The Paper has premiered its second season with its first three episodes. According to Entertainment Weekly, the creators have added guest star appearances in supporting roles, including Andy Richter (Conan, Arrested Development), Jon Lovitz (Rat Race, Saturday Night Live), and Terry Gross (Fresh Air).
The Paper’s co-creator Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks and Recreation) had worked with the writers in creating the characters of the series before casting them. Lovitz and Richter were ideal choices for the supporting roles as one displayed a depress journalist type perfectly to oppose against Chelsea Frei’s (Animal Control), playing Mare, optimism and the other an alcohol expert type being a funny character to go with for the episode.
In a few episode appearances, Lovitz plays Todd Dumph, who is a grumpy employee that befriends Mare when she relocates to Cincinnati Chronicle. Frei mentions her time with the comedy icon to be a true honor. She says, “He’s incredible. He’s so funny and really just, I mean, I knew this, but just getting to work with him, such a great actor, just so present.”
Meanwhile, Sabrina Impacciatore’s (7 Women and a Murder, The White Lotus) character, Esmeralda, is send to a mandatory HR training that she has been avoiding over the eight years she’s worked at Truth Teller. Richter plays an aggressive employee of Truth Teller name Carl, who is a recovering alcoholic and potential love interest for Esmeralda. However, Esmeralda breaks Richter’s heart by abandoning him to take on gold-digging. Impacciatore felt terrible about her character treating Richter’s character so badly, thinking they should have added scenes of something really happening between the two.
In another episode, Gross from National Public Radio made a cameo in a shared scene with Esmeralda after the character claims a TTT viral story. As Esmeralda goes on bad-mouthing about an institution as a not-so-scary haunted house in an interview with Gross, the internet blows up with her comments, thinking she is mocking mental health and addiction from the institution.