Jenna Fischer Recalls Being Mistaken for an NBC Office Worker During ‘The Office’ Early Days

Jenna Fischer recently recalled a funny early-career moment when she and several castmates from NBC’s “The Office” were mistaken for ordinary employees at NBC.

Speaking on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, Fischer said she, Angela Kinsey, Kate Flannery and Phyllis Smith went to Los Angeles restaurant The Ivy to celebrate the show being renewed for a second season.

The actresses expected to attract paparazzi because the restaurant was a popular celebrity spot. Instead, when a photographer rushed toward them, he ran past them to photograph “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander.

Kinsey then told the photographer that the women were from “The Office.” He misunderstood and assumed they worked at NBC’s corporate offices. He enthusiastically offered them his business card and asked them to contact him about other NBC personalities he could photograph.

“The Office” later became a major hit, running for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013 and turning Fischer and her castmates into household names.