Pod Insights Office Ladies Second Drink: Business Trip with Rich Sommer About this episode Today we’re breaking down Business Trip. The ladies kick off this episode by interviewing Rich Sommer, who played Alex, Pam’s art school friend. Rich shares what it was like to play Alex and navigate being a character that Office fans were afraid was going to get in between Jim and Pam. Afterwards, the ladies breakdown Business Trip. Michael, Oscar and Andy go on a business trip to Winnipeg, Canada, while everyone back at the office counts down the days until Pam comes home from art school. Wendy McLendon-Covey sends in clips sharing her experience playing concierge Marie, Jenna shares some fun facts about Winnipeg and Angela deems which character is the “Office Fun Stopper” and surprise, it’s not Angela Martin.
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Transcript 13,777 words · 8 speakers
0:02 Speaker 00 Hello everyone and welcome to your second drink of Business Trip. This is the episode where Michael goes on a business trip with Oscar and Andy to Winnipeg. He meets Concierge Marie.
0:14 Speaker 01 One of my favorite characters.
0:16 Speaker 00 Andy drunk dials Angela, one of my favorite scenes. And Pam finds out she's failed art school and has to stay another 12 weeks if she wants to really graduate.
0:27 Speaker 01 Ugh.
0:28 Speaker 00 And we got to interview Rich Sommer for this episode, all about his arc as Pam's art school friend, in quotes, friend.
0:35 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
0:37 Speaker 00 And listen, we also recently did an interview with Wendy McLendon-Covey about her time as Concierge Marie. It's episode 259, if you want to check it out.
0:46 Speaker 01 She's delightful.
0:47 Speaker 00 Yes.
0:48 Speaker 01 Well, I mentioned in our breakdown of this episode that there were some awesome deleted scenes, specifically between Oscar and Andy. I talked all about Oscar being the fun stopper on the airplane, and I played a little clip. Well, you guys, all of the Oscar and Andy stuff from the plane has been added back to the superfan version, including more that isn't even on the DVDs.
1:11 Speaker 00 I watched it. It's really great. And it really sets up the scene in the bar later, because it's actually on the plane that Andy decides he's going to be Oscar's wingman.
1:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:23 Speaker 00 In fact, there's this whole scene on the plane where he tries to set him up with the guy sitting in the window seat of their row.
1:29 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:31 Speaker 00 And speaking of this storyline, when we asked people their favorite moment from this episode, we got this letter from Carrie J. in Omaha, who said, "One of my favorite scenes from the whole series is Oscar in the bar with Andy, trying to be his wingman. I love how Oscar plays the part. Like, absolute perfect acting by Oscar." And everyone, the scene is also the scene with the drunk dialed Angela, I really think we need to hear it.
1:58 Speaker 02 If you don't mind me asking, anything.
2:00 Speaker 03 You can ask me anything.
2:03 Speaker 03 I'm your wingman.
2:04 Speaker 02 It's just that I've sat next to Angela for a very long, very long time.
2:08 Speaker 03 Righto.
2:09 Speaker 02 How could anyone stand that woman?
2:12 Speaker 03 What?
2:13 Speaker 02 What do you see in her? What do you see in Angela?
2:16 Speaker 03 What I see in Angela?
2:17 Speaker 02 I wanna know.
2:18 Speaker 03 I see through a hard exterior to a little jelly in the middle. She is teaching me to be a better person. And she's working really hard on that. And she has the softest skin I've ever seen, and I can't wait to have sex with her.
2:36 Speaker 02 You haven't had sex?
2:37 Speaker 03 No.
2:38 Speaker 02 You guys waiting to get married? Or?
2:41 Speaker 03 Honestly, I don't know what we're waiting for.
2:44 Speaker 02 Andy, something is wrong with that woman.
2:45 Speaker 03 What is wrong with her?
2:47 Speaker 02 I'd like to know. You should call her and ask her. I'd like to know what's wrong with her.
2:50 Speaker 03 I should call and ask her. What is wrong with her?
2:52 Speaker 02 Do it. It's a caller. Oh my god, don't call her. Don't call her.
2:59 Speaker 03 Too late. Too late. It's silent. Now it's ringing.
3:05 Speaker 04 Hello? Hello?
3:07 Speaker 03 What is wrong with you?
3:08 Speaker 02 Why would you do Andy?
3:10 Speaker 04 What?
3:11 Speaker 03 That's Oscar, and he wants to know why you won't do me, and I think it's a valid question.
3:14 Speaker 04 Are you drunk?
3:15 Speaker 03 This is Andy Bernard.
3:17 Speaker 04 I know who this is.
3:18 Speaker 03 I wanna take you to sex school.
3:20 Speaker 04 What?
3:21 Speaker 02 Who is that monkey?
3:22 Speaker 03 There's somebody there.
3:24 Speaker 04 Are you drunk?
3:25 Speaker 03 I have needs.
3:27 Speaker 04 We will discuss this later.
3:28 Speaker 03 Naked.
3:29 Speaker 04 What?
3:30 Speaker 03 We'll discuss it later, naked. I wanna see you naked.
3:36 Speaker 00 It is such the perfect drunk dial. It really is.
3:40 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
3:41 Speaker 00 And the two of them together, it's delicious. It's chef's kiss. I agree with you, Carrie J.
3:46 Speaker 01 It's fantastic. And he, Ed played that moment so great, cuz you know, being drunk isn't easy to play. And I loved it when he was like, it's Andy Bernard. Just like, I know who it is.
4:00 Speaker 00 I also love it when, you know, Oscar blurts out, Andy wants to know why you won't do him, and you're like, what? And you think maybe Andy is gonna like, cover then, right? Like, he's gonna be like, no, no, no, he meant, he, nothing. He just repeats it. So good.
4:18 Speaker 01 Yeah.
4:20 Speaker 00 Well, listen, there were so many great things added back to the superfan version of this episode, including this very funny scene where Michael, before they go to Winnipeg, he's at the airport and he's changing money at one of those kiosks. Yes. You have to hear it.
4:36 Speaker 05 What is the heart of the Canadian economy? Money. And I am getting some.
4:44 Speaker 05 Thank you very much.
4:47 Speaker 02 Michael, how much money did you change?
4:48 Speaker 05 Two grand, baby.
4:50 Speaker 02 Oh, no. We're only there for one night.
4:55 Speaker 02 Look at the commission rate, and there's a handling fee.
4:58 Speaker 05 Okay. All right, all right. Chill out. Quick fix. Excuse me. Change it back.
5:04 Speaker 03 Yes, yes, yes, yes. Get as much as you can. Strippers do not take credit cards.
5:11 Speaker 05 Change it back.
5:14 Speaker 05 Change it back.
5:15 Speaker 02 Why are you still changing money? Michael, you don't need cash. You get a better rate on the credit card. You only need cash for the cab ride. Do you understand? I'll see you at the gate.
5:26 Speaker 05 Change it back.
5:29 Speaker 05 Change it back.
5:37 Speaker 05 This is, this is a smaller pile. That, okay.
5:46 Speaker 05 Now I have $1,800.
5:49 Speaker 00 It's amazing.
5:50 Speaker 01 He's lost money before they've even, like, done anything.
5:54 Speaker 00 He just stood there and just paid $200 to change his money back and forth.
5:59 Speaker 01 I know.
6:00 Speaker 00 So good.
6:00 Speaker 01 And the person that plays the attendant is so put out with him, it's really funny.
6:05 Speaker 00 Yes, they're very funny.
6:07 Speaker 01 There was also a little bit of an old tech alert in there, too. Because now everyone pays in a cab with, like, their credit card.
6:14 Speaker 00 Oh, this is true. There's no like cash transaction cabs anymore.
6:20 Speaker 01 No, you just use your credit card or Venmo or whatever.
6:23 Speaker 00 It's so true.
6:24 Speaker 01 Well, we also got this letter from Caroline K. from Dublin, and it really made me chuckle. Caroline says, "Hi ladies, hope you are both keeping well. Just an observation, Michael brought two huge empty suitcases to fill with souvenirs, but no sign of them on the way back. Maybe they had checked them in already? It reminded me of when I worked for a dessert company and once had to travel from Dublin to Edinburgh with some frozen dessert samples. The little case was full on the way over. We had our meeting and presented the samples to the client, and then the suitcases were empty coming home. I got stopped at security because they thought it was suspicious to be traveling with an empty case.
7:06 Speaker 01 I could only laugh trying to explain my situation. They were grand about it in the end."
7:12 Speaker 00 So this was reminding me of how whenever we go on like a big, long family trip, we never anticipate that we're going to buy anything on that trip and we pack our suitcases totally full and then we're scrambling and we have to buy like some duffel bag or something.
7:27 Speaker 01 Yeah, some random bag to bring your your souvenirs back.
7:30 Speaker 00 Yeah, so I think it was very smart of Michael to bring the two empty suitcases. Well, I wanted to round out this second drink with this letter from Soo Yoon from South Korea, who writes us all the time.
7:43 Speaker 01 I know, Soo Yoon, you're lovely. Thank you.
7:45 Speaker 00 Lovely, and I really especially loved this letter. And it has to do with this episode. Here's what Soo Yoon had to say. "I've wanted to write this message for a long time because I loved that Pam gave up on art school. I know some people might say that decision wasn't very feminist, but honestly, it has given me tremendous comfort. In most sitcoms or dramas, when a protagonist makes a big career decision, everything works out in the end and they become very successful. But The Office is different. It let Pam fail, and that's okay. Life goes on anyway."
8:21 Speaker 00 Even when you fail in your work, it's okay. What matters is remembering that you tried. It's not your fault and you are still loved by your friends and family. Right now, I'm pursuing my own dream and it's a tough road. At the end of it, I might fail, but that's okay. I believe I will still find meaning and joy in my life, one way or the other, just like Pam did. Love you ladies.
8:46 Speaker 01 That is fantastic.
8:49 Speaker 00 Isn't that great?
8:50 Speaker 01 It's just so great and so true.
8:53 Speaker 00 So true. I mean, how many things did we fail at before we got on The Office, lady?
9:00 Speaker 01 So many.
9:00 Speaker 00 And all of those things were worthwhile. They always led to a new friendship.
9:05 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
9:06 Speaker 00 Or maybe like just enough money to pay the rent that month or something like. Everything I've tried in my life has not been a huge success. But there's value in the trying. Isn't it great? I loved that letter. I loved that point of view for this episode.
9:21 Speaker 01 Same. Well, you guys, thank you so much for writing in. And now please enjoy our second drink of business trip.
9:33 Speaker 00 I'm Jenna Fischer.
9:34 Speaker 01 And I'm Angela Kinsey.
9:35 Speaker 00 We were on The Office together.
9:36 Speaker 01 And we're best friends.
9:37 Speaker 00 And now we're doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
9:41 Speaker 01 Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.
9:49 Speaker 00 We're the Office ladies.
9:53 Speaker 00 Hello.
9:54 Speaker 01 Hi, you guys.
9:55 Speaker 00 All right, today we're talking about business trip.
9:57 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
9:58 Speaker 00 But first.
10:00 Speaker 01 We have a fantastic interview for you.
10:02 Speaker 00 Yes, we are going to be talking with Rich Sommer.
10:06 Speaker 01 Who played Alex. Art school Alex.
10:09 Speaker 00 I know. We love Rich. We're good friends with Rich in real life.
10:14 Speaker 01 Yes, my stepson and Rich's daughter B are in a book club. You guys, they meet every week.
10:18 Speaker 00 It's the cutest thing.
10:19 Speaker 01 It's the cutest thing.
10:20 Speaker 00 You might know Rich Sommer because he played Harry Crane on all seven seasons of Mad Men. And at that same time, he was doing his arc on The Office as Pam's art school friend.
10:33 Speaker 01 Friend? Question mark. And Jenna and Rich spent a ton of time together filming all those scenes and became really good friends.
10:40 Speaker 00 We did. We just had to talk to him. We wanted to hear his side of the story of filming that crazy scene with the little Bluetooth earpieces from Customer Survey. We talked about it last week with Stephen Merchant.
10:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, we needed Rich's take on that.
10:56 Speaker 00 We really did.
10:57 Speaker 01 And we talk all things The Office for Alex. And here is that interview.
11:05 Speaker 00 Rich Sommer, welcome to Office, ladies.
11:07 Speaker 01 Hi, Rich.
11:09 Speaker 06 Thank you. Hi, Angela and Jenna.
11:12 Speaker 00 Oh, my gosh, when we post the photo from this interview, Rich looks so professional.
11:19 Speaker 06 I can't believe you're saying that. I am in a teeny tiny box. I just have a wide angle camera. It makes it look cool.
11:25 Speaker 01 I know, but you have the, you have like the stuff that looks like egg carton. You know what I mean? You have like the real deal sound stuff.
11:33 Speaker 06 That's $10 at a foam place in Burbank that I went to, across from the old Toys R Us.
11:39 Speaker 00 We probably should have gone there.
11:41 Speaker 01 Gone there.
11:42 Speaker 00 Will you text us about it later when we get done?
11:44 Speaker 06 Yes, I will.
11:46 Speaker 00 I also want to share that as we were setting up this Zoom, my microphone broke, so I'm using a backup microphone. So I probably sound the worst of all of us. Rich is gonna sound the best. You look the most professional.
12:01 Speaker 01 Rich is what matters. You're what matters, Rich. We're here for you. We're excited to talk to you.
12:06 Speaker 00 We are.
12:07 Speaker 01 Rich, we always ask everyone on the show how they got their job on The Office. Did you audition for the part? Do you have a story? We have heard that Mindy was lobbying very hard for you. Did you know Mindy?
12:19 Speaker 06 To my recollection, Mindy and I met at the SAG Awards when you guys and the Mad Men cast were nominated. And Mindy was a fan of Mad Men and came up to me, and I was so excited to meet her. And we had chatted maybe a couple of times, but she came up to me and said, hey, I'm writing a part. With you in mind on the show, would that be okay if I?
12:41 Speaker 00 Oh, my gosh.
12:43 Speaker 06 Was like, yes, because, you know, like everybody else, The Office was one of my favorite shows on TV. So it was a really exciting thing to have, you know, an actor, writer, producer from another show, any show, say that to you, but to have it be one of your, your favorite shows that you are so excited to even step into that world. It was, it was incredibly special. Yes.
13:07 Speaker 00 That is so cool. So is that what happened? They just offered you the role after she had written it?
13:13 Speaker 06 Yeah, they reached out and offered it. And I had a friend of mine who, I hadn't told him yet about that. And, and he said, oh, I just auditioned for The Office. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. I'm hoping to audition for them as well. And he said, yes, for this part, I guess Pam goes to art school and she's going to meet some guy at art school. And I was like, uh huh. Oh, good, good, good. And in my head, I knew what Mindy had said. And we hadn't finalized anything yet. And, and you know how these things work in the business. They'll keep auditioning, even if they have an offer out to someone or in conversation with someone, they'll keep auditioning other people. I'm usually on the auditioning end of that, where I'm throwing an audition down a hole rather
13:53 Speaker 06 than, you know, being the one that's actually being considered. But this was one of those rare times. So as soon as the offer came through officially, I, I was, I accepted immediately. But yes, it was, I, I, I did audition for The Office a time or two with Alison Jones, but I didn't get those roles. And then this came through and it was just an offer.
14:18 Speaker 00 Well, Rich, you mentioned that you met Mindy at a SAG Awards party. Something people should know, I guess, is just that the cast of The Office and the cast of Mad Men, we kind of glommed onto each other. We were on the rise at the same time and we were kind of experiencing the same thing of being both casts that were basically unknown actors, suddenly on these really popular shows. And so we would go around to all of these events together and we all became really good friends.
14:53 Speaker 06 It was a really sort of spectacular, odd marriage between the shows because we, we ended up, like you say, we, our groups, because the way, the way the SAG Awards work in particular is the entire cast of each show is, is seated together at one or two tables, depending on the size of the group. And, you know, our, and then at the party, there's usually like, there's this corner for Mad Men and this area for the office. And this, every show sort of has an area. And our areas often ended up being near each other and at least ended up being sort of shared real estate. It was a very, it was a, it was a very cool relationship between the groups.
15:32 Speaker 00 Yeah. Some of my favorite memories from that time are our casts hanging together. It was really cool.
15:39 Speaker 01 I remember people watching at the Mad Men party. There was a Mad Men like after party and Oscar Nunez and I sat on a couch and we were side barring as everyone walked by. We're like, look at this guy. Check that guy out.
15:54 Speaker 06 Those Mad Men after parties sometimes, I mean, every show has sort of the people that you, you're always like, I can't believe they watch our show. And I know you guys had that too. It was very strange times.
16:09 Speaker 00 I'm curious, what were you told about the role of Alex before you came in? Did you get anything to read? And were you told specifically that you were an art school friend or you were a possible love interest? How was this role pitched to you?
16:30 Speaker 06 Well, this is, this is gonna be, this is, this is the meaty part of the conversation, I suppose. I, I, the way it was pitched to me was, you know, this was the beginning of season five, obviously. And the way it was pitched to me was that it would be. Now, I should also clarify, especially if Mindy is listening. I'm not saying that Mindy pitched me anything. It was conversational. It was just sort of like, we, we think this is a character who's going to be throughout this season. We think it's a character that's going to be kind of like Rashida's character was, where it might be a little bit of another road bump for Jim and Pam. So when it started, that was definitely what was in my mind.
17:13 Speaker 06 But we filmed scenes that didn't make it into the show and I started to kind of put together that the, the response from the audience were so, because your show, how, how long in advance did you guys shoot and then air?
17:29 Speaker 00 I would say only three to four weeks, maybe. There was a pretty tight turnaround.
17:33 Speaker 01 About a month, yeah.
17:35 Speaker 06 Yeah. It, it was enough time, or a short enough time, I should say, that the audience response to my first appearance was, had landed before I was filming Customer Survey. And the, they were not pleased.
17:53 Speaker 01 They were not pleased. They did not want to see Pam, like with anyone, but Jim, oh man.
18:00 Speaker 06 No, and who could blame them? After what they had been through for, you know, four seasons, who could blame them?
18:06 Speaker 00 Well, you have very kind of flirty eyes in your first scenes at art school. You're very flirty and you're right, those scenes aired and all of a sudden, tiki bar is on the cutting room floor, right?
18:21 Speaker 01 There is a whole Alex storyline with Pam. Actually, the whole Pam art storyline is in deleted scenes. I watched the deleted scenes for the podcast and every week I'm like, Jenna, oh my gosh, there's this scene and this scene and one in the hallway and at a bar and here. And she's like, I know.
18:40 Speaker 00 How did it feel to watch those scenes get cut week to week? Did anyone warn you?
18:46 Speaker 06 As far as how it felt, look, I am very, I consider myself fortunate that I have a fairly.
18:56 Speaker 06 Uh, I don't know, a comfortable ability to, to, to see where things fit in story wise. And I could feel from the moment we were, the second anybody said, this feels weird. This is too much, too much consternation for Jim and Pam. I agreed. I mean, again, I was a fan from the beginning. Now, I would have loved to have gotten to be around more, but I also wasn't going to be greedy. I was, I remain delighted that I had the parts that I had.
19:32 Speaker 06 I do think it's a funny part of Office lore because it seems clear to me at least that this was a sort of aborted storyline, that they kind of cut bait when they could.
19:47 Speaker 06 And that was, I don't know, I just think it's, how I feel about it is that it's a very funny, interesting way to have been a part of the Office legacy.
19:57 Speaker 01 Well, I was bummed that you never came to the actual set because we never got to hang out on set. And you and Jenna would have stories and we were missing Jenna, you know, Jenna was who I had lunch with every day. And I was like, gosh, why can't Alex just, um, you know, show up with Pam at work one day? Of course, that would have completely like blown up the storyline, but we were sad you were never in the actual bullpen.
20:20 Speaker 00 Should we talk about this insane scene that we filmed for customer survey with Stephen Merchant? First of all, did you crap your pants when you found out Stephen Merchant was directing? Cause I did, I did poop myself.
20:35 Speaker 06 Yep. Yes. Yeah, it was upsetting. I mean, it was, it was a 10% exciting, 90% upsetting.
20:43 Speaker 01 I had no idea, Rich, how many different ways you guys did this scene. You know, we got the scripts and all the alts from James Carey and I could not believe it. Jenna told me, how many different versions were there Jenna?
20:57 Speaker 00 I think there were some.
20:58 Speaker 01 Something like 10. Good night.
21:02 Speaker 06 Now, I wasn't privy to all of those versions because as a as a guest actor, I was really only given the script on the day. This is how I remember it and I I've listened to you guys talk about it with Stephen and I I I my memory is slightly different, but I don't know where where it goes off. I've certainly mulled over this aspect of the story a thousand times, so it's probably gotten altered as I've gone, but ah, the the here was my problem. My problem was that I had an inside. I had a mole on the inside and I don't know if I've ever even told you guys about this and I
21:40 Speaker 01 Wait.
21:41 Speaker 06 I won't name this person on the podcast.
21:43 Speaker 01 You had a mole on the set of The Office?
21:46 Speaker 06 I won't. I won't. I won't name this person on the podcast, but this was a person who was not an actor who worked in in the production and this person sent me the script. Early, he said, oh, you've got some great stuff in this upcoming episode. Oh, my God, I'd love. I'd loved. Yeah, okay, fine. Yes, it's a guy. So this person sent me the script and I was in that version. Alex professed his love to Pam. And I thought, oh, wow. And as a it it left it open. Is this a send off for my character or is this something that we may see him later on? I showed up on the day I was handed the sides.
22:29 Speaker 06 And those sides were, as as you guys know, wildly different that they had taken out any profession of love at all. Made it purely about her sort of artistic sensibilities and changed how that was going to go. So when we were filming,
22:49 Speaker 06 I will admit this is a fault of mine as an actor. I couldn't get it out of my head. Because again, everything we had been playing so far was that Alex had a crush on Pam. And like you guys said with Stephen.
23:06 Speaker 06 What Alex ends up saying is enough. It didn't need to be this on the nose sort of profession of of love. It's implied, it's intrinsic. As Jim says, you know, this guy's into you. I mean, it's it's clearly there. But in the moment, I couldn't find the right level of demonstrative that Stephen wanted. And the level that Stephen wanted was zero. That I was was continually pumping out was more in the neighborhood of like 75% demonstrative. I couldn't reel it in. And in fact, Jenna, to your question of pooping my pants when I found out it was Stephen Merchant, that was just a little, that was just like a little jitter compared to how I felt when Stephen.
23:53 Speaker 01 Oh, no.
23:53 Speaker 06 Came up to me after a take and said these words, the words that have haunted me as an actor forever. He came up to me and said, I don't know why you're not getting this.
24:04 Speaker 01 Oh.
24:08 Speaker 06 It was awful.
24:11 Speaker 01 Oh, my God.
24:13 Speaker 06 He was, by the way, 100% right. I just couldn't do it. So, you know, looking at Jenna Fisher standing across me, John Krasinski is crumpled up into a ball under the table in that room, reading his lines for the Bluetooth.
24:29 Speaker 01 He was there? John was there?
24:31 Speaker 00 I remember he was there, but I didn't remember he was hiding under the table.
24:36 Speaker 01 Oh, my God. Through all the takes?
24:39 Speaker 06 There was nowhere for him to hide in the room because it was a small, like, conference room. And the cameras, as you guys know, were moving all the time.
24:46 Speaker 01 Everywhere.
24:46 Speaker 06 There was no safe space. So he just hid under the desk.
24:50 Speaker 01 Six foot three, John Krasinski was curled up under the desk.
24:55 Speaker 06 Yes. And I'm just like mortified. Like, this is the, well, this is it. I'm never acting again, obviously, because Stephen Merchant's never going to cast me in anything. Jenna and John think I'm absolutely out of my mind. I could, it was, it was a stressful day. It's all great now, but it was a stressful day.
25:15 Speaker 00 Oh my gosh, Rich, I think you're being too hard on yourself and taking on too much of the responsibility because I was also told that Alex might be a possible love interest for Pam. Not that Pam would have feelings for Alex, but that she might have to manage his feelings for her. And by the way, I want to say, I only respected Rich in that moment. And so much so that we went on to do a movie together. We did The Giant Mechanical Man. You played my brother-in-law and you were so funny.
25:49 Speaker 06 That's right.
25:50 Speaker 01 Giant Mechanical Man is a great movie, by the way. Great. And you guys are fantastic in it.
25:55 Speaker 06 It's a re- I love that movie. And I, uh, believe me, when I, in the, in the month or so following my final day at the office and, and we had exchanged information because we, you know, we, it was clear we were going to be friends. Um, I, I, my recollection is when you and, and Lee reached out to ask if I would come and do a table read for this movie that you guys were working on. It was both so exciting, but also such a relief that you had not, um, uh, written me off after that day. Because it was, it was just such a stressful, you know, you know, you've had those days on a set where you feel like
26:38 Speaker 06 this is my last day on a set. I'm never acting again. Obviously, I'm garbage. I don't know why I, uh, did this. And usually I don't leave a day feeling that way. It's usually somewhere closer to the middle. Um, but, uh, that day I left and I was just like, oh, that, that is that. That was that. I hope Mad Men goes forever because this, uh, door has been closed. So it was such a relief.
27:03 Speaker 01 No one felt like that. Everybody thought that you crushed it. Really and truly. I, I thought, I was rooting for Alex and I know I, I'm not, I wasn't rooting. No, listen, listen now. So I don't get hate mail. I wasn't rooting for Jim and Pam to break up, but I became like, I thought Alex was so endearing that I just, I want Alex to have a good life. I became that person. Like, I hope Alex finds his person because he's so sweet and kind. And I don't know.
27:34 Speaker 00 Rich, I have to ask, how did the set of the office and the way we shot and the way things worked? Differ from the way you guys made Mad Men.
27:46 Speaker 06 I mean, the ways we are similar is a very short list. The the Mad Men set filming style was entirely different. First off, for the first three, maybe four seasons of Mad Men, we were still shooting on film. So at this time,
28:04 Speaker 00 Wow.
28:04 Speaker 06 when I was doing The Office, we were, we were definitely shooting on film. And that, you know, for anyone who's been on a set where they're filming with film, it's a, it's a whole other process. It adds a remarkable amount of time. When you're even just changing a film mag, you know, a bit, the cartridge of film, it has to be sort of taken to a dark place and dealt with so that it can be sent off for processing. And it, the turnarounds on scenes, you know, moving the camera around takes,
28:40 Speaker 06 I don't know, not twice as long, but a lot longer. So the fact that on The Office, they would hit roll and almost never stop until they were out of tape, as I recall, right? I mean, it just,
28:52 Speaker 00 Yeah.
28:52 Speaker 06 it felt like we were always rolling.
28:54 Speaker 00 Yes. They, it, it did feel that way. Yeah.
28:57 Speaker 06 You could kind of stop mid scene if you needed to and adjust something. Whereas on Mad Men, it was more, if we're filming, everything has to be in order. And if we're, if we cut, then everybody can breathe again. It was just a very different type of precision that they were doing on Mad Men, because it was, obviously, the look is not handheld. The look on Mad Men was very carefully and intentionally composed. Not that shots weren't composed on The Office, but it was just composed in a different way. It was much more fluid. We're watching the show now with our daughter. She's 13 and she's never seen it. We're probably three quarters of the way through season two.
29:43 Speaker 06 Now she knows, just because it's in The Zeitgeist, that Pam and Jim end up together. It is driving her bananas like, and I haven't, I haven't even thought to say, uh, if you think this is tough, wait till Rashida Jones shows up because she's just frustrated that, you know, Roy set a date for the wedding and Jim was sad and B was like, this is terrible. When do they get together? I can't stand it.
30:09 Speaker 01 Buckle in.
30:10 Speaker 06 I got news for you. It's gonna be a minute. Yeah.
30:12 Speaker 00 Rich, she's gonna hate you when she gets to your part.
30:16 Speaker 06 Oh, yeah.
30:16 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
30:17 Speaker 00 What's that gonna, what's Brett's gonna be like at your house?
30:22 Speaker 06 Well, I, she, she has been with me when I have been, um, recognized from the office.
30:28 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah. We were gonna ask, do you get recognized as Alex?
30:33 Speaker 06 It, I do. And it is amazing to me how often, cause sometimes, um, you know, as, as, as, uh, actors, we get different people recognize us from different things. And truly, it's gotta be half the time. It's The Office. I mean, I, I'm on screen for two episodes of The Office. So its reach was just sort of, uh, sort of astounding to me. But I did, my favorite one is when Beatrice was a baby. She, I don't even think was a year old. We went to visit my family in Ohio and we were getting on a connecting flight in Cincinnati. I'm walking my tiny, beautiful little baby girl down the aisle and this guy
31:13 Speaker 06 leans into the aisle and he goes, hey, hey. And I sort of start and look, I'm like, yeah. This stranger says, don't F with Pam and Jim.
31:23 Speaker 01 Oh, oh my God.
31:26 Speaker 06 And he meant it, by the way. So I think people, uh, it was in those kinds of moments where I went, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is, um, it's better that Alex goes quietly into the night and they go back to their thing so that I don't, you know, get kidnapped or anything.
31:43 Speaker 01 Oh, Rich. Well, you know, maybe Alex had to go away, but we're glad you got to stay in our lives.
31:50 Speaker 00 Yes. And Rich, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. It was so great to see you.
31:57 Speaker 01 Yeah.
31:57 Speaker 06 Thank you. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this.
31:59 Speaker 00 Oh, my gosh. I, I'm just, I'm excited that we got to have you on the show. I'm excited we got to take that trip down memory lane. Hopefully this has been healing. I hope it's been healing.
32:11 Speaker 06 Yes, yes, I promise.
32:13 Speaker 01 I hope it is.
32:15 Speaker 00 Aw, thank you so much, Rich. We love you.
32:17 Speaker 01 Love you, Rich.
32:19 Speaker 06 Thank you. Love you too. And thanks again for having me.
32:32 Speaker 01 That was so great. Thank you so much, Rich Sommer. And now Jenna.
32:37 Speaker 00 It's time to break down Business Trip.
32:39 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
32:40 Speaker 00 It is season five, episode eight. Listen to this dream team, written by Brent Forrester and directed by Randall Einhorn.
32:49 Speaker 01 Office ladies, folks, are you ready to go to?
32:52 Speaker 07 The international business trip. We're going to Canada.
32:56 Speaker 01 Canada.
32:57 Speaker 00 Canada.
32:58 Speaker 01 It's time to go. Get your passport.
33:00 Speaker 00 International traveler.
33:02 Speaker 01 Yes.
33:03 Speaker 00 Let me give you a summary.
33:04 Speaker 01 Please.
33:05 Speaker 00 Michael is ecstatic when David Wallace sends him on an international business trip to Winnipeg, Canada.
33:13 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
33:13 Speaker 00 He brings Oscar and Andy along. While on the trip, Michael romances the concierge and Oscar and Andy bond. Meanwhile, Jim and the rest of the office count down the days until Pam's return, only to be disappointed when she has to stay in New York for another 12 weeks to retake a course that she failed. Also, Kelly and Ryan get back together.
33:39 Speaker 01 Yes, they do. The deleted scenes on this one are delicious. I'll be sharing some of those.
33:46 Speaker 00 Fast fact number one, we have an awesome guest star alert.
33:49 Speaker 01 Yes, we do.
33:50 Speaker 00 It is Wendy McLendon-Covey as Concierge Marie. Concierge Marie. How do I love thee?
33:57 Speaker 01 She was perfection.
33:59 Speaker 00 You guys might know Wendy. She is the star of the TV show The Goldbergs.
34:04 Speaker 01 Yes, she plays Beverly.
34:05 Speaker 00 She was in Bridesmaids, So Funny, Reno 911. She is a member of the Groundlings Improv, and she's just an all-around amazing human being.
34:15 Speaker 01 She is, and she was so delightful. We slid into her DMs.
34:19 Speaker 00 We did.
34:20 Speaker 01 And I was like, Wendy, we have some questions. She was like, of course. And she sent us fantastic. Audio clips.
34:25 Speaker 00 Of course, we had to ask her how she got her role on The Office. I was not expecting this response.
34:31 Speaker 01 I know, me either.
34:32 Speaker 05 Hello, Jenna and Angela, office ladies, gorgeous office ladies. So my audition process, actually, I did not have to audition for The Office, but it came to me in an interesting way. First of all, I had been in Michigan for not even 24 hours before I had been fired off of a movie because one of the money guys thought I was too ugly. So I was, my ugly ass was put on a plane back to LAX. And when I got off the plane, there was a message from my agent saying, "Oh, they want you for The Office tomorrow."
35:14 Speaker 05 So I was thrilled, you know, I'd been crying for, I don't know, five hours on a plane, and then I get this news and it's like, yes, I'm so glad I got fired. So when I got to the set the next day, you know, I was a little raw from being told how ugly I was, and I was in my dressing room, my trailer, and one of the PAs came and said, "Oh," something to the effect of, "Yeah, you don't look as bad as we thought you were going to. So we don't need to see you right away in the makeup chair." I swear it was something like that. It was like, "Oh, we're delighted that you don't look like Shrek," type of thing.
35:54 Speaker 01 Oh, Wendy. I mean, we've all had moments like that. That is something about show business where people can get real tacky.
36:01 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah. Well, you know my story where they said I couldn't be on Alias because I wasn't hot enough. But then the very next week, I auditioned for a different pilot and they said I was too good-looking for the role. So I was like, "Well, I don't know what I am then. I don't know."
36:17 Speaker 01 Well.
36:17 Speaker 00 I can't change my face.
36:19 Speaker 01 I had an agent say to me, "You're not Hollywood glamorous, okay?" And I said, "I know that." I was like, "Yeah, I know that. Can I be Hollywood dorky, though?"
36:31 Speaker 00 You can.
36:31 Speaker 01 Thank you.
36:32 Speaker 00 You did it.
36:32 Speaker 01 And I did it.
36:35 Speaker 00 Oh no, gosh. And I've been fired. I was fired from a pilot that I did with Matt LeBlanc. I played his wife. It's on the air still, Man with a Plan. I was his wife. That was my part.
36:48 Speaker 01 Well, I know this story and you shared it in your book.
36:51 Speaker 00 I did. Yeah. I got hired. I shot the pilot. While I was there, the network said they wanted more scenes with me.
36:58 Speaker 01 Oh.
36:59 Speaker 00 I was like, I am nailing it.
37:01 Speaker 01 Right.
37:01 Speaker 00 More scenes means you're doing a good job. Well, I guess after we finished it, they showed it to focus groups.
37:09 Speaker 01 And they didn't like you?
37:10 Speaker 00 No. They, they liked me, but they said, this is a literal quote. They said, I don't believe Pam would marry Joey. The chemistry doesn't work between these two. That was the feedback they got.
37:24 Speaker 01 They could only see you as Pam and Joey.
37:26 Speaker 00 Yeah. So it wasn't working for them that we got married and had a family. And you know, the show's called Man with a Plan. It's starring Matt LeBlanc. It's his show.
37:38 Speaker 01 Yeah, I haven't seen it.
37:39 Speaker 00 Okay. Well, guess who they can't fire? The man with the plan. So out the door I went.
37:44 Speaker 01 I revenge didn't watch.
37:47 Speaker 00 Thank you. I appreciate it.
37:49 Speaker 01 That's your BFF.
37:50 Speaker 00 That's what you're supposed to do.
37:52 Speaker 01 That's right. You fire my BFF, I'm not going to watch your show.
37:56 Speaker 00 But here's the crazy part, lady. The crazy part is that I didn't know I was fired until literally like two days before they were going to announce it at the big press junket in New York. I had packed a suitcase.
38:11 Speaker 01 Tacky.
38:12 Speaker 00 Because everyone was like, it's going, it's gonna go, it's a sure thing. I had hired hair and makeup to get me ready for all the press. And then I get this call and everyone's on the phone. All my agents, my manager, publicist.
38:29 Speaker 01 Listen, when there's 15 people on the phone, it's either great news or real, real bad.
38:33 Speaker 00 Yeah. And the first thing I said was, is it not getting picked? Up? And they said, it's worse than that.
38:41 Speaker 01 Um.
38:43 Speaker 00 And I was like, what's worse than that? They said, it's getting picked up, but without you.
38:50 Speaker 01 Oh.
38:51 Speaker 00 And I was like, wow, I guess I'll unpack my suitcase.
38:55 Speaker 01 Dang.
38:56 Speaker 00 Yeah. I almost cut bangs in my hair that day.
39:01 Speaker 01 I remember.
39:01 Speaker 00 You stopped me.
39:02 Speaker 01 I didn't want you to cut your hair that day. I said, you know what? Let's pick a different day. Let's pick a different day to change your whole look. You did send me a picture, though, of you jumping in the air, flipping off the world.
39:16 Speaker 00 I did.
39:16 Speaker 01 I said, that's better. Go jump around, flip off anyone you want in the air. Do not cut your hair today.
39:23 Speaker 00 You were a good friend to me that day.
39:26 Speaker 01 And I will never watch that show. Sorry, Matt LeBlanc. I actually love you. And I love Joey, but I'm sorry.
39:32 Speaker 00 I liked Matt LeBlanc, too. He was very nice.
39:34 Speaker 01 Anyway.
39:34 Speaker 00 All right. Well, Wendy, I am sorry you got fired because you are a talent and a force, and I love you.
39:39 Speaker 01 Yes. And thank you for texting me, emailing me.
39:44 Speaker 00 Let's see. Fast fact number two. Michael goes on his business trip to Winnipeg in this episode. And we got a lot of questions from people, why Winnipeg? How did they choose this location? Well, like I said before, this episode was written by Brent Forrester, and he did an interview.
40:03 Speaker 01 You mean to the CBC, Jenna?
40:05 Speaker 00 That's the one, Ange. Did you find it as well?
40:07 Speaker 01 It's the.
40:08 Speaker 00 Did we both Google real good this episode?
40:10 Speaker 01 Googled real good. CBC is the Canadian broadcast company.
40:14 Speaker 00 Yes.
40:15 Speaker 01 I'm like so proud that I know what CBC stands for.
40:19 Speaker 00 Well, they asked him, why Winnipeg?
40:22 Speaker 01 They did.
40:22 Speaker 00 Some good journalism. He explained that they knew they wanted this to be an international business trip, that they tossed around the idea of Montreal or Vancouver, but in the end, they chose Winnipeg because it seemed to strike the right balance between, quote, exotic and obscure.
40:41 Speaker 01 Yes. And you know what else I loved in this interview? Brent shared that Phil Shea, our prop master, reached out to the Winnipeg Tourism Promotion Agency, and they sent along all kinds of stuff like airport baggage tags, shopping bags from the bay, Old Dutch potato chips, which was founded in Winnipeg in 1954.
41:00 Speaker 00 And you're going to see those on the bar.
41:02 Speaker 01 I became obsessed, maybe because I watched this episode while I was hungry. I will have some Old Dutch potato chip tracking and also flavors to share with you.
41:13 Speaker 00 I'm there for it.
41:14 Speaker 01 And also they sent some Fort Gary Brewing Company paraphernalia and all kinds of other stuff.
41:20 Speaker 00 Yes, because we did not go to Winnipeg. We shot this whole episode in Los Angeles.
41:25 Speaker 01 Yes.
41:26 Speaker 00 So we had to just make it look as Kanada as possible.
41:30 Speaker 01 Fakey Kanada.
41:31 Speaker 00 Yes. Fast fact number three, even though we didn't go to Winnipeg, I have some fun facts about Winnipeg, and these were all sent in by fans.
41:40 Speaker 01 Oh, I love it.
41:41 Speaker 00 Office Ladies listeners who are from Winnipeg wanted us to know these things.
41:45 Speaker 01 Okay.
41:46 Speaker 00 So first from Leah Patterson, Winnie the Pooh was named after the city of Winnipeg.
41:52 Speaker 01 Get out.
41:52 Speaker 00 I didn't know that.
41:53 Speaker 01 I didn't know that.
41:54 Speaker 00 Yeah. A lot of people know that the writer of Winnie the Pooh had a son named Christopher Robin, and his son Christopher Robin had a little stuffed bear named Winnie. And that's where he got the idea for the characters. But do you know why his son named his bear Winnie?
42:10 Speaker 01 I do.
42:11 Speaker 00 Why?
42:11 Speaker 01 I don't know.
42:12 Speaker 00 Oh.
42:13 Speaker 01 I'm just messing with you. I have no idea. There's probably a small number of people that know this, right?
42:18 Speaker 00 Well, I don't know. Leah Patterson knows.
42:21 Speaker 01 Okay, Leah, why?
42:22 Speaker 00 Because in 1915, a black bear was rescued by a cavalry veterinarian who named the bear Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg. And then he gave the bear to the London Zoo, and that's where the real Christopher Robin saw the bear, loved the bear, and then named his little stuffed bear after Winnie.
42:43 Speaker 01 Oh, so it's a little roundabout.
42:47 Speaker 00 It's hard to explain. I'm sorry if I took you on a real circle there, but the bottom line is, yes, Winnie the Pooh is named after the city of Winnipeg.
42:56 Speaker 01 Well, Leah, I love knowing that. What else you got?
42:59 Speaker 00 More from Leah.
43:00 Speaker 01 More from Leah?
43:01 Speaker 00 Yes.
43:01 Speaker 01 Okay.
43:02 Speaker 00 Winnipeg has been the slurpee capital of the world for almost 20 years.
43:06 Speaker 01 Wait, like slurpee like you get at 7-Eleven?
43:08 Speaker 00 That's right. They literally sell the most slurpees every year.
43:12 Speaker 01 Come on.
43:13 Speaker 00 Yep.
43:13 Speaker 01 My kids love a slurpee.
43:15 Speaker 00 I looked it up. It's true.
43:16 Speaker 01 Gotta go to Winnipeg.
43:17 Speaker 00 More from Leah.
43:18 Speaker 01 Okay.
43:19 Speaker 00 Leah, you are a treasure trove of information about Winnipeg. Where do you work? Do you work at the tourism?
43:25 Speaker 01 Promotion agency?
43:26 Speaker 00 You should. Winnipeg was also the first city in North America to use 911.
43:32 Speaker 01 They invented 911?
43:34 Speaker 00 I don't know. They were the first city to use it. It happened in 1959.
43:38 Speaker 01 Wow.
43:39 Speaker 00 This one from Taylor Nakarado. Winnipeg can get to close to negative 30 degrees Celsius in the winter, and we have actually broken a record for being colder than the planet Mars in 2019.
43:54 Speaker 01 Oh, this is a tough sell for Winnipeg.
43:57 Speaker 00 On New Year's Eve,
43:58 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
43:59 Speaker 00 The Mars Curiosity Rover posted a temperature of negative 29 degrees Celsius. Now, that's actually very warm for Mars.
44:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:08 Speaker 00 If you are interested, the average temperature on Mars is about negative 55 degrees Celsius, but it can get as cold as negative 150 degrees Celsius at the poles.
44:20 Speaker 01 Ooh.
44:20 Speaker 00 But on this warm day on Mars, it was negative 29, and on that same day in Winnipeg, it was colder than Mars by a few degrees.
44:30 Speaker 01 Dang.
44:31 Speaker 00 Very cold. Taylor N. would like you to know that Winnipeg is a very diverse multicultural city, and they host something called Folklorama. It's one of the largest and longest running multicultural festivals in the world. It has over 40 pavilions where they embrace cultures of different countries, and you can watch singing and dancing and sample different foods from that country.
44:55 Speaker 01 I would go to that.
44:56 Speaker 00 That sounds so fun!
44:57 Speaker 01 I would love that. Well, listen, I think we should take a break.
45:01 Speaker 00 I think that's a good idea.
45:02 Speaker 01 We'll get an iced tea. We're gonna come back, and I'm excited to break down Business Trip.
45:07 Speaker 00 Let's do it.
45:19 Speaker 01 All right, you guys, we are back. We are in the conference room. Michael is teaching the group about various cultures and how to travel to those cultures.
45:29 Speaker 00 International.
45:30 Speaker 01 International.
45:31 Speaker 00 Behaviors.
45:32 Speaker 01 Yes. Jenna, background catch. At eight seconds, you can see Kate staring at me, but I can tell it's Kate and not Meredith. She's kind of looking at me like, "Hmm?" And then, very quickly in the corner, you can see me futzing with my microphone.
45:49 Speaker 00 Oh, was she trying to tell you we could see your microphone?
45:52 Speaker 01 I think something happened. Either my microphone dropped and I was trying to fix it, and Kate was trying to be like, "Camera's coming," something. There's a moment here.
46:00 Speaker 00 Ah!
46:00 Speaker 01 But you can see me. It's very quick. I'm like futzing with my collar, doing something.
46:05 Speaker 00 Yeah.
46:05 Speaker 01 Anyway.
46:06 Speaker 00 Oh, that's a good catch.
46:07 Speaker 01 It tickled me.
46:08 Speaker 00 Well, the reason for this conference room scene is so that Michael can explain to us that he is being sent to woo an international client.
46:16 Speaker 01 Right. This whole meeting could have been an email.
46:19 Speaker 00 Yeah.
46:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
46:20 Speaker 00 The other thing that's happening is we learn that Pam is coming home in 6.5 days.
46:27 Speaker 01 Yes, and the office is very excited for Jim. Everyone at Dunder Mifflin, Kevin smacks his butt. Creed gives him a kind of a creepy shoulder rub. Phyllis smiles and says, "One more week." When Phyllis smiles and says, "One more week," please look at her desk. It is covered with tissues. I don't know what was happening.
46:46 Speaker 00 Oh, she must have had a cold.
46:48 Speaker 01 Something. I just love the fact that we didn't bother to tidy the desk.
46:52 Speaker 00 No, it's real life.
46:53 Speaker 01 It's real life mixed with fake life. Stanley gives Jim a look and goes, "Eh eh." And in a deleted scene, Jenna, Kelly helps Jim make a sign saying, "Welcome back," and she's really annoyed because he needs to use more glitter.
47:08 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah. We had a fan question from Chris S. about this scene with Jim. Chris said, "I would like to know the specific stage direction Creed was given when he massages Jim's shoulders as he comforts him." He really liked this moment. I looked it up in the script.
47:28 Speaker 01 What did it say?
47:29 Speaker 00 In the script, it actually said this, quote, "Creed passes Jim, he punches Jim's shoulder, and then musses Jim's hair." So this massage, they must have found it on the day, because in the script, he was supposed to give him a punch and a hair muss.
47:47 Speaker 01 Well, I think it's funnier, because Kevin's already smacked his butt.
47:50 Speaker 00 Yeah.
47:51 Speaker 01 So it's like, a smack and a punch? I think this is way funnier. Also, John Krasinski's reactions to everyone, that's what makes it.
48:00 Speaker 00 Yeah.
48:01 Speaker 01 His face when Creed comes up behind him is so good.
48:03 Speaker 00 So now, Michael is on the phone with David Wallace. He's got his passport ready. He's got his per diem.
48:11 Speaker 01 50 bucks, he's gonna buy a sweater.
48:13 Speaker 00 He is. He'll use other money for food.
48:15 Speaker 01 Yeah, and he has a plane ticket.
48:17 Speaker 00 He does. On Butte Airlines?
48:21 Speaker 01 B-U-T-T-E.
48:22 Speaker 00 Butt Airlines?
48:24 Speaker 01 Well, I think it's probably Butte.
48:27 Speaker 00 I looked it up.
48:28 Speaker 01 I did too.
48:29 Speaker 00 I found nothing.
48:30 Speaker 01 I found zilch.
48:31 Speaker 00 Not an airline.
48:32 Speaker 01 Not real. Fakey airline.
48:34 Speaker 00 I want to know more, though.
48:36 Speaker 01 Why they settled on Butte?
48:38 Speaker 00 I think it was Butt.
48:40 Speaker 01 Oh, come on, really?
48:42 Speaker 00 I don't know. Why would you call it Butte Airlines?
48:45 Speaker 01 I don't know.
48:46 Speaker 00 We don't know. We're sorry.
48:48 Speaker 01 Sorry, guys. It could be Butte or Butt, but it's a fakey airline.
48:51 Speaker 00 Oh, here's something. Michael is gonna bring two extra giant suitcases for souvenirs.
48:58 Speaker 01 Empty.
48:59 Speaker 00 Empty.
49:00 Speaker 01 They're empty.
49:01 Speaker 00 Do you do that? Do you bring an extra empty bag? Do you leave room? As you're packing, do you consider, "I can't pack this totally full, because I know I'm gonna purchase something"? Or are you the person who gets to your vacation, and it's time to go home, and then you have to go buy, like, an extra canvas bag to get all your stuff home?
49:20 Speaker 01 Ding ding ding ding ding.
49:21 Speaker 00 Yeah.
49:22 Speaker 01 That's me. That's why I have a plethora of real rando bags.
49:26 Speaker 00 Yeah.
49:27 Speaker 01 Because usually, you're in a tight spot.
49:29 Speaker 00 Yep.
49:30 Speaker 01 And you don't have a lot of options.
49:31 Speaker 00 Yeah.
49:32 Speaker 01 I once had a travel bag that looked like a zebra. Because I had to buy it at the airport to fit my souvenirs because my suitcase was starting to like,
49:44 Speaker 00 Yeah.
49:44 Speaker 01 start to like, look like it was gonna tear. And for a long time, we had the zebra suitcase.
49:49 Speaker 00 Yeah.
49:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
49:50 Speaker 00 Guess which one I am?
49:51 Speaker 01 You're the first one.
49:52 Speaker 00 I leave the room.
49:53 Speaker 01 You leave the room.
49:54 Speaker 00 I anticipate my souvenir purchases.
49:56 Speaker 01 You're not walking through an airport with a zebra bag?
49:58 Speaker 00 No rando bags for me.
50:00 Speaker 01 I'm a rando bag.
50:01 Speaker 00 Listen, rando bag happened to me once, never again. You know what I'm saying?
50:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
50:05 Speaker 00 Like.
50:06 Speaker 01 I have a random suitcase from Scotland. I still love it. It looks like a travel trunk from like Joe versus the volcano.
50:13 Speaker 00 This is the problem. Sometimes you get a real find when you're in a bind.
50:16 Speaker 01 I know.
50:17 Speaker 00 Ooh, I rhymed it.
50:18 Speaker 01 You did.
50:18 Speaker 00 I'm still rhyming.
50:19 Speaker 01 You are. Stop it. If you can pause on rhyming, I want to tell you one other thing that's happening in this scene.
50:25 Speaker 00 I can.
50:26 Speaker 01 Can you?
50:27 Speaker 00 I can try.
50:30 Speaker 00 I was gonna try to rhyme, but I can think of anything.
50:32 Speaker 01 I know. I was trying to set you up. Anyway, while this whole suitcase business is happening, lady in the background, I am telling you Pam's puffer coat is hanging on the coat rack.
50:44 Speaker 00 It's not Pam's coat.
50:45 Speaker 01 Come on.
50:46 Speaker 00 It's not her coat.
50:47 Speaker 01 How do you know?
50:47 Speaker 00 Because somebody wrote in about it and I zoomed in on it. It's not my coat.
50:52 Speaker 01 It sure looks like your coat.
50:53 Speaker 00 It's not mine.
50:54 Speaker 01 Who wrote in? It was me.
50:59 Speaker 00 Angela Kay wrote in. Several times. More male than anyone.
51:05 Speaker 01 I zoomed in too, and it sure looks like that puffer coat you used to wear.
51:09 Speaker 00 I know it looks like it, but it's not my puffer coat. I think it might be Meredith's. Meredith's had a similar puffer coat.
51:15 Speaker 01 Okay, well, there you go.
51:19 Speaker 00 Guess who else gets to come on this trip?
51:21 Speaker 01 Besides the money belt and the two empty suitcases?
51:23 Speaker 00 Yeah. Andy is going to join him as his translator. He will be translating all of the French that they don't speak in Winnipeg.
51:32 Speaker 01 Well, we did learn in a deleted scene in dinner party, Angela said that Andy learned French during his semester in France.
51:40 Speaker 00 So this is kind of a callback.
51:41 Speaker 01 Kind of a callback.
51:42 Speaker 00 Then Andy speaks some not great French.
51:45 Speaker 01 Oh, a lot of not great French, mixed in with some Spanish. Oscar is also going on the trip. I don't really know Oscar's role. Why would he be going?
51:54 Speaker 00 Something to do with crunching numbers, maybe?
51:57 Speaker 01 Maybe. I'm so glad that Oscar went because Jenna, there are so many fantastic deleted Oscar scenes and Oscar and Andy scenes, if you have the DVDs. And you guys, Oscar does that thing in these deleted scenes. Like what he did with Holly in employee transfer. I have a new term for Oscar. He's the office fund stopper.
52:18 Speaker 00 Oh.
52:18 Speaker 01 You might think it's Angela Barton, but kind of like Debbie Downer on SNL.
52:22 Speaker 00 Yeah.
52:23 Speaker 01 Oscar is always going to have that sidebar comment that's a little too honest for the moment.
52:28 Speaker 00 Takes the wind out of your sails.
52:29 Speaker 01 Takes the wind out of your sails.
52:31 Speaker 00 All right. So now they're on the plane.
52:33 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
52:34 Speaker 00 Michael is up in business class. He's got a mimosa. He has a moist hand towel that's still wet.
52:40 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
52:41 Speaker 00 We got a lot of fan questions from Kyle T, Sarah M, Steph Hernandez, and Madison C. Did you guys film on an actual airplane? If so, which airport and airline were used for this episode?
52:56 Speaker 01 Well, we have some information for you.
52:58 Speaker 00 Yes, we do. Thanks to Randy Cordray, who was our line producer, who took over for Kent Zabornak. He gave us the lowdown. The interior airplane scenes were filmed at a place called Air Hollywood in Pacoima, California. And at the time, this company was, I guess, like the go-to location for all things airline related.
53:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was like a set, but for airplanes.
53:24 Speaker 00 Yeah.
53:24 Speaker 01 So if you needed a plane to film, they were ready for you.
53:28 Speaker 00 Yeah. He said they had all these sound stages. They had various aircraft, various airport-related props. They even had like interior airport kind of stuff. So we used the interior of a jet for Michael in business class and Andy and Oscar in coach. He explained that these airplanes can be split down the middle.
53:51 Speaker 01 Yeah. Well, Michael is going to introduce Oscar and Andy, you know, before they go back to coach, to Beth, who he says is his personal valet slash flight attendant, and she's going to be helping him this morning.
54:04 Speaker 00 I love Beth.
54:05 Speaker 01 I love Beth.
54:07 Speaker 00 When I watched it, it reminded me of the woman who played the transcriber in The Deposition.
54:12 Speaker 01 Just no. No nonsense.
54:14 Speaker 00 Just did we hire an actual flight attendant to play this role?
54:18 Speaker 01 She's so like over Michael and the camera.
54:21 Speaker 00 We did not. This is an actress. Her name is Deb Hite. She has been on The Good Place, Barry, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, Baskets, Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation. She's a writer. She has written plays. She has written award-winning pilots, award-winning short films, and she wrote a comedy book about the rivalry between the Alabama-Auburn college football teams called When Mommy Loves Bama and Daddy Loves Auburn. You can find it on Amazon. It's really cute.
54:58 Speaker 01 We were so lucky. We say this every week. Oh, my gosh. We say it every week. But seriously, every single person hired on this show always crushed it and was amazing.
55:08 Speaker 00 My favorite moment is when she slams Michael's leg with the cart.
55:12 Speaker 01 I know.
55:12 Speaker 00 It's
55:14 Speaker 01 It's Steve's reaction, though. Steve's reaction. That was like amazing.
55:19 Speaker 00 It's too good.
55:20 Speaker 01 While Michael's getting his foot run over with the beverage cart, Andy is really trying to bond with Oscar back in coach. This is a deleted scene. It is amazing. It's Oscar the Fun Stopper, guys.
55:35 Speaker 03 Honey roasted peanuts, am I right? I don't understand the question. Yes, you're holding a bag of peanuts. And save that for later.
55:46 Speaker 01 That just made me laugh so hard because Andy's like trying to bond. He's like, honey roasted peanuts.
55:52 Speaker 00 But what are you supposed to say to that?
55:54 Speaker 01 I know, but
55:54 Speaker 00 I'm with Oscar.
55:56 Speaker 01 I know, but this is my point.
55:57 Speaker 00 Yes, you're holding peanuts.
55:59 Speaker 01 I know, but Oscar cannot edit. Like, I think other people would be like, I know, they're really good, you know, or something. But Oscar's just like, I don't understand what you're saying to me.
56:09 Speaker 00 I have to say, I actually really love a honey roasted peanut on an airplane. So I would probably respond, I might actually be Andy in this scenario.
56:20 Speaker 01 I just thought that was really good Oscar the Fun Stopper. But you know, if Oscar's not going to be fun, at least Andy has his DVD player and he's going to watch Harry and the Hendersons.
56:28 Speaker 00 Yeah.
56:29 Speaker 01 I think we should talk about what's happening over at Dunder Mifflin.
56:32 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah. Pam's coming back, which means Ryan is going to have to move into Kelly's nook.
56:38 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
56:39 Speaker 00 Mm hmm. And he's looking for a place he might be able to do his pushups.
56:44 Speaker 01 You need space to do pushups.
56:45 Speaker 00 He does.
56:46 Speaker 01 It's kind of tight and cramped over there, but he's going to try.
56:48 Speaker 00 He's going to find a way. We had a fan question, how many pushups did BJ have to do in this episode? He must have been so sore.
56:56 Speaker 01 I want to hear this because I, as Jenna knows, I texted BJ last night and I said, by the way, I just watched you do a one arm pushup in the business trip. Dang BJ.
57:10 Speaker 00 Well, I texted with BJ about his pushups as well. And he said he doesn't remember how many takes they did, but he said that Mindy definitely wrote this scene. He said, there was a period of time when all the writers were doing pushup contests. And that might have inspired it. But also at the same time, he was in training because he was prepping to do the Tarantino movie in Glorious Bastards.
57:36 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah. He was getting in really good shape for that because he was going to be a soldier.
57:40 Speaker 00 Yeah. So he was doing pushups in the writer's room all the time. He had to literally find room to do pushups at work. So Mindy might've been going off of that as well. But also maybe she just wanted to make BJ have to do a bunch of pushups in a scene.
57:53 Speaker 01 And then a one arm pushup.
57:55 Speaker 00 Yeah. See, that's a moment where if I'm BJ, I'm like, I'm so glad I got that on camera.
58:01 Speaker 01 That I did it.
58:01 Speaker 00 That I could do it. Yeah. I'll always have that. Well, listen, Kelly is claiming she's not impressed. Ryan has hurt her too much. It is not going to happen. No, she is in a healthy relationship with Daryl. That door is closed.
58:15 Speaker 01 Cut to.
58:17 Speaker 00 Major make out.
58:19 Speaker 01 Kissy sounds.
58:20 Speaker 00 Yeah. I could tell.
58:22 Speaker 01 Oh, you could.
58:22 Speaker 00 Yeah.
58:25 Speaker 00 You did it.
58:28 Speaker 00 Back in Winnipeg, the guys are arriving at the hotel.
58:33 Speaker 01 It's so beautiful. Michael says he could live there.
58:35 Speaker 00 We had a fan catch from Tori, Mary, and Katie, who said, "Michael left Dunder Mifflin with multiple suitcases, but he shows up at the hotel with only his carry-on. What happened to his souvenir suitcases?" Well, guys, I'll tell you, they're there. You have to look deep in the background. At 6 minutes 37 seconds, you can see the bellman loading the suitcases onto a trolley.
58:59 Speaker 01 Oh.
59:00 Speaker 00 As Michael goes up.
59:01 Speaker 01 Snap.
59:02 Speaker 00 The escalator.
59:04 Speaker 01 Nice.
59:04 Speaker 00 So don't worry, he has them and he's gonna get those souvenirs.
59:07 Speaker 01 Yeah, they're gonna put them in his room. Jenna, this hotel has something sort of magical about it. Fantastical. It's called a concierge.
59:17 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah.
59:17 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm. I don't know if you've ever heard of it.
59:19 Speaker 00 Oh, yeah.
59:20 Speaker 01 You know, they help you with the fine art of fanciness and pleasure.
59:23 Speaker 00 Mm-hmm. These guys are gonna try it out. They're gonna go over and they're gonna ask her a bunch of questions. And guess what?
59:30 Speaker 01 What?
59:31 Speaker 00 Almost nothing she says is true.
59:34 Speaker 01 But I just love how completely blown away Michael is that she knows restaurants and their street address and the best way to get there. This is mind-blowing to him.
59:44 Speaker 00 This is such a real concierge interaction when she pulls out the map.
59:48 Speaker 01 The map and circles it and then tells them two different routes and two different means of transportation.
59:54 Speaker 00 Perfection.
59:54 Speaker 01 Perfection.
59:55 Speaker 00 But we did have a lot of fans from Winnipeg who wrote in. Again, Kimberly K. said, "Did the writers know that everything Concierge Marie said about Winnipeg is inaccurate? Was this on purpose?"
1:00:10 Speaker 01 Oh.
1:00:11 Speaker 00 Natalie V. said, "The number 17 bus is real, but it runs a lot later than 9:00 PM. It goes till almost 1:00 AM. It wouldn't be the only bus to the Exchange District, which does not exist. I think they meant the Financial District." And then Leah P. said, "We also don't have an Astro Cleaners."
1:00:34 Speaker 01 Or the restaurants, or the bar.
1:00:36 Speaker 00 No, The Huntsman is not a real bar.
1:00:38 Speaker 01 And neither is the sushi place.
1:00:41 Speaker 00 Yes. Well, Angela, we have another story happening in this episode. It's Pam, right?
1:00:48 Speaker 01 It's a big story.
1:00:49 Speaker 00 Well, she's supposed to be coming home from art school, but we're gonna have a phone call between her and Jim, and they're gonna find out some news. She's failing her flash class.
1:00:59 Speaker 01 Yeah, she's gonna have to take it again.
1:01:01 Speaker 00 If she wants to pass art school, she does. That means she has to stay another 12 weeks.
1:01:07 Speaker 01 Is this art school, like, just digital art? Does she get to do any of the art that she's actually really good at?
1:01:13 Speaker 00 I don't know. It seems like this was mostly a graphic design program.
1:01:17 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:18 Speaker 00 Well, I had to cry in this scene. It was in the script that I'm holding back tears. And there's a lot that is coming down on Pam right now. She's dealing with the fact that she didn't complete this course and the idea of being away from Jim even longer. But I had something else that I was playing. We'll get to it.
1:01:38 Speaker 01 Okay. Well, I thought it was a very moving scene, and it just reminds me of those moments, you guys, when life happens, even though everything around you just keeps moving on. So Pam is sitting down. It's like a busy stairwell. People are going up and down, and she's having a life moment.
1:01:54 Speaker 00 Yeah.
1:01:55 Speaker 01 I thought that was very relatable. Well, Jenna, back in Winnipeg, the fellows are gonna arrive at Huntsman Bar.
1:02:02 Speaker 00 Yes, we shot these scenes at the Seven Grand Bar and Grill in Los Angeles.
1:02:08 Speaker 01 Did you notice at 9 minutes 20 seconds what the chalkboard says at the Huntsman?
1:02:12 Speaker 00 No.
1:02:13 Speaker 01 This is what it says. Welcome to the Huntsman. Enjoy, quote, "pub hour" all night. Sunday and Monday, 5 to 7 p.m. No creeps allowed.
1:02:24 Speaker 00 Oh, wow. Get out, creeps.
1:02:27 Speaker 01 Get out, creeps. And I have a background catch. Again, I was hungry as I watched this episode.
1:02:33 Speaker 00 The chips.
1:02:34 Speaker 01 The chips, you guys.
1:02:36 Speaker 00 The chips that Phil Shea got are at the bar.
1:02:39 Speaker 01 Yes, and I think I can see the ketchup flavored chips. They're in a red and white.
1:02:44 Speaker 00 Ketchup flavor.
1:02:45 Speaker 01 Oh, yes, lady. Why do I do that with my voice?
1:02:49 Speaker 00 Have you eaten them?
1:02:50 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:02:51 Speaker 00 I've never heard of this item.
1:02:52 Speaker 01 Well, I worked in Canada for a bit, you know, and I have had these ketchup chips. Jenna, they're so good. Listen to how they're described on the internet. They are the perfect balance of a delightful old Dutch chip layered with that lovely ketchup flavor you desire.
1:03:07 Speaker 00 But I don't desire a ketchup flavor on my potato chips.
1:03:10 Speaker 01 Well, it might change your mind. I'm just telling you.
1:03:13 Speaker 00 Maybe I will. Chip people, old Dutch chip people, will you send me a ketchup chip?
1:03:18 Speaker 01 Oh, my gosh, get ready. But listen, make sure some come my way.
1:03:23 Speaker 00 You got it.
1:03:24 Speaker 01 They're tangy. They're delicious.
1:03:26 Speaker 00 Okay. Guess who else is at the bar? Concierge Marie.
1:03:31 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:03:31 Speaker 00 Michael is, um, how you say, so excited to see her.
1:03:35 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:03:36 Speaker 00 How do you say it?
1:03:37 Speaker 01 How do you say it? Andy's gonna bring him two glasses of wine.
1:03:41 Speaker 00 Mm-hmm. He's gonna get things started.
1:03:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:03:44 Speaker 00 He's also gonna try to get things started for Oscar and a couple of gentlemen sitting at a table nearby.
1:03:49 Speaker 01 That's right. He says to the bartender, Mademoiselle, bear me, dos Long Island iced teas, si vous plaît. Bad decision in a glass.
1:03:58 Speaker 00 It is a bad decision in a glass.
1:04:00 Speaker 01 Horrible decision.
1:04:01 Speaker 00 You know how you've had a volcano and you did the splits?
1:04:04 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:04:04 Speaker 00 I had some Long Island iced teas.
1:04:07 Speaker 01 Where?
1:04:07 Speaker 00 In the Bahamas on spring break with my friends. I've never had one before. I wasn't 21 yet, but in the Bahamas, you can drink when you're 18. We went to the casino and they just give them to you free if you sit at the slot machines.
1:04:24 Speaker 01 I have not.
1:04:25 Speaker 00 All of this was like, what is happening?
1:04:27 Speaker 01 I have not had a Long Island iced tea. I've had the volcano, but it's just the same thing. They just dump a bunch of booze in it, right?
1:04:33 Speaker 00 It's like seven or eight different liquors.
1:04:35 Speaker 01 Ugh.
1:04:36 Speaker 00 Tasty, went down easy.
1:04:38 Speaker 01 Well, yeah.
1:04:39 Speaker 00 Then a lot of vomiting.
1:04:41 Speaker 01 A lot of vomiting.
1:04:42 Speaker 00 Well, we got a fan question about this scene from Evan L. At 11 minutes, 14 seconds, Andy says, "You will thank me when they spank thee."
1:04:52 Speaker 01 Mm-hmm.
1:04:53 Speaker 00 And he wants to know who came up with that line.
1:04:55 Speaker 01 Can I guess?
1:04:56 Speaker 00 Sure.
1:04:57 Speaker 01 Lee or Jean?
1:04:59 Speaker 00 That's a good guess. It's in the script and I asked Brent Forrester about it and he said he is the author of the "thank me, spank thee" line. He said, "There are few things more fun than writing a rhyming punchline for the Andy character." He said he got a little bit too into writing rhyming punchlines for Ed that season. He said that one day in the writers' room, he pitched a line where Andy refers to his quote, "Backup snack pack backpack."
1:05:33 Speaker 00 And he said at that point, the writers forbid him from writing any more rhyming punchlines for the rest of the year.
1:05:39 Speaker 01 I wonder if he wrote nifty gifties?
1:05:41 Speaker 00 He might have.
1:05:43 Speaker 01 Oh, Brent, that's so good.
1:05:44 Speaker 00 Well, guess what? They're not gonna spank him.
1:05:49 Speaker 01 They're not.
1:05:50 Speaker 00 They turn him down.
1:05:51 Speaker 01 And Oscar and Andy now drink the Long Island iced teas, which is gonna lead to some trouble.
1:05:56 Speaker 00 Some real trouble because Oscar says to Andy, what do you see in Angela?
1:06:02 Speaker 01 And again, I was hungry as I watched this. So at 12 minutes, 17 seconds, I can see another bag of Old Dutch potato chips sitting next to Oscar's arm on the bar. They're the green and white bag. You know what that means?
1:06:15 Speaker 00 Sour cream and onion?
1:06:16 Speaker 01 They are the dill pickle chips.
1:06:19 Speaker 00 What?
1:06:20 Speaker 01 Yep. Described on the internet.
1:06:22 Speaker 00 Do they make any regular flavors?
1:06:24 Speaker 01 They do. I'm telling you, these chips are so good.
1:06:27 Speaker 00 You've had the dill pickle ones?
1:06:29 Speaker 01 I have sampled. You know, like on set, we would have a whole bunch of bags of chips. They're real salty and I liked it.
1:06:36 Speaker 00 I guess I'm a chip traditionalist.
1:06:38 Speaker 01 You know what? You need to be a chip traveler.
1:06:40 Speaker 00 All right.
1:06:41 Speaker 01 You need to try some international chips.
1:06:43 Speaker 00 I'll try them.
1:06:44 Speaker 01 Well, the dill ones are real salty.
1:06:46 Speaker 00 Mmm hmm. I do like a pickle.
1:06:49 Speaker 01 I know. But anyway, Andy drunk dials Angela. This is a huge mistake.
1:06:57 Speaker 00 Oh, my goodness.
1:06:58 Speaker 01 He says, you know what? We're gonna discuss this. We will discuss this naked.
1:07:02 Speaker 00 But then there's a voice in the background. I mean, she's with Dwight.
1:07:07 Speaker 01 Of course she is.
1:07:08 Speaker 00 Yeah. But somehow Andy doesn't totally register it.
1:07:13 Speaker 01 He's had a Long Island iced tea.
1:07:15 Speaker 00 Several, I think, at this point.
1:07:17 Speaker 01 Yeah. And guess what? Michael and concierge Marie, they're clicking. They're gonna leave. They're gonna smooch outside in the alley. And we asked Wendy about this, about kissing Steve. And here's what she had to say. I was super nervous to kiss Steve Carell. I was so nervous that I was practically...
1:07:40 Speaker 02 Going into convulsions, but I did it and it was great and I highly recommend it.
1:07:49 Speaker 00 She highly recommends.
1:07:50 Speaker 01 Oh, well.
1:07:51 Speaker 00 They're not just gonna kiss outside the hotel. All right, we are gonna cut to Michael being sort of shoved out of her.
1:08:00 Speaker 01 Room 887.
1:08:02 Speaker 00 Yeah, without his shoes.
1:08:04 Speaker 01 Barefoot, he's shuffling down the hall.
1:08:06 Speaker 00 I know.
1:08:07 Speaker 01 And then she's like, wait, you forgot your shoes. Only she says nothing. She just sets them out and quickly shuts the door.
1:08:13 Speaker 00 Well, that kind of wraps up Concierge Marie. We had to ask Wendy if she ever gets recognized for being on the show. And here's what she said.
1:08:23 Speaker 02 Yes, so many times. I'm so surprised at that because I was, you know, barely in it, but you know, that just speaks to the reach and the popularity of the office.
1:08:35 Speaker 00 I read a fun fact about Wendy.
1:08:37 Speaker 01 Yes, you did. Share it, Jenna. It's so good.
1:08:39 Speaker 00 Okay, Wendy was the editor for California State University's Academic Journal of Social Work. This was her day job before she hit it big as an actress, but even after she was working all the time, she kept her job until 2012. Bridesmaids came out in 2011. So even after bridesmaids, she was still editing this journal of social work and we had to ask her about it. Here's what she said.
1:09:10 Speaker 02 It is true that while I was building my acting career and, you know, doing pretty well, that I kept my side job at Cal State Long Beach. I was an assistant editor for a social work journal. I did that for 12 years, all through Reno 911, all through, you know, all these movies that I did, Rules of Engagement, and right up until The Goldbergs. And the only reason I'm not doing it anymore is because the journal folded. It went out of business. But it was a great job. It was like not even 20 hours a week. I could do it from wherever I was.
1:09:49 Speaker 02 And it was all about, you know, people in the social work profession. And let's be honest, those people deserve a lot of credit for what they do. They don't get recognized enough.
1:09:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, it was great and I loved doing it. I loved my original boss who used to come and see my shows at the Groundlings. Like she was just so super supportive that she said, "Please don't ever quit." So I kept my word and I stayed until the very end. See what I was saying about amazing human being?
1:10:18 Speaker 01 I love her. You know, that was so moving to me when I heard it. My niece is a social worker.
1:10:23 Speaker 00 Mm hmm.
1:10:24 Speaker 01 I'm just always, you know, honestly, guys, I'm lifting her up in prayer all the time because it's not an easy job and I'm thankful that we have people that have a passion for helping others in that way.
1:10:36 Speaker 00 Yeah, it's not an easy job because sometimes you have to see and confront real hard things.
1:10:41 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:10:42 Speaker 00 And then you have to hold that.
1:10:44 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:10:45 Speaker 00 Yeah. Well, as if you needed another reason to love Wendy, I would also like to share that in 2009, 2010, and 2011, she rang in the new year, performing at military bases in Iraq and Kuwait. And she went to the smaller bases that a lot of people didn't go to that kind of rarely get entertainment.
1:11:06 Speaker 01 Love that.
1:11:07 Speaker 00 Love you.
1:11:08 Speaker 01 Wendy, thank you so much. It was so great to reconnect with you.
1:11:12 Speaker 00 Thanks for sharing your memories of The Office.
1:11:15 Speaker 01 You guys, you can find Wendy in so many places. She's so talented. She has a podcast called Generation Ripe. It is for teenagers over 40.
1:11:24 Speaker 00 Hmm.
1:11:25 Speaker 01 It's described as, "A Generation Ripe listener is someone who thinks of their age as an asset, not a liability. We are older people with young souls or younger people with old souls." Of course, she's on The Goldbergs. They're about to start season nine. She's on a Marvel series on Hulu called Modak and just tons of other things, you guys. And you can find her on Instagram at Wendy McLendon Covey.
1:11:49 Speaker 00 Yes. Let's see, where should we go? It's the next day.
1:11:54 Speaker 01 Ooh, people are hungover.
1:11:55 Speaker 00 Very hungover. Andy does not remember calling Angela.
1:12:01 Speaker 01 I know.
1:12:02 Speaker 00 Oh, no.
1:12:04 Speaker 01 Oh.
1:12:04 Speaker 00 Michael is very melancholy.
1:12:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:12:07 Speaker 00 And he has to go sell paper at Catalyst Paper, which I looked it up.
1:12:13 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:12:14 Speaker 00 It's a real Canadian paper company, but it looks like its headquarters is based in Richmond, British Columbia, which is over on the West Coast. I could not find a Winnipeg branch.
1:12:27 Speaker 01 I mean, if you couldn't, I doubt it's there.
1:12:29 Speaker 00 David Wallace calls to congratulate Michael because he did it. He got the sale. Michael is mad.
1:12:37 Speaker 01 Yeah, because he's realized that this trip was a Band-Aid to try to help his feelings about Holly being transferred. He's upset.
1:12:45 Speaker 00 And he tells him off.
1:12:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:12:47 Speaker 00 I have a location breakdown.
1:12:50 Speaker 01 Why do you say it like that?
1:12:51 Speaker 00 I don't know.
1:12:52 Speaker 01 You said it like sad sack. You said it like this. I have a location breakdown.
1:12:56 Speaker 00 Well, I'm sad with Michael.
1:12:58 Speaker 01 Oh.
1:12:58 Speaker 00 Yeah. For the Winnipeg airport for these scenes, we used Terminal Number Two at LAX. Randy let me know that there was an area that was out of service at that time and that our location manager, Kyle Alexander, was able to get an agreement from the LAX airport to let us film there.
1:13:18 Speaker 01 That's like unheard of.
1:13:19 Speaker 00 Well.
1:13:20 Speaker 01 LAX does not let you film. Like, they are hardcore.
1:13:23 Speaker 00 Well, especially after 9/11. They had incredibly strict airport security. So we were only allowed a very small number of cast and crew and extras. Everybody had to submit credentials very far in advance and had to be screened.
1:13:40 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:13:41 Speaker 00 So he said they had to create what they called a microunit. That's how small it was. He said that the airplanes outside the window were not Air Canada planes. They had to paint over the logos using visual effects during post-production. And so they put the red maple leaf on the tail of one of the planes.
1:14:03 Speaker 01 Hmm.
1:14:03 Speaker 00 We could only afford to do one plane. If you look over Michael's shoulder, it's on the left.
1:14:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, I saw it.
1:14:10 Speaker 00 Well, before we get to this big business with Jim and Pam, we should probably let you know that Kelly is going to break up with Daryl.
1:14:19 Speaker 01 I mean, Ryan has a text ready to go. They just have to hit send together. And I think, what does Ryan? What? Does he want Daryl to come upstairs and make a scene? What does Ryan want? He wants to be the other guy.
1:14:32 Speaker 00 Yeah, he wants a reaction out of Daryl. Daryl seems relieved. He's whistling as he walks to his car.
1:14:40 Speaker 01 He responds immediately. Okay, cool. And then literally is like doing a dance to his pickup truck.
1:14:45 Speaker 00 Yeah.
1:14:45 Speaker 01 He's like, whoo, thank you, Ryan.
1:14:49 Speaker 00 And that then, of course, immediately makes Ryan less interested in this relationship.
1:14:54 Speaker 01 And here we go. And they're back.
1:14:56 Speaker 00 All right, Jim is gonna leave.
1:14:59 Speaker 01 And again, you guys have this Jim and Pam scene at that golden hour. Your hair is sparkling with sunshine. It's like that sunset scene in the parking lot. You couldn't look cuter.
1:15:10 Speaker 00 I know.
1:15:11 Speaker 01 I thought this scene was really sweet.
1:15:14 Speaker 00 Yeah, Pam is standing in the parking lot and Jim says, what are you doing here? Because he had told her on the phone, when you come back, you're gonna come back the right way.
1:15:25 Speaker 01 Right. And he's supportive. If she wants to take the class again, they'll get through it.
1:15:28 Speaker 00 Yes, that the right way to come back is for her to come back having graduated from art school. So Pam's standing there and she says, I'm coming back the wrong way.
1:15:40 Speaker 01 But she's okay with it. She's happy about it. She missed Granton. She missed Jim. She actually hated the graphic design school.
1:15:49 Speaker 00 Yeah, she tells Jim, this isn't really what I wanted to do.
1:15:53 Speaker 01 But she had to go to find that out.
1:15:55 Speaker 00 She did. You know, we had a question from Evan L. Why did the writers have Pam fail art school?
1:16:02 Speaker 01 Well, that's a good question, Evan.
1:16:04 Speaker 00 I asked Brent Forrester about it. He said that the story of Pam failing art school and coming back, quote, "the wrong way" was a pitch from Jen Salata. Brent said, "I have a daughter," and he said, "I'm a big fat feminist," that's a quote. And the idea that Pam would give up on her dreams to be with a man really rubbed him the wrong way. But that Jen Salata absolutely insisted that the romantic power of this gesture outweighed any politics.
1:16:36 Speaker 00 And also that the truth for Pam was not that she was giving up on her dreams for Jim, but that she was distinguishing what her real dreams were. And I really liked that because I think what Pam did here in going to graphic design school was that she was taking her real dream of being a creative artist. And she was doing what a lot of artists do, and she was trying to find a practical application.
1:17:08 Speaker 01 Right. How can I sort of do art but make a living?
1:17:10 Speaker 00 Yeah. Yes, exactly. But, you know, I mean, people go into graphic design when they're passionate about graphic design. It's not some backup job, right? And the truth is, is that Pam discovered she does not have a passion for graphic design. And that's sort of what I had in my head when I was doing that scene on the phone with Jim and Pam's crying. Pam is realizing that even if she did pass the course, this isn't for her. But she's also embarrassed that she failed. But what she definitely does not want to do is spend 12 more weeks studying something she doesn't love.
1:17:48 Speaker 01 For me, in that moment, I just saw Pam stating her truth. And I always think that's so powerful.
1:17:54 Speaker 00 Yeah.
1:17:55 Speaker 01 There is a very sweet deleted scene, you guys, with Jim and Pam. It's in the break room. And you know what? I'm titling it.
1:18:03 Speaker 00 What?
1:18:04 Speaker 01 Love in the Break Room.
1:18:06 Speaker 00 What is it?
1:18:07 Speaker 01 Pam is showing Jim her art assignment. She has this portfolio, and she's showing him the piece that she got an F on.
1:18:15 Speaker 00 Oh, I remember shooting this now. Yes.
1:18:18 Speaker 01 Yes.
1:18:18 Speaker 00 Oh, I remember it.
1:18:20 Speaker 01 It's really sweet. And as he goes through her art assignments, in the back tucked in the binder is a sketch pad. And he's like, what is this? And she said, oh, you know, just sketches of things I would see in New York. And when you look at them, Jenna, and I'll put it in stories, it's like people sitting at a cafe, things she might have seen on her walk. And they're really good. And this is such a wonderful moment. I wish it had stayed in. Sam, can you play the clip?
1:18:50 Speaker 07 Before we start, how did you fail? You're good at art. See?
1:18:57 Speaker 00 Yeah, we had to make a logo for a coffee company.
1:18:59 Speaker 07 Well, that's nice.
1:19:00 Speaker 00 This is the one that got an A. The teacher handed it out. And this is mine.
1:19:04 Speaker 07 Well, that's cool.
1:19:05 Speaker 00 I couldn't get it to print out right, so I got an F.
1:19:07 Speaker 07 I would have given you a D. That's only because we're sleeping with a feather. These are cool. What's this?
1:19:15 Speaker 00 That's my sketchbook. It's just, you know, stuff I saw in New York, people in the subway.
1:19:20 Speaker 07 Whoa. This is great. So much different than your other work. Wow, Pam. That is awesome.
1:19:30 Speaker 00 Yeah?
1:19:33 Speaker 07 Yeah.
1:19:35 Speaker 00 Oh, I wish that had stayed in.
1:19:36 Speaker 01 It's a really sweet scene, and I feel like it just shows what Pam did get out of New York. And I really wish it had been in the episode.
1:19:46 Speaker 00 I agree, because I don't think Pam's art story is over yet. You know, she did not have the benefit of, I think, parents or role models who encouraged her to follow this piece of herself. And she only finally does now have that person in Jim. So she's gonna have to take her art journey at the same time as her romantic journey.
1:20:14 Speaker 01 Well, I'm gonna put that scene in stories, because it's really sweet.
1:20:17 Speaker 00 I loved it.
1:20:18 Speaker 01 I did, too.
1:20:19 Speaker 00 Well, that kind of wraps up this episode.
1:20:21 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:20:22 Speaker 00 Thank you to everyone who helped us make this episode. Brent Forrester, Randy Cordray, Wendy McLendon-Covey, and Rich Sommer. Thanks for coming on for an interview. It takes a village.
1:20:34 Speaker 01 It does, and thank you to you guys for sending in awesome questions and Winnipeg trivia.
1:20:39 Speaker 00 Yes.
1:20:40 Speaker 01 Some last parting advice. According to Andy, Long Island iced teas are way stronger in Canada. So be careful the next time you order one of those.
1:20:50 Speaker 00 Yes.
1:20:51 Speaker 01 All right, you guys. Well, that was Business Trip, and we will be seeing you next week.
1:20:56 Speaker 00 Yeah, see you next week.
1:21:01 Speaker 00 Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.
1:21:04 Speaker 01 This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.
1:21:08 Speaker 00 Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle.
1:21:15 Speaker 01 Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.
1:21:18 Speaker 00 Our audio engineer is Sam Pfeifer.
1:21:20 Speaker 01 Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese-Dennis.
1:21:24 Speaker 00 Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
1:21:27 Speaker 01 Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.
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