“That’s what she said” may have been one of the most frequent phrases uttered by Steve Carell on “The Office,” but in real life, the actor isn’t a fan of those kind of jokes at all. In fact, he’d argue they’re specifically “weak.”
Carell revealed his take on this particular punchline with BBC Radio 1, while playing a game of Unpopular Opinion. The game is simple: listeners call in, give their most unpopular opinions on popular things, and celebrities weigh in. And during this round, a caller stated simply that she thought “that’s what she said jokes are really weak.”
Before that caller could even explain why, Carell chimed in to say “I agree.” That said, she did give her reasoning, explaining that she often misspeaks, and hopes her friends will be “mature enough” to let it pass. But they never do, and she always ends up feeling embarrassed.
To that, Carell could relate a bit — not because he misspeaks, but because he feels awkward whenever the line is shouted at him in public. Carell noted that it was particularly uncomfortable when his kids were younger.
“Walking around with my kids, and someone would roll down the window of their car and scream ‘That’s what she said.’ With no context!” Carell recalled. “And not even in response to some, you know, it wasn’t even a joke one. No setup at all.”
He added that, whenever he’s asked to write that particular line when signing an autograph, he won’t do it.
“I just can’t, I can’t abide by that sort of thing. And I agree with you,” Carell said. “It was fun in the moment, and certainly that character thought it was funny, which was the joke. Because it was even a bad joke back then. And the character did not have a good sense of humor. So, I think people forget that, that it was coming from a place of mockery, for starters.”
You can watch Steve Carell’s full thoughts on “that’s what she said” jokes in the video above.
