Crack some eggs and slip on your Crocs, everyone. It’s time to unpack another memorable line from The Office.
On the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, former co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey chatted all about the Season 5 episode, “Dream Team.” Turns out one of the funniest lines from “Dream Team” was a classic Steve Carell improv.
*Dwight Schrute voice* It’s true!
Remember on the first day of the Michael Scott Paper Company when Pam found Michael cooking french toast in his apartment? She tried to convince him to get to work, the two got into a little disagreement, and Michael accidentally spilled egg all over his robed self. Then he leaned against the counter in defeat and announced, “I have egg in my Crocs.”
Those six words were all Carell.
“I will say that Steve did improvise the line, ‘I have egg in my Crocs.’ It was very hard not to laugh, but it’s true,” Fischer revealed. “We couldn’t get the egg to splash in the same way every time, so I could not laugh because this was a one-er. We would have to use a whole take. We couldn’t cut between different takes, because the egg would be different.”
I have egg in my Crocs.
“Oh, so much pressure,” Kinsey replied, acknowledging how hard it is not to laugh when sharing a scene with Carell.
Though Fischer managed to keep a straight face while filming, upon rewatching the episode she thinks everyone can tell she’s about to break.
“Do you look constipated or something?” Kinsey questioned.
“Yeah, I do. I look like — you can tell I’m like tensely holding in,” Fischer replied.
The camera crew shot several takes of the egg-filled kitchen exchange between Michael and Pam, but in the end they decided to use the one with Carell’s improv.
“We did do several takes of this, and it was a big reset every time because we would have to clean up all the eggs in the kitchen, we’d have to clean up all the eggs on Steve, [and] he would have to change his bathrobe,” Fischer explained. “But this one was perfect. This was the time he improvised that line, and the egg just went everywhere. So I also knew as I was standing there, ‘This is the one. Do not mess this up.'”
Kinsey also pointed out that since Carell improvised the “eggs in my Crocs” line, the camera operator also had to improvise by panning the camera down to Michael’s feet.
“That wouldn’t have been planned, but it sells the joke,” she said. “Such a great two-hander.”
So there you have it, folks. Sometimes your favorite moments on The Office came together because of a little cast and crew improv.
Be sure to listen to the full podcast to hear more behind-the-scenes stories from filming “Dream Team.”
You can stream episodes of The Office on Peacock and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.
