Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey love drinking margaritas together. "I will be anywhere with Jenna and a margarita, truly," Kinsey says. "I just think of us hanging out and that just makes me happy because as busy parents if you get to have that time where it's just your BFF time you just covet it."
"I wanna start with a chit chat laying out in the sun and end with a nap," Fischer adds.
The actresses, Office Ladies podcast hosts, and Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were Thereauthors became close friends while filming their hit sitcom The Office. But, of course, they didn't know it would be a hit at the time.
The Legacy Of "The Office"
Image via Chili's
"It's very surreal," Kinsey tells me via Zoom. "When we got our jobs on the show, we had no idea that it would still be finding an audience today...It's become a thing that people bond over, whether it's a mother and son or siblings or people say 'Hey, you know what, I met my fiancé at an Office trivia night and now we're getting married.' We've heard so many amazing stories of how the show is helping people connect."
"It means so much to me that our show is there for people, that it can be a comfort but it's also a show that's just on in the background while people are cooking dinner," Fischer adds. "So the show is there for the ordinary moments and it's there for your extraordinary moments."
The series, which ran from 2005 to 2013, starred Fischer as warm and welcoming Pam Beasley and Kinsey as uptight Angela Martin. Fans constantly say lines from the show back to them, but some lines are more iconic than others. "I get 'Save Bandit' all the time," Kinsey says (referring to a line from "Stress Relief," which I tell them is my favorite episode when asked). "People have told [Jenna] they also 'feel God in this Chili's tonight.'"
"That's probably like my most quoted to me line, yeah," Fischer admits. That line, which comes from a drunk Pam during the episode "The Dundies," has gotten a whole new life thanks to the internet (here's a meme on Reddit to prove it), but Fischer has other reasons to love the chain restaurant.
"I used to go to Chili's a bunch with my family growing up...that was our like spot, right? So imagine my parents' surprise when they are watching "The Dundies" episode of The Office and Pam gets banned from Chili's. In my family, this joke that I'm banned from Chili's -- I can't get over it!"
Kinsey also has personal connections to the restaurant: When she left home for college, Chili's became her friend group's go-to for all kinds of celebrations. "Whenever we would have a birthday or anything to celebrate, like a big week of exams being done, we would go to Chili's," she says. "Years later when I met my husband, he had bartended at Chili's!"
Jenna Fischer And Angela Kinsey Share Their Favorite Margs...And Give Each Other Dundies
Naturally, once we get on the topics of margaritas, as well as their new "It All Starts With A Marg" campaign, I have to ask both women which drink is their favorite. Fischer prefers a traditional marg ("I like on the rocks instead of blended."), while Kinsey loves the Presidente. But it becomes obvious very quickly that they really just love spending time together, whether they're enjoying happy hour or giving each other their own Dundie Awards on Office Ladies.
"I think as BFF's I would give Angela [the] "Most Repeated Story" Dundie," Fischer laughs. "Because when Angela leaves me messages, she forgets that she left me a message already and then she leaves me the same message [and explains] the whole thing from the beginning all over again and I'm like...no I know."
"I would give Jenna [the] "Best Travel Buddy" Dundie," Kinsey adds. "If you travel with Jenna, there's nothing left to chance....You will be on time, there will be snacks, [you'll] be hydrated, there is a first aid kit...everything's taken care of."
Image via Chili's
But beyond all of the jokes and humor that the show is most known for, there is a lot of heart, too.
Each week on Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey rewatch an episode of the series and give us a look behind the scenes (like how Kinsey was eight months pregnant with her daughter during the fan favorite "Dinner Party" episode). For the actresses, moments like this make the experience of rewatching the show — and reconnecting with their characters — so much stronger.
"Pam grows a lot throughout the course of the series, but she doesn't change who she is in her heart, at her core," Fischer says. "Sometimes I feel like you can feel pressure to be this whole other person or turn into this whole other thing [but] you can just be a more grown up, more mature version of yourself as you go through your life and you sort of add to yourself you know it's like layering instead of a whole new thing."
Which moment from The Office is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Lead image via Chili's
