Second Drink: The Duel

This week we’re breaking down The Duel! When Michael tells Andy that Angela and Dwight are having an affair, Andy and Dwight challenge each other to a duel for Angela’s hand! Jenna does a deep dive on duels, Office writer Ryan Koh calls in to share a behind-the-scenes racing accident, and Angela breaks down all the fakey items used to create the duel scene. There’s also talk of a casting sheet filled with cat headshots! And Jenna may have worn something in real life that Meredith wore in this episode… So enjoy The Duel! And remember, always keep an eye out for a Prius slowly trying to crush you. 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

• 0:02Speaker 00

  Hello everyone and welcome to your second drink of The Duel. This might be one of my all time favorite episodes of The Office. I know I say that so often. I also just really happen to like season five.

• 0:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's really solid.

• 0:17Speaker 00

  Well, there's just so many great moments in The Duel. I love the Andy and Dwight duel over Angela, but there's also all the scenes with Michael and David Wallace in New York. I'm very curious to hear what the fan favorite moment of this episode was.

• 0:32Speaker 01

  Well, we got this letter from Melissa Kay. Melissa says, "Hi ladies, absolutely love your show. And one of my absolute favorite scenes from the whole show is at 10 minutes and 53 seconds when Michael is talking about his philosophy to David Wallace and says, "Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason." It goes on and on with this line. I love this line so much and it completely captures the moment when you're asked a question you don't know the answer to and you have to make it up as you go. "Was all of that improvised or was it fully scripted? Thanks, Melissa." Okay, so Melissa, we talked about this in our breakdown, how Steve improvised a lot of this, but we didn't play it. And I pulled a clip from the superfan version

• 1:17Speaker 01

  because there is an extra joke at the top and it really cracked us up. Let's hear it.

• 1:23Speaker 02

  My philosophy is basically this. I like to sell paper for more than I bought the paper for. That's obviously obvious. But here's the thing, and this is something that I live by. And I always have and I always will. Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason, ever. No matter what, no matter where or who or who you are with or where you are going or where you've been

• 2:05Speaker 02

  ever, for any reason whatsoever. Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way.

• 2:15Speaker 01

  Like an improv conversation. Improvisation. I mean, it's something he lives by and always will.

• 2:23Speaker 00

  For any reason.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  For any reason. So not only was this our fan favorite moment of the episode, we also got a letter that this scene is educational. Listen to this. Angela B. wrote in and said, more of a comment for this episode. I taught English 101 at a university which focused on college writing. Every semester, whenever I did a lesson on needing to have a purpose for writing, I would show the clip from this episode where Michael starts to answer David Wallace's question and later says that he doesn't always know where his sentences are going to go. It's a great example about how if you don't know what the point of your argument or statement is, you'll end up with meandering thoughts.

• 3:07Speaker 00

  That's so wonderful.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  Hey, you know what? Just get it down on paper. You'll find it, right?

• 3:14Speaker 00

  Well, Angela, you might remember that I got really into the subject of dueling when we did this episode. Yes, I did a little deep dive on the rules of dueling. Well, we got some mail from folks that took my dive even deeper, and I'm going to read two letters that really tickled me. The first is from Laura H., who said, hi, I really enjoyed the dual podcast episode. To add to your discussion of dueling, I wanted you to know that as an attorney in Kentucky, I had to be sworn in by the state Supreme Court. As part of the swearing in process, attorneys have to solemnly swear, quote, "That since

• 3:54Speaker 00

  the adoption of the present constitution, I, being a citizen of this state, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this state, nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as a second in carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending."

• 4:17Speaker 01

  My goodness.

• 4:18Speaker 00

  Laura said, "The discussion regarding dueling is nearly half of the entire oath."

• 4:24Speaker 01

  That's bonkers.

• 4:26Speaker 00

  It was really funny to say that during the ceremony. And then Nicole C. wrote in to say, "I enjoyed hearing your history of dueling and wanted to let you know something else. I am a lawyer in the military, a JAG. And the military has its own set of rules called the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ. There is an article in the UCMJ, Article 114, that makes it illegal for military members to duel, to promote a duel, to not take action in stopping a duel, or to fail to report a duel. So, no dueling again." But then Nicole goes on to say that when we prepare to court martial someone, they

• 5:10Speaker 00

  have models of the argument that they make. And Nicole said, "If we were going to court martial Andy for dueling, here is how that would be argued." Quote, "In that Andy Bernard did at or near the Scranton Business Park on or about this date, fight a duel with Dwight Schrute, using as a weapon therefore a Toyota Prius."

• 5:36Speaker 00

  But Nicole says, "There could also be a court martial for Angela for promoting a duel, and it would sound like this." "In that Angela Martin did at or near the Scranton Business Park on or about this date, promote a duel between Dwight Schrute and Andy Bernard by telling Andy he would be a coward if he failed to challenge Dwight to a duel."

• 5:58Speaker 00

  So, two sets of charges. I guess, though, maybe Dwight should be charged as well. He did participate.

• 6:04Speaker 01

  I found that all fascinating. I mean, people had a lot of thoughts on dueling. Dueling was like a big deal.

• 6:12Speaker 00

  Big deal. Well, listen, everyone, thank you for tuning in. Thank you for writing in. Please write us your fan favorite moments over in our second drinks folder at office ladies.com.

• 6:23Speaker 01

  And now, please, enjoy the duel, but don't do a duel.

• 6:26Speaker 00

  No.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  And we've got really great tidbits in this one, too, from Jen Salata, Director Dean Holland, and Producer Randy Cordray. So, go give it a listen.

• 6:39Speaker 00

  I'm Jenna Fischer.

• 6:40Speaker 01

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 6:41Speaker 00

  We were on The Office together.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  And we're best friends.

• 6:44Speaker 00

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

• 6:48Speaker 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.

• 6:55Speaker 00

  We're the Office ladies.

• 6:59Speaker 00

  Lady, it's the duel.

• 7:01Speaker 01

  I mean, two men are gonna fight over me today.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  Me, AKA Angela Martin.

• 7:08Speaker 00

  I have to say, like Andy's Prius, this episode sneaked up on me, but in a great way. Oh, my gosh, hidden gem.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  It's so good. It's one of my favorite episodes. I loved watching it. I loved filming it, and I'm excited to talk about it today.

• 7:24Speaker 00

  Well, it is season five, episode 12, written by Jen Salata and directed by Dean Holland. Here's your summary. Michael takes it upon himself to expose Angela and Dwight's affair to Andy. The two men then challenge one another to a duel in the parking lot. Meanwhile, Michael is summoned to corporate to speak with David Wallace. He thinks it's gonna be bad news, but he gets some unexpected praise.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  Oh, those scenes. We'll get to it, but man, those are good, too.

• 7:56Speaker 00

  Fast fact number one. This episode was written by the always amazing Jen Salata.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  Applause for Jen.

• 8:03Speaker 00

  Oh, Jen. My goodness.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  Jen, so many good lines in this.

• 8:08Speaker 00

  I reached out to Jen, and she sent in an audio clip explaining the inspiration behind this episode.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Let's hear it.

• 8:17Speaker 03

  My biggest memory about writing the duel was how little I had when I was sent off to write the script. It was mid-season five, and it was a really busy patch for the writers, for all of us. And I remember this episode had to be written really, really quickly. And I knew it was about Andy finding out about Angela and Dwight's affair. But where we'd usually spend time as a group fleshing out the story, I went off on the script with a sentence. Andy runs over Dwight in his Prius, keeping it under five miles an hour so Dwight doesn't hear him coming. I mean, it was a good sentence, but there was a lot to fill in.

• 8:49Speaker 00

  That was it. She had a sentence.

• 8:51Speaker 01

  And she crafted this amazing story.

• 8:53Speaker 00

  Yes. Why Andy was gonna run over Dwight slowly with a Prius, she didn't know. She just knew that was gonna happen in the episode, and this is what she came up with.

• 9:04Speaker 01

  She had to build to that moment.

• 9:06Speaker 00

  Because usually, they would get whole outlines. They would have an A plot, a B plot, all of it. No. Amazing. Jen Salata, again.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Applause, Jen. Amazing.

• 9:19Speaker 00

  Fast fact number two, this episode was directed by Dean Holland. Dean was our other editor alongside Dave Rogers. We love Dean.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  We love Dean, and he knew the show so well, much like Dave. They knew every moment.

• 9:34Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. Dean told me that he had directed something for MTV, but that this was his first time directing an episode of television. He was so nervous that he threw up in the bathroom at crew call.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 9:48Speaker 00

  When he, when he texted me that, I was like, are you joking? He said, no, I'm, I'm being serious. I vomited in the bathroom.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 9:56Speaker 00

  He said that it was really daunting because he had come from editing and he hadn't spent a lot of time on set. You know, editor's life is very isolating. They're just in their editing room. And while we would pop over and say hello, it's very different than how a set works. And he said he felt a little bit like a stranger in a strange land. Those were his words. But he also said he'd consulted a little bit with Paul Feig, but more than anything, he did a ton of prep work for this episode. He said he knew the script inside and out, and listen to this. He said it changed very little from our table read. So that was good, because he had been prepping and prepping on that table read draft. And a lot of times,

• 10:38Speaker 00

  you know, after the table read, they'll come back and whole scenes are gone and new plots, but no.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  He said he was really happy that not a lot changed. But I think, again, Jen Salata.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:50Speaker 00

  Clearly nailed this one from the beginning.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  She nailed it.

• 10:54Speaker 00

  So here's a little secret that Randy Cordray told me, Angela. You know, he's our line producer and he's in charge of setting the schedule for the directors.

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, so he must have known when Dean was directing.

• 11:06Speaker 00

  He manipulated the schedule so that Dean would get this episode because when he read it, he thought Dean would be perfect to direct it.

• 11:16Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, Randy, look at you, working it.

• 11:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, he said he really wanted Dean to get this one for his directorial debut. I mean, what a gift.

• 11:27Speaker 01

  Wow. Well, this was a really big episode, you know, for the whole love triangle, the Dwight, Andy, Angela was all coming to a head. And I was nervous, actually, about this episode. I just knew that I wanted to play these moments right. And it was a tricky kind of scenario, Jenna, because like Angela is worried about both of them and feeling guilt, but also I don't know if she turned on. I don't know. There's a lot happening. And I felt very safe knowing Dean was directing me this week because like we knew him. You know what I mean?

• 11:59Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 11:59Speaker 01

  And I could go up to him and be like, Dean, did I do that right? What do you think? Should I try something else? So I felt very happy to have Dean there for the duel.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  Well, shortly after this, he went over to do Parks and Rec. He was the editor over there.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:14Speaker 00

  He directed a bunch of episodes there. But then years later, I got to be reunited with him because he was the executive producer and director of my show over at ABC splitting up together.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  Yes. And then I got to come and do a guest spot on your show and I got to see Dean in our sound department. It was like a mini office reunion.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  I loved that day.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  It was a fun day.

• 12:34Speaker 00

  It was. All right. Fast fact number three, the history of dueling.

• 12:41Speaker 01

  What? What? Oh, no. What is your search history on your computer? Oh, no.

• 12:49Speaker 00

  First of all, I would just like to say I am not a historian. I'm just a lady with Google.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  You're just a delightful lady that loves to Google.

• 12:57Speaker 00

  That's right. But I did read about four to five, what seemed like reputable websites on the subject of dueling.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 13:05Speaker 00

  And here is what I have pulled together.

• 13:07Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  Dueling seems to have originated in medieval Europe. Nobles would defend their honor in man-to-man battles.

• 13:16Speaker 01

  Well, listen, if you watch Outlander, you know that's true.

• 13:19Speaker 00

  I don't, but I-

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Come on, Sassanac, come on.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Well, in 1777, a group of Irishmen codified the dueling practices. They wrote a document of rules, and listen to what they called it. They called it Code Duelo. Code Duelo.

• 13:42Speaker 01

  I'm pretty sure that's a type of dessert you can get. I'll have the Code Duelo, thanks.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  I love the lemon flavor.

• 13:51Speaker 00

  It consisted of 26 very specific rules outlining all aspects of the duel, including the time of day during which challenges could be received, the number of shots or wounds required in order to win.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  I feel like Dwight would have known these 26 rules of dueling because he had the 40 rules all shrewd boys have to learn before they're five. He loves rules. I feel like Dwight knows about these dueling rules.

• 14:18Speaker 00

  He must.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  Right? He suggested the duel.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Oh, I'm sure he knew. I'm sure that some of these rules have made their way into the shrewd life.

• 14:28Speaker 01

  Into the shrewd 40 rules?

• 14:29Speaker 00

  Yes. The first recorded duel in America took place in 1621 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

• 14:40Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 14:40Speaker 00

  And then America created their own set of dueling rules.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  They were written by South Carolina Governor John Wilson in 1838. So, in a typical American duel, each party has to act through a second. I know this from the musical Hamilton, everyone.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, like you have your partner that goes with you?

• 15:06Speaker 00

  Yes, you have a second. That's right.

• 15:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And don't you get to bring like a medic? Like a doctor? Oh, that's an Outlander. Never mind.

• 15:14Speaker 00

  That wasn't-

• 15:16Speaker 01

  Jamie would bring Sassanac with him. Okay, never mind, go.

• 15:19Speaker 00

  I don't know about that.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:22Speaker 00

  I only read four to five websites.

• 15:24Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:25Speaker 00

  If we have a historian, perhaps they would know.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  You should watch Outlander, but don't watch it with your children around.

• 15:31Speaker 00

  Okay. So, listen, if a man felt like his honor had been insulted, he would tell his second to challenge the offender to a duel. You do not do it yourself. You send your second. The main duty of the second is to try to create a reconciliation, to avoid violence.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Oh, so that person's like the mediator.

• 15:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, they're literally doing what all therapists tell us not to do, which is to triangulate communication in order to, you know, solve conflicts. But whatever, this is dueling.

• 16:02Speaker 01

  I'm the second in my family. I'm often the person sent in to smooth over the other stuff.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  I think a lot of people have that position in their family. I get it. But if the second goes and said, hey, my guy is offended by you and wants to duel, and the person says, great, we're dueling, the recipient of the duel challenge gets to pick the weapons and the time and the place of the duel.

• 16:30Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 16:31Speaker 00

  So, for example, James Shields, an Illinois Attorney General, challenged future President Abraham Lincoln to a duel.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 16:42Speaker 00

  Lincoln accepted the duel, and he chose the broadsword as their weapon. James Shields was like, what the F? That's insane. Never mind. Forget it. And he called off the duel. So, like, bold move by Lincoln. Lincoln was like, I'll show up, and I'm bringing my sword to the duel. Do you want it?

• 17:05Speaker 01

  Lincoln was like, I'm tall, and I'm a swordsman.

• 17:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. James Shields was like, never mind. You know what? I'm good.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  You know what? I thought about it, and I'm okay.

• 17:16Speaker 00

  Here's one. This one really got me. I guess Andrew Jackson was very famous for dueling.

• 17:22Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 17:23Speaker 00

  Lots of duels, this guy. Experts placed his number of duels, maybe as many as 100. 100.

• 17:30Speaker 01

  Was Andrew just pissing everyone off? He was just pissing everyone off. Everyone wanted to fight him.

• 17:34Speaker 00

  His most famous duel was with Charles Dickinson, not to be confused with Charles Dickens, the writer.

• 17:41Speaker 01

  Oh, I was gonna say. Did you see my look on my face? I was like, wait, wait, what?

• 17:44Speaker 00

  Yeah. No, Charles Dickinson, he was a horse breeder, and I guess these two guys hated each other. Dickinson accused Jackson of cheating on a horse bet and he challenged Jackson to a duel. Jackson was like, "I'll be there, the weapon is pistols." But here's the thing, Dickinson was like known to be one of the best shots in the nation. So, I don't know why Andrew Jackson picked pistols, but he did. I think maybe it was just, I don't know, some swagger or something, right? So they show up, they duel.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:18Speaker 00

  Dickinson got off the first shot. It hit Andrew Jackson in the chest. He's bleeding from the chest, okay?

• 18:25Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 18:26Speaker 00

  All accounts are that he like held one hand to the wound, lifted his pistol, fired at Dickinson, his pistol misfired, it didn't shoot.

• 18:35Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 18:36Speaker 00

  So Andrew Jackson recocked his pistol, fired again, and killed Dickinson. This was very controversial, Angela. In the rules of dueling, you only get to fire once.

• 18:46Speaker 01

  That's what I was gonna say, aren't you one and done? And I know nothing about dueling, but I was pretty sure that's the case. Thank you, Hamilton.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  That's right. Yeah. I don't know. Andrew Jackson lived, he got away with it, and was later elected President of the United States.

• 19:04Speaker 01

  I have a question.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  What is it?

• 19:06Speaker 01

  If you're Charles Dickinson.

• 19:08Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 19:09Speaker 01

  You see Andrew Jackson pointing his gun at you.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  Right.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  To fire. Do you run a zigzag? Can you step out of the way? Or do you just have to stand there? Fingers crossed it doesn't hit you. Is there no movement allowed? Can I not jump around?

• 19:23Speaker 00

  I don't know. I don't know.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Cause I'm not gonna stand in one place if you're pointing a pistol at me. I'm gonna get moving.

• 19:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. I think you're not allowed, Ange.

• 19:34Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 19:35Speaker 00

  The last duel of record in the United States was in 1859.

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 19:41Speaker 00

  Here's who it involved.

• 19:43Speaker 01

  Was it more white men shooting at each other?

• 19:45Speaker 00

  It sure was, lady. Not only that, it was a United States Senator and a retired Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 19:53Speaker 00

  Way to go, guys. No one died in this duel because, listen to this madness, one guy's gun jammed.

• 20:01Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 20:02Speaker 00

  And then the other guy fired his gun, but it hit the other guy in his gold pocket watch and they called a truce.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 20:09Speaker 00

  That was the last duel in America.

• 20:11Speaker 01

  All right. Now... If Andrew Jackson was there, he would have unjammed his gun and shot at you again.

• 20:18Speaker 00

  Right.

• 20:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. I would like to say, I don't know who Andrew Jackson's second was, but I think they did a real shitty job.

• 20:26Speaker 00

  What about Dickinson's second? Dickinson's second tried to make a case that, you know, Andrew Jackson, I think should be tried for murder, but no one wanted to hear about it.

• 20:37Speaker 01

  That was very interesting. I liked all your dual trivia.

• 20:39Speaker 00

  Thank you. I enjoyed researching my dual trivia.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  I mean, there is just a part of me that would do a history podcast with you, but we get everything slightly wrong.

• 20:50Speaker 00

  Well, we're already doing that. I'm sure there are at least 12 things I did wrong in this fast fact number three. You know what? It's like our version of drunk history, but we're not drunk.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 21:02Speaker 00

  We're just well-meaning ladies who Google and tell you history.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  All right. Should we take a break?

• 21:12Speaker 00

  I think we should. There's a lot to say about this episode and I can't wait.

• 21:16Speaker 01

  All right.

• 21:27Speaker 00

  This episode opens with an amazing cold open. It was so much fun to shoot.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:33Speaker 00

  I loved watching it again.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  The phone rings. Pam answers the phone. Someone for Michael, but Michael's not there. Where is Michael? Oh, Michael is down on the street. He's running. He's screaming. There is a speed radar sign and he keeps running past it, trying to see how fast he can go. That's what Michael's doing this morning.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  That's what Michael's doing and we're all wondering why. Well, Pam shares that Angela has apparently called 911 several times to report cars going too fast outside on the road. And so the police came and put up this sort of like that radar screen, right? That tells you your speed.

• 22:14Speaker 00

  Yes. Well, I guess though, this was a really hard scene to shoot.

• 22:19Speaker 01

  Really?

• 22:20Speaker 00

  Yeah. Dean told me that we had to shoot this in two different places. So anything that you see out the window of Michael running, we had to shoot that from Paul Lieberstein's office.

• 22:35Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 22:36Speaker 00

  Because that was the window that looked outside onto our parking lot and onto our street. But of course, everything else that was indoors, we had to shoot inside Dunder Mifflin. And by the way, this is going to come up again later.

• 22:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:49Speaker 00

  So Dean told me that for that opening moment where Pam is on the phone and then the camera pulls back into Michael's empty office and then it whips over to the window and you see Michael running.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:01Speaker 00

  He had to use one of those whip cuts. So he shot Pam, pull back into Michael's office, and then he whipped to a window that just had like a scrim behind it, right? Because that's what Michael's office really has.

• 23:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. On our set, there's nothing behind his window.

• 23:18Speaker 00

  Yeah. Then he went up to Paul Lieberstein's office. He did another whip and then had Steve run by outside and he did that thing where he cut in the whip and put it together.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  That's movie magic, guys.

• 23:30Speaker 00

  Movie magic.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Now, I guess everyone has decided they want to know how fast they can run.

• 23:36Speaker 00

  It feels like Michael has forced us all outside to run past the sign. Dwight is very enthusiastic. He's happy to run past it. He runs past and he gets a speed of 13 miles per hour.

• 23:48Speaker 01

  Yes. Well, Jenna, do you notice how we're all just like, we're so cold and we're like, ah, shivering? But truly, the guys are like sweating their butts off.

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 23:57Speaker 01

  I, I went to, because I'm just an old lady who loves to know what the weather was. I've clearly become my parents because at my parents' house, the TV is always on and it's always on the weather channel. If you need to know what the weather is anywhere, just call my mom. She'll tell you. So I dug into my digital clutter and found out, we shot this episode the week of October 13th in 2008, and the average temperature was in the 90s for this week.

• 24:25Speaker 00

  Randy told me that, yeah, not only was it over 90 degrees that day, but we had to schedule this scene to shoot right after lunch.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  Oh, gross. So we all had these full bellies and like the sun was right directly over us.

• 24:41Speaker 00

  Yeah. But he said luckily, it only took a couple of hours to shoot.

• 24:45Speaker 01

  A couple of hours.

• 24:47Speaker 00

  I know.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Lucky for us.

• 24:50Speaker 01

  Oh my, I always felt bad. This is the one moment I felt bad for the guys because we froze our butts off on the stage. The ladies did. We were always in less clothing. But then when we were in these parking lot scenes and they're in full suits and they're sweating their butts off.

• 25:05Speaker 00

  And running with full stomachs of food.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Ugh.

• 25:09Speaker 00

  I have to imagine we were pretty comfortable out there in that 90 degree parking lot.

• 25:12Speaker 01

  I was probably fine.

• 25:14Speaker 00

  We were great.

• 25:15Speaker 01

  So it is hot and they're running past this radar gun. You know, Dwight scored a 13 and Michael wants to beat it. And so he starts running again and a car goes by and all of a sudden Michael clocks 31. And he's like, yes. And everyone kind of calls BS on that.

• 25:31Speaker 00

  Yes. Well, we got a lot of questions about how did we technically pull this off, right? With these speed numbers. Randy shared with us that the machine just worked. It was actually clocking people's real running speeds and the real car speed. But then he shared with us, the reason we did this cold open was inspired by one of our writers, real life experience.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  Yes. Aaron Schur, you guys, Aaron Schur is like always coming up with these great cold opens. And I talked with him, he is so hilarious to me, Jenna, because he's like, I guess my real life is just weird enough that it translates into a great cold open. Prior to working on The Office, Aaron had been working on The New Adventures of Old Christine. It was a show on CBS.

• 26:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

• 26:22Speaker 01

  Exactly. They filmed on the Warner Brothers lot and he said, on the Warner Brothers lot, there was this radar gun. And he was walking back from lunch from the commissary with some of the other writers. And as he walked past the radar gun, it said zero.

• 26:40Speaker 01

  So he was like, oh yeah? So he set his lunch down, backed up and he ran as fast as he could by it. Surprisingly, it clocked 20 miles per hour. That's his memory.

• 26:51Speaker 00

  No.

• 26:52Speaker 01

  That is his memory. He said, other writers were like, wait, I want to try this. They backed up and they started running past it as well. And he said it was a very sweaty writers' room that afternoon.

• 27:07Speaker 01

  That is incredible. So he told this story when he came to the office and they were like, "Oh, my gosh." Like, this is something Dwight and Michael would do.

• 27:16Speaker 00

  For sure. After we were done filming this, they moved that speed meter onto the parking lot near catering and it sat there for the whole week of production. Well, I guess it was too tempting to ignore.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 27:32Speaker 00

  Randy said that one day during lunch, a bunch of the writers went down and they started sprinting past it.

• 27:39Speaker 01

  Here we go again.

• 27:41Speaker 00

  But then, I guess there was an accident, lady.

• 27:45Speaker 01

  What?

• 27:46Speaker 00

  Remember our writer, Ryan Ko?

• 27:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. I don't remember an accident.

• 27:51Speaker 00

  Yeah. Randy shared that Ryan ran past the speed meter and it didn't go well.

• 27:59Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 28:00Speaker 00

  So I reached out to Ryan to get the story. And lady, I did not tell you this because I think you need to hear it from him directly. When he emailed me, I literally shouted, "Oh, no!" As I was reading his email. He's calling in, lady.

• 28:20Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 28:20Speaker 00

  To tell us this story.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, Ryan.

• 28:23Speaker 00

  All right, here he is.

• 28:28Speaker 00

  So, Ryan, you were a member of the writing staff in season five. You wrote business ethics, you wrote heavy competition, but the reason you're calling is because you have a story to tell.

• 28:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, I guess so.

• 28:43Speaker 04

  So the cold open of this episode is Michael and Dwight running out of your speed is like one of those signs that gets you to slow down on, on streets?

• 28:52Speaker 01

  Yes. Right, right. We had spoke to Aaron Schur about this, so we, we remember it well. And, and we did not know you were also part of the speed racing.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. So I should say Randy Cordray said that after we finished shooting this scene, he put the speed tracker in the parking lot and a bunch of people, writers and crew, all decided to go down and do this thing where you run past it. And you were one of the people who wanted to run past it.

• 29:23Speaker 04

  Absolutely. Yeah, I was like a staff writer in season four and still like felt insecure about being there in season five. And this was my chance to prove everyone that I was at least the fastest.

• 29:37Speaker 01

  You were the fastest rider. This was your moment.

• 29:40Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  But you ran track in high school, right?

• 29:44Speaker 04

  I was sixth in New England in the 100 in sort of our very small school division.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, Ryan, sixth in all of New England?

• 29:54Speaker 04

  In the very small schools, but yes. So I was like, I'm, I'm gonna beat stupid, these stupid old writers.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  So tell us what happened.

• 30:04Speaker 04

  I rewatched The Cold Open this morning. And so like, both Steve and Rain ran like 12 and 13 miles an hour.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 30:13Speaker 04

  And then a couple, a couple writers ran and they all got like 12 miles an hour. And then I was like, oh, I can beat that. So I had on corduroys and like Chuck Taylors.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  You, you were just in your work clothes. You weren't like dressed to run. You were just in what you wore to work that day.

• 30:29Speaker 04

  Well, Randy just poked his head up and said, like, who wants to run at a speedometer? And I was like, yeah. So yeah, I like really laced up. I mean, they're, they're sort of loose fitting chucks and they're sort of like a slip on shoe. Anyway, I laced them up really tight. And then I started running. And I, I have this memory like it was yesterday of, I don't know if you ever had this experience where you're running fast and then there's no ground beneath your feet and you're just sort of windmilling your feet with no ground underneath it. And then I very clearly remember seeing, well, not clearly, because I don't remember exactly, but it was like 17 or 18 miles an hour. Before I like sort of flew into the air, which for reference is like getting thrown out of a golf cart.

• 31:14Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 31:14Speaker 04

  Not too bad.

• 31:17Speaker 04

  And then, so like my, my corduroys totally shredded, shredded off my legs. So I landed on my elbows and forearms. And Dan Gore, who was one of the people watching, said, you could tell I was really hurt because I immediately popped off the ground and said, like, I'm fine, I'm fine. This is what people do when they're really hurt.

• 31:37Speaker 01

  But you were pretty hurt. Like, the medic did have to come over, right?

• 31:41Speaker 04

  I did get really mummified. I had to go to my cousin's wedding like an hour afterwards.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 31:48Speaker 04

  They used, you know, like that, that gauze, not even like bandage, but you know, that gauze that you can see through.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Right.

• 31:54Speaker 04

  And they wrapped it all around my arms and legs, which were pretty skinned. And then I got on the plane and then when I arrived in Portland, I, I went into the drugstore and bought a ton of like nonstick gauze and stuff. And then I had seen that all the scabs had formed like in the bandage. Anyway, that's gross. Um, so I, I, I stood in the shower for like an hour, just unwrapping my mummified arms and sort of yelling in pain.

• 32:19Speaker 01

  Oh my God.

• 32:20Speaker 04

  Right after I fell, I remember Randy immediately was like, all right, let's put this away. No one else, no one else. You know, they didn't want another idiot filing a lawsuit against the office. That was it. I hurt myself. I still have scars on all four of my limbs.

• 32:35Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh.

• 32:36Speaker 04

  Sort of a decent story.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  But you won, you won. You got the fastest speed. So there's that.

• 32:43Speaker 04

  I don't think anyone would call me the winner, but sure, I, I, I do believe. Sort of, I will definitely vouch for the fact that I got the fastest speed. I mean, I, I helped by disqualifying everyone by getting it removed. Maybe that was my strategy. Get a high speed and then mangle myself so they get rid of the speedometer.

• 33:00Speaker 00

  Ryan, thank you for coming on Office Ladies.

• 33:03Speaker 04

  You're welcome.

• 33:04Speaker 00

  And telling your story. We're going to hit you up for some trivia about heavy competition when we get to it, if you don't mind.

• 33:11Speaker 04

  Okay, sounds great.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  All right.

• 33:13Speaker 00

  Uh, love you, Ryan.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  So thank you for talking to you. Take care.

• 33:16Speaker 04

  Okay, thanks.

• 33:17Speaker 01

  Bye.

• 33:18Speaker 00

  Bye.

• 33:19Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh, this is like, it's art imitating life, life imitating art and art back to life? Is that it? This is crazy.

• 33:31Speaker 00

  Do you remember early in the podcast when you said life intimidating art?

• 33:34Speaker 01

  I do, Jenna, I do.

• 33:35Speaker 00

  It feels like life said to Ryan Coe, I'm going to intimidate you by throwing you to the asphalt.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  Life is intimidating art.

• 33:44Speaker 00

  I think so. Life threw Ryan to the asphalt in a very intimidating way, based on his art.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  Oh, man. Well, that is the cold open, you guys, and we haven't even gotten to the episode yet.

• 33:57Speaker 00

  Let's get into it because this is a big day. It's a big day for Michael because David Wallace wants to meet him and talk to him about big picture stuff. Michael doesn't really know what that means. It's probably bad.

• 34:10Speaker 01

  Oh, it's also a big day because Pam makes an announcement. New year, new candy, hot tamales. But did you notice at 1 minute 50 seconds that Pam has dark nail polish?

• 34:26Speaker 00

  I did not.

• 34:28Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I took a picture to show you. And then I did a weird mini dive. All right, I want you to see. I'll put this in stories, but you got to see. Look at your nails.

• 34:39Speaker 00

  How did I get away with that? Why did they let me do that?

• 34:43Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 34:44Speaker 00

  Because I will just say that if I ever came in with a nail polish that wasn't a natural looking nail polish, they would make me take it off in the trailer in the morning.

• 34:55Speaker 01

  I don't know how this fell through the cracks, but I remember this nail polish on you. Is this so weird?

• 35:02Speaker 00

  What is it?

• 35:03Speaker 01

  I looked up on the internet and it said in the fall of 2008, one of the big trends in nail polish was gray nail polish. In fact, collegecandy.com said the OPI Sephora had a very popular color called Metro Chic, which was a matte purplish gray.

• 35:23Speaker 00

  Well, I think we all know. If anything, I'm on trend.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  Hey, you know, the fashions.

• 35:30Speaker 00

  I do. I really do.

• 35:32Speaker 01

  I think you got some Metro Chic and put it on your nails for the weekend.

• 35:36Speaker 00

  I have no doubt. I love OPI nail polish. I wear it all the time. I am certain that's what it was. I just can't believe I got away with it. You know, they would let Amy Ryan and Melora Harden as their characters, they could have a darker nail polish. But they wanted Pam to always like either have no nail polish or just some clear nail polish.

• 35:57Speaker 01

  I sneaked it in, I guess.

• 35:59Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 35:59Speaker 01

  Maybe I sat on my hands while I got my hair and makeup done that day.

• 36:03Speaker 00

  Well, listen, Andy's gonna come in and he's clearly upset about something. He would like to address the elephant in the room. I love how Rainn Wilson, as Dwight, chose to kind of stand up and get in a power stance.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 36:17Speaker 00

  He's ready to fight because of course, we all think that he knows about this affair that Angela's having with Dwight. But that's not what he says. He says, none of you have RSVP'd to our wedding.

• 36:29Speaker 01

  How awkward. In the deleted scenes, this scene goes on where he goes to every single person and is like, hey, Phyllis, you haven't RSVP'd. Jim, like, and everyone like pretends to be on the phone.

• 36:42Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  You have this hilarious talking head where you're like, you say you've been avoiding him and you can't look him in the eye. So you only look at his nose. And so then Andy comes up to you and asks you, and you're just awkwardly looking at his nose. And then he thinks he has something on his nose. It was really funny. The deleted scenes for this episode, I feel like every single one of them should have been in because they were all awesome.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  Oh, Jim says it's been 17 days. It's been 17 days since the Christmas party when Phyllis spilled the beans. Everyone meets in the break room, except Andy, and Michael says he's gonna tell him. He has to tell him.

• 37:21Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 37:22Speaker 00

  And of course, everyone's like, you can't. It's really Angela's responsibility.

• 37:27Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 37:27Speaker 00

  And then I loved the exchange between Oscar and Dwight.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  Oh, I know. I was anticipating it as you were about to say it. And just the fact that the whole group starts learning where all Angela and Dwight have shagged in the office.

• 37:45Speaker 00

  We had a fan question from Jess R. who said, "Who wrote the moment in the break room when Dwight implies he's been doing it with Angela on Oscar's desk and was any of that scene improvised?" No, none of it was improvised. It was all scripted by Jen Salata.

• 38:02Speaker 01

  So good. This scene takes us into accounting and Angela's kind of giving it to Kevin that he screwed up again. And then there's some real Kevin sass.

• 38:13Speaker 00

  Oh, it's great.

• 38:15Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. He's like, "I didn't realize I was doing something wrong. If I had, I would have admitted it and stopped right away." He really leans in hard on this moment.

• 38:24Speaker 00

  And Oscar gives him props. He's like, "No, that was really good. You did a great job. Congratulations."

• 38:31Speaker 01

  Jenna, immediately after the scene in the script, there's a very angry Angela talking head. And it's pretty amazing because Angela is so furious that she breaks the fourth wall and berates the camera documentary crew and then flashes them some of her shoulder.

• 38:49Speaker 00

  Really?

• 38:50Speaker 01

  Yes. Sam, will you play it? It's just so important for you to get your big story, isn't it? To edit everything together to make it look like there's a villain. Well, there's not always a villain. Sometimes there's just a hardworking petite woman trying to make a conscientious decision about the rest of her life. Too boring? Did I lose you? Here, is this what you want?

• 39:19Speaker 00

  Okay, that was amazing, but I have to say, I think it was right to cut it out because I don't know if we've ever had that much direct conversation with the documentary crew before, if we've ever referred so much to what they're doing.

• 39:35Speaker 01

  I was shocked when I watched it, Jenna, because she was like, "Is that what you want? You're going to edit this together? You're going to make a villain?" And also, it was a little bit too sophisticated for Angela Martin to understand the whole process of a documentary and how they tell it through narration in these moments. So I think it was the right move to cut it, but I was shocked when I saw it. I had to share.

• 39:55Speaker 00

  So Angela, I love this episode because there's just so much tension and it plays out so slowly over when or whether or not Andy is going to figure out that Angela's having an affair. So he has this exclamation on the phone and everyone's like, but it's really just about the cake. He's just having an issue with the cake. But this leads to that Dwight talking head because Dwight is on guard this whole time. He's like constantly leaping out of his chair.

• 40:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:27Speaker 00

  And he kind of explains that there are these 40 rules that all Shrimp Boys must learn by the age of five. And one of these rules is like, don't put your back to a man who you've wronged. That's just one of the 40 rules.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Don't turn your back on a bear or a dominant turkey during mating season.

• 40:46Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's a lot of things you shouldn't turn your back on.

• 40:49Speaker 01

  And then he has this little jingle that he sings.

• 40:52Speaker 00

  Now Angela, is it true that Rain improvised that song?

• 40:58Speaker 01

  Oh, no, that was in the script. That was 100% written. They shared in the DVD commentary that Rain was singing the jingle a few different ways. And then Dean asked Jen, Jen, how did you hear it when you wrote it? She sort of sang it her way and they found it in the moment.

• 41:13Speaker 00

  So they found the melody, but the words were written.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  The words are totally written. They're in the script. This is like fabulous Jen Salata writing. They just improvised the melody.

• 41:23Speaker 00

  Got it. Well, now Dwight is going to signal Angela to meet him in the hallway. He does this by moving his little bobble head to the other side of his desk.

• 41:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:34Speaker 00

  He's gonna confront her. He wants her to tell Andy the truth.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Angela has a line, Jenna, that really made me laugh. She's like, this is a terrible idea, one of your worst. And then he's like, just get it over with. And then Angela says, you're expanding on your worst idea? That just really made me laugh.

• 41:54Speaker 00

  Well, Michael is leaving now and he asks Andy to walk with him.

• 41:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:59Speaker 00

  He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  He can't not do it. This is like true Michael, like he can't not.

• 42:05Speaker 00

  The scene is so funny.

• 42:07Speaker 01

  It's so funny.

• 42:09Speaker 00

  I mean, it's so perfect. You know, I believe Angela, originally in the scene, he is supposed to tell Andy before he got in his car.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  Yes, it's scripted that he tells him outside of the car.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  But on the day, they came up with the idea that it would be really funny if Michael was in the car, and then he sort of says it through the window as he's driving away, and that is so good.

• 42:34Speaker 01

  Yes. So in the commentary, Dean said he had the idea in the moment that the scene takes place with Michael in the car. And then Steve sort of built on that and was like, what if Michael really doesn't want to tell him, so it's kind of like as he's pulling away? And then Dean said that Steve really peeled out of the parking lot. They did not add that sound in, in post. That's actually the car peeling away.

• 42:56Speaker 00

  Oh, that's amazing. Well, we had a fan question from Maria M. about this scene. She said, is there a production-related reason why the vehicles in this episode all appear so dusty and dirty? And when I went back and looked at it, yes, they're all covered in grime.

• 43:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're filthy.

• 43:15Speaker 00

  I asked Randy Cordray about it, and he said, yes, Maria. Great eye to detail. All of the cars were purposely dirtied by the scenic painting crew using flour and water, and this was meant to simulate what cars might look like during a typical Scranton winter, from just road grime and salt.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  And snow.

• 43:38Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  When snow gets dirty looking, right? And it's on your car.

• 43:42Speaker 00

  Yes. And that the cars in the parking lot belonged to our crew members, and any crew member who volunteered to park their car in the lot got a free car wash every Friday.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Oh, how about that?

• 43:54Speaker 00

  So during the week, they'd have to drive around with a grimy car, but on the weekends, you got a fresh, clean car. Well, I think this is a good place to take a break because Andy knows the truth. And when we come back, we'll talk about what he does.

• 44:08Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 44:09Speaker 00

  It's a lot.

• 44:10Speaker 01

  This was some cringey stuff to watch.

• 44:13Speaker 00

  We'll be right back.

• 44:24Speaker 00

  All right, we are back. And guys, Meredith knew something big was gonna happen today. Now, she said that yesterday, but she was also right yesterday because her neighbor was murdered.

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 44:35Speaker 00

  What is her life?

• 44:36Speaker 01

  I don't know, but Meredith has the best, like, throwaway lines. It's like her and Creed. Like, what the heck is their life?

• 44:43Speaker 00

  It must have been so fun to write for them.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  I know.

• 44:45Speaker 00

  At 8 minutes 42 seconds, we get a really good shot of Meredith in this episode, and she is wearing a sweater vest.

• 44:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 44:55Speaker 00

  Lady, I wore that same sweater vest to a press event with John Krasinski in New York.

• 45:03Speaker 01

  What?

• 45:04Speaker 00

  Yeah. I walked on set. This week, we were shooting The Duel, and I looked at Kate dressed as Meredith, and I thought, oh, my God.

• 45:13Speaker 01

  [laughing]

• 45:14Speaker 00

  Oh, my God, did I make a terrible mistake? I thought it was fashionable. I wore that same vest over this, like, big, poofy, white blouse with big, poofy shoulders. This was the style.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  What?

• 45:29Speaker 00

  It was actually a really expensive vest. It was like Betsy Johnson or something.

• 45:33Speaker 01

  Can we do a side by side of you and Meredith?

• 45:37Speaker 00

  We must.

• 45:38Speaker 01

  Jenna, in real life, has the same fashion choices as Meredith?

• 45:43Speaker 00

  Lady, look, here's a picture. Look at it.

• 45:45Speaker 01

  [laughing]

• 45:48Speaker 00

  See?

• 45:49Speaker 01

  [laughing]

• 45:50Speaker 00

  Look at it.

• 45:51Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. First of all, you and John look 14 years old. We have to put this photo in Office Ladies Stories. You are wearing Meredith's sweater vest, and John looks like he could host Blue's Clues.

• 46:04Speaker 00

  He does.

• 46:05Speaker 01

  He's in, like, a stripy polo.

• 46:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 46:08Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, you guys look 14 years old.

• 46:10Speaker 00

  We were doing press at this NBC Experience store, showing off all the new office merchandise.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Meredith called. She wants her sweater vest back.

• 46:20Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. And like I'd already done the event, you know?

• 46:26Speaker 01

  Well, you could have heard a pin drop when Andy walked back into that bullpen. And he goes over to Angela and says, we need to talk. And she's like, we can talk right here. And he's like, no, no. Ed played it so real.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 46:42Speaker 01

  I was sweating. I was sweating it like I felt it. We went into that conference room and he shut the door. And we were in there a long time. And Ed broke my heart.

• 46:55Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 46:57Speaker 01

  As Andy, when he was like, do you love him?

• 47:01Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 47:02Speaker 01

  And I was really feeling all of this emotion. And then Angela has to make this plea, this plea to him to don't give up on us. And Jenna, it was all going great until we got to two words. Formal chrysanthemums.

• 47:21Speaker 01

  I couldn't say it. Formal chrysanthemums, formal chrysanth- formal chrysanthemums. I really had to break it down to be able to say it. But you need to say it like it's effortless. But I literally was like going formal chrysanthemums.

• 47:39Speaker 00

  You know what, lady? That is not anything having to do with your accent or you. I challenge anyone to say that word. I can't chrysanthemums, chrysanth-

• 47:48Speaker 01

  Say it quickly, guys.

• 47:49Speaker 00

  Formal chrysanthemum. That was my best effort, by the way.

• 47:54Speaker 01

  I mean, literally Jen Salata had to come in the room and help me break it down. But try saying it quickly while you're like throwing it away like you have no problem saying it in a speech where you're pleading to save your relationship.

• 48:09Speaker 00

  And you know what? It wouldn't have worked any other flower. That's the funniest flower. It had to be that.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  I know. Well, while this whole Andy and Angela scene is going on in the conference room, there's a flip side to what's happening. It's everyone in the bullpen watching. It was deleted for time. It's so great. And I really feel like Phyllis summed up the whole moment perfectly. Phyllis, why is it taking so long? He found out his little angel's been screwing the beet farming weirdo. He's trying to make-

• 48:39Speaker 00

  It makes sense in his brain and then he's going to come out here and kill you.

• 48:44Speaker 00

  Thank you, Phyllis. You're welcome. Oh yeah, she got it. I mean, that made me laugh really hard. I wish it had stayed in. Well, this takes us to corporate. Andy and Angela are gonna stay in the conference room. They're not done. But meanwhile, we cut over to corporate and we see the reason why David Wallace is called Michael in. He says to Michael, Scranton is outperforming the other branches. Everyone else is struggling and we want to know, what are you doing right? What is Michael doing so right?

• 49:19Speaker 01

  I mean, everything and Michael lit up like a Christmas tree. He's like, David Wallace wants advice from me?

• 49:28Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then he starts talking.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Oh Jenna, I have to read it. Can I please read it?

• 49:34Speaker 00

  Please read it.

• 49:36Speaker 01

  The minute he said, David, here it is. My philosophy is basically this, and this is something that I live by and I always have and I always will. Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone, for any reason, ever. No matter what, no matter where, or who, or who you are with, or, or where you are going, or where you've been, ever. For any reason whatsoever. What is he saying? What is he saying? I went to the script. This was not scripted.

• 50:11Speaker 00

  What?

• 50:12Speaker 01

  There was a different moment. There was the same thing where he sort of started to talk nonsense. I think Steve was also improvising here. I think he went off what Jen had and then I think they let Steve do his thing. And now his talking head where he says, sometimes I start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. I just find it along the way. That was 100% scripted.

• 50:34Speaker 00

  The improvisation?

• 50:35Speaker 01

  Yes, that was all exactly scripted, but this answer to David, I think was a little bit on the page and then they just let Steve play.

• 50:45Speaker 00

  I love it. This little scene between Michael and David Wallace was important story wise because it's really starting to set up the economic struggle slash decline of Dunder Mifflin, which is going to play out in future seasons as branches start closing, as we get bought out by Saber. Spoiler alerts. I guess you're supposed to say that first.

• 51:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's supposed to come first. And also, you start to learn that David Wallace might be in a precarious position.

• 51:16Speaker 00

  Yeah. So we made it a comedy moment with Michael suddenly giving advice to David Wallace. But this was also setting up a broader story that we will play out.

• 51:29Speaker 01

  In the DVD commentary, Dean said one of his notes for all of the Michael David scenes in this episode was, no matter what, Michael won't leave the office, no matter what.

• 51:40Speaker 00

  Well, that makes sense because he suggests they order some pasta. And then my favorite thing is like, after that pasta eating scene where Michael is still just going on and on and on, David Wallace kind of gets up and then Michael keeps eating his pasta and David is like, no, no, yes, go, I guess, just finish, finish your meal there.

• 52:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, and he like pats him on the shoulder and shuts the door and sits back down.

• 52:05Speaker 00

  Well, when we get back to the office, Angela and Andy are still in the conference room. She needs him to know that her and Dwight did not do anything fancy sexually.

• 52:16Speaker 01

  Well, Dwight tells Michael something very differently about their sex life earlier.

• 52:21Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, I can't believe we didn't bring that up. That made me laugh so hard, Angela.

• 52:25Speaker 01

  I know.

• 52:26Speaker 00

  Yes, Michael is all asking Dwight, like, if you're crazy.

• 52:29Speaker 01

  Is she crazy in bed?

• 52:30Speaker 00

  Crazy in the sack? Is she crazy? And Dwight's like, yes. And then Michael is like, how? How is she crazy? And Jim is just standing there.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, Jim is like, oh, God, no, no. And then Dwight says eager and flexible.

• 52:43Speaker 00

  Lady, is that in the script? Was that an improv?

• 52:46Speaker 01

  It's 100% scripted.

• 52:48Speaker 00

  It was so good.

• 52:50Speaker 01

  All of those beats.

• 52:51Speaker 00

  That made me laugh out loud.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  Some of John's reactions as Jim are improvised, but everything else is scripted.

• 52:57Speaker 00

  Well, Angela doesn't tell Andy any of that stuff. She just says she loves him. And when he leaves the conference room, he tells Dwight, "It's over. It's over." And he means "over" between you and Angela, not me and Angela. He's still gonna marry Angela.

• 53:16Speaker 01

  Well, Angela made a big case. She was like, "Listen, we're at a crossroads here. Let's prove all these people wrong." Dwight makes a big declaration that Bernard will never be her last name. They are gonna stay together. He is not gonna give up. Jenna, this was a much longer scene. And when Dwight says, "A duel. We'll have a duel over Angela. The winner gets Angela." Stanley can't take it anymore. He's gonna call BS. And he has this great moment.

• 53:45Speaker 05

  Okay, we're not doing that. Now, hang on, Pam. Andy, do you fully understand that the prize is Angela? So help me God, I do. And Dwight, do you fully understand that the prize is Angela? I do. I say give them both guns.

• 54:01Speaker 01

  Stanley.

• 54:02Speaker 05

  Darwin, baby. Darwin.

• 54:07Speaker 01

  Darwin, baby, Darwin. I just love that moment.

• 54:13Speaker 00

  Even Pam turns to Angela and is like, "You have to stop this." But Angela says, "I will respect the results of the duel."

• 54:22Speaker 01

  So, yeah, I remember us shooting this moment, Jenna. But in my mind, there was more to the scene. I went to the script and there was an alt of this moment where Pam confronts Angela. It didn't make it in. And you have a whole speech. And I called it "Preach, Pam!" This takes place in the break room.

• 54:45Speaker 00

  Okay, Angela.

• 54:46Speaker 01

  What?

• 54:48Speaker 00

  You have to put a stop to this. I admit, at first, I was blaming you for being selfish and dishonest. But then I decided to put myself in your shoes.

• 54:58Speaker 01

  I didn't ask you to do that.

• 55:03Speaker 00

  I get it. You're having a hard time choosing between Dwight and Andy. For reasons that you must have about that.

• 55:12Speaker 00

  You have to make a decision, Angela.

• 55:15Speaker 00

  Who would you rather go home to at night? Who would you rather wake up with in the morning? Marriage is a big deal, Angela. Who do you see as the father of your children? Who are you most proud of?

• 55:29Speaker 00

  Who's most accepting of your quirkiness?

• 55:36Speaker 01

  I don't see how any of that matters now.

• 55:38Speaker 00

  Why not?

• 55:39Speaker 01

  Two men are about to fight for my hand. When it's over, I will respect one of them and pity the other. Decision made.

• 55:52Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, Pam, like, really tried to show up for Angela in this moment, tried to empathize with her. And what, you know, you guys are hearing it, but if you watch it, if you go to the deleted scenes on the DVD, you see all of this emotion go across my face. I'm clearly torn.

• 56:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:15Speaker 01

  And it just really showed something you don't get to see that much in this. You only see little moments that Angela is really struggling.

• 56:24Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, Angela, when I was trading messages with Jen Salata about this episode, she was very complimentary of your performance.

• 56:32Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 56:33Speaker 00

  She said that this episode was tricky and a lot rested on how your character would react to these two men dueling over her. She said she was really worried. Like, how do you convince people that you would accept the results of a duel? It's so crazy.

• 56:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  And she said, you know, there was this scene that really shows you stuffing down your real feelings. But she said that you were able to play it so perfectly in just your one line in the bullpen.

• 57:12Speaker 00

  We so believed that your character would accept the results of a duel that it grounds the whole episode and she was so grateful for your performance.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, that's so nice.

• 57:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:24Speaker 01

  Thank you, Jen. Well, you know, what I thought about Angela is that she really loves Dwight. She really thinks Andy is a better partner for her, like socially.

• 57:34Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 57:35Speaker 01

  Sort of acceptable and all of that. And she's really struggling about what's the right thing to do in her life. And the duel for her is actually a relief because now she doesn't have to decide.

• 57:47Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 57:47Speaker 01

  To her, this is like an institution that will decide for her and she's off the hook. And I think that's why she was so willing to accept it.

• 57:56Speaker 00

  We had some people write in wondering, were you secretly rooting for one man over the other? Do you think Angela Martin was secretly rooting for one person?

• 58:06Speaker 01

  I think she was hoping Dwight would win. For her, I just have this feeling that on paper, Andy Bernard is more presentable to her family, right? And makes more sense to Angela Martin's family and that they would be more accepting and more willing to embrace Andy Bernard than Dwight Schrute. And so I feel like she could go to her family and be like, well, Dwight bested him in a duel. So, you know, clearly Dwight is the dominant man and I have no.

• 58:34Speaker 00

  That your whole family would accept the results of the duel.

• 58:37Speaker 01

  Yes, and I have to go with that. So, you know, I mean, I know we all thought Andy was the one, but I don't think Angela ever thought Andy was the one. And so I think she thinks her family would accept it too. Is that crazy? But that's what I was thinking.

• 58:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, so she's rooting for Dwight to win this duel because she loves him more and because it would help gain acceptance with her family.

• 58:58Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 58:59Speaker 00

  Well, this duel is happening. It is happening in the parking lot at 4:00 PM. Bring the weapon of your choice.

• 59:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. So it's four o'clock. The duel is beginning. Dwight's outside in the parking lot. He's yelling, Andy, where are you? You know, he's like, are you a coward? Everyone else is upstairs watching from the conference room. Angela's saying, I can't believe two men are fighting over me. And then Kelly like has a dig. She's like, well, I guess when you're old, you run out of options or something like

• 59:31Speaker 00

  I thought that was really funny.

• 59:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:34Speaker 01

  Oscar doesn't think Andy's gonna show and they're actually kind of placing bets. And Kevin's like, come on.

• 59:39Speaker 00

  But then Dwight sees a note on some bushes.

• 59:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:42Speaker 00

  He goes over to read it. What is this?

• 59:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. What's this note about?

• 59:47Speaker 00

  While he's reading it, Andy does show up very slowly, very quietly.

• 59:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 59:53Speaker 00

  In his Prius.

• 59:55Speaker 01

  Well, you know, Jenna, Jen had that one sentence that she had to write this whole episode off of, right?

• 1:00:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  About the duel. This was Paul Lieberstein's idea about the Prius. He said, if you go under five miles an hour, it's totally silent. And so this is the weapon Andy chooses.

• 1:00:14Speaker 00

  Yes. He is going to pin Dwight up against the bushes. He's going to crush him.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  But really, he's only crushing like from his kneecaps down.

• 1:00:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, but he's pinned. I mean Dwight can't move. Dwight can't hit him with his bike chain anymore.

• 1:00:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:32Speaker 00

  So he starts slamming it on the hood of the car. They're screaming at each other.

• 1:00:37Speaker 01

  At 18 minutes, 16 seconds, Rain shared on the DVD that during this whole screaming match between the two of them, they improvised for about 40 minutes. Dean said at least 40 minutes. Just insults and banter back and forth at each other. Dean said there was so much good stuff.

• 1:00:58Speaker 00

  Oh, I wish we could see that.

• 1:01:00Speaker 01

  The 40 minutes of them yelling.

• 1:01:01Speaker 00

  I would watch it.

• 1:01:03Speaker 01

  I would do it actually.

• 1:01:04Speaker 00

  They're probably amazing. Well, we got a lot of questions about how did we do this scene? How did we do this stunt? Who was driving? Yada, yada. Well, I talked to Dean and he said this was really complicated because we had to shoot this scene over two different days from three different locations. First, we shot in the parking lot with Rain and Ed. They performed the whole thing. We shot it and the rest of us were upstairs in Paul's office, looking out that window and the camera could whip up to us.

• 1:01:47Speaker 01

  In real time.

• 1:01:48Speaker 00

  In real time.

• 1:01:50Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:01:50Speaker 00

  We watched all of it. Then they moved the cameras up to Paul's office to get really tight shots out of the window onto the action below. And Rain and Ed had to do it all over again, just to get a few little shots through the window. But then on a different day, we shot inside the actual Dunder Mifflin conference room. And this time, we had to be careful to not shoot out the window because there was nothing there. It was just a backdrop. And that we were basically looking at nothing, but Dean was shouting out all the action that had happened the day before.

• 1:02:26Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:02:27Speaker 00

  He said this was the moment when being an editor on the show really helped him. He had kind of cut this whole thing together with a shot list inside his head. And he just kept telling people, trust me, trust me, trust me, trust me.

• 1:02:41Speaker 01

  He could see it, right? He could see it.

• 1:02:43Speaker 00

  He could see the whole thing. He said he planned all of these whip hand cuts between the window, between us, all of it. And when he got in the editing room, because he edited this episode as well, it actually did all come together and it looked really, really seamless.

• 1:03:00Speaker 01

  Well, you have to think that Randy Cordray was like, I knew it. I knew it.

• 1:03:04Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  That Dean's editing was going to come into play here.

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  This is why Dean has to direct this episode. But he did say it was a little grueling for the actors because we had to play these same moments over and over and over again, more so than we normally do. And we had to make it seem like we were doing it for the first time every time. Now, as for the stunt.

• 1:03:26Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:27Speaker 00

  Randy told us that Ed actually drove the Prius silently through the parking lot. He said they had stunt doubles standing by for the actual moment of impact. They thought that they would have a stunt driver actually drive into a stunt Dwight.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:03:44Speaker 00

  And then after they were kind of squished, they would place Rain into the bushes.

• 1:03:50Speaker 01

  And Ed into the car.

• 1:03:51Speaker 00

  Yes. But then on the commentary, didn't Rain say they just kind of ended up doing it themselves?

• 1:03:58Speaker 01

  Actually, the commentary was Rain Wilson, Jen Salata, Dean Holland, and Rusty Mahmoud, who was our first assistant director. And they discussed that Ed actually drove into rain very slowly. And that it totally worked. And those takes of those guys actually doing it were their favorite. So those were the ones they used and they did not use takes with the stunt people.

• 1:04:24Speaker 00

  Well, we also got a fan question from Samantha T who wanted to know what was up with the fence? Like, what was on the other side of it? Was it padding? Was it an actual fence? Was the bumper of the car padded? Was rain really being squashed? Well, it was the real bumper of the car. And then Rain sent in an audio clip to tell us a little bit about the bushes.

• 1:04:49Speaker 06

  Oh, I'm so glad you guys are doing the dual. Fantastic. One of my very favorite episodes. And I always loved those episodes where Dwight and Andy got to go head to head. I just loved that. That subplot of that, that tension. And Ed Helms is so funny in this episode. But you know what it reminded me of is in college, we studied clowning and commedia dell'arte. And it really is classic, old, old comedy, like back from commedia dell'arte and the Greeks and ancient clowning of two idiots going at it over absurd [BLEEP]. And in this case, love and Aprius.

• 1:05:34Speaker 06

  It was so much fun to shoot. I don't remember a lot of specifics about it, but I remember the hedge had a lot of give in it. So you could really pretend like you were pinned. But it was just a big mass of vines and it was actually very soft and comfortable. And I love that line about the bears in Scranton. So fantastic.

• 1:05:55Speaker 00

  So I guess Rain was quite comfortable being pinned against the bushes. No complaints.

• 1:06:00Speaker 01

  Well, I can tell you about those big giant hedges. One time, Brian in a scene as Kevin nudged me. He thought it was a nudge. I went flying into them. I don't know if you remember that. I can't remember what episode, but I can attest to the fact that it's a very deep, dense. Very sort of a hedge you could fall into without getting to the other side.

• 1:06:24Speaker 00

  Aha, aha.

• 1:06:26Speaker 01

  Well, the hedges might have been a good thing for Rain, and they were a nice, soft place to land, but they actually caused a little bit of a headache for our production. So Rusty Mahmood, our first assistant director, shared on the DVD commentary that we had about six hours a day to film these parking lot scenes. That's what they had allotted for the time. And by the time we got to the parking lot scenes on the first day of filming, those big hedges had cast a shadow over half of the parking lot. If you go and watch, Jenna, you'll see.

• 1:06:59Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:07:00Speaker 01

  There's a huge shadow. Well, now, guess what? We needed to match that shadow exactly the second day we filmed.

• 1:07:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:07:08Speaker 01

  Right? So in order to do that, they had to create this fake shadow. We have fakie shadow.

• 1:07:15Speaker 00

  Fakie shadow?

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  Fakie shadow. They used giant 20 by 20 bounce cards and positioned them behind the hedges on the street so that the shadow would cast and match each day we filmed in the parking lot.

• 1:07:28Speaker 00

  Gosh, those are things you just don't think about.

• 1:07:31Speaker 01

  I know, but this is the amazing thing about your crew. Someone was like, oh, hold up, that shadow's not going to match. We've got to recreate a shadow.

• 1:07:40Speaker 00

  Amazing.

• 1:07:41Speaker 01

  Well, fakie shadow wasn't the only fakie thing we had in this scene. We also had fakie bicycle chain.

• 1:07:48Speaker 00

  Fakie bicycle chain?

• 1:07:50Speaker 01

  That's right. Clearly, Rain could not whip around a real bicycle chain. So Phil Shea had a rubber bicycle chain made, and that's what Rain used as Dwight to hit the Prius and wave around. So obviously, a rubber bicycle chain is not going to make the same sound as a real bicycle chain on metal. So all the sounds you hear are put in post, that whopping sound.

• 1:08:14Speaker 00

  Except for the car horn.

• 1:08:17Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:08:18Speaker 00

  Ed was really blaring the horn.

• 1:08:21Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:08:21Speaker 00

  Poor Rain.

• 1:08:23Speaker 01

  I know, but he was really having fun with it, too, because he'd wait and blare it right when Rain, like, started to talk.

• 1:08:30Speaker 00

  Well, all of this mayhem is going on and Jim has a talking head where he's just kind of standing there and you can hear it all in the background.

• 1:08:40Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. So good.

• 1:08:42Speaker 00

  Dean told me that they came up with that idea on the day. He said that as he and Jen Salata were standing there, just listening to these two guys go on, he thought it would be really funny to add that. So he and Jen came up with that and they positioned John and they just kind of added that in the moment.

• 1:09:00Speaker 01

  It's so perfect because it's the voice of reason. It's this totally normal, rational person reacting to this moment of chaos. And I feel like it lets the audience take a breath and be like, oh, yeah, this is crazy.

• 1:09:14Speaker 00

  Well, in this argument, Andy ends up revealing that he and Angela have had sex, which is something that Dwight did not know.

• 1:09:22Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, he says, I can't believe she's been sleeping with you this whole time and she's only slept with me twice.

• 1:09:28Speaker 00

  I made a sex tracker.

• 1:09:31Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 1:09:32Speaker 00

  I did.

• 1:09:33Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 1:09:35Speaker 00

  Here's what I'm gonna say, Angela.

• 1:09:37Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:09:38Speaker 00

  In the business trip episode, Andy told Oscar he had never had sex with Angela. In the surplus, Andy says he has seen Angela naked zero times.

• 1:09:51Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:09:51Speaker 00

  So we have to imagine that either they've had sex twice since the surplus, or they've had sex twice since business trip, but that while having sex, he never saw Angela naked. Which one do you think it is? Fully clothed sex or naked sex recently?

• 1:10:14Speaker 01

  You know what? Um, I believe both. I believe that he could possibly have had sex with her, but she wouldn't let him see her naked. Like she'd have some kind of like long gown on. But I also can believe that after Dwight hoodwinked her into this fake wedding, that she was furious.

• 1:10:34Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:10:35Speaker 01

  And she went and had some revenge sex.

• 1:10:37Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. I think that's most likely. That's when they had their sex.

• 1:10:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:42Speaker 00

  Well, Andy is gonna return to his desk. Dwight returns to his desk.

• 1:10:48Speaker 01

  They're both crestfallen.

• 1:10:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:10:50Speaker 01

  I mean Dwight feels betrayed and Andy feels betrayed.

• 1:10:53Speaker 00

  But who won the duel? Angela's standing there. She hears Andy make a phone call. He cancels the wedding cake.

• 1:11:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's the one that was in the shape of a sailboat.

• 1:11:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, that one.

• 1:11:06Speaker 01

  That wedding cake. Jen said they did have an alt cake line where he would say it was the one in the shape of the letter C for Cornell.

• 1:11:14Speaker 00

  Oh, I was like, for cat?

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  I know. But they, they went with sailboat.

• 1:11:22Speaker 00

  Then Angela looks to Dwight. Did he win?

• 1:11:26Speaker 01

  Hmm. He puts his bobble head in the trash. Jenna, there was a deleted scene that comes after this, where Angela goes up to Pam and she's teary eyed, like her voice is wavering. And she says, um, can you give me a ride home from work today? Because I no longer have a ride home.

• 1:11:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:50Speaker 01

  And Pam says, yes.

• 1:11:53Speaker 00

  And then her and Jim give Angela a ride home.

• 1:11:57Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. This car ride. We did shoot this scene. It's in the deleted scenes. Angela just barks directions angrily at Jim. And then she starts sobbing in the backseat and then she's angry again.

• 1:12:12Speaker 00

  Well, I'll never forget shooting this scene, Angela, because I mean, this was a whole location day for us, you know? We had this location that was your house and we just dropped you off outside. But they had this really funny joke that there would be like a dozen cats in your window, staring out the window at you expectantly as we drop you off. And it was so funny.

• 1:12:36Speaker 01

  It was so funny. I remember they, you know, they had to get a house with like sort of a big front window, like a bay window, that all the cats could be in so that we could see them from the street.

• 1:12:46Speaker 00

  But then you guys, as we were trading messages with Randy Cordray about this episode, he sent us the casting sheet of the cats and all their headshots. It's a sheet of like cat headshots.

• 1:13:01Speaker 01

  Yes, you guys. And here are the names of the 12 cats that played Angela's cats. Potato, Prada, Echo.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  Flame, Prophet, Whisper, Milkman, Sushi, Roswell, Harvey, Hannah, and Milton.

• 1:13:22Speaker 00

  And Roswell looks just like Sunny Cat.

• 1:13:25Speaker 01

  He does.

• 1:13:26Speaker 00

  My cat.

• 1:13:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, we have to put that photo in stories. And also Randy sent us the photo of Angela Martin's house.

• 1:13:32Speaker 00

  Yes, so unfortunately, the scene was deleted, but the cats can get their moment of fame.

• 1:13:38Speaker 01

  And we got to do a driving scene together.

• 1:13:40Speaker 00

  We did. It's very cute because at the end, after we drop you off, Pam turns to Jim and she says, you know what? I'll call her later to check up on her. And Jim says, she'll hang up on you.

• 1:13:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:13:53Speaker 00

  And Pam says, I know.

• 1:13:59Speaker 01

  Well, that would have been our alt tag, right? The car ride instead of Jim collecting Dwight's weapons. But also, right at the end, Michael had a great talking head.

• 1:14:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, he's standing on the streets of New York and he just sort of says, you know, exciting things can happen when you leave Scranton. Just kind of sums up this storyline for him. Well, got a little tidbit from Randy. I didn't notice it the first time I watched it, but in hindsight, it was obvious to me.

• 1:14:29Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:14:30Speaker 00

  This scene was a cheat. Steve was not in New York. Steve was shot on a green screen and we digitally added the office building scene behind him. Randy said, we hired this New York based cinematographer named Alan Pearce to go out and shoot the exterior of a New York office building with people walking by. Randy said it was this awesome shot, but we ran into a problem with the cameras on our end. So for all you techies out there, we would shoot our show on a Sony 900 digital camera. It was a very early generation digital camcorder. And I guess these cameras had very poor color latitude.

• 1:15:12Speaker 01

  Oh, sure, Jenna. You know color latitude.

• 1:15:14Speaker 00

  I know, I know. And when it's not good, it's, it can be tough.

• 1:15:19Speaker 01

  I mean.

• 1:15:20Speaker 00

  We know.

• 1:15:21Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:15:22Speaker 00

  How many times have I struggled with my color latitude?

• 1:15:25Speaker 01

  So many.

• 1:15:26Speaker 00

  It does not do well shooting on green screen. And Randy said that's why we did it so infrequently. Now, normally, we would just find someplace in downtown LA to double for New York. But I noticed on the call sheets that we only had Steve for two and a half days this week. He worked Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday. And the whole rest of our shoot was really dedicated to that complicated parking lot scene.

• 1:15:52Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:15:52Speaker 00

  I asked Randy about it. He said he doesn't know exactly why we chose to go green screen, but he has to imagine that we just simply did not have time to go downtown and get that shot because it was a complicated shoot week.

• 1:16:07Speaker 01

  Well, I didn't catch it on my first watch, but I really did on the second one.

• 1:16:11Speaker 00

  Me, too.

• 1:16:11Speaker 01

  I was like, oh, that's fakie backdrop. There you have it. Fakie building, fakie shadow, fakie bicycle chain. Real feelings, guys. That's the duel.

• 1:16:22Speaker 00

  That pretty much sums up the duel.

• 1:16:26Speaker 00

  All right. Well, thank you to everyone who contributed to this episode. Thank you, Ryan Ko, for calling in and giving us the story of your tragic fall.

• 1:16:36Speaker 01

  Yes, thank you, Ryan. And we're going to be back here next week, guys. We have Prince Family Paper.

• 1:16:42Speaker 00

  I'm going to be honest, I do not remember the plot of that one.

• 1:16:45Speaker 01

  Who's Prince? Who are they?

• 1:16:47Speaker 00

  We're going to find out next week.

• 1:16:49Speaker 01

  We're going to find out.

• 1:16:50Speaker 00

  I feel like a real audience member. I don't know what's coming. I'm sure I'll remember after I watch the episode, but I can't wait.

• 1:16:56Speaker 01

  Hopefully.

• 1:16:57Speaker 00

  I hope so.

• 1:16:59Speaker 01

  See you, guys. Have a great one.

• 1:17:00Speaker 00

  Bye.

• 1:17:05Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

• 1:17:07Speaker 01

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:17:11Speaker 00

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

• 1:17:19Speaker 01

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:17:22Speaker 00

  Our audio engineer is Sam Pfeifer.

• 1:17:24Speaker 01

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese-Dennis.

• 1:17:27Speaker 00

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:17:30Speaker 01

  Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.