and were read to the cast, and then they opened it up to the fans in the house to ask questions.

Here are some great questions and answers we got:

- Greg Daniels stated that Angela is probably least like her character while Mindy chimed in that BJ was most like Ryan!

- A fan yelled out Rid it dit di doo! And Ed Helms answered back and broke into Andy's version of Drift Away from the Product Recall episode.

- Ed feels that The Office is different than the Daily Show because he gets to play a character, not just a super swarmy version of himself.

- Angela was the first to get "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID" yelled at her by the fans AND cast when she said preparing to be mean as Angela is "pretty hard". TWSS was mentioned a ton of times over the course of the panel.

- Brian was asked to recreate the Kool-Aid Man facial expression and he complied.

- Melora enjoys the dance she gets to do between domestic Jan and vixen Jan. She said the character has a lot of meat to sink her teeth into. That's what she said!

- Leslie was seen smiling ear to ear over the entire course of the Convention. He's one of the happiest people I've ever seen. A fan asked how he keeps so straight faced as Stanley and Leslie replied that he does a lot of biting his tongue to keep from cracking up. He thinks about dead pets and such.

- Mindy can't pick between Writing and Acting, likening it to having to choose which parent you want to go with after a divorce. She said that both are "Awesome".

- Craig stated that he hopes we'll see more Darryl and when about his relationship with Kelly he answered by leaning over and kissing Mindy Kaling. Ed answered with Rid it dit di doo!

- Kate didn't think she could top that and Oscar said - WATCH! He leaned over to move in for a kiss with a very confused Creed. He stopped and pointed at the crowd as if to say "Don't start!" Kate said she believes one of Meredith's ex husbands was a serial killer or something dark like that. She also loved that everyone in Scranton thought she was beautiful, and I must say, she really is in person!

- Oscar said that improv really helps with comedic acting. He suggested that if anyone was thinking of being a doctor or lawyer or something that they should quit school and join an improv troupe.

- Creed was asked how closely related he is with his character on the show. Creed launched into a character story involving Ed Truck, bus rides to Scranton in the 60s, etc. Ed mentioned that Creed doesn't really know it's a TV show at all.

- Phyllis thanks all the cast members she read with as a casting director in helping to cultivate her skills as an actress.

- Bobby believes that Bob Vance should get Phyllis an Escalade with spinners for their anniversary that's coming up! Poor Bobby had lost his voice and had to whisper his answers to Phyllis for the rest of the time.

- All smiles, Andy Buckely was fast becoming a crowd favorite as chants of CFO CFO were erupting from the crowd whenever he was asked a question.

- A fan asked Greg how close MASH is to the Office and he answered, not at all. Angela said that some have compared Dwight and Angela to Frank Burns and Hotlips from MASH however.

- Ed and Brian went to high school together.

- Angela loves the idea of her character being with Dwight but thinks she'll try out Nardog (Andy Bernard) for a while.

- Brian doesn't know how to play the drums and was taught by Paul Lieberstein (Toby) how to for the Phyllis's Wedding episode.

- Mindy likens to the Kelly of recent seasons to a mallrat.

- Craig answered his next question by kissing Mindy again.

- Kate was so happy to be able to do her own stunt of jumping on Michael's car in the Fun Run episode. Kent Zbornak did it first to prove to Kate it would be ok.

- Melora told the crowd that Andy Buckley is actually a stock broker for Merryl Lynch and he comes down to do his scenes on days off from his real job.

- Ed is asked to sing Rainbow Connection and he does. Then mentioned that it should really be answered by Craig and Mindy kissing - and they do again. To which Mindy said Rid it dit di doo!(Watch Video)

- Ed was prompted by the cast to do Tom Brokaw and Al Gore impressions. They were spot on.

- Melora was asked how they achieved Jan's new breasts and Melora said it's a strap on - THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! Ed followed up with, yes, that is what she said, she just said it.

- Mindy said that The Injury is the favorite episode she's written.

- Phyllis has a broken ankle and according to Melora, Phyllis used to be a professional dancer.

- The audience asked Ed to sing Take A Chance on Me. One of the people on the phone in the episode was John Michael Higgins (Best in Show, The Breakup, etc). Ed did sing Take A Chance and the cast backed him up. (Watch Video)

- Ed was asked to finish "Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that..." Ed answered Football Cream. Then the girl said she brought him a KitKat bar and Ed said that was nice but he didn't know what that had to do with anything. The man is very quick on his feet with the funny. Actually, they all were.

- If Creed was an animal he'd be a duck billed platypus.

- Greg Daniels was friends with people named Jim Halpert and Andy Bernard in high school. He also blamed being lazy for using the actors names for their characters (i.e. Angela, Oscar, Creed).

- Legend states a UFO landed in Carbondale, the next town over. Look for this to be mentioned in a future Dwight storyline. They all seemed intrigued about his.

- Craig (after kissing Mindy a last time until she mentioned her boyfriend was somewhere in the audience) said that they all are in awe of how they are being treated this weekend. He said it was "beautiful" and "overwhelming".

- Brian spoke about meeting people who came from IRELAND to attend the Convention.

- Melora called this event surreal and Leslie said it was historical and ground breaking. Angela said nothing will ever compare with this. Ed called it Dawesome.

This was one of the greatest moments of the entire Convention. The cast enjoyed being up there with each other as much as we enjoyed watching them. They were all laughing all the time. Just like us. I'm SURE it will be on a future DVD!

Back to the hotel to change yet again. All this wasn't even CLOSE to the end of the day! But that's another story...

Cast Q&A Photos

-Back to the Scranton Story Main Menu-

Scranton Story - VIP Casino Night

After a quick stop off to check-in to the hotel, we were back in the car and back to downtown Scranton. The very nice parking spot across the street was gone, but we found a great parking garage around the corner.

Back into the Radisson to wait for the buses to the Casino and to check for our VIP passes. Tucker is still hunched over his laptop and we still don't have our passes. The backup plan? Tim Holmes' business card on a lanyard. Tim Holmes was the man in charge of everything for the Convention, from what I was told, his business card is like gold around Scranton.

A fun moment of getting back to the Radisson was meeting up with a MySpace friend - Bobblehead Gary. He was waiting for his VIP pass as well. Such a nice guy.

We go to check out the rest of the lobby and NP points over my shoulder. Standing there in the lobby was Creed Bratton. Our first cast sighting. He signed a few autographs and then ran into the elevator with the Scrantones. Nice.

The buses finally arrived and the VIPs all poured on to about 4 or 5 city buses. 30 minutes later we arrive at the Mohegan Sun Pocono dogtrack/casino. The casino is a relatively new part and only is allowed slot machines. The VIPs are given 100 credits to use in our charity event. We are told over and over and over again that we are not allowed to take pictures in the Casino and cameras/camera phones will be taken if they are used. NP and I didn't even bring our cameras in.

There are many food tables set up. Crackers and cheese, seafood such as shrimp and oysters, a roast beef carving station and 4 open bars carved of ice. We have gaming tables such as craps, texas hold-em, and blackjack. I sit myself down at a hold-em table and the games begin.

About 30 minutes later I look over my shoulder and sitting at the hold-em table behind me is Craig Robinson (Darryl). Over the next few minutes, poker is being played by Ed Helms (Andy)and Angela Kinsey (Angela). At a blackjack table, Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) is dealing. Phyllis Smith (Phyllis), Kate Flannery (Meredith) and Oscar Nunez (Oscar) are walking around chatting with fans.

I lose my poker money on a bad beat and head up to the stage where a local band is performing fun cover songs. Just as I get to the stage, Creed is strapping on a guitar strap and here come some Scrantones! They rip into the Blues Riff they played on the deleted scene of Booze Cruise. Good times!

They end the song and I literally run right into Angela. She and I chat for a little bit and I thank her for her TwoCents Interview and give her a TwoCents logo pin. Angela recognized the name and was so gracious in putting the pin directly on to her scarf.

This is where it became very evident that NP and I may have been the ONLY two people who listened to the no camera rule. Camera, flashbulbs, video everywhere. I had my camera phone. So, we got a few grainy shots, but it's pretty upsetting we missed out on some great shots.

From there we went and had a conversation with Bobby Ray Shafer (Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration). Again I thanked him for his TwoCents Interview and gave him a pin. We chatted about the reception they have gotten so far.

We hear I Will Survive, turn around and who's on the microphone? Craig Robinson! He was great! The guy is excitement personified. Later on in the evening, towards the end, Craig got back on the stage and ripped into a version of Creep. Who's standing next to me enjoying it? Ed Helms. He was very nice and was into the performance as much as any fan. It was at that moment that I realized that the stars of the show are having as good a time as the fans are. I get some chat time with Craig and thank him for his TwoCents Interview too.

Tim Holmes announced a special guest - Kent Zbornak, Office Executive Producer, who had some special prizes for the big money winners. He brought with him the following: glasses worn by Rainn Wilson, a calculator watch worn by Rainn Wilson, a watch worn my Steve Carell, the green recorder played by Rainn, the jellybean candy dish from Pam's desk and mustaches worn by Rainn, Steve and John Krasinski in this past week's episode of Branch Wars.

We all loaded back on the buses and the night ended, but what a full first day!

Casino Night Photos

-Back to the Scranton Story Main Menu-

Convention Cast Member Announcements!

According to the Scranton Times-Tribune...

"Planners for the event confirmed today that actors Creed Bratton (Creed), Phyllis Smith (Phyllis), Mindy Kaling (Kelly), Leslie David Baker (Stanley) and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) will be appearing at the Oct. 26-28 fan fest in downtown Scranton. .... Several other members from the cast are also expected to attend."

Read it HERE.

Phyllis Featured in BackStage Too!

Craig wasn't the only Office star in Backstage recently.

Back in July the paper ran a story about people with small roles in film or tv, and yet are people we love to watch.

Now, we all know the ENTIRE Office Universe fits this bill, but the article focuses on Phyllis!

"one standout has always been Phyllis Smith's sweet, put-upon Phyllis. The character isn't showy or outrageous; it's precisely her quiet good nature that makes her occasional one-liners snap so much. And her quirks -- such as always referring to her fiancé, Bob Vance, by his full name -- have served to create a real and recognizable persona."

Read the full thing HERE.

2008 SAG Photos of "The Office" - Part 4

2008 SAG Photos of "The Office" - Part 3