TVSquad

Ah, summertime. The heat, the haze, the traffic, the lack of The Office; what's not to hate? Luckily, the brilliant folks behind The Office have been busy figuring out ways to tide us over until the fall. Starting Thursday, July 10, NBC.com will be airing Office webisodes. For those of you who like your Dunder Mifflin-ites live, Mindy Kaling (Kelly) will be hosting the Office Games in Scranton on Saturday, July 19.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) as they discussed the webisodes, Office Games, friendly competition and the status of a few MIA Dunder Mifflin employees.

July is right around the corner, which means just one thing ... new webisodes of The Office. Starting July 10th, you'll be able to tune into the NBC website to view the latest adventures of the characters that normally don't have top billing during the normal seasons. And yet, they are just as funny (sometimes funnier) than the big stars that grace the show week after week.

As we reported back in May, this set of webisodes will feature Darryl, Oscar and, most prominently, Kevin. The plot of these webisodes are a bit fuzzy from the previews, but it seems that Kevin is in a bit of financial trouble and needs to take a loan out in order to cover some losses. During this time he is taken under the wing of Darryl, who helps Kevin reach his goals. All that, and we get to see Darryl wear a suit.

There are two videos after the jump. The first features scenes from the upcoming webisodes. The second is a behind the scenes look at the episodes by stars Oscar Nunez (Oscar), Craig Robinson (Darryl) and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin). It's here that we learn that Brian has filmed the webisodes sans pants. Something that us fans probably didn't want to know about.

I'm talking about the American version of the show. I'll put the answer to this question on the second page, but it's actually pretty easy to figure out. Just remember that The Grass Roots was a band in the 1960s and 70s (that leaves out 98% of the cast right there, they're too young) and that it was all male (that leaves out Pam and Angela, even if they were old enough). I think you've probably figured out who it is by now, but that doesn't make the video after the jump any less amusing.

He's the one on the left in the striped sweater.

OK, I'm officially jealous of Ryan Budke. He's been visiting the sets of some very cool shows, and now he's on the set of The Office! He even gets to sit down behind Michael Scott's desk and talk on the phone. He doesn't just talk to some of the stars (including Jenna Fischer and Brian Baumgartner), but it's actually filmed like a lost episode of The Office, where the characters talk about Netscape and what they think it is. Great stuff! But if Budke visits Studio 60, I'm never speaking to him again.