"The Office "Cast Instant Messaged During Scenes Thanks to John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer Reveals

07/24/2024 03:43 PM

The actor was also responsible for Jim and Pam's random screen names, Fischer shared on the 'Office Ladies' podcast

Remember Instant Messenger? The Office's Jim and Pam certainly do.

The old-school chat program played a role in the long-distance portion of the couple's romance, Jenna Fischer recalled on the July 17 episode of her Office Ladies podcast.

"In this episode, Pam goes away to art school in New York and you see Jim and Pam communicating on instant message," Fischer said to co-host Angela Kinsey. "And you can see their screen names."

A podcast listener had written in asking how Jim and Pam got their respective screen names, Jim9334 and receptionitis15 — and the answer was an obvious one.

Related: 'The Office' Cast: Where Are They Now?

"John Krasinski," said Fischer, 50. "John went around to our computers and set up instant message. When we got the Internet, he did this so we could joke around in the background of scenes."

"I got to work one day, and he was like, 'Check it out,' " Fischer continued. "And he showed me my little instant message screen and that my name was receptionitis15, I was like, 'What is this name?' "

"I remember that he talked us through, the rest of us, how to do it," Kinsey, 53, chimed in, adding that her screen name was "MSaccountant." "We really kept on theme for our characters. We were so tickled that we could now IM each other during scenes."

But, as it turns out, the chats went well beyond inside jokes.

Related: Why The Office's Stars Were Told to Clean Out Their Trailers Before Wrapping Season 2

"We weren't just IMing each other either, I would IM with fans during scenes," Fischer revealed. "Remember when we had MySpace? Somehow I would get the IMs of fans through MySpace and I would write things and I would say, 'When you watch the episode "Healthcare," there's going to be a scene where Dwight is talking about hot dog fingers, and I'm IMing you during this scene.' "

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Fischer gave costar B.J. Novak credit for that move. "I kinda remember now you guys doing that," Kinsey said. "And we'd be like, 'What? You're talking to people right now?!' "

The revelation came as the women shared "tidbits" from various Office episodes as their podcast takes a summer break. Office Ladies will return on Aug. 14.

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