The Office Presents: "Dwight's Speech"

We're back! And we are back with a bang. Tonight's episode of The Office [9:30 pm/ET on NBC], "Dwight's Speech", written by Paul Lieberstein, is awesome! Dwight is named Dunder-Mifflin Paper Salesman of the Year and has to give an acceptance speech in front of hundreds of people. He's really nervous, so he goes to Michael for advice. In the end, Jim is the one who really helps Dwight — or does he?

And I'm sorry to report that the Pam-Roy wedding is very much on. Pam steps up her wedding plans in this episode and sends out "Save the Date" cards. Believe me, as Jenna, it was hard to write out all those cards. I don't want them to end up together any more than you do! (For anyone who is interested, Pam's wedding color is lavender.)

The most noteworthy thing about this episode is that it features a group scene with over 500 extras. We aren't used to this kind of production. It is usually the same 12 people wandering around the set, so this was a crazy day for our crew to organize. 

I wasn't part of the big group scene, but I still had plenty of fun in this episode. During one of the early scenes, Dwight is in Michael's office and you can see Kate Flannery (Meredith) and me through the blinds doing deep background work at the reception desk. Most of the time I'm alone at my desk during my background scenes, so this was a treat! And I especially love doing background work with Kate!

Kate and I always stay in character and we usually discuss mundane office procedures. I wish I could record some of our conversations. This time we were discussing the problems with the new quality-assurance computer-input program. It doesn't accept both alpha and numeric characters, which is very frustrating as we have a backlog of receipts dating to 2001. Dunder-Mifflin changed to all-numeric product codes in 2004 and the computer system does not allow for the earlier records. She also suggested we get a drink after work. We made that all up ourselves! Nice, huh? (Or, perhaps more proof of why we aren't writers on the show.)

On a personal note, this has been an exciting week for me. I'm typing my blog from New York City, where I am in town to do a bunch of talk shows. For some reason, every time I'm in New York they have a Project Runway marathon on TV, so I have that on in the background. Right now they have to make clothes out of plants and flowers. It's very strange. I'm hoping I can stay awake long enough to watch American Idol. Go, Taylor Hicks!

While I'm in New York, I'll be appearing on The Today Show  and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien — all on Thursday, March 2.(Today!) I'm both nervous and excited to meet Conan O'Brien, since I think he's super-funny. And I get to cook chicken soup with Martha Stewart. I also brought along my scrapbook from Season 1 of The Office. I'm hoping we'll get to look at it, as I have a photo of the cast on our very first day of work. Awww....

Afterward I fly to Chicago to attend the Fangoria Horror Convention from March 4 to 5, where I'll be attending a panel and screening of my new movie, Slither. I'm very excited. Something you may not guess about me is that I'm a huge horror movie fan. In Slither, I got to turn into a zombie, which is pretty much a horror fan's dream come true. I sat through four hours of makeup for my zombie scene — which lasts for only about 30 seconds, but it was worth it! I also have a few very funny non-zombie scenes.

Next week it's back to work on The Office. We have a bunch of great new episodes coming up. Enjoy!