Brow Beat

Watch Seth Rogen, Adam Scott, and More in Unseen Auditions for The Office

Over the course of nine seasons, the U.S. version of The Office launched the careers of many previously unknown performers, including Mindy Kaling, B.J. Novak, and Craig Robinson. The upcoming Season 9 DVD release features a fun, fascinating bonus feature: audition tapes of several now-famous faces who didn’t quite make the cut after casting began in 2003. There’s Adam Scott pre-Parks and Recreation; Seth Rogen shortly before breaking out in Knocked Up; John Cho on the cusp of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle-fame. Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet is also here, as well as Brow Beat favorite Kathryn Hahn.

And then there’s Bob Odenkirk, who was eventually cast as Michael Scott. Of course, things didn’t go quite as planned, and when the producers’ first choice, Carell, became available after filming a failed pilot of a different NBC show, Odenkirk’s stardom was temporarily delayed. But by the time he made an appearance in the final season of The Office (as a Michael Scott-type in “Moving On“), Odenkirk had gotten another big TV break, playing the slimy Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad.