Second Drink: Two Weeks

This week we’re breaking down “Two Weeks”. Michael puts in his two weeks notice at Dunder Mifflin and when he learns finding a new job is hard, he decides to start the Michael Scott Paper Company. The ladies celebrate Michael’s new endeavor by trying his drink of choice, Scotch and Splenda. Is it drinkable?! Angela points out a deleted scene that reveals why Michael has a big tub of cheeseballs, Jenna describes how the monster sounds were made for Monster.com http://Monster.com and the ladies also drink to how this episode was unbeknownst to them, Pam’s last day as a receptionist. So if you dare, put in your two weeks notice, make yourself a Scotch and Splenda and enjoy this episode! Teapot & Sprinkles Wine Glass Set: https://www.podswag.com/products/office-ladies-teapot-sprinkles-wine-glass-set?_pos=7&_sid=b1c7b93e6&_ss=r https://www.podswag.com/products/office-ladies-teapot-sprinkles-wine-glass-set?_pos=7&_sid=b1c7b93e6&_ss=r Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod https://www.instagram.com/officeladiespod/ Follow Us on YouTube https://youtube.com/@officeladiespod?si=D0oKJwFJuK9txzFM Follow Us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@officeladiespod?_t=ZT-8y1gqTrJyOs&_r=1

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Welcome to your second drink of two weeks. This is a fun episode. You guys, we tried Scotch and Splenda in this episode.

• 0:09Speaker 01

  I know.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  Jenna, you brought it all in.

• 0:11Speaker 01

  I know. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who might be listening for the first time, but I reflect very fondly on that. Also, it was so early in the morning.

• 0:20Speaker 00

  It was really early.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  It was a little crazy.

• 0:23Speaker 00

  We also talk about how much we wanted to interview Idris Elba for the podcast.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  Yes, and we still do. This reminded me that we need to still try and make that happen. I want us to put it on our manifest board.

• 0:35Speaker 00

  Well, the last time we checked in with him, his people said he was on a set somewhere for five months.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I can't remember what that movie was. He's very busy.

• 0:43Speaker 00

  He's very busy, but you know, maybe when the five-month project ends, Idris, you would like to come into the Office Lady studio.

• 0:51Speaker 01

  Yes. All right. Well, listen, I have a quick bit of extra trivia for this episode. It was originally titled "Two Weeks Notice," and then it got changed to "Two Weeks." Do you think that's because of the movie "Two Weeks Notice"? You know, the one with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock? "Two Weeks Notice," do you remember that rom-com?

• 1:09Speaker 00

  I mean, I remember hearing of it. I did not see it.

• 1:14Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:15Speaker 00

  Have you seen it?

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. I went through a Hugh Grant thing. I was like, he is the funniest person I've seen in a long time in movies. And what's crazy is I was just flying and I watched "Notting Hill" again.

• 1:29Speaker 00

  I love "Notting Hill."

• 1:29Speaker 01

  Oh, stop it.

• 1:31Speaker 00

  I mean, I've seen that movie so many times.

• 1:33Speaker 01

  The bench.

• 1:34Speaker 00

  The bench.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  All of it. Well, anyway.

• 1:36Speaker 00

  That dinner party is one of the best scenes. I would love to be in that dinner party scene.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  So good. And yes, it's Hugh Grant. It's "Two Weeks Notice." It's like Hugh Grant is doing it. It's just, you know, now.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  You know what? I feel like it was a decision. Here, I am completely spitballing here, guys. There could be zero truth to this.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:55Speaker 00

  I feel like this is like something a network suit would say. They'd be like, "You can't name the episode 'Two Weeks Notice' because there's already a movie named that."

• 2:02Speaker 01

  You know what? I actually had a whole other like thing in my brain.

• 2:07Speaker 00

  What was that?

• 2:07Speaker 01

  Here's what I imagined. I imagined a bunch of dudes in the writer's room calling it "Two Weeks Notice," and then Mindy Kaling walking in. Mindy Kaling, like...

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Loves a rom-com.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  Loves a rom-com. And she's like, "What are you doing? That's already a thing." And I feel like she had to school everybody.

• 2:23Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:24Speaker 01

  This was my imagination.

• 2:25Speaker 00

  I like both of these theories.

• 2:26Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 2:27Speaker 00

  All right, well, we also got this letter about a favorite moment from the episode. It's from Danny H. in Duluth, Minnesota. Danny says, "Hi, office ladies. My favorite scene from this episode is actually a scene added back into the superfan episode. It's when Michael and Toby are in the break room. Michael is asking Toby for advice on what to do with his life and what his resume should look like. I did not expect to be so tickled by this scene, but towards the end, when Michael is speaking directly to the film crew, as if he's saying some inspirational monologue in a movie, and it just makes me wheeze. Please, please, please touch on this scene, as it is a gem." Well, we love this scene selection, Danny, and you know what? I think we should share it. I'm gonna set it up for everyone.

• 3:09Speaker 00

  Michael is coming to terms with the fact that he has put in his two weeks' notice, and he's kinda freaking out about that fact, and he doesn't have a plan for the future, and he goes back to the annex, and he's gonna get advice from Toby, like you said. Let's hear it.

• 3:25Speaker 02

  Hey Toby, I have a real quick question for you.

• 3:29Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 3:31Speaker 02

  What should your resume be, and what should you do with your life?

• 3:34Speaker 03

  Okay. Two questions, I guess. Fine. No, no, no. I'm sticking to what I said. One question with two parts.

• 3:43Speaker 02

  Okay, well, look, the second part, you know, that's really personal. I mean, only you can answer that.

• 3:47Speaker 03

  So you're trying to get out of it? God. Thanks for your help, moron.

• 3:53Speaker 02

  Okay, well, look, the resumes. I can really help you there. I must read 20 a day.

• 3:57Speaker 03

  Okay. Good.

• 4:03Speaker 03

  Write this down.

• 4:07Speaker 03

  Born in a medium-sized town, Michael Gary Scott always knew he was different.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  Okay, so we might start with, so your most recent thing. Summary of achievements. What have you done here at Dunder Mifflin?

• 4:17Speaker 03

  Changed things. Ushered in a new era of love and comedy in the workplace. Hired many, fired few. Made money, lost money. Learned to stop counting.

• 4:36Speaker 03

  This is our moment.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  This is our time.

• 4:43Speaker 03

  This next part should be sung, if possible.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  That's Michael's resume.

• 4:48Speaker 00

  It's brilliant. It is brilliant. I don't know how Paul Lieberstein made it through that without laughing because, for me, the thing that always got me with Steve is how, as Michael, he would take these pauses.

• 5:00Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:00Speaker 00

  And then say something ridiculous.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  Yes, he takes his time. You don't know what's coming.

• 5:04Speaker 00

  No, no.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  Well, I really have to thank Danny for suggesting that we go back and watch that scene because it's really awesome. And because of Danny's letter, I ended up watching the whole superfan version. And I'd like to offer another scene that was added back. It's between Michael and Daryl. So after Michael realizes he's not going to get a job someplace else, he gets his idea to start his own paper company. And he goes down to Daryl's office for advice on starting his own company. When Michael needs something from Daryl, it's maybe one of my favorite dynamics.

• 5:37Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 5:38Speaker 01

  It's like this superfan episode has a Michael Tobey and it has a Michael Daryl. So I think we need to hear Michael and Daryl.

• 5:46Speaker 03

  Hey, Double D.

• 5:47Speaker 04

  What's up, Mike?

• 5:49Speaker 03

  Michael.

• 5:51Speaker 03

  Hey.

• 5:52Speaker 04

  Hey.

• 5:52Speaker 03

  You'll just excuse us for a sec.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  You know what? You could stay. Why don't we... This is good. I just had a question. You guys work in a warehouse. How much warehouse space do you think a paper company would need if it had like 25 clients? Hoping someday to expand.

• 6:12Speaker 04

  Maybe like a garage? Would you start your own company?

• 6:17Speaker 03

  No.

• 6:18Speaker 04

  Can I invest?

• 6:19Speaker 03

  Yes. Can I invest? Yeah.

• 6:22Speaker 04

  My money's tied up.

• 6:23Speaker 03

  I'll tap down.

• 6:24Speaker 04

  Shoot!

• 6:25Speaker 03

  Darn it.

• 6:25Speaker 04

  It sounds like a sure thing.

• 6:26Speaker 03

  Oh, doesn't it?

• 6:28Speaker 04

  Mike, I'll answer all your questions, but I need you to know something. I'm messing with you. This doesn't sound like a good idea.

• 6:36Speaker 03

  Understood.

• 6:38Speaker 04

  He wants to start his own company and I was just trying to dissuade him. I tried. I honestly tried.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  So there you go. Michael trying to get some advice on starting his paper company. How much space does he need for all the paper?

• 6:56Speaker 00

  I like that Daryl really earnestly tried to talk him out of it.

• 7:00Speaker 01

  I know.

• 7:01Speaker 00

  Oh, man. Well, this superfan also has a great runner of talking heads of people giving their opinion on Michael leaving. They come after Hank leads Michael out of the office and they watch him drive away. The broadcast version has a single Oscar talking head, but in the superfan version, a lot more of us weigh in and it was fun. Let's listen.

• 7:23Speaker 05

  And just like that, as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone. I would like to say that I will miss him.

• 7:32Speaker 06

  I would like to say that.

• 7:37Speaker 06

  I'll miss him when he dies. I'm not going to spend energy missing him every step of the way.

• 7:42Speaker 07

  I'll miss Michael, but have you seen this new guy? When God closes the door, he opens a window. Fend on him in.

• 7:52Speaker 05

  Old Creed, he outlives yet another boss. Time to put a marble in the box.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  So I guess Creed has a box on his desk and it's filled with marbles for every boss he outlives or lasts?

• 8:09Speaker 00

  That's so great.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  There were like five marbles in there.

• 8:12Speaker 00

  Five. Oh, my gosh, that's really funny to me. Well, Angela Martin also had a candy bag alt, which we shot and it went like this. "I don't know what lies in Michael's future. He's an able-bodied man with a formal education, so I'm sure he'll survive. Truthfully, though, I wouldn't be surprised to find him begging outside of my church in a few years. I can see him now with this little misspelled sign."

• 8:37Speaker 01

  I love that his sign is misspelled in Angela's fantasy.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  She's just such a bitch.

• 8:43Speaker 01

  Oh, listen, bottom line, the superfan version of this one is really great. You get like whole extra scenes. There's also this great added Michael talking head, but where he reveals he has a pet gecko. I highly recommend it.

• 8:57Speaker 00

  I saw people write in about the gecko. A few people wanted to know if Michael had a gecko, what would he have named it? And I was like, I don't know.

• 9:06Speaker 00

  All right, everyone, we hope you enjoy your second drink of two weeks.

• 9:13Speaker 01

  I'm Jenna Fischer.

• 9:14Speaker 00

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  We were on The Office together.

• 9:17Speaker 00

  And we're best friends.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  And now we're doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.

• 9:22Speaker 00

  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.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  We're the Office ladies.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  Hello.

• 9:35Speaker 00

  Good. I always want to say good morning.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  I know you do because it's 9:30 a.m. for us.

• 9:40Speaker 00

  I know, and I'm having a cup of tea.

• 9:42Speaker 01

  I'm having a cup of coffee. Hi, guys. Today, we are talking about Two Weeks, which is season five, episode 21, written by Aaron Schorr and directed by Paul Lieberstein. As we were warming up today here in the studio, literally warming up because it was very cold.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's freezing in here.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  And we were waiting for it to warm up. We were talking about how much we love writer Aaron Schorr.

• 10:07Speaker 00

  Yes, Aaron, you are delightful. We are enjoying all your emails and just reconnecting with you, and you have the best stories.

• 10:14Speaker 01

  The best stories. It's no wonder they use so many stories from his real life in episodes. Here's a summary. At the end of the last episode, Michael told David Wallace he was quitting. And guess what? It's true.

• 10:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:30Speaker 01

  He has given his official two weeks' notice, and he has also given up on doing any work.

• 10:36Speaker 00

  Have you ever given a two weeks' notice?

• 10:39Speaker 01

  I have.

• 10:40Speaker 00

  So have I.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  It's the most awkward two weeks when you're at your job, but everyone knows you're quitting.

• 10:46Speaker 00

  Yes, and it's true. You kind of coast. I mean, I didn't walk around with, you know, Scotch and Splenda, but you kind of phone it in.

• 10:56Speaker 01

  Well, I gave two weeks' notice at a job, and in that two weeks, it was my job to hire my replacement and train them. So I had to conduct interviews and put out a job posting and then create a handbook for my job for the next person.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  More work.

• 11:15Speaker 01

  I did. I did more work in my two weeks than ever before.

• 11:19Speaker 00

  I remember giving two weeks notice. And then when I was finally done with the two weeks, I got in my car. And guess what came on the radio?

• 11:26Speaker 01

  What?

• 11:27Speaker 00

  I'm free, free fall. And I was like, it's a sign.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  Is that how you felt?

• 11:33Speaker 00

  Yes, like in a good way, not a bad free fall, like a good free fall.

• 11:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, you were done with that job. Sounds like you didn't like it.

• 11:40Speaker 00

  I did not like it. And you know what? I was a little bit of Michael Scott during my two weeks.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  Well, Michael is going to take a turn when he learns how bad the current job market is. He suddenly starts to panic. And in the end, he is going to start his own paper company. And he's going to start by trying to recruit Dunder Mifflin employees to work with him. But pretty much everyone says no.

• 12:03Speaker 00

  Except?

• 12:05Speaker 01

  Pam.

• 12:05Speaker 00

  Pam.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  Pam is the only employee who is going to join Michael in his new adventure.

• 12:11Speaker 00

  The Michael Scott Paper Company.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  I love this runner.

• 12:15Speaker 00

  I do, too.

• 12:16Speaker 01

  Fast fact, number one, when I was looking at the script for this episode, it aired on March 26, 2009. That was my sister's 30th birthday. That same year, I turned 35, we're five years apart. And I remembered what we did for our birthdays to mark these milestone birthdays.

• 12:36Speaker 00

  What?

• 12:37Speaker 01

  All right, this is a story where my family back home is like, I cannot believe this is your life. And I always say, this is not my life. This is a moment. This is like a crazy thing that happened. A club in Vegas.

• 12:50Speaker 00

  I remember this.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  This club in Vegas, and I am so sorry, I cannot remember your name.

• 12:56Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  So sorry. Because I know so very little about clubbing in Vegas. But this one time in my life, this club in Vegas reached out and they said that they would fly out. My friends, family, whoever, give us an all expense paid trip to Vegas, a dinner.

• 13:16Speaker 00

  I remember this, Jenna, because I had a little baby.

• 13:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 13:20Speaker 00

  And I couldn't go.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  You couldn't go.

• 13:22Speaker 00

  And then you're texting me from Vegas.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  So I flew out my sister and her husband, and then I flew out Lee's brothers and sister. So it was like all of the brothers and sisters in law met in Vegas. And we partied hard and it all kind of culminated in this club experience, which I'd never had before with bottle service, sparklers, sparklers and cupcakes with my picture on them.

• 13:50Speaker 00

  Crazy, crazy. I have to tell you, so I wasn't able to go. And then the next year, the same club, oh my gosh, club in Vegas. We don't remember your name.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  We're so sorry.

• 13:57Speaker 00

  The same, the next year.

• 13:59Speaker 01

  It was really fun. We'll figure it out and we'll definitely tag you in a photo in our stories.

• 14:04Speaker 00

  We'll figure it out. The next year, same club.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  Privé?

• 14:07Speaker 00

  With like an accent on the E?

• 14:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:09Speaker 00

  Yes. Okay. So the next year, the same club reached out to me and Mindy. Cause Mindy's June 24th and I'm June 25th. And they said, we will throw you a joint birthday party in Vegas, fly you out, the whole shebang. And Mindy and I were like, oh my gosh, remember Jenna talking about it? We should do it. Mindy, do you remember this? I remember this. And then whatever, we couldn't do it because we just had too many moving parts. But there was a split second where Mindy and I were in hair and makeup and we're like, should we go to Vegas for a birthday?

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:39Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh, privé, privé?

• 14:41Speaker 01

  I think it's privé. A delicious dinner, I have to say.

• 14:46Speaker 00

  Well, dang it, dang it.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  Casino, club area. It was pretty dang cool.

• 14:52Speaker 00

  That's a great flashback.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  Moving along to fast fact number two, you mentioned Scotch and Splenda.

• 14:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  Taste like Splenda, gets you drunk like Scotch. Michael first mentioned this drink in season three Cocktails, when he was having drinks at David Wallace's house. That episode was written by Paul Lieberstein. This episode is directed by Paul Lieberstein. So Paul clearly loves his Scotch and Splenda. I found a recipe for Scotch and Splenda and I thought we should have it today.

• 15:25Speaker 00

  Shut up. You're not.

• 15:28Speaker 00

  Wait, I haven't had, I didn't have much of a breakfast.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  Here's the scotch.

• 15:31Speaker 00

  Oh my god, Jenna. Wait, Sam, did you know about this? Cassie?

• 15:35Speaker 01

  Cassie's getting the ice. Here's the Splenda.

• 15:38Speaker 00

  Did you guys know?

• 15:39Speaker 02

  I didn't.

• 15:39Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  And then I thought-

• 15:41Speaker 00

  I've had one pancake for breakfast, only one.

• 15:44Speaker 01

  I thought we could drink it out of our own office lady's glasses.

• 15:49Speaker 00

  I love these, look.

• 15:51Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 15:52Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh, everybody.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  You can have sprinkles, I'll have the teapot.

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 15:57Speaker 01

  Sam and Cassie can have some Dundees. This is me opening the Splenda.

• 16:03Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Alright.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  You guys, it is 9:57 in the morning.

• 16:09Speaker 01

  Alright, so here's what you need. You need one packet of Splenda.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  Okay. Oh my gosh.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  Two ounces of scotch and some ice. I mean, I don't know what this is gonna taste like.

• 16:22Speaker 00

  We're gonna be here for a bit.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  Alright, here, I'm gonna, I'm gonna open the scotch.

• 16:29Speaker 00

  It's really happening, guys.

• 16:31Speaker 01

  I thought this would be fun.

• 16:32Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:35Speaker 01

  Only Cassie knew because she had to get the ice. I was like, do they have ice here? Here we go.

• 16:42Speaker 00

  That's, that's ice going in. Stirry, stirry.

• 16:47Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  Just so you guys know, this is what my parents think my job is.

• 16:51Speaker 00

  No, don't say that.

• 16:56Speaker 01

  I'm certain this is disgusting. I-

• 17:00Speaker 00

  We're gonna let you know.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  Is everyone ready?

• 17:05Speaker 00

  Wait, wait one second. Drink responsibly. Okay, ready?

• 17:08Speaker 01

  Here we go, everybody, try it. Cheers.

• 17:10Speaker 02

  Cheers, everyone.

• 17:11Speaker 00

  Cheers.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  Oh my god, you guys, it's not bad.

• 17:18Speaker 00

  I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Yeah.

• 17:22Speaker 02

  I don't have anything snarky to say.

• 17:23Speaker 00

  I don't hate it. It's really nice. I don't hate it. I would totally drink this. Have you served it to me at a bar?

• 17:30Speaker 01

  I am maybe gonna ask for this the next time I go out.

• 17:33Speaker 02

  This tastes like something Applebee's would have.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  Okay, wait, Jenna, if you ask for Scotch and Splenda at a bar, I hope it shuts down.

• 17:41Speaker 00

  Go to, oh, we need to go to Chili's and ask for Scotch and Splenda.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Yes. Oh, my lord.

• 17:47Speaker 00

  All right, guys, cheers. Cheers, everyone. All right.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  To chunking it.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  To chunking it. Sam bringing back the chunk.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Wow, it's really kinda good.

• 17:57Speaker 00

  Um, Michael Scott was on to something.

• 17:59Speaker 01

  I truly believed it was going to be awful, and I like it.

• 18:04Speaker 00

  I like it, too. Sam thinks we should do a spinoff podcast called Scotch and Splenda.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  I can't wait to see what we talk about on that podcast.

• 18:13Speaker 01

  All right, fast fact number three. Shortly after this episode aired, the NBC office website sent out a mass email to all subscribers from Michael Scott about the fact that he was quitting Dunder Mifflin.

• 18:28Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 18:29Speaker 01

  And this is what it said. It said, "As the manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, I learned two things: everything about the paper business and that Dunder Mifflin is a sucky company. I am taking that expertise and creating the Michael Scott Paper Company. I cannot promise success, but I will promise you the best effing time of your life." So anyone who has subscribed to the website got that email.

• 18:57Speaker 00

  This is so in the vein. I know it's gonna come later, but when Jim's like, "You know, this is an industry on decline," and Michael's like, "I practically invented the decline." Like, this is the kind of energy he's going into his new business with.

• 19:10Speaker 01

  Oh, well, listen, that's all I've got for fast facts. A story about Vegas, a little Scotch and Splenda, and a surly email from Michael.

• 19:19Speaker 00

  It's one of my favorite fast facts we've ever done. The Scotch and Splenda might have had something to do with it.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  Well, why don't we take a break, and we'll come back and get into this episode?

• 19:28Speaker 00

  Let's do it.

• 19:39Speaker 00

  All right, you guys, we are back. Michael is holding court, finally, in the kitchen. He has everyone's attention. He's telling them the story of how he quit, how he went to New York and quit and told David Wallace, "I want you to know, this is called the purple cold open", in the Kinsey Chronicles of the office.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  Why is it called the purple cold open?

• 20:04Speaker 00

  I will tell you, Jenna, Angela Martin is wearing a purple turtleneck and a purple cardigan. Pam is wearing a purple top under her cardigan. Kelly is wearing a purple stripe button-down shirt. Oscar has purple squares on his tie and sort of faint purple stripes on his shirt. Stanley has purple stripes on his shirt and purple flowers on his tie. And Kevin also has purple stripes.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  I will have you know, when I saw this cold open, I noted the numerous jewel tones, but I did not break it down like that, and I applaud you.

• 20:37Speaker 00

  I just was like, what happened? What was Alicia, like, where was her? She was in sort of like a, I don't know, a spring awakening mode of her life? Everyone had purple on in this whole kitchen scene, minus Michael. Everyone else had purple on. Just saying. I found it fascinating. Now the episode is gonna start. Michael is walking around with one of those gooey, stretchy hands. You know, your kids get them at a county fair. And then they smack them on the window, and that leaves the gooey residue. Michael's walking around, smacking pieces of paper, yanking them back. He messes with Phyllis's hair. I remember Phyllis broke on that. That's why you see her from the back, because she was laughing. And I love how he tucked it back in his suit pocket,

• 21:20Speaker 00

  and just the hand, like, hung down sadly for the rest of the scene.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  This is also when Michael is drinking his Scotch and Splenda.

• 21:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  We reached out to writer Aaron Schur, the writer of this episode, because we were very curious, who wrote "Tastes Like Splenda Gets You Drunk Like Scotch?"

• 21:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, we gotta know.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  I mean, it's just too good. And he said that that line was created in a pre-table draft pitch session. So what that means is, the writers, they would kind of typically work together to make an outline of each episode. And then a specific writer, in this case, Aaron Schur, would go off and write the whole episode based on that outline. And they usually got like about a week. Well, they would turn in their draft, they would get notes, and then they would also have these pitch sessions.

• 22:09Speaker 00

  Right. They'll get notes. Sometimes a few of the writers will be put in a pod to pitch on a certain element of the script?

• 22:16Speaker 01

  Yes. And that is exactly what happened with Scotch and Splenda. A few writers got together and they said, "We want a really funny joke for this moment when Michael is walking around with a drink in his hand." And Aaron had saved all of the pitches.

• 22:33Speaker 00

  Stop it. Oh, my gosh. All of them. Oh, my gosh. What, what, what were they?

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Okay, so Kevin says, "Is that Scotch?"

• 22:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:42Speaker 01

  And here are the various pitches that Michael would reply. "Yup, from a fire truck shaped bottle in my office." Or, "Better, Southern Comfort." Or, "Nope, Diet Pepsi and water and ice and Scotch." Or, "It's non-alcoholic Scotch." And finally, the one they went with, Scotch and Splenda. "Tastes like Splenda, gets you drunk like Scotch." And then that is the joke that they ultimately picked for our table read draft, which is the draft that all the actors got and that we would read out loud.

• 23:20Speaker 00

  I love it. My number two would have been "A bottle shaped like a fire truck."

• 23:24Speaker 01

  I liked "Bottle shaped like a fire truck" as well.

• 23:27Speaker 00

  Because I remember like my dad had like a novelty liqueur that I think it came in a stagecoach. I don't know. But like it just sat on the shelf.

• 23:35Speaker 01

  Well, the cool thing about those extra lines was, then at the table draft, if a... Oh, Angela is-

• 23:41Speaker 00

  Having a sip of Scotch and Splenda.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  That's the I see here.

• 23:44Speaker 00

  Because I was like, well, we are talking about Scotch and Splenda.

• 23:48Speaker 01

  It wasn't a joke, folks. We're really drinking it.

• 23:51Speaker 00

  Sipping, sipping it.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  We're really sipping it. That's where you are sipping. But what I was gonna say is, the interesting thing is that those extra jokes, the ones they didn't put in the table draft, they would save in that candy bag document. And then if a joke didn't land at the table read, they might go over there and replace it when it came time for the shooting draft, or they would have us do it on set, all the different alternates.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  Right. Sometimes I think the writers just wanted to hear them, just for fun. Even though they knew we weren't gonna like use any of them, they would hand you a page and if we had time that day in our shooting schedule, we would just do a whole bunch of alts.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  And it was always so fun.

• 24:27Speaker 00

  So fun.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Stanley thinks Michael should start looking for another job. Michael says he has a job, to which Andy points out, "For four more days."

• 24:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, Andy's like, "You kinda gotta get your act together here."

• 24:40Speaker 01

  Well, Michael has a talking head where he is not worried. I mean, what's he gonna do? He's gonna do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and he's gonna stop worrying about calories.

• 24:49Speaker 00

  So during this whole montage of like, people giving Michael advice, there was a scene in the shooting draft that didn't make it. And Kelly walks into his office and she's like, "Michael, what are you gonna do? You know what I would do? I'd move to Mexico. I'd live on the beach. I'd be naked. I'd make jewelry, have amazing sex, drink lots of margaritas." She just kinda goes off on this whole thing. And while Kelly is rambling on and on about what she would do, he is carving into his desk, "Michael was here."

• 25:20Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  And he really carved into the top of the desk. I was like, "Did we trash a desk for this like, scene that never even made it in?" And I wasn't the only one that noticed. Olivia C. wrote in and said, "In the deleted scenes," they're on the DVD box set, guys, "we see that Michael has carved, 'Michael was here on the desk.'" "Did Steve really carve that into the desk?" Olivia, I had the same question, but guess what? Randy Cordray had the answer. He said, "Our production designer, Michael Gallenberg, created a matching desktop out of the exact same similar wood."

• 25:53Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 25:54Speaker 00

  I know. That was laminated over the actual desktop because we were shooting scenes out of order and they couldn't have different stages of Michael carving into his desk in the episode, because then it wouldn't match.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:07Speaker 00

  So they just had this laminate top they would put on top, and then they would take it away.

• 26:11Speaker 01

  Now let me ask you this question.

• 26:12Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 26:13Speaker 01

  That means that Veda, our script supervisor, would have had a chart. And on that chart, for each scene, it would say carve desk, no carve desk. She would have tracked when we should see the carving.

• 26:25Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 26:26Speaker 01

  But they didn't know they were gonna cut this scene until later.

• 26:29Speaker 00

  Right.

• 26:30Speaker 01

  So is it possible that we can see this carving on his desk throughout the episode?

• 26:36Speaker 00

  Maybe. You'd have to be close, right? Like over his shoulder.

• 26:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:40Speaker 00

  But, I mean, probably what a headache for Veda. Keeping track of all that. And then it didn't even make it in.

• 26:47Speaker 01

  I'll have you know, Angela, at 2 minutes 48 seconds, we had a fan catch from Flora K. There is a blooming plant at reception.

• 26:57Speaker 00

  Flora, good catch.

• 26:59Speaker 01

  I knew it would make your heart happy.

• 27:01Speaker 00

  I saw it too, Flora.

• 27:03Speaker 01

  You know, the last time we had a blooming plant at reception was beach games.

• 27:07Speaker 00

  So you think this is connected to Pam? Pam was gonna have her moment here.

• 27:10Speaker 01

  She's gonna have another moment. She's going to bloom again today, like in beach games. Now, I know we talked to Steve Duchere, who told us that it was a coincidence that it was a blooming plant for beach games. But Steve Duchere, again, with the blooming plant, Pam is blooming. I think it was subconscious. This is that group mind thing.

• 27:30Speaker 00

  That's what I was gonna say. This is creative group mind.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Well, Michael is now going to move into the kitchen. I guess he's hungry. So he's looking for some food.

• 27:40Speaker 00

  He's a little tipsy and he's gonna go raid the refrigerator. Who hasn't been there? Come on. In the script, it just said that Michael takes out a container, clearly labeled Phyllis. But you know how he's eating it and then he's like, blech, Phyllis. None of that was in the script.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  Oh, really?

• 27:58Speaker 00

  Nope. Steve just improvised that.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Oh, that's so good. Andy comes in and he wants to give Michael some wine as a farewell gift. It's actually a really nice gesture.

• 28:09Speaker 00

  It is. And, and Michael just doesn't give a crap.

• 28:12Speaker 01

  Michael would love it if Jim came in and gave him a bottle of wine.

• 28:16Speaker 00

  I know.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  But, you know, it's Andy, so he's like, ugh, I already have wine.

• 28:21Speaker 00

  This next scene I loved because Michael's sitting on the couch by front reception and a man walks in. He's interviewing for Michael's job.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, Michael is kind of on the couch, reading a novel. I zoomed in on it. I tried to see what it was. It's like a woman in a martini glass. It's clearly like a

• 28:41Speaker 00

  A romance novel?

• 28:42Speaker 01

  No, it seems like one of those like books for women about, you know, claim your space.

• 28:49Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Sort of book.

• 28:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, like a motivational.

• 28:52Speaker 01

  Yes, that's what it looked like to me. I want you to know a couple of things. At four minutes, 16 seconds, the blooming plant is on the move. It's been moved to the other side of the reception desk.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  So you can see the couch better?

• 29:05Speaker 01

  Yep. The man who's interviewing for the job is named Mr. Isaac Sylvie, and Aaron Schur told us that he was named after Aaron's kids, Isaac and Sylvie.

• 29:15Speaker 00

  Isn't that so cute?

• 29:16Speaker 01

  Yes. He had originally named the character Mr. Engbritson, but Paul Lieberstein told him, no, name them after your kids. So that's how he got the name Mr. Isaac Sylvie. He was played by David Grant Wright, who has appeared in several episodes of Better Call Saul, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and pretty much every soap opera you can imagine. David is an incredible actor, and I read his bio. He is a 27-year cancer survivor.

• 29:48Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  He wrote a one-man show called With Flying Colors about his cancer experience, which he has performed for the last 25 years, raising thousands of dollars for cancer patients. Good human alert.

• 30:01Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Good human alert.

• 30:03Speaker 00

  That's fantastic. Well, in this scene, Michael finds out that Isaac has driven all the way from Philly. And Michael's like, gosh, that's a heck of a drive. And Isaac said, yeah, well, this was one of the few places hiring. It's, it's rough out there. And you sort of see the realization coming over Michael's face. Jenna, there was more to the scene. It was so good. I read it in the shooting draft. He has his resume out, Isaac, and Michael's like, can I see that? Michael is so blown away. He finds out that Isaac was the president of the company he used to work at.

• 30:35Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 30:36Speaker 00

  Yeah. And now he's driving all the way from Philly for a regional manager position. Michael is so blown away by his resume. He says, can I keep this? And then he really starts to spiral, and he goes to see Toby and asks Toby for resume advice, like how to beef up his resume. This made it into the deleted scenes. It's so good. Can we hear it?

• 31:00Speaker 03

  Hey Toby, I have a real quick question for you. It's about a resume.

• 31:04Speaker 02

  So we might start with, so your most recent thing, you know, summary of achievements. What have you done here at Dunder Mifflin?

• 31:13Speaker 03

  Regional manager, dickwad.

• 31:14Speaker 02

  Okay, that's your title. You know, how would you actually describe what you did?

• 31:20Speaker 03

  Changed things ushered in a new era of love and comedy in the workplace.

• 31:27Speaker 03

  Hired many, fired none, made money, lost money, learned to stop counting.

• 31:38Speaker 03

  This is our moment.

• 31:41Speaker 03

  This is our time.

• 31:45Speaker 03

  This next part should be sung, if possible.

• 31:48Speaker 00

  That made me laugh so hard. The scene continued. Toby said, "How would you describe what you did?" And Michael has this speech, and it didn't make it in. This is Michael talking about himself. "Michael Scott always had a strange recipe for success. Two cups of spirit, a half a thing of inspiration, two spoonfuls of love, a water bottle of danger, a pinch of praise, a dash of hopes, a sprinkle of cinnamon, two pats of butter, a box of cake mix, and a little bit of cooking oil. Preheat oven." Wait, what am I describing?

• 32:27Speaker 00

  It made me laugh so hard. That's his description of what he did.

• 32:33Speaker 01

  Okay, that talking head is very funny, but I have to say, what? I think I can tell you this.

• 32:42Speaker 00

  Because it's so funny to me. Is it not that funny?

• 32:45Speaker 01

  No, but I've shared a drink with you before, Angela, and you're getting into that.

• 32:49Speaker 00

  I'm tickled.

• 32:49Speaker 01

  You're getting into that, yes, that territory where you giggle.

• 32:53Speaker 00

  I haven't even had a full Scotch and Splenda.

• 32:55Speaker 01

  No, no, you haven't. And I just have to say one more time, it's so good.

• 33:00Speaker 00

  It's really good.

• 33:01Speaker 01

  I know. All right.

• 33:03Speaker 00

  All right. Let's move on.

• 33:05Speaker 01

  Yes, let's. We need to talk about this new copier. I guess, you know, we have this whole runner about copier or chairs. We never saw them get their chairs, but they have gotten a new copier now.

• 33:18Speaker 00

  I did love that for the whole beginning of the episode, it was wrapped in like the blue sort of packaging and no one said anything about it. I just love how things are in the backdrop like that.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  I do, too. Pam has a talking head where she says that they delivered this new copier, but they didn't set it up. So Pam's job today is setting up this copier.

• 33:38Speaker 00

  This would do me in. I wouldn't be able to do it. I don't like reading instructions. I don't like manuals. When I get any kind of appliance and it comes with a manual, I just stash the manual in a corner.

• 33:50Speaker 01

  This is reminding me of the document that we got when it was time to do the layout edit of our book.

• 33:58Speaker 00

  You guys, it was like building a small Cessna.

• 34:00Speaker 01

  Are we allowed to take a picture of that and put it on the pod? Because to me, it looked like, like some sort of scientific formula. It was all of these instructions for how to make a comment on the PDF. And when I looked at it, my brain exploded and you got on the phone with me and said, I can't do it.

• 34:20Speaker 00

  I can't.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  Lady, I can't.

• 34:21Speaker 00

  I will mess it up.

• 34:22Speaker 01

  So we got on the phone together and every time you had a note, I read the document and I carefully made the note on the PDF. So if you buy our book, Office BFFs.

• 34:33Speaker 00

  Just know that we now know how to, well, we, Jenna, knows how to do a note on an elaborate layout craziness document. And I learned how to build a Cessna airplane.

• 34:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, but we cared and we put that love and care into our book.

• 34:50Speaker 00

  I'm buzzed.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  I know.

• 34:57Speaker 01

  While Pam is going to be putting this copier together, Kevin is constantly bugging her. And there's a lot of Pam sass here.

• 35:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:04Speaker 01

  I loved shooting this scene with Brian. We shot it first thing in the morning. They would do this when there were scenes at reception in particular that didn't feature the rest of the office. That meant, nobody had to be in the background and you guys didn't have to come in so early. So Brian and I came in first thing. It was probably 6:30, 7:00 in the morning when we shot this scene. But I loved it. We had so much fun. And I got to sass him.

• 35:32Speaker 00

  I think that we learn that in the accounting department, Kevin is tasked with all the menial tasks. Like, go make photocopies. Go do this.

• 35:39Speaker 01

  You're so right. That's why he cares so much about the copier.

• 35:43Speaker 00

  It's his one job. When Pam talks about how a copier goes through a lot, I loved the runner of things that happened to this copier.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. We didn't talk about that.

• 35:53Speaker 00

  It's so great. First of all, Creed puts coins into it. So, right there, Creed is like, probably messed with all the mechanisms. And Oscar's like, I think it's 75 cents. So he keeps feeding coins into it. And then, of course, Bandit chews on the wires. And then Kevin dumps a whole cup of coffee over the entire copier.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  It's no wonder this thing doesn't work.

• 36:17Speaker 00

  I know. I had a question for Randy Cordray. At 5 minutes 12 seconds, when we see Bandit chewing on the copier cord, I was like, Randy, do we know who the cat actor was? Because you have this whole list of the cat actors.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  It looked like Bandit.

• 36:33Speaker 00

  Well, Bandit was played in this scene by the ever reliable Milkman.

• 36:38Speaker 01

  Oh, Milkman.

• 36:38Speaker 00

  Oh, Milkman. Randy said it took several days of training to get Milkman to actually chew on the cord, which was painted with sardine oil.

• 36:49Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  The training of the cat, the labor, the transportation costs, the cat rental for this episode, for this very simple three-second insert shot, cost us, any guesses, anyone? Three seconds, a cat licking a cord. Any guesses? Cassie?

• 37:06Speaker 02

  She guessed $2,000.

• 37:09Speaker 00

  Sam?

• 37:10Speaker 02

  I'm gonna go big and say $10,000.

• 37:12Speaker 01

  I'll hit it in the middle at seven.

• 37:14Speaker 00

  $3,710. Oh! Cassie gets it.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  Cassie wins, closest without going over.

• 37:20Speaker 00

  Uh huh. And once again, we use Bob Dunn's Animal Rentals from Solmar, California with Denise Sanders, our lead cat trainer.

• 37:29Speaker 01

  Once again, a simple little three-second joke took somebody a week

• 37:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:36Speaker 01

  to make happen.

• 37:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:38Speaker 01

  We are going to go to Jim's desk, and over his shoulder, we can hear monster sounds coming from Michael's office. And I love this line when Jim says, "It's monster.com," singular.

• 37:51Speaker 00

  He knew, he knew.

• 37:53Speaker 01

  We actually got a lot of mail about this bit.

• 37:55Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 37:56Speaker 01

  People wondered, "Where did we get the monster sounds?" Well, as it turns out, it was none other than our post-production supervisor's voice, Jake Oust, making monster sounds.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  Get out!

• 38:08Speaker 01

  Yes, Jake! I guess he just recorded monster sounds into a microphone, and then our sound supervisor, Bobby Maxton, took the recording, added some reverb and some scary special effects, and that is how we got our fakey monster.com website.

• 38:25Speaker 00

  Jake, really good job with the monsters.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  I agree. This leads us into a Michael talking head, where he says, "If you work in paper long enough, you get to know the players." And he's going to start calling some paper companies to maybe, you know, get a job.

• 38:41Speaker 00

  Well, we find out there's only one on his list. Are you ready for the saddest outgoing message ever?

• 38:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:50Speaker 00

  Here it is.

• 38:52Speaker 06

  Hi, you've reached Print Paper. We are sad to inform you that after 40 years of serving the community, we are no longer in business. Thank you for your support, and may God bless you.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  Bye!

• 39:05Speaker 00

  Yeah. Oh, that... Was harsh.

• 39:10Speaker 01

  That was Prince Family Paper, the small family-owned paper business that Michael and Dwight have clearly put out of business.

• 39:20Speaker 00

  The little girl at the end, "Bye."

• 39:23Speaker 01

  I'll have you know, they were uncredited, but we brought back the original cast members of the Prince family to do the voices. That is Dan Desmond as Roger Prince and Emily Rae Argenti as his granddaughter Rebecca Prince.

• 39:38Speaker 00

  Like, when I heard that again, I mean, I knew it was coming, right? I knew it was coming, but still, I was like, in his voice waivers, I was like, ooh.

• 39:46Speaker 01

  I know. Well, Michael needs to now figure something out. So at 16 minutes, 49 seconds, he's gonna start throwing stuff at Jim to get his attention, so that Jim will come in his office.

• 39:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, he could have just called Jim, but instead, he's gonna throw a kushball at him.

• 40:03Speaker 01

  Well, Jim goes in his office, and Michael's like, "Close your eyes, because I'm gonna tell you something." And Jim will not close his eyes, and this is when Michael reveals he's gonna start his own paper company.

• 40:17Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  Leading to your favorite couplet that we talked about earlier.

• 40:21Speaker 00

  Yeah. Do you know how the industry is in decline? Do I? I practically invented decline. He goes on to tell Jim he has a name for the company, and he wants Jim maybe to be a part of it. He's very excited.

• 40:35Speaker 01

  It's a big no from Jim. I'll have you know, at 6 minutes, 44 seconds, I spotted something.

• 40:42Speaker 00

  What? The desk?

• 40:44Speaker 01

  No.

• 40:45Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 40:46Speaker 01

  Do you remember in season three, The Job Part One, I noticed that the outlet in Michael's office, the one under the big photo on his sidewall-

• 40:56Speaker 00

  Was upside down.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  Correct. And in that podcast, we learned that you can install outlets any way you want, and they still work.

• 41:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:04Speaker 01

  You can put them sideways, you can put them up and down.

• 41:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:08Speaker 01

  I also said in that episode that I would be tracking outlets. I'll have you know.

• 41:14Speaker 00

  You didn't forget.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  I didn't forget. And if you look at that outlet, it is now facing up. It is facing the correct way.

• 41:22Speaker 00

  Ta-da.

• 41:24Speaker 01

  I kept my word.

• 41:25Speaker 00

  Well, you did.

• 41:26Speaker 01

  And the outlet is now up and down.

• 41:28Speaker 00

  There you go. Outlet tracker Jenna Fisher.

• 41:32Speaker 01

  Mission accomplished.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  Charles is gonna interrupt. Jenna's taking a drink of her Scotch and Splenda. I've been drinking water. Busted.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  What?

• 41:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, I just saw you drink.

• 41:44Speaker 00

  Charles is gonna come in and once again, Jim is in the wrong place at the wrong time and he breaks up their meeting.

• 41:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, because he says, Michael has given his two weeks notice. Jim, did you also give your two weeks notice? And Jim's like, nope, nope, nope. I'm gonna go have a seat. We just need to find a way.

• 42:02Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. So, so.

• 42:05Speaker 01

  I literally just said, I just wanted to say something. We need to, I was gonna say, we need to find a way to get to break.

• 42:12Speaker 00

  But you said to get to drink.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  That's what I said. We need to find a way to get to drink.

• 42:19Speaker 00

  You guys, I want you to know, it is 10:48 a.m.

• 42:23Speaker 01

  Maybe we should go to break and drink some water.

• 42:25Speaker 00

  I think we should go to break and drink some water.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  We'll be right back.

• 42:39Speaker 01

  Okay, we are back. We have hydrated ourselves. Angela's eating some cheese.

• 42:43Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. Jenna drank some water.

• 42:45Speaker 01

  We're gonna be very serious podcasters now.

• 42:48Speaker 00

  We're serious.

• 42:49Speaker 01

  Don't worry. By the way, I wanted to start before we jump back into the episode, I just want to give a big plug to BJ Novak's new show on Hulu called The Premise. It is so good. I've seen every episode. BJ, you are killing it. Every episode is standalone. It's like an anthology show with a different cast. He's directed many of them. He's written them.

• 43:10Speaker 00

  You know what I didn't expect? So I just saw the first one. BJ starts it.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  Yes, he has an introduction moment.

• 43:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I was like, oh my God, BJ, I didn't expect to see you.

• 43:20Speaker 01

  Well, they're great. BJ is one of the smartest people I know. Him and Mindy are just-

• 43:25Speaker 00

  Two of the smartest people in the room.

• 43:26Speaker 01

  Yes, always. And he has this way of articulating complex thoughts in a really-

• 43:32Speaker 00

  Relatable way.

• 43:34Speaker 01

  And brilliantly funny way.

• 43:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:36Speaker 01

  He's the guy who wrote Diversity Day. That's all you need to know.

• 43:39Speaker 00

  He's also the guy that wrote The Book With No Pictures. It's one of our kids' favorite books, and we've read it to them over and over, over the years. The sort of scope of BJ's brilliance is really amazing.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. BJ, we love you.

• 43:54Speaker 00

  We love you.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  Check it out, the premise on Hulu.

• 43:58Speaker 00

  And if you have a young'un, The Book With No Pictures, you will love it.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  Back to the episode. Pam is on the ground with this copier manual. And Dwight comes over. This is a really cool shot. This was directed by Paul Lieberstein. This was his idea to put the camera on the floor with Pam. I thought it was a really great idea. You know, at a certain point, there's only so many ways to shoot this documentary, and he found a new one.

• 44:23Speaker 00

  I think Paul liked to have some of the artsy shots, because do you remember when Jan goes to comfort Michael and he's sitting in the train?

• 44:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  And you just saw this faraway shot of his feet?

• 44:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:37Speaker 00

  So I think Paul likes those interesting shots. In the next scene, Michael goes up to Pam. Kind of sneaky. He wants her to help him make a order form for his new company.

• 44:48Speaker 01

  Which is basically Dunder Mifflin's order form, but with Michael Scott Paper Company-

• 44:54Speaker 00

  In the corner.

• 44:56Speaker 01

  In place of Dunder Mifflin.

• 44:57Speaker 00

  Right.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  She's like, "Okay, all right, let me think about this." And she comes up with this way that they could kind of do this-

• 45:03Speaker 00

  I can scan it.

• 45:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. And he says, "I was thinking maybe we would just tape it."

• 45:09Speaker 00

  Put a little piece of paper over it, tape it.

• 45:12Speaker 01

  She's like, "Okay."

• 45:14Speaker 00

  I feel like this is the moment that starts Pam's storyline of feeling very easily replaceable, because she's been studying and studying this manual and thinks she's kind of had this great idea about how to use this new information, and it's just like that replaced.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  With some tape.

• 45:31Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 45:32Speaker 01

  At 8 minutes and 41 seconds, I want you to know on Pam's desk, Nick is still in the office all day.

• 45:39Speaker 00

  Well.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  The Post-it is still there. Nick has been in the office for three episodes now.

• 45:44Speaker 00

  Nick.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  All day.

• 45:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, Nick in office.

• 45:46Speaker 01

  All right, now we're going to get into this really wonderful scene in the conference room.

• 45:51Speaker 00

  The Angela Kelly rivalry is going strong.

• 45:55Speaker 01

  Kelly is talking to Charles about how she has to leave early on Tuesdays to pick up her little sisters from school because, you know, they're kind of like the Kardashians. Angela's going to come in because she wants to show Charles that brochure for the accounting seminar she was telling him about.

• 46:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, you remember, he has a degree in accounting.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  Charles is like, did Michael just allow anyone in his office at any time?

• 46:18Speaker 00

  Okay, so this was in the script. I looked it up to see how much was ad lib and wasn't. And there was a prompt for Angela and Kelly to talk at the same time. And we did add a little bit more, but basically, we both just were going to gush like, oh, yeah, he was like, come on in. I felt like this was super animated Angela.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  Well, you know, she is turning on the charm for Mr. Charles Minor.

• 46:42Speaker 00

  I know. She said there was a Sunday bar at the accounting seminar, but she didn't eat any, you know, just ate trim. And then Kelly shews her out and turns to Charles and says, yeah, she's really special. You know, she's turning 50 this year. I was actually 37 when we filmed this. I am 50 now.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  You know, when we were trading messages with Aaron Schorr, he wrote us about a prank that Idris Elba played on the writers before he came to set.

• 47:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 47:15Speaker 01

  Now, he actually said, I don't know if this was a prank that Mindy played on us pretending that it was from Idris, or if it was actually from Idris. But I guess they got this email that was like, listen, Idris gets really upset if you mispronounce his name. And his name is pronounced Idris Elba.

• 47:38Speaker 00

  That's so ridiculous.

• 47:39Speaker 01

  And they wrote it out. Idris Elba.

• 47:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, they sounded it out.

• 47:43Speaker 01

  But then, a bunch of them were like, I swear, that's not right. And so for the first week that Idris was on the show, all of the writers were afraid to call him by his name. And then they found out that this was not true at all. Number one, that his name is Idris, and number two, that he doesn't get mad if you mispronounce his name, but I thought that was really funny.

• 48:04Speaker 00

  Idris, was that you or was it Mindy? By the way, Idris, we have tried to reach out to you. We don't know how to get ahold of you. We'd love for you to be on the show. We did find some of your peeps, but they said you're, you're busy.

• 48:16Speaker 01

  Very busy, I guess. You're making two movies and you're promoting another movie.

• 48:21Speaker 00

  You're busy.

• 48:22Speaker 01

  We're here for you, Idris.

• 48:24Speaker 00

  Idris, anytime. If you would like a Scotch and Splenda.

• 48:27Speaker 01

  Where are your gals?

• 48:28Speaker 00

  With two gals who love to Google.

• 48:30Speaker 01

  We're here for you.

• 48:32Speaker 00

  Well, Charles has a talking head where he just kind of owns it. He's like, look, I know the effect I have on women.

• 48:38Speaker 01

  That's a meme.

• 48:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:40Speaker 01

  It's so funny.

• 48:41Speaker 00

  Well, Aaron Schurr shared with us, you guys, that that talking head was inspired from a real interaction he had. He said there was an actor he was working with, no names, he won't, he wouldn't divulge the name, big star, who they were pitching a joke to, and the actor was like, this joke would never work because, I mean, I, I know the effect I have on women. And Aaron saved that, it went in his brain, and Charles had it in a talking head. I really wish we knew the actor, but Aaron, gentleman that he is, did not say.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  Maybe if we took him out for a Scotch and Splenda.

• 49:16Speaker 00

  Maybe he would tell us. Immediately after the scene, Kelly is not going to give up, guys. And in the deleted scenes, there's a little bit of what I want to call a flirty in the break room.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  Ooh. Excuse me. Hello.

• 49:32Speaker 06

  Hey.

• 49:34Speaker 01

  Having a nice stay here?

• 49:37Speaker 06

  Great.

• 49:40Speaker 01

  You must be from Jamba Juice.

• 49:42Speaker 06

  Uh, what, what's that?

• 49:45Speaker 01

  It's a juice company because you're a smoothie.

• 49:48Speaker 06

  Okay. I'm sorry, sorry about that.

• 49:54Speaker 01

  Ahhh. Why do I ever talk to shut up, shut up, shut up?

• 50:00Speaker 00

  So she has this really lame pick up line and then immediately just hates herself and goes in the corner and is like, ah, why'd I do that?

• 50:08Speaker 01

  Well, this leads us into a scene that I will call awkward in the kitchen.

• 50:12Speaker 00

  Oh, so awkward.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  Michael is still trying to recruit people for his business.

• 50:18Speaker 00

  And Andy does that thing, you know, that people do when they're uncomfortable. They either sing their answer or they do it accent. I think I'm the accent person.

• 50:26Speaker 01

  I sing stuff.

• 50:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, when you don't want to like really tip your hand.

• 50:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:31Speaker 00

  So Andy's like, oh, oh, interesting idea. Like he does some ridiculous accent, but you would be like, that's a very interesting offer.

• 50:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, the other day I did it while we were working together, when we were working on that document.

• 50:46Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 50:46Speaker 01

  I was like, this PDF editing is difficult.

• 50:51Speaker 00

  And then I was like, are you okay? Cause it, it sounds like you're about to spiral.

• 50:55Speaker 01

  I was like, yeah.

• 50:58Speaker 00

  Well, it gets only more cringy because now Dwight comes in.

• 51:01Speaker 01

  But Michael does not ask Dwight to join his company, but it is also clear that Dwight wouldn't say yes anyway.

• 51:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, so he's like, I've got the farm and a thing and let's put a pin in it. Yeah, let's definitely put a pin in that.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  Hmm, yeah. Well, we got a lot of mail about this kitchen scene. A lot of people felt like it was out of character for Dwight to not want to join Michael's paper company. And also people wondered, why didn't Michael want him to join? And I just didn't know if we wanted to discuss.

• 51:34Speaker 00

  I have my thoughts.

• 51:36Speaker 01

  Let me hear them.

• 51:37Speaker 00

  Dwight is a survivalist and he doesn't think Michael's company is going to survive.

• 51:42Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 51:43Speaker 00

  So ultimately, even though he loves Michael, he's not going to go somewhere where he won't survive, right?

• 51:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:51Speaker 00

  So I think he's very practical, so he's not going to go with Michael. But I'm not sure why Michael doesn't want Dwight. Do you have any thoughts?

• 51:59Speaker 01

  You know, that is a really good question. I definitely see why Dwight would say no, but why Michael doesn't ask, I'm not quite sure.

• 52:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. Do you guys have theories?

• 52:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, send us your theories. We'll add them to our revisited. But Michael is going to ask Oscar, and the way he's going to do that is by putting a note in his sandwich.

• 52:20Speaker 00

  A piece of paper that he bites into.

• 52:22Speaker 01

  Don't worry, it's sterile.

• 52:23Speaker 00

  Just saying sterile doesn't mean it's sterile.

• 52:25Speaker 01

  I loved that line.

• 52:27Speaker 00

  It's like just saying bankrupt doesn't mean.

• 52:29Speaker 01

  He declared bankruptcy.

• 52:31Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 52:33Speaker 01

  Uh, Michael gets Oscar to meet him outside and Oscar immediately starts offering very practical advice about how most new businesses don't turn a profit for the first two years. And, you know, can he afford that? Can he afford to make no money for two years?

• 52:49Speaker 00

  Right. Well, Michael's like, hey, hey, stop convincing me. You got the job. With all your number lingo.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  But ultimately Oscar's a no, and that means that he has to move on to Stanley, who he's going to stalk outside the bathroom.

• 53:05Speaker 00

  Outside? He's inside.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  I guess outside the stall.

• 53:09Speaker 00

  I don't know how urinals work, but I imagine he walked up while he was just peeing because Stanley's like, I'm urinating. Michael keeps talking to him. Stanley's like, no. Michael has then a very sad talking head where he's like, you know what? No one said yes to prom, but I still had a good time.

• 53:25Speaker 01

  Guess what?

• 53:26Speaker 00

  What?

• 53:27Speaker 01

  Pam fixed the copier. After four hours, she did it.

• 53:32Speaker 00

  She didn't let it beat her.

• 53:33Speaker 01

  No, she did not. She knows everything about this machine. Phyllis is going to copy a piece of paper and Pam is like, did it work? How is it? And Phyllis is like, fine. Fine. So this whole copier storyline felt very familiar to me. Having worked many temp jobs, having fixed many copiers in my real life.

• 53:57Speaker 01

  And it just felt to me like it was written by someone who also had this personal knowledge.

• 54:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:04Speaker 01

  So I had to ask Erin, have you had experience with copiers? You know, because so many of his real life stories have wound up in our scripts, like running past the speed meter.

• 54:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, and this whole copier story has so many details.

• 54:18Speaker 01

  So as it turns out, yes, yes, he told us that he temped in a ton of offices when he was a struggling stand-up in New York, and he quickly learned that if you could unjam the copier, you held the power.

• 54:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  He actually said, quote, "You were like an office magician, a David Copperfield opening the Cabinet of Mysteries." And only a person who has done the copier thing, I feel like totally gets it, so I totally get it. He said that he would actually copy the user manuals and take them home and read them over the weekend.

• 54:56Speaker 00

  That's the part that really got me. He would like learn everything from the manual.

• 55:02Speaker 01

  Erin, I feel you. Thank you for writing this runner for Pam, because I was able to draw on a lot of my real-life experience when it came to performing this copier story.

• 55:11Speaker 00

  Well, I don't know. Did Michael leave the fakey order form in the copier? Charles finds it. How does he find it? We don't know, but he's gonna get Hank, and they're gonna escort him out the building.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  I am sorry, I am not sure that there is a recurring character that I love more than Hugh Dane as Hank.

• 55:33Speaker 00

  I know, I know. When Michael's like, um, Hank, come on, escort Charles out, and Hank's like, come on, man.

• 55:40Speaker 01

  I know.

• 55:41Speaker 00

  Just come on. He's so good.

• 55:43Speaker 01

  So good.

• 55:45Speaker 00

  Michael really wanted to make a farewell speech. Charles is not gonna have that. And everyone watches him as he leaves.

• 55:52Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:53Speaker 00

  And he's like yelling things from his car, right? He's yelling from the parking lot, and everyone's looking down, and they're like, what's he saying? We can't hear what he's saying. This is what it said in the script.

• 56:03Speaker 01

  All right.

• 56:04Speaker 00

  "Michael walks toward his car. Everybody watches from the conference room above. Michael stops at his car and looks up at the Dunder Mifflin windows. And then he yells this." This is it. This is goodbye forever. Ah, it's such a nice day out here. Freedom. I'm already so happy. I can do anything I want right now. I'm going to go for coffee. Ha ha.

• 56:35Speaker 00

  That is what was in the script. And then it says, he screeches his tires and drives off. The camera follows his car. Michael parks just a short distance around the corner, gets out of his car, sneaks back into the parking lot and into the building.

• 56:49Speaker 01

  We get to hear a lot of people's opinions on Michael leaving. My favorite is probably Toby.

• 56:54Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 56:55Speaker 01

  He says, Michael is like a movie on a plane. Not great, but something to watch.

• 57:01Speaker 00

  And then when the movie's over, you're like, well, now what?

• 57:04Speaker 01

  Yes. BJ wrote that talking head. Very funny. And we got a piece of mail about it.

• 57:10Speaker 00

  What?

• 57:10Speaker 01

  Someone wrote in, and I'm so sorry, I did not write down your name, to say that a missed opportunity in this episode was Toby conducting Michael's exit interview.

• 57:21Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  Wouldn't you have loved to see that? And I mentioned it to Aaron and Aaron said, oh, but he was escorted out. They like to believe that if Michael hadn't been escorted out, he would have had his exit interview with Toby.

• 57:35Speaker 00

  Right.

• 57:35Speaker 01

  Before he left.

• 57:36Speaker 00

  Plus, they had written a pretty great Michael Toby scene where Toby helps him with his resume that didn't make it in.

• 57:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 57:43Speaker 00

  Well, as everyone is having these really funny talking heads, Creed had one that was in the shooting draft, and it didn't make it in. And I have to read it to you.

• 57:52Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 57:53Speaker 00

  Creed says, "Old Creedy outlives yet another boss. Time to put a marble in the box." And then Creed pulls out a cigar box out from his desk and puts a marble in it. There are four marbles in that box.

• 58:07Speaker 01

  What is that?

• 58:10Speaker 01

  What is that?

• 58:12Speaker 00

  Is that amazing?

• 58:13Speaker 01

  Well, like you said, Angela, Michael is not leaving. He actually army crawls through the front door, through the office. He goes over to accounting.

• 58:27Speaker 00

  This was a really fun scene for us to shoot. It was really hard not to laugh. We played around with how I shut the drawer and I ultimately shut it with my foot. And it was just like so fun.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  Steve really tore up his elbows and his knees, though.

• 58:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:41Speaker 01

  Doing that.

• 58:41Speaker 00

  He got like a rug burn.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  Yes, and Randy told us that they offered him elbow and knee pads. And Steve was like, it's fine, I'll do it. And he did two takes without the elbow and knee pads. And he totally tore up his elbows and knees. He was so committed. Also, Randy told us, you know, when he throws that highlighter?

• 59:01Speaker 00

  At Jim?

• 59:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:03Speaker 01

  That was not a real highlighter. That was a fakey highlighter.

• 59:06Speaker 00

  Oh, so it wouldn't like hurt someone?

• 59:08Speaker 01

  Yes, remember when Michael throws the pen at Toby's forehead?

• 59:11Speaker 00

  And it was like-

• 59:12Speaker 01

  Phil had to make a rubber pen?

• 59:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  Phil had to make a rubber highlighter and it cost $850.

• 59:18Speaker 00

  Whoa.

• 59:19Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 59:20Speaker 00

  Michael wants everyone to go with him and he starts to pull at Phyllis's chair. And you see it from the point of view of Charles, right? You see Phyllis kind of like lurching, right?

• 59:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:29Speaker 00

  To the side. If you watch the bloopers, you guys, and I remember this happening. The first time we did this scene, Steve yanks on Phyllis's chair and she fell right out of it.

• 59:39Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I remember that.

• 59:41Speaker 00

  And they didn't stop rolling. You know, Michael just goes, oh, my God, Phyllis, are you OK? Are you OK? And Phyllis kind of snorts laughs and she says, yes, yes. But it's in the bloopers and it's great.

• 59:51Speaker 01

  Now, Charles is going to find Michael.

• 59:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:55Speaker 01

  He comes out of his office and they have this really awkward exchange.

• 59:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, like where it's gonna get physical. All right, in the deleted scenes, Jenna, Charles finds Michael stealing office supplies in a box and chases him through the kitchen. Michael drops the box of supplies to like throw them off. You know, maybe Charles will trip over it. And then he like last ditch effort, just grabs the big container of cheese balls and makes a run for it.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh, that's why we're gonna have cheese balls later.

• 1:00:24Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:00:24Speaker 01

  In Michael's paper company.

• 1:00:26Speaker 00

  Because in the deleted scenes, that's what he leaves with is the cheese balls.

• 1:00:30Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 1:00:31Speaker 00

  I know, I wish it had made it in. So for me, when Michael's like, who's with me? Who's coming with me? This is his Jerry Maguire moment. Instead of a goldfish, it's a bunch of cheese balls.

• 1:00:41Speaker 01

  That is perfect.

• 1:00:42Speaker 00

  I thought we had to hear Jerry's moment and then Michael's moment.

• 1:00:47Speaker 03

  This moment will be the moment of something real and fun and inspiring in this godforsaken business, and we will do it together.

• 1:01:01Speaker 03

  Who's coming with me?

• 1:01:04Speaker 03

  Who's coming with me?

• 1:01:06Speaker 03

  Who's coming with me?

• 1:01:12Speaker 03

  Who's coming with me besides Flipper here?

• 1:01:18Speaker 00

  I will go with you. And now for Michael and Pam's moment.

• 1:01:24Speaker 03

  This is your future. Hello, I am your future. You're older and you are very happy now because you went with Michael Scott, right? So everybody, come on down. Now let's just crawl out of here together, alright?

• 1:01:42Speaker 03

  Come on, are you, are you doing your best here? Are you being the best that you can be? Alright, everybody, who's gonna go with me? I want you to stop your foot.

• 1:01:56Speaker 07

  Oh no.

• 1:01:57Speaker 02

  What?

• 1:01:58Speaker 07

  I'm going with him.

• 1:02:01Speaker 00

  I mean, come on.

• 1:02:02Speaker 01

  Oh, it was so Jerry Maguire. By the way, I forgot about the goldfish in Jerry Maguire, and I'll have you know that when we get to Michael Scott Paper Company, not only do we have those cheese puffs, but Michael has a goldfish on his desk.

• 1:02:13Speaker 00

  Come on.

• 1:02:14Speaker 01

  Yep. Well, fans were very split on this episode. A lot of people loved this turn of events, of Michael starting his paper company and Pam going with him, but other people really thought that it was selfish of Pam to quit without talking to Jim first. Well, we talked to Aaron Schur about this, and he said two things. First of all, he said, "In a future episode," spoiler alert, Vikram from the telemarketing firm is going to join Michael Scott Paper Company.

• 1:02:46Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:02:47Speaker 01

  He wrote this talking head for Vikram that got cut, but it explained why Vikram decided to join Michael Scott Paper Company. And it went like this. "When you put your telemarketing career on the line, you haven't put much on the line." And Aaron said he felt like that kind of summed up Pam as well.

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  That Pam wasn't quitting much of a job at all.

• 1:03:12Speaker 00

  Well, if she could be replaced by some invisible Scotch tape.

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:17Speaker 00

  Right?

• 1:03:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. There was also a line that Aaron wrote to explain this business of Pam not talking to Jim before making this decision, a little couplet of dialogue that got cut, where Jim said to Pam, "Shouldn't we have talked about this first?" And Pam said, "You blindsided me with a house."

• 1:03:39Speaker 00

  Ooh.

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  And Jim said, "You're right, I'll bring your stuff home." So he did address it, but it ended up getting cut.

• 1:03:47Speaker 00

  I think it was the right move to cut it because it seems like, I don't know, a real thing Pam is holding on to that I don't think she is.

• 1:03:54Speaker 01

  No, I don't think so. As soon as Jim showed her the house, she loved it.

• 1:03:58Speaker 00

  She felt cared for and loved.

• 1:04:00Speaker 01

  She took it on and I think she's been very happy ever since. So I'm glad that they didn't pin that as some sort of lingering resentment for Pam.

• 1:04:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:04:08Speaker 01

  Pam catches up to Michael in the parking lot. She says she's coming along, but she wants to be a salesman, not a receptionist.

• 1:04:18Speaker 00

  And Jim's kind of surprised by that. He's like, "Oh, okay."

• 1:04:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. And everyone is gathered again up in the conference room and they're looking down as Pam and Michael walk away. And as they're walking away, you can see the doubt. You see this change of them being from triumphant to kind of doubt.

• 1:04:37Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:04:38Speaker 01

  Well, a lot of people liken this ending to the ending of The Graduate. And spoiler alert to anyone who's never seen The Graduate, but at the end of the movie, the character of Benjamin, who's played by Dustin Hoffman, crashes the wedding of his love Elaine, and the two of them are running away from the church. They're laughing together, and then they jump onto this city bus, and it's always just so exciting. And they take their seat, and while they're sitting there, their expressions kind of slowly change. It's a really famous scene. It's so good. Well, in the script, our stage direction for this scene was this. Jim waves as Michael

• 1:05:18Speaker 01

  and Pam walk out together. We stay on their faces as they transition from fantasy to reality. So I was not thinking of The Graduate when we shot this. I was thinking of a different scene from the movie The Heartbreak Kid with Charles Grodin. Have you seen it?

• 1:05:36Speaker 00

  I mean, a long time ago.

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  Well, again, I guess spoiler alert, at the end of this movie, he's finally married the woman of his dreams, Sybil Shepherd. He's been chasing her through the whole movie. He sits down on a couch at their reception, and then you just see this sort of like malaise wash over his face. And he's like, what now? Because for him, it's all about the joy of the pursuit, but now he did it.

• 1:06:03Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:06:04Speaker 01

  And you can tell he's already restless. I thought of that moment because I always think that's such a perfect moment of acting. I mean, he's so good in that movie. But anyway.

• 1:06:13Speaker 00

  Well, I will tell you that Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger in the elevator, holding a goldfish, also have a moment like that.

• 1:06:20Speaker 01

  Hey!

• 1:06:20Speaker 00

  Because I rewatched the movie last night.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  [laughing]

• 1:06:24Speaker 00

  Well, this episode ends with something I absolutely love. There's a conference room scene. Charles is telling everyone, we've lost some employees. We're going to have to do some shifting around. And this is so great. Everyone's reactions are so good. He's like, you know what? Kevin, you're going to be answering phones at reception.

• 1:06:42Speaker 01

  Everyone in the room is like, what?

• 1:06:44Speaker 00

  I know. I know. I am very much in the foreground of the shot. That was on purpose. Cause they wanted me to react, obviously. Um, and then he says he's going to put Stanley, who's doing his crossword, barely awake, in charge of productivity. Dwight is like, are you kidding me?

• 1:07:02Speaker 01

  Aaron said he pitched that idea of having Charles put Kevin in charge of the phones, which is going to pay off beautifully in the cold open of next week's episode. But he said, it just makes him giggle to think that like Charles' big power move after Michael leaves is putting Kevin in charge of the phones. Like, he's like, I got this place. I know what to do. Speaking of the next episode, ironically, it did not air for two weeks.

• 1:07:29Speaker 00

  Oh, no way.

• 1:07:30Speaker 01

  Yes, there was a break. I just thought that was really funny. People had to really wait.

• 1:07:34Speaker 00

  Two weeks.

• 1:07:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, this was a big cliffhanger. Also, this is the last episode that Pam was a receptionist ever on The Office. She never returns to the receptionist desk.

• 1:07:46Speaker 00

  Let's finish our Scotch and Splenda. To Pam, our IP receptionist.

• 1:07:50Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:07:51Speaker 00

  Next up, salesman. To Pam.

• 1:07:56Speaker 01

  I didn't know that either. When we filmed this episode, I didn't know.

• 1:08:00Speaker 00

  I didn't, I didn't know that you didn't know at the time.

• 1:08:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:04Speaker 00

  Well, we didn't know what was going to happen.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  We didn't.

• 1:08:07Speaker 00

  Wow. I should have worn my T-shirt today that says, I would save the receptionist.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  Hmm. Yeah.

• 1:08:13Speaker 00

  Well, listen, there were a lot of other receptionists that come along, but Pam is always going to be our favorite.

• 1:08:20Speaker 01

  Well, thank you, lady.

• 1:08:21Speaker 00

  At least here on Office, ladies, come on.

• 1:08:23Speaker 01

  Thank you so much. That was two weeks. Next week is Dream Team. I can't wait to talk about it.

• 1:08:29Speaker 00

  Please don't bring any Scotch and Splenda. We can't do it. We can't have a Scotch and Splenda and do that podcast.

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  You know what I'll bring next week? A giant pile of French toast.

• 1:08:40Speaker 00

  Oh gosh, don't bring that either.

• 1:08:43Speaker 01

  Listen, thank you so much to Erin Schur and Randy Cordray for giving us all the inside details on this episode. We'll see you next week.

• 1:08:51Speaker 00

  Bye, you guys.

• 1:08:55Speaker 01

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

• 1:08:58Speaker 00

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

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

• 1:09:09Speaker 00

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:09:12Speaker 01

  Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 1:09:14Speaker 00

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese-Dennis.

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:09:20Speaker 00

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.