Trivia / The Office USS 2 E 11 Booze Cruise

• California Doubling: The cruise is set on Lake Wallenpaupack, a real, man-made lake east of Scranton (a sign on the boat lists the real town of Hawley as its home base). The episode was filmed on the harbor in Long Beach, California, and the dock and the lights in the distance look a lot more like a warm ocean port in California than a rural, wooded Pennsylvania lake in winter (which is why we don't see too many wide exterior shots on the cruise).
• The Cast Showoff: Averted with Michael, who is a terrible dancer and even worse guitarist. A deleted scene shows Creed is a great guitar player.
• The Danza: Brenda Withers as Brenda Matlow from Corporate. Withers is actually Mindy Kaling's longtime friend and writing partner, and this episode is one of only two acting credits for Withers (the other was a brief recurring role as an assistant DA on Law & Order: Criminal Intent).
• Deleted Scene:
  • Jan brings Brenda in to Michael's office, and Michael unsuccessfully tries to invite Jan on the cruise and back to his condo later.
  • Dwight says his grandfather told him there's a monster in the lake that "eats Catholics".
  • Ryan studies for his exam on the boat's toilet.
  • Michael asks to borrow the band's guitar, but can only play a bad version of the "Smoke on the Water" riff. Creed asks if he can try, and plays a stellar Blues piece, which Michael jealously calls "bush league". Creed then talks about being a member of The Grass Roots in The '60s (just like the real Creed Bratton).
    Creed: We toured with Janis Joplin, The Doors, Cream. We had a lot of fun. And now I do quality assurance for a paper company. As you can imagine, drugs played a part...