The American version of the beloved mockumentary series “The Office” was launched as a word-for-word re-creation of its British predecessor. By episode two, though, the production team started to branch out with original storylines and characters. Had they not, Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton Branch Regional Manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) never would have met his nemesis, human resources representative/perennial fun-killer Toby Flenderson (Paul Leiberstein).
Initially hired as a writer, Leiberstein made his first appearance as Toby in the second episode, “Diversity Day.” Though he only had one line, he made quite an impression. As series writer Michael Schur is quoted as saying in “The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s,” “Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC, saw the [‘Diversity Day’] dailies and said, ‘Who is that redheaded guy? Get him in the show more.’” The adversarial relationship between Toby and Michael quickly proved television gold, gifting audiences with nuggets such as this one-liner from Michael in season six, “If I had a gun with two bullets and I was in a room with Hitler, Bin Laden, and Toby, I would shoot Toby twice.”
Well, Toby may be “the worst,” but the house used as his on the show, which just came up for sale this week, certainly isn’t! The charming ranch-style property is being offered by Farah Levi and Jessica Michalov of The Agency for a cool $1.098 million! The Dunder Mifflin HR position pays quite well, it would seem!
Purported to be located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in reality the single-story pad can be found at 5752 Calhoun Ave. in Sherman Oaks, just a little over three miles from Chandler Valley Center Studios, the production facility that served as the series’ home for seasons two through nine. (Season one was lensed at the now-defunct Century Studio Corporation at 3322 La Cienega Pl. in Culver City.)
