Phyllis's Wedding - Production

Production

It's been really fun because it's given me the freedom to go, 'This is impossible, I don't drum — or quite frankly sing all that well, and certainly not way up where those guys are singing. So just let it go and rock out as well as Kevin can.'

"Phyllis's Wedding" was written by staff writer Caroline Williams and directed by Ken Whittingham, his fifth such credit for the series. Recurring guest stars Creed Bratton, Rashida Jones, and Bobby Ray Shafer appeared in the episode. The episode is the first of the series to revolve around a wedding. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Baumgartner described the episode, "Michael plays a very important role in that wedding. He is to walk Phyllis' dad down the aisle by pushing him in a wheelchair, which in his mind is him walking Phyllis down the aisle, a very important position of authority. Of course, Phyllis has asked him to do this only so she can get six weeks of vacation time. But for him it's a place of honor, and from there, things don't go quite the way that he hopes."

The episode features Kevin Malone playing the drums in a band, which had been an idea circulated since the first season, when allusions to him being in a Steve Miller tribute band were written; the scenes had to be removed from the series due to issues negotiating with the singer. The crew later decided to have Kevin be in a Police tribute band called Scrantonicity because he "talks so low, and has very little expression, and there is no band that sings higher and with more expression than the Police." While Kevin was always intended to be the band's lead singer, executive producer Greg Daniels approached Baumgartner about possibly playing an instrument, but the actor replied he could not play anything. Daniels and Baumgartner then discussed instruments that would be "funny" to play and brought up harmonicas, saxophones, and drums. They ultimately decided on the latter because they deemed a "drumming lead singer be the funniest choice," regardless of the fact that the actor had "absolutely no drumming experience, and it's a difficult instrument." Baumgartner took some drum lessons, but found filming of the episode to be "the hardest thing that I've ever done artistically." He was aided by a stunt musician who hid behind a curtain near the band.