Happier Podcast Book Club: The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. (Amazon, Bookshop)

In 2019, we launched our Happier Podcast Book Club, and today’s conversation is about the delightful book The Office BFFs.

Here’s the description:

An intimate, behind-the-scenes, richly illustrated celebration of beloved The Office co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey’s friendship, and an insiders’ view of Pam Beesly, Angela Martin, and the iconic TV show. Featuring many of their never-before-seen photos.Receptionist Pam Beesly and accountant Angela Martin had very little in common when they toiled together at Scranton’s Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. But, in reality, the two bonded in their very first days on set and, over the nine seasons of the series’ run, built a friendship that transcended the show and continues to this day. Sharing everything from what it was like in the early days as the show struggled to gain traction, to walking their first red carpet—plus exclusive stories on the making of milestone episodes and how their lives changed when they became moms—The Office BFFs is full of the same warm and friendly tone Jenna and Angela have brought to their Office Ladies podcast.

I’m a gigantic fan of The Office, and I’m also a giant fan of Jenna and Angela’s podcast Office Ladies.

We mention the fact that Elizabeth and Sarah interviewed Jenna in episode 27 of the Happier in Hollywood podcast, to talk about Jenna’s excellent first book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide (Amazon).

In the course of our wide-ranging conversation, we covered questions and topics such as:

• Why Angela wanted to write this book, and Jenna didn’t
• What it was like to go from being friends to business partners
• How they can be “constructively and compassionately critical”
• Why they had to cut out an entire chapter from the draft
• Whether they learned more about each other through the process of writing the book
• How they figured out how to work together, although they have very different work styles
• How they connected as such good friends
• How they almost drifted apart
• What’s harder: being pregnant in real life, or being fake pregnant
• What are the Tendencies of Jenna and Angela — if you want to figure out if you’re an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel, you can take the quiz here
• Their practical tips for having fun at a big event, gala, or award show
• What they’ve done with their troves of memorabilia
• The difficulty of choosing photos and images for the books
• What it’s like to be part of something that has become such a gigantic cultural phenomenon
• How they hit on the conversational structure they use The Office BFFs

Jenna’s Try This at Home: To get back in the habit of reading for pleasure, set a timer for fifteen minutes and read — I mention #Read21in21.

Angela’s Try This at Home:  Take some time each day to sit and be still.

Resources

• We may feel like friendships should come naturally, but they can require real effort. Whether your aim is to make new friends or strengthen existing friendships, I’ve curated a collection of tips and added new tools to help you jump-start your habits.
• Accountability is a powerful strategy for habit-formation—especially for Obligers! With the Accountability Partners tool in the Happier app, you’ll be prompted to check in with a partner or group to share your progress. To learn more about the Happier app and all of the habit-formation tools offered, head to thehappierapp.com.

What we’re reading

• Elizabeth: Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Gretchen: The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida (Amazon, Bookshop)

Remember: Whenever it is and wherever you are, there’s always a book waiting for you.