Tag: The Paper

If life imitates art, actor Oscar Nuñez’s best-known role flips the script. Over nine seasons of The Office, he and fellow cast members created comedy gold from a world defined by the highly relatable, humdrum routine of a 9-to-5 job.

Nuñez is back on the small screen, reprising the role of Oscar Martinez, this time in Toledo, Ohio, where a documentary crew finds the iconic character back in his accounting garb at a struggling newspaper in the debut season of The Paper, the newest offering from Greg Daniels, who adapted a British show and turned The Office into an iconic American workplace satire.

He’s also reunited with former castmates for AT&T Business in “Wake Up With CrAIg,” a campaign starring Craig Robinson that celebrates the entrepreneurial journey of small business owners. We couldn’t let him walk down memory lane alone — so we joined him last week to hear about it. While an actor is never the role they play, there were hints of Oscar Martinez in our chat: he was slyly funny, a touch sarcastic and thoughtful about the lessons he’s taken from a stint in one of the funniest, weirdest work comedies ever made.

Ava Levinson: The first season of The Paper was released earlier this month. How did you feel when creator Greg Daniels asked you to return as Oscar?

Oscar Nuñez: He kind of just said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of doing a show that, I don’t know, has something to do with newspapers or reporters. Would you be willing to reprise your character and come back?’ This is months and months ago, we’re just having lunch. I’m like, ‘No, I wouldn’t, of course, I wouldn’t mind.’ And then, slowly but surely, it came together. And here we are. He’s one of those people who, because of his track record and his work ethic and blah, blah, blah, he gets things done. And so this goes from a thought to actually finished product. It’s amazing.

I was skeptical of The Paper, because I didn’t want to go in thinking it was going to be The Office.

Typical Ava.

But I watched, and it’s really funny. The cast has such strong chemistry on both shows — what would you say are the biggest differences between the two ensembles?

It’s not The Office. The Office was a long time ago. I made fast friends with Kate Flannery, and I met Brian [Baumgartner]. I had met Steve [Carell] before and Angela [Kinsey] and I were friends. We were in improv together. On this show, I know Paul Liberstein and I know my ex-boss, Greg Daniels, but everyone else I was meeting for the first time. Greg Daniels doesn’t hire anyone who’s problematic or, you know, a weirdo or whatever. So that part, I knew it was going to be fine to meet these people. It’s just a matter of who you click with and who you’re going to be buddies with and all that. And everyone is great, amazing.

How has the show launch campaign been?

I’ve been to Toronto, Austin, New York City, even London doing this rollout. It’s been crazy. We were a little, not concerned, but a little anxious, maybe, about what kind of reaction we were going to get for the show. It’s been positive. We’ve had so much good feedback. I’m very happy with the show. No complaints.

This is your 10th season in an office role. Does it feel like you’re really working in an office?

It feels like you’re in an office. You’re wearing the stupid clothes — nothing against office work, I’ve done office work. And there’s that low hum of, like, just menial, you know, clacking of keyboards and people looking at papers and stuff like that. People do it. People work in offices. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, yeah, it’s an easy mind frame to get into, because you’re like, not the worst place to be, not the best, but not the worst. It’s ‘Okay, I’m working,’ you know? ‘Okay, there’s a camera. I don’t want to be shot. Get that away from me.’ That’s basically, that’s what we do.

Did you take anything from The Office —

Did I physically take stuff home after?

No. Did you take any lessons from acting in The Office into your real life?

That’s bananas. What lessons would I take? I can’t think of any. Be on time, I guess. ‘Did you take anything from this fake movie and bring it home to your real wife and kid?’ That’s your question, Ava. Stand by it.

I’m standing by it, and I’m still waiting for the answer.

Ava, have it your way. Fine. The majority of my work, I’ve learned how to live with real people by my acting jobs. I take lessons from all my fake characters, and then I hope I don’t play a murderer, because then I’ll learn how to stalk people. And if I bring them into my real life, Ava, there’s a problem, and I will hold you accountable.

Would you say you personally have anything in common with any of your acting roles?

I’m afraid so. On The Proposal, you saw how wonderfully I danced. I’m a good dancer. So they took things from The Proposal, from my dance moves, and I use that in real life, I guess, and vice versa.

If on-screen Oscar was a startup founder, what kind of business would he run?

I’ll say it’s like a Tie of the Month Club or Tie of the Week Club. Like, here’s the tie that we’re gonna focus on this week. It’s made by Gucci. It’s made in Italy. Next week, I’ll roll out another tie. Because he wears ties all the time, you see? Tie and sock, let’s tie them together. Tie and Sock of The Week. Here’s a tie, it goes with this sock. Let’s talk about it.

You’ve had several wins in your career thus far. What is one failure that you learned from?

I auditioned for an Off Broadway play back in the ’80s. I auditioned for it, and I got to be the stand-in. I don’t know what happened but I kind of took it as an insult, because I’m insane, and instead of being happy about it, I didn’t take the part. I let my ego get the better of me, and, like, a week after, I’m like, What was I thinking? Why did I turn it down? What is wrong with me? So kids, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.