‘The Office’: Staff orientation

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‘I wish Dwight was here,’ sighed a young lady during ‘The Office’ Olympics. It’s unclear whether she meant Dwight Schrute, the character, or Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays him, as the coffee cup races, trash can H-O-R-S-E and other events going on around them would only be enhanced by a stern taskmaster, as there was entirely too much gaiety going on.

The rain was still falling this morning in Scranton, Pa., but it would slow down no ‘Office’ fans this day. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony was moved indoors, and outside of a few cheers of ‘Dun-der Mif-flin!’ the crowd was remarkably well-behaved despite the stuffy humidity.

About after an hour of waiting, though, one young man stood up, walked to the front and reproduced Dwight’s convention speech from Season 2, in what seemed like verbatim fashion, complete with punctuating slams on the stage.

This seemed to summon the cast and town dignitaries, and the audience went, to put it mildly, buck wild. The dignitaries were out in force: Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and the University of Scranton’s president, the Rev. Scott R. Pilarz.

And then came the cast: Leslie David Baker (Stanley), Ed Helms (Andy), Angela Kinsey (Angela), Bob Vance (Bobby Ray Shafer), Andy Buckley (David Wallace from Corporate), Craig Robinson (Darryl) and Phyllis Smith (Phyllis). Each seemed flattered by the turnout and was kind enough to give little tastes of their characters: Baker -- coming out to chants of ‘Stan-ley! Stanley!’ -- deadpanned, ‘It’s too wet.’ Shafer introduced himself (‘Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration’). Kinsey advised everyone not to be ‘whorish.’ And Helms, who seemed dazed by the adulation, sang an a cappella version of ABBA’s ‘Take a Chance on Me’ to Kinsey and the crowd. Robinson proudly brandished his University of Scranton sweat shirt and led a cheer: ‘Scranton what?’ and the crowd screamed ‘The Electric City’

Backstage, the cast patiently endured endless rounds of photos with the town’s glitterati -- i.e., the senator’s family and the attending police officers. I chatted for a moment with Baker, who, like Kinsey, seems to bear no resemblance to his character. ‘I play the surly, nonsmiling character, but I actually have a real personality!’ he said, noting how warm and genuine the attendees were, which was satisfying for actors who don’t perform in front of a studio audience.

Those in the cast experienced a little ‘Hard Day’s Night’ moment as they braved a throng of fans and stressed-out security guards to climb into their white stretch Hummer limo, Robinson waving to fans on the way out.

I’d say that a convention like this, more so than about the cast members present , is only as good as the enthusiasm of attendees, and based on the excitement of the participants of the Olympics, this inaugural convention is getting off to a great start. Homemade shirts (‘Mrs. Halpert’ and ‘RIP Sprinkles’) abounded, and the athletes did a lot of stretching, trash talking and laughing. One team huddled before its relay race and broke, shouting, ‘That’s what she said!’

This afternoon promises only more fun, with a performance by the band the Scrantones (where additional cast members are set to perform), an improv Dunder Mifflin shareholders meeting featuring Oscar Nunez, a Q-and-A with cast members, a look-alike contest and more. Last night I missed out on casino night, but I heard that Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) dealt blackjack for an hour and that later Craig Robinson played piano to the delight of those in the lobby until he was asked to shut it down for sleeping guests.

-- Claire Zulkey