'The Office' cast chats about one of the show's most underrated episodes

When fans think about the most monumental episodes of The Office, "Valentine's Day" doesn't usually come to mind.

Not even Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey thought of the 16th episode of Season 2 as a favorite until they rewatched it for Office Ladiespodcast research. But now that they have, they've realized what an underrated gem it is.

Not only does "Valentine's Day" give us Dwight's famous bobblehead doll and Michael's iconic Sbarro scene, but fans get a Tina Fey reference and a Conan O'Brien cameo, along with the chance to listen to U2's "With or Without You" andmeet Dunder Mifflin's new Chief Financial Officer, David Wallace, for the first time.

On the latest episode of Office Ladies, Andy Buckley chatted with Fischer and Kinsey about his role as David Wallace, and the three discussed what makes this episode such a great one.

"I liked this one so much I rewatched it an extra time in my prep just for fun. This one sneaked up on me because there are certain episodes that I remember as being favorites, and this one was not on my radar," Fischer said.

"I did too," Kinsey replied. "My husband Josh was like, 'Babe, how many times are you gonna watch that episode?'"

Here are three behind-the-scenes revelations from "Valentine's Day" from Fischer, Kinsey, and Buckley.

Steve Carell in New York

When Carell went to New York to shoot Michael's scenes, the rest of cast stayed in California, so Kinsey checked in with Randall Einhorn (one of the show's camera operators) who accompanied Carell on his trip. Only Carell, Einhorn, showrunner Greg Daniels, and a few crew members went to shoot on the East Coast, and because the scenes were shot right at the height of Carell's 40-Year-Old Virginfame and just after he won a Golden Globe, filming wasn't easy.

"When Steve would get out of the van a crowd would form," Einhorn told Kinsey. There was apparently even a 40-Year-Old Virginbillboard in Times Square where they were filming. Einhorn recalled walking back to the hotel with Carell one night after dinner and said that so many people started coming up to him because the city was covered in photos of his face. "He said Steve was as gracious to the first person who came up to him as the 100th person," Kinsey told Fischer.

How Buckley became David Wallace

If you've ever looked at David Wallace and thought to yourself, "Damn, this guy really seems like he's in finance," that's because Andy Buckley was in finance.

During his 37 episodes on The Office,Buckley worked as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch. Buckley landed the gig on the show after running into Alison Jones at a farmer's market. She called him in for an audition four months later, and he got the role, but after filming "Valentine's Day" he wasn't called back to shoot an episode for a year so he didn't quit his day job at Merrill.

Buckley said that to this day he gets recognized for his role as David Wallace — more so over the past three or four years thanks to a bump in the show's popularity from Netflix. And yes, occasionally people will scream "suck it" at him.

Dwight's bobblehead

For Valentine's Day, Angela gave Dwight the best present he's ever received: A personalized bobblehead doll.

"Phil Shea [prop master] found a bobblehead maker on the internet and he had Rainn pose for pictures in his Dwight outfit," Fischer explained. "They took pictures of him from all directions and sent them in. It took a couple of weeks and they sent back a sample."

After making notes on the sample bobblehead the crew received the real thing, which was no joke. Unlike many bobbleheads you buy online, Dwight's was heavy and kind of fragile. NBC eventually mass-produced Dwight bobbleheads to sell to fans, but for those who are curious, the original came from bobblemaker.com.

Sadly, Wilson didn't get to keep Dwight's signature desktop figurine (it was auctioned off at the end of the series by NBC,) but Angela has a pair of Ange and Dwight bobbleheads of her own that Wilson signed for her.

Be sure to tune into Office Ladiesfor a full run-down of "Valentine's Day," and honestly? The episode of the show is so good it deserves its own rewatch.

You can stream episodes of The Officeon Netflix and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. 

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