The Office superfan and pop superstar Billie Eilish “met” her idol Steve Carell last year during a podcast chat with his co-star Brian Baumgartner — and now you’ll be able to hear even more of their first conversation on iHeartRadio’s “The Office Deep Dive With Brian Baumgartner.”
On Tuesday’s episode, Eilish chats with Baumgartner — who played Kevin Malone on the beloved NBC sitcom — as well as Carell, who fronted the series as Michael Scott, the bumbling boss at Dunder Mifflin. Eilish discusses why she sampled dialogue from The Office — specifically Carell’s name-dropping first line when he says, “No, Billie, I haven’t done that dance since my wife died” — on her When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? song “My Strange Addiction.”
Baumgartner asks Eilish, “Why did you decide — like, is it your strange addiction? Is The Office your strange addiction?”
“Definitely my strange addiction. That’s why I have to use that song,” she replies. “That’s why I had to use it.”
Baumgartner launched the podcast “An Oral History of The Office” in July 2020, and the Sept. 15-dated final episode featured the Happier Than Ever singer as a guest. During the 36-minute “Beauty in Ordinary Things” happy ending, Eilish chatted with Baumgartner and Carell about The Office’s lasting legacy and ability to draw in new generations of fans, herself included. In honor of Carell’s birthday this week, an extended cut of Eilish and Carell’s conversation is being shared on Baumgartner’s follow-up podcast, iHeartRadio’s “The Office Deep Dive With Brian Baumgartner,” which launched in February of this year.
Rainn Wilson (who played Dwight Schrute) previously tested how well Eilish knew the show on an episode of Billboard’s Quizzed, which can be found below. Eilish obviously nailed it considering she said she’s seen each episode of The Office 14 times — beating out Carell by just a few go-rounds.
“I have not actually seen all the episodes of The Office,” he told Billie. “So you have me by, like, 14.”
