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Melora Hardin, who played Jan Levinson (Dunder Mifflin Paper Company's vice president of sales) in The Office, recently unveiled a secret the cast used to liven up scenes after they got a good take.
Hardin sat down with Steve Kmetko of iHeartRadio podcast, Still Here Hollywood, on Monday (January 13) to discuss what made the beloved series so hilarious and relatable.
"They would do a thing where, we would always do it the way it was written, and then they would hand us sort of a candy bag. They would call it a candy bag, and we could literally pull out lines. It would just be little lines that were options that we could throw in if we wanted to."
The actress revealed that once they got the initial take as it was written, cast members would claim lines from the "candy bag" and get to "play" around with the scene, ultimately creating comical moments that actually made it into the series.
Hardin's character was an intimidating and intermittent visitor of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton office (per Entertainment Weekly), and most of her scenes were shot with Steve Carell (who played regional manager Michael Scott). Hardin enjoyed working with Carell because he was just as masterful at improving scenes as she was.
"Most of my scenes were with Steve Carell. And working together, you know, Steve was great. I would throw a ball straight one time, a curve ball next time, and he would he would he would send it right back."
For more on-set secrets surrounding The Office, check out the latest episode of Still Here Hollywood on iHeartRadio!