Saturday at the Convention: Or, If This is Heaven, I’m Going to Start Going to Church

Sorry for the delay – here’s the rundown on Saturday…..

Dammit. Where are the surly people? Where are the divas for celebrities and over-inflated egos of the brilliant writers? How is it possible that these people are so damn gracious, and in some cases, seem almost as happy to see us as we are to see them??? It’s just not right. But man is it thrilling.

 

I’ll let you know now that this is going to be another long one. (TWSS!) But I’m doing this just as much (if not more!) for me than you – I don’t want to forget this weekend. When I’m in a nursing home in a couple of years, I can have the lanky nurse’s aide pull up the blog and read it back to me after he gives me a sponge bath. This is for posterity, peeps. If it makes you happy to read all my gibber, than that’s just icing on the cake.

 

Yesterday was a stupendous day. I said I could go home and felt like I’d done something wonderful. Then today came, and it’s like I must have cashed my lifetime advancement of karma points to have the opportunities I’ve had. I have never had the luck of being in the right place at the right time as much as these last few days. I’m sure Susanita and EH and Sora and Larry must all have stashes of karma in stores that they traded in as well.

 

 

Started the day by staying in to blog Friday and relax. Sora – our wandering cutie – went out in the rain to catch the ribbon-cutting and wonder around. She was a doll texting me updates on what was going on down there and who was doing what. She was the first to see Andy Buckley in person, and as I recall, her exact word was “Yummy.” (And boy was she correct!!)

 

We decided to ditch the autograph session and instead go to Cooper’s for lunch. I know some people might have thought we were crazy for missing that opportunity, but I’ll try to explain my reasoning. There was a vibe of crazy running through some of the convention attendees. By that I mean that I really feel like they were there just for the pretty (the celebrities) and not because they had an appreciation for what The Office is all about. (I know I’m sounding like an elitist snob with this, but so be it. I guess I am an Office Elitist and I wear the title proudly.) These are the people that rushed the actors at Casino Night even though they were asked not too. Standing in line like cattle to get a signature like it was a prize just didn’t appeal to me. Especially when the alternative this weekend was random meetings in person, where you spent a moment or two talking to them like they were people. I just didn’t want to be “that person”. (Disclaimer: This is just MY opinion, and I don’t mean to offend anyone who was here and took the time to get the autographs because it meant something to them.) I really only ended up talking to two of the actors because of it, but I’m totally fine about that. That was the trade-off I was willing to make.

 

Anywhoo – Cooper’s is like a big fun house. The decor is almost impossible to describe, but imagine a maritime museum decorated with pop culture references. There’s a whole corner of a room decorated with game boxes from the 60s and 70s. I nearly squeed when I saw they had the original boxes from What Shall I Be? and What Shall I Wear? on the wall. Those two games are partly responsible for who I am today.

 

Micro-review on Cooper’s: Great visual experience, food surprisingly mediocre, prices too high for the quality. If I lived in Scranton I don’t think I’d find myself there too often.

 

After lunch we jogged back to the hotels to dress up for the cast Q&A and reception afterwards. Here’s where we had our next celebrity encounter: Andy Buckley – aka David Wallace. We saw him in the lobby as we were getting off the elevator, and there were only about four or five people around him so we went over.

 

I know it’s already been mentioned by others, but he clearly seemed delighted (and a little surprised) over his popularity given how little screen time he’s had. He seemed shocked when we told him about his fan base at MTT – especially when we told him how excited we got to find out he was going to be at the convention.

 

Very personable, and very much like the guy you see on screen. I should have asked him how much of a hoops fan he really was. He even remembered us when he saw us at the Q&A – he as walking off the stage he shouted “you guys got good seats!” I definitely hope we run into him tomorrow so I can ask him if he felt the love of all his fans after his reception at the Q&A. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

Best quote from him?

Susanita says (loud enough for him to hear): They need to make an episode dedicated to David Wallace.

Andy: Make it three!

 

I also heard him telling people to start that letter writing campaign to keep David Wallace on the show.

 

Then there was the Cast Q&A. I earned my name when we arrived at the location and found a huge line of people already formed. Being a corporate ticket holder, I was concerned when I saw the line and didn’t see a separate line for us. We had been promised the best seating (we certainly paid for the privilege), and given the way the night before had gone down – I was concerned things were going to end up screwed up.

 

So I found someone to ask about where corporate people were to go, and at first I was told we just needed to get in line and it would be sorted out inside. I surprised even myself by rejecting their answer. I was polite but firm in that this was just not acceptable. Amazing how people respect you when you act like you’re someone important. Anyway, as they were inside trying to figure out how to appease me and my entourage – a few of the people at the front of the line were grumbling. Understand that these people were NOT corporate ticket holders, and so where they were sitting and where we were sitting did not affect each other.

 

I was not trying to have us cut in line – that’s not what this was about – it was about being lost in the crowd when the powers that be got overwhelmed by the number of people. These weren’t professional organizers, these were volunteers. And it was easy to see how this could easily go into chaos. Anyway, it ended not mattering because they opened the doors before they could decide what to do with us anyway. That’s how we ended up front row center. I wish I could tell you that I feel some guilt if this meant I had pushed ahead of other corporate people – but I really can’t. Because honestly, this was what I was there for, and if I’m going to hell for being a bad person, then this was worth the price.

 

The place was packed – an averaged sized gymnasium with an estimated attendance of 3500 people. We saw a blooper tape at first and then the cast came out. I hope that blooper tape makes it to the DVD because it was dawesome.

 

It was so much fun to see the cast lined up across the stage like that – they took turns answering questions and they played off each other so well. It was evident that they were having a blast, and as they commented through out the presentation – how awed they were by just being a part of this. Angela said it best in that no matter what they do after The Office, this is always something they’ll be proud to have been a part of.

 

Without a doubt, Ed Helms stole the show. I’ve loved him since Daily Show days – but in person, he is charm personified. Funny and gracious and so clearly delighted to be a part of the phenomena, he wowed everyone. Sorry JK, but even though I’ll be a Hussy until the day I die – I did not feel feel your absence because Ed was AMAZING! [/Kelly] Mark my words, Ed Helms is the new John Krasinski.

 

Running jokes during the session included Ed’s “Root-ta-doot-doot-do” and Craig Robinson feeling the need to kiss Mindy Kaling on the flimsiest of excuses. We found out that most of Andy Bernard’s catchphrases/catch-noises are really just Ed Helms-isms that he brings to the character. Like he wasn’t adorable enough already. Craig’s kissing was cute at first, but toward the end even Mindy looked like she wanted to say “enough already!”

 

I know other people have commented on what was said, and I know that susanita has an awesome audio recording of it, so I’m not going to delve into it here. Just go listen to it for yourselves.

 

Our one true Stalker Alert moment was after the session. Larry had managed to get on the other side of the barrier as it ended, and we begged/threatened him until he went over to the tables and brought back the water bottles the cast had been drinking from. (They were just left behind and none of the staff blinked an eye when Larry did it.)

 

So I am now in possession of one of the water bottles Greg Daniels drank from. It’s still half full, and I will never open it, but there it is. The centerpiece of my GD shrine. And I make no apologies for my delight in having it. Just a message to Greg though: Don’t worry, I won’t make this a habit. Honest.

 

We decided to grab soup at Cooper’s before going to the reception, but it was a disaster in that they couldn’t bring out our simple order quick enough, despite our initial request that we needed to be served quickly. We ended up boxing up half our food because we were late for the reception.

 

Turned out it didn’t matter because the cast was not even there yet. I talked to some volunteers while we waited, and they were so cute. Again, more nice Scranton people – what is UP with that???

 

At one point Angela was walking past me (being lead upstairs to judge the costume competition) and she saw me. I offered my hand and she took it and said “I saw you in the front row!” So that was my Angela moment.

 

What happened next could never have been predicted in a million years. Never.

The writers appeared, and the first person I saw was Greg Daniels. I just sort of watched him from where we sat, and hoped maybe to get a photo later when the crowd thinned. Then Michael Schur appears standing right next to us and we started talking to him.

 

Greatest thing about that? We introduced Mike to MTT. Seriously. I wish I could have taped his conversation. We were talking about on line things (since that’s how we met, etc) and he said “Television Without Pity is so mean!!” We told him that’s why we were all at MTT now. He said he likes to go on line to see what the fans really think about the show, and he promised he’d look us up. I really think he will.

 

Also: Swedge’s name came up, and he recognized it (from his postings over at TWoP). Michael Schur knew of Swedge. I was so proud of Swedge at that moment – even if Michael’s comment about him was “He can be harsh!”

 

Later, Greg was with TLK and Kari, so I went over. I got to talk to him for about 5 minutes, and he was just so classy. So natural, so sincerely interested in what we thought of the show and its direction. A truly wonderful guy. I asked if he was nervous at the Q&A because at times he looked it. He replied that he was more overwhelmed – how it all started when he wrote down the name Dunder Mifflin and thought it was a funny name for a company – to all this and all these people.

I pointed out how he’s ultimately responsible not only for the convention existing, but we would have never met each other (gesturing to all the MTT’ers gathered around him to get tidbits of his wisdom), and he said he had really hoped that the internet would play a part in bring people together over The Office.

 

I had my pic taken with him – the only office person I’ve asked. I just couldn’t resist. As I was standing there talking to him, Michael Schur came up behind us and shoved his notebook and pen at Greg at him and asked for an autograph. Without even thinking I playfully pushed Michael away and told him he had to wait his turn in line. They actually laughed at this, and the craziness is just hitting me now. I joked with Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. No, you don’t understand – I joked with Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. Like they were two usual guys (think Swedge and Larry) that I automatically trade cracks with. WTF was I thinking? Obviously I wasn’t. But then again, maybe this whole weekend just proves to me that thinking is overrated. Colbert is (once again) right – it’s a good idea to just go with your gut.

 

But much like the start of an academy award speech, I just need to add again how much of this has all be made possible by Susanita and EH and Sorano (and yes, even you Larry!) – because I’ve done nothing but laugh in their presence, and they’ve done nothing but make me feel really good about myself. We were talking tonight about how strange it is that we are so comfortable together – we really have hit it off so well. I’m glad we’ll be able to keep chatting together at MTT without missing a beat, but I’m really going to miss them being close at hand like this. They’re fabulous people, and it only makes me want to try and plan some sort of MTT event were more of us could get together and geek out over the Office and other things.

 

But I’m driving off on a tangent here, aren’t I? After my Greg Daniels Lovefest (did I mention that I had my arm around him? That he looked directly into my eyes when he talked to me like he really listening? He clearly didn’t feel like he was in his element playing the celebrity, but he was so gracious and in some ways GRATEFUL to us for supporting the show that I wanted to say “But don’t you know who you ARE?”) I talked to a few more writers.

 

(Oh! I almost forgot to add that I gave him my Colbert IS Gould key chain and when he read it he smiled and said “That would be interesting.” Then he asked if I knew of Jon Oliver and when I said yes he suggested he’d like to use him too. So I joked about him swiping all the Daily Show people. Since it was my key chain, on the flip side was my Squirrel McPants logo. I didn’t say anything about it, and unless he googles it he won’t know what it is – but have to admit I’m more than a little pleased that I know first hand that Greg has seen the name Squirrel McPants. Susanita ended up giving Jen Celotta her colbert/squirrel key chain and when Jen saw the back she squealed “Squirrel McPants??” and we told her not to ask. I just hope one of those key chains ends up on the writer’s board.)

 

Next were two of the newer writers, Justin Spitzer and Ryan Koh. You’d recognize Justin as Meredith’s doctor – the one with the immortal line “So that’s where her uterus went?” Ryan, working the cool and trendy glasses reminded me so much of Masi Oka. They really seemed to be enjoying the night.

 

We talked to Jen Celotta – she laughed when I told her how impressed I was that she’d worked on Greg the Bunny! When Sora brought up her playing Jim’s sister on the show she said she wants to play a Shrute but they won’t let her.

 

When we brought up the “who was there first” question, she agreed that she didn’t do enough research in the Pam and Jim time line, (HUGE props for her “Yeah, I might have made a mistake there” face. Adorable.) I asked about the writer’s strike and she said there were a total of 5 unaired episodes on paper – up to the Christmas episode. We brought up the Christmas card and if it would ever make a reappearance and she said there was a scene written/discussed where Pam asked about the Christmas card and he said he’d never, never tell her what he wrote. I suggested she should ask again because there nothing Jim would deny her these days.

 

The evening was completed with a Gene Stupnitsky sighting and a chance to talk to Mari Potis again – she is the Chamber of Commerce rep who works with supplying the show with all its Scranton-related needs. She was just a doll, and so nice to me given how important she is.

 

I think I will end Saturday on that note. Sorry I’ve talked/written your ear/eyes off, but the memorable moments were literally non-stop. It was a good day.