Wendi McLendon-Covey Says Steve Carell Was a 'Good Kisser' onThe Office

Mar. 15, 2025

Wendi McClendon-Covey (left); Steve Carrell.Photo:Getty(2)

Getty(2)

Wendi McLendon-Coveywas only onThe Officefor one episode but it was a memorable experience, nonetheless.

The 55-year-old actress starred as a fleeting love interest forSteve Carellin a season 5 episode of the hit sitcom, and she’s lifting the lid on what it was like to work on the show.

During a segment onWatch What Happens Liveon Nov. 14, McLendon-Covey was asked to describe several of her previous costars. When Carell, 62, was mentioned, she admitted he’s a “good kisser.”

Andy Cohenthen asked when she’d worked with him, and she recalled playing “concierge Marie” onThe Officein 2008. Her character was a fleeting love interest of Carell’s Michael Scott after his devastating breakup with Holly Flax (Amy Ryan).

“It was a one-off…and it was after I was fired from another job for being too ‘ugly.’ I flew home and there was an offer for me to be onThe Officethe next day,” she said. “And it was like, ‘Gee, I think I just fell in a pile of blessings.'”

She said “no one ever saw” the other job she was fired from, and even when Cohen pushed her to name it, she said, “You would never have known what it was — and it ruined careers.”

Wendi McLendon-Covey, Steve Carell kiss on ‘The Office’.NBC

NBC

McLendon-Covey is now starring inSt. Denis Medical, a new NBC workplace mockumentary seriesthat is already reminding fans ofThe Office.

She told PEOPLE earlier this month that she’s “never played a person like Joyce,” her character on the show, who is the executive director of the hospital.

“I love Joyce. She’s a bit of a mess,” the actress said of the “former oncologist,” who is now “a hospital administrator, which means she works her butt off more than 40 hours a week trying to drum up funds.”

“She’s in constant fundraising mode, and she’s just bubbling under the surface. She’s going to explode at some point, and so I love playing people like that who are trying to hide their real emotions.”

Wendi McLendon-Covey as Joyce in ‘St. Denis Medical’.Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

It was a hard transition, though, after she spent 10 years onThe Goldbergs,which wrapped up just as she was coming onboard toSt. Denis Medical.

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The Officecan be streamed in full on Peacock, andSt. Denis Medicalairs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

source: people.com