'Goodbye, Michael' turns 10: How 'The Office' made its most personal episode
Steve Carell's departure from The Office was a momentous occasion celebrated by the memorable Season 7 episode, "Goodbye, Michael." Members of the cast and co-creator Greg Daniels spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about how such a personal episode came together.
"I wrote that episode and I think the trick was just to not be so maudlin with it because the cast was feeling really sad about the fact that Steve was leaving," Daniels said.
Oscar Nunez, who played accountant Oscar Martinez, said, "People were crying all over the place. I did not but I did cry at the goodbye party."
Kate Flannery, who played Meredith Palmer, said Carell gave them all a very generous farewell gift. "When Steve left 'The Office' he gave everybody a Rolex watch ... I still wear it," she said. "He's the greatest."
Video Transcript
- Catch you guys on the flippity flip. Flippity flip. Flippity flip. Really?
ETHAN ALTER: We're coming up on the 10th anniversary of Steve Carell's farewell episode, "Goodbye, Michael" that aired in April 2010. And I understand that there are some different ideas about how to have him exit the show. At one point, he was going to be fired. There are other-- what do you remember about how you were going to have him exit for that episode?
GREG DANIELS: Well, I don't recall anything about him being fired. That seems like a weird exit for the guy who had given so much wonderful stuff to the audience and to the show. You know I wrote that episode, and I think the trick was just to not be so maudlin with it. Because the cast was feeling really sad about the fact that Steve was leaving. Because you know, obviously, we all loved him. And you know he had told us for a long time that he was going to leave.
- Why am I so sad? Am I doing the wrong thing?
- Absolutely not. It's just that sometimes goodbyes are a bitch.
GREG DANIELS: But I remember the hardest part was just saying to the actors like this is a comedy show. You can't cry in every scene with Steve. You know try and care a little bit less or something you know just to keep it going.
OSCAR NUNEZ: People were crying all over the place. I did not, but I did cry at the party, at the goodbye party that we gave them like the last night or something. It was very emotional.
- I was there. I got to be there, yeah, because I was-- every time I would go, and like every time I would be on the telephone, I was always there. So I did get to be there. And then I got to go over for his like afterwards for his like the celebration or the goodbye and all that like afterwards which was really a treat.
KATE FLANNERY: There's so much love. You know we really were like a family. And we still are. I mean we see each other. And it's funny, I still wear-- when Steve left the office, he gave everybody a Rolex watch. I mean he is the greatest. So I still wear it. It just reminds me you know of this amazing experience. And I just look at my wrist, and he's the greatest.
[SCREAMING]
GREG DANIELS: I love that episode, it had a bunch of my favorite moments. And one of them was, I think, when Steve gives the little doll to Oscar. And he was playing a trick on him. I think that was a great moment.
OSCAR NUNEZ: I left it at the office. Some people took stuff. I didn't take any, I took a belt and some shoes, I think. I remember Brian took the jar of jellybeans which is pretty cool. But I didn't have anything like that on my desk. But I had like a real picture of myself and my dog, and, of course, those I took with me. Because I bought them with me.
- It looks like it was made by a two-year-old monkey on a farm.
ETHAN ALTER: I asked Oscar if he kept the doll, and, apparently, he didn't. He didn't take it home with him. Which I--
GREG DANIELS: I wonder where that doll is? That's like-- you know, I wish, I wish I had that doll.
- I deserve this.
ALL: Oh, oh,
- What am I doing?
ETHAN ALTER: One thing that stuck out at me, the scene at the end where Will Ferrell eats the cake. Your reaction is so shocked in that moment. Did you know what he was going to do, or was that an improv moment?
OSCAR NUNEZ: Probably improv. I'll have to-- I'm trying to remember because I haven't seen it. I've binge watched the show once years ago since we shot it. But Will was always doing crazy stuff just improvising. So it's probably improv knowing Will.
ETHAN ALTER: The goodbye between Pam and Michael, that moment, and the choice to do it silent, was that something that you wanted to do? That you knew it was going to be silent?
GREG DANIELS: There was a big debate in Casino Night about doing something similar when Jim was confessing his love to Pam. Because we had this whole alternate version that we actually shot where you know the cameras are missing it, and they can hear it, and they're running around trying to find where he is, and they just arrive as he's walking away.
And so we shot that. And it was cool. But it was kind of like you really want to see their faces at this huge moment. Also, when they proposed, that was another time. And I shot it with no audio and just sounds of rain and some audio and the cars going by and then clear audio. And you know that was an agonizing decision.
I played every version for everybody who worked on the show over and over again until I drove them crazy. I was like, what about this? What about that? And we kind of put it in the middle.
OSCAR NUNEZ: It was just very sad when Steve left. It wasn't weird. It was just like, wow, the show's over. Now we're going to do two seasons without him. We're going to do something else. We're going to do another show without Steve. Some other show, and someone is going to come in and be the boss. But The Office was over.
ETHAN ALTER: Right, The Office that you knew was over. It was sort of like--
OSCAR NUNEZ: The Office was over. Steve left. And now it's another show for two-- which was fun. It was great meeting those people, it was great. But when Steve left it was very sad.
