Second Drink: Customer Survey with Stephen Merchant

This week we’re breaking down Customer Survey, and the ladies interview Stephen Merchant! Stephen shares with us how he met Ricky Gervais and came to co-create the UK version of The Office, along with directing this very funny episode. When both Jim and Dwight get bad customer survey reviews, they team up together to uncover the truth behind who's calling them arrogant and smudge. Angela shares her struggle with that "hand-plowed field" scene and Jenna talks about the infamous moment between Pam and Alex, and of course, there's talk about those fakey, tiny Bluetooths. So get in! It’s time to peel into a parking spot and listen to this legendary episode. Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTube Follow Us on TikTok

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Welcome to our second drink of customer survey and not to toot our own horn, but here I go. Toot, toot, toot, toot. This is a fantastic episode, ladies.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  It is. It really actually is. Yes.

• 0:14Speaker 00

  Stephen Merchant joins us on the podcast. It's such a fun interview. He shares how we met Ricky Gervais and then how they came to co-create the UK version of The Office. And then we, of course, ask him all about directing this hilarious episode and he shares the inspiration for that amazing butt licker scene.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  And when we asked you all what your favorite scene was from this episode, so many of you wrote in to say that it was the butt licker scene. For example, Miranda D. from Australia said, ladies, my favorite moment from this episode is the bit where Dwight, Michael, and Jim are in the conference room doing the mock phone call. It is so hilarious seeing Michael and Dwight get so lost in the bit, especially because Michael is showing his love of improv.

• 1:00Speaker 00

  Yes. And Rena E. from Los Angeles says, office ladies, I have been a listener since the beginning and I love everything about the show. Thank you, Rena. And she goes on to say, I finally decided to go back to the first drinks, is that a thing, of the show, so I could submit all the questions I'm always thinking of when I listen. I have been waiting for this episode to get to second drink, so I could tell you this. My husband and I find the line butt licker, our prices have never been lower. So funny. So you know how sometimes a dog will just decide to lick their butt at the most inappropriate time? Every time our dog does this, we say to him, Rusty, have your prices never been

• 1:40Speaker 00

  lower? Very confusing to anyone who doesn't get the reference, but hilarious to us every time. Love, love, love the podcast and your incredible camaraderie with one another.

• 1:52Speaker 01

  Well, Rebecca L. from Maryland wrote in to say that, first of all, Rebecca also loved the scene, but Rebecca has a background catch. Rebecca said, ladies, did you catch rain almost breaking in this scene? I can see him start to laugh at 8 minutes 44 seconds in the original version. It is right after he has to yell that the prices have never been lower. Lady, I went and rewatched it and I totally saw it.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Rain is so clearly about to laugh and he's trying to hide his smile. He sort of covers his mouth by like leaning onto his fist on the table.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Yes, he's doing the Mindy. That's the Mindy move.

• 2:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Well, everyone, we pulled a clip of the moment where Rain almost breaks. We didn't play this in our first breakdown and it's just so hilarious. We thought we should hear it.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  Hello? Hello, this is Dwight Schrute from the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Wow, that's great because I need paper. Excellent, then you are in luck because we are having a limited time offer only on everything. Wow, this is my lucky day.

• 2:58Speaker 03

  Ask him his name.

• 2:59Speaker 02

  What is your name, sir? I am Bill Buttlicker.

• 3:03Speaker 02

  Really? That's your real name? How dare you? My family built this country, by the way.

• 3:09Speaker 03

  Be respectful, Dwight, please.

• 3:10Speaker 02

  Yes, Michael. Could you hold on one second? That's my other line. What? No, but I... Hello? Yeah. No, I'm just on the phone with this stupid salesman. He's so dumb. Probably just gonna keep him on the line forever and not buy anything.

• 3:25Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 3:26Speaker 03

  It's up to you to change his mind.

• 3:27Speaker 02

  Sorry, that was a family emergency. Oh, no, what's wrong? You know what? That's private.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  Boundaries, Dwight, come on.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  I'm sorry, Mr. Buttlicker. As I was saying, we're having a limited... Speak a little bit louder, I'm hard of hearing.

• 3:40Speaker 03

  He's hard if he's an old man.

• 3:41Speaker 02

  Okay, as I was saying, right now, we are having... Talk louder. Okay, our prices have never been lower. Son, you have to talk louder. Never been lower. Louder, son! Buttlicker, our prices have never been lower!

• 3:52Speaker 03

  Stop it, stop it.

• 3:52Speaker 02

  Pete!

• 3:54Speaker 03

  That is totally inappropriate. You should never yell at the client.

• 3:58Speaker 02

  Now, you listen to me, sir.

• 4:03Speaker 00

  It's so good.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  So good.

• 4:05Speaker 00

  Well, Rebecca, we love that background catch and the journey it took us on. And I have another background catch, but this one is actually from the cold open scene. You know when everyone gathers around to ask Michael how he proposed to Holly? And then Michael spins this crazy yarn?

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:22Speaker 00

  We actually played the clip in our breakdown because it's so funny. But Dylan Q from... Indianapolis, Maryland, pointed out something really interesting. Quote, "In the cold open, Michael says that he gave his girlfriend the Heimlich maneuver because he's CPR trained. But a few episodes later, The Office receives CPR training and Michael clearly has no idea how this training works. Was this because customer survey was supposed to come after stress relief? Or do you ladies think it was just a mistake? I've been listening since day one. Your breakdowns used to make me feel like I was watching The Office while I was at work."

• 4:58Speaker 01

  Well, first of all, Dylan, this is a very, very good catch. Like, A-plus catch.

• 5:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  I went back, I looked at the dates on our shooting drafts for both customer survey and stress relief. For customer survey, it was September 10th. For stress relief, it was December 17th. So, the answer is no. Stress relief was never going to come out before customer survey.

• 5:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think it was just a blip, you know? They just missed it.

• 5:26Speaker 01

  They missed it. But Dylan didn't miss it. Dylan's paying attention.

• 5:29Speaker 00

  Well, thanks you guys so much for writing in. We really love this episode and we think you will too. So, here's our breakdown of customer survey with Stephen Merchant.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 5:43Speaker 00

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  We were on The Office together.

• 5:46Speaker 00

  And we're best friends.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  And now, we're doing the ultimate Office re-watch podcast just for you.

• 5:51Speaker 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.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  We're the Office Ladies.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  Oh, boy, this is a good episode of Office Ladies today.

• 6:05Speaker 00

  I'm so excited for you guys to hear it. I'm excited to listen to it.

• 6:09Speaker 01

  I'm gonna listen to it over and over and over again.

• 6:13Speaker 00

  We're listening to ourselves right now.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  Today, we're gonna be talking about customer survey. It is season five, episode seven. It was written by Lester Lewis and directed by Stephen Merchant.

• 6:26Speaker 00

  The Stephen Merchant. Come on, you guys listening, you know who Stephen Merchant is.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, creator of the British Office.

• 6:33Speaker 00

  Come on.

• 6:34Speaker 01

  We got to talk to him, you guys. I was supposed to wait until Fastback Two, but I can't wait. I can't wait.

• 6:39Speaker 00

  We tried really hard to keep it together.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  We couldn't do it.

• 6:42Speaker 00

  We couldn't do it.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  All right, we'll still go through the motions summary. Jim and Dwight receive poor customer surveys and they join forces to uncover why. Were they really bad? Is something going on?

• 6:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, a little bit of a whodunit.

• 6:56Speaker 01

  Whodunit. Meanwhile, Pam and Jim communicate all day long via teeny tiny Bluetooth earpieces. And Andy and Angela make some wedding plan decisions.

• 7:08Speaker 00

  Oh, yes, they do. They get the best tintist in all the land.

• 7:13Speaker 01

  They do. I loved that so much. We got them. We got them.

• 7:17Speaker 00

  We got them.

• 7:18Speaker 01

  All right, fast fact number one. We shot this episode the week of September 8th, 2008. It was our 79th episode overall. And I got curious, like, how many episodes of Office Ladies have we done?

• 7:31Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, how many have we done?

• 7:34Speaker 01

  This is our 83rd.

• 7:35Speaker 00

  You're kidding.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  That's bonkers, right?

• 7:38Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  We're like zeroing in on the big 100 in both cases.

• 7:43Speaker 00

  Can we have a party?

• 7:45Speaker 01

  I think we can.

• 7:46Speaker 00

  Sam, can we have a party? We sure can. Thank you, Sam. Sam, you can be head of the PPC for Office Ladies. This has become a task for me. I mean, you've got the coolest Christmas tree this year. Come on. That is very true. You're head of the PPC.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  You had to ask Sam if we could have a party because he's like the one person who's gonna come. We don't have very many people that work on Office Ladies. If Sam's not down, then we don't have much of a party.

• 8:13Speaker 00

  Pretty much it's Sam and Cassie. Cody, will you stop by? Maybe Colin?

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, we gotta get Iliana in.

• 8:19Speaker 00

  Oh, and Marissa.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  Those are our peeps. And we still need to have Take Your Kid to Work Day because my kids really want to come in the studio.

• 8:26Speaker 01

  We were just talking about it on the drive to school today about how they want to come for summer break.

• 8:31Speaker 00

  Oh, let's get them in here.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  Okay, wait, this is a big episode. We'll chitty chat later.

• 8:35Speaker 01

  All right, we'll figure that out later. Fast fact number two, Stephen Merchant directed this episode.

• 8:42Speaker 01

  So he and Ricky Gervais created the British office. It ran on BBC Two for two seasons. They were six episodes each and then they did a two-part Christmas special. They wrote and directed all of the episodes themselves.

• 8:56Speaker 00

  Yes. They would sit together with a dictaphone, right? And they would talk out scenes and then transcribe them. They wrote the whole series, just the two of them.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  And then they let us make an American version. And then Stephen directed this episode. And then he agreed to come on our podcast.

• 9:14Speaker 00

  Ladies.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Oh, my goodness. I mean, wow. To prep us, before we listen to the interview, I thought we should go over a few facts about the British office and the American office.

• 9:25Speaker 00

  Oh, I like it.

• 9:26Speaker 01

  Okay, so the British office was set at a paper company called Wernham Hogg. And it was located in Slough. The building that they used for the exterior of their show, it was located on Slough Trading Estate and it was called the Crossbow House, but they tore it down in 2013.

• 9:46Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  So you can't visit it.

• 9:48Speaker 00

  When we do our England tour of office locations.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  We're not going to be able to see that one.

• 9:54Speaker 00

  Well, we might just have to go to the spot.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:56Speaker 00

  We'll point to the spot.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  Okay. It'll be a great photo.

• 10:00Speaker 00

  You know what? I'll put it in our scrapbook.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Dunder Mifflin, on the other hand, was located in Scranton. And the exterior of our building was and still is located at Chandler Valley Studios on Saticoy Street in Van Nuys, California. You can take a picture with that one.

• 10:16Speaker 00

  You can.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  But as a nod to the British series, the address of Dunder Mifflin is listed as 1725 Slough Avenue.

• 10:24Speaker 00

  I know, I always love that.

• 10:26Speaker 01

  It's so sweet.

• 10:27Speaker 00

  So sweet. It's even on like the fakey business cards.

• 10:30Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, like Michael Scott had business cards. I might have taken one. I might have stolen one. It has that address.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Well, we will talk more about these two companies when we speak with Stephen.

• 10:41Speaker 00

  Should we get to it?

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Well, I have one more fast fact.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Oh, my Lord. Okay, let's do it.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  I know, I know.

• 10:46Speaker 00

  I'm so excited.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Fast fact number three. This episode was written by Lester Lewis.

• 10:51Speaker 00

  Oh, yes.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  And I found an interview with Lester where he talked a little bit about what it was like knowing that an episode he had written was going to be directed by Stephen Merchant.

• 11:00Speaker 00

  Oh, I love it. Can I hear it?

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Yes. So he said that the story for this episode was already in place before Stephen was attached to direct. So as he was writing it, luckily, he had no idea that like one of the...

• 11:13Speaker 00

  Yes. I wouldn't want that in my head. I would just want to like, write what I was gonna write without any pressure.

• 11:19Speaker 01

  Yes. But then, he was so nervous when he found out. Because you know, the writer gets to walk around with the director for the whole week.

• 11:26Speaker 00

  They're together the whole time.

• 11:27Speaker 01

  It's like, a very close relationship.

• 11:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:30Speaker 01

  I mean, I would be pooping my pants.

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, a little bit.

• 11:33Speaker 01

  But he said any nervousness that he felt totally disappeared when he met Stephen, and that Stephen participated in the final rewrites of the script. He wished that Stephen Merchant could be with us for every single episode.

• 11:45Speaker 00

  Oh, that's so sweet.

• 11:46Speaker 01

  Well, I couldn't agree more with that.

• 11:47Speaker 00

  I know, I know.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  His energy is just fantastic.

• 11:51Speaker 00

  So smart, so funny, and so kind.

• 11:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:55Speaker 00

  Well, Jenna, later, when we break down the episode, I have a little story I want to share about Lester, because he rescued me in a scene.

• 12:01Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  He really did. But now, we're gonna take a break, and when we come back,

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Stephen Merchant. I can't believe it. I can't believe that.

• 12:20Speaker 01

  Stephen, hello.

• 12:22Speaker 04

  Hi. Well, I should, I feel like I should say hello, Office ladies.

• 12:25Speaker 00

  Oh, hi.

• 12:27Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 12:28Speaker 00

  I love that.

• 12:29Speaker 04

  I am, I don't know if you've noticed, in honor of both the British and the UK versions of The Office, I am wearing my, my Wernham Hogg baseball cap, which is, um, which is the Dunder Mifflin of the UK. And then, but I have my Dunder Mifflin mug, which I believe was a crew gift

• 12:45Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 12:46Speaker 04

  for my cup of tea. So, um, you know, I'm just trying to pay homage to both, both sides of the Atlantic and both shows.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  You're awesome. You are so awesome.

• 12:55Speaker 00

  We love that so much.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  Well, let's see. To kick things off... I thought that, and I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, Stephen, about meeting Ricky for the first time. But the reason I bring it up is because you mentioned Angela and I, we're rocking a duo. You're part of this duo with Ricky, but there are these people who, when we meet them, they just change the course of our lives. I think back to, you know, Lennon meets McCartney, right? Like, what is that?

• 13:26Speaker 04

  Wow, I'm already in amazing company. This is exciting.

• 13:29Speaker 00

  I should have said that. I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Wow. Wow. When we sat next to each other in the basketball episode, I didn't realize the impact I was gonna have.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  That was our Lennon McCartney moment, Angela.

• 13:41Speaker 01

  So Stephen, I know that you went into interview for a job to be Ricky's assistant at a radio station. You walk in the door, you meet this man. Did you feel it?

• 13:51Speaker 00

  Was there a spark?

• 13:52Speaker 01

  Was there a shift in the universe?

• 13:57Speaker 04

  Well, it was interesting because we, as you say, I did indeed go into a building to meet him, but he very quickly said, let's go to the pub for a pint of beer.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. This is my God.

• 14:09Speaker 04

  And there aren't many bosses that do that. He was hiring me for the job. So I was immediately charmed by that. I thought that sort of seemed like the right approach. And we went down the road and had a pint and we got chatting and we seemed to have a lot of sort of common loves of things like music and comedy and stuff. So we hit it off in that regard. But then he said something to me, which I think was revealing. He said, listen, I, this was a radio station where we were both gonna work. And he said, listen, I don't know anything about radio. I've sweet talked my way into this job. I don't know what I'm doing. And you seem to have had a little radio experience. If you do all the work, I'll make sure you have fun. And I, in need of a job,

• 14:49Speaker 04

  thought, that sounds like a fair deal. And so I joined the station with Ricky as essentially my boss. And true to his word, he did not know what he was doing. Um, but uh, we managed to find a sort of working relationship and, and after a little while, we were behind the scenes guys, but after a little while, they realized that our better asset was being on the radio. And once we went on the radio and we started talking and being, and being kind of presenters, kind of like you guys, that was when I think we're all starting to make more sense. And I think that was where our, if you like, our sense of humor and our relationship with each other and our rapport, I think that's where it really began to develop sort of on the radio. And, and, um, and then from then it was sort of, you know, it was plain sailing really, you know, and we just, and

• 15:34Speaker 04

  so much of what we, our experience, so much of sort of getting to know someone that you end up working with in that way is I think just, as I'm sure you guys discovered, it's just finding all the things you have in common. And I suppose the things you don't like, you know, and, and sort of deciding that these are the movies we like, these are the comedy we like, this is what we don't. And I think that's so much of the initial sort of partnering was that, was finding that stuff, that common ground.

• 15:55Speaker 01

  Oh man, that is such a great story. And also I feel like something Angela and I have discovered in working together is like our strengths and weaknesses and how they, and our differences and our, in our work, we both have strong work ethics, but we work differently. What do you think were some of those things that made you and Ricky a good duo?

• 16:17Speaker 04

  Well, I think I was a little younger than Ricky. Um, and so I had a sort of youthful ambition and a kind of get up and go sort of dynamics. I mean, at the time we were working at this radio show and then I would go off and do stand up comedy in the evenings and things, whereas Ricky would sort of be home eating cheese with his girlfriend by sort of, you know, six PM. And I think, you know, he was older and he, he'd sort of settled into a certain groove. And I think I had this kind of eagerness to sort of make my stamp on the world. And I think, but at the same time, I think what Ricky had was just a sort of untapped kind of explosive brilliance that was just sort of waiting to be, to be sort of mined, you know? And I think I had this slightly more kind of structured, slightly

• 17:00Speaker 04

  more rigid approach to things. And I think it was his sort of his wild spontaneity and my kind of slightly more, you know, um, by the book approach. I think. Kind of bringing those two things together sort of work well, you know, and I was able to kind of chaperone him through some of the more boring bits of writing, if you like, the working of the plots and all those sort of things. Whereas at the but at the same time, he had a kind of, he was just sort of smart. He was just wise about people and about, you know, he just he was just older. And so there was a big brother quality to him that that he could bring to as well. So it was just a really interesting dynamic. We sort of supported each other and we kind of, I think, sparked each other's creativity in different ways. It was just a very exhilarating sort of time in both our lives, I think.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  Stephen, you're my Jenna. You're my Jenna.

• 17:47Speaker 04

  Well, there you go.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  That's what I was gonna say. I'm you, Stephen. I'm I'm the structure and the the tasks and the and Angela is the boom boom.

• 17:58Speaker 00

  I'm like, let's go grab a pint. Let's let's bounce some ideas off.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  And I'm like, I'll get a pint with you, but I'm bringing a notebook.

• 18:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:05Speaker 04

  Right, exactly. Yeah.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  Well, I remember meeting you for the first time when you came to the set of The Office early, early.

• 18:15Speaker 00

  Jenna, where was that? Where did where did you guys meet? Was it the original Culver City set?

• 18:20Speaker 01

  Wasn't it? Stephen, do you remember?

• 18:22Speaker 04

  I definitely think it was it was a season one.

• 18:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, and we weren't on those sound stages yet, right?

• 18:28Speaker 00

  We were in an actual office building.

• 18:30Speaker 04

  That's right. It was a real a real office above a real factory. Is that right? Or a real warehouse?

• 18:34Speaker 01

  Above a real warehouse.

• 18:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:36Speaker 00

  And didn't you guys, Stephen, when you filmed the BBC version, weren't you in an actual office building as well? Weren't they like people working on the other side of the wall?

• 18:43Speaker 04

  That's very that's absolutely true. Although bizarrely, we were we were within a studio complex, a small British TV studio, but we were not in the studio. We were in an actual office in in the studio complex. And yes, as you say, there were there were people sort of who were kind of annoyed by the noise we were making and were trying to get on with a job of work. And we were there kind of, you know, running around and making noise and doing funny dances and whatever else. So, um, yeah, so it was definitely very much a real office and it had all of the the the pros and cons of that, I suppose, that it was it felt real and we wanted it to feel very lived in. And we wanted it to we always wanted our version of the office to feel like a documentary that had sort of been made. And then everyone forgot about it. And it was just on a shelf somewhere at the

• 19:24Speaker 04

  BBC for like 10 years. And someone dusted it off and was like, put this on TV. So we wanted the whole thing to feel tired. The office should feel tired, the people, the clothes. We always were very excited when the the plants that we had on the set were slightly dying. We liked that idea. It was the British, that British approach. You know, you reflect the weather by just making shows that are depressing. And, um, and that was what that office had. It had a slightly tired feel because it had been a real place. Um, and it's somehow slightly harder to create that artificially when you build a set, you know, you're always striving for that. So it had that nice lived in quality, but, but obviously also restrictive to shoot in and a little bit difficult and, you know, and it's not much elbow room and, um, you know, so it was pros and cons.

• 20:07Speaker 00

  Right. Our, our camera guys have talked about that, where we filmed the original, you know, set in Culver City was an actual office. So no walls moved and you couldn't pop anything out and, and that really just added to the authenticity. But that's, that's where you guys met. You guys met for the pilot, maybe, Jen, or the table read?

• 20:24Speaker 01

  I remember doing a reading for you guys. Oh gosh. I mean, and then I remember we ordered some food and had some lunch and just.

• 20:34Speaker 04

  Yes. But I think you were maybe shooting by then. Were we maybe shooting? I have a photo from that time, which feels like you're on the set and everybody's kind of, I'm sure you're maybe working and we were up and running by the time we actually visited. I felt like a lot of what we did initially was remote. I know that Greg Daniels came and visited us in England and we sat with him for a couple of days and we sort of chewed the fat and tried to talk about how, you know, tried to give him a better insight into why we had chosen certain things for the British version and how they might translate to America and what the versions, what the equivalents would be in America. And it was fascinating to me because there were things which we assumed

• 21:15Speaker 04

  would be the same all over the world. For instance, the, the idea of an office, a group of people in office going to a pub quiz is quite a traditional idea here. You'd go to a trivia night, you know, as a group. And that, I remember at the time, it felt like Greg, that wasn't as familiar to Greg, the idea of kind of the trivia night or the quiz night. And I guess maybe they are more common now, but I don't know that that was as, and it's interesting was when they did a version in France, it turns out that apparently on Friday night, um, at the end of the working day on a Friday, the champagne comes out in an office.

• 21:49Speaker 00

  What?

• 21:49Speaker 04

  You know, where I guess in France, I think champagne is just like water in France. It's just everywhere. And I just thought it was fun, you know, just these interesting variations.

• 21:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. How many different countries is The Office in now?

• 22:03Speaker 04

  There was a French version, there was a French Canadian version, there was an Israeli version, there was, I believe, a, I think there might have been an Indian version.

• 22:14Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 22:15Speaker 04

  And I think there's a South American version, but I forget where exactly in South America. But it was frustrating because they would send us copies of these, but of course, none of them had subtitles. So it was just speaking in their local languages and I have no idea whether it was good or bad.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  It's gotta just be so amazing, Stephen, when you take a moment and sit in that, that you went and grabbed a pint with this guy and all these years later, this idea that the two of you had is everywhere. It's everywhere. It's gotta be just so humbling.

• 22:47Speaker 04

  It's like COVID-19.

• 22:49Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 22:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, it's, uh, no, I know what you mean. But I think, yes, but I think also what's exciting about that, and I think particularly when you guys began your version, was that, you know, we always were a fan of our show, but we could never watch it as an audience watches it because we were too immersed in it. We were there, we'd written it and we were just too involved and we couldn't get any distance from it. Whereas I remember when they would send the seasons of your show, the episodes of your show, I could watch it like a fan. It was like, I was like, I'm just enjoying it as a fan and not as a creator in the same way. You know what I mean? It was very, very pleasurable. It was like you get to design your ideal show and then go off and have talented people make it and send it to you. You know what I mean? It's like sort of a weird, like an amazing, like you won a competition. You design a show and then talented people make it for many,

• 23:38Speaker 04

  many years.

• 23:39Speaker 01

  One of my favorite experiences was after we filmed the pilot, I was in London and you and Ricky grabbed drinks with me at, is it called the Groucho Club?

• 23:51Speaker 04

  That's right, yeah.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  Okay. And that was just so exciting. But then I was on the tube and I picked up what was like your version of TV Guide and I looked in there and there was an article about how America was going to ruin The Office.

• 24:10Speaker 01

  And there was a little picture of my face in a bubble comparing me to Lucy Davis. And there were bubbles of all our faces talking about how we it is specifically outlining how we were each going to ruin the show. Yeah, I still have it. I put it in a scrapbook.

• 24:30Speaker 04

  Let me tell you right now, Jenna, what really happened was Ricky and I had that manufactured specially. Oh, and planted. Planted on the tube in order to really make you buck up your ideas and do a good job.

• 24:44Speaker 04

  But it's funny you should say that because because I remember that when that when it was first being discussed, as you say, there were a lot of things about, oh, America going to ruin the show. And then there was when the show your show started airing in the UK, it was kind of, oh, it's not as good as the British version. And then over time, it's become the American version is far superior to the British version. This is the British. This is the way we do things here. You know, I mean, we're like, we we kind of build you up and then we knock you down. And and so, yeah, now very much the American version is kind of the the much loved version, even by the British, the British press. And Ricky and I are seen as kind of, oh, those guys were tired of those guys. It's amazing. It's amazing. Maybe it'll come full circle.

• 25:25Speaker 00

  Well, I remember meeting you guys on the the new set when we moved, you know, way deep in the valley Chandler Valley Studios. And I'll never forget because you guys were coming for lunch and we were all super excited. And I think by now the supporting cast, we were we were actually, we had real contracts. So I think I was a little braver to like come up and say hi because maybe no one would fire me now because I was locked in. And you guys, we were going through the food line. And the the assistant director came up to me and said, Angela, you're the first talking head up after lunch. And Ricky and Stephen will be here. And I just went, uh, like, I was like, oh, no. No, I just got the courage to say hi. Please don't make me do a talking head in front of them.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  And Ricky said, oh, don't worry. I don't tisk too loudly. And he did his finger. And I was like, ah, ha, ha, and then sort of broke into a cold sweat. But it was

• 26:22Speaker 04

  I hope though that we, I hope ultimately, you know, I, I, I, I think we, we always ultimately tried to be supportive when we could. We were kind of aware that it was like, there was this, I think just because we had British accents and we'd come from a long way away. It was like, it was like the Queen had come to visit.

• 26:36Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 26:37Speaker 04

  And we were aware of that. And I think trying to kind of, you know, make sure people realize we weren't here to judge or be mean.

• 26:43Speaker 00

  Oh, no, you guys were great. We were, we were just a buzz about having you guys on the set. And then when you came, I guess, you know, we're talking about customer survey this week. When you came to the set, I read that you were in the writer's room for weeks before we actually shot.

• 26:57Speaker 04

  Yes, yes, absolutely.

• 26:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. And we always ask people how they got their job on the office. I think we know you started by creating, but how did you end up directing this particular episode? Do you remember?

• 27:10Speaker 04

  Well, I think whenever I had visited, because I used to kind of visit whenever I was in LA, sometimes with Ricky and sometimes without. And I, and I tried to come, you know, once a season and stop by. And I was always very, um, I just loved being in the writer's room. Um, because in, you've got to remember in the UK, you know, Ricky and I wrote the show together and it was just us. And we didn't do a lot of episodes, but you know, it felt like a lot of hard work. And it was, you know, it was just the two of us in this sort of cold London little tiny office. And whereas when you come to an American writing room, you know, there's so many people and it's just, it's just a really buzzy, exciting atmosphere. You're just, you're just with a lot of very talented, very smart people. Ideas are sort

• 27:53Speaker 04

  of pinging around and it's, it's a very different experience to the, to the British experience. And I always loved that. I was just always a fan of being in that environment. And so I think there had been conversations with Greg about sort of directing an episode and it just never worked out schedule wise, or I was always doing something with Ricky, or I was doing some, something else in the UK. And for whatever reason, I had that little window of time. And I think, so I think in a sense, that particular episode was the one that was up and, and, and when I could slot it in. But I had those few weeks ahead of it. And I just wanted, I just thought, well, I really, I love being in the writing room. I love being in that. That sort of environment, let me come over and just absorb that. And I'm sort of really glad I did because I felt like I was able to contribute to the script of that episode.

• 28:37Speaker 04

  And, and again, like I say, just, I just really had a blast just seeing how it worked and seeing the ideas. You're bouncing around the room and seeing how one idea becomes another and how jokes are improved. And like I say, not something I'd really experienced in the U K. So it was, it was, it was a learning curve for me as much as it was a, as much as it was a job, if you like.

• 28:59Speaker 01

  And do you remember any pitches from the room? I know there's one scene, the Mr. Butlicker scene.

• 29:07Speaker 00

  Right, that was, was loosely based off a situation you had at a job where you had to do the, the train up, right?

• 29:15Speaker 04

  That's right, that's right. I was working at a call center, answering phones. And we had to have training for a week beforehand. And one of the things we had to do was one person went in one room and called another trainee. And one was the customer and one was the, the person working at the call center. And I figured the, in order to maximize this and, and, and kind of get the most out of it. I thought it would be useful to be sort of a challenging customer. You know, a little bit difficult or, or ask difficult questions or go quiet sometimes just because that's what I wanted to learn. Because it's figured, you know, you're never going to be able to just follow a script. That someone always is going to be kind of difficult. So I started playing difficult customers for the other trainee.

• 29:59Speaker 04

  So I would be a little angry or whatever it would be. And eventually the guy in charge of the training took me aside and said, I can't have you do this anymore because you're upsetting the other trainees with your, with your characters and with your questions and with your attitude. And anyway, so I'd always been very amused by that idea that, that in the course of that sort of training, you'd, you'd get so into the role that you'd sort of, it would overtake the training.

• 30:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:24Speaker 04

  So I, I raised that as an idea and it just seemed like a funny idea to have Jim kind of. Deliberately needling Dwight in that way. And I some, some of the writers went off and kind of, and came back with that scene. And I, and I really was so happy with that. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I thought it was a really funny spin on that idea. I thought the, when we shot it, I thought the three guys were just fantastic. I loved the fact that it was sort of longer than a lot of scenes are traditionally in, in the show. That it just, it could just, we could just sit in that moment. And I think it's, in a way it sort of escalates and, and I just, I thought everyone kind of knocked out of the park. And I'm sure there was a version of that that we shot where either Steve or, or, uh,

• 31:07Speaker 04

  I forget, I think it was Steve at the end just said, we got the butt knicker account. Um, which I don't think we could ever squeeze into the finished cut. But there was a lot of sort of fun little improvs around the edges. And yeah, I just think when there's a sort of, when there's three great performers and a really funny idea like that, sort of given free rein, it's so thrilling to be there as a director and watch it happen. And that was, I just thought I was so satisfied with that, with that scene.

• 31:33Speaker 00

  It's so great. It's so great.

• 31:35Speaker 01

  So good.

• 31:35Speaker 00

  Well, Jenna, do you remember, I remember Stephen, when you were on set, we did rehearse scenes. And we had sort of been rehearsing for technical, for camera. But I felt like when you were there, we rehearsed really sort of the meat of the scene and walked through the scene. And I loved it. Um, I had a few scenes with Andy and, and I had that scene with Dwight, you know, where basically we're going to get married on Shrewd Farms. And I'm so happy and we're flirting and it's very weird. But we rehearsed and I, I wish that we had done more of that. And, and was that part of your routine when you guys filmed in England? Were you rehearsing scenes before you shot them?

• 32:13Speaker 04

  We were, and I think also what I think I probably brought with me, which was perhaps a bit unnecessary was I, I think I was still slightly hung up with the. This obsession with the kind of realism of of what we tried to do in and not that your show wasn't realistic, but um I think we, you know, Ricky and I had become very obsessed about realism and naturalism and what was real and what might happen and what might not happen. And and I think actually it was a sort of unnecessary obsession because in the end it's a TV show and you know, it's just you just do what's the the funniest and smartest thing to do. And so I guess I was bringing with me this sort of this we must, we must get to the truth of it, you know, and it's kind of like, wait a minute,

• 32:56Speaker 04

  aren't they wearing tiny little Bluetooth headsets that don't exist? Like, why am I so hung up on on the realism of this, you know? And so I think I was probably bringing an unnecessary obsession with that, which I transpose from our version. And it's funny because even when I look back at our version, it's not, it's not realistic. I mean, there's lots of completely absurd moments. But for whatever reason, we got that in our head. So I think probably I was bringing a bit of that. And I think what I hadn't anticipated is just that you guys were so in a groove by that point that you didn't need rehearsal, you didn't need directing, you know, you could do it just standing on your head. You knew the characters way better than me. And you were just, you could just slip in and out of it so kind of effortlessly that you just didn't need that, that sort of that that rehearsal or that kind of, you know, attention to detail, whatever it is, you

• 33:40Speaker 04

  know, you could just, I could have just left you to do it and come back after lunch. And, you know, so I think it was just like I say, it was again, I think it's just slight naivety in a way about having not done, you know, American shows, particularly long running shows where at some point the cast are just so in in sync with the show and the characters, they don't really need directing.

• 34:00Speaker 00

  Well, I don't, I agree with you that we were sort of like, we were a machine at this time, season five. But for for me and Jenna and I and the cast have talked about this, when we did rehearse with you, it it sort of grounded us back down and got us back into character. And not that we would step out of character because we could, like you said, we could go right to Angela Martin. I know her, right?

• 34:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  But I don't know, for for us as actors, we got really into it because it allowed us to. You know, like, not to sound too actory, but have the moment that's the craft, right? Sure. And feel like you're really part of a production and kind of remind ourselves, oh yeah, we're here to do this really cool show that's a mockumentary. And I don't know, I geeked out about it, Jenna.

• 34:48Speaker 01

  No, I agree with you, Angela, because by this time it was season five. And, you know, at a certain point, it can feel like a comedy factory, a comedy TV show factory.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  Right.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  And we never wanted that. And we, we did always try to come back to that place of authenticity. And, and when you came in, in this season, and really reminded us of that, I thought there was such a value in it.

• 35:17Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 35:17Speaker 01

  And then also, I was so grateful that you directed this episode, Stephen, because it ends with this big Jim, Pam, Alex art school guy scene. You talked about the tiny Bluetooths that actually did not work. They

• 35:34Speaker 00

  They didn't exist at the time. They were like completely like made up, right?

• 35:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 35:40Speaker 04

  It's funny, isn't it? Now, because you know, now with the AirPods and these other things, you know, they're kind of standard issue, aren't they really? But at the time, that just seemed such a kind of crazy. That was probably something I was probably hung up on at the time. It's like, what is this? Is this a thing?

• 35:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  Does this, can these exist?

• 35:55Speaker 00

  And not only that, they probably would have been really expensive because no one, no one had them.

• 36:00Speaker 01

  Yes. And, and so we're, we would be shooting these scenes, and it would either be like an A D reading the lines. So you'd be shooting John's side, and I'm either off camera saying my lines so he can hear me, or it was an A D reading the lines. But in that last scene in particular, when Alex comes in to Pam at corporate and Jim can hear him giving her this pitch that she should not leave New York. I, I, we spent hours on that. I mean, it felt like a whole day we spent on that. And the, the script had like seven alternates to that scene. It was bonkers.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  Didn't, didn't one all Jenna, wasn't he like professing that he actually wanted to be in a relationship with you? Didn't, wasn't like there a huge spectrum of like what Alex was gonna say to you?

• 36:55Speaker 01

  Yes, it was that either the plea was, he actually had a line where he said, it's always been you, Pam.

• 37:02Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 37:02Speaker 01

  I mean, that's heavy. And, um, and then there was this whole other version where he had no feelings for me. He was just really invested in my artistic life.

• 37:14Speaker 01

  And we were just.

• 37:16Speaker 04

  But did we shoot different versions? I can't, cause I remember the discussion about that. And I, and I feel like I was, it seemed odd to me, the kind of big declaration of love. I, I, for some reason I was uncomfortable with that. But what you've got to remember as well is I wasn't entirely up to speed on what had already been being built within the season. Because obviously I'd only come in for that one episode. So, but I just, there was something for me that disquieted me about the declaration of love. I think partly because I, I, I think it was something, whenever the kind of Jim and Pam relationship is threatened, particularly once you've got together, I kind of, it just makes me uncomfortable. It's like, it's like knowing that it's like your parents, kind of the idea that your parents like it might get a divorce. It's sort of, I'm not, I just, it makes me sad.

• 38:01Speaker 04

  The kind of threat to the threat to the relationship just makes me sad. And so the idea, I don't know, I was worried that it was a sort of artificial jeopardy. Like it didn't really count because there was no way that you were gonna leave Jim. And so therefore we were sort of creating a phony drama. But, but I, but that might be my mismemory. I don't remember. I don't, was it, was it, was it, was it nailed down by the time we filmed it? Do you remember?

• 38:26Speaker 01

  I do remember the version where he professes his love was in the script. And John and I felt like you did. We thought, where is this coming from? We don't need this obstacle. And the one that appears in the show was an alternate. And so when we got to set, we were so excited that you were on our side and we could be like, guys, Stephen Merchant, creator of the whole thing, thinks we're right. But it was still like this discussion and I feel like for a while we tried to do this Frankenstein version where there was a little bit of his feelings and a little bit of art school.

• 39:08Speaker 01

  But ultimately, I'm so glad that we picked the one that was picked.

• 39:15Speaker 04

  But it's, having watched the show again in anticipation of this, it's a little odd that he declares, like you say, he's, he's so invested in your art school. Cause it feels like when he comes into the office. That's right. He comes into your, wherever you're working in order to, to kind of have a word with you. And that definitely feels like he's going to declare stuff because probably we filmed it thinking that was what was going to happen. And then by the time he gets into the little side room with you, he's like, you man, you gotta stick with that art. And it's kind of, yeah, so it's a, it's a little odd. It's still probably a little Frankenstein-y.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Well, it's also, it's also slightly out of the blue because we ended up cutting so much of my art school, which at the time when we filmed this, we didn't know that

• 40:02Speaker 04

  Right.

• 40:03Speaker 01

  scenes with Alex and, you know, he had given me a couple of art pep talks already, but they never made it. So it is a little jarring, but it sets up a really nice story for Pam and Jim, which is that, you know, what does the art really mean to her? What did this New York experience mean to her? And, you know, and this is going to kind of haunt her for a while. And that, that part I like about the scene.

• 40:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, you're right. And you agree. And I, and I think, yes, it's the idea of, do you, you know, of, do you pursue a particular dream? Or do you be with the person you love? And the two things pulling at each other is an interesting idea.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:43Speaker 00

  Well, I watched this episode again last night with my tweens, my 13 year olds. And just when Alex says, hey, can I talk to you? Just that, like the fact that he went to Dunder Mifflin corporate and sought her out to have a private conversation, they were like, whoa. So it's it, to me, it was a reminder that you don't have to do much to really convey emotion. And yes, Alex is saying, you've got to give your art a shot. You can't do New York in three months, but it's clearly about so much more. And Jim can hear that. Jim knows it's that that dude thing where you're when he's like, oh, he's into you. And so for me, it was everything we needed. We didn't need anything more.

• 41:26Speaker 01

  There was something in the script that didn't make it in that made me laugh, which is that while Alex is talking, Jim says, cough if you still love me. And I cough.

• 41:41Speaker 00

  Oh, that would have been great.

• 41:43Speaker 04

  Again, I don't want to take credit for things that weren't mine, but I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong about this, but I my instinct is that the little sort of tag on that when, when Dwight recognizes the brand of Bluetooth in Jim's ear. I feel like I had some contribution to that because I felt like, I felt like the scene originally maybe just ended with the sort of the kind of dot, dot, dot, and the drama of it. And I felt like it needed a little conclusion or something to just kind of take away from the, from the sort of emotion of it or the drama of it or something. And also sort of slightly resolve the Bluetooth idea.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, that wasn't in the script, Stephen, that that

• 42:23Speaker 04

  Oh, it wasn't.

• 42:23Speaker 01

  It was not. So that was clearly like an on the day thing. Yeah.

• 42:27Speaker 00

  A pitch, yeah. I also loved the reveal of the coffee mugs and how, in fact, they had not gone to Kelly's party and how that's this had built within the episode. And you talked a little bit on the DVD commentary, how you were so invested in shooting this coffee mug reveal.

• 42:44Speaker 04

  I was quite excited because there was a sort of, there was a sort of mystery element. And I quite like that.

• 42:51Speaker 04

  It's funny, the project I'm working on at the moment has a sort of thrillery element to it. It's the first time I've done that. And that that that little taster on the office of just sort of Jim as the detective kind of piecing things together was very pleasing to me and sort of and sort of seeing the Columbo, you know, seeing the evidence and the kind of the mind working. I don't know why I find that very, very fun and sort of yeah, sort of seeding the cups early on and the and then the kind of the sort of when Jim looks around the room and he sees the mugs on the different desks and then he rushes to the off, you know, just the idea of it having a little bit of a sort of, you know, like a kind of little bit of a sort of thrillery NCIS quality to it, whatever. I just find that that was fun. It was a kind

• 43:33Speaker 04

  of nice. It was a different kind of energy, which I which I find very pleasing to do. I remember.

• 43:39Speaker 00

  I took my mug. I have it.

• 43:41Speaker 04

  Smart. Why not? I would hope that you've got all of your memorabilia from the show and it's just in a giant warehouse somewhere.

• 43:48Speaker 01

  I didn't get a mug. I was at art school.

• 43:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, you were at art school.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Oh, well, ah, Stephen, this was so great to reminisce about this episode with you and just reminisce with you in general. Is there anything else that you would want to share?

• 44:03Speaker 04

  Well, the only thing that occurred to me as I was watching it the other night, the thing that I was suddenly reminded of, and I'm sure this was a trick that was used a great deal in your show and I and I certainly we'd used it in our version. But I remember there's a moment where Michael calls Jim in for his kind of customer, you know, survey appraisal and and the camera kind of whips from Jim at his desk to Michael in the in his office doorway and then it whips back again to Jim at his desk. And I remembered watching it again, I was suddenly reminded that those were those were shot on two different days and that Steve had to leave for whatever reason and we didn't have him for that following day. And so we shot him in the doorway and we whipped the camera off him. And then the

• 44:47Speaker 04

  following day, we whipped back on to to John at his desk and then tied the two together in the in the editing room. So it looks like it's happening for in real time. And I was just watching it kind of and I was very pleased at how effective it was when I watched it again because I realized hopefully only me and the editor know that's what happened there.

• 45:05Speaker 01

  I would have no idea. Yeah.

• 45:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was very, it was a very satisfying little trick.

• 45:11Speaker 01

  I remember Randall talking about the whip cut, that this was their trick. Cause because of you couldn't, so much of our footage is like a one or docu-style camera work. It was really hard to cut, but if you did a whip, you could cut in a whip. And that was the way that they would be able to use two versions of a scene or something.

• 45:34Speaker 04

  That's right. Absolutely right. And it's, it was, it's very satisfying to do it because it's sort of somehow you're playing a little trick on the audience and they don't realize. I don't know why that's so satisfying.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  Well, I was just gonna say, over the course of the whole series, you were such a champion for Jim and Pam. And I remember that so much. It was, you know, we talked about how that was true in this episode, but all the way to the end. You were always so invested in them. Um, and I just say, thank you because um, your voice in the writers room was really meaningful. So thank you.

• 46:08Speaker 04

  Well, thank you. And thank you for, you know, such an amazing job and congratulations with your podcast. And also I wouldn't mind just saying a final thought, which um, was just about Lester, who wrote that episode, who, you know, Lester Lewis, who so tragically died a few years after that. And I only, you know, knew him for that, for that one episode. And that was the only time I'd worked with him, but he was such a lovely man. And I just, you know, and that's sort of whenever I think of that episode, it's kind of tinged with that bittersweet. You know, that bittersweet aftertaste, if you like. So um, yeah, a little reminder to him.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, we loved Lester so much.

• 46:43Speaker 00

  Well, Stephen, I, I just want to say thank you. I mean, I, I feel like everyone in our cast was just

• 46:53Speaker 00

  like humbled that we got this job. We all felt like we won the lottery ticket. And you gave us that lottery ticket, you know, you and Ricky, and you forever changed our lives. Like I, I, I'm like, I'm the person that's quick to laugh and quick to tear up. And, and it, what you gave us and how you changed our lives and our families, just from having this idea. I, I don't know. I will never be able to say thank you enough. So thank you.

• 47:20Speaker 04

  Well, that's very sweet of you. But again, I, you know, it's, it's, I think Ricky and I feel very proud of, of our version, but also of the American version. I think for me, I grew up watching and loving American shows and I was hooked on, you know, MASH and then Cheers and then Roseanne and then the idea of sort of having my fingerprints on a show like yours, which, which stands in the lineage of those shows and is now as beloved by audiences as that, as those shows is just incredible. And that's a testament to you guys and all the cast and all the crew and all the writers. It's far, it's gone way beyond what Ricky and I did. It's like you mentioned about Frankenstein earlier, but they, you know, to us, we've always thought of the office as it's like Frankenstein's monster. And we kind of created this thing in

• 48:03Speaker 04

  the lab and it went off and rampaged around the world on its own, you know, without us. And, um, and the idea that this show is having this kind of, this sort of whole second life and, you know, audiences finding it again. I just think it's, it's such a thrill and an honor to be, to be associated with it. So, um, thank you.

• 48:22Speaker 01

  And will you tell us a little bit about the show that you're working on now, The Offenders?

• 48:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:26Speaker 04

  No, no, goodbye.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Oh, dear. Come on.

• 48:30Speaker 04

  Well, it's interesting because it was, it's a show that, um, uh, is about people doing community service. You know, when you get like a DUI or some minor crime and instead of sending you to jail, they give you 120 hours of picking up garbage at the side of the road or whatever. And my parents used to be, my parents didn't, they did not do DUIs. They, they were people that were in charge of, of offenders that did these, uh, did these days. And I just thought it was always an interesting idea, a good way of bringing a completely disparate group of people together. And interestingly, it has parallels with the office in that regard because, you know, like with an office, those people only know each other because they work in that same environment and they fall in love and they hate each other and they fight and argue. And it's the only thing that kind of keeps them together is because of that job and those four walls.

• 49:13Speaker 04

  And this was sort of a similar, you know, idea in a way is that although it has a bit more of a, of a dramatic thriller-y spine, the, the jumping off point is again, how do you bring an interesting bunch of characters together that wouldn't otherwise meet and sort of watch the? The sparks fly. And so, um, so it shares some DNA with the office in that regard. But, um, but yes, we're, we're sort of in the middle of filming it now and hopefully it'll be out later in the, in the year.

• 49:36Speaker 00

  And where can we find it? BBC and Amazon Studios? Is that right?

• 49:39Speaker 04

  Amazon Prime and BBC. Yes.

• 49:41Speaker 00

  All right.

• 49:42Speaker 04

  And it may, its name may change at some point. Who knows? Uh, maybe its cast will change. I don't know. But, uh, but at the moment it's called The Offenders and, um, yeah. And it's, it's shaping up really nicely. I'm, I'm excited.

• 49:51Speaker 01

  Well, I want to throw something out there too, because I'm a big fan of your film, Fighting With My Family.

• 49:56Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  It came out in 2019. I discovered it during the pandemic. It is so, so good. You wrote and directed it. So while you're waiting for The Offenders, check out Fighting With My Family.

• 50:10Speaker 04

  Thank you so much. I'm very proud of that film. I think it, it turned out really nicely. So I appreciate that.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  Well, Stephen, this was just a joy.

• 50:17Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 50:18Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 50:18Speaker 04

  It was wonderful. It's so great to reminisce. It's like, it's really nice to talk about it. If I hadn't rewatched it, I, I realized I just completely forgotten so much of that and so much of the fun of shooting it. It was really pleasing to kind of go back and look at it again.

• 50:30Speaker 00

  Well, thank you so much, Stephen. Thank you so much for today.

• 50:33Speaker 04

  Thank you, guys. Thanks so much.

• 50:46Speaker 00

  Why don't we go from there? That was so great.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  I don't know, Angela, but I have to tell you, I was on a high for days after we did that interview.

• 50:52Speaker 00

  I know.

• 50:53Speaker 01

  Here's all you need to know about Stephen Merchant, by the way. Just the warmth and heart of this man. He really was the champion of Tim and Don on the British show and of Jim and Pam on our show. And if you need an example of that, just look at how he wore his Wernham Hog hat.

• 51:09Speaker 00

  I know.

• 51:09Speaker 01

  For a podcast.

• 51:10Speaker 00

  And brought his coffee mug, his Dunder Mifflin coffee mug.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  That he had tea in.

• 51:14Speaker 00

  We need to send him some Office Ladies, like, merch.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  We have to.

• 51:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:19Speaker 01

  Okay. All right. Well, should we break down this episode?

• 51:22Speaker 00

  Yes, let's get to it.

• 51:24Speaker 01

  This episode opens with a very funny cold open. Dwight bursts into Michael's office to congratulate him on his engagement. Congratulations, Michael.

• 51:33Speaker 00

  And like punches him hard.

• 51:35Speaker 01

  I know.

• 51:36Speaker 00

  I feel like this is how my kids would congratulate you. Be like, you aced your test. Pow. Like Dwight is such a kid.

• 51:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, it's true. Daryl has a talking head. He just wants to make sure we all know that what we saw last week was true, that Michael is definitely not engaged.

• 51:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, in fact, he would help support his therapy.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  Might need a little help.

• 51:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, he's a little worried about him. Well, there is a deleted scene where the gang asks Michael to tell him about the proposal moment.

• 52:06Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 52:07Speaker 00

  And Michael just starts doing that thing, Jenna, where he just gets deeper and deeper into like a ridiculous lie. And it's so funny. Sam, can you play it?

• 52:18Speaker 03

  We wasted, how did I propose? Let me see.

• 52:22Speaker 03

  Well, I drove her up to Nashua and I had the ring, big 10 karat diamond, beautiful. And I got down on my hands and knees and a shooting star crossed overhead and it just lit up the diamond like a shooting star. And we were in a restaurant and I put the diamond into a cheeseburger. Ooh. And she took a bite, started to choke. So what do I do? I accept PR training, go around, start doing Heimlich. Perfect. The ring, 10 karat diamond pops out of her mouth, hits her shrimp cocktail right onto her finger.

• 53:03Speaker 03

  Million to one shot. All of the Greek people in the restaurant start screaming, oppa! Which means congratulations. So.

• 53:14Speaker 01

  What is this restaurant where they have ordered a cheeseburger and shrimp cocktail?

• 53:20Speaker 00

  And they're outside with a shooting star.

• 53:22Speaker 01

  And it's Greek.

• 53:23Speaker 00

  And it's Greek.

• 53:24Speaker 01

  And you know that famous Greek shrimp cocktail?

• 53:28Speaker 00

  Out under the shooting stars with a great cheeseburger. I mean, I just, you could just, if you get a chance, watch this deleted scene because you see him being like, and then this happened and, you know.

• 53:42Speaker 01

  10 karat diamond.

• 53:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, I know.

• 53:44Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 53:44Speaker 00

  Wowzers.

• 53:45Speaker 01

  What was left in the episode is that everyone makes him call his mom. And tell her the news.

• 53:52Speaker 00

  And she's like, she thinks he's lying again. And he's like, why, mom, come on.

• 53:56Speaker 01

  A couple of things. I don't know if you noticed, the entire time he's on the phone with his mom, Mindy is hiding behind Phyllis's shoulder. You can only see her forehead. This is totally because Mindy was laughing.

• 54:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, she's laughing.

• 54:10Speaker 01

  Exactly. We also had some fan questions from Sabrina, Hannah, and Paul, who would like to know who voiced Michael's mom in the cold open. This was June Squibb, who is an amazing character actress. She was actually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for her role in the movie Nebraska.

• 54:32Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 54:32Speaker 01

  She also played Jack Nicholson's wife in the movie about Schmidt.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  She's so good.

• 54:37Speaker 01

  So good.

• 54:38Speaker 00

  She's so good.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:39Speaker 00

  Oh, we were so lucky.

• 54:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's Michael's mom.

• 54:42Speaker 00

  Well, now we're getting into the episode. It's customer survey time.

• 54:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:46Speaker 00

  Kelly brings Michael all the customer survey files and also a receipt to her bridesmaid's dress that she had bought. That whole bit made me laugh so hard.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  He'll take care of it.

• 54:55Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 54:56Speaker 01

  He's got it. He just crumples it up and throws it in the trash.

• 54:59Speaker 00

  So the whole premise of the story is that Dwight, Jim, all the salespeople, they have these customer surveys and if they do well, then they get bonuses and things like that.

• 55:07Speaker 01

  Right.

• 55:07Speaker 00

  Right. So stakes are high. Jen, I have a question for you.

• 55:11Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 55:11Speaker 00

  Do you do the customer surveys? Like if you get a prompt on an app or an email or a receipt, or if someone calls you because you've purchased something, do you do the customer surveys?

• 55:21Speaker 01

  Very rarely, but occasionally if I have a really great interaction with a salesperson, I want to give them like a kudos. So I will actually go home with my receipt. You know, they usually circle it.

• 55:35Speaker 00

  Right.

• 55:36Speaker 01

  And then I go take the survey and I say how great they were.

• 55:38Speaker 00

  This is totally why we're BFFs because I do that. I do the surveys, you guys.

• 55:43Speaker 01

  Every time?

• 55:44Speaker 00

  I try to. It's very time consuming.

• 55:47Speaker 01

  It really is.

• 55:48Speaker 00

  I was once on the phone with this guy. We had gotten an appliance delivery and then they do the setup and then they called to see how you liked their service.

• 55:57Speaker 01

  Right?

• 55:57Speaker 00

  I was on the phone with the guy for 45 minutes.

• 56:00Speaker 01

  Saying what?

• 56:01Speaker 00

  Well, I did his survey and then we just had a heart to heart. Josh came in and was like, are you still on the phone with the dishwasher guy? I said, I am. I did the survey and he told me a lot of people don't do them. Sometimes they hang up on him or sometimes they yell at him or sometimes they get very offended by the questions he asks. And they're just sort of standard questions. And I said, he was a really nice guy. I talked to him, you know, he'd had a tough few months and like.

• 56:27Speaker 01

  This is so you. Let me say, I do the customer surveys that are online.

• 56:33Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 56:33Speaker 01

  So I don't do like a phone call customer survey.

• 56:37Speaker 00

  Oh, I love a phone call customer survey.

• 56:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's you.

• 56:39Speaker 00

  I want to get to know you. And anyway, this whole episode made me think about that. And I was like, I wonder if Jenna does them too.

• 56:47Speaker 01

  I do because I worked in that line of work and I know how like a good review boosts you up the ladder.

• 56:55Speaker 00

  It does, and I did as well. And so I think about that.

• 56:59Speaker 01

  Well, the other storyline going on here, Jim's going to have a talking head where it is revealed that he and Pam are wearing teeny tiny Bluetooth earpieces.

• 57:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, and this technology did not exist.

• 57:12Speaker 01

  No, the Mitsui B400 is not a real thing.

• 57:16Speaker 00

  This is a fakey tech alert.

• 57:18Speaker 01

  Fakey tech. Alert. Yeah. We talked a little bit about this with Stephen, how they were totally fake. So the way we did this was we shot John's side of these conversations first. And I would be off camera, reading my lines. And then, at the end of the week, we went to the corporate set. And we shot my side of it, and then John was off camera. And Veda, our script supervisor, would have to take diligent notes. Because if there was an improvisation that we did, she would have to write it down so that we could remember to shoot my half of it. When we moved over to corporate.

• 57:53Speaker 00

  Oh, man.

• 57:54Speaker 01

  So it was really complicated. It wasn't like there was a camera on him and a camera on me.

• 57:58Speaker 00

  Right.

• 57:58Speaker 01

  So that's how we did it. And by the way, I found out that this whole Bluetooth storyline was pitched by BJ Novak.

• 58:05Speaker 00

  Hmm. I, of course, had to Google, what is actually the smallest headphone ever made?

• 58:11Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 58:12Speaker 00

  Yeah. According to the internet, you guys, and I don't know why I find this stuff interesting. This is like what's happened with us with office ladies. We talk about it. We see something, we're like, I want to know, what is the smallest headphone? According to the internet, Swedish headphone maker Earin kicked off its consumer electronics show in 2021. By revealing the A3 True Wireless Earbuds. And according to Earin, they are the smallest and lightest headphones ever made. Um, sorry, Apple.

• 58:42Speaker 01

  Are they expensive? Do you know?

• 58:44Speaker 00

  I looked it up as like 190 bucks.

• 58:46Speaker 01

  What? For the smallest?

• 58:47Speaker 00

  For the smallest.

• 58:49Speaker 01

  But are they the best?

• 58:50Speaker 00

  Don't know that. Don't know that, guys. Just telling you, Earin claims to have the smallest.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  Now it's time for Dwight to find out how he did on his survey.

• 58:59Speaker 00

  And I have what I'd like to call a new catchphrase alert.

• 59:04Speaker 01

  What is it?

• 59:05Speaker 00

  Sam, can you play it?

• 59:06Speaker 03

  Alrighty, Dwight.

• 59:09Speaker 00

  Alrighty, Dwight. It's my new catchphrase.

• 59:14Speaker 00

  I love it. I'm gonna say it. Alrighty, Dwighty. What you got, Jenna?

• 59:18Speaker 01

  Well, I'll tell you Dwight doesn't do well on his survey.

• 59:22Speaker 00

  No.

• 59:23Speaker 01

  And Michael's not joking.

• 59:25Speaker 00

  Even though Dwight has that queasy feeling that he gets when he sometimes is hearing a joke.

• 59:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, but he's not laughing. He can't be sure because he can't see himself. But yeah, it's very upsetting, but guess who else doesn't get a good review?

• 59:37Speaker 00

  Jim.

• 59:38Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 59:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:40Speaker 01

  He is arrogant and smudge.

• 59:43Speaker 00

  Lot of smugness.

• 59:44Speaker 01

  Yeah. Now Jim turns off his little Bluetooth.

• 59:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, Pam's like, what, what, what's happening?

• 59:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then he has a talking head where he reveals some pretty big news that he was counting on this bonus because he's gonna buy his parents' house. Pam doesn't know this. And also clearly it's gonna put him in debt because he says, you know, he's gonna buy something he can't really afford.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  But he's also retiring his parents.

• 1:00:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I guess they need the money from the house sale to retire. Then he gets on the phone with Pam. He tells her about the bad review.

• 1:00:17Speaker 00

  But not about the house.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  How do we feel about that? Am I opening a can of worms?

• 1:00:22Speaker 00

  I mean, you have that look on your face where you know exactly how you feel about it. I don't know why you're asking me.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  You just turned red.

• 1:00:32Speaker 01

  I know, I know, because this is gonna play out and.

• 1:00:36Speaker 00

  Well, you feel like a home purchase is a two-hander, not a one-hander. It's a big life moment.

• 1:00:42Speaker 01

  And not just because they're gonna live in it together. And I think that people should pick out their living space if they're gonna live in it, but also because it's a financial burden. Jim has just revealed this is going to burden him and then also Pam. And I think that something of that gravity you should speak about with your partner before you do it. I personally don't find large financial purchases that I then have to live in to be a romantic gesture.

• 1:01:14Speaker 00

  I probably shouldn't have bought you that RV.

• 1:01:16Speaker 01

  I do love the RV, Angela. It's, I wouldn't have had the table be exactly where it is, but I can live with it. I loved it. Thank you.

• 1:01:26Speaker 00

  I put the title in your name. How are those payments? We're kidding. I didn't buy her an RV. I didn't buy her an RV. But yeah, I think this kind of moment is what we call the two hander, guys. It's a two hander life moment.

• 1:01:38Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I think this sort of speaks a little bit to where, you know, Pam was so heavily criticized for Alex's attention on her that she never reciprocated, right? In this art school story, but there's not a lot of criticism of like how Jim is partnering. And that's sort of where, I don't know, he gets a pass maybe because he's so like charming and it's seen as like romantic.

• 1:02:10Speaker 00

  Well, some people might see it as romantic that he's going to provide a home, but I think

• 1:02:14Speaker 01

  but he's not really because it's a financial burden.

• 1:02:16Speaker 00

  I said, but I had a but coming, which is also that, you know, when you're partnering with someone in life, the word is partner, right?

• 1:02:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:27Speaker 00

  It's not soloing. I'm not soloing with you. I'm partnering with you. And Pam might have said, you know what? Why don't we live in one of our apartments and save money for a bit?

• 1:02:38Speaker 01

  Or she might have said, listen, I get it. I love your parents. I want your parents to be able to retire. I agree to take on this financial burden to provide your parents with a great retirement. I'm in.

• 1:02:51Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  But she wasn't given that opportunity.

• 1:02:54Speaker 00

  She never got the chance. Cause there was some soloing and not some partnering.

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03:00Speaker 01

  Let's talk about what Andy's up to. He goes to get some coffee.

• 1:03:04Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  But he can't find his mug because Jim's using it.

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  It's his face.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  But is it? I mean, smile, smile like the mug.

• 1:03:11Speaker 00

  That was so funny. That made me laugh so hard. Jenna, what do I have here in my hand?

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  You guys, Angela has her mug with the star and her little severe face.

• 1:03:23Speaker 00

  I took it at the end of the week. Am I like the Office klepto? I full on took it. It has sat on my desk at home for 15 years and I keep my pencils and stuff in it. And I washed it out and brought it here today so I could drink out of it.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  So cool.

• 1:03:38Speaker 00

  In honor of the episode. Sam, do you see it? You're head of the PPC. You need to clock things like this. It's wonderful. Okay, thank you.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  I don't have one.

• 1:03:46Speaker 00

  You don't have one? That is not.

• 1:03:48Speaker 01

  Wonderful. Thank you.

• 1:03:49Speaker 00

  You do have a mug, though, with the Edge on it.

• 1:03:52Speaker 01

  I do have that, thanks to you, Angela. I don't think we talked about that on the pod.

• 1:03:57Speaker 00

  We haven't.

• 1:03:58Speaker 01

  All right, I'll share. Angela got me a mug from The Edge, my favorite movie.

• 1:04:05Speaker 00

  I made it, guys. I went on a website and I made it.

• 1:04:07Speaker 01

  It took you months. It has a picture of Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, and then it has a picture of the bear. And then it has the quote, "What one man can do, another can do."

• 1:04:19Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. And I gave it to her as a birthday gift.

• 1:04:21Speaker 01

  Yes. And that is the actual quote from the movie, even though I say, "What one man has done, another can do."

• 1:04:28Speaker 00

  I looked it up. I got it right.

• 1:04:29Speaker 01

  No, you got it right. You got it right.

• 1:04:31Speaker 00

  And now Jenna can drink her mug with either the bear facing her or Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.

• 1:04:39Speaker 01

  And I use it on days when I need to get fired up. You know, when I, like, when we're writing our book.

• 1:04:44Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:04:44Speaker 01

  And I know, like, I have a tough day of writing ahead, and I, maybe I just, I'm not, oh, I just can't get into it. I'll get that mug, Angela, and I'll pour coffee in it, and I'll look at that bear, and I'll be like, "I'm gonna slay this bear today." You know, the quote from the movie is, "We're gonna kill a motherf***ing bear today."

• 1:05:01Speaker 00

  The bear is the book.

• 1:05:02Speaker 01

  The bear is the book. The bear is whatever you need to conquer in the day.

• 1:05:06Speaker 00

  Not today.

• 1:05:07Speaker 01

  And it stares at me. Not today, bear.

• 1:05:09Speaker 00

  Not today, bear.

• 1:05:10Speaker 01

  I love my mug.

• 1:05:10Speaker 00

  Or not today, Anthony.

• 1:05:12Speaker 01

  Who's Anthony?

• 1:05:13Speaker 00

  Anthony Hopkins.

• 1:05:15Speaker 01

  Charles.

• 1:05:16Speaker 00

  Charles.

• 1:05:16Speaker 01

  You mean Charles?

• 1:05:17Speaker 00

  Charles. Well, Jim says, "Why don't you use the Snoopy mug?" And Pam's like, "No, that's my mug."

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  But it's not even her mug. Her mug is the pink mug.

• 1:05:25Speaker 00

  I know. So I wrote, here in my notes, "Wait, did Pam bring her pink mug?"

• 1:05:31Speaker 00

  To art school.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  Maybe Pam brought her pink mug to art school.

• 1:05:34Speaker 00

  Snoopy is her backup mug.

• 1:05:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, I buy that.

• 1:05:37Speaker 00

  This is more mug talk than you ever thought you might hear.

• 1:05:40Speaker 01

  There's gonna be more, too, so just buckle in for that later. Also, Andy would like you to know about landing the greatest tentist for the wedding.

• 1:05:50Speaker 00

  Do you mean the Shangri-La tent? To celebrate your wedding with excellence? I screen grabbed it. That's what the website says. And let me just tell you a little bit about this tent, you guys. It's two stories and heated and it has a bridal suite for his bridal suite. It's really simple and tasteful, a two-story tent.

• 1:06:10Speaker 01

  You know, it's the same tentist that Giuliani used for his first and third weddings.

• 1:06:15Speaker 00

  But Nana Mimi can't be in canvas that long. Angela's not having it.

• 1:06:19Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, no.

• 1:06:20Speaker 00

  Well, I have to share with you guys, the scene between Angela and Andy, I couldn't do it. I literally couldn't do it. It's at 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Angela Martin has to say to Andy, you can have your tent, but only if it's in a field. A hand tealed field.

• 1:06:36Speaker 01

  You still can't say it.

• 1:06:37Speaker 00

  I tried my hardest.

• 1:06:39Speaker 01

  Just now you said hand tealed field.

• 1:06:41Speaker 00

  No, I didn't. I was trying so hard.

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  You said tealed.

• 1:06:43Speaker 00

  Did I say?

• 1:06:44Speaker 01

  Like tealed, like the color.

• 1:06:45Speaker 00

  Okay, well.

• 1:06:46Speaker 01

  It's supposed to be tilled, hand tilled field.

• 1:06:48Speaker 00

  Okay, so here.

• 1:06:49Speaker 01

  This is what Angela could not do on the day.

• 1:06:51Speaker 00

  What I just read to you guys was what was exactly in the script.

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:06:55Speaker 00

  Right? And if you watch the show, you know, that's not what I say because I think we did like 13 takes. My southern kryptonite is a vowel in front of an L. You might remember filthy emails. Couldn't say those. So I kept saying a hand tealed field, hand tealed field. So many times that Lester came over to me, who's so sweet. And he said, Angela, it's hand tailed field, tilled?

• 1:07:19Speaker 01

  Tilled.

• 1:07:20Speaker 00

  Hand tailed.

• 1:07:21Speaker 01

  Till, like until.

• 1:07:22Speaker 00

  Hun, hun tilled. I can't say it. What happens to me? I cannot say this word. And I said, and I looked at him and I like looked at his lips as he said it. I was trying so hard. Stephen Merchant is the director. I'm sweating bullets here. So I was like, okay, okay, I got it. I got it. Hand tailed felled.

• 1:07:41Speaker 01

  She still can't say it.

• 1:07:43Speaker 00

  You can have your tent, but only in, if it's in a field, a hand tailed felled. Hand tailed felled, hand tailed felled. And it was like a disaster. Lester came over. I'll never forget. He sort of crouched down by my desk and whispered to me. Angela, why don't you just say a hand plowed field? And I said, oh, Lester, thank you. Thank you so much. And that's what made it in the episode because I can't say hand tealed field.

• 1:08:12Speaker 01

  You can't do it.

• 1:08:12Speaker 00

  I can't do it.

• 1:08:14Speaker 01

  Can you say hand until field?

• 1:08:18Speaker 00

  Hand until field.

• 1:08:22Speaker 00

  Anyway, that is how Lester rescued me in this scene.

• 1:08:28Speaker 01

  That's beautiful.

• 1:08:29Speaker 00

  I know. He saved me with hand plowed. Bless his heart.

• 1:08:32Speaker 01

  He did. We need to talk about this scene, which we did talk about with Stephen. The role play scene.

• 1:08:38Speaker 00

  William Buttlicker.

• 1:08:40Speaker 01

  Yes. We basically covered this with Stephen, but we did have a fan question from Danielle, Allison, Stella, and Allison, who wanted to know how much of the scene was improv and how much was scripted. So I went and looked in the script.

• 1:08:55Speaker 00

  Thank you, James Apedia.

• 1:08:56Speaker 01

  Yes, thank you, James Apedia. The scene is entirely scripted.

• 1:09:01Speaker 00

  It's amazing.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  That is such good writing.

• 1:09:04Speaker 00

  It is such good writing.

• 1:09:05Speaker 01

  I was sure that Steve's little asides were improvised. His delivery is so spontaneous. Like when he says, "It's up to you to change his mind."

• 1:09:15Speaker 00

  Yes. I thought that was an improv too.

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  Scripted.

• 1:09:18Speaker 00

  Beautiful.

• 1:09:19Speaker 01

  So, so good. What wasn't in the script was, "I am irate right now."

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  That was not in the script. And there were a couple of other little lines, but they were always just like a play on what was already there.

• 1:09:32Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:09:33Speaker 01

  But yeah, that scene is just beautiful. Next is a scene that we didn't talk about with Stephen, and I wish we had. It's that moment when Dwight peels his car out and tells Jim to get in.

• 1:09:46Speaker 00

  Jenna, I know. I meant to ask him about it. So he talked about it in the DVD commentary, that he loved how absurd it was that Dwight was like, "Get in," and then peels out. And you really think they're gonna just tear out of the parking lot and go somewhere.

• 1:09:59Speaker 01

  And then they go nowhere.

• 1:10:00Speaker 00

  And then he wanted him to make like a hard left and just go into his parking spot. And Jim's like, "What?" And Stephen said he wanted it to be even bigger. He was like, "Can we do an even bigger peel out?" But there just wasn't the space.

• 1:10:12Speaker 01

  Well, I found this interview with Lester where he said that originally they were just going to have them meet, that Dwight was just going to have them meet down in the parking lot and they were going to have this conversation and that Steven pitched, "Oh, guys, let's make it more interesting and do this crazy car maneuver."

• 1:10:28Speaker 00

  It's so funny.

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  So, so, so funny. I did get a fan catch from Madeline R. She is pretty sure that Pam's car is in the parking lot.

• 1:10:38Speaker 00

  Oh, that's a good catch.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  In this scene. So, I looked for it and it's so fast, I couldn't register it, but I bet, you know, they just would leave our cars there.

• 1:10:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:10:48Speaker 01

  So, I think there's a good chance it's there.

• 1:10:50Speaker 00

  Oh, for sure. I bet. Well, you know, one of the things I loved about this scene was Dwight is, you know, convinced someone might be listening into their conversation, so he plays Jay Giles Band, the song "Centerfold."

• 1:11:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:03Speaker 00

  Like, really loud. It just took me back. I'm like, "Where are my roller skates?" I went and listened to the album last night and you guys, if you haven't watched music videos from this time, go back.

• 1:11:15Speaker 01

  They're pretty special.

• 1:11:16Speaker 00

  They're real special. They're delightful. My kids were like, "What are they doing?" I'm like, "You guys, this is a music video."

• 1:11:22Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. I remember watching music videos on MTV. And then, do you remember the VH1 pop-up thing?

• 1:11:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:30Speaker 01

  Where they would pop up little facts on the screen?

• 1:11:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, I loved those.

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 1:11:34Speaker 00

  Our whole generation grew up watching music videos.

• 1:11:36Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:11:37Speaker 00

  It's wild.

• 1:11:38Speaker 01

  So, now, we're back in the office and Dwight is on a sales call, but he becomes increasingly convinced that someone is listening to him. He's talking to a guy on the phone, who, by the way, I found out was played by actor Steve Zissis, who, if you don't know who he is, he is amazing. He is one of the stars of the movie Baghead, which he made with the Duplass brothers. Then, he went on to create the TV comedy Togetherness with them. And he has a story by credit on the new film Cruella. I mean, he's part of that whole like mumblecore movement.

• 1:12:16Speaker 00

  We got the best actors just to be voices on the phone.

• 1:12:19Speaker 01

  What the hell?

• 1:12:20Speaker 00

  What the heck? Dwight is positive, it's Kelly and he charges back there, right?

• 1:12:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:12:27Speaker 00

  And he finds her on the phone and she's like, you can't just come into my nook and call me stupid. Get out of my nook.

• 1:12:32Speaker 01

  And then Pam over at the corporate offices goes, that's what she said, that's what she said. Okay, that was an improvised pitch by John Krasinski.

• 1:12:42Speaker 00

  Oh, cute.

• 1:12:43Speaker 01

  So I'm there and John is like, oh my gosh, it should be a that's what she said, that's what she said. And so we did it, we saved it. And then when I went to the corporate offices, we shot my side of it.

• 1:12:53Speaker 00

  That is so cute. I love that. Well, they're about to really uncover some details here in this little mystery. Cause Jim has a conversation with Kelly and she doesn't have anything to say. He literally asked her about Daryl, like normally she'd be chatty and Pam is like, wait a second.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:10Speaker 00

  Why isn't she talking your ear off?

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  You know, it's a good thing that Pam was in Jim's ear this day because he may have never figured this out without her, truly.

• 1:13:19Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:13:19Speaker 01

  You know what I mean?

• 1:13:20Speaker 00

  Well, the next scene really cracked me up because Jim goes to Ryan, Ryan's got to know what's up with Kelly, right?

• 1:13:26Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:13:26Speaker 00

  And I fell in love with Ryan in this episode, Jenna.

• 1:13:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're with me now.

• 1:13:32Speaker 00

  I'm with you because Ryan said, this made me laugh. He says, I don't play the politics game anymore, Jim. Can I tell you something? I played it full on in New York. I played at high stakes for keeps, made it to the top. Like, who is this guy?

• 1:13:48Speaker 01

  And my favorite thing is he's like, can I tell you what I learned? As he takes a sip of coffee. So we never end up finding out what he learned. I'm so sad. I would love to know his lessons.

• 1:13:59Speaker 00

  But Jim sees the coffee mug.

• 1:14:01Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:14:01Speaker 00

  This is the Columbo starting to piece it together like Stephen talked about.

• 1:14:05Speaker 01

  Yes. He also has a coffee mug with his face and the little star. And that's when it becomes clear that Jim and Dwight did not attend Kelly's America's Got Talent viewing party. These were the party favors.

• 1:14:18Speaker 00

  These were the party favors and somewhere in her house, Kelly has a mug with Dwight's face on it and Jim's.

• 1:14:25Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:14:26Speaker 00

  She probably smashed them.

• 1:14:27Speaker 01

  Oh, I didn't even think about that.

• 1:14:28Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. She bought everyone mugs.

• 1:14:30Speaker 01

  And so these leftover mugs are sitting there just making her so angry every day.

• 1:14:35Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:14:36Speaker 01

  And she's finally, oh, revenge is a dish best served cold, Kelly. Well done.

• 1:14:41Speaker 00

  I know.

• 1:14:42Speaker 01

  Well, I want you to know Jim figures it out. He rushes over to Dwight and says Dwight, you were right. And I loved this scene so much.

• 1:14:50Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:14:50Speaker 01

  Dwight is finally right about a conspiracy.

• 1:14:53Speaker 00

  And then like a 10 year old boy, he's like, let's go get her. And Jim's like, wait.

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  But first he does that crazy air kick at Phil.

• 1:15:01Speaker 00

  I know.

• 1:15:02Speaker 01

  Well, also in that interview with Lester, he said that Rain improvised that air kick. He only did it one time, but it was so brilliant. That's the take they used.

• 1:15:10Speaker 00

  Of course he did, because if you guys watch the show Dwight does that air kick whenever he gets real excited. He's done it in the stairwell.

• 1:15:18Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:15:18Speaker 00

  Before a big sales call.

• 1:15:20Speaker 01

  It's the happy air kick.

• 1:15:21Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:15:21Speaker 01

  I'm gonna start using it.

• 1:15:23Speaker 00

  Pump it up, air kick.

• 1:15:24Speaker 01

  Also in that interview with Lester, he said he was really proud of this mug idea. And he said that ultimately the writers knew that Kelly was going to sabotage the customer surveys because Dwight and Jim skipped her viewing party, but they couldn't figure out how the guys would realize this fact. They had originally talked about maybe having Dwight tap Kelly's phone and overhear something, or maybe they would find like a secret recording device or something. But that's when Lester got the party favor mug idea. And it's really so genius. And then paired with the way Stephen directed it is just so great.

• 1:16:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:16:04Speaker 01

  Two great people working together, making a great moment.

• 1:16:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:16:08Speaker 01

  We also got a fan question about this scene from Evan L. Did the cast do a photo shoot for the mugs? And if so, did they ask you guys to make weird faces because Oscar looks really bored on his?

• 1:16:21Speaker 00

  I don't remember a special photo shoot. We had done a publicity photo shoot, so maybe they used those images, but I'm looking at my face on the mug right now. And it's also possible that Phil just walked around and snapped pictures of us.

• 1:16:34Speaker 01

  It kind of looks like one of your publicity photos that maybe they color enhanced.

• 1:16:38Speaker 00

  I still have my publicity photo. Do you want me to do a side by side in stories?

• 1:16:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:16:42Speaker 00

  We'll vote, guys. Do you think it's the same picture? Or do you think Phil just took my picture at my desk one day? Because they did do that sometimes.

• 1:16:48Speaker 01

  They would.

• 1:16:49Speaker 00

  They would walk around and you'd just be sitting there and they'd snap a picture of you for something.

• 1:16:53Speaker 01

  We'll get to the bottom of it.

• 1:16:55Speaker 00

  Well Jenna, Kelly's gonna get called into Michael's office.

• 1:16:57Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:16:58Speaker 00

  And she's busted now.

• 1:17:00Speaker 01

  She is.

• 1:17:00Speaker 00

  Dwight wants her fired.

• 1:17:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:02Speaker 00

  And Michael asked them to leave the office, you know, he's like, this is serious. I need you to leave the office. And then Michael says this, and I loved it so much. Michael says, "I have an enormous amount of trouble trying to get people to come to my place, and I hate it. I can't tell you how much leftover guacamole I have ended up eating over the years. I don't even know why I make it in such great quantities." And then he says, "Listen, just sit there and pretend to cry," right? Can you do that?

• 1:17:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:30Speaker 00

  And then they both end up laughing, and it's a really sweet moment.

• 1:17:33Speaker 01

  It really is. And we got a bunch of people writing in to ask if that laugh after Kelly fake cries, if that was like a fake laugh, or if Mindy broke. No, that was scripted. It's scripted that her fake crying made them laugh.

• 1:17:49Speaker 00

  Well, I'll say this, in rewatching this episode like three times, right?

• 1:17:53Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:17:53Speaker 00

  Before today, I could hear Mindy's fake laugh and then her real laugh.

• 1:17:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:59Speaker 00

  So if you watch it, she fake cries, she fake laughs, then Steve laughs as Michael, and then Mindy laughs as herself.

• 1:18:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. Her real laugh definitely comes out.

• 1:18:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:18:10Speaker 01

  So now we're at this scene at corporate, which we talked about a lot with Stephen. This scene where Alex comes to Pam's work, he's gonna kidnap her, wants to see this art.

• 1:18:20Speaker 00

  He said wine and cheese, okay? That's all you gotta hear. If someone says, "Midday, there's an exhibit with wine and cheese," that's not being friends.

• 1:18:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, thanks to James the Pedia, I saw all of the candy bag for this.

• 1:18:37Speaker 00

  Oh, how many were there?

• 1:18:39Speaker 01

  10.

• 1:18:39Speaker 00

  10 alts for this scene?

• 1:18:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:18:42Speaker 00

  Oh, my word.

• 1:18:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I wanted to count because we kind of talked about it.

• 1:18:46Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:18:46Speaker 01

  And it was 10, 10 alternate scenes. And I swear, we shot so many, so many versions of it. And I remember doing these scenes with Rich. It was so grueling. And we really bonded. Like, Rich and I are great friends today. I think because we went through this moment together.

• 1:19:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, you were in the trenches of trying to find this scene.

• 1:19:08Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:19:08Speaker 00

  Well, we should have Rich on and talk about it.

• 1:19:10Speaker 01

  We need to hear his side of things.

• 1:19:12Speaker 00

  We do.

• 1:19:12Speaker 01

  Of shooting this crazy scene.

• 1:19:14Speaker 00

  Let's call him. Rich, come on.

• 1:19:15Speaker 01

  So I feel like we really covered this, but we did have a fan write in and I'm so sorry I didn't write down your name because I thought this was a really good observation. They were saying, wasn't Pam's art program three months long and she went at the beginning of the summer? How was she there for Halloween and how is she still there? Isn't it November now?

• 1:19:37Speaker 00

  This art school is a mystery. It's a mystery.

• 1:19:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:19:42Speaker 01

  That's a good catch.

• 1:19:43Speaker 00

  I still want to know if she has parking. You know, these are things we're going to wonder about art school.

• 1:19:48Speaker 01

  Well, she's having to go into Manhattan for her corporate job because Pratt's out in Brooklyn.

• 1:19:52Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, we end this episode with Andy, Angela and Dwight.

• 1:19:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:58Speaker 00

  Because Andy has found the perfect place for them to get married and it's Shrewd Farms.

• 1:20:02Speaker 01

  It ticks all of the boxes. Angela gave him a list of what the wedding location had to include.

• 1:20:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. And Dwight tells them, he thinks they should have the Excalibur package.

• 1:20:12Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:20:13Speaker 00

  It's going to have everything they need. Angela is clearly delighted. Andy is relieved. And Jenna, all I could think of when I watched the scene was Jim and Pam planned Pam's wedding to Roy. And now Angela and Dwight are going to plan her wedding to Andy.

• 1:20:30Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:20:32Speaker 00

  Right?

• 1:20:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:34Speaker 00

  It's sort of a callback.

• 1:20:35Speaker 01

  It is. You know, there's another little weird callback in this scene. A lot of people wrote in with this fan catch that the funeral homes director in Job Fair.

• 1:20:48Speaker 00

  Yes, he's in the album.

• 1:20:49Speaker 01

  He's in the album. He got married at Shrewd Farms.

• 1:20:52Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:20:53Speaker 01

  Well, Lester said in his interview that they loved this guy and they used him twice and they also thought it worked because the Shrewds get married in their own graves.

• 1:21:01Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:21:02Speaker 01

  So he felt that he would know about Shrewd Farms.

• 1:21:05Speaker 00

  Yeah. That's a great catch. Well, alrighty, Dwightie.

• 1:21:11Speaker 01

  That was Customer Survey. Thank you so much, James Carey, for sending me those scripts. I also got in touch with Randy Cordray on this one because I couldn't remember if the Bluetooths were real. I was so convinced. So I wrote Randy and I was like, "They weren't real, right?"

• 1:21:28Speaker 00

  No, they weren't real. They talked about it quite a bit on the DVD commentary. And of course, a humongous thank you to Stephen Merchant.

• 1:21:37Speaker 01

  We love you.

• 1:21:38Speaker 00

  We love you. Please come back.

• 1:21:40Speaker 01

  Yes. And next week, we have Business Trip. Michael's going to Canada, y'all.

• 1:21:44Speaker 00

  And Rich, we're gonna call you.

• 1:21:46Speaker 01

  Yes, Rich, you will be in Business Trip, an episode that your character does not appear.

• 1:21:52Speaker 00

  But we have questions for you.

• 1:21:54Speaker 01

  We do, and this is our podcast, so we can do that.

• 1:21:56Speaker 00

  That's right. Alrighty, Dwightie, you guys have a good week.

• 1:22:00Speaker 01

  You are really loving that phrase.

• 1:22:01Speaker 00

  I said it one time too many, didn't I?

• 1:22:03Speaker 01

  Maybe, but I like that when you attach to something, you go for it.

• 1:22:07Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:22:08Speaker 01

  All right.

• 1:22:09Speaker 00

  We'll see ya next week.

• 1:22:10Speaker 01

  That was your extra-long goodbye.

• 1:22:20Speaker 01

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

• 1:22:22Speaker 00

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:22:26Speaker 01

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

• 1:22:34Speaker 00

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:22:37Speaker 01

  Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 1:22:39Speaker 00

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese-Dennis.

• 1:22:42Speaker 01

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:22:45Speaker 00

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Braden.