Leslie David Baker had a lot of memorable moments filming The Office — including one hilarious instance that involved Steve Carell.
“The fire drill [episode] is extremely funny,” Baker, 66, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, January 23 while promoting his partnership with Tastiez. “I was force fed a brand new leather wallet by Michael Scott during a heart attack.”
In the season 5 episode, which is titled “Stress Relief,” Baker’s character, Stanley, has a heart attack after Dwight (Rainn Wilson) plans a fire to test his coworkers’ response in an emergency. After learning they were trapped in the building in the blaze, Stanley collapses. Michael (played by Carell) then jumps into action in an attempt to save his employee by stuffing a wallet into his mouth, seemingly mixing up how to assist a stroke with a heart attack.
While looking back on his time on the Emmy-winning comedy, Baker also thought of instances where his character “was harpooned with a dart” and yelled at B.J. Novak’s character, Ryan, for flirting with his fictional daughter, noting they were all hilarious to shoot.
‘The Office’ Actor Returns $110K of Fan Donations for Stanley Spinoff
“When I got to yell at Ryan for allegedly flirting with my daughter, and he was cracking up in terms of the dialogue I rattled at him,” he recalled. “How any of us were able to keep it together on any given day with so much laughter remains a mystery.”
Baker added that while The Office fans had thoroughly enjoyed watching the series in its nine seasons, the cast had “much more fun filming it.”
In addition to sharing laughs and fond memories, Baker added that the season 7 episode where Carell, now 62, left the show and the series finale were “definitely tearjerkers.” However, his most cherished moment involved getting the entire gang back together.
“My favorite episode was the wedding when Dwight and Angela got married and we all got to come back together,” he told Us. “So that was a great episode. That was fun.”
While portraying Stanley for nearly a decade, Baker explained that he helped “create” the fan favorite — and often curmudgeonly (except on pretzel day) — character by utilizing his personal experience from working in corporate America, which allowed him to feel relatable to fans.
Bob Odenkirk Reveals the Reason He Lost ‘The Office’ Role to Steve Carell
“I think there’s a little bit of Stanley in all of us … I helped put the meat on the bones of Stanley, so I think his reactions, values and appeal are quite universal,” Baker reflected. “He loves to laugh, when something is genuinely funny … and when he deems it’s not … you get dead-pan or ignored!”
While fans believe that Stanley got grumpier and sassier as the show went on, Baker thinks that those traits were there all along. Instead, Baker credited the crew for picking up on hit little ticks.
“I think we just got to see him more and empathize with him as a character … but he’d probably gotten more camera time and what was there, was there all along?” he told Us. “It’s just situations that occurred, that a great camera crew captured.”
Since The Office wrapped up in 2013, Baker has continued to act in various projects but in his free time, he likes to entertain his loved ones. With the help of Tastiez, Baker can now pair “great conversation with delicious snack foods.”
“My favorite appetizers are usually something crunchy, crispy, flavorful, sweet/salty, easy to prepare, a variety of flavors, and some unusual spices,” he said. “It is so refreshing to no longer have to rely upon the usual old standby snacks such as nuts, chips, crackers.”
Some of Baker’s go-to Tastiez treats include the nacho cheese triangles, mini mozzarella sticks,
Italian-style risotto bites, spinach artichoke mozzarella bites, and garlic cheese curds.
“All these snack flavors allow me to travel around the world from my armchair with a nice glass of wine,” he shared. “I’ve always believed that food should connect people and transport them to other countries via their taste buds. This is a great and easy way to host a party for one or more people!”
