Story Photos
 'The Office' star Rainn Wilson interviews geek contest contestant Rick Little, center, Saturday night at the Kelso Theatre Pub while contestant Don Correll listens. Photo by Greg Ebersole / The Daily News.
|
Dwight's big night
Monday, November 19, 2007 9:25 AM PST
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articleIt Rainned on Kelso Saturday night as a bona fide TV and movie star poked fun at local notable citizens, signed autographs and kept smiling as dozens of digital cameras flashed in his face.
Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight Schrute in the hit NBC-TV comedy “The Office,” staged a one-man show at the Kelso Theatre Pub. About 400 patrons paid $50 each to see Wilson at the sold-out event.
Wilson’s appearance was a fundraiser for Longview Stageworks. His father-in-law, Ed Putka, is president of the theater company.
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, South Pacific Avenue had an aura of glitz. Security guards in yellow T-shirts patrolled outside the Back Stage Cafe next to the Theatre Pub.
People who had paid an extra $50 to meet Wilson jammed the cafe, chatting and preparing for their moment with the star.
Ashley Stevens, who’s acted in local theater presentations, had brought an “Office” DVD for Wilson to autograph.
Derek Bluhm of Chehalis was wearing a T-shirt that said “Dunder Mifflin,” the name of the fictitious company in “The Office.” “I watch it all the time,” said Bluhm, who came from Chehalis for the event. “I have all the DVDs.”
Rick Little, a local actor who’s a funeral director by trade, said he liked Wilson when he played an assistant mortician in “Six Feet Under.”
Meredith Kretzler of Longview brought the latest issue of People magazine, with a picture of Wilson as one of the “sexiest nerds of the year.”
Wilson’s appearance was a reunion with several people who already knew him through the Putkas. Wilson and his wife, Holiday Reinhorn, were married 12 years ago at a cabin on the Kalama River owned by Randy and Sheli Sweet. “Our daughters were his flower girls,” Sheli Sweet said, recalling that the bride had arrived by kayak.
“He’s always been funny,” Sweet said. “He’s quite the nerd.”
Finally, at 6:50 Dwight/Rainn appeared and was quickly mobbed. “What’s going on, everybody?” he said calmly as cameras flashed and flashed.
Wilson wore a plaid flannel shirt with a white T-shirt showing at the neck and blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up. He would have looked in place at Stuffy’s, which he later mentioned is his favorite local eatery.
Wilson hugged Sheli and started signing autographs.
On Stevens’ DVD, he wrote, “Ashley -- You suck.”
“That’s a Dwight Schrute thing,” explained her mother, Patty.
He autographed Bob Martinson’s dog necktie with “Dwight hates dogs.”
Lesia Blanchard of Kalama posed for a photo. “I could almost cry I’m so excited!” she said afterwards.
Wilson even recorded a “This is Dwight Schrute” message on 14-year-old Tug Harris’ cell phone. “I love “The Office,” Harris said.
Then everyone moved over to the theater for the Schrute show.
The main event was a geek competition, with Wilson coaching five solid citizens to look their stupidest.
“What is your geekiest trait?” he asked Cowlitz County Commissioner George Raiter. “Possibly the way I dance,” said Raiter, who later got to show off his talents with a ventriloquist’s dummy -- because, Wilson explained, politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths.
Wilson asked C.C. Bridgewater, a state appeals court judge, what his initials stand for. “Carroll Calvin,” Bridgewater replied.
“Shall we just give him the crown now?” Wilson replied.
Lower Columbia College drama instructor Don Correll correctly answered a question about “Dungeons and Dragons” and Rob Harris, a vice president of J.H. Kelly, wowed the crowd with a butt-shaking dance during the talent competition. But Little outdid them by singing “Sixteen Tons.”
As registered on an electric “geek-o-meter,” audience applause clearly favored Little, but the award went to Harris. It was fixed, Wilson admitted, because J.H. Kelly is a corporate sponsor of Stageworks.
After showing an “Office” episode and a bloopers reel, Wilson took questions from the audience.
He said he supports the current Hollywood writers strike. “It’s a very necessary thing and a justified thing,” Wilson said. “Five or 10 years from now, no one knows how we’re going to get our media.” Writers deserve to get royalties whether shows are sent by cable or streamed over the Internet, he said.
Wilson said “Office” cast members get along well and have fun during their 10-12 hours a day on the set. “It’s like a crazy family,” he said. It takes about five days to film one half-hour show, with much of the story ad-libbed.
Steve Carell, who plays the “Office” boss from hell, is “a swell guy” in real life, Wilson said. “He’s a real comic tour de force. I’ve learned a lot working with him.”
After Wilson left the stage, several dozen fans lined up in the lobby to buy souvenirs that would raise more money for Stageworks -- $10 for a photo, $20 for an autograph and $50 for a signed Dwight Schrute bobble head.
It seemed a small price for something to help remember a magic evening when the home of the Hilanders seemed a bit like Hollywood.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories