Return to ‘The Office’ For Podcast Series

The Office” was a big hit for NBC back in the day, but Netflix has brought its popularity to a new level of ubiquity, even among kids who weren’t alive when the show debuted 15 years ago.

Two of the actors — Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (Angela) — last year debuted a successful weekly podcast, “The Office Ladies,” a chronological rundown of each of the show’s 201 episodes. In March, journalist Andy Greene released an oral history book about the show, which has received solid reviews.

Now an oral history podcast about “The Office,” which aired from 2005 to 2013, is available exclusively on Spotify. Brian Baumgartner, who played dopey accountant Kevin Malone on all nine seasons of the show, is both executive producer and host.

The 12-part “An Oral History Of

The Office” was conceived and approved by the creators of the show, an “authorized” history in a sense that explores the show’s origins, how it overcame the stigma of being a knockoff of the cultish British version, why it became a hit at the time and what keeps the show relevant seven years after the last episode aired.

Baumgartner said in an interview that he was shocked it survived its first season.

“The show was almost canceled like 47 times,” he recalled, crediting then NBC entertainment chief Kevin Reilly for championing the show despite skeptics like his boss Jeff Zucker, now president of CNN.

Baumgartner approached the podcast as if it were a true-crime series trying to “solve the mystery by talking to anyone associated with the situation.”

He interviewed every major player on the show, collecting about 120 hours of interviews. He spoke with Ricky Gervais, the co-creator of the U.K. series. He picked the brains of behindthe-scenes folks such as executive producer Ben Silverman (“Ugly Betty”), Greg Daniels (“Parks and Recreation”) and Mike Schur (“The Good Place”).

Another key player: Allison Jones, who in 2004 cast the show’s pilot with a raft of unknown actors who magically gelled as a unit.

Baumgartner spent three and a half hours with Steve Carell, who played awkward, people-pleasing boss Michael Scott. The darker, edgier Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) almost got the part, but the producers ultimately chose the softer, kinder Carell, which altered the show’s entire feel compared to the more cynical U.K. version.

He also had lengthy talks with Fischer, John Krasinski (Jim) and Rainn Wilson (the very weird Dwight).

Fischer actually was a receptionist before she was booked for the role. “I’ve been practicing how to do this for the past six months!” she told Baumgartner during the podcast.

Krasinski thought he blew his chances before he had even auditioned because he told someone in the room that he hoped the person creating the show wouldn’t ruin a great British show as so many other had in the past. That person was show creator Daniels.

“It weirdly was this bizarre blessing,” he said, because Daniels was already bemused by Krasinski when he actually did his audition.

Wilson competed against the likes of Judah Friedlander, Patton Oswalt and Seth Rogan for the part and the podcast even plays clips of their auditions. “It was a rare time when I knew this part was mine,” Wilson said on the podcast. “Nobody could do it better.”

Baumgartner later flew to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the fictional home of Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co. and spoke to locals. And he even caught up with obsessive fan girl and teen phenom Billie Eilish, who sampled “The Office” in one of her songs.

He said he learned a lot of things that he knew nothing about despite being on the set the whole time.

“This will be satisfying for fans,” he said, “being able to hear us all together again.”

(File Photo) Jenna Fischer actually was a receptionist before she was booked for her role in “The Office.” “I've been practicing how to do this for the past six months!” she told Brian Baumgartner during a new podcast.