Pod Insights Office Ladies 500 Million Downloads & The Original Office Ladies Pilot! About this episode This week, Jenna and Angela celebrate a truly historic Office Ladies milestone: 500 million downloads! To mark the occasion, they’re looking back at how it all began. The ladies share the full origin story of Office Ladies, reflect on the leap of faith that started it all, and hear from the producers, collaborators, and friends who helped shape the show along the way. Then, they open the vault and take a look back at the recording that started it all… the original Office Ladies pilot, recorded in Angela’s garage. It’s a special, nostalgic, celebration of friendship, creativity, and the incredible community that made 500 million downloads possible. Thank you for being part of the journey. Here's to the next 500 million!
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Transcript 12,316 words · 6 speakers
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1:04 Speaker 01 I'm Jenna Fischer. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you. Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details, and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Ladies 6.0.
1:25 Speaker 01 Hello. Hi there. Oh my goodness, Jenna Fischer. Angela Kinsey. We have a big episode today. Office Ladies, you guys, has hit a huge milestone this month. And we're going to do a whole episode to celebrate it. We want to celebrate it with you guys. Jenna, tell them what's happening. We just hit over 500 million downloads.
1:54 Speaker 02 For Office Ladies Podcast.
1:55 Speaker 01 Yeah, 500 million.
1:58 Speaker 02 Yeah.
1:58 Speaker 01 Over.
1:59 Speaker 02 Over. We'd been tracking it, lady, and all of a sudden, when we went back to see where we were, we were actually at 501 million. We missed it by a whole million.
2:11 Speaker 01 I know.
2:12 Speaker 02 You brought in balloons that spell out 500 million. You told me you were gonna do this. I said, lady, is it necessary? You said, quote, "I feel very strongly about this." You said it in a tone.
2:25 Speaker 01 I did.
2:25 Speaker 02 Like that you were like, "I am not [bleep] around."
2:28 Speaker 01 This is a big number.
2:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
2:31 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:32 Speaker 02 Balloons, it is.
2:33 Speaker 01 Well, balloons, damn it. And here's the thing I didn't realize when I ordered them is that we had to blow them up.
2:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
2:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
2:40 Speaker 02 It feels like when you've hit 500 million downloads, someone else blows up your balloon.
2:45 Speaker 01 So, as it turns out, no, you do it.
2:47 Speaker 02 Not here.
2:48 Speaker 01 You do it over a week at home with your husband. Thank you, Josh.
2:52 Speaker 02 You also brought in a treat.
2:54 Speaker 01 I did. We have a cake. Because you guys on Office Ladies, we celebrate everything with cake. We have a cake. Guess what, guys? It didn't have space for the word million. It says 500.
3:05 Speaker 02 Great. 500 what? They don't know. When they made it, they didn't know.
3:09 Speaker 01 I don't know. I think basically it's like Jim and Dwight planned our 500 million download party because we have some sad balloons. We have a sad cake. But we have lots of happiness in our heart, you guys.
3:23 Speaker 02 Yes.
3:24 Speaker 01 And I got you something.
3:25 Speaker 02 You got me something?
3:26 Speaker 01 I did. And me. I got us matching gifts.
3:29 Speaker 02 What is it?
3:30 Speaker 01 This is very own brand for me because over the years, I've gotten as many matching gifts.
3:34 Speaker 02 This is true.
3:35 Speaker 01 You're probably never going to wear this.
3:37 Speaker 02 It's something I wear.
3:38 Speaker 01 Yeah. I got so dialed in to this number. 500 million! Are you crazy?
3:46 Speaker 02 Is it a...
3:47 Speaker 01 That's nuts!
3:47 Speaker 02 What is it? Is it...
3:49 Speaker 01 It's a gold necklace.
3:51 Speaker 02 Oh, I was afraid it was a shirt that said 500 million.
3:55 Speaker 01 No, I thought about a hoodie, but I didn't do it. I got us each a necklace. Look, it's gold plated, and then the number 500 is gonna hang around your necklace.
4:06 Speaker 02 Let me see this. Let me see this. I love it.
4:10 Speaker 01 And you know what? I purposely didn't put the million. Because like, kind of like with the cake. If you know, you know.
4:17 Speaker 02 If you know, you know.
4:19 Speaker 01 And there's gonna be some school assembly, Jenna. You're gonna be sitting there. And someone's gonna be like, 500. Huh. And you're gonna be like, uh huh.
4:29 Speaker 02 Yep. That's right. 500.
4:31 Speaker 01 500. And I would work 500. I've got that song stuck in my head. And I try to think of a way to like, make it into downloads.
4:40 Speaker 02 You almost did a song parody as well?
4:42 Speaker 01 I did. I gave up on that really quick.
4:45 Speaker 02 Well, thank you for not giving up on these other celebratory items. I appreciate them very much.
4:51 Speaker 01 You're welcome.
4:51 Speaker 02 Truly, I'm saying that sincerely.
4:53 Speaker 01 You're welcome. Sam, there's cake.
4:55 Speaker 03 Great, I look forward to it.
4:58 Speaker 01 Congratulations.
4:59 Speaker 02 Congratulations.
5:00 Speaker 01 Well, you know, hitting this milestone has made us both really reflective on how it all began.
5:06 Speaker 02 Yes, and there is a question that we have gotten a lot over the years that we've always wanted to answer. And this week seemed like finally the perfect timing. A lot of people have written in and asked how we started Office Ladies.
5:19 Speaker 01 Yes, here's a letter from Rachel W. in Washington DC. Rachel says, "I'm very interested in hearing more about your thought and decision-making process that led to Office Ladies. I just had my first baby and want to figure out a way to have a better balance between work and spending time with my family. But it feels like there are so few options between full-time work or full-time at home. I love how you ladies figured out how to make work fit into your ideal work-life balance, and I want to hear more about it." And another letter from Paula M. in Monterrey, Mexico. Paula says, "I recently got fired from a job I hated. I've been working in the same industry for 15-plus years, and I want to try something new. How did you guys find your ideal job?"
6:02 Speaker 02 Well, Rachel and Paula, we actually have a great story about how this podcast started. And the reasons touch on some of the same themes that you mentioned in your letters about wanting to find work-life balance and also wanting to try something new. And Angela and I have shared a little bit about how podcasting came into our lives and we do write about it in our book, The Office VFFs. But I would think that the main driving factor, and tell me if you agree with me here, Ann, but the main driving factor of how we got here is simply that we always wanted to work together again.
6:36 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
6:37 Speaker 02 Ever since we wrapped the office, we've daydreamed about working together again.
6:41 Speaker 01 Yeah. And I think we always assumed it would be an on-camera job, like maybe we would host a game show or be in a TV show together again. And we'd talk about this all the time. And then about seven years ago, we were trading messages about how we wanted to organize our garages and sheds. Sometimes you need a buddy to get this stuff done, right? You were like my accountability buddy that I was finally going to get through all these bins because we had so much junk that we were storing.
7:08 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm. And we had both been putting it off and putting it off. And I said, "Let's pick a day and both get started."
7:14 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
7:15 Speaker 02 Because then that way, we're kind of doing it together.
7:16 Speaker 01 Yeah. And we would give each other little progress reports, you know?
7:19 Speaker 02 Exactly. It's very funny to me, though, that clearly, seven years later, I had accumulated so much junk again that I had to re-clean my garage.
7:29 Speaker 01 I can't even open my shed door.
7:30 Speaker 02 Oh, no.
7:32 Speaker 01 Honestly, one of the things Josh is like, "I can't even walk past it."
7:37 Speaker 02 Listen, seven years ago, these things were clean.
7:39 Speaker 01 I know, they were.
7:40 Speaker 02 And mine is clean again. So lady, if you need help, I don't know what we'll get out of it, but let's stay on track here. While we were cleaning this stuff out, we both found a ton of office memorabilia. We had these old photos, we had old scripts, we had old call sheets.
7:55 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:56 Speaker 02 Like, all the stuff that we had saved for our whole nine years on the office.
8:00 Speaker 01 I still had a bin of everything I kept in my trailer.
8:02 Speaker 02 Mm-hmm. I had that too, labeled "trailer."
8:05 Speaker 01 Right, yeah.
8:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
8:07 Speaker 01 I also had a ton of baskets, and you had broken lamps. Those are other things we tend to collect.
8:11 Speaker 02 I guess I love lamps.
8:13 Speaker 01 You love lamps.
8:14 Speaker 02 Even if they're broken.
8:15 Speaker 01 I love baskets. But anyway, so we had all this office memorabilia. We weren't really sure what to do with it. And I told Jenna, "Maybe we should write a book." And you said, "Hell, no."
8:25 Speaker 02 I said, "No."
8:26 Speaker 01 "I'm never doing that again." I think it was a more emphatic "no."
8:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
8:30 Speaker 01 It was a no.
8:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, I was fresh off my first book and it, you know, it's a lot.
8:36 Speaker 01 It's a lot. By the way, when Josh wanted to do a book, I said, hell, no.
8:40 Speaker 02 And then you did.
8:41 Speaker 01 And then I did. But anyway, I just thought we really needed to preserve our office stuff and we were trying to figure out how to do that.
8:48 Speaker 02 Yeah, and I had this idea because one of the things that we both had a lot of were photos from Halloween episodes.
8:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
8:55 Speaker 02 Because we often brought our cameras all nine years for any of the holiday episodes.
9:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
9:01 Speaker 02 In particular. They were always so much fun. So I said, Ange, why don't we go through all of our Halloween memorabilia from the office? Let's jot down some of our memories and then we'll get together with one another and we'll read each other what we wrote. We'll just like trade stories.
9:18 Speaker 01 Yeah, and we had no idea what this was gonna be. We just felt sort of compelled in this artist's journey to be like, we have this stuff, let's share about it.
9:26 Speaker 02 Yeah, it was kind of like, how do we commit this stuff to memory before we don't remember it anymore?
9:33 Speaker 01 Exactly. So we did that and Jenna came over to my house. We had just gone for a hike, lady. It was your birthday.
9:40 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
9:41 Speaker 01 And we sat in my garage that we were in the process of converting into like a guest room office. I remember Josh had just bought a sectional sofa from Ikea, so we actually had something to sit on. And we decided to record this visit so we could have it saved for some future inspiration. I basically took my iPhone and I just set it on the sofa between us and I hit the record button. I also was eating a turkey wrap. I do remember. Sorry about that.
10:09 Speaker 02 You were.
10:09 Speaker 01 Yeah. And we just started talking.
10:12 Speaker 02 Yeah, and we weren't thinking this was gonna be anything. Like, again, we were just recording stories. But I just remember how much fun it was to sit and remember the office with you. And then after I left your house, that was it. I was like, okay, what box are we gonna clean out next? Was all I was thinking.
10:28 Speaker 01 Yeah. I mean, I thought it was fun, but I also thought it was just fun having a day with you. And I didn't know if we'd write a book or if we'd do anything. But because I had recorded our hangout, we had that. I remember I texted you the audio file. I didn't even listen to it. You didn't even listen.
10:43 Speaker 02 I didn't listen to it.
10:44 Speaker 01 Yeah. And then both of our husbands were like, well, how'd it go today? And I remember telling Josh, well, it was really fun. I don't know, you know, what it is. And he was like, well, I'd love to hear it. So he listens to it and he finds me later that evening. I'm in the kitchen and he comes in and he's like, Ange, this is great. Like, I think this could be a podcast or something.
11:04 Speaker 02 Yeah, and you told me that.
11:06 Speaker 01 Yeah.
11:06 Speaker 02 So then I said, Lee, will you listen to this thing we recorded? Because Josh thinks it could be a podcast. So Lee listened to it and he was like, yes, oh, my gosh, this is a podcast. He said, my friend Jeff should listen to this. He said his friend Jeff knew a lot about podcasting. So I'm like, okay. So we email it to Jeff, not knowing that Jeff was Jeff Ulrich, one of the founders of Earwolf. He's like the Steve Jobs of podcasting, basically. So Jeff listened to it. He agreed and he said, do you want to meet with some people? And he eventually introduced us to a lot of people in the podcasting world.
11:46 Speaker 01 You know what I remember?
11:47 Speaker 02 What?
11:48 Speaker 01 We went to his house and we were talking about it with him and you kept saying, but where do we plug in the microphones?
11:56 Speaker 02 I was like, how do you get the microphones for it?
11:58 Speaker 01 Where do you get the microphones?
11:59 Speaker 02 Because we recorded this on our iPhone, but like, we'll need regular microphones.
12:02 Speaker 01 You were so curious about the production from the very beginning.
12:06 Speaker 02 And he was like, I don't want to talk about the microphones. Like, that'll happen. He's like, I'm talking about a vision for what this could be to you. I'm like, yeah, I know. I guess I just am wondering, like, where do you, how do you upload it?
12:18 Speaker 01 Well, you always said, and I love this, you were like, don't be afraid to ask a lot of dumb questions, because we were learning a whole new genre. This was an absolute big career pivot and we didn't know what we were doing.
12:30 Speaker 02 Yeah, and we had the benefit of our name value, right? Like, that's something and that is valuable.
12:35 Speaker 01 And we had our true life memories of working on this show and our friendships with the cast and crew.
12:41 Speaker 02 But otherwise, this was a whole new section of the entertainment industry. We didn't know anything about it. And so we did. We went out there, we made ourselves vulnerable, we asked a lot of dumb questions and a lot of meetings. But the more we looked at it, the more podcasting really made sense, because it was a stable job in Los Angeles, which is not easy to come by in the entertainment industry. We would be able to set our own schedules, which was very important to us. It was something we could do while our kids were at school. It just, it really seemed like it could open up a whole new lifestyle for us. And then, of course, best of all, we could work together again in a creative way.
13:17 Speaker 01 It was best friendship and putting family first.
13:20 Speaker 02 And that's how we got here and cleaning out our garages and sheds, which makes me say, lady, what could happen on the next big clean? I don't know.
13:30 Speaker 01 What's in there? You know, I hadn't listened to this recording since we did it. It's been seven years.
13:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:39 Speaker 01 It's a pretty crazy time capsule of where we were in life. And I'm so glad we have it. You know, Josh, after we recorded it and we decided to kind of use it as a sizzle to take meetings, he sort of tidied it up.
13:54 Speaker 02 He did.
13:55 Speaker 01 There was, I think, 40 seconds of me unwrapping a turkey wrap.
13:59 Speaker 02 He took that out.
14:00 Speaker 01 Yeah. And he added like some little musical stings. And it's just wild to hear again, isn't it?
14:08 Speaker 02 It really is. And we kind of thought that we could play it for y'all today in honor of reaching 500 million downloads. We thank you so much for being on this journey with us.
14:18 Speaker 01 A hundred percent. There is no Office Ladies without this community. And you guys are the 500 million downloads. It's you. You're the reason we're here. You're the reason why we get to be at our kids' soccer games and we get to work with each other as best friends again. And we just love you guys from the bottom of our hearts.
14:36 Speaker 02 And I guess also I would say to Rachel and Paula, in answer to your questions, starting something new, particularly a new career, it takes a big leap of faith. And you have to be willing to risk being a beginner at something again. You have to be willing to look stupid and to not know everything. It can be a very humbling thing to start something new. And that's another reason why we wanted to play this for you, so that you can see where we started, because it is not perfect.
15:04 Speaker 01 Oh, no, not at all.
15:05 Speaker 02 It is far from perfect, but it was the start of something.
15:09 Speaker 01 It's the very beginning for us. It was a spark, you know? And what we've learned in our careers is you've got to lean into that creative spark and see where it takes you. So let's take a quick break. And when we come back, it is our Office Ladies pilot that we didn't even know was going to be our pilot that we've never shared before.
15:36 Speaker 02 I have a new section on Quince that I've been shopping from. I'm now into the handbags. I got the Eloise Handwoven Clutch in a cream off-white. I love it.
15:48 Speaker 01 So chic.
15:49 Speaker 02 It was less than $50 and I needed something that was nicer for summery outfits.
15:58 Speaker 01 Well, guess what? I have decided this is my season of the cardigan.
16:02 Speaker 02 Oh, okay.
16:03 Speaker 01 So I got the 100% organic cotton cropped cardigan. I got it in the camel color. It is so stinking cute and it was $49.90. Look at that.
16:15 Speaker 02 Oh, it's so cute.
16:16 Speaker 01 I know.
16:16 Speaker 02 I like the buttons.
16:17 Speaker 01 Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
16:29 Speaker 02 Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Office Ladies. It's the best way to support the show.
16:50 Speaker 01 Okay, this is March 7th. It is Jenna's birthday. She is 45 today.
16:54 Speaker 02 I am.
16:55 Speaker 01 We just went on a hike for her birthday. And now we are sitting in what was once my rundown garage that we have made into my office.
17:02 Speaker 02 Office slash guest room slash
17:05 Speaker 01 Pool house?
17:06 Speaker 02 Slash kid hangout.
17:07 Speaker 01 Game room. And Jenna and I are really excited. This is the first time we are going to read some of our pages out loud together. While Jenna reads, she's going first. I am eating turkey wrap and chips and salsa, so I hope that's not annoying.
17:17 Speaker 02 Well, I'm just really excited to listen to this later and transcribe it and hear your chips. I think that is going to be really fun for me.
17:25 Speaker 01 Give that keeps on giving, Jenna.
17:28 Speaker 02 All right. So it was my job to dive deep into the Halloween episodes. Not just the Halloween episodes, but just Halloween in general on The Office, because it was a very special time.
17:41 Speaker 01 It was. We had a lot of fun.
17:42 Speaker 02 And I was thinking about why. Why was it such a very special, highly anticipated holiday on the set of The Office? Well, first of all, Pam always had candy on her desk and one of my favorite candies personally is candy corn.
17:56 Speaker 01 You love candy corn.
17:57 Speaker 02 And
17:58 Speaker 01 I'm eating.
17:59 Speaker 02 And they would put candy corn in my candy dish the week that we shot the Halloween episodes. And the first year they did it, I ate so much of it, and I think the props people were so annoyed with me because they had to keep refilling that dish for continuity.
18:14 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
18:14 Speaker 02 And then I actually got sick.
18:16 Speaker 01 Cause you ate too much candy corn.
18:18 Speaker 02 From eating too much candy. I was like a child.
18:20 Speaker 01 That's like what our parents tell us.
18:21 Speaker 02 Yeah.
18:21 Speaker 01 It'll make you sick.
18:23 Speaker 02 It did, but it was just right there.
18:29 Speaker 02 So I was thinking about, besides the candy corn, why did we love it so much? And I thought about it. Our regular wardrobe was so routine. Every character basically had a uniform, like Dwight had mustard shirts, Pam was pastel cardigans and pencil skirts. Angela, you were just high necks and gray.
18:46 Speaker 01 Gray, charcoal. I, I literally have a line where I say, I improvised that I was so proud of, that they were like, Amy Adams was like, what's your favorite color? And I said, gray, charcoal, shades of gray.
18:56 Speaker 02 Shades of gray. Uh, Phil is basically just dressed in purple.
19:00 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
19:01 Speaker 02 Right?
19:02 Speaker 01 Our tiger print, oh no, leopard print.
19:03 Speaker 02 Leopard print, animal print, or purple.
19:06 Speaker 01 Animal prints or purple.
19:07 Speaker 02 At least Andy got the preppy plads and interesting belts. He always had some real-
19:11 Speaker 01 So many belts.
19:11 Speaker 02 Interesting belts. And if you think about it, our hairstyles never really changed either. So I feel like we just really craved any chance to break out, and Halloween was the chance.
19:21 Speaker 01 Oh, it was a big chance. It was a huge, it wasn't just a slight breakout, it was a huge breakout.
19:25 Speaker 02 Huge breakout. It was like the most exciting thing to happen to the wardrobe department, to the hair and makeup department. Everyone was very excited.
19:32 Speaker 01 And you know, it was equal among genders. I remember Rain getting so excited about his costumes.
19:38 Speaker 02 So sometimes people ask me if we ever had any say in what our characters dressed as for Halloween. And the very simple answer to that is no.
19:45 Speaker 01 Absolutely not.
19:46 Speaker 02 Absolutely not. So many of our costumes were plot related. There was like the joke that you could wear the same white cat costume year after year, even when you were pregnant, um, which is a very funny, snarky scene that we have.
19:57 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
19:57 Speaker 02 Or the time that Creed, Dwight and Kevin all dressed as the Joker. Or the time when Pam dressed as Charlie Chaplin, just to find out she was the only person to dress up in a costume at her new job. That was when she was off at art school. And then she couldn't take off her hat because then she looked like Hitler.
20:12 Speaker 01 Yes.
20:12 Speaker 02 So the costume choices were mostly dictated by the story that the writer wanted to tell.
20:18 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
20:18 Speaker 02 That happened to be on Halloween. But I feel like there was one exception. Do you know who I'm thinking of?
20:23 Speaker 01 Oh my God, can I guess?
20:25 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:25 Speaker 01 Mindy Kaling?
20:26 Speaker 02 Yes! Mindy Kaling! Since Mindy was also on the writing staff, she got to be part of picking her own costume. And she always, well, Mindy loves to dress up.
20:35 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
20:36 Speaker 02 Like, she loves to go big, right?
20:37 Speaker 01 Yes, she does.
20:38 Speaker 02 And she had the best costume. She was Carrie Bradshaw. She was Snooki, Katy Perry, and then Lelou from The Fifth Element. And I have this picture of you and Mindy. You were like a Black Widow.
20:49 Speaker 01 I took my camera that day. That's a cold open we shot. It didn't get used.
20:53 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:53 Speaker 01 And she was Lelou in like, she had a multi-pass, Lelou Matupia, multi-pass, Lelou multi-pass.
20:59 Speaker 02 I don't know what that means.
20:59 Speaker 01 You haven't seen The Fifth Element?
21:01 Speaker 02 Uh uh.
21:01 Speaker 01 Jenna, this is a great movie, and I think it still holds up. I'm just gonna say that. Lelou Matipass.
21:07 Speaker 02 What does that mean? Are you saying her last name? Or are you saying Lelou has a multi-pass? Like, she's going to a-
21:12 Speaker 01 She's going to outer space and you have to have this multi-pass to get on this ship.
21:16 Speaker 02 Like a MetroCard?
21:18 Speaker 01 Kind of. Oh, you'll have to see this. Bruce Willis is in it.
21:21 Speaker 02 I do love Bruce Willis.
21:23 Speaker 01 Chris Tucker's in it.
21:24 Speaker 02 But this Lelou costume was basically white gauze. So much skin.
21:29 Speaker 01 Yes, well, you have to see it because she's in like this, oh god, I don't even know how to explain it. But she is the fifth element.
21:35 Speaker 02 Okay.
21:36 Speaker 01 Lelou. So I guess Mindy Kaling and I was right.
21:39 Speaker 02 Mindy Kaling.
21:44 Speaker 02 I want to talk about one of my personal favorite episodes of The Office, which also happens to be our very first Halloween episode.
21:51 Speaker 01 Okay.
21:51 Speaker 02 It aired during season two and was called appropriately, Halloween. I cry at the end every time I watch it. So the plot is very simple. If you don't remember, Michael is told that he must fire someone during the month of October due to cutbacks at Dunder Mifflin. But in true Michael fashion, he waits until the very last day of October, which also happens to be Halloween. Greg Daniels wrote this episode. And I remember him telling me that the inspiration for the episode was that he had always wanted to do a story about someone being fired, but from the point of view of the boss rather than the employee. He said, "We always see stories of the people being fired, but rarely stories about the person having to do the firing." And I always thought that Greg's decision to set the story on Halloween, when everyone is dressed up and excited for our Office Halloween party, made the whole thing even more delightfully uncomfortable to watch.
22:36 Speaker 01 Oh, so tragic. Like, no one wants to get- Fired when they're dressed up like a clown or something.
22:41 Speaker 02 Exactly. But the one problem that this plot presented for Greg was that he would actually have to fire someone on the show. And he didn't want to fire any of the core cast members, even though many of the supporting characters at this time were still under weekly contracts.
22:56 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
22:56 Speaker 02 You guys were not considered series regulars yet.
22:59 Speaker 01 Oh, no, not at all. You know how you say you have a photo of the exact moment you knew we'd be best friends?
23:04 Speaker 02 Yes.
23:05 Speaker 01 I have a photo of the exact moment I was made series regular. And you and I are jumping up and down, giddy, holding hands, jumping up and down because I got the news while we were on booze cruise. That's when we became series regulars.
23:17 Speaker 02 But this was before booze cruise.
23:19 Speaker 01 Yes.
23:20 Speaker 02 So he could have
23:21 Speaker 01 Any of us.
23:22 Speaker 02 Fired any of you guys, but he didn't want to. But he also didn't want to hire a new person just for one episode, establish them and fire them because it felt dishonest, like it felt, he said it felt like cheating. So he had to fire someone we'd already seen on the show. So we had two stand-ins at the time, and maybe we should tell people what a stand-in is. A stand-in is a person who fills in for the actor after the rehearsal of a scene while the crew adjusts the lights. They walk where the actor would walk, or sit or stand where the actor would sit or stand during the scene, and the crew figures out where to put the cameras and the lights. And then, when it's time for the camera to roll, the actors are called back to the set and begin shooting the scene. So we had two stand-ins. They were Creed and Devon. And both Creed and Devon had also appeared on camera in the background of some conference
24:06 Speaker 02 room scenes, or in the annex by the break room. Maybe they would like cross in the deep background of a scene like they were delivering mail. I remember we had that mail cart that really made no sense because we didn't have a mail room, but whatever. But they'd never spoken. They'd been established, so that was enough for Greg. But then Greg, who is the gentlest man, had the dilemma of picking who to fire. Creed or Devon?
24:30 Speaker 01 I can't imagine how that weighed on Greg, because he really is just a kind, kind-hearted person. And it just must have wrecked him.
24:39 Speaker 02 So Greg spoke with both of them, and he found out that Devon Had just been cast in an off-Broadway play in New York. So this was all Greg needed to hear. He decided Devin would be fired, since he had this job to go to.
24:53 Speaker 01 He had something to go to.
24:54 Speaker 02 And Creed went from being a non-speaking stand-in in our show to getting a five-page scene with Steve Carell. No audition, Greg had never seen him act, handed him a five-page scene with Steve Carell. The scene was so popular with fans, and Greg was so delighted
25:10 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:11 Speaker 02 That he started writing more stuff for Creed, and then Creed eventually also became a series regular.
25:15 Speaker 01 Yes.
25:16 Speaker 02 And it was all because Greg needed someone to fire.
25:21 Speaker 02 So in addition to this being the episode that launched Creed into the Office family, it is responsible for a number of firsts. This is the episode that features Jim and Pam's first air high-five.
25:31 Speaker 01 Aww, Jam, Jam air high-five!
25:34 Speaker 02 Jam air high-five. It is also the first time Pam is seen wearing her hair down, rather than half-up, half-down, which I call the Pam mullet. And it was a huge debate about whether or not this hair change could be allowed. It went several rounds with the producers and writers before being approved. Would Pam look too cute if she wore her hair down? They decided to go for it. And then the next time you see a hair change from Pam is Casino Night.
26:00 Speaker 01 I mean, if we know a lot of details about hair and stuff like that, it's because these were huge discussions. We just always wanted to stay true to the integrity of who these people were, and not as the success of the show grew, like, zhuzh them up too much. They were still in Scranton, in a paper company, even though the show was gaining more popularity and we were sort of becoming a little bit, like, I don't know, like, fancier.
26:25 Speaker 02 Well, this was true of wardrobe as well. They only shopped at places that our characters could realistically afford to shop at. So if Pam had to wear a pair of jeans... I wore a pair of jeans from The Gap. I did not wear a pair of $200 designer jeans.
26:41 Speaker 01 Right. And also, our wardrobe department was amazing. You know, they made sure like your pants weren't too long or things like that, but they did not fit you, like alter things the way most TV shows do. And after The Office, I worked on a show called Your Family or Mine, and the women that did the wardrobe also did the wardrobe for Friends. And those women looked amazing on Friends. And I have never looked so kabam like ever in my life. They altered it every, everything. They altered like where your shoulder hem is and where like the ends, like everything fit me like a glove.
27:14 Speaker 02 Yes, most shows tailor clothes to your body.
27:17 Speaker 01 Yeah.
27:17 Speaker 02 And that's why everybody looks so fabulous on TV.
27:19 Speaker 01 They said to me, "Do you know what's the difference between just a normal person walking down the street and someone walking down the street on a TV show?" And I said, "What?" And they said, "Alterations."
27:28 Speaker 02 It's 100% true.
27:29 Speaker 01 Because most people like figure out how to blow out their hair and put a little bit of makeup on, but having clothes fit you like that? And they were blown away because I was like, "Oh, my gosh, look how this fits me. Oh, you're gonna take that in, you're gonna sew this." And they're like, "Angela, have you never had your clothes altered on The Office?" I was like, "Uh, no."
27:45 Speaker 02 No.
27:46 Speaker 01 Because we had to look realistic for that world.
27:54 Speaker 02 Another thing about Halloween is people dress up as our office characters for Halloween. On Halloween.
28:00 Speaker 01 Which I love so much.
28:01 Speaker 02 Which is crazy, right?
28:02 Speaker 01 When I get tagged as White and Angela, I love it so much.
28:05 Speaker 02 Halloween costume. So, I also want to say that of all the photos that I get, I think that the most popular, the one I see the most, is the Pam Cat Three Hole Punch Gym.
28:16 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
28:16 Speaker 02 Yeah. Those are the one, that's the one I get the most.
28:19 Speaker 01 I get just myself in an argyle sweater with, usually the girls have their hair in a headband or slicked back pony, and they're all holding a cat stuffed animal.
28:29 Speaker 02 I get a lot where girls are wearing the white cats.
28:36 Speaker 02 Another first, this Halloween episode was the first time since our pilot that the creators of the original British series of The Office, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, visited our set.
28:46 Speaker 01 Yes.
28:47 Speaker 02 They stayed almost an entire day. One day when we were filming, we were all geeking out. Before they left, I asked for a photo with them and some of the American producers of the show, but I am the only person in the photo who is obviously dressed in a Halloween costume.
29:01 Speaker 01 Do you have it?
29:02 Speaker 02 Yes. You can kind of see, like Jim has like one circle of his three-hole punch.
29:06 Speaker 01 Yes.
29:07 Speaker 02 When I look at the photo, I like to imagine that I was doing like a school play about a cat and all these people came to see me and I posed for a picture backstage.
29:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's backstage at your cat play.
29:15 Speaker 02 At my cat play.
29:16 Speaker 01 Yeah. Here's my one story about Ricky Gervais. So, they were on set, we were all kind of nervous about it, and I hadn't really been in scenes yet, but after lunch, I had a talking hedge. And I come through the lunch area and I see Ricky Gervais and I'm introduced to him and they're like, Ricky's actually going back to Video Village now because he's going to watch everything from lunch on to the end of day.
29:40 Speaker 02 And you were the first thing that started watching?
29:42 Speaker 01 Yeah, and I was like, um, great. And they're like, Angela, you're first up. And I said, oh, fantastic. And I looked to Ricky Gervais and he goes, "Don't worry, I don't tisk too loudly."
29:51 Speaker 02 (laughing)
29:52 Speaker 01 And that's what he said to me.
29:55 Speaker 02 That's amazing!
29:56 Speaker 01 I know.
30:01 Speaker 02 For all of these reasons, I love this first Halloween episode. But I especially love the end. And I don't know if you remember the end, but at the end, Michael hands out candy to little kids and I cry every time. I'm getting choked up thinking about it. I remember there was a big debate over how that final moment should be played out. There was a discussion as to whether or not the kids should be nice to Michael or if they should be annoyed by him because he was going to be cracking jokes while he handed out candy. And the writers and producers also discussed if Steve should be happy or sad while handing out the candy. It was decided that they would start on a spy shot of Michael looking sad and lonely inside of his house, alone on Halloween night. He's just fired someone. Then you hear the doorbell and when he gets to the door and sees the kids, he lights
30:45 Speaker 02 up, he makes his silly jokes, and the kids just laugh and laugh and are delighted by him and he makes this connection. I'm crying.
30:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
30:54 Speaker 02 And it's just beautiful and kind and heartbreaking. And it's moments like this that make The Office so special. We can spend an entire episode laughing at Michael Scott or finding him annoying, but in the end, he will break your heart with his kindness and vulnerability. And his desire to have what we all want, which is just to love and be loved in return.
31:13 Speaker 01 Yes, and I, that, that is heartbreaking and so sweet and so real, isn't it? It's just like such an honest moment. And I think that's what, I think Greg Daniels was so great at in our show, is finding these just real life moments that were so honest. And you've gotta know firing someone was so hard for Michael because all he wanted to do was be liked. And this dysfunctional office family was truly his family.
31:39 Speaker 02 It was such a great choice to have him go home. And you see why he's so needy at work.
31:45 Speaker 01 Yes.
31:46 Speaker 02 You know?
31:46 Speaker 01 He's so lonely.
31:47 Speaker 02 He's just so lonely.
31:48 Speaker 01 And I loved that the kids delighted in him. And there is this thing that Steve did with his face. He just looked like lit up inside, you know? When they laughed, you saw that joy come over Michael. Oh, it was so sweet.
32:03 Speaker 02 If we ever get to do a reunion episode, I just need to see Michael Scott with his kid.
32:10 Speaker 01 Yes, and, and he's the best dad.
32:12 Speaker 02 The best dad.
32:13 Speaker 01 Yes.
32:13 Speaker 02 And his kid just thinks he is everything.
32:17 Speaker 01 Yeah, exactly. And him and Holly are just happy.
32:20 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:20 Speaker 01 It would make me so happy.
32:21 Speaker 02 I would cry.
32:22 Speaker 01 And maybe he still annoys people at work, but he's like the best dad.
32:25 Speaker 02 The best dad. And I think it hit me even harder now that I have kids.
32:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
32:29 Speaker 02 Because I just know what kids bring to your life.
32:37 Speaker 02 The episode was written by resident genius Greg Daniels. It was directed by, do you know? Paul Feig.
32:43 Speaker 01 Oh, Paul Feig. Well, you know, I was gonna guess Ken Kluft or Paul Feig because they're in their early years, that's a good guess.
32:50 Speaker 02 Yeah, and they also, we gave them a lot of the big like milestone episodes. During his time on the show, I'm gonna give you some fast facts about Paul Feig. He directed 14 episodes of The Office, but he also spent an entire season... And where he was a consulting producer.
33:05 Speaker 01 That's right.
33:06 Speaker 02 And he was there every day on set.
33:07 Speaker 01 When he left, I was like, no, Paul, don't. I felt so safe with him there.
33:11 Speaker 02 It was a dream. He also, I think, hosted the most cast viewing parties of anyone in his home with his incredible wife Lori.
33:20 Speaker 01 Yes, and their home was beautiful.
33:22 Speaker 02 Beautiful.
33:22 Speaker 01 And just so warm and inviting. I loved it.
33:25 Speaker 02 They put out a little like.
33:27 Speaker 01 Snackity snacks.
33:28 Speaker 02 Snack in the kitchen and then we would all get our stuff and we would go watch the show together. We did, we did that so much.
33:34 Speaker 01 So much and Paul.
33:35 Speaker 02 So many viewing parties.
33:36 Speaker 01 Paul and Lori are just such great party hosts. Paul is the, one of the best dressed people you will ever meet in your life.
33:42 Speaker 02 Full suit with tie.
33:43 Speaker 01 I, I have never not seen him in a suit. And his Instagram is all of him in suits with cocktails. You have to see it because it's very enjoyable.
33:50 Speaker 02 It's very impressive.
33:51 Speaker 01 Oh, we're about to deep dive on your feed on Instagram. Don't get freaked out. Um, also, did you talk about what the crew would do on Friday when it was Paul Feig's episode? They would all wear a tie.
34:01 Speaker 02 Oh, yes.
34:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, it would be Paul Feig day, suit day, every Friday when Paul Feig directed. And all the crew members, the camera guys, they would all wear ties.
34:14 Speaker 02 Halloween did not end with our Halloween episodes. In order to edit the episodes in time to air during the actual week of Halloween, we, we filmed our Halloween episodes like usually in August, like months before. So every year we got two Halloween celebrations. First was the week that we shot the Halloween episode, but then there was actual Halloween. And during actual Halloween week, our crew would all dress up and we would have a costume parade at lunch.
34:36 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
34:36 Speaker 02 And the crew went all out.
34:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:39 Speaker 02 We would shoot a whole day with them all in costumes and us dressed as our characters. Um, one year, I don't know if you remember this, the wardrobe department dressed as the characters from our show. And I have pictures.
34:49 Speaker 01 Oh.
34:50 Speaker 02 As.
34:51 Speaker 01 That is hilarious.
34:52 Speaker 02 Although this guy was a props guy. He wasn't wardrobe, but wardrobe dressed as us.
34:56 Speaker 01 Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
34:58 Speaker 02 I know. It was pretty great. Because I think something that people say a lot, but was very true for us, and maybe it's true for them too. We were like one big family.
35:08 Speaker 01 We were.
35:08 Speaker 02 Not just the cast, it was the crew.
35:10 Speaker 01 Yes.
35:10 Speaker 02 We looked out for one another. We enjoyed being together.
35:17 Speaker 02 Our workdays were long, but they were not as long as a typical television show.
35:22 Speaker 01 No.
35:22 Speaker 02 We averaged about 12 hours a day and it usually was something like 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. It was rare to go as late as 7:30, but it did happen occasionally.
35:30 Speaker 01 Yeah.
35:31 Speaker 02 But it never happened on Halloween. We were always wrapped early. Always. And I think it's because so many of our crew members had families with young kids and the producers wanted to make sure that everyone was home in time to celebrate with their families.
35:45 Speaker 01 That's right. And you know, Greg himself is a very big family man. I think that those things are important. They were important to him and I think when you're on a show where your showrunner, creator, has a family, they just go into it thinking about people's families. I always felt that way. I felt like they knew when I went to them when I had Isabel and I was going to be bringing her to set. I felt like I could go and have a conversation and they would help make it work.
36:13 Speaker 02 I know that it was very important to Steve that he'd be home for dinner with his family every night.
36:18 Speaker 01 Yes.
36:18 Speaker 02 He would come in first thing in the morning, 5:30, 6 a.m. So that he could be finished by 5:30 at night. And then some of the people who didn't have kids would stay later and then work to that 6, 6:30 timeframe happily, you know, for him. In fact, there were a lot of younger people who preferred coming in at 8 a.m. and working later.
36:38 Speaker 01 Right, right, right.
36:38 Speaker 02 They did not want to come in at 5:30. But once you have kids, you're awake anyway, you know?
36:43 Speaker 01 Yeah. So... You don't want to miss bedtime.
36:45 Speaker 02 You don't want to miss that different bedtime. And it can be made to work if the people who are in charge make it work. And it happened on Halloween. Also, every year, Matt Stone, who was one of our camera operators, and then later he became our director of photography and even directed some episodes, he would throw a party at his house after work for everyone and their families. And he lived in this great neighborhood for trick or treating. And we'd show up and he would have these little tables that had crafts for the kids.
37:13 Speaker 01 Oh, he had, it was so cute. Their like, front room of their house had little low tables with little chairs.
37:18 Speaker 02 Yes.
37:18 Speaker 01 It was like kid pair. Paradise over there.
37:20 Speaker 02 Little stickers, projects, you could make a little pumpkin.
37:23 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
37:24 Speaker 02 And then food, they'd order pizza, and then we'd just go out and canvass the neighborhood. And even cast members without kids would come. I know BJ Novak used to go over and hand out candy.
37:34 Speaker 01 Yeah.
37:34 Speaker 02 Because someone had to man the door, right?
37:35 Speaker 01 Yeah.
37:36 Speaker 02 If everybody leaves, someone has to be there to hand out the candy. BJ was like, I'll do it.
37:39 Speaker 01 I'll never forget, um, one of the years we went, um, Isabel was Tinker Bell, and she was so excited when she rang the door that people gave her candy. She couldn't believe it. She was like, what is happening? But it was really sweet that we all did that.
37:52 Speaker 02 Even though we'd spent all day working together, we still shared these occasions with one another.
37:58 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
37:58 Speaker 02 It was really sweet.
38:04 Speaker 01 I had this, like, professor in college, I'm gonna get really nerdy for a second, and he was my creative writing professor, and he used to say, you know, what's, what's a pleasure to do is a pleasure to experience. So if you're writing and you're, and you love what you're writing, I'm gonna love reading it. And I felt that way about The Office. We so loved what we were doing, that I think it comes through. I think we cared a lot for each other. We were very invested in each other's lives. And I think now the show still resonates, because when you watch that, you feel it.
38:36 Speaker 02 We were genuinely connected.
38:38 Speaker 01 Yeah, and we still are.
38:40 Speaker 02 We still are.
38:41 Speaker 01 You and I had
38:41 Speaker 02 All these years later.
38:42 Speaker 01 Hates this morning. Brian Baumgartner texted me this morning.
38:46 Speaker 02 Rain Wilson texts me constantly.
38:47 Speaker 01 I know. Rain, you know, what's great is Rain will text you out of nowhere and just be like, hey, monkey.
38:53 Speaker 02 That's so true.
38:54 Speaker 01 And I'm like, hey. He'll just text you out of nowhere. I love you.
38:56 Speaker 02 It's so true.
38:57 Speaker 01 Like, I feel like if Rain listened to this, he would probably text us and be like, I am not surprised the two of you are, have just, you can just talk about anything.
39:03 Speaker 02 Yammering on and on, you two.
39:10 Speaker 02 Because of how we were on The Office, and The Office was my first job. It created an expectation in me that my future job experiences would be similar.
39:24 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
39:24 Speaker 02 I thought that if I got a job and I went to the producers and I said, "I want this time off to go to my kid's open house," or "I need to be finished early because this is like my dad's 70th birthday," or whatever it is, that they would be like, "Oh, yes, of course. We can manipulate the schedule to make that time for you." But guess what? As it turns out,
39:47 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's not like that.
39:48 Speaker 02 It does not work that way. We had a very special thing on The Office, and the way that this hit me, the year that I was working on my new show, splitting up together, and it was the first season, and when you do the first season of show, people are especially hyper
40:01 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
40:02 Speaker 02 about everything because every week they might pull the plug. And I had asked them at the beginning of the season, I said, "I just need to be finished by 5 o'clock on Halloween so that I can go trick-or-treating with my little kids."
40:15 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
40:15 Speaker 02 So Halloween was on a Tuesday that year. The Friday before, the producers came to me and said, "Jenna, we've run late this week, and we had to drop a couple of scenes, and the only day that we can rent this crane in order to get this shot that we missed this week is on Halloween, and we're gonna need to tack it on to the end of the day, so I'm very sorry. We'll still get you out by 7:30, 8 o'clock."
40:39 Speaker 01 First of all, you have to understand Jenna's children are young. They're not, they're not trick-or-treating at 8 o'clock.
40:44 Speaker 02 No, I said,
40:45 Speaker 01 They're little.
40:45 Speaker 02 I said, "Guys, Halloween's over by 8 o'clock. It's over. You know, we're sleeping at 8."
40:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
40:50 Speaker 02 They're in the early window.
40:51 Speaker 01 Yeah, they're, we, you just treat them as little day out.
40:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
40:54 Speaker 01 It's still a little daylight out at that age.
40:57 Speaker 02 And then on Sunday morning, you call me up, now I'm gonna start crying. You called me up and you said, "What are you doing tonight at 5 o'clock?" And I said, "Nothing," and you said, "I know what you're doing. You're coming, dress up your kids, come over to my house. I've talked to six of my neighbors, and they're gonna hand out candy to your kids. I'll get my kids dressed up, and we're going trick-or-treating. You will not miss Halloween on my watch. You will not miss it." I started sobbing. Sobbing now.
41:27 Speaker 01 We're both tearing up now.
41:28 Speaker 02 We're both tearing up. And we did just that. I got to dress up my kids in their Halloween costumes.
41:34 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
41:34 Speaker 02 You dress up your kids in not their Halloween costumes, but in costumes.
41:38 Speaker 01 We.
41:38 Speaker 02 Right, because you didn't wanna.
41:40 Speaker 01 Our kids have, still have two huge dress up bins, because they love to play dress up. They still do. And I told the kids what was gonna happen, and my kids were like, Weston and Harper cannot miss Halloween with their mom, they cannot miss Halloween. I said, I know, guys, so we're gonna make Halloween happen for them. And they were so excited. And their one thing was, well, we don't wanna mess up our actual costumes.
42:07 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:07 Speaker 01 They still had their.
42:08 Speaker 02 They wanted to wait for Halloween to put on their costumes.
42:11 Speaker 01 They had their parade at school coming up and all that.
42:13 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:14 Speaker 01 And I said, why don't we all pick out a costume from the dress up bin? And we'll all dress up to trick or treat. And they were so excited, and they all dressed up.
42:22 Speaker 02 Now, here's a question that I have for you.
42:24 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
42:25 Speaker 02 Which I've always wondered, did your neighbors have candy? Or did you go to their houses and give them candy to give me?
42:32 Speaker 01 Okay, so I live in a very cute neighborhood.
42:34 Speaker 02 You do.
42:35 Speaker 01 It's like white picket fences, it's very cute.
42:37 Speaker 02 You know all your neighbors.
42:38 Speaker 01 I know all my neighbors.
42:39 Speaker 02 You guys do like block parties and stuff.
42:41 Speaker 01 We do, we do like.
42:41 Speaker 02 Like summertime, Fourth of July.
42:43 Speaker 01 Oh, we do summertime, Fourth of July. Yeah, we do barbecues and we have a, um, uh, oh gosh, what's it called?
42:50 Speaker 02 Bocce ball?
42:51 Speaker 01 Bocce ball tournament. And we, we just always are hanging out. So I knew who I could go to on my street, and they all have children. And they all know what this means to go trick or treating with your kids when they're little. I went to them and I said, here's the deal. My best friend is gonna have to work Halloween, and she's not gonna be able to be with her kids on Halloween, and they're little, and she won't be able to take them trick or treating. And I'm gonna have them come over here, and it would just mean so much to me. I said, I will bring you candy. And all of them were like, we are so happy to help. Don't, you don't even need to bring us candy, we have so much candy, we wanna get rid of candy. They were like, don't, just tell us when. And I told them I would text them, uh, when we were coming, because they were all saying they wanted to make sure they'd be home at that time.
43:36 Speaker 01 And so they all knew we were coming, and I texted them when Jenna and her kids were on the way, and I said, okay, we're on.
43:41 Speaker 02 And we came over, and it was the cutest thing. And we trick or treated, and then we came back to your house, and we had smores.
43:49 Speaker 01 Yeah.
43:49 Speaker 02 Remember?
43:49 Speaker 01 We did smores in the backyard.
43:51 Speaker 02 And it was amazing and it is one of the kindest things that anyone has ever done for me in my life. And you know, there's already so many ways as a working parent that we feel conflicted about missing things. I I'm always trying to balance my personal ambition with my desire to be a very present parent. And I give up a lot of opportunities and I know you do too.
44:18 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
44:19 Speaker 02 There are a lot of jobs that work outside of the city and we don't even throw our hat in the ring because we don't like to leave. So anyway, thank you.
44:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:28 Speaker 02 That was amazing. It saved the day.
44:30 Speaker 01 Well, I was so happy to do it, Jenna. I just love you and I I just know what it means and I know as a working parent, we all have to make sacrifices that are really hard. I'm a working parent and I'm also a parent who has a child that has to navigate joint custody and it it hits a real nerve with me because there are some moments that I miss out on because of joint custody, even though my joint custody is exceptionally great, really. Like we get along great, we work well together, I'm on very good terms with her dad and her stepmom and we really work together to make it all happen, but there are still moments that you miss.
45:10 Speaker 01 For example, some years you trade off Christmas Day and that's really hard, even though you're going to see her the next day to make it fair to both houses. And so what we have stated in our family is it doesn't matter what date it is, it matters that you celebrate together as a family. And that's what I thought. I was like, you know what? That TV show might get to take quote unquote Halloween from you, the date, but they don't get to take the experience away from you.
45:37 Speaker 02 And you know what, Angela? When I was on set, I said to them, the thing is, I can't make Halloween happen on any other day. It's not like Thanksgiving or Christmas or these other holidays, even your birthday, where you're like, oh, I'm sorry, I can't come in for Thanksgiving. I've had many Thanksgivings a week late. The family couldn't be sure a unit until later.
46:00 Speaker 01 Right.
46:00 Speaker 02 And you make your own Thanksgiving and you make your own holidays. You open gifts three days after Christmas, but it's your Christmas.
46:07 Speaker 01 Right.
46:07 Speaker 02 I said, I can't make a neighborhood hand out candy.
46:11 Speaker 01 Yes, you can, Jenna.
46:13 Speaker 02 Angela Kinsey can.
46:16 Speaker 01 Well, I was happy that we could do that. And I would do it again. I'd go bug all my neighbors.
46:22 Speaker 02 I know you would. I know you would. It created a really special memory for the family. Yeah, that was our Halloween.
46:28 Speaker 01 BFF, air high five.
46:29 Speaker 02 Air high five. Boom.
46:42 Speaker 02 Okay, Ange, what are your thoughts after listening to that again?
46:48 Speaker 01 Well, first of all, I want to bring back the birthday hike tradition.
46:52 Speaker 02 Okay.
46:52 Speaker 01 We did that for a few years and then instead we would like meet and have lunch or something. I want to do the birthday hike again.
46:58 Speaker 02 Birthday hike again.
46:59 Speaker 01 And I want you to wear that hat you wore that was a birthday cake.
47:02 Speaker 02 I found that when I was cleaning out my garage this time.
47:05 Speaker 01 No way.
47:06 Speaker 02 Yes.
47:07 Speaker 01 Okay, save it. We're gonna go for a hike on my birthday and I will wear it.
47:11 Speaker 02 I will bring it.
47:12 Speaker 01 Done. And then just listening to us, lady, what was so wild to me was the seeds of so many things. One, you in your brain just was like, oh, here's a fast fact. Little did you know, you're gonna be locked into those for years. And also, your thoughts are so organized, you know? You had this like multiple printed out document. I remember I had a stack of note cards in front of me that I had jotted a bunch of things down on that I spread out over this coffee table. And I also had all these pictures from Halloween that I spread out in front of us that we could look at. I had my script from Halloween. But, you know, we come at things from these different perspectives and I love that
47:56 Speaker 01 neither of us knew what we were gonna share exactly. And that's just something I love about our friendship is just how we hold so much of what matters to us is the same at our core, you know?
48:09 Speaker 02 Like our values.
48:09 Speaker 01 Our values, our moral compass. Our love for our families. But you know, you and I can take a walk down the street right now and what you would see and share about and what I would see and share about would be completely different. And yours is always fascinating to me.
48:26 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:26 Speaker 01 And entertaining and interesting. Like, I love how your brain works. And I just felt like I was reliving all of that. And it's such a fun conversation between two friends about a magical time in our life. And I'm just so thankful that we get to continue talking and sharing all these years later, you know?
48:46 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
48:47 Speaker 01 I mean, this has been a real gift to my life.
48:50 Speaker 02 Yes, same.
48:51 Speaker 01 Yeah. What about you? What about you hearing us in my garage?
48:55 Speaker 02 Well, my first thought was that it's very hilarious to me that you were eating.
49:00 Speaker 01 I'm sorry.
49:01 Speaker 02 And I felt like I was talking really fast, really fast. It's funny, because it's kind of what you said. I think that the things that make our partnership as podcast hosts work so well, it's evident in that very first recording.
49:16 Speaker 01 I also know why you were talking fast.
49:18 Speaker 02 Why?
49:19 Speaker 01 Lady, don't you remember?
49:20 Speaker 02 No.
49:20 Speaker 01 Okay, so.
49:21 Speaker 02 Was I in a hurry?
49:22 Speaker 01 No, but it was your birthday, so we went for this hike.
49:25 Speaker 02 Uh huh.
49:26 Speaker 01 And then we came back and I was hungry, so we stopped to get something for me to eat. And then we had pickup that day, but our kids were younger and they got out earlier.
49:37 Speaker 02 Oh, is that right?
49:39 Speaker 01 That's right.
49:39 Speaker 02 So we weren't, we did have a deadline.
49:41 Speaker 01 We had a time deadline.
49:42 Speaker 02 A little bit of a hurry.
49:43 Speaker 01 So we weren't rushed, but we also didn't have all afternoon.
49:46 Speaker 02 Okay, okay.
49:48 Speaker 01 And that's why you're not.
49:49 Speaker 02 You have a good memory.
49:49 Speaker 01 Well, also, I found emails between us after we had recorded it. And I was like, that was so much fun. You know, and I was like, did you make it? And you're like, yeah, I made it in plenty of time, you know, all that kind of stuff.
50:00 Speaker 02 Oh, wow. Your digital clutter is filling out the picture for us once again.
50:05 Speaker 01 You're welcome.
50:06 Speaker 02 Oh, well, we've come a long way. Seven years, 500 million downloads. And it all started with that one recording in your garage. Just amazing.
50:17 Speaker 01 And all of it happened because of you guys listening.
50:21 Speaker 02 Thank you so much. And it's also due to a really great team of people currently and throughout the years. And we actually thought that for our Around the Town segment, in honor of this milestone, it would be kind of fun to catch up with our Office Ladies family and see what they have been up to. So, let's kick things off with a little message from someone who's been with us from the very beginning, Colin Anderson.
50:50 Speaker 04 Hi ladies. This is Colin Anderson. I was the exec who signed Office Ladies to Irwulf back in the day. One of my favorite things about the Office Ladies launch, which was October 2019, was that our company, the marketing team, strategy, a shout out to Bill Irwin, forecasted the show to get 400,000 downloads a month. And we hit over a million in the first week. Absolutely crazy numbers, more than double any of the other shows we had on the network at the time. And 200,000 of those listeners told us that Office Ladies was the first podcast they'd ever listened to. I wonder how many new listeners you've brought into podcasting since then. So I guess the personal tidbit that Office Ladies listeners might know about me is that I had a kidney stone last year. That seemed to go
51:35 Speaker 04 away. I had an ultrasound. They said, no, no kidney stones. You must have passed it. And then a couple of weeks later, I was in a lot of pain, ended up in urgent care and had to have an emergency operation to remove my kidney stone. It was painful, undignified, a lot for a gentleman to go through. And listening to Office Ladies a couple of weeks ago, and hearing that Billie Eilish has listened to every episode, I'm like, oh, great. Now Billie Eilish knows about my kidney stone. I set up my own podcast business about a year ago, and Office Ladies were one of my first clients. So, since then, I've been helping build the Office Ladies network with Lazy Genius. And we brought in How We Made
52:19 Speaker 04 Your Mother last year. So, please go and listen to both of those shows once you've finished this episode. And the three of us just got talking a few weeks ago about a new Office Ladies idea that I'm hoping listeners get to hear at some point this year. Congratulations Jenna and Angela on this brilliant show and the community that you've built. Congrats on 500 million downloads.
52:41 Speaker 01 Everything about that was perfection.
52:44 Speaker 02 I also like love people hearing just the joy that is Colin Anderson.
52:50 Speaker 01 I loved all of that. I love that we got the update on his kidney stone journey. And yeah, Colin was part of the team that signed us to Earwolf.
52:59 Speaker 02 Yes. And then our very first producer, who we worked with at Earwolf, and then when we moved to Sirius XM, was Cody Fisher, no relation. And here's what she's been up to.
53:10 Speaker 05 Hi Jenna, hi Angela, hi Office Ladies listeners, it's me Cody. First, I just want to say Jenna and Angela, congratulations on 500 million downloads. I'm so impressed, it's so cool, but I'm also not surprised. The show rules. What have I been up to since my time on Office Ladies? Well, I'm still making podcasts, I'm at Sirius XM. I have taken up 5 billion hobbies that I've given up on, but I managed to rewire two antique lamps without burning my house down. Very proud of that. I'm also still worrying about the sound quality of this voice memo and what Sam will have to do to clean it up.
53:54 Speaker 05 Sam, I'm trying my best, I'm in my closet, I've rerecorded this four times because I heard noise in the background. I hope this is good. Bye everyone.
54:02 Speaker 02 Aw, Cody, thank you.
54:05 Speaker 03 That sounded great Cody.
54:07 Speaker 01 It did.
54:09 Speaker 02 I also think I know who I should hit up with all my extra lamps.
54:13 Speaker 01 I was thinking that immediately.
54:15 Speaker 02 Okay, this is really good information.
54:17 Speaker 01 Also Cody's cat and my cat look like they're siblings. She has a tuxedo cat, who I love.
54:23 Speaker 02 Okay, and now we're going to hear from Ainsley Bubaco, everyone.
54:28 Speaker 01 Get it right.
54:29 Speaker 02 Who I've known pre-Office Ladies. She's going to explain a little bit about that and tell you all what she's up to.
54:35 Speaker 01 Hello Office Ladies, it is Ainsley. Congratulations on 500 million downloads, I honestly can't even wrap my Around that number, but I will say it is well deserved. I know how much time and love goes into each episode and how much you care about the fans. So it's only fitting that you've hit this huge milestone. My time on the Office Ladies team started just as me helping Jenna during the pandemic while she was homeschooling her kids and turned into a five plus year job that brought me wonderful new friends into my life. So I'm very grateful to have been a part of it.
55:17 Speaker 01 I'd actually never seen The Office before I started working on the podcast. And it's funny, I see why people love it.
55:25 Speaker 01 What am I doing now? I am currently performing in a musical, which Angela and Jenna came to see me in this past weekend. And next week I'm traveling to Paris with some friends. And hopefully by the time this airs, I'll be doing something else fabulous. Thank you for checking in and cheers to the next 500 million downloads. Lots of love.
55:52 Speaker 01 I like she was like, it's funny. It's pretty good. It's pretty good.
55:56 Speaker 02 Guys, Ainsley is a phenomenal actress.
55:59 Speaker 01 She's a superstar.
56:00 Speaker 02 Yeah.
56:01 Speaker 01 And she can sing.
56:02 Speaker 02 Oh, her voice is amazing. She was terrific in this musical.
56:06 Speaker 01 Yeah.
56:06 Speaker 02 Really great. It might be going to New York, so we're gonna have to have her let us know.
56:09 Speaker 01 Yeah.
56:10 Speaker 02 We'll shout it out.
56:11 Speaker 01 Shout it out. And we also reached out to Cassie, you know, huge part of Office Ladies. She is actually traveling internationally right now. And Cassie and I have been trading messages and she said, Ange, I owe you an email. Apologies for the delay, but she's gonna get back to us when she's done with all her travels. And it looks like she's having an amazing time.
56:30 Speaker 02 I am so excited that she's traveling and we do have a don't bother me when I'm traveling policy here on Office Ladies, so. We like to give people the space to enjoy their vacations. But yeah, Cassie, just if you're listening, thank you so much for being such a big part of these 500 million downloads. We're so happy that you're out there living your best life.
56:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, and when you're back, you'll have to share all about your travels and we can't wait to hear from you.
56:58 Speaker 02 We would accept a travel journal.
56:59 Speaker 01 Oh, yes, we would.
57:01 Speaker 02 And then I think before we go, we need to get a little around the town from Matt and Sam. Sam, you want to go first?
57:08 Speaker 01 Sam, day one in the studio with us, 500 million downloads later.
57:14 Speaker 03 I chose to answer this the same way Cody and Colin and Ainsley did, as if we haven't seen each other every day for the last couple of years.
57:20 Speaker 02 Great.
57:22 Speaker 03 John and Angela, it's so good to hear from you. First, I miss you both so much every day. Second, life is good. Life is small for me right now. I make two to three podcasts a week, which seems wild to me that I used to make five to 10 per week for 10 years. So since I've seen you last, Earwolf was acquired by SiriusXM, which was great for the owners of Earwolf, pretty weak for everyone else. I made it about two years before being laid off, which I'll admit was terrifying, but I don't know if you two remember the show I was on before I left, The Office Ladies. Those two absolute angels swooped in and saved me by rehiring me on the show I was laid off from, which as far as I know, that's the only instance of that happening that I can think of. I got out of that toxic relationship I was in when we met. I've recently started dating a lovely woman in Canada named Stephanie.
58:05 Speaker 03 It's new to me, I'm taking it slowly, but I do love her very much. My dog, Ramen, is still alive. He turns nine this month. He's still very fat and very dumb and very wonderful. I got sober about a year ago. I've been slowly rebuilding my life since then. No complaints, though. Whatever I left behind in my old life has been repaid to me currently 10 times over. As I wrap this up, I just wanted to say how good it is to hear from you both. You both changed my life in many ways and I'm proud to be a part of the show still. I was aware from our very first taping that we had something special. I lost all my emails from the last 10 years when I left SiriusXM, but I'm genuinely pretty sure you both have emails from me around that time telling you guys in that very fact that you guys were on to something very magical here. I tried to do the math and by my rough estimate, I've made probably 3,000 to 4,000
58:47 Speaker 03 Podcasts over the last decade. I made some really magical stuff with met some really truly special people, but it all pales in comparison to what you two have built here. You two have built a community. Every person that has talked to you today has used that phrase and podcasts and the communities last forever. And to the people that email me saying they listen to the show while they're running marathons, having babies, getting married, I see you and I hear you and every email blows my mind. Thank you. Truly. I'm always available. Please email me at the next 500 million mark.
59:16 Speaker 01 Oh, Sam. Sam, can I also say your email reminded me of my journals?
59:22 Speaker 03 Yeah.
59:23 Speaker 01 You wrote it as if Jen and I
59:26 Speaker 03 Yes.
59:26 Speaker 01 weren't sitting in the room with you.
59:27 Speaker 03 Yeah.
59:28 Speaker 01 We love you so much, Sam.
59:29 Speaker 03 I love you too. I can't believe the reach. 500 million. Congrats. I hope you guys are genuinely so proud of what you built.
59:35 Speaker 01 Thank you so much. I am really proud of it. I really am. And so many people that we meet now when we're out and about in the world, you know, my favorite thing is when I'll be at an airport and someone goes, lady. And I'm like, hey, lady. Because I know immediately that they're an Office Ladies listener.
59:54 Speaker 02 Yes. Well, listen, finally, Matt Beagle, we want to hear from you, our newest member of the Office Ladies team. We need everyone to understand how amazing Matt Beagle is.
1:00:05 Speaker 01 Matt is just the most fantastic, calming presence. No matter what we need, when we need it, he's anticipated our need and he's taking care of it. Matt, I hope your family knows what a badass you are.
1:00:20 Speaker 02 You're a treasure and you will do things that are just so near and dear to my heart, which is like before every Zoom that we have, you will set out an agenda in a Google Doc, but you have links to all the other Google Docs that we might, might need to reference. Like, maybe we will, maybe we won't, but it's there. It's all in one document.
1:00:41 Speaker 01 Here's another thing Matt will do. He knew I was taking a road trip with Josh. He knew we had an edit coming up and that I wouldn't be able to access it in a computer, like in a Google Doc. So he texted it to me. Hey, Ange, in case you want to listen on your car ride. I was like, that's amazing.
1:00:58 Speaker 02 Amazing.
1:00:58 Speaker 03 Well, thank you. Can I stop following Sam too? I'm always following Sam after he's like read some poetry or something.
1:01:07 Speaker 01 I know. He has such a rich history here.
1:01:09 Speaker 03 Can I go first next time? I'm kidding. Congratulations. This is just such a special place to be. I feel so lucky to be part of this team and
1:01:17 Speaker 02 Family and history and I'm just thrilled to be here and I'm super excited for everyone involved for this milestone. So, thank you to everyone. Thanks, Matt.
1:01:26 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:27 Speaker 02 We're so glad you're a part of this team as well.
1:01:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:30 Speaker 02 From day one.
1:01:30 Speaker 01 From day one.
1:01:31 Speaker 02 We call you Command F.
1:01:33 Speaker 01 We do because we were both in a Google Doc and it was really hard to search for things and Matt just goes, "Oh, do Command F."
1:01:42 Speaker 02 And we were like, "What? What's Command F?"
1:01:44 Speaker 01 We'd never heard of it.
1:01:46 Speaker 02 We'd never heard of Command F. So, now that we call you our Command F's.
1:01:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:50 Speaker 02 Because you help us find everything and figure everything out.
1:01:54 Speaker 01 And you might have a coffee mug waiting for you here that says Command F.
1:01:59 Speaker 02 Might. I know that you do. If you know Angela, you know that's been ordered.
1:02:06 Speaker 01 Well, you guys, I hope you just feel our love coming through your headphones or your car radio. Car radio? How do you listen to podcasts? However you're listening to our podcasts, I hope you just feel the love that we have for you all and what this has meant to us and it's changed our lives. And we're so, so thankful and we just love you and we hope you have a great week.
1:02:28 Speaker 02 Yes, and we will be here trying to come up with what is the next fun thing we're going to chat about.
1:02:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:02:34 Speaker 02 Because we like chatting.
1:02:35 Speaker 01 We love to chat with you guys and like Colin said, we do have a fun Office Ladies idea that we can't wait to share about. And now that I'm looking at these balloons, I realize I should have gotten 501 million.
1:02:46 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah. I don't know. I like this.
1:02:49 Speaker 01 601. I'll wait for that one.
1:02:52 Speaker 02 Okay, deal. We'll see you next week.
1:02:58 Speaker 02 Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
1:03:00 Speaker 01 Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.
1:03:05 Speaker 02 Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.
1:03:10 Speaker 01 Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.
1:03:13 Speaker 02 Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
1:03:16 Speaker 01 Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
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