Stanley (Leslie David Baker) stands out in the episode where everyone gets free pretzels because he’s unexpectedly happy. The Office fans probably remember his line about liking it, but it wasn’t in the script. Find out what he was scripted to say and the inspiration behind the episode.
Stanley loves Pretzel Day on ‘The Office’
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The episode, “Initiation” is probably most remembered for it being Pretzel Day in the office. Fans got to see a very different side of Stanley in the episode.
We see an announcement is made that pretzels are now available for people in the building. Pam (Jenna Fischer) then explains “Once a year they bring in a little cart and they give away free pretzels. It’s really not a big deal…to some people it is.”
Stanley and Michael (Steve Carell) are the first ones to go down to get a pretzel. Stanley has a memorable line about loving this day.
“I wake up every morning in a bed that’s too small, drive my daughter to a school that’s too expensive, and then I go to work to a job for which I get paid too little. But on Pretzel Day…well I like Pretzel Day,” he says smiling. This line actually wasn’t the original one for the episode.
There was a different line originally
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Fischer and Angela Kinsey talked about Stanley’s new attitude in the episode on the Office Ladies podcast. His line about liking Pretzel Day was actually different in the script.
“That talking head that appears in the episode is an alternate talking head, Angela. That is not the talking head that was in the shooting draft,” Fischer revealed.
“The original talking head was this, ‘There are four things that I love: my wife, my daughter, Pam Grier, and a hot chewy roll of buttered dough,’” she added. Chances are fans would love knowing about Stanley’s love of Pam Grier, but him talking about what he doesn’t like about his life is fitting for the character.
Fischer said B.J. Novak, who played Ryan Howard, said the inspiration for Pretzel Day came from the writers visiting an office back in season 1. They saw a business do a give away of food to boost morale of the employees.
“I feel like we had something similar on our set. Because every once in a while we’d get a coffee cart,” Fischer said. “People would lose their minds for that coffee cart,” Kinsey said.
It was gourmet coffee, and the cast wanted it because their coffee machine was taken away for being too loud. The actors didn’t reveal who came up with Stanley’s new talking head line. But the show often let actors improvise, and had writers on set try out new material to make a scene work.
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