While the U.S. version of The Office officially concluded its run in 2013, the series has continued to perform strong in syndication and through streaming services in recent years, picking up new fans along the way. During a recent episode of the Office Ladies podcast, it was revealed that Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong is a fan, and he recently came across a cover of his own music while binging the series.
That revelation came out as Armstrong taped a few bits and shared his reaction to the “Secret Santa” episode in which Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Andy (Ed Helms) karaoke a bit of Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” during a recent podcast.
Armstrong’s nods within the podcast came about through his friendship with actress Jenna Fischer, who played Pam Halpert on the U.S. series. Fischer co-hosts the Office Ladies podcast with Angela Kinsey (Angela). Specifically reflecting on the episode, Armstrong taped a bit where he read the full TV description of the episode out loud for the listeners, finishing off the reading by singing his own bit of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
Fischer, later beaming that she was able to get Armstrong included through her friendship with the musician, recalled, “Billie had seen The Office, but he recently in 2019 did a big rewatch of the whole series. And I asked him, ‘When you did your rewatch, did you remember that you had given us permission to use this song?'”
She then shared Armstrong’s taped reaction in which the rocker commented, “I was binge-watching The Office for the first time, and I was watching that episode and then all of a sudden the song came on and I was completely taken by surprise. And like, I think my face started to get red and Andy…he started singing harmonies, which was almost like — we do have a musical for American Idiot, and he sang the same exact harmony that’s in the musical. So it was, it was good.”
The two hosts then responded to Armstrong’s comments, with Fischer stating (as transcribed by Mashable), “I just love it that he was surprised by his own song during that rewatch.” Kinsey then revealed that there was a musical interlude to the karaoke scene in which Helms and Wilson had to vamp, with Helms scatting a bit of the music.
“I mean, I know they already produced the musical version of American Idiot, but I’m saying, if you bring it back to the stage, you might want to add this ‘riddit dit dit do.’ You might want to because it’s pretty great,” Fischer commented, with Kinsey adding, “We’ve all been there. We’ve all picked a song for karaoke and then there’s a big musical interlude and you’re like, “What do I do?’ I’m just kinda bobbing my head. I mean, Ed crushed it.”
Revisit the scene from The Office‘s “Secret Santa” episode and listen to more of the Office Ladies podcast below.
Office Ladies Podcast
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