Celebrities often have a complicated relationship with the Television Critics Association. Award-winning stars often embrace the room like they’re greeting old friends. Meanwhile, stars who don’t fall into the category of being critical darlings sometimes seem less excited to find themselves in the middle of critical cross-hairs. However, Jenna Fischer has an especially interesting relationship with the organization. During TCA’s winter 2018 tour, Fischer revealed that she actually used to work in the transcription room for the organization and that she was fired after getting some life-changing advice from Molly Shannon.

The former star of The Office told her story at the end of ABC’s panel for its new rom-com, Splitting Up Together, which stars Fischer and Oliver Hudson. “Twenty years ago I worked a TCA event as a transcriber in the transcription room,” she said. “If we got our work done on time, we could go to the parties — I’m putting those in quotes. There was a Saturday Night Live party, and I wanted to attend more than anything, but it was at like 5 ‘clock.”

It’s common for TCA days to end with a group gathering or happy hour where critics can ask talent questions. “I pretended to be sick and I went outside and I changed into a party dress in my car. I sneaked back in to the SNL party where I met Molly Shannon, and she gave me some advice that changed my life — it was wonderful,” Fischer revealed.

“And on the way out ran into my boss, and I got fired,” she concluded. “It’s always very surreal for me to be back here.”

However, at least that job-ending advice seemed to be worth it. At the time when Fischer approached Shannon, the actress had been in LA for a year, didn’t have an agent, and no one knew who she was. The whole story was detailed in Fischer’s book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide.

“[Molly Shannon] could have just walked away or been like hey weirdo party crasher, but she didn’t. She took me by the shoulders and she said, ‘Never give up. That’s what you need to do. You need to never give up because it took me 10 years before I landed on SNL. Ten years. And nobody knew who I was. And I just kept going, and then everything changed after I got SNL. So don’t give up,'” Fischer said.

The comedy star revealed that interaction changed her life. “As a young artist struggling I walked away from that like ‘If it took Molly Shannon 10 years, who am I to be frustrated that one year later I’m still working on it?’ And I just held that in my brain,” she said. “Ten years, 10 years, 10 years. It really got me through some tough moments.”

It is an absolute delight to have Fisher back in the public light with the upcoming premiere of Splitting Up Together.