What line of work you in, Bob? |
It's a warm September morning in Southern California, and as I park my car on a side street near Aroma Cafe in Studio City, I can't believe my luck that I'm actually going to have breakfast with arguably the most iconic secondary character on The Office. A week ago, Robert Ray Shafer sent a message to The Office-isms Facebook page letting us know he has a new movie coming out and that he'd be willing to do an email or phone interview about his time on The Office with us if we liked.
Our entire admin team went into Threat Level: Midnight mode at the possibility that we might get to learn more about him and the show we all love from such a beloved character. I messaged him back, offering to meet him in the Los Angeles area, since I live locally, and by some stroke of dumb luck, he actually agreed. Not only did he agree to meet me, he said we could grab a bite at a cafe he likes, and then head over to the Church nearby where he and Phyllis got married.
As I walk up to the Cafe late on a Monday morning, I'm surprised to see a line out the door. I wait in the queue for a moment, unsure if he might already have a table, and through a gap in the crowd, I see him: Bob Vance, in the flesh, casually waiting on a bench to the side of the restaurant, doing his tenure on the show proud by wearing a Vance Refrigeration sweatshirt and a The Office baseball cap. He stands, a towering 6'5" and exuding the casual, confident masculinity his character Bob had on The Office, greets me warmly, and jokes that he didn't realize this cafe was becoming so trendy. He says he takes his aunt here when she's in town and that they have really good coffee and pastries. I am awestruck, and trying not to morph into a screaming fangirl puddle, but his demeanor instantly sets me at ease and we quickly fall into effortless conversation.
OMG!!!! |
The night before, I had watched the movie he had sent me via private link "Dick Dickster" set to release on digital media outlets such as iTunes November 13th, 2018. Shafer starred, wrote, cast and produced the indy mockumentary comedy flick that centers on his title character, Dick Dickster, a debauched Hollywood director whose first scene immediately sets the tone for a comedic wild ride through some pretty hot-button topics currently gracing news headlines. Namely: sexual harassment in Hollywood.
Dick Dickster promo photo |
Me: I noticed the film isn't afraid to poke fun at the Harvey Weinsteins of Hollywood, was that your intention or is the current press just a PR bonus given your films release timing?
Robert Ray Shafer: It's always been there, sexual harassment in Hollywood, none of this is new. It's just that people are finally talking about it. Dick Dickster is a mishmash of the worst kind of Hollywood men that exist in real life. He's Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, and Harvey Weinstein all rolled into one awful character. And he gets what's coming to him in the end.
Me: Hilariously! The ending was probably my favorite scene.
RRS: (Laughs) It was a lot of fun [without giving too much away] to spend days listening to various fart noises deciding which would be the ones I used for that scene in the film. The joke there was more about making the audience uncomfortable with how long they went on, those noises. There's another scene where we used that kind of lengthy joke involving urine. What makes it funnier is just as the audience is thinking "When is this going to stop?" we lean into it, making it last longer and longer and in the screenings I've hosted, the audience laughter just get louder and louder as it goes.
Me: Although raunchier than anything we saw on The Office, I felt a lot of similarities to it watching Dick Dickster. Can you speak to that?
RRS: The Office was network television, and could only go so far in terms of the jokes. And I enjoy working in the mockumentary style because it feels more realistic. It also has the talking heads everybody knows from The Office. And a very talented group of actors.
Me: Would you say the mockumentary medium is more or less difficult than traditional filming?
RRS: Oh easier, definitely easier. But in some ways it takes adjusting because you have to be more on your game. Like on The Office, we had to stay in character constantly because we didn't know where the cameras were. We had to be ready, and fast, to give those looks and keep the flow of the scene going.
Me: Did that leave room for improvising?
RRS: Very little. You have to keep in mind that The Office was network television, which means every line in the script had to be approved by NBC as appropriate for broadcast audiences. There was a lot less improv that actually made it into the show than what people would expect. Most of the improv came from long filming days when guys like Steve and John and Rainn would switch things up to try to get each other to break.
Me: What was it like working on a network show?
RRS: It's a real job. Just like anything else. I can remember overhearing minor arguments about times to be on set and things like that. Someone has a film or interview and can't be there until 9am but the shooting schedule needs everyone to be there by 8am or it costs the network a lot of money. It's hard work and long hours. And it's not as glamorous as people might think. But everyone got along very well. It was fun.