Entertainment
Missing ‘The Office’? Steve Carell Says His New HBO Comedy Has the Same “All for One” Vibe
Summary
- Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with Steve Carell, Charly Clive, John C. McGinley, and Lauren Tsai for HBO Max’s Rooster.
- Carell and Clive discuss how this series recaptures the magic of The Office and its standout costars.
- McGinley and Tsai also discuss how Bill Lawrence has once again created magic with his cast and standout costars like Danielle Deadwyler and Rory Scovel.
What made The Office so spectacularly successful is hard to put a finger on, but Steve Carell knows what made it so special for him. Fortunately for fans, the Emmy Award nominee says his HBO Max series, Rooster, recaptures the same lightning-in-a-bottle magic under the guidance of Ted Lasso and Shrinking‘s co-creator Bill Lawrence.
In Rooster, Carell plays a proud but concerned father and best-selling author Greg Russo. Katie, played by Charly Clive (The Lazarus Project), is a college professor whose personal life is in shambles, and it’s beginning to affect her work. When Greg is invited to speak at the university, he realizes his status could be an opportunity to help save Katie’s career, and jumps at the chance to be his daughter’s hero again.
While talking with Nemiroff, Carell and Clive discuss how Rooster‘s talented ensemble cast creates a vibe similar to The Office‘s “all for one” energy. They talk about the moments throughout filming when they found their own unique ways into their characters, with Lawrence’s encouragement, and the costars, like Annie Mumolo (The Idea of You) and Rory Scovel (Physical), who took their parts to the next level. Carell also reveals a very impressive moment from set that we’ll sadly never see on screen. Check out the full conversation in the video above, or in the transcript below.
Steve Carell Says ‘Rooster’s “Vibe Is Really Similar” to ‘The Office’
He credits this lightning-in-a-bottle energy to creator Bill Lawrence, the crew, and the ensemble.
PERRI NEMIROFF: Steve, I’ll start with a question for you about general casting on this show because I was reading some quotes about it and how you explained that the Rooster ensemble had a little bit of a similar vibe to the ensemble in The Office. So I was wondering, what was that similarity, and what’s the first thing you saw happen on set that signaled to you the Rooster team had that extra-special group attached?
STEVE CARELL: Well, I attribute the success, in my opinion, of the ensemble to Bill Lawrence. Much in the same way that Greg Daniels was instrumental in casting The Office, I think Bill Lawrence has a really good eye, not just for talented people, but for good, nice people, kind people who would potentially get along with each other. I think Bill did the same thing. I think everyone that he cast genuinely wanted to be part of an ensemble and wanted to support one another and wanted it to be the best show.
These are all the things that we felt on The Office. No one was more important than anybody else. Everybody was just part of this group. Cast, crew, writers, everybody just wanted to make it great. And so, in that way, the vibe was really similar.
I like those vibes. I want to see more of them in this industry.
A question for both of you. This comes from something Bill mentioned in another interview. He was saying that when you all did your first table read, he specifically told you, “Within a couple of weeks, I want you all to have an exceptionally greater percentage of ownership over your character.” So, for each of you, do you remember the first moment when that happened, the first moment you thought of something or you did something, and you’re like, “Wow, this character is uniquely my own now?”
CHARLY CLIVE: Oh, I know what mine is! Before I said my line, I said, “Ew,” and then I said my line. Then Bill thought it was kind of funny, and he was like, “Why did you do that?” And I was like, “Because that to me, if I’m embarrassed, I’d be like, ‘Ew.’” It was something that Greg said, and my instinct was to say, “Ew!” He was like, “Oh, that’s interesting. That’s how Katie shows embarrassment,” and he found it funny. I was like, “Oh, okay, great! That’s funny.” I didn’t realize that was going to happen that way, and it was great.
He was very open to if I had suggestions or if I felt like I wanted to talk, or have ideas about things. Bill just loves to play. He was like, “Okay, great. And then what about this? What about this?” He’s very, very “Yes, and.”
CARELL: Almost instantly, really, everybody was taking ownership. The fact that he said that at the first table read really set a tone, and it all starts from the top. That culture starts with him and the fact that he was saying, “This is yours. This is all of ours, so make it yours, and add to it or subtract, or let’s talk about stuff if it’s not working for you.” And he was true to his word. He never held us to anything that they had written.
The other side of it is that the scripts were great. They were all really funny and heartfelt, and felt lived-in. But within that, just being able to have options and be able to play and being able to try to make each other laugh, that’s another thing that was similar to me in terms of those two experiences. It’s got to be fun. That makes it less work. It’s fun for everybody. It’s fun for the crew, too, to not really know what’s going to happen this take. So, everyone’s sort of in it every time. It’s not just going through the motions.
“Well, well, well… how the turntables…”
Annie Mumolo Is a ‘Rooster’ Scene-Stealer
“I knew, but I don’t think what a lot of people knew going in was that there’s also an enormous amount of depth to her as an actor.”
I’ll build on that a little bit because I love forcing actors to give their costars flowers. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I do want to tease how good everybody around the two of you is in this show. Can you each tell me something you saw another actor do on the Rooster set that would make you want to tell a potential viewer, “You think you know what they’re capable of, just wait until you see what they do on our show?”
CARELL: Well, the first person that comes to mind is Annie Mumolo.
CLIVE: Me too!
CARELL: Who everybody knows is a super funny person. I knew, but I don’t think what a lot of people knew going in was that there’s also an enormous amount of depth to her as an actor. This crazy character she plays can turn on a dime and break your heart in the most grounded, real way, while at the same time doing the most fantastically funny things. Really, it’s masterful.
But that’s just one example. They’re across the board. The people who play the students in the show, a lot of them, right at first, might have been a little intimidated. It’s a new environment, and they may not be as experienced as some of the older actors, but within hours, almost, they were feeling that vibe. They were able to start taking ownership of their own roles and making them their own and improvising. Incredibly funny! So, it’s really across the board. There are 100 different examples I could give.
CLIVE: I thought of Annie first, too, because Annie also can make a facial expression. Annie, without saying anything, just a simple facial expression, can really make you break character. I didn’t get to do that much with Annie, but I sort of begged to, and Bill was like, “We’ll find a place for you guys to interact.” And it was one of the harder days because I find her so hilariously funny, and every take she did something completely different, which is so much fun.
But lots of people are like that. I’d also like to say a special mention to Rory Scovel, who was just exceptionally funny. Sometimes he’d be like, “Oh, I’ve got this good idea for a joke,” and then sometimes he’d sort of set you up for an open goal that you didn’t realize was there. He always had such a great energy. But everybody did.
CARELL: That’s the other part of it, is that people weren’t thinking about just their own performance. People did want to set other people up. That’s another thing that reflects my experience on The Office. It was all for one. It was, “Let’s share it. This is all of ours.” And I think that shows are better when that happens, when you’re sharing it.
I’ll end on a somewhat silly question, because I’m obsessed with you throwing the pennies into the jar, and there’s also a particular episode where there’s some good college party games. For each of you, what particular college party game do you either think you would be the best at, or maybe you were the best at?
CLIVE: Beer pong for me.
CARELL: I was pretty good at beer pong, I think.
Are you actually throwing the pennies into the jars or is that movie magic?
CARELL: I mean, I didn’t hit all of them, for sure, but the ones that you see, I got. And you know the one with the ping pong ball, where I turn around and throw it?
No way!
CARELL: That went in, but they didn’t have it on camera. I swear that actually happened.
I’m going to choose to believe you even without the proof.
CARELL: It kills me that they didn’t because I did it! But you never know. The first take, I did it, and it went right in, and I felt the whole crew went, “Oh my god!” We could have never used it because they were all screaming. [Laughs]
‘Rooster’ Is a “Hall of Fame” of Talent
Fans will no doubt be falling in love with this cast, as we did with Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and more.
In addition to talking with Carell and Clive, Nemiroff also had the opportunity to speak with Scrubs alum John C. McGinley, who plays Dean Walter Mann in Rooster, and Lauren Tsai (Legion), who plays Sunny, the grad student that Katie’s husband and colleague, Archie (Ted Lasso‘s Phil Dunster), cheats on her with.
During their conversation, Tsai explains what it’s like to go from a tonally varied series like Legion to a Bill Lawrence comedy, saying, “I feel like I’m acting for the first time.” McGinley, a fan favorite on Scrubs as the lovably grouchy Dr. Perry Cox, also shares how he knew Lawrence had done it again with the Rooster ensemble, calling their cast, from Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson) to Dunster, a “hall of fame” of talent. To dig into how special this cast is, they each share moments from standout castmates, reveal the magic behind the truth barrel, the seemingly easy “human” things that are trickiest to act out, and more. Check out the video above for the full interview.
Rooster debuts on March 8, available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes premiere every Sunday.
- Release Date
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March 8, 2026
- Network
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HBO
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