Michael Schur is known for being one of the brilliant writers and producers in television, particularly in the comedy department. He’s one of the key minds behind shows such as The Office, Parks and Recreation (co-creator), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (co-creator), and The Good Place (creator).
Schur (@KenTremendous) even starred in The Office, as Dwight Schrute’s cousin and beet farm co-owner. Yes, Schur played the character “Mose”, the crazy — and fairly disturbing — guy with the full beard and peculiar running form.
Well, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Schur recently, and he called playing Mose “a waking nightmare”:
“Playing Mose Schrute was a waking nightmare,” Schur explained. “My boss, Greg Daniels, forced me to do it as a way to cause me pain. And it was terrible. The first time I did it, I had to grow a real neck beard. Every time after that, he ‘let’ me use a fake beard, which is maybe worse, because those beards are terrible.”
The fact that Schur often shot his scenes in the California summer heat while wearing work boots and wool clothing didn’t do much to improve things.
“They would give me one line, and then they would always say the same thing, which is, ‘I think it’s funnier if he doesn’t say anything,’ and they would cut my line,” Schur said. “It was brutal.”
As you could see in the video, Schur was having a laugh as he said all this, but running around in those clothes with a fake beard in the California heat doesn’t exactly sound fun. Especially when they then cut your line from the show.
But, Mose still was involved in some pretty classic scenes, as you can see in these clips:
https://youtu.be/5AHBsxlwG40
https://youtu.be/KM3uS2kbJYU
