In Praise of the SNL Parody
Hello, all. It's been another great week for
The Office and the
Office drunk. I'm the redhead at the corner desk. Wild week. Not the typical Meredith-takes-her-top-off wild. Just interesting-and-jam-packed wild.
The Office has now crossed a new threshold: An
SNL parody! That is a milestone.
Rainn Wilson hosted this past week and kicked some major ass. He is one of the most talented actors who I will ever work with. The
Office sketch in the opening was pretty cool.
Lorne Michaels was more like "Lorne Michaels Scott." No Meredith, but that's OK. (It could have been a guy in drag. I love drag, but I am sure it would have been subpar drag.) Anyway, as a comic actress who has had my own
SNL "almost" story, I was really happy to see the
Office opening. When I was in Chicago in 1991, I was touring with Second City and I did a show called
The Miss Vagina Pageant (directed by
Jill Soloway, a writer-producer from
Six Feet Under) at the Annoyance Theater, and Lorne Michaels came to see it and asked me to lunch. He also asked my cast mates,
Beth Cahill and
Melanie Hutsell. They were hired, not me. Even though I didn't get the job, it was very validating to be considered. I
mean it! I felt like I was on the map. That was the biggest thing that ever happened to me at the time, and it gave me a lot of hope. I am
SNL adjacent. It's weird that Lorne Michaels came to that show I did with
Quincy Jones, and now I am working with
Rashida Jones, who plays Karen. Wild. No accidents? You tell me.
OK. I did a photo shoot with
Angela [Kinsey],
Melora [Hardin] and
Phyllis [Smith] for
OK! Magazine last Sunday. We had a blast. It was at the Sweet Lady Jane bakery and there were cupcakes involved. Publicity is a whole new form of self-criticism for me. I sometimes suffer from "Does this dress make me look like I'm trying too hard?" or "Why did I say that?" syndrome. I am a college graduate and I have a fairly quick wit, but sometimes in interviews I feel like I am being tested on a book I never read. I did a bunch of publicity this week.
The Adam Carolla Show with Danny Bonaduce, and the
TV Guide Channel's
What's On. That was a blast because I know John Henson and I know Nikki Boyer, who is actually David Denman's wife. (David plays Roy on
The Office.) The coincidences never end.
This past week was Oscar week.
Steve Carell presented at the Oscars and he had a great part in the movie that was up for best picture,
Little Miss Sunshine. I thought he was great. Rashida Jones was with her father, Quincy Jones, in the box with the special Oscar recipient whose name I couldn't possibly pronounce. Not too shabby. I discovered that though I was not in a major motion picture this year, I am somehow Oscar adjacent.
Our cast got invited to a few Oscar-related publicity suites. Melanie Segal's suite at the Sunset Hyatt was really cool. (She and her brother went to high school with
John Krasinski and
B.J. Novak.) I also got to go to the "green" gift suite put on by Nicole Landers. She's great because she has an agenda to raise the eco-consciousness of Hollywood. All gift suites have an agenda. Usually it's shameless bribery for promotion using a recognizable actor, a product in hand, and a photo to seal the deal. But they used terms like "green" and "sustainable materials" along with "fabulous" and "must-have." I have to say, it was a refreshing change from the greed and slim fest that some of these events can become. The products she promotes are also promoting Oscar winner
Al Gore's agenda. Nice! I enjoyed myself. I got a great vegan lunch and I got to drive an electric bike. (I am not a vegan, but it was tasty.) Yes, I smiled for the pictures with that old self-criticism.
Back to
The Office. This week is another airing of the "Branch Closing" episode. For you Office fans who don't have TiVo and haven't purchased the new episodes on iTunes, this is your chance to see this episode again. If you've already seen it twice, it's time to re-examine it Thursday at 8:30 pm/ET on NBC. If you didn't see Rainn host
SNL, you can catch it on NBC.com. Thanks for all your comments and keep 'em comin'.
