As the newest cast member of NBC’s <em>The Office</em>, Ellie Kemper knows only too well that it will take time to build a fan base like that of her costars. For proof, Kemper says, look no further than her mother. The fresh-faced actress, who plays Erin the receptionist, recently caught a flight home to St. Louis. Costar Phyllis Smith took the same flight, because she’s from St. Louis too. “All morning, people recognized Phyllis,” Kemper says. “It was amazing. They’d see her and they’d come up and tell her, ‘Oh, I love you on the show.’ Everyone was so nice to her.” Then, at the St. Louis airport, Kemper’s mother did the same thing. “My mom was there to pick me up,” Kemper recalls, “and she ran over saying, ‘Phyllis, oh, Phyllis!’ I mean, she really wanted to meet Phyllis, which is understandable because everyone loves her. But it was funny. My mom was like, ‘Ellie, get in the car. ... Oh, Phyllis, give me a hug!’” The actress admits she’s exaggerating a wee bit. “She’s actually an amazing mom,” Kemper says. “But it’s better for the story, unfortunately, if I make her sound bad.” But Kemper has no reason to worry. Originally hired for just four episodes last season, she appears to be fitting in fine at the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company. <em>The Office</em> airs at 8 p.m. CT Thursdays on NBC.</p><p> <strong>Were you a fan of the show before you were cast as Erin?</strong> “I had crushes on these people for so long, not in any kind of romantic way, but for their talent and for this extraordinary show that they’ve created. So to be involved in this now is such an honor. It’s sort of a regular occurrence that I have to pinch myself, just to remind myself that it’s real.”</p><p><strong>That being the case, it must have been very surreal to audition, given that several of the writer-producers also play familiar characters. Right?</strong> “Oh, my gosh, so surreal. I had met Greg Daniels, the executive producer, when they were putting together Parks and Recreation. But when I went back a month later and read for this part, it was so strange. Kelly was there, although she wasn’t Kelly the character; she was Mindy Kaling, a writer-producer. And Toby was there, but he wasn’t Toby the character either; he was Paul Lieberstein, another writer-producer. And Ed Helms was there reading with me as Andy. I was so overwhelmed by it all that, after I left the audition, I had another audition to go to and I missed my exit on the highway and was late.”</p><p><strong>Not only did it turn into a full-time role for you, but now you’re also costarring with Mindy in the latest of <em>The Office Webisodes</em> on NBC.com.</strong> “I cannot think of a more ideal project that I would rather be involved with than a pop music video with these elaborate costumes with Mindy Kalin. It’s just beyond my wildest dreams. Kelly and Erin form a girl band and they put together a music video. And they think it’s the coolest thing that has ever been made, but the result is, well, I’ll leave it to viewers to decide.”</p><p> <strong>Strutting in Spandex and boots and acting like a wannabe pop star. How fun is that?</strong> “Exactly. What more could a girl want? As Ellie Kemper, I do dance in front of the mirror from time to time. My fantasy is to be dancing in a video like that Beyoncé video, ‘Single Ladies.’ That’s my dream, but I know I can’t actually do that. So this, dressing up in gold lamé, a Lady Gaga-esque thing, is the next-best thing.” </p><p><strong>Andy Bernard (played by Helms) is not good at expressing his feelings for Erin. Do you think Erin is clueless about his interest in her? Or is she just pretending not to notice?</strong> “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. In the season finale last year, there were a couple of glances exchanged, like, ‘Oh, I’m flattered that this guy is looking at me.’ Then that seemed to go away for a while. I know we were exploring other stories. And then there was the wedding, where Erin offers him her sweater for his damaged testicles. I think it’s more than a friendship in her mind. I think she enjoys spending time with him and he is a boy, so this is a different dynamic than, say, Kelly and Erin. But you also have to work your feminine wiles, so you can’t be too obvious about anything.”</p><p> <strong>For a recent episode, the one in which Michael Scott thought he was being pressured by the Mafia, the TV listings said that Erin ruins Pam’s painting. It must have been cut and will wind up as deleted scenes in the DVD set, right?</strong> “Yes, it didn’t happen in the episode. It was cut. But I believe they’re on the Web site, so they’re out there, which is cool.”</p><p><strong>Still, does it break your heart when your scenes are cut out of the show?</strong> “Yes, but I have talked to other cast members about this. The very first scene in the first episode I was in got cut out. I said, ‘Oh, no. I did a bad job. They hate me. They’re going to fire me. They must have thought there’s no way they could air that.’ But then you talk to people and then you see from all the deleted scenes on the DVDs that, of course, there’s just not enough time. Scenes get deleted all the time. It’s a good problem to have that there’s too much good material and they can’t use it all. The only thing is, with that particular episode, I was sad because my mom’s friends from St. Louis were e-mailing and saying, ‘We saw the episode description and you have a big part in the story tonight. We can’t wait.’ And then there was no painting.”</p><p><strong>Have you had a favorite moment on the show so far?</strong> “Shooting the entire wedding episode was amazing. Because that was, for me, a classic episode in a classic television series. I had to stop and think throughout the week, ‘This will never happen to you again, Ellie. You need to appreciate everything that is going on.’ Shooting the wedding dance was sort of like live theater, because there were all these people in the pews and we were dancing down the aisle. And I did this leap and my dress goes up and my gross pink underpants are in plain view. The editor told me, ‘Ellie, we’re editing that scene and I just want you to know you can see your underwear.’ I said, ‘Oh, well, you’re not going to use that take, right?’ And she said, ‘No, I think we’re going to use that.’ So I think I made my family very proud in that moment. But you know what? That’s exactly the type of thing that happens in a wedding. There are mistakes that are made. So it’s fine. It’s just pink underwear.”