Angela Kinsey Kept a Journal at Her Desk While Filming The Office. Here’s What She Wrote on the Very First Day

On the March 26 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Angela Kinsey and co-host Jenna Fischer reflected on the series’ 20th anniversary. Kinsey, 53, revealed that she had a very special item from filming that she’d never shared before: a journal she’d titled “Office Early Days,” which years ago, she’d filled with her thoughts about filming the show. 

“I have a journal entry that I can’t wait to share with you guys. It is from our very first day of filming,” Kinsey said. She found the journal after they had recorded their podcast episode about filming the show’s pilot, which aired March 24, 2005. Fischer, 51, said she couldn’t “wait” to read the journal.

Kinsey started that entry with the date and time they began filming — Sept. 20, 2004, at 7:30 a.m. — because she had her journal on her desk during scenes. “I wrote ‘first day of shooting of The Office.’ That’s in blue ink,” she said.

“Next line is in black ink. ‘This is the best job ever.’ Next line is in red ink. ‘I have all of these pens on my desk, so I’m trying them all out,’ ” she said as both she and Fischer laughed. 

“Next line is in black ink. ‘My call time was 5 a.m. So sleepy! I didn’t even really fall asleep in the first place,’ ” Kinsey read. 

She returned to her entry again at 12:40 p.m. She wrote, “Am so sleepy but am having the time of my life.” At 4:35 p.m., she wrote, “Am absolutely so punchy. Almost asleep with my eyes open.” Then she noted, “Just got flowers from my agent. Congrats, etcetera. Very nice.” She also taped inside the journal the “letterhead from our fake company” and the call sheet from the first day. 

In the next entry, she wrote simply, “Gosh, I so want this show to be a success.”

Her last entry was a little more personal. “My pantyhose are cutting me in half,” Kinsey read. “How do women wear these all the time? Seriously?! I want to ditch them!” The actress noted that eventually she did. 

Kinsey, of course, had her wishes come true, and after a somewhat rocky first season, the show became a success during season 2 as it separated itself more from the British version of The Office, from which it was adapted.

Kinsey’s on-set journaling isn’t the first time the cast has confessed to some hijinks while sitting at their characters’ desks. In a July 2024 episode of Office Ladies, Fischer revealed that John Krasinski set up instant messaging on everyone’s computers so they could chat on set, and chose character-specific screen names for everyone. 

“John went around to our computers,” she explained. “When we got the Internet, he did this so we could joke around in the background of scenes.” Viewers saw Fischer’s Pam and Krasinski’s Jim use that same instant messaging system in the season 5 premiere episode “Weight Loss,” when Pam is away in New York City at art school.