Brian Baumgartner is the host of two Office-themed podcasts — An Oral History of The Office and The Office Deep Dive. He also happens to be a huge football fan. Ironically, a lot of The Office cast members are into football, especially when it comes to playing in fantasy leagues. Find out which Office actors are still participating in the fantasy football league they started on set.
‘The Office’ actors fantasy football league remains a tradition
The Office may have ended in 2013, but the bond the cast and crew formed on set remains strong. “We are about to embark on season 17 of The Office fantasy football league,” Baumgartner says during a bonus episode of his Office Deep Dive podcast. His guest, Stephen Saux, was a stand-in on the set of The Office and the league commissioner.
Baumgartner and Saux talked about the origins of their fantasy league, which started before online drafts were a thing. Back then, Saux would pass around a yellow legal pad to the Office cast members involved so they could draft their picks.
“Sometimes [the draft] would take weeks,” Baumgartner recalls. “There were no time limits. When it was your turn to draft, you got passed the yellow legal pad to make your pick, but you might be in the middle of a scene. It could take hours…”
John Krasinski and Jenna Fishcer’s husband still compete in the league
As they reminisced about their days on The Office, Baumgartner and Saux mentioned who is still involved in their fantasy league. “Myself,” Baumgartner starts. “Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, [Saux], Andy Buckley, Owen Ellickson, Warren Lieberstein, Mike Bertolina, Chris Workman, Lee Kirk [Jenna Fischer’s husband], Nick Carbone, and Greg Uberuaga.”
Warren Lieberstein has won the most in the league
According to Saux, Lieberstein, who is the brother of Toby’s Paul Lieberstein, is the “most celebrated” player in The Office fantasy league. “He won his first year and just had a three-year streak a couple of years ago,” Saux explains. “He’s placed nine times.”
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Meanwhile, Baumgartner has placed in the top three the most out of anyone else in the league. Twice he has taken home the second and third place prizes.
Football used to cause some trouble on the set of ‘The Office’
Like so many Office fans, fantasy football is a big part of the fall season. Unfortunately, when fantasy time rolled around on set, the cast would often get in trouble for focusing too much on the sport.
“So many times during football season the directors would say, ‘Guys, you’ve got to turn your screens off,’” Saux told Yahoo Sports. “They would get a little upset about fantasy football sometimes. They’d be like, ‘We’re trying to make a TV show here.’” Fortunately, they were able to strike a balance between playing fantasy and making great television.
Ed Helms was kicked out of ‘The Office’ fantasy league
No one was excluded from playing in The Office fantasy league, from actors to sound people, writers, production assistants, prop masters, and camera operators. However, Ed Helms was once involved but got kicked out for not being competitive enough.
“He would have an injured quarterback as his starter for weeks,” Bertolina, a props master during his time on the show, explained to Yahoo. “We were like, ‘What are you doing? It’s deteriorating the league! You’ve got to get into it!’ He didn’t care the way the rest of us did.”
Baumgartner and Saux are looking forward to this year’s draft, which will likely be conducted over Zoom. This tradition has lasted 17 seasons, so it’s safe to say The Office cast will likely be thinking about their fantasy teams this time next year.
