Leslie Knope’s one true love, wooing a mousy receptionist played by 24‘s Chloe O’Brian? Bridesmaids‘s secret air marshal explaining to an invisible documentary crew that he wants people to be afraid of how much they love him? A kooky beet farmer/paper salesman who doubles as a founding member of the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe?
Thanks to Rainn Wilson, we now know that all of them could have been featured on The Office — if casting had gone just a little differently.
“This is the original sign-in sheet for the first day of casting for The Office given to me by Allison Jones, our incredible casting agent,” Wilson explained upon posting this revealing photo on Facebook yesterday. “I was the very first person to audition for the series, 11/06/03.” As you’ll see, Wilson and a certain future Parks and Recreation star arrived at the audition simultaneously — and 12 other notable actors followed in their stead:
Last week’s episode of Parks and Recreation, in which Ben finally proposed to Leslie, set the bar pretty high — some might say impossibly high — so last night the writers stepped up and let loose with some top-shelf material. We met Ben’s sparring, divorced, insufferable parents (played by Glenne Headly and Jonathan Banks) and watched Chris have a total, happy-sad mental breakdown (“It’s like a perfect storm of emotions!”). The team even brought back the scene-stealer (and arguably the show’s most consistently funny character) Jean-Ralphio, Tom’s flamboyant cad of a business partner. With so many memorable moments, it’s hard to narrow down the episode’s highlights… but here goes.
