Ed Helms Reveals The Most Daunting Scene He Had To Film For The Office

Throughout his lengthy career in entertainment, Ed Helms has landed some major comedic roles, including Stu in "The Hangover" and its two sequels, Rusty Griswold in "Vacation" and Brad Gurdlinger in "We're the Millers." However, for many Helms fans, he's largely known for his portrayal of Cornell University alum Andy Bernard on NBC's "The Office."

Introduced in Season 3 of the popular series, the pastel-wearing acapella enthusiast first worked at the Stamford branch of Dunder Mifflin before it merged with the Scranton location. Throughout Andy's tenure on "The Office," the character experiences many exciting moments. Those moments include following in the footsteps of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) as regional manager and dating receptionist Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) following a failed engagement to Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey). These story developments counter some of the bad ones that Andy weathers, such as his embarrassing attempt to become a singer, lack of family support, and his struggle with anger management.

Andy's journey toward conquering his anger is a key storyline in the Season 3 episode "The Return," which sees Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) leave the paper distribution company. In Dwight's absence, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) needs a new unsuspecting victim to prank. He turns to Andy after the Ivy Leaguer christens him "Big Tuna" and proceeds to grate on Jim's nerves with his cell phone ringtone. According to Helms, one particular scene in this episode was the most daunting to film during his entire time on "The Office."

In Season 3's "The Return," Andy is proud of his brand new ringtone, an acapella version of him singing Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin." To prank him, Jim secretly grabs Andy's phone and hides it in the ceiling. He then calls it from his desk, causing Andy to become enraged as he attempts to figure out where the music is coming from. He informs his colleagues that stealing personal property is "pretty freaking unfunny." As "tweedle-lee-dee-dee-dee" continues to play, Andy completely loses his cool and punches his fist through the office wall (via YouTube).

In an August 2020 episode of the "Office Ladies" podcast, hosted by "The Office" alums Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer, Helms shared details of this unforgettable scene at the request of Kinsey, whose children love both the NBC comedy and Andy. Helms revealed that the wall punch was one of the most daunting scenes he ever had to film. "I remember it was my first time doing anything that qualified as a stunt," he told his former co-stars. While a pad was fixed onto the inner wall so that Helms' hand wouldn't hit wood or aluminum, he "didn't want to screw up the punch."

"I didn't want to get it wrong," Helms added. "I think we only did two takes or so, and I skinned up my knuckles. There was a pad in there, but I think breaking through the sheetrock skinned up my knuckles. So yeah, that was pretty intense."