Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH News. Tonight in Boston Kate Flannery, better known as Meredith from The Office, will take the stage for a Christmas music and comedy show alongside Jane Lynch. I got a chance to speak with Flannery ahead of this performance to hear what it was like being on the set of what's, according to one ranking, the most popular sitcom in history, and how she first got started in show business as a kid.
Kate Flannery: Well, I'm the youngest of seven kids, so I don't think you have to be a therapist to figure out. My dad owned a bar. We would go to the bar sometimes on Sundays when they were closed and help clean. Even though we were never cleaning, we were just running around the bar, eating Slim Jims and drinking Coke and dancing near the jukebox. You know, what you do. But I did want to be a kid actor. And my earliest connection to sort of figuring out the business was I actually set up an audition for Zoom, the TV show that was shot in Boston.
[Archive recording]: Come on and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom-a-Zoom.
Siegel: Oh my gosh, no way.
Flannery: I didn't go. I didn't get to do it. But I was devastated because you had to live in Boston. So I was going to be with my piano teacher's cousin. I mean, I was trying to figure it all out in fourth grade. Yeah, it didn't exactly go that way. But that's okay. We used to do a Christmas show, my twin sister and I, with the neighbors, and we did that probably for like 4 or 5 years, and we kind of held everybody hostage. But it was, allegedly it was fun. But then I found out later that my older siblings were getting high, so we were hilarious when they were high.
Siegel: So let's talk a little bit about The Office.
Steve Carrell: This is equal parts scotch, absinthe, rum, gin, vermouth, triple sec, and two packs of Splenda. Call it a one of everything.
Flannery: Oh, my God. Hit me again.
Carrell: All right, one more time around the block.
Siegel: What was that experience like for you?
Flannery: Well, it's interesting. I feel like The Office is really my perfect dream job because I had trained in Second City, I was in the touring company in Second City.
Carrell: This tree is big, it's really thick.
Flannery: So I actually knew Steve Carrell when we were at Second City. We weren't the same cast at the same time, but we were there at the same time.
Siegel: What was he like when he was younger?
Flannery: Very shy. Very shy.
Siegel: Really?
Flannery: Yeah. I mean, he's not one of those guys that holds court before we shoot a scene. Because he's a great actor and he understands what we're doing is more important than any of the personalities involved.
Carrell: Hey, Meredith, Liz Taylor called. She wants her age back and her divorces back. Because Meredith has been divorced, like, twice, is that right? She's so old, she went into an antique store and they kept her.
Siegel: This is a weird question, but do people ever walk up to you on the street like, Meredith?
Flannery: They do. They do. I get recognized by the back of my head. Our show was the No. 1 show during Covid, like literally during the pandemic, we were number one. And I realized, you know, somebody wrote something in The New York Times that, you know, basically people went to our office because they couldn't go to their own. That was kind of the vibe. So we kind of represented some sense of normal during a time that wasn't normal. And also I did so much physical comedy, which is just so fun. I actually got to do a lot of my own stunts.
Carrell: I have some bad news. Meredith was hit by a car.
Flannery: When Michael Scott hits Meredith with the car, I actually was on top of the car. I had to hit the glass and that roll off.
Carrell: It happened this morning in the parking lot. I took her to the hospital and the doctors tried to save her life. They did the best that they could and she is going to be okay.
Leslie David Baker: What is wrong with you? Why did you have to phrase it like that?
Flannery: There's an episode where everyone's planking and Meredith this planking in the men's room on top of the stall, and Dwight blows her off the stall with the fire extinguisher.
Rainn Wilson: Kids, don't try planking. It's dangerous. Especially with me around.
Siegel: So this week in Boston, you're performing A Swingin’ Little Christmas with Jane Lynch. This show is kind of a recreation or tribute to the classic Christmas specials of the '50s and '60s with the musical numbers and everything like that. What made you two want to do a show like this?
Flannery: Well, obviously Christmas is a perennial, so it's nice to get on the Christmas train because it always comes back every year, if you're lucky. And it's just great to be a part of it because I feel like anything that makes anybody feel better, I'm so on board. I think that laughter is the best medicine. And if something makes you feel good, repeat, repeat, rinse, repeat. Keep doing it. Please.
Siegel: Kate Flannery, thank you so much for joining. It was so much fun talking with you.
Flannery: Thank you so much. Really, I wasn't on Zoom, but I'm happy to be back in Boston.
Siegel: Kate Flannery performs A Swingin’ Little Christmas at the City Winery tonight and tomorrow night in Boston. You're listening to GBH News.
