Second Drink: Moroccan Christmas

This week we're breaking down Moroccan Christmas! When Meredith gets too drunk at Phyllis’ Moroccan themed Christmas party and lights her own hair on fire, Michael forces an intervention. Phyllis also reveals to the entire office that Angela is having an affair with Dwight. Well, everyone in the office except Andy… The ladies talk about how this was a big prop week for prop master, Phil Shea, Jenna finds something special while cleaning out her desk and Angela shares one of the best Michael Scott alts that didn’t make it into the show. We also hear clips from Stephen Saux on what it was like to test out the fakey Dwight desk used in the cold open, and Jen Celotta shares a very funny Paul Liberstein story. So get ready for a big shot of Michael Scott and enjoy this episode! See Office Ladies Animated on Comedy Central’s Cartuna: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5rmvJo2L49IK-vKu2qB-fvx https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5rmvJo2L49IK-vKu2qB-fvx__;!! NUnUjx3wvH5xgA! Kwvcwpx7NJPM_6YVNU-8TzTXPbsm8SkQkM24uPwwX7Sd7ahvvD5JQvhLuUKBIhaHElA$ Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question:https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram:OfficeLadiesPod https://www.instagram.com/officeladiespod/ Follow Us on YouTube https://youtube.com/@officeladiespod?si=D0oKJwFJuK9txzFM Follow Us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@officeladiespod?_t=ZT-8y1gqTrJyOs&_r=1

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Welcome to your second drink of Moroccan Christmas. This episode has a little bit of everything. It has an intervention, a scandalous affair, and Princess Unicorn dolls. And we have a lot of fun details. We reached out to folks from the cast and crew for behind the scenes trivia. Listen to this list. Justin Spitzer, Aaron Schur, Halsted Sullivan, Jen Salata, Randy Cordray, James Carrey, Stephen Socks, and Kate Flannery all shared amazing stuff with us for this episode.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  I mean, we left no rock unturned for this one, for sure.

• 0:36Speaker 00

  This is true.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  So let's dig into the second drink. A lot of you wrote in about the Princess Unicorn storyline. And like Jenna said, we have great details about how it all came together. And Jenna, when we broke down the episode originally, you mentioned there was a commercial for the doll, but we never played it on the podcast. Well, shout out to Office Ladies listener, Char T., who said, OMG, I found the Princess Unicorn commercial. And she shared the link with us. So I guess Peacock put it on their official YouTube a few years ago. You gotta hear it.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  It's Princess Unicorn. Wow. She's Princess Unicorn, royalty with a horn. Wearing the prettiest gowns ever worn. She's so elegant, so regal. I love her horn. Whenever you need a friend, she'll be there till the end. Goodnight, Princess Unicorn. I love you. On Princess Unicorn, you can depend. My horn can pierce the sky.

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Wow. It's amazing. Royalty with a horn.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:50Speaker 00

  Well, Angela, when we first broke down this episode, you mentioned two things that you could make out on the dry erase board over an accounting.

• 1:59Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:00Speaker 00

  But we had a listener that was able to decipher almost the entire board. It is an amazing list of stuff. Izzy T. from Illinois wrote in with this list. And I thought you would enjoy this lady because you love a background catch.

• 2:14Speaker 01

  I do, I really do.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Izzy said, "I looked very intensely at the whiteboard calendar. That comes up around 1 minute 47 seconds. And I think I have found out most of the month's schedule for December. On the 10th, there is copier machine maintenance at 10 a.m. and an Oxford rep due at 9 a.m. On the 15th, there is a Christmas party planning committee meeting at 4 p.m. in the conference room. On the 17th, there is the Scranton CFC annual holiday luncheon at Cooper's at 12 a.m." And Izzy wrote, "Yes, it really says a.m." On the 18th, there is an accounting staff meeting at 9 a.m. On the 23rd of December, the warehouse is closed.

• 3:00Speaker 00

  And it says, "No shipping until 12:26." Also, on the 24th, it says, "Christmas Eve, office closed at noon. Office Christmas party 1 p.m." On the 25th, it says, "Merry Christmas." On December 30th, it says, "Warehouse closed. No shipping until January 2nd." And then on December 31st, it says, "Office closed." And then for the 31st and the 1st, it says, "Happy New Year."

• 3:30Speaker 01

  So much detail. That is amazing background catch work. Because I remember, I tried to zoom in. Pretty much the thing that stood out to me was that the Christmas party was on Christmas Eve, which I thought was hilarious. Also, a lot of people wrote in about the Angela and Phyllis Party Planning Committee power struggle. Elise M. from Pennsylvania says, "I absolutely love the scenes between Angela and Phyllis. They are hilarious. They make me laugh every time I watch this episode. How did you all stop from completely cracking up?" Well, Elise, it was really difficult not to laugh. And we did laugh a ton. But just for fun, I wanted to see if there were any extra bits between me and Phyllis. And I found in the candy bag alts, all of these Phyllis Talking Head alts.

• 4:15Speaker 01

  They are so hilarious, and I wanted to read you one, okay?

• 4:18Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  It's an alt about how she's kind of flexing that she's planning this Christmas party herself. Okay, ready?

• 4:26Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Phyllis.

• 4:29Speaker 01

  The Christmas party I organized this year is going to be our best one yet. I'm really good at this. I'm considering starting a party planning business on the side. I'd call it a touch of phyllis because everything's a little sweeter with a touch of phyllis. And then she takes out a notepad and says, oh, that's good. I can see that on a bench somewhere. I love it. A touch of phyllis.

• 4:54Speaker 00

  Well, lastly, we got a fan mail flurry. Samantha H, Debbie R, Nathan S, Michaela N, Allison D, Mackenzie P, and Tamara L. all wrote in because of a little bit of banter you and I had. Angela, I asked you why the character of Angela Martin was always so angry at Christmas. And Ange, you said that there are levels to Angela Martin's anger, but that the quote, "Christmas [BLEEP]" is a whole other level of [BLEEP]." Well, we got several messages. Like I said, a fan mail flurry of people saying, "Please make Christmas [BLEEP]" into a sweater." Another one said, quote, "I really feel like Christmas [BLEEP]" needs to be on some seasonal merch." Just really cracked me up.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Oh, Christmas [BLEEP] is really fun. I totally forgot about that. Now you guys all have my wheels turning. All right. Well, that was really fun. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. And please go to office ladies dot com to submit your favorite second drink moments and we'll share them on the podcast.

• 5:54Speaker 00

  And now here's our second drink of Moroccan Christmas.

• 6:02Speaker 00

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 6:03Speaker 01

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 6:04Speaker 00

  We were on The Office together.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  And we're best friends.

• 6:07Speaker 00

  And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Rewatch Podcast just for you.

• 6:11Speaker 01

  Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

• 6:18Speaker 00

  We're The Office Ladies.

• 6:23Speaker 00

  I hope you're in a festive mood today because we're talking about Moroccan Christmas.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  So get out your Christmas plaid, but put away that nativity scene because Phyllis is going to throw you the party of a lifetime.

• 6:34Speaker 00

  She sure is. It's season five, episode 11, written by Justin Spitzer and directed by Paul Feig. Here is your summary. As you said, Phyllis throws a Moroccan themed Christmas party, which receives compliments from the majority of the group, but some serious contempt from Angela.

• 6:56Speaker 01

  Oh, she is not happy.

• 6:57Speaker 00

  Dwight runs a black market doll trade out of the office and Meredith gets wasted and sets herself on fire. That's a doozy of a sentence.

• 7:09Speaker 01

  Quite a work party.

• 7:11Speaker 00

  Michael decides to hold an intervention demanding Meredith get help for her alcoholism and then talk about a doozy of a work party.

• 7:19Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 7:20Speaker 00

  Phyllis spills the beans about Angela and Dwight in front of everyone.

• 7:25Speaker 01

  Everyone. She announces it to the whole bullpen.

• 7:28Speaker 00

  Except Andy.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  Oh, Andy.

• 7:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Andy in a sitar.

• 7:33Speaker 00

  His goodbye as he's leaving broke my heart.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  We're getting ahead. We're getting ahead.

• 7:39Speaker 00

  All right. Fast fact number one. This was the third Christmas themed episode of The Office.

• 7:47Speaker 01

  Yes, it was.

• 7:48Speaker 00

  Season five, but only three Christmas episodes. Why? Well, the first season, we didn't have one. And then in season four, it was the writer's strike.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  I know. We missed a Christmas party.

• 8:01Speaker 00

  It has been two years since we had a Christmas party on The Office.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  They were always some of my favorite episodes, so I was excited.

• 8:09Speaker 00

  Me too. I liked them because they were majority group scenes.

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:13Speaker 00

  We were all together all the time. It was like a whole episode of Conference Room. So lots of bits, lots of laughing.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  We would just have the best time. We would get loopy.

• 8:24Speaker 00

  We would.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  But in the best way.

• 8:27Speaker 00

  Fast fact number two, the inspiration for this episode, I was able to get in touch with writer Justin Spitzer.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  What did Justin have to say?

• 8:36Speaker 00

  He told me that they had had these two ideas rolling around for a really long time. The first one was the idea of a Moroccan Christmas. They just loved the idea that Phyllis had thrown that amazing goodbye party for Toby.

• 8:51Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  And that maybe the success had gone to her head a little bit.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  And she's gonna go big, big theme.

• 8:57Speaker 00

  Yes. They loved that this would piss Angela off.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 9:02Speaker 00

  So this was like one card, right?

• 9:05Speaker 01

  You know what the card probably said?

• 9:07Speaker 00

  What?

• 9:07Speaker 01

  Phyllis happy, Angela pissed. Christmas, question mark.

• 9:12Speaker 00

  Why is your character always so angry on Christmas?

• 9:14Speaker 01

  She's angry all the time.

• 9:16Speaker 00

  But it really comes out at the holidays.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  She has levels of anger. Sometimes she's like suspicious bitch. Sometimes she's happy bitch. Sometimes she's sad bitch.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 9:26Speaker 01

  And then Christmas bitch is a whole different bitch.

• 9:28Speaker 00

  Oh, boy. Buckle in for Christmas bitch. Okay, so the other card that they had on the wall for a really long time said Meredith intervention.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 9:39Speaker 00

  So they decided to marry these two ideas. Remember when they did like, Michael has to fire someone on Halloween while we're all dressed up?

• 9:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's the same thing.

• 9:49Speaker 00

  Yes, exactly. Justin said that a holiday party also seemed like a really good place for Meredith to drink too much and set her hair on fire. Like, there could be this sort of rock bottom-y moment.

• 10:01Speaker 01

  Right. And it's an event. It's like a big event and everyone's there to witness it.

• 10:05Speaker 00

  Yes. Fast fact number three, I have a talking head observation for this episode.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm so curious.

• 10:14Speaker 00

  So as you re-watch this episode, take a note of the talking heads.

• 10:20Speaker 00

  Almost all of them are filmed from different angles than we normally would. I believe there's only one where someone's seated in the traditional chair with the kind of party through the blinds.

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Right, we're all over the office.

• 10:35Speaker 00

  All over the office. So this was not just because there was a party happening behind us. Justin said this was because they wanted to wait until they were in the editing room to place the talking heads throughout the episode. And they didn't want anything in the background to like in some way mess up their ability to move these talking heads around.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  Well, they had probably learned their lesson from that episode, weight loss.

• 11:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Where they had to digitally, that's a hard word to say, they had to digitally change Ed's tie and shirt because they kept moving the talking heads and what was happening behind him didn't match.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, so you'll notice even Michael's talking heads, he is not seated at his desk. He's standing in front of his desk and they purposely framed out the window behind him because timing wise, they didn't know if it would be like still daytime or if it would be evening. So they really tried to make all the talking heads as totally neutral as possible.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  Smart.

• 11:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, and it was kind of fun. After Justin told me that, I went back and rewatched the episode and it was totally true.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I read the shooting draft and definitely things are moved all around.

• 11:49Speaker 00

  So it's good they did it.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:51Speaker 00

  That's all I got.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  Well, before we get into this episode, I went digging in my digital clutter.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  And I found an email from Paul Feig that on December 11th, 2008, he emailed the group, Jenna, and invited us all to a Christmas taco party to watch the Moroccan Christmas episode at his house.

• 12:12Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  And he said, I know, I know, Morocco and tacos make no sense, except they do kind of rhyme and we have a really great taco cart that we want to use. And we all went over to his house, December 11th, 2008, and watched Moroccan Christmas together.

• 12:28Speaker 00

  Oh, I love that you brought that up because Paul and Laurie Feig used to host so many viewing parties at their house, and they were just the most wonderful hosts. And I'll never forget, he had that screen that could come down from the ceiling. So he had like a very normal looking living room.

• 12:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:46Speaker 00

  Cozy, like a place you'd read books. I believe there was like a green leather chair.

• 12:51Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, there was like cozy chairs with like a blanket draped over it.

• 12:54Speaker 00

  So cozy. And then all of a sudden, when it was time to watch the show, the screen would come down out of the ceiling and it would turn into this amazing viewing experience. I thought, these guys are doing it right.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  They know what they're doing.

• 13:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:07Speaker 01

  And they have a great taco cart.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  Oh, that's so cool.

• 13:10Speaker 01

  Well, there you go. Just a little something from my digital clutter. And now we should break down this episode.

• 13:15Speaker 00

  Well, I think we should take a break first.

• 13:17Speaker 01

  And now we should take a break.

• 13:20Speaker 00

  Let's do it, and we'll be back to talk all things Moroccan Christmas.

• 13:33Speaker 01

  Well, we are back and um, wow, is Dwight's desk festive or what?

• 13:38Speaker 00

  Oh, my. This is an epic prank by Jim.

• 13:41Speaker 01

  Every single thing on Dwight's desk is wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper.

• 13:45Speaker 00

  Including his chair.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. When did Jim do this? How long did it take? What the heck?

• 13:50Speaker 00

  I have so much to share about this.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  Oh, go.

• 13:53Speaker 00

  All right. First of all, Justin Spitzer told me this was his idea. This was his pitch. He said that he was always talking to his friends who worked in the corporate world, and he would ask them, what sort of pranks go on in your office? Because I think at a certain point, it started to stress out the writers that they had to come up with these Jim Dwight pranks.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 14:14Speaker 00

  So they were always fishing. Tell me a prank. I need an office prank.

• 14:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:18Speaker 00

  He said that the single most mentioned prank was this idea of wrapping someone's desk in paper or aluminum foil.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 14:27Speaker 00

  So Justin pitched this idea. We got so much mail from people asking, how did we pull this off? I reached out to Randy Cordray.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  Oh, Randy.

• 14:36Speaker 00

  He shared all the details.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Of course he did. And then he probably did a deep dive for you on something random.

• 14:42Speaker 00

  He did.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  So first of all, he said there was a note in the script that did not make it into the episode, and it was a Jim talking head, and here's how it went. Jim says, "Actually, it took me about a week to recreate the desk and chair in chicken wire. I had to come in about four hours early and set it all up, and I think I pulled something in my back dragging Dwight's real desk all the way up to the roof, all for a three-second payoff. Totally worth it."

• 15:15Speaker 01

  I read that too, and I was like, "Why, why do you have to take the desk up to the roof? Why couldn't you just stash it in the warehouse?"

• 15:22Speaker 00

  I swear, I remember us filming a tag of Dwight working up on the roof.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 15:29Speaker 00

  I swear we did. I can't confirm it, but I feel like I remember what, you know, you're walking from your trailer to hair and makeup, and you're like, "Why are they putting a desk on the roof?" I have a hazy memory of this.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  What else did Randy say?

• 15:43Speaker 00

  All right, so Randy also said that Greg Daniels was pretty insistent that the gag desk be made out of chicken wire, because that's what it said in the script.

• 15:53Speaker 01

  Oh, and he wanted it exactly like that?

• 15:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, because we'd sort of, Jim has this whole speech, he's like, "It needs to reflect what Jim said."

• 16:00Speaker 01

  But chicken wire is stronger than you think.

• 16:02Speaker 00

  Oh, yes, it is.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Right? It wouldn't have collapsed.

• 16:06Speaker 00

  Nope. It wouldn't have, Ange.

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Did they make one with chicken wire and it didn't work?

• 16:11Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  So Randy said that he and Paul Feig and our set designer, Michael Gallenberg, and our first AD, Kelly Cantley, all tried to talk Greg out of this. They were very skeptical it would work, but Greg really needed to see it for himself.

• 16:28Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 16:29Speaker 00

  So here's what they did. They built four different desks out of four different materials.

• 16:34Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. What were the materials?

• 16:37Speaker 00

  One of them was chicken wire.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 16:40Speaker 00

  One was styrofoam.

• 16:41Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 16:42Speaker 00

  One was balsa wood.

• 16:43Speaker 01

  What?

• 16:44Speaker 00

  And one was corrugated cardboard. And then they meticulously gift wrapped all of them.

• 16:50Speaker 01

  Oh, oh, can I guess? Can I guess which one worked the best?

• 16:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:54Speaker 01

  What do you guys think? I wish we could hear what you think out there. I think the cardboard.

• 17:00Speaker 00

  The corrugated cardboard.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  That's what I would bet on.

• 17:03Speaker 00

  All right. At the end, I'll tell you which one it was.

• 17:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 17:06Speaker 00

  Okay. So they set up one of the desks.

• 17:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:10Speaker 00

  And then they asked our stand-in, Stephen Socks, to come in and do Dwight's motion of walking in, setting the briefcase down, and sitting down to see what would happen.

• 17:20Speaker 01

  Now, there's four different types of desks and four different types of chairs.

• 17:24Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 17:25Speaker 00

  And Stephen is going to try each one while all these people watch him.

• 17:30Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. What'd you do at work today, hon? Well, I sat on a fakie desk made out of Christmas wrapping.

• 17:37Speaker 00

  I have to say, I was fascinated by the backstory of this because as actors, we just showed up, there was a wrapped desk, we did the scene.

• 17:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:46Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:47Speaker 00

  This was like, look at all the prep that went into this one little bit.

• 17:51Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 17:52Speaker 00

  Also, I was so fascinated by this idea of being a tester that I reached out to Stephen Socks to ask him, what was this day like for you? And lady, he sent in an audio clip.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Amazing. We have to hear it.

• 18:05Speaker 00

  Okay, play it.

• 18:06Speaker 03

  I vividly remember this test. I didn't do a lot of tests like this, so it really stands out. I think we were all excited to see this cold open, you know, come to be because it read so funny in the script. But I think we have to remember the pressure that that you have trying to make something like this a reality. You know, the whole idea probably seemed kind of easy on paper, but it was really up to the set designer, Michael Gallenberg, and his team to make it a reality. Like I said, I would do I would do tests, but they were mainly hair and makeup tests or, you know, a lot of camera tests. But I don't remember one quite like this. So I walk into the bullpen and there's a lot of people there. Greg Daniels was there, the director, Paul Feig,

• 18:50Speaker 03

  Randy Cordray, our first assistant director, Kelly Cantley, of course, Michael Gallenberg, and then Phil Shea in the prop department as well. And what I saw was just like what you see in the episode, it just looked like a desk wrapped in wrapping paper. But as soon as I walked in, it was made clear to me that I should not touch the desk. Like, don't really go near the desk until we're gonna do the test. I mean, specific instructions, and it was told to everybody that to just keep clear of the desk, don't touch this thing. It was their like, their only prototype. And so I kind of imagined underneath the wrapping paper, like it was some kind of house of cards or something, just ready to, ready to fall. So I didn't even wanna like breathe on it, cuz I, I just was thinking in my mind, what

• 19:34Speaker 03

  if I knocked this thing over in front of everybody before we even do the test? I mean, that would've been like a total nightmare. But then they, they were ready to do it, and props department gave me the briefcase, which had something inside of it, you know, to give it some weight. And so they said, go. So I threw the briefcase on the desk, sat in the chair, and I totally expected that I would fall like right to the ground. But to be honest, the, the chair felt kinda like a, like a regular office chair, maybe like an old office chair that kinda semi-reclined and collapsed a little, but it still was fully supporting me. And the desk just kinda bent a little bit. It looked like a saggy, like rope bridge or something with the briefcase on top of it. But obviously, there was major disappointment in the room.

• 20:19Speaker 03

  I mean, just everyone looked at it with just such disappointment, and the air just kinda like left the room. And being the only one there that didn't really know it was, everything that was going on, I, I kinda felt like I had messed up or something. So it was a very awkward moment. So I got up off the chair, and I remember standing next to Michael Gallenberg and kinda putting my hand to my chin and looking at the props that didn't work and, and just kinda, oh, that didn't work, oh, that's too bad, you know, like, kinda try to fit in. And so it was a very memorable moment. But then they brought another desk out, like a few minutes later, they had everyone leave so they could reset. And this one is the one that worked.

• 21:04Speaker 03

  It's the prototype that ended up making it as the final one, and it just collapsed. I mean, I hit the ground pretty hard, and it kinda surprised me because of the first one and how it was made. But it was pretty memorable.

• 21:20Speaker 00

  Isn't that such a fascinating like look into behind the scenes?

• 21:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:25Speaker 00

  Of making a show?

• 21:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, we obviously weren't there that day, right?

• 21:32Speaker 00

  Right.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  So we had no idea all of these desks being made and all of these like test runs and Steven, oh my gosh.

• 21:42Speaker 00

  So Randy said that the desk that worked was made out of styrofoam.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  Oh dang it. But here's the thing, it sounds like they only did two tests. They did chicken

• 21:52Speaker 00

  wire, didn't work. They did styrofoam, it worked.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  So they stopped?

• 21:57Speaker 00

  Yeah. So lady, maybe the corrugated cardboard would have worked. We don't know.

• 22:01Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 22:02Speaker 00

  Okay. You could be right.

• 22:04Speaker 01

  I could be right, but boy, the styrofoam, man, it went down.

• 22:07Speaker 00

  And then finally Randy told me when it was time to shoot, they made three desks out of the styrofoam that they had ready to go, but that rain nailed it on the first take. So we didn't even need any of the other backups. It was a one taker.

• 22:22Speaker 01

  It's amazing. Well, Phil Shea was really busy this episode. He had to make so many props. The desk obviously was the biggest one.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:30Speaker 01

  But we have more to share.

• 22:32Speaker 00

  Princess Unicorn.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  Princess Unicorn, but there's more.

• 22:36Speaker 00

  Oh, what else? Oh, you've got a whole thing.

• 22:39Speaker 01

  I've got some stuff.

• 22:40Speaker 00

  Oh, good stuff. All right, let's get into the episode. All that was just the cold open.

• 22:44Speaker 01

  I know. Well, the episode starts with you really are getting a view of the bullpen and how it's decorated. Phyllis is going around and sort of doing last touches, right?

• 22:54Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  Where did the budget for this come from? I say she dug into some Bob Vance cash.

• 23:00Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  Because this is an over the top party.

• 23:04Speaker 00

  Oh, that is such a good point, Angela.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Well, she has a talking head that she says the theme for her Christmas party is called Nights in Morocco. I love a party with a theme. I know. I get really excited. I mean, my 50th birthday, my theme was hummingbirds and we all painted hummingbirds and I had little pink hummingbirds like garland hanging in the bushes.

• 23:25Speaker 00

  It was amazing.

• 23:26Speaker 01

  I love a theme. Well, Phyllis does too. And did you notice that Phyllis has on brand new glasses for this episode?

• 23:34Speaker 00

  No.

• 23:35Speaker 01

  Yes. And we talked about it in the DVD commentary and Kate said, Ange, do you remember they were called her power glasses?

• 23:43Speaker 00

  What?

• 23:44Speaker 01

  I know. And because Phyllis is like the head of the PPC, she's like a boss lady, they wanted her look to reflect that.

• 23:51Speaker 00

  Oh, I love this detail.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  Yes. And Phil Shea brought a bunch of glasses to Phyllis. They picked out this particular pair and they even put her prescription in them. So Phyllis and her power glasses are going to take Angela to task.

• 24:06Speaker 00

  Well, her standoff with Angela starts right away. She marches over to Angela's desk and she just zeroes right in on that nativity scene.

• 24:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  And she like just sweeps half of it into the drawer.

• 24:18Speaker 01

  Baby Jesus went into the drawer.

• 24:20Speaker 00

  Sure did.

• 24:20Speaker 01

  Angela's not happy. I have a background catch at 1 minute 50 seconds. Did you see what was on the dry erase board?

• 24:29Speaker 00

  It was fuzzy.

• 24:30Speaker 01

  Okay. Well, I zoomed in on it and this was so fascinating to me. On the calendar, it says, December 10th, copier maintenance.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  Which just made me laugh so hard because the office got new chairs, but that same old copier is still there. And then it said on December 23rd, the warehouse is closed. And at noon on December 24th, Dunder Mifflin closes and the party starts at 1:00.

• 24:59Speaker 00

  So we're having a party on Christmas Eve at 1 o'clock?

• 25:03Speaker 01

  That's what it said on the dry erase board. So I was like, what the heck? Everyone's there on Christmas Eve.

• 25:09Speaker 00

  So later in the episode, when Michael is dragging Meredith into a rehab center, it's Christmas Eve.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  According to the dry erase board. I don't, I don't know if that's what the writers intended, but that really got me tickled. And I have a bone to pick with Phyllis.

• 25:27Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  Because Phyllis says that Angela's nativity scene is not on theme. It's not Knights of Morocco, right? Well, what about the fact that Michael has on his Christmas tie that he has worn every single Christmas? Right? Pam has on a pin on her sweater of Santa.

• 25:45Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 25:46Speaker 01

  Phyllis has a little wreath on her jacket. So I feel like Phyllis is singling Angela out.

• 25:52Speaker 00

  I think all that evidence is really good. I also think it's really obvious that she's singling Angela out. I think the entire party was thrown to piss off Angela.

• 26:06Speaker 01

  I know, I know.

• 26:07Speaker 00

  And then these little details, I guess, are just little jabs.

• 26:10Speaker 01

  Little digs.

• 26:11Speaker 00

  I mean, she makes Angela get rid of the Christmas tree.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  Oh, lady. All right, I have to share about this because in the episode, it's like three seconds, right?

• 26:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:21Speaker 01

  This was a huge scene. This was like multiple location scenes, you guys. It took like a half of a day.

• 26:28Speaker 00

  What?

• 26:29Speaker 01

  Yes. In the script, and we actually did film this, and it's in deleted scenes. Angela Martin goes over to the tree. It's double her size. And she has to drag it through the bullpen. Lady, I tripped over those pillows on the floor.

• 26:43Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 26:44Speaker 01

  And the tree fell on my head.

• 26:45Speaker 00

  What?

• 26:46Speaker 01

  I fell to the ground. The tree fell on top of me. Then I had to drag it down the stairwell. This Christmas tree, out the building, through the parking lot, all the way to the street. We filmed all of that. It legitimately was a physical workout. I actually like messed up my hair. I had like scratches on like my hands from the tree trying to grip it. None of it's in the episode. It's in the deleted scenes. And what was great is over all of this action were two talking heads, one Angela and one Phyllis. Can you play those? I do not mind doing hard labor. Ronald Reagan got his start as a stock boy lugging heavy boxes 10 hours a day. Don't miss the pillows.

• 27:30Speaker 01

  And he went on to become the president of a party planning committee I like to call the United States of America. Most people call it that.

• 27:44Speaker 01

  Did you know that an ant can carry five times its own weight? All it needs is a strong queen to tell it what to do. There's nothing that little creature can't accomplish.

• 27:57Speaker 00

  Phyllis!

• 27:58Speaker 01

  I know! Phyllis and her power glasses and some serious sass!

• 28:04Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  Yes, that muffled sound in between was me like falling down the staircase with the Christmas tree.

• 28:10Speaker 00

  Were you so bummed when you watched the episode and it was cut out?

• 28:14Speaker 01

  I was so bummed because I thought it was hilarious. And that talking head I do about Ronald Reagan, my hair is all messed up. Alright, so Phil Shea has tackled a Styrofoam desk, chair, all objects wrapped in Christmas wrapping. He's also found Phyllis a pair of power glasses. Phil Shea's next project would have been Princess Unicorn.

• 28:38Speaker 00

  Yes. Dwight enters with a stack of boxes.

• 28:42Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:43Speaker 00

  And he explains that each year he researches the most popular toy of the holiday season. He buys as much of it as he can, and then as parents become more desperate, he sells them at a profit. It's a little bit genius. We got a lot of mail asking about this Princess Unicorn storyline.

• 29:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  Where to begin? First of all, this was a collaboration of several writers. Justin said that they had originally written a different story for Dwight, and at the last minute, they wanted to change it. And they had a new writer who had just started on the show that week named Halsted Sullivan. This was his pitch.

• 29:24Speaker 01

  Halsted, amazing!

• 29:26Speaker 00

  Crushing it in his first week on the job. We were able to get in touch with Halsted. He confirmed, yes, that he pitched this idea of Dwight having a side hustle of buying up these holiday toys and selling them at a profit. Halsted said that he and writer Aaron Scher were sent into a room to figure out what this toy should be. Aaron said, "Well, kids love princesses and unicorns. How about a Princess Unicorn doll?"

• 29:53Speaker 01

  I love this kind of collaboration. So you have Halsted saying, "We need the story of the toy," and he sells the toys. And then Aaron is like, "What about if a unicorn and a doll collide?"

• 30:04Speaker 00

  Yes. Then Halsted came up with the catchphrase, "My horn can pierce the sky."

• 30:09Speaker 01

  Halsted, are you kidding me?

• 30:11Speaker 00

  Right?

• 30:12Speaker 01

  That was you? That stuck in our heads forever!

• 30:16Speaker 00

  Forever.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Do you remember that, Jenna? Like, we sang it all week. We have to hear Michael sing it.

• 30:22Speaker 04

  My horn can pierce the sky.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  And then Jenna, when I listened to the DVD commentary, immediately Kate and I sang it. What?

• 30:31Speaker 00

  My horn can pierce the sky.

• 30:35Speaker 01

  Thank you, Halsted.

• 30:37Speaker 00

  Well, you know, they made a whole commercial for this doll.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  I know.

• 30:41Speaker 00

  With a little girl and a jingle at the end. It was crazy.

• 30:45Speaker 01

  What else did they say about it?

• 30:47Speaker 00

  They said, actually, before settling on this idea, there was an alternate idea called Hank Grenade. And this was a doll that when you threw it, his arms blew off.

• 31:00Speaker 00

  That was Hank Grenade. But they settled on Princess Unicorn. So, once that was settled, there was a lot of discussion over what she should look like. Was she a human princess with unicorn features? Was she more of a horse with a human face? I guess they went around and around. And in the end, Phil Shea had to make this Princess Unicorn doll. Randy told me that Phil actually used a team of designers and toy makers.

• 31:31Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 31:32Speaker 00

  And they had to come up with a design that would not infringe on anyone else's design because I guess toys in general and dolls specifically are very tightly controlled by the manufacturers.

• 31:44Speaker 01

  Right.

• 31:44Speaker 00

  For their intellectual property rights.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, it can't look like anything else.

• 31:48Speaker 00

  Yes. And they actually had to go through the NBC Universal legal team to make sure that they had met all the requirements of a specifically unique doll toy. That is how we came to have a Princess Unicorn.

• 32:04Speaker 01

  Amazing.

• 32:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  Wow. Phil Shea was so busy this episode.

• 32:09Speaker 00

  So busy.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. When we would see him running through the parking lot, this is why.

• 32:13Speaker 00

  I don't know how he did it.

• 32:14Speaker 01

  I know. Well, the party's underway now. It's getting going. There's cocktails. Jim and Pam have this flirty moment with like, he's rubbing the lamp for wishes. Well, this scene made me curious and I had also been watching the bloopers. And there's this moment between Ed and John in the bloopers that never made it into the episode. That's kind of weird where Jim is looking at this coffee mug that Andy made.

• 32:38Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 32:39Speaker 01

  I was like, what is the thing? What are they, what are Jim and Pam doing? So I was very curious about these scenes and I went to the script and in the shooting draft, there is a Jim and Pam side by side talking head where they share that they are in a real financial bind.

• 32:54Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 32:55Speaker 01

  Yeah. And they have agreed not to buy each other anything for Christmas, but instead will be taking items from the Dunder Mifflin office to give to each other.

• 33:04Speaker 00

  Whoa.

• 33:05Speaker 01

  So yeah, there were all these little scenes of you guys like showing each other different items around the office. And then there was a whole scene where you ultimately decided on something and gave each other gifts.

• 33:15Speaker 00

  What did I get? I don't remember any of this.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  Wait, before I tell you what you got, can I just tell you some of the moments in the side by side talking head?

• 33:23Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 33:24Speaker 01

  Couldn't believe. All right. Jim shares that money's tight because of the closing fees on the house that he bought.

• 33:29Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 33:31Speaker 01

  Pam shares, get ready. Pam says, my credit's so bad, I'm hoping someone steals my identity. They couldn't handle my finances worse than me.

• 33:40Speaker 00

  Oh, no. Okay. Oops.

• 33:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. And Jim says, it's okay. We've decided not to spend any money on presents this year. The rule is the gift has to be something from inside the office.

• 33:52Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 33:52Speaker 01

  And Pam says, so in addition to the party, we're going to spend the day shopping. And if anyone's interested, my social security number is 793-476-882. Isn't that hilarious?

• 34:05Speaker 00

  Yes. What is Pam's running up her credit on? I don't know.

• 34:09Speaker 01

  I know. What is Pam buying? Maybe she charged all of art school, just put it all on her card.

• 34:14Speaker 00

  Maybe she did.

• 34:16Speaker 01

  Well, do you want to hear what they gave each other?

• 34:17Speaker 00

  Yeah. What did I get?

• 34:19Speaker 01

  After a whole party of them looking at items in the office.

• 34:22Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  To, I guess, steal? I don't know. What is their life of crime together? All right, at the end of the day, Pam hands Jim a gift wrapped in copier paper. And he opens it up and it's a pair of sunglasses that she has made out of paper clips and brown plastic from a folder.

• 34:42Speaker 00

  Wow. So wait, Phil Shea had to make that too?

• 34:45Speaker 01

  Yes. He had to make sunglasses made out of paper clips and brown plastic. And Jim's like sunglasses and they even have little pads for my nose. They had little erasers where the nose would go.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  I have to stop you.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 35:00Speaker 00

  Is this in the deleted scenes? Can you screen grab these sunglasses and put them on the pod?

• 35:06Speaker 01

  No, it's not.

• 35:07Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 35:08Speaker 01

  No.

• 35:09Speaker 00

  That's a tragedy.

• 35:10Speaker 01

  I know, I know. Cause you know, they exist somewhere. Pam says, "It took me hours to make them."

• 35:17Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  But don't use them outside because there's no UV protection.

• 35:21Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 35:21Speaker 01

  And then Jim hands her a box and she opens it to reveal a beautiful, dainty watch. And she's like, "Wait, you didn't make this. You bought it. No fair." And Jim says, "Okay, here's the thing. Technically, I had this in the office. I bought it for you three years ago, but it was way too big and I chickened out." And Pam says, "Yeah, it kind of screams, 'I love you.'" And Jim's like, "Do you like it?" And she says, "I love it." Wait, was that the year you gave me rocks? Jim says, "Wishing rocks, also romantic."

• 35:58Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh, I love this.

• 36:01Speaker 01

  So you and John had this whole storyline that was playing out in the background that ended in this scene and it didn't make it in.

• 36:08Speaker 00

  Do you want to hear something crazy? While I was prepping Moroccan Christmas, I was cleaning out my desk.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  At home?

• 36:16Speaker 00

  At home. And I found the teapot note.

• 36:20Speaker 01

  Oh, good Lord, are you kidding?

• 36:22Speaker 00

  I found it.

• 36:23Speaker 01

  The actual note.

• 36:25Speaker 00

  The note that John gave me at the end.

• 36:28Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh.

• 36:29Speaker 00

  And the envelope says Pam and it's a little Christmas card. It was in with like all of my like stationery and stuff, right? I'm like going through my stationery and I'm like, "What's this? What's this card that says Pam?" I opened it up and I was like, "Oh, it's the teapot note."

• 36:46Speaker 01

  I love that that's what you found.

• 36:48Speaker 00

  Isn't that crazy?

• 36:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is crazy, but you know what's so perfect is when I cleaned out my desk, if you remember Jenna, I found, this was like years ago, I found Dwight and Angela's like sex contract punch card.

• 37:03Speaker 00

  Oh, boy, our characters had different stories, didn't they?

• 37:07Speaker 01

  Okay, all right, so I had to share that because I thought that was a wonderful Jim Pam thing that didn't get to be in the episode, but now we really need to talk about these drinks that Michael is making for Meredith. The first drink Michael makes Meredith, he calls it a one of everything. It's equal parts Scotch, absinthe, rum, gin, vermouth, triple sec, and two packs of Splenda.

• 37:30Speaker 00

  Now, isn't some of this drink a Long Island iced tea minus the Splenda?

• 37:34Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 37:35Speaker 00

  Am I wrong? I don't know what's in Long Island iced tea. I just know it's like seven liquors.

• 37:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, yeah. Well, Meredith thinks this is the best thing she's ever had in her life.

• 37:45Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 37:46Speaker 01

  Then Michael makes Jim a drink with vodka and orange juice. Not a screwdriver, guys. It's called a orange vodka.

• 37:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, it rolls off the tongue.

• 37:56Speaker 01

  It does. There was an alt in the script.

• 37:59Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 38:00Speaker 01

  In the script, Michael makes Jim a drink with Jack Daniels and just regular Coca-Cola, and he calls it a Coke Daniels.

• 38:12Speaker 01

  Kate shared that in one scene with Steve, they were improvising. Okay, Steve was making up all these drinks and Steve improvised Sangria with peppermint schnapps and Kate improvised, let's call it sex on the couch. And Steve as Michael was like, ew, but that didn't make it in. And then Kate also shared, are you ready for this? He hands her a drink in one take. She takes a big swig and goes, oh, my God, you guys, there's real booze in that. They had forgotten to empty out one of the bottles because they would empty out the liquor bottles and put just water or iced tea.

• 38:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:49Speaker 01

  And they had missed one. And they gave Kate a drink with actual booze in it. And she was like, guys, that's booze.

• 38:57Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 38:59Speaker 01

  I mean, she only took one swig. You know what I mean?

• 39:01Speaker 00

  But still.

• 39:02Speaker 01

  But still.

• 39:03Speaker 00

  What a shocker.

• 39:04Speaker 01

  I know.

• 39:05Speaker 00

  Oh, also during this setup of the party, I want to point out this episode had a lot of shots that were just like little moments, right? It really reminded me of some of our early episodes where we had these, what did we used to call those?

• 39:21Speaker 01

  Just these little vignettes in the background.

• 39:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:23Speaker 01

  Those little moments that the B camera would get that really filled in the whole picture. It really reminds me of the first two seasons.

• 39:30Speaker 00

  Same. Well, during this kind of montage of filling out the party and what's going on, you know, Ed as Andy is playing the sitar.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:40Speaker 00

  We got a lot of mail about it. Izzy T, Liam D, and Grant S. all wrote in to ask, does Ed Helms really play the sitar? No, not before this episode, he didn't.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  But he's such a badass that he just picked it right up.

• 39:55Speaker 00

  Yeah. So you guys probably know that Ed plays guitar. He plays banjo. Randy told me that previously in his career, he had produced a different show where they needed an actor to play a song on the sitar. And this actor was also a guitar player, but he was told that the sitar is a very difficult instrument to play. It's very difficult to tune properly. And that in that instance, on that other show, he had to hire a tutor and allow about four weeks of practice so that this actor could credibly pull off the bit. So because the script had Ed playing all these different songs with only a couple

• 40:37Speaker 00

  weeks notice, he asked Phil Shea to rent a sitar. He went to Ed. He said, I'll get you a tutor.

• 40:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:44Speaker 00

  But Ed said, I'll figure it out. And Randy was like, okay.

• 40:50Speaker 01

  Ed's like, I play the banjo. I'm gonna flex a little bit.

• 40:53Speaker 00

  A little bit.

• 40:54Speaker 01

  I got this.

• 40:55Speaker 00

  And Ed totally, totally did it.

• 40:58Speaker 01

  He just picked it up and played it.

• 40:59Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 41:00Speaker 01

  I have a little catch where Ed slipped up.

• 41:03Speaker 00

  What?

• 41:04Speaker 01

  So you guys listening, my family and my close friends, they call me Ange. It's my nickname in my family. And it's like what my husband calls me and my mom, you know, everyone calls me Ange. Well, Ed called me Ange, right? In real life.

• 41:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:20Speaker 01

  He never called me Angela. And right when he starts playing the sitar at four minutes, 21 seconds, tell me what you hear.

• 41:29Speaker 05

  Hey, Ange, check it out. There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.

• 41:38Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  He called me Ange, not Angela. And Angela Martin would have never let Andy call her Ange.

• 41:48Speaker 00

  Anyone call her Ange?

• 41:49Speaker 01

  No.

• 41:50Speaker 00

  She's using the formal version of her name only.

• 41:53Speaker 01

  Only.

• 41:53Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 41:54Speaker 01

  Only Dwight can call her Monkey. Everyone else calls her Angela. In that moment, to me, Ed just sort of slipped and just was like, hey, Ange.

• 42:05Speaker 00

  He was probably like concentrating on his playing.

• 42:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:09Speaker 00

  Right? He was in musician mode.

• 42:11Speaker 01

  Yeah. That just warmed my heart when I heard it. I just had to share.

• 42:15Speaker 00

  Well, next up is quite a scene. Meredith is dancing up a storm in the conference room and she sets her hair on fire.

• 42:24Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 42:25Speaker 00

  Dwight has to rush in and put it out with a fire extinguisher. Oh, lady. Talk about mail. People need to know, how did they pull off this stunt? Where her hair catches on fire? Was it Kate? Was it a stunt double?

• 42:39Speaker 01

  We have a lot to share with you because this is one of the biggest stunts I think we ever did in the bullpen.

• 42:43Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 42:44Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 42:44Speaker 00

  A person was on fire.

• 42:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:46Speaker 00

  All right. Well, I got some of the info from Randy.

• 42:50Speaker 01

  And I got info from Kate. So let's break it down.

• 42:53Speaker 00

  First of all, we did use a stunt double for Kate. Her name was Marie Fink.

• 42:57Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 42:58Speaker 00

  Our stunt coordinator that day was Scott Aliva and he had to like do a bunch of prep for this. He had to like send a whole plan into NBC Universal Safety Department explaining how exactly we would do this safely.

• 43:10Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:11Speaker 00

  We had safety officers on set, we had a special effects crew on set, and we had the LA Fire Department on set.

• 43:19Speaker 01

  Kate said there were so many people from the Fire Department there that they like took up a whole wall.

• 43:24Speaker 00

  I believe it.

• 43:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:25Speaker 00

  What a crazy day of work for them.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  I know.

• 43:30Speaker 00

  Now, Paul Feig specifically staged this scene so that Meredith was dancing alone in the conference room and this was done to make it safer.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 43:40Speaker 00

  And they dressed the stunt double Marie in this full fireproof bodysuit. It's called like a nomex and she wore like a head stocking that was flameproof and then she put on Kate's wardrobe. I guess these nomex suits are what race car drivers wear.

• 43:57Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 43:57Speaker 00

  When they're racing, you know, in case their car bursts into flames.

• 44:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:01Speaker 00

  Then Kim Ferry had to create a bunch of wigs.

• 44:06Speaker 01

  Yes. And Kate shared about these wigs, you guys. Kate said Ange, they were natural hair.

• 44:12Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:13Speaker 01

  And then they actually burned the wigs.

• 44:15Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:16Speaker 01

  With fire.

• 44:17Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:18Speaker 01

  And she said, "I had to wear the stinkiest wig the whole rest of the week because you know when you burn hair, you know the smell."

• 44:25Speaker 00

  Oh, I know it well. I mean, it's once you've smelled that, it's like burned into your brain.

• 44:30Speaker 01

  Yes. So Kate had to wear the stinky wig the rest of the week.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  Ah, well, I guess to pull off this stunt, they put this flammable gel all over Marie's body.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  Body.

• 44:44Speaker 00

  And her hair. And then she used one of the actual real candles in the conference room to set her hair on fire. I guess they did have a stunt double dressed as Dwight. His name was Sean Crowder. But in the end, it was actually Rain. Rain ran in and put out the stunt double with an actual fire extinguisher.

• 45:07Speaker 01

  I know. No pressure, Rain, right? But Kate said he did it. And then Kate said for continuity, they had to take Marie out and Kate stepped back in with the burnt wig, right?

• 45:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, the smelly burnt wig.

• 45:18Speaker 01

  The smelly burnt wig kinda assumed the same position Marie was in and then Rain had to spray Kate with the real fire extinguisher. So Kate got hosed as well.

• 45:30Speaker 00

  Justin told me that we did it all in one take.

• 45:34Speaker 01

  I'm so glad, for everyone's sake.

• 45:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 45:36Speaker 01

  I'm so glad. Also, look at Kate's dancing. This is like lunging forward and back and forward and back. And I'm like, Kate, were you sore? My gosh, that's like a physical day.

• 45:49Speaker 00

  Randy told me that Kate and Marie got together and planned out the dance moves.

• 45:55Speaker 01

  So that Marie could look exactly like Kate in her movements. Yes.

• 45:58Speaker 00

  Which is amazing to me because it looks like completely spontaneous dancing, but they really planned it so that it would coordinate. So they were doing the same thing.

• 46:06Speaker 01

  Yes. And if you watch the episode, it's very rare that only one person is in the conference room at a party. But that was for everyone's safety, like you said.

• 46:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Kate said it was kind of, you know, odd to be in there alone for all those takes, like a fishbowl. But I really related because there's a whole scene coming up where you guys are all together on the floor and I'm in the kitchen.

• 46:28Speaker 00

  I know.

• 46:29Speaker 01

  For the whole episode.

• 46:30Speaker 00

  I know. Lady, I think we should take a little break and then we'll come back and make you go to the kitchen.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  Make me go to the kitchen. And Michael is going to share with us about a responsibilitini.

• 46:42Speaker 00

  Oh, I can't wait.

• 46:43Speaker 01

  It's a deleted scene I can't wait to share.

• 46:56Speaker 00

  So we are back. Oscar.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  You have a little bit of granola on your boob.

• 47:01Speaker 00

  Oh, thanks for telling me.

• 47:02Speaker 01

  We ate a granola bar during the break.

• 47:05Speaker 00

  You're eating it off your shirt? What else would I do? If I pick it off, I have to what? Throw it on the floor?

• 47:11Speaker 01

  No, put it in the trash.

• 47:13Speaker 00

  Well, I was still hungry.

• 47:15Speaker 01

  You'd fit in very well with my boys.

• 47:18Speaker 00

  Listen, we're friends here.

• 47:20Speaker 01

  I've seen them eat things off their clothing, too.

• 47:23Speaker 00

  My god. Listen, every once in a while.

• 47:27Speaker 01

  You're gonna lick a piece of granola bar off your shirt.

• 47:29Speaker 00

  You know what else I'm gonna do sometimes? Sometimes the salad dressing is so good, I lick the plate.

• 47:34Speaker 01

  Okay, I'm here for licking the plate, but you just ate a piece of granola off your t-shirt. You lifted your shirt up towards you so you could eat that tiny piece of granola.

• 47:46Speaker 00

  Because I'm a classy lady.

• 47:47Speaker 01

  You are classy. And you know what? You do not waste, and that I respect.

• 47:51Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 47:52Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 47:53Speaker 00

  As I was saying, Oscar, Jim, Michael, and Stanley try to set a date for something. We don't know what they're talking about. They're trying to agree on a time to do something. Nothing's working.

• 48:08Speaker 01

  We do learn that Michael goes to the dentist every month.

• 48:12Speaker 00

  Well, because of his soft teeth.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  Every month!

• 48:15Speaker 00

  We established that in Dinner Party.

• 48:17Speaker 01

  I feel like he talks their ear off. I feel like there's like a dental hygienist that he just talks their ear off.

• 48:24Speaker 00

  What do you do for soft teeth? You know what? I'm gonna ask my dentist the next time I'm there. He's a fan of the show. He's also a bread maker, and he gave me his sourdough discard, and it is fantastic sourdough discard.

• 48:37Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 48:38Speaker 00

  Great dentist.

• 48:39Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 48:40Speaker 00

  Great baker. I'm gonna ask him about soft teeth. Stay tuned.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  Baker and a dentist.

• 48:44Speaker 00

  Listen, they also can't do it on Groundhog Day because Michael, he celebrates privately.

• 48:52Speaker 00

  Some fans asked Justin in an interview once, what is it that Michael's doing? And he said, I imagine he just watches Groundhog Day all day. The movie.

• 49:01Speaker 01

  He watches the movie. And I also think he watches to see if Punxsutawney, is it Punxsutawney?

• 49:07Speaker 00

  Phil?

• 49:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think he watches to see if Phil sees a shadow. I think he watches the whole broadcast.

• 49:12Speaker 00

  It's a big event.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  Maybe he goes.

• 49:15Speaker 00

  He's busy. That's what we know.

• 49:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:17Speaker 00

  In the end, they decide today is the day and what they're planning is an intervention.

• 49:23Speaker 01

  Christmas Eve, office party, intervention.

• 49:27Speaker 00

  Listen, if I had to explain what an intervention is, it's like a surprise party for people who have addictions. And what you do is you make them feel badly about themselves. So they stop.

• 49:39Speaker 01

  Michael Scott, right there, guys.

• 49:41Speaker 00

  For Michael Scott.

• 49:42Speaker 01

  That was the talking head that made it into the show. Here is an alt that got deleted and it cracked me up. We're going to call this responsibility guys.

• 49:54Speaker 04

  It takes a lot of courage to admit you are right. And talking about my strengths has always been one of my strengths. And I am right. Meredith needs help. She needs help like an alcoholic needs a drink. And she's about to get a big shot of Michael Scott, straight up on the rocks with ice, no chaser. They call it a responsibility. Shakin' with lemon, twist a lime.

• 50:25Speaker 00

  Okay, okay. We've played a lot of talking heads that didn't make it.

• 50:31Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 50:31Speaker 00

  A lot of scenes that didn't make it in the show.

• 50:34Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 50:35Speaker 00

  This is the biggest tragedy.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  A responsibility.

• 50:38Speaker 00

  Everything about that was gold. I could listen to it five times.

• 50:42Speaker 01

  I know. I was like, I have to play it. This is gold.

• 50:46Speaker 00

  That was like on the level of Dwight's whole speech about stealing the ball from Tiffany's and going to all the countries and all that. Oh, my God. It was so good.

• 50:58Speaker 01

  You're gonna get a big shot of Michael Scott.

• 50:59Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 51:00Speaker 01

  Shakin', not stirred, responsibility.

• 51:04Speaker 00

  That's incredible. Well, we're all going to circle up on the floor now. Not Angela, though. Phyllis has other plans for you.

• 51:12Speaker 01

  It involves a hairnet.

• 51:14Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 51:15Speaker 01

  Lots of fanning, got to fan some pitas, got to toast them on both sides, got to fan napkins.

• 51:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:21Speaker 01

  And off to the kitchen I go.

• 51:22Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, the rest of us sit on the floor and engage in a real uncomfortable intervention of Meredith.

• 51:30Speaker 01

  I don't know how you guys got through the scene without laughing. I remember two things happening during this week. One, I was bummed because I was in the kitchen by myself.

• 51:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:39Speaker 01

  And I had to enter in during the scene. So it's not like I had to be there.

• 51:43Speaker 00

  Do you remember this? Because Justin reminded me of this and I had forgotten it, which was that Paul Feig insisted on shooting the entire intervention scene from top to bottom without cutting and every take was about eight minutes long.

• 51:59Speaker 01

  Yes. So I would be in the kitchen like with a magazine. I actually, on the DVD commentary, I said I brought a magazine back there eventually because I was back there so long. And then they would cue me and then I would walk in, then I'd have to go back.

• 52:14Speaker 00

  So crazy.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  So crazy.

• 52:16Speaker 00

  I remember my legs fell asleep. It's very hard to sit on the floor in a pencil skirt and pantyhose.

• 52:23Speaker 01

  Well, you had to do an odd cross. You had to do that one foot under the other. And at nine minutes, 46 seconds, there's a real good Pam pantyhose catch.

• 52:33Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 52:34Speaker 01

  I can see your pantyhose.

• 52:35Speaker 00

  I don't doubt it.

• 52:36Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. You have pantyhose toes.

• 52:38Speaker 00

  I remember trying to figure out, because you know, once you pick the way you're sitting, you have to sit like that. You can't shift and move or change your position. So like-

• 52:47Speaker 01

  Because it has to match you guys. So however you sit, that's it. So Mindy laying on her stomach like that.

• 52:53Speaker 00

  Oh, I was so jealous.

• 52:55Speaker 01

  Which I took a picture of. I was jealous at first, but then you know, her back started to ache. It had to because that's like doing a, what is that? The cow? No, it's not a cow. It's the snake. It's a yoga thing.

• 53:05Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. What's that yoga pose called?

• 53:07Speaker 01

  Where you-

• 53:08Speaker 00

  The Cobra, Cobra!

• 53:11Speaker 01

  I knew it.

• 53:11Speaker 00

  I don't know why that was so exciting, but I just recalling any information at my age just gets me real amped up.

• 53:18Speaker 01

  So she had to do a mini cobra all day. You had to sit with the one foot under your butt, one foot extended.

• 53:24Speaker 00

  Yep, I know. And I do remember that we went around and you know, I was mostly reactions. I don't think I had any lines in this scene. It was very hard not to laugh. It was very hard not to laugh when Creed says that he can get a fire permit in a couple hours. It was pretty amazing.

• 53:44Speaker 01

  We talked on the DVD commentary about Creed's outfit and what he's wearing in this scene. He actually wore something similar to an award show. Do you remember? He wore the long, white.

• 53:55Speaker 00

  I don't remember this.

• 53:56Speaker 01

  This is very much sort of his outfit is something Creed would actually wear. And he looks fantastic. There is a delicious Andy Talking Head. I feel like we all knew this guy in college, the guy that would chug a fifth Ahsoko.

• 54:08Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 54:09Speaker 01

  Boot, rally. How many nicknames does he have, by the way? He's Puke, he's Ace, and he's Buzz.

• 54:15Speaker 00

  Did he get straight As or straight Bs? We're not sure.

• 54:19Speaker 01

  He got straight Bs.

• 54:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, but he aced everything.

• 54:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:22Speaker 00

  Well, surprise, surprise, this intervention does not result in Meredith deciding to go to rehab.

• 54:30Speaker 01

  Michael's clearly not qualified to do this and Toby's gonna call it. He's like, you know what? We're gonna stop this.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  I do have to point out one of my favorite moments when Kevin offers his way that her drinking affected him.

• 54:43Speaker 01

  He got to go to the movies.

• 54:45Speaker 00

  By the way, thank you, he says.

• 54:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:47Speaker 00

  Michael's like, you're not getting it. But you're right. Michael is not trained to do this. You know, a trained interventionist. This is a job in real life. People train for this.

• 54:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Kate had a whole speech that was in the script as Meredith where she just addresses the group and she's like, listen, I'm bored. You're boring, she said to Michael. And he goes, hey. And she was like, you know what? I drink because I'm bored. Try to be more interesting.

• 55:15Speaker 00

  Oh my God.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  And she's like, who else is bored here? And like everyone raises their hand. She like hijacks the meeting from Michael, right? And then she's like, we all do things to cope. So I drink when I'm bored. And then she goes around the room. She goes, you all have coping mechanisms. You eat, you eat, you eat, you shop, you confuse Dwight.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  And then she's like

• 55:36Speaker 00

  Who confuses Dwight, Jim?

• 55:37Speaker 01

  Me, no me.

• 55:38Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 55:39Speaker 01

  And then she like points at Stanley and she's like, you eat. And then Stanley has a talking head where he's like, I do eat when I'm bored, but I also drink and I drink a lot more than Meredith. I just don't do it at work and I keep my clothes on.

• 55:52Speaker 00

  Oh my goodness.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  Yes, this scene was way bigger.

• 55:57Speaker 00

  Ah, wow.

• 55:59Speaker 01

  Michael is gonna take Meredith into his office where they're gonna talk for 45 minutes.

• 56:05Speaker 00

  Forty-five minutes. And in the meantime, Angela is going to plead with Phyllis. Please, can I stop cutting the pita? Do I really have to wear the hairnet?

• 56:16Speaker 01

  Have mercy. It's the season of mercy.

• 56:20Speaker 00

  Phyllis is, no.

• 56:21Speaker 01

  Uh-uh, no. I have a thing I want to point out. At 13 minutes, 35 seconds, Phyllis is telling Stanley about the Moroccan food they're eating.

• 56:30Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:31Speaker 01

  And Angela's eating this cookie. She spits it out.

• 56:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:34Speaker 01

  We did a lot of takes of this. I'm not sure why.

• 56:37Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 56:38Speaker 01

  But the cookie started to turn on me because I took a big bite.

• 56:42Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 56:43Speaker 01

  Mistake.

• 56:44Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  Take a small bite, guys.

• 56:45Speaker 00

  Always.

• 56:46Speaker 01

  Always. Because by the eighth take, the thought of that cookie makes you want to barf.

• 56:51Speaker 00

  Right.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  And

• 56:52Speaker 00

  It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter if it's your favorite dessert.

• 56:56Speaker 01

  Uh-uh. And it started to turn on me. And so I took some peanuts and I stuck them in my hand. And when they would cut to me eating, I would like just put a bunch of the peanuts in my mouth and hold the cookie. I was, I was trying to do a fakey eat.

• 57:11Speaker 00

  Mmm, fakey eat.

• 57:12Speaker 01

  Fakey eat. And then I would spit out peanuts instead of the cookie.

• 57:15Speaker 00

  Okay. So what we see on camera, that is chewed up peanuts?

• 57:20Speaker 01

  We don't know.

• 57:20Speaker 00

  We don't know which take they used.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  We don't know which take they used.

• 57:23Speaker 00

  Was it early, was it late?

• 57:24Speaker 01

  I don't know. These are the things you try to do at work. How do I not eat that cookie?

• 57:29Speaker 00

  Well, when Michael leaves his office with Meredith, they're going somewhere.

• 57:34Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:34Speaker 00

  He says, I'll meet you in the parking lot. And then he asks Toby for the number of that rehabilitation center. And everyone's like, wow, he did it.

• 57:44Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:45Speaker 00

  And then, you know, he finishes writing the number down and he throws the pen at Toby's head.

• 57:51Speaker 01

  And hits him in the forehead.

• 57:53Speaker 00

  We got a fan question about that.

• 57:55Speaker 01

  Well, we have stories about it, too.

• 57:59Speaker 00

  Kelsey B. would like to know, was the pen throwing scripted or improvised? It was scripted. And Justin said that Steve had a special rubber pen. And I remember it because it was in the pen cup on Pam's desk. There were real pens and then one fakey pen.

• 58:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:21Speaker 00

  And I was sitting there and I kept like positioning the pen so that Steve could pick up the fakey pen.

• 58:28Speaker 01

  This would have been another thing Phil Shea would have had to have gotten for the episode.

• 58:33Speaker 00

  Fakey rubber pen so that he could throw it at Toby's head. They inserted that little thump sound later. We did about four or five takes of it, I guess.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  You guys, if you re-watch this, you will notice behind Michael, there are no people. We're all standing way off to the right.

• 58:50Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 58:51Speaker 01

  You want to know why? Because we couldn't stop laughing. So when they would cut to Michael.

• 58:56Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  After throwing it, we'd be behind him giggling.

• 58:59Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 58:59Speaker 01

  So they pushed us all to the right and they had to get our reaction take like a whole beat later when we had gotten our composure.

• 59:06Speaker 00

  Paul also couldn't stop laughing.

• 59:08Speaker 01

  I know.

• 59:09Speaker 00

  Every time that little rubber pen thumped him in the forehead, he would break.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  I know. And there is such a fun blooper where Paul decided to prank Steve during this scene. We have to listen to it.

• 59:21Speaker 04

  Could you write down the name of that rehabilitation clinic you mentioned? What? Yeah.

• 59:34Speaker 04

  Impressed, huh? That's great.

• 59:37Speaker 04

  What does that even say?

• 59:48Speaker 00

  What did he do?

• 59:49Speaker 01

  Instead of writing down a fake phone number, he wrote, "F*** you." And so Steve in the scene glances down and it says, [bleep] you and he started laughing and he couldn't even throw the pen because he was laughing too hard.

• 1:00:03Speaker 00

  That is so funny. Well, I'll have you know, fakey pen lived in the pen cup for weeks after we shot the scene and people were always coming over trying to grab a pen to use and they would get fakey rubber pen. And I never got rid of it because it just was funny to me.

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:24Speaker 00

  Funny to me that people would grab fakey pen.

• 1:00:26Speaker 01

  So now Meredith and Michael are in the car. This is going to start such a fantastic sequence between Meredith and Michael. Both Steve and Kate just knock it out of the park. They're driving. Meredith thinks they're going to a bar. She's listing off all these bars and Kate Flannery said in real life, she kept trying to slip her family's bar in there. Cause you know, her family owned a bar in Philadelphia called Flannery's.

• 1:00:51Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:00:51Speaker 01

  But it didn't make it in.

• 1:00:53Speaker 00

  But all the other bars, she says are local Scranton bars. They're real places.

• 1:00:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, that was part of the reasons why Flannery's wouldn't have checked out, right? But she also wanted you guys to know that Steve did his own driving. They're not being pulled.

• 1:01:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, you can kind of tell.

• 1:01:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. He's driving and doing all the dialogue because there were those little lipstick cameras.

• 1:01:12Speaker 00

  And then they had, I think, a truck in front of them with a camera rigged on the back to get them through the windshield. Well, when they finally arrive at their destination, it is revealed that they are at sunrise rehab. Meredith gets super pissed.

• 1:01:27Speaker 01

  So pissed, so pissed. Now Kate told me they had stunt people there for her and Steve. Should it get too physical that they could have this choreographed thing with the stunt people? And her and Steve were like, no, we're going to go for it. Kate was like, Steve, let's do it. And they did not use the stunt people. Everything you see is actually Kate and Steve just fricking going for it.

• 1:01:50Speaker 00

  I think I noticed one moment, we cut out of it really quickly. When Meredith throws the trash can down and it looks like Michael trips and falls, I feel like I see Kate start to check on Steve.

• 1:02:03Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:02:04Speaker 00

  Like, maybe like, oh, are you okay? Like, just the littlest moment, and we cut out of it. And then they, you know, they have a bigger chase around the parking lot.

• 1:02:12Speaker 01

  Well, Kate said that's fakie trash.

• 1:02:14Speaker 00

  Fakie trash?

• 1:02:15Speaker 01

  That was fakie trash. So whatever Steve fell on wasn't real trash.

• 1:02:19Speaker 00

  So Phil Shea also had to make fakie trash.

• 1:02:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:02:22Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, this man's week was insane.

• 1:02:24Speaker 01

  Yes. This scene was scripted at the top where she doesn't want to get out of the car, but they immediately then just went off.

• 1:02:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:02:31Speaker 01

  You know, because Paul Feig just wanted them to really go for it, not worry about the lines. And that whole sequence where Meredith is saying, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

• 1:02:42Speaker 00

  I love that.

• 1:02:43Speaker 01

  That's not in the script.

• 1:02:44Speaker 00

  I loved it. It was so real.

• 1:02:45Speaker 01

  It was so real. I thought Kate did such a great job.

• 1:02:49Speaker 00

  Well, this whole thing ends with Michael dragging Meredith into the rehab center. And we should tell you, the intake nurse was played by our very own first assistant director, Kelly Cantley.

• 1:03:02Speaker 01

  Yes. She also helps escort them out.

• 1:03:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, at the end, when Michael discovers that you can't force people to go to rehab.

• 1:03:11Speaker 01

  Yep. And now awkward car ride back.

• 1:03:14Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. But you know what Michael's gonna do? Michael's had a realization. He realizes that, you know, in order to get help, a person has to hit their rock bottom.

• 1:03:24Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:25Speaker 00

  So he's gonna make it his mission to help Meredith reach her rock bottom.

• 1:03:30Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:03:31Speaker 00

  And he thinks he can do it because he did it with Jan.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:03:34Speaker 00

  It's like an amazing line.

• 1:03:37Speaker 01

  There's still gonna be quite a bit of drama back at the office.

• 1:03:40Speaker 00

  Oh, yes.

• 1:03:41Speaker 01

  We start with Toby. Oh, Toby, man, he thinks he's gonna get to be the hero to his little girl.

• 1:03:48Speaker 00

  He is going to score one of the Princess Unicorn dolls from Dwight for his daughter.

• 1:03:54Speaker 01

  But Dwight has sold them all out.

• 1:03:55Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:56Speaker 01

  He just sold his last one to Daryl.

• 1:03:58Speaker 00

  Yes. All right. I just unsolicited get this email from Jen Salata.

• 1:04:05Speaker 01

  About this scene?

• 1:04:06Speaker 00

  About this scene and this episode. I guess the writers like Justin and Halsted and Erin, they were all texting each other about this storyline and somehow Jen got involved. This email pops in my inbox yesterday. She's like, Jenna, we've all been texting about the Princess Unicorn.

• 1:04:24Speaker 01

  Because you asked Justin about it?

• 1:04:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:04:26Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:04:27Speaker 00

  And she was like, I have a story and I asked Paul if I could share it.

• 1:04:32Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:04:32Speaker 00

  And I was like, oh, I'm so intrigued. She made an audio clip. Here it is.

• 1:04:36Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:04:38Speaker 06

  There was a moment that happened behind the scenes of Moroccan Christmas where Paul and I were working on a script together. I'm not sure if it was the fifth season finale or what, but we were kind of under the gun. I remember when we were writing and he had to go down on set and shoot a scene as Toby. And then when he came back up, we needed to push forward on the script. And I remember that he was sitting on the couch and he was like, oh, I think I just screwed up that scene that I shot. And I was like, I probably didn't. I'm sure you didn't. You'd be hard on yourself. He's like, no, no, I really think I screwed it up. And he was kind of stuck on it and it was very typical of him. So I was like, tell me what happened. And he said, well, I was supposed to be upset and sad because I wanted this Princess Unicorn doll for my daughter and Daryl wanted the doll for his daughter.

• 1:05:23Speaker 06

  And I needed to be really sad. And so I thought of what, you know, Steve might do or what I thought Jenna might do, which is think of something sad that happened in, in real life to them and something that like triggered these sad feelings and sad emotions and kind of be in that place and use it for the scene. And I said, well, it sounds smart. Like, how'd it go? And he said, well, I didn't do that. And I asked him why. And he said, oh, I thought about getting sad, but it didn't seem worth it. And I remember laughing at that, being like, I'm pretty sure you just made the decision not to act. I think that's what just happened in that moment.

• 1:06:08Speaker 06

  But.

• 1:06:10Speaker 06

  I remember watching that scene later and thinking it was such a perfectly Toby choice. It was a great scene. And I feel like when you're Toby and you're going about the world and Michael's always making you feel put upon and all this stuff, you can't constantly keep getting sad. So it ended up being a very, very wonderful choice that I think he made. But in the moment, I think he pretty much decided he wasn't going to act because he didn't want to be sad that day. And I'll never forget that. I loved it.

• 1:06:43Speaker 00

  Jen was so excited to tell me this story. She was like, I, I have to give him grief. And I guess they talked together and they were laughing about it. And Paul was like, yeah, you can share. You can share that it's true.

• 1:06:56Speaker 01

  I don't want to be sad.

• 1:06:57Speaker 00

  I don't want to dig too deep and actually cry in this scene because then I'm going to be sad all day. I'm going to be thinking about my, whatever precipitated it.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  I love that Jen just wanted to give Paul [BLEEP] on our podcast.

• 1:07:09Speaker 00

  I know. She was just like, email hits my inbox. Oh, so funny. I agree, though, when I watched the scene, like, I didn't think anything of it. I was like, oh, that's perfect.

• 1:07:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:22Speaker 00

  Oh, so funny. And I guess she would like, give him shiitake about that for years to come. Gosh, speaking of sad, should we talk about the saddest scene ever?

• 1:07:33Speaker 01

  Saddest scene ever. It all starts because Angela is done. She is done with Phyllis.

• 1:07:39Speaker 00

  Well, Phyllis tells her to go get the tree and bring it back.

• 1:07:42Speaker 01

  I know. Phyllis and I absolutely loved this episode. We got to do so much together, even more than you even see in the actual episode. I can't tell you how amazing it felt as Angela Martin to turn to her and say, shut up.

• 1:08:00Speaker 01

  It felt so good. And I was really proud of this scene. I thought Phyllis and I really had this perfect chemistry in this moment. And then she tells everyone and she shames Angela Martin in front of the whole bullpen. And when she did, I was so in the moment with her, I felt the heat of my skin, like my face started to flush.

• 1:08:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, you can see it.

• 1:08:28Speaker 01

  Everyone is looking at you. Everyone, you know, and we've talked about whenever you had a scene where the whole bullpen focused on you, you were already heightened a little bit, like your nerves. And I really just, oh, man, I was, as the character, I felt like I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

• 1:08:49Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:08:50Speaker 01

  And then Andy walks in.

• 1:08:53Speaker 00

  I know. And the way Ed just, you know, Ed Helms, the person, his inherent goodness and sweetheart, just carries through the character of Andy.

• 1:09:06Speaker 01

  I know. Well, here's the thing. Is Andy like, completely annoying? Sure.

• 1:09:12Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:09:13Speaker 01

  But he's also got this boyish charm.

• 1:09:15Speaker 00

  Yeah. A boyish enthusiasm, right?

• 1:09:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:09:19Speaker 00

  For singing this song to you.

• 1:09:21Speaker 01

  Yes. And in the script, the song he sings is Silent Night.

• 1:09:26Speaker 00

  Oh, yes.

• 1:09:28Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:09:29Speaker 00

  Randy said, the morning of the shoot, they told Ed, he was so scared to say it. He said, they've changed their mind. Can you do Deck the Halls?

• 1:09:39Speaker 01

  Ed had to learn a whole new song.

• 1:09:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:41Speaker 01

  To play on the sitar. He had just learned Silent Night.

• 1:09:45Speaker 00

  Yes, he'd had that thing for a couple of weeks and he'd been fiddling around on it. And then they were like, can you do Deck the Halls? Randy told me it took him about a minute and a half to figure it out. Cause he's amazing.

• 1:09:55Speaker 01

  He's a musical genius. They thought it would be funny, the juxtaposition of this sort of very cringey moment for Andy to be playing this upbeat song.

• 1:10:06Speaker 00

  And you know, he improvised the Ridditididoo at the end.

• 1:10:09Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:10:10Speaker 00

  So good.

• 1:10:11Speaker 01

  We're all just staring at him and Ed played the moment so perfectly. My heart completely broke for Andy. I felt so bad for him and I started to cry.

• 1:10:22Speaker 00

  Like actually crying?

• 1:10:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:24Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 1:10:25Speaker 01

  I actually cry. If you look at this, it pushes in on my face and I'm completely tearing up.

• 1:10:32Speaker 00

  Those are those moments as an actor where you have so inhabited your character's story and the story of the people around you where your body, like you didn't even have to make yourself cry or think of something sad. You were just so in the moment.

• 1:10:49Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:10:49Speaker 00

  That the emotions just flood.

• 1:10:51Speaker 01

  No, really, really. And everyone was playing it so real.

• 1:10:55Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Paul Feig told us to, like, he said, when we come around with that B camera, and this was similar to his direction in Office Olympics. He said, I don't want you to comment on it with, you know, no kind of funny looks or anything. Like, this is like truly a human moment and just stand there. Just be in it.

• 1:11:16Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:11:17Speaker 00

  It was great direction.

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  And you felt it.

• 1:11:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:20Speaker 01

  You felt it.

• 1:11:21Speaker 00

  It felt heavy.

• 1:11:21Speaker 01

  It felt really heavy and I felt horrible.

• 1:11:25Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:11:26Speaker 01

  And I started to cry. You know, in rewatching it all, I just thought this episode was written and directed and acted so, so well. I was really proud of us as a show.

• 1:11:38Speaker 00

  You know what, Angela? This was what Paul Feig could do for us, you know? Like, he was really good at directing us to allow these moments to breathe. And you're so good in this.

• 1:11:51Speaker 01

  Oh, thanks, lady.

• 1:11:52Speaker 00

  You're so good in this whole episode and this moment at the end. It is more powerful because it's real.

• 1:12:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:01Speaker 00

  You really nailed it.

• 1:12:02Speaker 01

  Thanks so much, lady. Thank you. And I thought Kate Flannery crushed this episode, too.

• 1:12:08Speaker 00

  Same.

• 1:12:08Speaker 01

  And you know, guys, the supporting cast, these moments were fewer and far between for us. And so when they happened, we just treasured it and it was so fun to rewatch it.

• 1:12:19Speaker 00

  And you guys would get these scripts with no notice and you'd have to just step up to the plate and suddenly carry an episode. And you always did it because we had a really great bench on our show.

• 1:12:32Speaker 01

  We had a deep bench, y'all.

• 1:12:33Speaker 00

  We did.

• 1:12:34Speaker 01

  Well, that is Moroccan Christmas.

• 1:12:37Speaker 00

  We did it.

• 1:12:38Speaker 01

  We did it. We all hope you'll have a little responsiblitini in your life.

• 1:12:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, and just want to give a few thank yous to Justin Spitzer, Erin Schur, Halsted Sullivan, Jen Salata, Randy Cordray, and Stephen Socks. Remember, you can find Stephen and his wife Lori on their podcast, If We Knew Then. And I know you traded a bunch of messages with Kate as well.

• 1:13:01Speaker 01

  Yes, Kate Flannery and James Carey, because the script, having the shooting draft, was just amazing for this one.

• 1:13:07Speaker 00

  And before we go, one little tidbit, we're so excited to finally get to share with you.

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  Yes, we're so excited to tell you guys that we have partnered with Comedy Central and Cartoon Radio to bring you animated clips of our podcast.

• 1:13:22Speaker 00

  Yes. You know, we're constantly getting mail from people saying they wish they could watch us on video. And for many reasons we won't get into now, we do not videotape our podcasts. But Cartoon Radio has taken some of the audio and they have animated it, which in my opinion is even better than watching a video.

• 1:13:43Speaker 01

  It is, you guys. They are so creative. Jen and I are now a cartoon. I love it.

• 1:13:49Speaker 00

  I love it.

• 1:13:49Speaker 01

  And they have picked these funny moments to animate. It's going to debut on Comedy Central's YouTube. We'll put it in our socials so you can find it. We can't wait for you to see it.

• 1:13:59Speaker 00

  It starts tomorrow.

• 1:14:01Speaker 01

  Woo!

• 1:14:02Speaker 00

  All right, guys, we will see you next week.

• 1:14:05Speaker 01

  Your heart can pierce the sky.

• 1:14:11Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:14:18Speaker 00

  Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle.

• 1:14:25Speaker 01

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:14:28Speaker 00

  Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 1:14:30Speaker 01

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese-Dennis.

• 1:14:33Speaker 00

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:14:36Speaker 01

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Braden.