Second Drink: Casual Friday

This week we’re breaking down “Casual Friday”, and the ladies talk with the actor behind the famous chili cold open, Brain Baumgartner! Brian, who played Kevin Malone, shares how he got his role and what it was like to play this oddball accountant. Afterwards the ladies discuss the. episode. Michael is back as the Dunder Mifflin manager of the Scranton branch and he reinstates Casual Friday. He also seems to be giving preferential treatment to Pam and Ryan causing resentment among some of the other employees. Kate Flannery sends in a clip about her famous wardrobe malfunction, Angela shares a deleted scene where Creed reveals what he calls the breakroom, and Jenna does an amazing deep dive on invisible ink. This is a great episode, the trick is to undercook the onions. Check out Brian Baumgartner’s new book “Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of the Office”: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/welcome-to-dunder-mifflin-brian-baumgartnerben-silverman?variant=33080663080994 Take writing classes with Brent Forrester: https://www.brentforrester.com Check out “Baking with Josh and Ange”: https://www.bakingwithjoshandange.com 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

• 0:02Speaker 00

  Welcome to our second drink of Casual Friday. So you guys, we thought we had covered this episode really well. But then, as we dug around into, you know, looking at Casual Friday for these second drinks, we found so much more.

• 0:16Speaker 01

  Yes, so much more that we actually decided to do a whole episode. It aired in early August called More Casual Friday. It's episode 304 on Office Lady 6.0.

• 0:30Speaker 00

  And I mean, that's about it, guys. Between this and More Casual Friday, there you go. That's your second drink. We're just letting you know. There's a whole extra episode. So listen to this original breakdown and then you can go check out more on More Casual Friday.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  Enjoy.

• 0:50Speaker 01

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 0:51Speaker 00

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 0:52Speaker 01

  We were on The Office together.

• 0:54Speaker 00

  And we're best friends.

• 0:55Speaker 01

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

• 0:59Speaker 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.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  We're the Office ladies.

• 1:10Speaker 01

  Hello, everybody.

• 1:11Speaker 00

  Hello. Are you in your comfy pants? Do you have on a t-shirt and maybe some flip flops?

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Why are you saying these things?

• 1:18Speaker 00

  Because it's

• 1:19Speaker 01

  You can see me.

• 1:20Speaker 00

  I'm talking to you guys out there.

• 1:23Speaker 01

  Oh, because it's Casual Friday.

• 1:25Speaker 00

  Because it's Casual Friday.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Why didn't I dress more casually today?

• 1:30Speaker 00

  I don't know. You look real spiffy.

• 1:32Speaker 01

  Well, I know why, because we have a special guest.

• 1:35Speaker 00

  We do.

• 1:36Speaker 01

  Let's start by saying that Casual Friday is season five, episode 26.

• 1:41Speaker 00

  Dang.

• 1:43Speaker 01

  It was written by Anthony Farrell and directed by Brent Forrester.

• 1:46Speaker 00

  Little tidbit.

• 1:48Speaker 01

  What is it?

• 1:48Speaker 00

  Editor was Claire Scanlon and our DP was Matt Stone.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  Hey, I like this team.

• 1:55Speaker 00

  I do, too. And it was the first time this team had worked together on an episode.

• 1:59Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:00Speaker 01

  They did a good job.

• 2:01Speaker 00

  They did.

• 2:02Speaker 01

  Here's your summary. It is Casual Friday at Dunder Mifflin.

• 2:06Speaker 00

  Finally.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  It has been reinstated. Michael is back. He's the manager. It's Casual Friday again. But some of the employees are taking a few too many liberties with their outfit choices. Like Angela's not happy.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Angela doesn't need to see a grown man's feet, probably ever.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  I'm surprised that we didn't see bare feet on Kevin as well.

• 2:29Speaker 00

  Well, yeah.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  But here's the thing. The sales team is resentful that Pam and Ryan came on as new salespeople and that they get to keep the clients that they stole from everybody else while they were working at Michael Scott Paper Company.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  I mean, that's just awkward.

• 2:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. So there's a bit of a rivalry that's going to happen on this episode today.

• 2:51Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  But first, there's a pretty big thing that kicks off this episode.

• 2:56Speaker 00

  This is an epic cold open.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  It's the Chili Spill cold open.

• 3:01Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. Kevin's recipe, the pride he takes in it. He tries to make it up the stairs. He does. And what happens?

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Oh, boy.

• 3:09Speaker 00

  Oh, boy.

• 3:10Speaker 01

  Well, we felt like this was the perfect opportunity to speak to the man behind the chili, Brian Baumgartner.

• 3:17Speaker 00

  That's right. Brian is our fast fact one, two, and three today.

• 3:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:22Speaker 00

  We can't wait to talk to him.

• 3:23Speaker 01

  All right, here he is.

• 3:28Speaker 00

  Brian.

• 3:29Speaker 01

  Brian Baumgartner. Hello.

• 3:32Speaker 02

  What is happening? I'm so happy to be with you guys.

• 3:38Speaker 01

  Look at you, buddy. You have a plant. I love that you have a plant.

• 3:42Speaker 02

  I was told that brings humanity and warmth.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 3:46Speaker 02

  So.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  What is the award that's over your shoulder?

• 3:49Speaker 02

  You know what? No one has ever asked that in all of the Zooms I've been doing for a year and a half. Truly, it always made me laugh. I don't have my college diploma, but I'll read, I have Penn Foster College, a certificate of completion, which I always thought was a good joke for Kevin Malone in accounting.

• 4:12Speaker 00

  Oh, that is awesome.

• 4:15Speaker 02

  A certificate of completion. Maybe all diplomas say that, but I thought, oh, it's they're, they're doing a little funny joke. Like, it's not really a degree in accounting. He took a weekend course.

• 4:27Speaker 00

  He has a piece of paper for participating. Well, listen, we are here to talk about The Office with you and obviously about this amazing cold open. But Brian, we always ask our guests, how did you get your job on The Office?

• 4:40Speaker 02

  I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard. No.

• 4:43Speaker 00

  Oh, I like the start of that.

• 4:44Speaker 02

  No, I feel like my story is always seems like a humble brag or something. But my truth is, I, I moved to Los Angeles and I considered it my job to just watch television. And so I started watching television shows because I was like, well, if I get an audition on this show, don't I need to know what's the style? What's the form?

• 5:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:09Speaker 02

  How do the characters generally behave? So I started watching television and I watched this show called The Office, the British version of The Office. And I had started working with a manager and I called him and I said, if there is a show that is, that is going to be on television, because they announced they were doing a pilot, I was like, this is the show for me. And I had an agent at the time and the agent who I called and said the same thing to said, well, they're looking for unknown people, but not like you unknown, not like totally unknown. I was like, all right, thank you very much.

• 5:50Speaker 00

  Thanks a lot.

• 5:52Speaker 02

  But my manager called and called and called Allison Jones and I went in and I met with Phyllis and I read. And then she passed me over to Allison Jones and I read with her and I got an appointment for the role of Stanley. And I knew that was not the part for me. I knew that the part for me was, in the British version, his name was Keith. And I was like, that, I get that comedy. So I went into this big call and I read the role of Stanley as though I were Kevin.

• 6:29Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  So smart, Brian.

• 6:32Speaker 02

  Well, or it could have been a disaster. It could have been like, what?

• 6:36Speaker 00

  Smart now.

• 6:39Speaker 02

  But, right. So I went, I was there at the same time. Oscar Nunez was there and Leslie David Baker were there. I can't remember who else, but I know that they were there. And so I did it. They said, thank you. And I left and thought, well, that was a failed experiment. And Allison Jones ran down the hall. She said, hey, you know, they actually want to look at this other character. And I, in my head, I went, bingo. And went in, read that. And, and that's, that's how it happened.

• 7:16Speaker 01

  But you never said, Allison, I think I'd be a better fit for Kevin. Would you give me a shot at it? You just took this risk of reading Stanley like Kevin.

• 7:28Speaker 02

  Yes. Because, well, because again, I was totally unknown, right?

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:32Speaker 02

  I didn't have, I didn't have the experience. I mean, now, of course, that's what I would do. But yeah, no, I didn't. I didn't, I was, you know, happy to have an opportunity. You know, I had just moved to Los Angeles a few months before.

• 7:46Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 7:47Speaker 02

  That.

• 7:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, I knew that. I knew that. Because the first day on set, when we got to know each other, just briefly chatting, Oscar and I were sort of commiserating about how many years we'd been out here plugging away. And we're like, what about you, Brian? And he was like, I've lived here like eight weeks. We're like, what? I've been here two months. We're like, holy crap.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  Well, the thing that's like, standing out to me are the number of people who came in for a role other than the one they wound up in. Angela, you first came in for Pam, but then also Ed originally auditioned for Michael Scott. John was brought in to play Dwight.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  Yeah. And Rain auditioned for Michael Scott as well.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  I know. That's crazy. A lot of people.

• 8:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  I feel like on the set, you and John Krasinski were pretty good buds.

• 8:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, you guys became good pals.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  And the four of us, I would say, you and John, me and Angela, we could often be found in John Krasinski's trailer during lunchtime. You guys had some heated Madden football matches. I mean, for years.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  Now, I hear people talking about, you know, what a family we were and the, and the crew and the cast. And all of that, by the way, is true. But then undoubtedly someone will mention like lunch and at lunch, you know, you would sit with this person. I didn't sit with anyone. John Krasinski and I played Madden football in his trailer essentially every single.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  It was weird.

• 9:23Speaker 00

  We could hear you guys.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  Obsession.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  If we walked past the trailer at lunch, you could literally hear like, ah, come on.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  Sometimes you would let Rain play.

• 9:33Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  But it seemed like begrudgingly. You'd be like, oh, I guess we have to let someone else play. But it was the two of you. And I would like to know, are you willing to go on record and say who was better? Because I have a memory of who was better. Who do you think was better?

• 9:52Speaker 02

  I, well, if I say that we were even, that sounds like I'm hedging. But I do, we kind of, we both had teams that if we were allowed on that day to play those teams, the other person couldn't beat us. Mine, weird, I wasn't a fan, was the Chargers. And so this is all great. They called it the Gates play. Listen, if you ever play old Madden and Antonio Gates in the scene, it's a touchdown every time. So, yeah, I, there's a pro tip for you, old Madden players. Yeah, that's what I would say. He would get mad when he lost. I will say that. He would get

• 10:36Speaker 02

  way more mad than I would.

• 10:38Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. And then grumpy.

• 10:40Speaker 00

  Grumpers.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Because I was gonna say, Brian, I think you were the better player. My memory from the lunches where I watched you guys play was you winning and then John getting pissed.

• 10:52Speaker 00

  That's your, that's what you held on to. Well, I remember you guys doing the Dunder Mifflin Fantasy Football League, which is still going strong. I have been told this week standings are that, this week standings are that John is in fourth, Rain is in fifth, and Brian, you're in ninth.

• 11:12Speaker 02

  So here's the thing. I played Rain this week. And by the way, when you all hear this, it'll be that stands will be different. Spoiler alert. Um, I lost to Rain this week by a point. And it flipped everything. So yeah, I'm, I'm in, I'm in trouble, but I, I think I'm four and four. Uh, Rain is, I think, five and three. So like, it literally flipped everything.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  I was going through our fan mail, Brian, and a frequently asked question was about your voice, because you very much do not sound like Kevin in real life. And people were curious, how did you develop this voice for the character of Kevin?

• 11:59Speaker 02

  Well, look, I, okay, so going back, um, and my manager and I, who I'm still with now, all of these years later, we still have this joke. So the casting notice about Kevin was the following, and I know it's true because I've said it so many times. The only thing remarkable about Kevin is that he is remarkably unremarkable. And so our joke is always like, my manager saying to Alison Jones and everyone, you've got to meet this guy. He is so unremarkable. He is just

• 12:39Speaker 02

  the most unremarkable. Um, so that's really where it started, which again, really came from the character of Keith in the British version. I was like a, a theater actor, right? Like, for me, the construction of character, that's what I feel like I did, right? So I wasn't really an improv guy. It was for me about, about the character. And so for me, it's not like putting on a voice, uh, but it's really about the body, the way the body moves. I know this, many people are turning off the show right now.

• 13:18Speaker 00

  Jenna is right now, you should see Jenna.

• 13:19Speaker 01

  I'm on the edge of my seat.

• 13:21Speaker 00

  You are speaking to her theater nerd heart?

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  I love it. I'm hearing you. Your bot, you created your character in your body and that body placement informed your voice. So it came from the whole body. It didn't start just in your throat.

• 13:39Speaker 02

  Correct. And, and, and, and, and the way, and, and the way of speaking sort of becomes sort of a manifestation of that, right? But for Kevin, my idea was two things. One is that he's not aware of his size in space. So hence me like bumping into Angela, right? There's no, that, that was one thing. And the second thing was that if you imagine my torso, right? He didn't rotate his hips side to side. So if he needed to, to look in one direction, right? His whole body then would have to turn like shuffle step to go in, in that direction. But let me be clear, there was a progression to the, to the development of the character

• 14:20Speaker 02

  too, right? And so I get asked sometimes like, hmm, your voice kind of changed from, you know, season one and, and, and, and through the show. And so, uh, my justification was, um, in season one, Kevin was very, very nervous and scared of the cameras. And so when the cameras were around, he retreated into his shell like a turtle. And then as he became more comfortable, or became even friendly with some of the crew, more of his true personality came out.

• 14:54Speaker 00

  Oh, I like that.

• 14:56Speaker 01

  I like that too. I think that's very good. Well, listen, should we talk about this famous chili cold open?

• 15:03Speaker 00

  I mean, Brian, we have got to, I brought my Kevin's chili mug. I am here for it.

• 15:08Speaker 01

  I brought chili for lunch today.

• 15:11Speaker 00

  Did you really?

• 15:12Speaker 01

  I did. If you can believe it. That's how on brand we are today.

• 15:17Speaker 00

  So, so many people wrote in about this cold open, Brian. It is so beloved, as you know.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  But it is also only 36 seconds long. I clocked it. And here is how it is described on Dunderpedia, which I thought was kind of amazing. It says, "The cold open with Kevin's chili has become one of the iconic moments of the show. It takes a low status character, offers him a high status moment, and then mercilessly takes it away. People relate to the moment of private embarrassment and the desperation of trying to rescue something that cannot be saved. The scene teeters between comedy and heartbreak."

• 16:03Speaker 00

  In 36 seconds. Yeah.

• 16:06Speaker 02

  You know, people come up to me all the time. That's the moment that, that more often than not is, is referred to. And I, there are now for me, two types of people. There are some people who are like, "Oh my God, that is so hilarious. I love it." And then there are people who say like, "I can't watch it. It breaks my heart. I feel so bad for Kevin." Now, I think in truth, it's somewhere in the middle. Like, I think that, I think that there's both. I think, you know, there's some physical comedy, but I think with a heartbreaking moment. Um, I, I never knew, I mean, never could have imagined that that one moment that was shot alone with nobody else

• 16:50Speaker 02

  around, uh, would, would become what it has today.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  Well, we got a fan mail flurry of emails, I dare say blizzard.

• 17:03Speaker 00

  This is, by the way, this is Jenna terminology. She has a few.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  I've coined some phrases.

• 17:09Speaker 00

  You have, we both have, but the fan mail flurry slash blizzard.

• 17:14Speaker 02

  Fan mail flurry.

• 17:15Speaker 01

  Uh, what can you tell us about shooting this? Because it is just a voiceover with your action of carrying this big pot of beloved chili up some stairs. You're bringing it into the office. It's, we're told this is an annual event. You've brought in your chili and then it spills everywhere and you try desperately to clean it up. How did you do it?

• 17:43Speaker 02

  I'm tremendously proud of this now. The, the actual, uh, main portion was, was one take.

• 17:50Speaker 00

  The spill? That's what we heard. One take.

• 17:54Speaker 02

  The spill was one take. So they had done obviously some prep, right? Because this was going to be a mess. There was no question this was going to be a mess. And we'd rehearsed it, how it was going to go. Obviously, it was all about the moment of spill having that look and feel as realistic as possible, right? And that it happened in the, you know, we didn't have marks on the show, but it happened in generally the correct place for the cameras to be able to pick that up, right? So Phil Shea came to me like, kind of like a secret, like back channel meeting. And he says, um, all right, so just so you know, we, we only have three

• 18:36Speaker 02

  pieces of carpet. So we can't, we can't do any more than that. And the carpet, in case there was an accident, was from the front door around, let's call it Pam's reception desk, all the way to the Dwight and Jim clump. I mean, it was a huge piece of the carpet that replicated the carpet that existed there and that they laid down and tacked in and made it appear as though that was the carpet. And they said they had three pieces of it and that was it. So we needed to go. So what I have said to many people is that that was all planned for. Cleaning me wasn't really, that wasn't really, no one had any idea what would happen.

• 19:22Speaker 02

  Cause I was stained, like I was.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Your hands were like orange.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  And I remember, uh, probably my last public shower, but there were like, it felt like 14 people in the shower with me, like peeling off clothes and handing me towels to get it out of my eyes and hair and everything. Um, but yes, it was the, the actual spilling of it was, was one take.

• 19:50Speaker 01

  And did it smell? Cause Phil Shea said they just used a gazillion cans of actual chili. I mean, it was spicy chili. Did you like, put your head on the pillow that night and still smell chili?

• 20:05Speaker 00

  I can tell you, he smelled at dinner.

• 20:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's what I was about to say. So, uh, so Angela and Oscar and I did regular dinners, where it was like, okay, let's, let's dress up a little, like, let's look like real people. Uh, take off our Dunder Mifflin clothes and let's go to a nice dinner. This particular night, we had, and it was planned for months ahead, where we were going to Mastro's in Beverly Hills, very nice steakhouse.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  Very fancy.

• 20:37Speaker 00

  It's, we did not mess around with these accountant dinners. Yeah.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  No, we did not mess around. And, and so of course, because I was, that was the night we were filming this. So everybody else got to leave early that they were, you know, Angela got to curl her hair or whatever. And so I, so I show up.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  That's what Angela does with free time.

• 20:57Speaker 00

  If I get to go somewhere fancy, I'm curling my damn hair. Brian knows. That's Texas for you.

• 21:03Speaker 02

  That's the thing. I, so I show up and no, Oscar is the one, because I think you and I are a little more, I don't want to hurt Oscar's feelings if he's listening, but you, there's always a seafood tower.

• 21:17Speaker 00

  Oscar orders it every time. It is obnoxious. It takes up the whole table.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  Lob, like crap.

• 21:25Speaker 00

  Tower of like seafood.

• 21:25Speaker 01

  And like oysters.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  Oysters. Oh, yeah. The whole, he gets the whole, he's like, yeah, we should do the tower.

• 21:31Speaker 00

  It comes like, and it's, it's like, like steam or smoke is coming off of it because there's so much dry ice and fans there.

• 21:38Speaker 02

  Yes, this is true. So I said, this is a hundred percent true. So I sit down and my hands, I couldn't not smell chili. So now here's an appetizing talk.

• 21:50Speaker 00

  Your fingernails were orange, Brian, because you were, you were, you had gotten it a little bit off your hands, but my memory was your hands were still tinted this weird color, but your fingernails, forget it. They were orange.

• 22:03Speaker 02

  Done. Done. So imagine that going into a crab leg with, and then you bring it to your mouth and there's just, you're smelling. Really bad canned chili. Let's just put it that way. Um, yeah, it was, it was, it, I, it was probably, there was, there was probably some tint for, for a couple of days, but the smell for sure, at least 24 hours.

• 22:31Speaker 01

  Well, I have another question about the cold open. Is it true that the choice to try to clean up the chili with various paperwork was an improvisation in the moment where you're grabbing stuff? I mean, that's amazing.

• 22:47Speaker 00

  I love the desperation.

• 22:49Speaker 02

  The folder thing.

• 22:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:50Speaker 02

  Once I was on the ground, I got to play a little, right? And so I just sort of started trying other things. And look, there are a lot of fans who have fallen in love with Kevin through watching the show. And I attribute that to everyone's innate desire to, to win one.

• 23:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  And how difficult it is to, to find those little successes.

• 23:16Speaker 01

  Brent Forrester also said that he thinks they have about eight minutes of footage of you on the ground in the chili.

• 23:25Speaker 00

  Eight minutes? Think about that, you guys. Eight minutes is a long time to be rolling around in some chili.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  It was a lot. I know that I tried a variety of slips.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 23:39Speaker 02

  Which people thought was, was funny. I remember trying, I remember trying that. But you have to remember, again, it, I remember standing by a monitor as like clothes were beginning to be taken off me to watch it, right? And again.

• 23:59Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. Cause you could do that. You could like rewind the tape and watch it back and decide, did we have it or not?

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Correct. They didn't use that capability on a daily basis, but on a major scene where you needed to, you know, there was going to be a huge reset.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:17Speaker 02

  And so I remember even, you know, watching it and me feeling good about it, but me feeling good about it doesn't really matter, right? And I remember going into the showers, not knowing if, you know, cause right, like Laverne and Debbie are great hair and makeup people, like they're all standing by, ready to try to totally reset me to go again. And, you know, they had obviously multiple out, you know, of the same outfit, et cetera. So yeah, I, I, I remember that moment about like, please, please, I think we have it. I think, I think we're good.

• 25:00Speaker 00

  All right, Brian, we also ask everyone this question. What did you take from the set when you left?

• 25:09Speaker 02

  Well, I took a few things, right? So I took, I took the diploma, Kevin's or certificate of completion. So my first ever joke in the show, when Kevin is described by Michael Scott, he says something like, he's not a great accountant, but a pretty good entertainer.

• 25:32Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 25:32Speaker 02

  And they cut to a, a B-roll shot with me, with, me with my, uh, giant pencil, which sat on my desk then for all the years, which most people don't know is a piggy bank. And it's, it's still empty, but I took that and I took my name plate and I, um.

• 25:54Speaker 00

  You had a name plate? All these years? I didn't realize you had a name plate.

• 25:58Speaker 02

  I had a, I had a.

• 25:59Speaker 01

  I didn't know that either.

• 26:01Speaker 00

  I have a name plate?

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Well, here's the thing that's crazy.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  Does it say Kevin Malone?

• 26:06Speaker 02

  And here's the crazy thing, right? My desk was in a clump.

• 26:13Speaker 00

  You couldn't even see it.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  No, it faced me. Like, why would I need it face?

• 26:20Speaker 01

  To remind you your name.

• 26:22Speaker 02

  Cause it's not announced, you know, usually you have a name plate. Like if you have an office and someone walks in, they can see immediately what your name, like if you go into a bank, it's like, oh, this is Suzie Marshall. Hi Suzie. No, it was a name plate that faced me for 10 years. It makes no sense.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  Hide a piece of glass.

• 26:44Speaker 02

  Behind it. Yes. No, what I'm saying is you would have to sit in my lap to see the name plate.

• 26:50Speaker 00

  This is why we didn't know we had one.

• 26:53Speaker 02

  It makes no, no, I know. There was no thing. So yeah, I took the name plate. I took the, the, the pencil and I, I, I took the jar of M and M's.

• 27:03Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 27:04Speaker 00

  I love that. This has been so awesome. It's been so wonderful to talk to you, Brian.

• 27:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. Thank you for letting us interview you. You make your living interviewing people and now you have a book out. Tell us about your book.

• 27:16Speaker 02

  Uh, welcome to Dunder Mifflin. The, the, I mean, we're out in time for the holidays.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  This is prime holiday shopping moment, everyone. Listen up.

• 27:28Speaker 02

  This is, this is stocking stuffer material. Uh.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  Brian, I've seen the book. You're not getting that book into a stocking.

• 27:34Speaker 02

  Well, it's thick.

• 27:36Speaker 00

  That's what she said.

• 27:37Speaker 02

  There you go.

• 27:38Speaker 01

  It's a thick gift.

• 27:40Speaker 02

  It is.

• 27:41Speaker 00

  With two Cs.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  All right.

• 27:43Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 27:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 27:45Speaker 02

  There we go.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  Tell us about it.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  Uh, welcome to Dunder Mifflin. It is, you know, uh, gosh, now a couple of years, um, I have been working on constructing, um, a full oral history of the office and, and, and what happened. And specifically for me, it was about a question, right? And the, the question was very simply, we were, we were a big show when we were on, right? We were, we were the number one scripted show on NBC for most of the time that we were on the air. But what has happened since, as you all know, the success, the huge success

• 28:28Speaker 02

  of your podcast, that, that the show is so much bigger now than it ever was. And my question was, why now, seven, eight years since we filmed a scene, why is this show now the undisputed champion of, of viewers i- i- in, in, in, in the world? Why are more people watching this show than any other show? And so for me, it was about going back to look at, at what happened. Why, why, why did this happen? Was it about the construction of the cast? Was it about the aesthetic that was chosen originally by, by Ricky Gervais

• 29:09Speaker 02

  and Stephen Merchant and through Greg Daniels and Ken Quappas? So it's, it's really sort of a, a macro version of, of what happened. So I'm super excited, uh, and proud of the book and, and, and can't wait.

• 29:25Speaker 00

  And is that like an overview? Is it like a collection of interviews, like from your podcast, The Oral History of the Office?

• 29:31Speaker 02

  It's a little bit of everything. Yeah. It really goes back and, and traces my journey of, of me attempting to answer this question. So it goes into, into today as well and the legacy of the show. And, um, but I went back to Scranton, um, like a real journalist, went back to Scranton and, uh, met with a lot of our old friends from there to talk about how, you know, the show was influenced directly from them and, and how the show has really changed, uh, that town. So it's a, it's a, it's a comprehensive look, but I think, um, I think, I think fans will really enjoy it.

• 30:10Speaker 00

  I think that's fantastic.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  I'll make sure you get a copy.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  Well, thank you. Signed. I hope. Do I get a signed copy?

• 30:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  You're not saying yes?

• 30:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 30:19Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 30:21Speaker 01

  Brian, you have another announcement.

• 30:23Speaker 02

  Well, listen, I have a podcast, The Office Deep Dive. And, uh, next year, January 4th, coming up, I'm going to be extending and, uh, transitioning, uh, to a new podcast off the beat, uh, with Brian Baumgartner coming in January. So I've loved talking to all the folks, uh, on The Office, right? Having lengthy discussions, but really talking about the moments in between the moments that, uh, is mostly covered by other press. So starting next year, I'm going to be talking to, uh, your other favorite stars from TV,

• 31:04Speaker 02

  like Modern Family, Cheers, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, whoever. Uh, and we're going to be focusing on, on important moment in these stars' lives that, that happened off the beat. I had a French director who told me, um, which is really applicable to The Office, by the way, you can steal this, um, that comedy, real comedy happens off the beat. And so for me, the moments that I want to talk to people about, about are the moments that happened in between the important moments, the things that lead, uh, to those big moments that everyone else is covering. So I'm super excited, uh, to be

• 31:48Speaker 02

  expanding, uh, from The Office. Obviously we'll keep checking in with The Office, but talking to people from, from your other favorite television shows.

• 31:56Speaker 00

  That is fantastic, Brian.

• 31:58Speaker 01

  We can't wait to hear it. It's gonna be great.

• 32:00Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

• 32:02Speaker 00

  All right, Bombers, we love you so much.

• 32:04Speaker 01

  Thank you again, Brian, for this generous interview. Thanks for coming on Office, ladies.

• 32:08Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for having me. Congratulations, uh, to everything, um, that you guys are doing. I'm so, so happy and proud of you both and I love you so, so much.

• 32:22Speaker 00

  Love you, B.

• 32:23Speaker 01

  It's gonna make me cry.

• 32:24Speaker 00

  I know.

• 32:24Speaker 01

  We love you, Brian.

• 32:35Speaker 01

  Well, I loved our interview with Brian.

• 32:38Speaker 00

  I loved every second. It just made me miss us all hanging out.

• 32:42Speaker 01

  Now, listen, in our interview with Brian, we talked a lot about his chili cold open, but if you can believe it, there are a few more things that we can share about it. So first of all, it was written by Aaron Schur, and it was originally supposed to be the cold open for his script, Michael Scott Paper Company, but it ended up getting cut and moved to Casual Friday. And there was a lot that our crew had to do to pull off this chili stunt.

• 33:12Speaker 00

  Yes. Our first assistant director, Rusty Mahmood, shared in an interview, and I found this so interesting, Jenna, he said when he would read a script that had a cold open that was very prop intensive, it was immediately stressful for him.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 33:28Speaker 00

  So while everyone else is laughing, he could appreciate, right, the humor, but he also saw the hard work that was going to go behind it.

• 33:35Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 33:35Speaker 00

  He said his thought process in particular for this moment was, how do we drop a huge vat of chili without destroying our office?

• 33:44Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:45Speaker 00

  So they had a prop meeting, they had to discuss how big the vat was, where it was going to fall, all of that stuff that Brian talked about.

• 33:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. Randy added that on a practical note, they deliberately made this the very last scene of the week, so they could have time to clean it up before Monday, basically.

• 34:05Speaker 00

  Right, because they didn't know how bad it was going to be.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. So even though they had done all these rehearsals, their concern was that it's a vat of chili falling. It could hit at some weird angle.

• 34:18Speaker 00

  And splatter across the wall.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  All over everything.

• 34:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  And, I mean, just like, think about the medicine ball that was never supposed to pop unless you hit it on the seam in the right space. And sure enough, that happened. So they had to be prepared for everything. Randy also mentioned that the part where Kevin's just carrying the vat of chili up the stairs, they could not afford for a spill to happen.

• 34:47Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 34:47Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh. So for that, they filled the pot with some sandbags, because they did still want it to feel heavy.

• 34:55Speaker 00

  Right. And Brian, as you know, classically trained actor.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  He has said numerous times that he didn't want to fake carrying something heavy. He wanted to feel carrying something heavy.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  Yes. And then another little cheat they did was with the actual pot of chili. They thought they could make a fake bottom on that vat, so that like, the bottom third was filled with foam, and then there would be a fake bottom to the pot, so it wouldn't be as much chili falling out. That would help avert a disaster.

• 35:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:31Speaker 01

  Also, Rusty said that if they filled the whole thing with chili, it probably would have weighed over 50 pounds. So they needed something that Brian could carry through the door. And in the end, Rusty shared that it took about an hour to clean everything up and replace that carpet.

• 35:51Speaker 00

  One last thing I would like to share about this chili cold open is some of the dialogue that was part of Kevin's voiceover that didn't make it in.

• 35:59Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 36:00Speaker 00

  This is in the shooting draft, and I guess it would have bought him more time to do different things.

• 36:06Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 36:07Speaker 00

  Right? But they trimmed it down. Here are two things Kevin would have said. Spiciness is to chili what makeup is to a woman. I don't need a lot. I've got a sexy pot of chili.

• 36:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 36:22Speaker 00

  Okay. And now for the, for the next one. Parsley is a tricky little beast, but it will tolerate some shade.

• 36:32Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 36:33Speaker 00

  I don't know. It's just funny to me. And you know, the writer, Anthony, said they had so much fun coming up with spices and ingredients for Kevin to say.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 36:44Speaker 00

  I'm sure that was a fun writers' room pitch.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  Well, now I think we can get into this episode, which has a great opening that was so fun to shoot. Pam and Ryan come in with this big circle thing with a question mark on it.

• 36:58Speaker 00

  Wait, wait, hold up. Before they even come in, you have got to go to 1 minute, 1 seconds. There is no plant at reception.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Well, of course not.

• 37:10Speaker 00

  No plant. We know who's responsible for those plants, and it's Pam. I know, but Aaron hasn't brought anything in. I just couldn't believe it. It didn't even feel like front reception to me.

• 37:21Speaker 01

  Oh, that means a lot.

• 37:22Speaker 00

  You're welcome. Also, can we please note Pam's khaki pants and taupe, kids? Is it taupe beige?

• 37:31Speaker 01

  Really?

• 37:31Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 37:32Speaker 01

  They're not white?

• 37:33Speaker 00

  Nope.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  Ah, scandalous. Very scandalous.

• 37:37Speaker 00

  As you were saying, they're holding this piece of paper with a big question mark on it.

• 37:41Speaker 01

  Who's behind it? Who is it? Who is it? Who is it? Well, it's someone trying to bust through. It takes him several tries.

• 37:50Speaker 00

  I was cracking up at you and BJ, not Ryan and Pam, but I could see you and BJ when he was trying. There was real resistance. You guys were really like, having to hold it steady.

• 38:02Speaker 01

  Well, people wanted to know, was it like scripted that he would have a hard time breaking through this paper, or is that just what happened? Yes, it was scripted. Director Brent Forrester actually shared that this idea was based on something that I guess the writers had seen on YouTube of a, a high school cheerleading squad trying to bust through a paper banner, but they, it wouldn't rip, and they end up in a pile or something.

• 38:29Speaker 00

  There's so many. There's so many. This clearly is a thing that happens. I have kind of witnessed this a little bit.

• 38:36Speaker 01

  Like live?

• 38:36Speaker 00

  Live, yes. And then sometimes what happens is the team is running behind the cheerleaders.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 38:43Speaker 00

  I know.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  And then you hit that resistance, and that, yeah.

• 38:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:47Speaker 01

  Phil Shea made six of those circles for Steve to bust through. He used butcher paper, which is heavier than regular paper, so it would actually be kind of tough.

• 39:00Speaker 00

  What was the circle, like a hula hoop or something?

• 39:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. We only had to do the scene twice, though. So there's four extra circles sitting backstage that day.

• 39:11Speaker 00

  Of course, Michael is going to announce conference room, 5 minutes.

• 39:15Speaker 01

  Oh, he's been in the office for 40 seconds, and he's already calling a conference room meeting.

• 39:20Speaker 00

  Conference room, 5 minutes. In this conference room, he really invites the employees to say whatever is on their mind. He wants an apology.

• 39:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 39:28Speaker 00

  Desperately. And this starts from my character at just a delightful storyline, which is every single person in the office loves Casual Friday, but Angela Martin hates it.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. That tracks for me.

• 39:41Speaker 00

  And finds it inappropriate. It is also in this meeting where Michael is going to let everyone know that Pam and Ryan are staying on in sales, and they get to keep the clients.

• 39:53Speaker 01

  And people are not happy about that.

• 39:56Speaker 00

  One of my favorite lines of the episode is when Andy says, "I call foul, sir."

• 40:02Speaker 01

  Well, Michael says people can file their complaints into the trash can.

• 40:07Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. The complaint department. Jenna, did you notice in this scene that Pam is completely covered by her purple sweater, and Phyllis is only in the plaid shirt?

• 40:17Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:18Speaker 00

  That was intentional, because they don't want to mess up the reveal.

• 40:22Speaker 01

  Yes. And it's a bit of a cheat, because you have to imagine that just because the audience hasn't seen Pam and Phyllis standing in their identical outfits, surely Pam and Phyllis have seen one another as they went into the conference room.

• 40:37Speaker 00

  Exactly. They've been there for most of the morning.

• 40:40Speaker 01

  But that brings us to the kitchen, where Pam and Phyllis discover that they are, in fact, wearing the exact same outfit that they both liked on the mannequin at the mall.

• 40:51Speaker 00

  Pam says they got it at Boscove's at the Steamed Town Mall.

• 40:55Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:56Speaker 00

  So you know, I had to know.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  Is it a real store?

• 40:58Speaker 00

  Is Boscove's a real store, and is it at the Steamed Town Mall? Well, let me tell you, Boscove's is a real store, and there is one at the Steamed Town Mall, and I had to know a little bit about what this store is, because they're very East Coast. I'd never heard of it, right?

• 41:13Speaker 01

  Me either.

• 41:14Speaker 00

  On the Boscove's website, it says it is a family-owned department store for over 100 years, and it is, in fact, America's largest family-owned department store.

• 41:25Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 41:26Speaker 00

  Yes, Jenna, are you ready for this? Little bit of background info on Boskov's. And this is on their website. At only 18 years old, Solomon Boskov left his family in Russia, immigrated to the United States in 1914. He settled in Reading, Pennsylvania. With a pack on his back and a few dollars he had, he began peddling household goods to the farm families in the surrounding area.

• 41:51Speaker 01

  Like a door to door salesman?

• 41:53Speaker 00

  That's right. And he got a reputation of being very fair and very honest. The business grew, his reputation grew. He was able to buy dry goods and provide merchandise. And the first Boskov's department store was established. And it's still going strong today.

• 42:09Speaker 01

  Lady, hear me out.

• 42:11Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  Next time we're in Scranton, we go to Boskov's at the Steamtown Mall and we buy matching outfits.

• 42:18Speaker 00

  Done. And then we go bowl and go to Poor Richard's.

• 42:21Speaker 01

  I mean, we have a lot of places to go.

• 42:22Speaker 00

  We got a lot of places to go.

• 42:25Speaker 01

  Well, we got a lot of mail about these matching outfits. So many questions on how they were chosen. And also if I felt at all that this outfit was a little out of character for Pam. Well, I reached out to Alicia, our wardrobe designer for this episode. And she shared with me that this storyline was a very late addition to the script. She had very little time to figure out what this matching outfit will be. She said she normally would have made something from scratch because that's her. I mean, this woman is amazing at building clothing.

• 43:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  But because of time, she had to find existing pieces. So Alicia started by going to the stores where she would buy Phyllis's wardrobe. And she was really concerned about Phyllis feeling comfortable in this outfit. She shared that she had color palettes for all of our characters. And she looked at the color palettes for Pam and Phyllis. And she saw that we had a few overlapping colors. And our overlapping colors were mauve, mint, cocoa brown, navy, and purple.

• 43:34Speaker 00

  I would dare say that purple was an overlapping color for the majority of the office.

• 43:40Speaker 01

  I think Alicia likes purple.

• 43:43Speaker 00

  Well, I had a purple breakdown of a whole scene.

• 43:46Speaker 01

  I think when we have Alicia on the podcast, we're going to ask her, what's your favorite color?

• 43:51Speaker 00

  Let's see if she says purple.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  I think she's going to say purple. So she said the first item she found was the plaid shirt. And she thought that was a good place to start. She said, also, our characters both tended to layer our clothes.

• 44:04Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  And she thought, though, that there needed to be something that wasn't too Phyllis or too Pam about it. So she thought the little sweater shrug was another good crossover item. So that was her first choice of outfit. And then she bought it in both of our sizes. And then she found two other outfits that she thought might work. Well, this is all happening at 9:00 PM as the mall is closing the night before we had to shoot this.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 44:35Speaker 01

  That's how little time she had.

• 44:36Speaker 00

  She's like sprinting through the mall.

• 44:38Speaker 01

  Yes. So the next morning, Phyllis came in for her fitting. And Alicia said the plaid shirt was the clear winner. I came in for my fitting. I thought it was really cute. They altered the top a little bit for me. You might notice that my version is a little more fitted in the chest. I will say, looking back, this is not a fashionable outfit. It is. It is not.

• 45:02Speaker 00

  Here's the thing, the plaid shirt is fine. It's the sweater. I don't know what you call that thing. It's not a shrug.

• 45:09Speaker 01

  She called it a shrug.

• 45:10Speaker 00

  Well, guess what? Just listen to the word shrug. Is that something you want to wear?

• 45:16Speaker 01

  Listen, back then, those shrugs were a thing. They were. You can look it up. And capri pants were a thing.

• 45:24Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  So I think maybe this outfit has just not held up great over time, really. But at the same time, Pam has never been a real fashion forward gal. You know, she saw something on a mannequin. She tried it. I do like looking back, trying to imagine, like, how did Jim handle this back at the house? When she's like, what do you think? Is Jim is like, it's great. It's, um, it's different. How did, what, have you had that moment with your husband?

• 46:01Speaker 00

  Okay, Jim wore a knit tie for years. He also bought his parents' house that had a clown mounted to the wall, a clown painting. I don't know that Jim has his finger on the pulse of fashion.

• 46:15Speaker 01

  I guess you're right.

• 46:17Speaker 00

  I think he probably thinks Pam looks cute and everything.

• 46:20Speaker 01

  Hmm. Yeah. Lee has tried that for me when I'm like, okay, what do you think this outfit? He'll say, I think you look beautiful and everything. I'll say, well, obviously I'm not getting this outfit. Because if I looked good, you'd just tell me I looked good. He'd be like, no, I'm telling you, I think you're beautiful and everything. I think you're beautiful. I love you. And I'm like, okay, okay. Take a picture of me. I'm going to send it to Angela.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  I need a real opinion.

• 46:46Speaker 00

  This is true. I get whenever Jenna has to buy an outfit for anything, for years. This is like, over a decade now, I get a little photo shoot spread texted to me.

• 46:57Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 46:58Speaker 00

  And you ask my thoughts.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  What would you say if I sent you this outfit?

• 47:02Speaker 00

  I would say skip the purple shruggy thing. Keep the shirt. Khaki pants are fine.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 47:09Speaker 00

  You know, given when this episode aired.

• 47:11Speaker 01

  Okay, fair enough.

• 47:14Speaker 00

  Well, Phyllis has a ton of sass in this episode.

• 47:17Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, she tells Pam that she looks like a trout.

• 47:21Speaker 00

  She says, close your mouth, sweetie. You look like a trout. This is an epic insult. I am telling you, that is like amazing. Could you imagine saying to someone, you look like a trout?

• 47:36Speaker 01

  No.

• 47:37Speaker 00

  I think it's, I think, like, you know how in your mind, you have like a fantasy argument with someone who you've always wanted to tell off? But maybe you're like me and you're not confrontational?

• 47:48Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 47:48Speaker 00

  This is fantasy moment.

• 47:50Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 47:51Speaker 00

  Close your mouth, sweetie. You look like a trout. This is going to take us to a scene where Angela is complaining to Toby because Oscar has worn sandals. And you can see his feet. Jenna, the scene was so much fun to do. I had so much fun yelling at Toby.

• 48:07Speaker 00

  And as I exit, I say, excuse me, oh, you're so educated, aren't you, Toby? So trained to deal with a hysterical woman. I had an improvisation that made it in. I yelled, I don't want to look at his feet. And that was improv.

• 48:22Speaker 01

  Very good.

• 48:23Speaker 00

  Thank you. But you guys, let's think about this for a second. Do you really want to look at men's feet at work? Or on an airplane? You guys that wear flip flops on airplanes, I get it. Maybe it's your vacation, you're going somewhere tropical.

• 48:38Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 48:39Speaker 00

  I don't know. When I see feet on a plane, it's weird.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  Do you take your shoes off on a plane? If you have on shoes and socks, will you take off your shoes if you have a long flight?

• 48:51Speaker 00

  I mean, it has to be a pretty long flight. I'm always cold, so I don't take my shoes off.

• 48:56Speaker 01

  You know what I bring?

• 48:57Speaker 00

  What?

• 48:57Speaker 01

  Slippers. Bring little like slipper socks. And so I'll take off my shoes and put on slipper socks.

• 49:04Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 49:05Speaker 01

  Just, I don't know. Just because I think it's rude to just be in like sock feet on a plane, too.

• 49:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 49:15Speaker 01

  It's a small space.

• 49:16Speaker 00

  You don't wear your slipper socks into the bathroom, though. You put your shoes back on.

• 49:20Speaker 01

  Yes. Oh, yes.

• 49:21Speaker 00

  Gross.

• 49:22Speaker 01

  I'm certain men are pissing all over the bathrooms in the planes.

• 49:26Speaker 00

  I wipe that sucker down. I wipe it. I do like a cleaning before I go to the bathroom.

• 49:30Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 49:32Speaker 00

  Anyway, I'm just saying, is Angela?

• 49:34Speaker 01

  Oh, and just for the record, I do wash my hands when I exit an airplane washroom.

• 49:39Speaker 00

  Oh, thank God.

• 49:40Speaker 01

  I have to tell people now.

• 49:41Speaker 00

  Thank God.

• 49:42Speaker 01

  Every time.

• 49:43Speaker 00

  Well, listen.

• 49:44Speaker 01

  Even if I just pee.

• 49:46Speaker 00

  Listen, we all know that Angela is the office bitch. But I think, I think, you know, maybe open toed sandals for men on Casual Friday, maybe I would agree with her.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  I didn't disagree with her.

• 49:58Speaker 00

  There you go.

• 50:00Speaker 01

  Well, this leads Toby to have this talking head where he reveals that he was in the seminary for a year.

• 50:07Speaker 00

  And there's a photo of him that we've never seen before.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  No, Randy shared that that was like a green screen photo. They took a picture at the church where Phyllis got married. And then they superimposed Paul onto that picture for that seminary photo. But he says that he dropped out to have sex with a woman named Kathy. He followed her to Scranton, got a job in HR, but now they're divorced.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  Now, this is very much at odds with that deleted scene that you told us about from local ad. Where he says he worked in advertising for three years before joining Dunder Mifflin.

• 50:47Speaker 00

  I know.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  But that was deleted. So we decided if something was deleted, it didn't really happen in the world of the office.

• 50:54Speaker 00

  That's how we're saying it.

• 50:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 50:56Speaker 00

  I want you guys to know, in the background of this talking head, over Toby's shoulder, I saw Leslie eating.

• 51:04Speaker 01

  What?

• 51:05Speaker 00

  If you watch it, go to five minutes, one second. I mean, Leslie had to be in the background for so long during all of these talking heads. He was such a trooper. I think he just got hungry. So he, Stanley's having a snack at his desk.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  It works. So next up, we're going to start to see a little bit of how Michael might be giving preferential treatment to Pam and Ryan.

• 51:28Speaker 00

  Well, he goes and gets Ryan a soda. And then Jenna, what does he get Pam?

• 51:33Speaker 01

  He gives Pam a Fiji water.

• 51:36Speaker 00

  I am telling you, they were sponsoring the show. How are they not sponsoring the show? How many episodes now is this?

• 51:42Speaker 01

  This is the third Fiji water bottle spotting. Once again, the label is facing away from camera, a deliberate move by Steve Carell as he sets it down. I asked Randy about it.

• 51:53Speaker 00

  Did you? Were we getting some secret Fiji dough?

• 51:56Speaker 01

  No. He says he has no idea why these Fiji waters are showing up on set. He said he was going to investigate it. But he said, we did not have a deal with Fiji that he knows about. However, he did say this, which I thought was really interesting. He said anytime he ever is line producing something that takes place on a boat. They always use Fiji water because they don't roll.

• 52:21Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, I feel like for me, this Fiji water on the set of The Office is like that Starbucks coffee. Remember in Game of Thrones? Anyone? How there was the Starbucks coffee?

• 52:32Speaker 01

  I do remember.

• 52:33Speaker 00

  I'm like obsessed with like, what's up with this Fiji water? Dwight is gonna notice this special treatment that Michael is giving them. It's time for him to pass out a secret memo with invisible ink.

• 52:46Speaker 01

  Yes. Where did he get the invisible ink? You might like to know. He says it's urine.

• 52:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm guessing his urine.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  Yes. He's very frustrated because people don't know how to reveal the invisible urine message.

• 53:01Speaker 00

  Right. They're not savvy to the invisible ink thing.

• 53:05Speaker 01

  Well, this got me wondering.

• 53:07Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 53:08Speaker 01

  I Googled, can you use urine as invisible ink?

• 53:13Speaker 00

  Really and truly, at the end of this podcast, I want to print our search history and put it in a frame.

• 53:22Speaker 01

  Please do. Well, I'll have you know that yes, urine can be used as invisible ink. And I discovered the most fascinating story of people using urine as invisible ink. And I'm gonna share it with you now.

• 53:41Speaker 00

  Oh, okay. I'm reclining and getting my cup of tea. I'm settling in.

• 53:47Speaker 01

  All right. During World War II, there were a group of Polish prisoners who were taken to a Nazi death camp. And they used their urine as invisible ink to write letters detailing the horrific experiences that were going on at the camp. They were a group of young Polish girls and women who had been part of the Polish Underground Resistance to the Nazi regime. And they were captured, they were imprisoned, and this group were called the Rabbits of Ravensbrook. Because, and this is horrible, they were subjected to extreme medical experiments

• 54:32Speaker 01

  like rabbits. That's why they got this nickname. However, they were allowed to write letters to their families back home once a month. But the letters were heavily censored. One of these women remembered that when she was a child, her and her brother had read this series of books where people were writing messages in invisible ink. So they used their urine to write these secret messages. And due to a reaction with the paper, the urine loses its color and becomes invisible. But then if you heat it up, it reveals what was written.

• 55:13Speaker 01

  And in her first letter to her brother, she wrote about these books that they read as kids. And he figured out the code and knew how to reveal the hidden messages. So they came up with this code with their families, which was if the hidden messages were revealed, the families would send back a letter with a little piece of blue string. And that's how they knew if their messages were being received. So eventually, the contents of these letters and the horrific details of the camp were broadcast on the radio, and the camp was liberated by the Red Army. And the four women who wrote the letters all survived. Their letters were used as evidence to prosecute the guards.

• 55:59Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 55:59Speaker 01

  And 77 years later, these letters can still be read because 27 of them are still readable and on display in a museum in Lublin.

• 56:11Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. That is an amazing story.

• 56:14Speaker 01

  Amazing.

• 56:16Speaker 00

  I was completely riveted.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.

• 56:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm just sort of speechless at the gravity of that story and how it's amazing. I think we should take a break.

• 56:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 56:28Speaker 00

  And when we come back, we find out yet a new detail of Toby. What is Toby? Toby is like this onion. We're just peeling layers back about him.

• 56:46Speaker 00

  We're back. And there is this snippet of a scene, it's just a tiny moment, where Toby is trying to get Oscar to take his socks. And he says they're clean. He was gonna wear them to volleyball practice. Who the heck is Toby? Who is this person? What, was he in a weekly volleyball game? Like, he plays adult volleyball?

• 57:09Speaker 01

  All right, we got some fan mail that had a few theories on this. One of them being that, you know, it's gonna be revealed in company picnic that Pam likes volleyball.

• 57:19Speaker 00

  Oh, is he trying to get good at volleyball to impress Pam?

• 57:23Speaker 01

  That is what people were saying.

• 57:25Speaker 00

  That is so cute.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  That this volleyball game is coming up, and maybe he wants to have something in common with Pam.

• 57:31Speaker 00

  Oh, I love that.

• 57:33Speaker 01

  Well, Dwight's secret message is not received. So he is going to just tell everybody who is a salesperson, who isn't Pam or Ryan, go down to the warehouse.

• 57:44Speaker 00

  I love the scene in the warehouse. I thought it was such a great ensemble scene. It reminded me of how when Michael has to lead a conference room scene and everyone keeps getting him off track. It was much longer than what you see in the actual episode. And I really wanted you guys to hear the rest of the scene.

• 58:03Speaker 03

  Thank you all for coming. Now, please, everyone, take a candle.

• 58:08Speaker 04

  We don't have time for candles. I think we're all in the bathroom.

• 58:10Speaker 03

  Skip the candles. Let's cut to the chase. How annoying is this, huh?

• 58:15Speaker 04

  Do you mean what's going on today or this meeting?

• 58:17Speaker 03

  No, obviously, what's happening at the meeting is not annoying. Only certain people in it are annoying.

• 58:21Speaker 05

  Can I take one of these candles home?

• 58:24Speaker 03

  Gentlemen, it's time to put our balls in the guillotine, as they say.

• 58:29Speaker 04

  Who has ever said that?

• 58:31Speaker 03

  Regional expression. I'm talking about going to Michael and telling him that we are ready to quit.

• 58:36Speaker 05

  Oh, boy. I don't know.

• 58:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, Dwight, what if he calls our bluff?

• 58:40Speaker 03

  Then we are gone. Because if we do nothing, then we fail, and failure is not an option. Well, hold on now. Let's think this through. If we do nothing, at least we'll have our jobs.

• 58:54Speaker 03

  If we do nothing, we fail, and failure is not an option.

• 58:57Speaker 04

  Well, to be clear, it is an option.

• 58:59Speaker 03

  Not in my book. My book, the cover is failure is not an option.

• 59:03Speaker 04

  It is an option.

• 59:04Speaker 03

  Not in my book.

• 59:06Speaker 04

  So literally.

• 59:07Speaker 03

  Look, what are you?

• 59:07Speaker 05

  Did you write it?

• 59:11Speaker 00

  I could have watched that all day.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  Oh, that's when they would just let us keep talking and character.

• 59:17Speaker 00

  Yes. It's sort of like a long form improv exercise.

• 59:21Speaker 01

  Well, while all this is happening in the warehouse, Pam, Ryan, and Michael are like best friends. They're up in Michael's office, and they are giggling over this photo collage Michael has made.

• 59:33Speaker 00

  I mean, Ryan and Pam hated each other at Michael Scott Paper Company. And now they're just like, it's like they, they're old war buddies or something.

• 59:42Speaker 01

  I loved it. I loved this dynamic. We had a fan question from Adrian M. on the memory board that Michael makes. When were the photos taken? Was it done while you were filming the Michael Scott Paper Company episodes? Yes, Adrian, they were. We knew ahead of time that we were gonna need these photos because Randy Cordray, he would get the scripts early so that he could anticipate sight gags and props and locations and all these things that go into planning an episode. So he knew that for this episode, we would need these pictures. So while we were filming broke, we took all these pictures for the collage.

• 1:00:25Speaker 00

  A storyline is about to start that I loved so much, Jenna, and it is Jim and Creed.

• 1:00:30Speaker 01

  I loved it so much. I loved how like Creed is being so normal that it makes you more suspicious of him.

• 1:00:40Speaker 00

  I loved just whenever Jim and Creed were in scenes together. And as you know, John Krasinski was always just like completely disintegrating into laughter.

• 1:00:48Speaker 01

  Well, John loved doing scenes with Creed.

• 1:00:50Speaker 00

  So I called Creed because I was like, Creed, you have this hilarious storyline with Jim in this episode. And I sort of reminded him of it. I had the shooting draft, and we went through it together, Jenna.

• 1:01:01Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:01:02Speaker 00

  I know. And one of the things that cracked us up, it was a line that Creed loved, and it didn't make it in. I want to share it with you. So the scene starts that Creed is in the corner. And in the shooting draft, Jim gets a soda, and Creed says, you're gonna be happy with that. And Jim says, hi. And then Creed says, I come here to take a break. And Jim says, yeah. Here's the line that got cut. Creed says, the restroom. That's what I call it.

• 1:01:33Speaker 00

  Creed calls the break room

• 1:01:35Speaker 01

  The rest room.

• 1:01:37Speaker 00

  And then the rest is scripted.

• 1:01:39Speaker 01

  Let's talk about this storyline because eventually Creed is going to suggest that they play a game.

• 1:01:44Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:01:45Speaker 01

  And that game is going to be chess.

• 1:01:47Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 1:01:48Speaker 01

  And not only that Creed is a very good chess player.

• 1:01:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:53Speaker 01

  Well, I texted with John Krasinski about this because I wanted to know, is John a good chess player? Cause I knew you were reaching out to Creed. So I was like, I'll get John's side of this. John said he knows how to play chess, but very poorly.

• 1:02:06Speaker 00

  Well, this is what Creed said. Creed said, yes, I can play chess. I'm not an aficionado, but I have basic skills. And he said, he's actually looking forward to playing chess with his granddaughters.

• 1:02:18Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:02:19Speaker 00

  He wants to share it with them.

• 1:02:21Speaker 01

  Oh, you know what? Lee's dad plays chess with my son and it warms my heart every time I look over and see them playing chess. It's like his thing he does with his grandpa.

• 1:02:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then what's so fantastic is this chess runner ends with Jim's talking head that says, I'm just hiding out until all this stuff blows over with Creed playing chess at work. He's winning. I feel like I'm describing a dream I had.

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. So listen, when the gang comes back from down in the warehouse, Michael, Pam and Ryan are like, where have you been? And they claim that they've been at lunch and we're like, it's very early in the morning. What all did you have for lunch? Cause they're trying to trap them.

• 1:03:09Speaker 00

  Andy very quickly shares this. I had a salmon salad with water, no ice. I was going to get a soda, but the waiter talked me out of it. Her name was Flo. She had black hair. And immediately, this is like the art of lying. Okay. Like he thinks by sharing a ton of details.

• 1:03:26Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:03:27Speaker 00

  That that's going to make him seem normal. But let me tell you, whenever someone gives me an answer like this, I'm like, mm, suspect.

• 1:03:34Speaker 01

  Yeah. You want to have the detail, but you don't just lay it all out at the top in one big blob.

• 1:03:39Speaker 00

  No. Michael, Pam and Ryan are like, oh, well, if you guys, you know, went out to lunch, then I guess we can eat what's in the fridge here.

• 1:03:46Speaker 01

  Yes. And then the three of us go in the fridge and we start eating everybody's lunches.

• 1:03:51Speaker 00

  Please watch this in the bloopers, you guys.

• 1:03:53Speaker 01

  Well, I remember it.

• 1:03:55Speaker 00

  Steve took a huge bite out of a cold salmon fillet. You're shoveling potato salad in your mouth.

• 1:04:03Speaker 01

  It was egg salad, lady.

• 1:04:05Speaker 00

  Oh my God.

• 1:04:06Speaker 01

  Egg salad. And people asked, was it really egg salad? It was like, it was making us laugh.

• 1:04:12Speaker 00

  You laugh so hard with a mouthful of egg salad that like, there was like egg salad spittle. It was so gross. Oh my God.

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, we got a fan catch from Nikki S. about all this food. She says, when Michael is taking the sales staff's lunches out of the fridge, he takes a green wrapped sandwich and it's from a gas station chain called Sheets. They are known for their food, commonly called MTO, which stands for made to order. So I looked it up and there is this string of gas stations called Sheets in the area. And they make made to order food. Here's their commercial.

• 1:05:01Speaker 06

  I am starving. Let's stop at Sheets.

• 1:05:04Speaker 03

  Can't get good food at a gas station?

• 1:05:07Speaker 06

  Really? You couldn't have just agreed.

• 1:05:10Speaker 01

  See, so in this moment, they've turned into donkeys.

• 1:05:13Speaker 06

  You know what that does to you and me?

• 1:05:17Speaker 03

  I'm sorry.

• 1:05:19Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  It makes an ass of you and me. See?

• 1:05:22Speaker 07

  Don't assume you can't get fresh made to order food at a gas station. Sheets, be over love.

• 1:05:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:31Speaker 00

  Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

• 1:05:33Speaker 01

  So here's.

• 1:05:34Speaker 00

  What is that ad? What is happening in that ad?

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  Driving in a car and they want some food. And as soon as he assumes that you can't get made to order food at a gas station, they turn into asses and they start he hawing. But here's the thing that got me that I was thinking, do you remember in the injury when Michael wants some yams?

• 1:05:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:05:59Speaker 01

  Ryan says, you can't get yams at a gas station?

• 1:06:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:06:03Speaker 01

  I just wondered, does Sheets sell yams?

• 1:06:06Speaker 00

  Can I get a yam on my sandwich?

• 1:06:08Speaker 01

  I looked at their menus. It seems like each location sometimes has slightly different items. I could not find one that had yams. So I guess Ryan is still right. But Sheets, I think you should consider, I don't know, for all the Office fans out there, if you started selling yams at your gas station, it might be a hit. Maybe it's a holiday item.

• 1:06:28Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's a holiday item. I have a question for Sheets. Is that bread for real? Cause that bread was like the size of a Buick.

• 1:06:37Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 1:06:38Speaker 00

  It's seriously, that bread was the size of Steve's head. Here's an interesting tidbit that Brent shared in the DVD commentary. This entire third act was written in a breakout pod of writers of Mindy, BJ, Jean and Lee in about 12 hours.

• 1:06:53Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:06:54Speaker 00

  Entire third act.

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  I remember Brent sharing with us, and Alicia supports this, that this whole script came down to the wire. That like, this is the end of the season. They're backed up. They're running out of time.

• 1:07:08Speaker 00

  We're on fumes.

• 1:07:10Speaker 01

  We are. Randy noted that this whole episode takes place just at Dunder Mifflin and that the production had requested that because they were getting ready for our big 100th episode, season finale company picnic. They were prepping and he said, we just couldn't afford to be going on location. We needed an episode that happened right on our set. So maybe that contributed too, to some of these rewrites at the end.

• 1:07:39Speaker 00

  I also want to give a shout out to, you know, our unsung hero a little bit, Phil Shea, who every week had to do so much. If you go to deleted scenes, there's a scene where Jim is welcoming Pam to the desk pod of Jim and Dwight and Pam now. And he gives her this little island and on the island, it's Jim and Pam and Dwight.

• 1:08:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:08:03Speaker 00

  Okay. It's like a little figurine.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  Why do I not have this item?

• 1:08:07Speaker 00

  You should own this item. In the script, it was supposed to be Jim, Pam and Dwight. And deleted scenes is sort of like a makeshift of that. But I guess Phil Shea spent tons of time getting this thing made and it didn't even make it in.

• 1:08:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, now we're coming up to a scene that is very famous as well. Perhaps as famous as our chilly cold open.

• 1:08:28Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 1:08:29Speaker 01

  I mean, I've seen people do this scene as a Halloween costume.

• 1:08:34Speaker 00

  So many people.

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  It's the scene where Toby has to confront Meredith about her casual outfit, saying that it's a bit revealing. So when she tugs on her skirt, it flashes her top. When she pulls it back up, then it flashes the bottom. It's a lot.

• 1:08:51Speaker 00

  It has two standout famous lines that are quoted quite a bit to Kate Flannery. Meredith, your boob is out and damn it, Meredith, where are your panties?

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  Well, when we talked to Brent Forrester about this episode, he told us this. He said, when he joined the writing staff of the office in season three, he noticed that the writers were sometimes having a hard time writing for the character of Meredith, who he personally loved. And he said, everyone knew Kate Flannery was really funny, but they just hadn't cracked the code of this character. Brent shared that one day he was at lunch and he happened to be sitting next to Kate. And so he just asked her, Kate, what makes you funny? And apparently Kate said something to the effect of Brent, I'm the daughter of an old Irish bar owner. My comfort zone is loud and filthy.

• 1:09:44Speaker 01

  So he went back to the writers and he told them this, and he said, it revolutionized the writing for Meredith. He got credited with cracking the code. And he was like, all I did was just ask the actress. He said, it was actually a good lesson. Like go ask the actress. Like, what are you really good at? What do you like to do?

• 1:10:03Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:10:03Speaker 01

  What's your thing?

• 1:10:04Speaker 00

  And then the writers room can lean into that.

• 1:10:06Speaker 01

  And you mentioned this to Kate, right?

• 1:10:09Speaker 00

  I did. I was talking to Kate on the phone this week and I said, Kate, we are coming up on casual Friday. Also, you guys, when we're recording this, Halloween has just happened. Kate is constantly tagged in photos of people dressed as Meredith in this purple dress.

• 1:10:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:10:26Speaker 00

  With sort of a pixelated boob.

• 1:10:28Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:10:29Speaker 00

  You know?

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  I've seen them.

• 1:10:30Speaker 00

  Yeah. So I asked Kate about this scene and here's what she had to share.

• 1:10:35Speaker 05

  Hey, Office Lady Podcast fans, I have to tell you, when we did the table read, I knew exactly how well this was going to pull. It was so well written. The scene where Toby tells Meredith to.

• 1:10:53Speaker 00

  Pull up her dress. Uh, it was just brilliantly written and um, kind of like jumping out of an airplane uh whenever I'm topless or more. Yeah, uh, cuz you just gotta do it. You can't even judge it. You just gotta go. Um, and luckily Paul is a great uh, he's a great partner in a scene because he plays it very small and real. So it reminds me to keep it small and real. And uh, not always easy for me.

• 1:11:22Speaker 00

  Um, but yeah, uh, so much fun and um, there was talk of a merkin at one point. A merkin is a wig for down there. Yeah, uh, luckily the pixelation at NBC um, and also uh, credit must be given to Alicia for creating this amazing dress that was so easy to hike up or hike down and have a problem. So yeah, great um wardrobe malfunction dress um from a great uh wardrobe designer, Alicia, um, so thank you for that. And uh, it's one of the few things I wish I'd kept and I did not. I do have a longer version. Someday I'll wear it in public. Uh, yeah, but um,

• 1:12:03Speaker 00

  well, I'll to save the date, you guys. Hold your breath. Okay, here we go. Thank you. Have a great day and um, I hope it's casual day. Okay, did you notice that her dress was also purple?

• 1:12:16Speaker 01

  I did notice that. I talked to Alicia about this dress. It was actually a bubble skirt.

• 1:12:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:12:24Speaker 01

  It was not actually meant to be a dress. It's meant to be worn at the waist.

• 1:12:28Speaker 00

  Yeah. I love that Kate brought up the merkin. That is like a word I forgot I even knew.

• 1:12:35Speaker 01

  Same.

• 1:12:36Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. A merkin is like the fake.

• 1:12:38Speaker 01

  It's fakie hair down there.

• 1:12:40Speaker 00

  Fakie hair down there.

• 1:12:43Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. You know, Kate and I went on to talk on the phone about this and she shared with me that doing these nude scenes, they were definitely not in her comfort zone, you know? And every time she did them, she had to really step out of her comfort zone. But she would just go for it. She told me, she was like, Ange, I never really got used to doing these.

• 1:13:04Speaker 01

  You know, I've had to do scenes in movies where I'm wearing very little or a love scene or whatever, and it always feels awkward to me, too.

• 1:13:13Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, I also asked Kate, what was she wearing underneath this purple dress?

• 1:13:18Speaker 01

  Oh, we got a lot of fan questions about that. What was it?

• 1:13:22Speaker 00

  She said she was wearing a flesh toned mole skin.

• 1:13:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, I used to use that when I did ballet to wrap my toes. Yeah.

• 1:13:32Speaker 00

  You know, guys, it's like that sort of.

• 1:13:33Speaker 01

  It's like a fuzzy felt thing that sticks to your skin.

• 1:13:36Speaker 00

  Exactly. In fact, they've made it for blisters. But they use it to cover your boob area. And then the other thing she was wearing was a thong.

• 1:13:46Speaker 01

  Well, we spoke to Randy Cordray about this a little bit and he said that he did insist on a closed set. And what that means is that normally when you're doing scenes, those scenes are broadcast backstage for the hair and makeup people to observe, to make sure everything's okay, different crew members. Anyone backstage can sort of see on a live feed what is happening on the set. Those get shut off when you ever have a scene like this. No monitors backstage. And then similarly, no guests are allowed on those days and no photography, of course. And only the people who need to be in the scene or on the set are allowed on the set.

• 1:14:30Speaker 00

  That's right. If you're not part of the scene, you're not there.

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Exactly.

• 1:14:35Speaker 00

  The next scene made me laugh because Ryan is fielding a complaint, but it's Dwight's former client. Dwight has had this client for 10 years who's never had a complaint. And now this client wants to leave. Did you catch the client's name?

• 1:14:49Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:14:50Speaker 00

  They say it over and over. I don't know why. It just tickled me cuz I never noticed it before. Cuz you and I are truly rewatching this.

• 1:14:57Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:14:57Speaker 00

  Yeah. Mr. Bart.

• 1:14:59Speaker 01

  Mr. Bart.

• 1:15:00Speaker 00

  Mr. Bart. They're very sad about losing Mr. Bart. But it builds to this crescendo where Phyllis ends up tearfully saying to Michael, you know, Michael, you thought you were attacking corporate, but we were the ones who got hurt. You should be apologizing to us. And she says, Michael, you always said we were a family and then you went after us. Well, they talked in the DVD commentary about this moment, that it was a very pivotal story moment because it had to flip Michael.

• 1:15:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:15:34Speaker 00

  So they needed Phyllis to really perform in this moment. It all came down to her. And on the commentary, there was a little bit of a debate between Brent and Mindy. Mindy was like, was Phyllis being calculating?

• 1:15:48Speaker 01

  Right. Was she manipulating Michael?

• 1:15:50Speaker 00

  Right. And then Claire Scanlon, who was also in the DVD commentary, was like, no, I think she was being sincere.

• 1:15:56Speaker 01

  I read it as sincere. I think she played it sincere.

• 1:16:00Speaker 00

  I thought Phyllis performed it as sincere.

• 1:16:03Speaker 01

  The thing that surprised me about this whole scene was that Ryan even had a client.

• 1:16:07Speaker 00

  I know. That's so true.

• 1:16:09Speaker 01

  I don't know. I guess I thought maybe, maybe he has one.

• 1:16:13Speaker 00

  He has one, but that one's leaving. But I think big props to Phyllis cuz I think she really delivered in that moment. And you see how Michael reevaluates everything. Because he does see this office as his family.

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  Dwight's gonna write another letter in Invisible Ink. And fan catch from Carla J, who says, oh, my gosh, can we please talk about how Dwight is using Ryan's cup from Kelly's America's Got Talent Party to paint the secret urine messages onto the memos? I noticed that as well. I thought it was very funny. Clearly Dwight has peed in that cup. Listen, in the end, Michael is gonna apologize to the sales force. And he's gonna agree to give them their clients back.

• 1:16:58Speaker 00

  But this means he's gonna have to fire, reassign one of his Michael Scott paper company employees.

• 1:17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, he can only keep one of them on as a salesperson and he's gonna have to decide if it's Pam or Ryan. Jim is gonna try to help Michael by telling him, maybe he should make a list of pros and cons about each person. That doesn't go very far because Michael tries to get Jim to say some cons about Pam. And I guess what they settle on is that I have a shrill voice. Sometimes when those moments wind up in a script, I'm like, hmm, does someone in the writers room find my voice awful?

• 1:17:42Speaker 00

  Oh, 100%.

• 1:17:44Speaker 01

  Only sometimes, they said. Only sometimes her voice is shrill.

• 1:17:47Speaker 00

  I guarantee you, someone was like, well, what can we say? I don't know. Maybe her voice gets grating.

• 1:17:51Speaker 01

  Right?

• 1:17:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:17:53Speaker 01

  Sorry, all you podcast listeners.

• 1:17:55Speaker 00

  I had an audition one time for a national campaign for bananas.

• 1:18:00Speaker 01

  Go on.

• 1:18:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, you had to eat a banana in the audition. And I didn't get the part. The casting director, as I was delivering my lines, she said, I'm sorry, um, I'm gonna stop you. Um, can you lower your register?

• 1:18:19Speaker 00

  And I said, oh, oh, okay. So I have to take a bite of the banana and then say the line, whatever the line is, these bananas are great, whatever it was. I can't remember. But so I went, I guess I was going like, these bananas are great or something. And so then I took a bite of the banana and you guys take a bite of banana and then try to say a line. Then I'm like, these bananas are great. I didn't get it. But for the rest of my career, I thought, oh, my gosh, is my, like, is my voice shrill and grating? And I asked my agent when I didn't get it. I was like, was it because she wanted me to lower my register? Did she say something about my register?

• 1:19:04Speaker 00

  And my agent said, no, she actually said, they thought the way you ate the banana was awkward.

• 1:19:13Speaker 01

  How, I, how do actors make it?

• 1:19:17Speaker 00

  How do you come back from that?

• 1:19:19Speaker 01

  I don't know. How does that not give you a complex?

• 1:19:22Speaker 00

  I don't know.

• 1:19:23Speaker 01

  In two areas, your voice and your banana eating.

• 1:19:26Speaker 00

  I know.

• 1:19:27Speaker 01

  That was always such a tricky thing. You'd go to an audition and then you wouldn't get it and you would just wanna know anything. You would say, was there any feedback?

• 1:19:37Speaker 00

  Any feedback. Desperate for feedback.

• 1:19:39Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  So you could do it better next time. So you could learn. And then you find out you sound like a banshee and you eat a banana like a [bleep] idiot.

• 1:19:51Speaker 01

  Exactly. And then when are you going to use that information? What's your next banana eating role?

• 1:19:57Speaker 00

  Never. I will never eat a banana on camera. Let me tell you.

• 1:20:03Speaker 01

  All right, can we talk about this scene where everyone is ganging up on Toby about Casual Friday? Cuz it's delightful.

• 1:20:13Speaker 00

  All right, when you guys watch it, when Toby says it's canceled, everyone is like, boo. And Angela, full smile, jumping up and down. Yay.

• 1:20:24Speaker 01

  But Dwight starts to take over this meeting and he says that you could still have Casual Friday, but he's gonna give a few rules. Like earth tones only. And did you hear this one at 18 minutes, 13 seconds? Women are forbidden to wear pants. Huh. Who has Dwight been talking to? An executive at NBC perhaps?

• 1:20:50Speaker 01

  I wonder where that one came from.

• 1:20:52Speaker 00

  I'll tell you what's gonna happen, boys. Once they start wearing pants, they're gonna want things like, you know.

• 1:20:57Speaker 01

  Equal rights.

• 1:20:57Speaker 00

  I don't know.

• 1:20:58Speaker 01

  Which, by the way, I'm sorry, soapbox moment. Can you believe that there is still not a ratified equal rights amendment? That in our constitution, the fabric of our nation, women are still not seen as equal legally? What the F is that? Now, the states have finally, there's enough that have ratified this amendment, but I guess they did it a little bit too late. They missed the deadline. Because it took like, how many years? Over 20, 25 years, 30 years? So anyway, I guess they're trying to fix that loophole and say that we should ratify this amendment already. I say about time. And women can wear whatever they want on the bottom.

• 1:21:44Speaker 01

  And we can show our panty lines and we can have pockets and we can have equal rights under the law.

• 1:21:52Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:21:55Speaker 01

  Call your representatives. Ask for all of them. They'll be confused by the pockets and panty lines, but just, it doesn't matter.

• 1:22:04Speaker 00

  Okay, clearly, we're going to Washington.

• 1:22:07Speaker 01

  Could you imagine me in Washington testifying before Congress?

• 1:22:10Speaker 00

  I would love it. I would love it. I would want you to wear the biggest, baggiest pants.

• 1:22:18Speaker 01

  I would have pockets from my waist down to my effing ankles.

• 1:22:22Speaker 00

  When one of the old men that's on Congress asks you a question, I would, I would want you to stand up in your pants and say, "One second," and you pull a full laptop out of one of your pockets.

• 1:22:34Speaker 01

  And you know what? Here's the thing. In the back, they fit really tight, so you can see my panty line. And it's gonna be the harshest panty line you've ever seen.

• 1:22:44Speaker 00

  Your Target Laundry Day undies.

• 1:22:45Speaker 01

  100%. And then I'm gonna say, "Ratify that amendment already."

• 1:22:50Speaker 00

  And then when it's ratified, you're gonna say, "See? You gave us pants and we took over. Your fear about us in pants, it came true."

• 1:23:01Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:23:02Speaker 00

  All right.

• 1:23:04Speaker 01

  All right. Michael is gonna call Pam into his office, and we are gonna find out who got the sales job. Was it Pam? Was it Ryan? Michael?

• 1:23:14Speaker 00

  He's gotta prank you first.

• 1:23:16Speaker 01

  This man loves a fake fire and a fake hire.

• 1:23:19Speaker 00

  He loves it.

• 1:23:21Speaker 01

  What is that about him? He tells Pam he's really sorry, but he gave Ryan the sales job.

• 1:23:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:23:28Speaker 01

  And Pam is disappointed.

• 1:23:31Speaker 00

  And then he starts to giggle.

• 1:23:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, he's joking.

• 1:23:35Speaker 00

  And she's like, "Michael."

• 1:23:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. He offered Ryan his temp job back, and Pam is gonna get this sales position.

• 1:23:43Speaker 00

  She's so happy about it.

• 1:23:44Speaker 01

  She is.

• 1:23:45Speaker 00

  As she's leaving the office, Michael says, "Send Erin in."

• 1:23:48Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 1:23:49Speaker 00

  So you know he's about to do some prank on Erin. I want you guys to know that that is where the scene ended. In the shooting draft, he says, "Send Erin in." There's no more dialogue.

• 1:24:01Speaker 01

  Oh, yes. Brent told us this. Brent said that this scene coming up was Ellie Kemper's first one-on-one scene with Steve Carell.

• 1:24:13Speaker 00

  But it wasn't even supposed to happen. It was all improv.

• 1:24:16Speaker 01

  That is amazing.

• 1:24:18Speaker 00

  So basically, they just let the cameras keep rolling. He says, "Send Erin in." Erin walks in, and then Steve and Erin do this little improvised scene. And they loved it, and it made it into the episode.

• 1:24:31Speaker 01

  That is amazing. That closes out Casual Friday. I loved this episode. I loved this podcast.

• 1:24:38Speaker 00

  I loved, loved this episode so much, too. And we have some shout-outs and some thank yous.

• 1:24:44Speaker 01

  We really do. Thank you, Brian Baumgartner, for being our guest. Everyone, remember to check out his book, Welcome to Dunder Mifflin, and his new podcast coming out next year.

• 1:24:54Speaker 00

  Off the Beat.

• 1:24:55Speaker 01

  We need to thank Randy Cordray, Alicia Raycraft, Kate Flannery, Creed Bratton, John Krasinski. Thank you for letting us hit you up all the time for your scoop on these episodes.

• 1:25:07Speaker 00

  Seriously, God bless you guys, because as we share a lot with you all listening, we text these guys and call them all the time.

• 1:25:14Speaker 01

  I know. I'm like, "Hey, John, how's it going? Weird question. Are you a good chess player?"

• 1:25:19Speaker 00

  Yeah. "Hey, Creedo, how's it going? Listen, I left some limes on your porch. Also, can you play chess?"

• 1:25:25Speaker 01

  I know. People must be like, "What is happening?" And finally, thank you to Brent Forrester, our longtime writer on The Office, who also directed this episode. Guys, you know, Brent teaches comedy writing classes that anyone can take, and you can find him and those classes over at BrentForrester.com. We highly recommend. If you have a creative idea that you want to turn into a comedy show, this is a good place to start.

• 1:25:50Speaker 00

  Yes. And check out Kate and Creed, you guys. They both have some wonderful shows coming up. You can find them on Instagram at TheRealKateFlannery and at CreedBratton.

• 1:26:00Speaker 01

  And we will see you next week.

• 1:26:02Speaker 00

  Bye.

• 1:26:09Speaker 01

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

• 1:26:12Speaker 00

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:26:16Speaker 01

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

• 1:26:23Speaker 00

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:26:26Speaker 01

  Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 1:26:28Speaker 00

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

• 1:26:31Speaker 01

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:26:34Speaker 00

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.