Craig Robinson of 'The Office' Assures Us 'That's What She Said' Jokes Are Far from Dead

By Zach Dionne Posted Oct 28th 2010 04:15PM

In the last few years of comedy, Craig Robinson has stolen more scenes, movies, and TV episodes than we care to count. Since his brilliant cameo in 'Knocked Up,' the 39-year-old Chicago native has carved a reputation reaching far beyond "that Darryl guy from the Dunder-Mifflin warehouse."

Still a regular on 'The Office' -- in more scenes than ever after notching his own office alongside the rest of the dysfunctional crew -- Robinson starred in this year's 'Hot Tub Time Machine' and voiced a character for 'Shrek Forever After.'

Here, Craig Robinson chats with PopEater about whether or not NBC would let him get away with Charlie Sheen-style shenanigans, his thoughts on Steve Carell's final season as Michael Scott, and an entirely understandable fixation with 'Breaking Bad.'

Hey Craig, how's it going?
I'm good, I'm drivin' into the office.

The office?
The office!

Excellent. Hey, how do you think 'The Office' team would react if you went crazy like Charlie Sheen did this week? So far the 'Two and a Half Men' people haven't flinched.
Oh, you know, I've been through my share of trials and tribulations and nah, 'The Office' didn't flinch, either. It's about the talent and what you bring to the show. They've been great all along, every step of the way.

How's season seven going?
Fantastic. We have a lot of fun, man. I have no complaints; everybody's as great as ever.

And you've got your own office upstairs, out of the warehouse.
Yes sir. You don't wanna know what I'm doin' in there.

C'mon.
I'm the only one who can actually -- 'cause I'm kinda tucked away back there -- it depends on what the camera angle is, but you really do just play on the computer.

So you're on Facebook, basically.
... it happens.

How do you imagine 'The Office' without Steve Carell?
[Pause] I know that between Greg Daniels and Paul Lieberstein, they're gonna think of something and we're all gonna be like, "Oh, wow." All the writing talent they've got, there's always something. I'm not worried about it; I mean, it's gonna be hard to see Steve leave. That's gonna be hard to do. He's captain of the ship. But at the same time, we've got so many talented people, everybody's gonna try to right the ship.

Darryl should really send Michael into the world with some last good "black man phrases."
[Laughs] My man, I'm gonna have to think about it.

The musical bits really shine in certain episodes. Last week had a nice jam sesh between a few of you. Who's the most musically inclined on set?
That's a hard one. That's what she said.

Hold on. Are "that's what she said" jokes still fair game?
Yeah, absolutely man, abso-frickin'-lutely. But music -- Ed [Helms] is really good. Creed [Bratton] is really good. Most everybody can sing and do harmony and stuff. It's a very talented cast.

You must've been psyched to join it, being a former music teacher.
Yeah, anytime you put a piano in front of me, I'm in my element.

So you taught kindergarten through eighth grade. Any of those skills translate to acting?
The skill of controlling a room, there's an art form to it. I'm still working on that one.

Is that why you're such a scene-stealer? 'Knocked Up,' 'Pineapple Express,' 'Zack and Miri' -- you almost always get some of the most memorable laughs.
I appreciate that, man. Hey, I don't know, I don't think anyone sets out to steal a scene. But then some people will end up saying that's what you do. It's just about doing the performance as best you can. When you're doing it, I know I'm sitting there going, "Oh my god, am I doing this right, what are the words?!" So it's always funny to hear "scene-stealer."

Half your 'Office' cast mates have the same names as their characters. Do you ever get any confusion from fans?
They don't think it's my name, but they definitely call me Darryl all the time. I know they're fans of the show, or, who knows, a fan of mine, dare I say. But there's always some time for the fans.

It seemed like every interview you did this spring was in or about a hot tub. Was that hard to move away from?
It ran its course, it was great. This is that life, bro, where you gotta do somethin' and move on. But 'Hot Tub' was a heck of a ride, man, from reading the script till now. People are still coming up saying they loved that.

Would you do a sequel?
Heeeck yeah! 'Hot Tub Time Machine Cincinnati!'

Have you been watching much prime time comedy?
I would check out a lot of stuff but I just don't have the time. I catch up with 'Modern Family' a little bit. I've been watching 'Dexter' and 'Breaking Bad.'

'Breaking Bad' is the best stuff ever.
It's crazy! Tell me this, are they on the fourth season? Is it completed or what?

Not till next July, I hear.
Okay, dig it. I can catch up on season three then. They left me hangin' with the frickin' airplane crash, his wife ... man oh man, I'm enthralled with that show. You hear me talkin' about it?! You're supposed to be interviewing me!

You're right. Let's see ... what do you have coming up for us?
[In booming voice] 'We the Peeples.' We're filming in Connecticut in November. Tyler Perry is producing it, Tina Gordon Chism wrote it and is directing. David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington -- it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Last thing: Mike Tyson said he would've been cool working with Mel Gibson in 'The Hangover 2' before the cast got Gibson booted. Thoughts?
Hey man, like we were talking about Charlie Sheen -- as long as you're bringing the talent, what you're doing outside of work, yeah, do that. I can't judge anybody. As long as we're bringin' the best product we can muster, I'll be cool with it.

Does Mel Gibson bring that?
Oh, Mel Gibson is bad-ass!

'The Office' airs its Halloween episode tonight at 9PM on NBC.

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