A fan convention dedicated to the relentlessly popular TV sitcom “The Office,” coming to Miami on Saturday and Sunday, will feature the largest-ever reunion of the show’s cast and crew, highlighted by the first fan-fest rendezvous of oddball romantics Dwight and Angela.
If you think you’re excited about this gathering, know that Kate Flannery, who played Meredith Palmer on “The Office” for all of its nine seasons, is right there with you.
“Let me tell you something, it is pure joy. People are so happy to be there. I just feel very supported by that experience. [‘The Office’] changed my life,” Flannery says.
The Reunion, formerly known as Dunder Con (NBC took issue with that name), takes place at the Miami Airport Convention Center from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. VIP ticket-holders get in an hour early each day.
The gathering will feature appearances from nearly 30 actors and crew members, including the performers who portrayed many of your favorite characters not named Michael Scott and Jim Halpert.
Along with Rainn Wilson (Dwight), Angela Kinsey (Angela) and Flannery, you’ll find Leslie David Baker (Stanley), Creed Bratton (Creed), Paul Lieberstein (Toby), Oscar Nuñez (Oscar), Melora Hardin (Jan), Andy Buckley (David Wallace), David Denman (Roy), Tim Meadows (Christian), Robert Ray Shafer (Bob Vance), Ameenah Kaplan (Val), Mike Starr (Angelo Grotti) and many more.
The weekend will include panel Q&A sessions and photo opportunities with the stars; more photo opps with re-creations of Michael’s office and the conference room; a Pretzel Day pretzel-eating contest with Stanley; a chance to hit Meredith with Michael’s PT Cruiser (you behind the wheel, Flannery on the hood); Dwight’s maroon Pontiac Firebird Trans Am; and a “Suck It!” music session with David Wallace (featuring a drum set, keyboard and Andy Buckley in the branded yellow sweatshirt used in the show).
Fans are encouraged to dress up as their favorite character or scene from “The Office,” with prizes to be awarded.
General admission for The Reunion is $79.95+ for Saturday, $49.95+ for Sunday and $119.95+ for both days. VIP tickets start at $249.95+, and guests age 6 and younger get in free. Autographs and selfie photos cost extra, with prices ranging by actor. For details on those prices and a complete schedule, visit ReunionCon.com.
How it began
How The Reunion came to be in Miami is simple: Co-founder Arnold Cuervo is a Miami native obsessed with “The Office.” Cuervo, who served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division until he was injured in 2003, estimates that he has seen every episode of every season of “The Office” at least 27 times.
“For me, with my PTSD and everything else, ‘The Office’ was just essential,” he says. “Just having that on and listening to it, it was very soothing. I absolutely love it.”
His professional relationship with the actors began in 2018, when he approached the collectible-figures company Funko about creating a line of their Funko Pop figures for the show’s characters. Cuervo says they didn’t see a market for them (“It’s an old show, nobody cares”), but he was told that if he could generate 10,000 followers for the idea, they’d consider working with him.
Cuervo posted some preliminary sketches on Instagram, and Flannery soon reposted them. He went from 1,000 followers to 15,000 in a day, and Funko was on board. Cuervo reached out to Flannery to autograph the figures, and she introduced Cuervo to her friend Kinsey and other cast members.
A spinoff of that business and those relationships, Cuervo’s inaugural Dunder Con was held in Chicago in 2022, and the 2023 convention (renamed The Reunion) took place in New Jersey.
He’s expecting 10,000 people to fill the 100,000-square-foot showroom each day in Miami.
“The hunger for ‘The Office’ is really just that big,” he says. “The love for the show is absolutely still there. It was very much evident from our last show, which went very, very well.”
‘Office’ work
It has been more than a decade since “The Office” ended its run on NBC in 2013, its second life in syndication and on the Peacock network finding new legions of fans, many who have never worked in an office. As a cultural touchstone and a soothing balm for the pandemic and the self-inflicted wounds of today, “The Office” is likely to be the subject of academic study for generations.
But if you ask Kinsey and Flannery — who played polar opposites in prim and officious Angela and ribald rummy Meredith — the reason for its success is not something to overthink.
“When you watch ‘The Office,’ you’re seeing a group of people who actually enjoy each other,” Kinsey says. “We had the best time at work. We spent every day trying not to laugh. And we failed.”
Speaking by phone from their homes in Los Angeles, longtime friends Kinsey and Flannery answered questions about “The Office” and reviving those memories with fans. The conversations have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Did you ever work in an office?
Kinsey: Yes, I have. When I first came to Los Angeles to be an actress, my so-called day job was as an operator for 1-800-DENTIST. [Laughs] I worked the morning shift and I talked to people about their teeth for about six hours, and then I would go to my auditions. I had to sit through human resources meetings, and I volunteered in the mail room for extra money. I even signed up to be on the party planning committee. No joke, you could volunteer and get extra money on the weekend if you helped with the Christmas party. [Laughs] When I got my role on “The Office,” and we had those party planning committee scenes, I was like, OK, what is it when art imitates life?
Flannery: Absolutely. I remember when I was in high school working at a place called Chilton. They published these auto books and they also did market research about cars. I remember there was somebody in our office who would take off their shoes. His feet smelled and there were no windows, and the windows that were in the building were tinted, so you never knew what the weather was like. It was so weird.
Q: Angela, is it true that this will be the first fan-convention reunion of Dwight and Angela?
Kinsey: Yes, this is the first time we’ll be together, so get ready for the classic Dwangela photo opp. [Laughs] I was really excited to go to this one because of how many of the cast members are going to be there. I’ve done other fan conventions that featured a lot of different shows and movies, but I’ve never been to one where it’s just about “The Office.” I’ve wanted to go ever since they began having them. I love the community, and I miss my castmates. To be able to walk into a room and see all their faces, I’m so excited. And it will probably be a little emotional for me as well.
Q: How often do you see Rainn?
Kinsey: I see Rainn a couple of times a year. Rainn is so funny. He will text me out of the blue, “Hey, idiot. Miss you.” [Laughs] That’s it, Rainn’s crusty-but-he-loves-you personality.
Q: You and Creed Bratton are neighbors? What kind of neighbor is he?
Kinsey: We are! He lives down the street from me. I love it. Every once in a while, I’ll be out on a walk and I’ll hear, “Pumpkin!” He calls me Pumpkin. We’ll go in spurts, because he goes on the road, you know? He has his album and he tours. One of my favorite things was, during the pandemic, he would walk over and we’d sit out in my front yard and he’d play the guitar.
Q: It was an ensemble cast but you all feel essential. Kate, why was it important to have a character like Meredith in the office?
Flannery: I’m so proud of the character Meredith because it’s rare to have a woman over 40 who’s not someone’s mother or wife or grandmother, but defined just by being a woman. So I was happy to be a fleshed-out, interesting, odd, shameless character. [Laughs] I’m so proud.
Q: Do you have a favorite Meredith moment?
Flannery: It’s hard to pick one, but I will say there’s an episode, “Moroccan Christmas,” where Michael Scott drags Meredith into rehab. And she thinks she’s going for a drink with him, and he takes her to rehab instead. That whole parking-lot scene was really fun to shoot. It was one of the few times where we improvised. Our show was very scripted, but we got to improvise more in that scene than, I think, the whole time I was on the show. It was just so fun. Steve [Carell] is the greatest, the best to work with. He’s just a good guy.
Q: “Office” trivia: Was your boob actually showing in the “Casual Friday” episode?
Flannery: If I tell ya, I’d have to kill ya. [Laughs] But, no, it sort of was. It was kind of like jumping out of an airplane, I have to say. There was a little, little bit of tape, but very little.
‘If you invite me to a party, I will probably show up, which is the good news and the bad news.’ — Kate Flannery
Q: At the convention, you will re-create another iconic scene, where Michael hits Meredith with his car. Fans take pictures of you splayed on top of the car?
Flannery: The first time I did it, I was like, “Absolutely!” If you invite me to a party, I will probably show up, which is the good news and the bad news. [Laughs] I’m literally on the hood of the car. It’s pretty crazy. I just love that we get to scratch very specific itches for the fans. It’s really fun.
Q: You must get recognized at the airport or out at a restaurant. What’s the funniest or strangest interaction you’ve had with a fan?
Flannery: I was in a hotel and I got dragged into someone’s wedding photos. I was like, dude, I should not be standing between the bride and groom. This is weird. And I wasn’t dressed up or anything, of course. I just hope they don’t look back and go, like, “That was a mistake!”
Kinsey: “One that will always stick with me … I was at a U2 concert and I was walking down the aisle to my seats and … these two, probably 20-something-year-old guys yelled, “Angela! Angela!” And I looked up and they yelled at the top of their lungs, “I would take ‘The Da Vinci Code’ because I would burn ‘The Da Vinci Code!’ [Laughs] That’s the thing, the fans’ creativity with the quotes they remember. I obviously get “Save Bandit!” all the time. One time, I was with my kids, I think we were at the grocery store, and this woman comes up and she goes, “Oh, green is whorish.” And I thought that was so inappropriate, then I remembered, wait, that’s one of my lines.
Q: You recently posted a picture of yourselves and [Office co-star] Jenna Fischer at lunch celebrating your birthdays. When you three walk into a restaurant together, do people’s heads explode?
Flannery: Well, in L.A. there’s a lot more famous people than us. But, luckily, people are really kind. Sometimes they mess up our order because they’re not listening, because they’re excited. And I’ve actually been that person, because I waited on a lot of famous people in Beverly Hills, so I totally get that. I actually kept my restaurant job through the first season of “The Office” because I didn’t know if we were going to get picked up [for Season 2]. I used to wait on Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Sharon Stone, Whitney Houston, Steve Martin, Robert De Niro. Lots and lots of very famous people. So I understand the responsibility when someone’s a little flustered, or thrown off balance. The thing is, if someone approaches me, it’s the first time they’re approaching me that day. Even if 25 people have stopped me that day. It’s a champagne problem, is what I’m saying. Work it out, honey! [Laughs] It’s a good thing. You want people to be excited to see you in the world.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: The Reunion, a fan convention dedicated to “The Office”
WHEN: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; VIP entry at 10 a.m. each day
WHERE: Miami Airport Convention Center, 711 NW 72nd Ave.
COST: General admission is $79.95+ for Saturday, $49.95+ for Sunday and $119.95+ for both days. VIP tickets start at $249.95+. Guests age 6 and younger get in free.
INFORMATION: ReunionCon.com
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.
