Jenna Fischer got her role as Pam on ‘The Office’ after improvising 1 word

It took a daring move to get Jenna Fischer her unforgettable role on The Office. 

The actress, who played the show’s loveable Pam Beesley, shared the backstory on how improv helped her land the role during her audition in an interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on their Fly on the Wall podcast.

“I had been auditioning for [casting director] Allison [Jones] for about five years before The Office,” Fischer recalled. “When it was time for her to cast The Office, I had a good enough relationship with her that I could say, ‘Hey Allison, do you have any advice? I really want this one.’ And she said, ‘My advice is don’t come in looking hot. Don’t come in all done up.'”

Fischer noted that the advice was different from what she usually got, which usually followed the lines of “you’re playing a pediatric nurse, but like hot.” But it was the the second half of Jones’ advice that made the the Blades of Glory star apprehensive.

“And then she said, ‘We’re going to have you improvise during the audition and my advice is: Dare to bore me,'” Fischer shared.

When Fischer auditioned, she was asked to participate in an improvised conversation with showrunner Greg Daniels asking questions as a documentary filmmaker.

“I had that note in my head and he said, ‘Do you like being a receptionist here?’ And I just paused and I said, nothing,” Fischer told Carvey and Spade. “And then I said, ‘No.’ And that’s all I said.”

She went on to explain, “I thought it would be funnier to watch me think of all the things I wasn’t going to say than to say any of them… She’s like a deeply honest person so she can’t lie and say she does like it, but she’s also not going to say anymore.”

The daring choice was the move that landed her the role, Fischer said. “Greg told me that’s what got me the job.”

While Fischer admitted that it had been “so scary” to take such a seemingly aloof response during an audition, she reasoned it’s common to “want to just go for the fences,” but having restraint can be the better choice. “For me, the hardest thing about acting is just holding on,” she opined.

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Clearly, she made the right choice as Fischer played the receptionist for the entirety of the show’s 9-season run.

“It’s amazing. It’s just [an] amazing, amazing thing to have been a part of,” the actress gushed. “I still can’t believe it, and just what it means to people too. I know that The Office has gotten people through hard times in their lives.”

Listen to the full conversation between Fischer, Carvey, and Spade above.