The Office star Angela Kinsey shares the one joke she refused to say as it went too far

Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin in The Office

Jacob Stolworthy
© UK Independent

The Office star Angela Kinsey has candidly shared the one joke she refused to say while starring in the series.

Kinsey was part of the ensemble of the US version of the sitcom, which aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013. The actor, who co-hosts a re-watch podcast with Pam star Jenna Fischer, played the highly-strung Angela Martin, an employee of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

The star has reflected on the show while appearing on podcast Soul Boom alongside Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute in the series.

Wilson, who previously said he spent many years feeling “unhappy” on the show’s set, asked his former co-star about how she found playing an “uptight Christian” on the show when she was brought up having a “very warm, meaningful relationship” with her faith.

Wilson said: “Did that ever bump up against you in any way?” and Kinsey admitted to being left uncomfortable with certain jokes she felt went a step too far as they didn’t reflect Christian views.

“Yeah, actually, there were one or two times in which there would be a joke written for her that I thought was just really stereotypical, maybe one note,” Kinsey replied on the podcast, saying of her character: “I like to think of her as a full, well-rounded person.”

Kinsey recalled a season three episode that required her to make a joke at the expense of Oscar (Oscar Nuñez), a gay character featured on the show – but she was so vehemently against delivering it that she approached creator Greg Daniels.

“I do remember there was a particular storyline between Angela and Oscar, where Angela was being super judge-y. I never went up to Greg about any joke, but there was a joke at Oscar’s expense, and I went up to Greg [Daniels] and I was like, ‘I can’t.’”

Kinsey said she didn’t feel good as the line, which was featured in the season three premiere, titled “Gay Witch Hunt”, saw her invoke Jesus, which she “didn’t feel good about”.

“I just was like, ‘I don’t feel good about it – I don’t feel good about that; I don’t feel like that’s what Jesus represented to me,’” Kinsey said.

“And he was like, ‘OK.’ And he heard me, and he took the joke out. And the episode – it was ‘Gay Witch Hunt’ – had so many already. But that’s the one pivotal moment I remember being like, OK, this is feeling like a stereotype and very one note. I feel like she has more depth than that.”