‘The Office’: Angela Kinsey Said She Really Cried During 1 Heartbreaking Scene

Angela Kinsey revealed that she really cried in one scene of The Office because she felt bad for the way her character treated Andy Bernard. Kinsey and Jenna Fischer discussed the scene from 'Moroccan Christmas' when Phyllis reveals that Dwight and Angela are having an affair.

by Wendy Michaels

Published on August 11, 2021

2 min read

‘The Office’ Season 5 ‘Moroccan Christmas’ episode featured a cringey moment

During the Aug. 11 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Kinsey and co-host Jenna Fischer broke down The Office Season 5 episode “Moroccan Christmas.” In the episode, Phyllis plans a unique office holiday party as the head of the Party Planning Committee and successfully bosses Angela around because she knows Angela and Dwight are having an affair.

Angela hits her breaking point with all of Phyllis’ demands and tells her off, but Phyllis retaliates by revealing Angela’s affair with Dwight to the whole office. Angela’s fiancé Andy comes in after Phyllis spills the beans so he’s clueless about the affair.

“I thought Phyllis and I really had this perfect chemistry in this moment,” Kinsey shared. “And then she tells everyone and she shames Angela Martin in front of the whole bullpen. And when she did, I was so in the moment with her, I felt the heat of my skin, like my face started to flush.”

The scene made Angela Kinsey really cry

The moment left Kinsey in tears in real life. Andy enters the office bullpen and sings “Deck the Halls” while playing the sitar as everyone looks stunned by the news Phyllis just dropped on the room.

“They thought it would be funny, the juxtaposition of this sort of very cringey moment for Andy to be playing this upbeat song,” Kinsey explained.

The scene left Kinsey with a lot of real-life feelings. “We’re all just staring at him. And Ed [Helms] played the moment so perfectly. My heart completely broke for Andy,” she explained. “I felt so bad for him and I started to cry.”

She continued, “Yeah, I actually cry. If you look at this, it pushes in on my face and I’m completely tearing up.”

Fischer confirmed that sometimes actors really feel emotions deeply during a scene. “Those are those moments as an actor where you have so inhabited your character’s story and the story of the people around you, where your body, like you didn’t even have to make yourself cry or think of something sad,” she explained. “You were just so in the moment that the emotions just flood.”

‘The Office’ director wanted the actors to have an authentic reaction

Fischer further explained that director Paul Feig wanted the actors to have real reactions in the moment. He instructed them, “I don’t want you to comment on it with — you know, no kind of funny looks or anything — like this is like truly a human moment. And just stand there. Just be in it.”

“It was great direction,” Fischer shared.

Kinsey said that the realness of the moment had her feeling emotional. “It felt really heavy. And I felt horrible. And I started to cry,” she explained. “You know, in rewatching it all, I just thought this episode was written and directed and acted so, so well. I was really proud of us as a show.”