Second Drink: The Promotion

This week we’re breaking down “The Promotion”! Jim and Michael must now work together as co-managers and they’re given the difficult task of deciding who and who will not get a raise amongst the Dunder Mifflin employees. The ladies discuss Jim’s glass office that magically appears, Jenna gives a shout out to a famous nurse who popularized the pie chart, and Angela may just admit to a love of trains. The ladies also do the ultimate BFF move and plan a plant date. You don’t have to make a pros and cons list to listen to this episode, it’s all pros and full of love’s eternal glory. Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod https://www.instagram.com/officeladiespod/ Follow Us on YouTube https://youtube.com/@officeladiespod?si=D0oKJwFJuK9txzFM Follow Us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@officeladiespod?_t=ZT-8y1gqTrJyOs&_r=1

• 0:02Speaker 00

  Hello and welcome to your second drink of the promotion. This is the episode where Jim has become co-manager of the office with Michael and things get real tense.

• 0:11Speaker 01

  Very, very tense, very quickly.

• 0:14Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 0:14Speaker 01

  Angela, I was going through the mail on this one and people were very bummed that we didn't talk more about this scene that happens at the top of the episode with Jim and Michael, where Michael refers to Jim as Jimothy.

• 0:27Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Guess what? We got off on a tangent.

• 0:30Speaker 00

  Us? That doesn't sound like us.

• 0:31Speaker 01

  It's about the plant behind Jim.

• 0:33Speaker 00

  Oh, Lord.

• 0:34Speaker 01

  It was the peace lily. In fact, we got off on a lot of tangents in this episode. We talked about your love of trains.

• 0:40Speaker 00

  I do love a train.

• 0:41Speaker 01

  The invention of the pie chart, the pros and cons lists, and also about Boston baked beans.

• 0:47Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 0:48Speaker 01

  And I realized we actually might have been a little bit like Michael Scott in this scene. Because in the scene that people wanted us to talk more about, Jim criticizes Michael for having too many conference room meetings and says, quote, "For example, earlier this week, we had a conference room meeting about planets." But why don't we listen?

• 1:08Speaker 02

  I've noticed we've been having a lot of conference room meetings.

• 1:10Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  And I'm wondering if perhaps those are a bit, um.

• 1:14Speaker 03

  Disruptive.

• 1:15Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:15Speaker 03

  No, I don't think they are. I think the meetings are very important.

• 1:20Speaker 02

  Okay, maybe we should talk specifics.

• 1:22Speaker 03

  Let's do.

• 1:23Speaker 02

  Okay. Yesterday, we had a meeting about planets.

• 1:26Speaker 03

  Well, to be fair, Jim, James, Jimothy, to be fair, Jimothy, the, ah, that sounds weird. Are you okay with being called Jim?

• 1:37Speaker 02

  I am.

• 1:37Speaker 03

  All right. Jim, to be fair, the conversation wasn't about planets.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:42Speaker 03

  At first, we were talking about introducing a line of toilet paper. And what part of the human body does one use toilet paper upon? So you draw a line from there to the other planets. And I think by the end, we all learned a little bit about how small we are.

• 1:57Speaker 02

  Yes, I agree.

• 1:58Speaker 03

  Because it's a big universe and we're all just little tiny specks of dust.

• 2:02Speaker 02

  I just think that maybe they're eating large amounts of the day.

• 2:06Speaker 03

  You know what eats a large amount of the day are naps. You go to sleep, it's light out, you wake up, it's dark. That's the whole day. Where did that day go? I have no idea.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  So lady.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  He gets off on a tangent while defending his planet tangent.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  It is so great, though, when he's like, Jimothy, mm, that doesn't, is it okay if I call you Jim?

• 2:26Speaker 01

  I know. I've called him Jim for years.

• 2:28Speaker 00

  I know.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Well, listen, speaking of Jimothy, we got this letter from Zoe H. in Seattle, Washington, and lady, I had heard about this and I'm so excited to share.

• 2:40Speaker 01

  Zoe said, "Hey, ladies, I live in Seattle and we've got a new mascot, Jimothy the raccoon with short spine syndrome."

• 2:47Speaker 00

  Oh, I saw this.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Yes. He has brought so much joy and light to the world and inspired a lot of art, while also sparking a lot of conversations on the topic of how we celebrate Jimothy's resilience despite his disability, yet marginalized humans with disabilities. I just love how much a little creature can unknowingly bring out so much whimsy and creativity, especially in adults, and also shed a light on things we could improve on as a society. I just think these moments are so special and at times like these, I am grateful for the internet.

• 3:21Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, here's the thing. I guess earlier this year, a local resident named Kiana Hall posted a video of this raccoon that just showed up. It came out from under her car. She named him Jimothy and the clip went viral because he has no neck.

• 3:39Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  And some vets weighed in, said he probably has this rare congenital defect of his spine. That's why he is shaped how he is. But they reassured everyone that the condition likely causes him no pain. He's living a perfectly happy life and Jimothy's popularity just really blew up. In fact, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson made Jimothy a Washingtonian of the day. And there's like all kinds of Jimothy merch, lady, you'd love it. There's so much merch.

• 4:06Speaker 00

  Oh, I do love merch.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  You do.

• 4:08Speaker 00

  I'm gonna have to check it out. I'm so curious if Kiana Hall was an Office fan.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  And that's why I know me too.

• 4:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, because I met, somewhat you know how on Instagram you kind of trade messages with folks? And this gal named her squirrel that comes up to the back door, Daryl.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:27Speaker 00

  Because she loves the Office.

• 4:29Speaker 01

  And Daryl loved squirrels.

• 4:30Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 4:33Speaker 00

  Okay, well, next up, people wrote in about some of their favorite moments from this episode. Cassie B. from Redding, California, said, "I've seen the whole series of The Office probably at least five times, and every single time, I am surprised and tickled by Michael's line, quote, 'I can see it in your crusty little eyes.'" It takes me by surprise every time and makes me giggle so much. And Hannah S. from Houston, Texas, said, "I am haunted by Michael's line, quote, 'All I can see is how big and gross the pores on your nose are.'"

• 5:06Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:06Speaker 00

  That, that haunts me too, by the way.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  This is because Jim and Michael, they are really butting heads over being co-managers and Michael just gets so frustrated with Jim.

• 5:17Speaker 00

  Yeah. I had a fun time tracking the different ways Michael insults Jim in this episode. So I went to the script to see if there were any that we might have missed. And there was a small couplet of dialogue that was cut. So Hannah will like this. It's a callback to Jim's big pores. It would have been in the conference room when Jim and Michael are trying to hand out the raises.

• 5:38Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 5:38Speaker 00

  Jim would have said, "Michael, stop looking at my pores." And Michael would have said, "Do you brush your tongue? It could help with the smell. Just try." Hannah went on to ask, "Are there any lines from The Office that keep popping into your head long after filming?"

• 5:54Speaker 01

  Oh, that's a fun one.

• 5:56Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 5:56Speaker 01

  Yes, there is one that pops in my head all the time since our rewatch and it's when Stanley says, "This is a run out the clock situation."

• 6:05Speaker 00

  That's so good.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, like Ryan's trying to strategize how to unpack the truck better and Stanley's like, "Honey."

• 6:11Speaker 00

  No.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  This is a run out the clock situation.

• 6:15Speaker 00

  Um, I love the one where Michael Scott says, "Why are you the way that you are?"

• 6:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:21Speaker 00

  I think about that. Like, you know, if you're at an airport, you're in a long line, everyone's got to stand in the line, we're all get, we're all getting on the same plane.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:29Speaker 00

  But then there's someone trying to scooch up.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:32Speaker 00

  And I'm like, buddy, why are you the way that you are?

• 6:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:34Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. That's what I'm saying in my head. Finally, before we go in this episode, I say that Bill Paxton played the president in Independence Day. But it was actually Bill Pullman. Okay, I get them confused, all right?

• 6:49Speaker 01

  Everybody does.

• 6:50Speaker 00

  I feel bad. I'm sorry.

• 6:51Speaker 01

  It's a thing, though. It's a thing.

• 6:52Speaker 00

  All right, well, sorry about that.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  All right, well, that's all we got. Please enjoy your second drink of the promotion.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 7:03Speaker 00

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 7:04Speaker 01

  We were on The Office together.

• 7:06Speaker 00

  And we're best friends.

• 7:07Speaker 01

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

• 7:11Speaker 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.

• 7:18Speaker 01

  We're the Office ladies.

• 7:22Speaker 00

  Hello, everyone. Hello, hello and to love's eternal glory.

• 7:31Speaker 00

  We are back. We are semi-rested.

• 7:35Speaker 01

  We're also semi-back. I am back in my closet.

• 7:40Speaker 00

  You are.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  You are in the studio.

• 7:42Speaker 00

  Me and Sam. What's up, Sam?

• 7:44Speaker 04

  Hi, everybody.

• 7:45Speaker 01

  Aw.

• 7:46Speaker 00

  Hey, Sam.

• 7:47Speaker 01

  Cassie and I are over here on Zoom.

• 7:49Speaker 00

  Hi, ladies. Hi. I will point out, you guys, Jenna, is that a ginormous plant in your podcast closet?

• 7:58Speaker 01

  It is. Do you notice Cassie's got a plant over her shoulder as well? I guess when you podcast from home, you need a plant. That's totally a coincidence.

• 8:08Speaker 00

  Sam has a little Christmas tree. Damn it.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Lady, are you the only one without a plant?

• 8:13Speaker 00

  I'm plantless.

• 8:15Speaker 01

  Which is so crazy because you're the plant tracker.

• 8:17Speaker 00

  I love plants, guys. I guess I'm gonna have to start traveling with my own plant. I'm gonna be that lady. You know how you see people that travel always with a pet? Maybe I'm gonna be the lady that's like, hey, did you see that lady with the little tiny succulent in her lap on the plane?

• 8:33Speaker 01

  I would love to travel with you as old ladies where you just clutch a tiny succulent the whole time. That's amazing.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  You guys, I should share with you that for Christmas, Jenna and I exchanged gifts. I got her some cozy pajama pants and she got me a succulent throw pillow.

• 8:51Speaker 01

  It looks like a giant succulent, but it's a cozy pillow.

• 8:55Speaker 00

  It really does. I brought it home and Isabel said, "Mom, is that pillow a succulent?" And I was like, "Yes, yes, it is, Isabel." Oh, my God. You guys, Sam just brought me a plant from the lobby. Wait, Cassie, can you get a picture?

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 9:10Speaker 00

  Aw.

• 9:10Speaker 01

  Cassie, you need to get in this picture with your plant.

• 9:13Speaker 00

  Okay, Sam, you hold up your tree. Ready? Here we go. One, two, three. That is amazing. Well, you know, listen, we might have some protocols that keep us apart, but we're enjoying plants together, you guys. That's something.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  It's something. It's huge.

• 9:30Speaker 00

  I'll take it.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  Should we get into this episode?

• 9:34Speaker 00

  We really should because there's a lot of fun stuff to discuss.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  This is the promotion. It is season six, episode three. It is written by Jen Salata, directed by Jen Salata, and here is your summary. Michael and Jim's managerial power struggle intensifies when David Wallace reveals that they don't have enough money to give everyone in the office their yearly raises. So he leaves it up to the co-managers to determine who gets a raise. Meanwhile, Pam tries to get people to give her money instead of traditional wedding gifts.

• 10:14Speaker 00

  That storyline really cracked me up.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  It did me too. All right. Fast fact number one. I have a location breakdown.

• 10:23Speaker 00

  I thought you would.

• 10:25Speaker 01

  You might be thinking, wait, they didn't go anywhere on location.

• 10:29Speaker 00

  Please tell me your location breakdown is Jim's glass cube.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  It is, lady.

• 10:34Speaker 00

  Is it really?

• 10:36Speaker 01

  Well, we got a bunch of fan questions, including from Tara Jade L. in South Australia. Can we please talk about the layout of the office changing because I don't think it's ever mentioned? A new office just appears for Jim to move into that was never there before. And from Seoul C in Taiwan, what was involved in making Jim's office? Did they break down the wall behind Kevin's desk to make space? And Molly S. from Arkansas says, how long did this process take? Did it slow down the shooting at all? See, lots of questions.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  Lots of questions.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  I'm gonna have to agree with Tara Jade. It's true. Jim is just suddenly in a tiny glass cube in the office and no one says anything. No one says, where did this come from?

• 11:26Speaker 00

  I know. I would have loved just one talking head where someone was like, what the hell?

• 11:31Speaker 01

  I know.

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Like, you know, who would have been perfect is Ryan. Ryan being like, what the hell? Jim's glass box took over the whole corner of the office.

• 11:40Speaker 01

  I agree. Well, Jim's office was actually a pretty simple addition that was installed over the weekend. Randy Cordray shared with us that this is because we were able to build all the walls in our scenery mill, which was across the street from our studio lot. Michael Gallenberg designed them. They were built by our construction coordinator, Tim James. And then the walls were installed pretty quickly. They did arrange our shoot schedule so that we didn't shoot inside Jim's office until later in the week. This was mostly so that set dressing could decorate it.

• 12:18Speaker 00

  Right. I did zoom in to see if the glass walls went all the way to our fakey ceiling.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  And?

• 12:25Speaker 00

  And they did.

• 12:26Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 12:27Speaker 00

  The top part is frosted, like these frosted rectangles, and then the bottom part is clear glass with blinds.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  Wow. Well, Randy mentioned that the new office was kind of right behind Creed's area. They didn't have to modify anything that was existing. It just kind of fit. That's what she said. There was one piece of set dressing that Randy pointed out that he says you can't see in the episode, but he absolutely loves it. He sent us a picture of it, which is Jim's diploma.

• 12:59Speaker 00

  What's it say?

• 13:00Speaker 01

  It's just, you know, that he graduated from college. It was created by our graphics designer, Ryan Cosgrove. So we can post that in Office Lady's Stories.

• 13:09Speaker 00

  Oh, fun.

• 13:10Speaker 01

  That was your breakdown of Jim's Cube.

• 13:13Speaker 00

  Well, you know, I noticed a few things in Jim's Cube.

• 13:16Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah?

• 13:17Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. I noticed a calendar, which seems important. But did you see the giant poster of a train?

• 13:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  What's that? And then I thought, is there a train club at Dunder Mifflin we don't know about? I mean, Dwight and Toby love trains. We learned that in the meeting. Is there a train finers thing club?

• 13:37Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, a train club. I don't know.

• 13:40Speaker 00

  These are now three people at Dunder Mifflin that clearly have a thing for trains. I'm just saying, I see a theme. I took a picture of the train. I zoomed in. I couldn't make out. There's some kind of like saying underneath the train. I really wish I could have made that out, but um, if you guys caught it, let us know.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  I just want to say, Ange, I feel like maybe you're the person who has a thing for trains.

• 14:03Speaker 00

  No, I don't.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  You zoomed in on a picture of a train to see what model it was? And then you Googled all the models of the trains from the meeting? I just feel like maybe, maybe you're projecting, do you love trains?

• 14:16Speaker 00

  Listen, first of all.

• 14:18Speaker 01

  Dig deep. Really think hard.

• 14:20Speaker 00

  First of all, how dare you? And yes, I do love trains. Secondly, whenever I see a train on a road trip, I get really excited. And I point it out to the kids. I say, look, train. Look at the train. My uncle was a conductor of a train.

• 14:33Speaker 01

  Lady, this is a breakthrough.

• 14:36Speaker 00

  But come on, Jim has one poster in this whole little glass cube and it's of a train. Of course I'm gonna notice that.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  I mean, I just assumed it was like some leftover poster in storage and he was like, sure.

• 14:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, you're right. You're right.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 14:51Speaker 00

  Jim is probably not attached to it at all.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  I'm gonna get you a picture of a train next year for Christmas.

• 14:57Speaker 00

  Are you really?

• 14:58Speaker 01

  Maybe.

• 14:59Speaker 00

  You know what I've always wanted to do?

• 15:01Speaker 01

  What?

• 15:02Speaker 00

  Is take the train.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  Through Scotland?

• 15:04Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 15:05Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  I want to do that.

• 15:07Speaker 01

  I want to do that too, but I'm afraid I won't sleep well and I'll just like be grouchy the whole trip. You know, I don't do good without sleep.

• 15:15Speaker 00

  Lady, the Queen of England does it. You can do it.

• 15:18Speaker 01

  The Queen of England has a fancy train car.

• 15:21Speaker 00

  Well, that's true.

• 15:23Speaker 01

  Would I take the Queen of England's train car through Scotland? Sure.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 15:30Speaker 00

  I want to go. I want to do it. You have to do it with me.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  All right, I will. You and your little succulent can ride the train.

• 15:36Speaker 00

  Thank you, because I'll jump in something icy with you at the end.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  Yay. This is great. Done.

• 15:42Speaker 00

  And then we can make a Hallmark movie about it. Two ladies in a succulent traveling through Scotland.

• 15:48Speaker 01

  To jump in an icy cold pond.

• 15:51Speaker 00

  Tune in.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  This is a Hallmark movie. It's gonna go with Laundry and Betrayal.

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Oh, God, I really want that to happen.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  We should really be producers. All right, I'm gonna move us on to fast fact number two.

• 16:06Speaker 00

  We should run a network for boring middle-aged women.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  Okay, move us on, move us on.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  Fast fact number two. This episode was originally titled Co-Managers. It aired on October 1st, 2009, when it was retitled The Promotion. Here's something crazy. I was in a movie called The Promotion.

• 16:32Speaker 00

  I know.

• 16:33Speaker 01

  It was released in 2008. It starred John C. Riley and Sean William Scott as these two guys who are dueling for the same job as a grocery store manager. We shot it in Chicago. You know what I had to do in order to shoot that movie? I would shoot on the office all during the week, Monday through Friday. I would get on an airplane, take the red eye to Chicago, sleep on the plane. I would work Saturday and Sunday on the movie, take the red eye back to LA and just go to work on the office. One morning on a Monday, after I had done this, I was in a wardrobe fitting and I fell asleep standing up. I was so tired. It was insane. That's the kind of stuff you can do when you're young and.

• 17:18Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  I couldn't do that today. There's no way.

• 17:20Speaker 00

  Sure. Lady, guess what?

• 17:22Speaker 01

  What?

• 17:23Speaker 00

  I remembered that you were in a movie called The Promotion and I looked through my digital clutter and guess what I found?

• 17:28Speaker 01

  What?

• 17:29Speaker 00

  I went to your premiere.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  And not only did I go, Ed Helms and I carpooled.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 17:37Speaker 00

  I found our emails back and forth about like who would pick up who or who could drive who. And Ed said, all good. He came and picked me up. He said, let me know what time and I'll pick you up. And maybe I can meet Isabel.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  That is so sweet.

• 17:52Speaker 00

  Because Isabel was only a few weeks old. Your premiere was May 28th, lady. And she was born May 3rd.

• 17:58Speaker 01

  You came to my movie premiere just a few weeks after your baby was born?

• 18:03Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 18:04Speaker 01

  This is something I did not appreciate at the time because I was not a mother yet.

• 18:08Speaker 00

  Well, I looked to see if there were any photos and in our emails, Ed and I were meeting up with Rachel Harris and we were all gonna go. And I found photos of Rachel Harris. I found photos of Melora, Oscar and Kate all at your premiere. Not a single photo of me and Ed.

• 18:24Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  I don't know if we were running late. I don't know if because I had just had a baby. I was like, yeah, no, I'm not walking that red carpet. But we did go and we carpooled.

• 18:35Speaker 01

  Oh, well, I really appreciated that. I loved being in that movie. I made a really good friend on that movie and Fred Armisen. He had another supporting role, so we had a lot of downtime together. We hung out a lot. And he was one of the people like you who really took care of me in New York when I broke my back. And yeah, that was, I loved that movie.

• 18:54Speaker 00

  I loved it too. Fred is one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. And Jenna, you and I have worked with a lot of funny people, so that is saying a lot.

• 19:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:03Speaker 00

  I remember one time coming over and hanging out with you and Fred. And I was crying. I was laughing. Like, I was laughing so hard I couldn't catch my breath. Just did him just riffing about, I don't know what we were talking about, just random stuff. But he's so flipping funny.

• 19:21Speaker 01

  No, him and Chris Parnell.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Oh, forget it. Forget it.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  I can't.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:27Speaker 01

  Too much.

• 19:29Speaker 00

  Ah, Chris Parnell and Fred Armisen, will you be in our movie where we travel with a succulent through Scotland?

• 19:34Speaker 01

  We would just laugh the whole time. It would be wonderful. I want that experience. All right, are you ready for fast fact number three?

• 19:43Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:44Speaker 01

  Jen Salata, as I said, was our writer-director. And I reached out to her because I noticed that this episode is basically just one big A story. Like, including the cold open. It's not even like a standalone cold open. It's an on-plot cold open.

• 20:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's one big story, start to finish.

• 20:06Speaker 01

  There's no B story. There's this little bitty runner about Pam and her registry. But um, here's what Jen had to say about that.

• 20:16Speaker 05

  I think because it was a bigger story for Michael and Jim and a story which affected everyone in the office, we opted for no B story on this one. But I noticed when I rewatched it that a lot of the how it affected everyone in the office didn't make it into the episode. There were some really fun talking heads about who everyone preferred as a boss, Michael or Jim, but they didn't make it in. I love the small money runner for Pam. The moment you see your new last name on the check was my favorite. I like how different it felt in this episode to see Jim in his own office. You'd imagine Jim having his own office would be a nice thing, but then it separates him out from the others in a way that Michael is also separated out. So there's definitely good and bad in this promotion.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  I always love when writers speak thematically about an episode. I'm real nerdy like that.

• 21:02Speaker 00

  I just love how smart they are and I just loved it.

• 21:07Speaker 01

  I know. I'm just like, ha, ha, ha, this is so funny. And they're like, I'm gonna break down how this comedy works.

• 21:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. Well, Jen is right. There are a lot of deleted scenes. I really enjoyed them. I'm gonna share a few later in the episode where they would have come, but there's maybe just a little teaser here. My favorite Stanley talking head ever that got deleted.

• 21:30Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 21:31Speaker 00

  It's gonna come later. But yeah, if you have the DVDs, go to the deleted scenes for this one, because they are delicious.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  Well, lady, that's all I've got. I think we could take a break and then we'll get into it.

• 21:43Speaker 00

  Let's do it.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  All right. This episode starts with Dwight needing a signature for an expense report from Michael. But Michael says, you know what? That doesn't fall under his category of boss, right? He's big picture. And he sends him to Jim. And poor Dwight now is a ping pong ball going back and forth between these two guys.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, Jim is kinda like, hmm, I don't know. I'll sign it, but only if you say please. So then Dwight tries to file a report on Jim. Oh, it's a mess. This co-manager thing is a mess.

• 22:26Speaker 00

  It's already a mess. Dwight has a talking head where he shares what he'd like to do to Jim, put him in a triangle chokehold, force him down. He basically Dwight wants to be like a professional wrestler, right? Is that what's happening here?

• 22:39Speaker 01

  That's what he's describing.

• 22:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  Well, I have a couple of observations about this cold open.

• 22:45Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 22:46Speaker 01

  Number one, Jim is suited up.

• 22:49Speaker 00

  Well, yeah.

• 22:51Speaker 01

  He's got his ambition jacket back on again. He's super serious.

• 22:55Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 22:56Speaker 01

  He's boss man.

• 22:57Speaker 00

  He's boss.

• 22:58Speaker 01

  Dwight is not wearing mustard. Did you notice?

• 23:03Speaker 00

  Oh, my God, yeah. I mean, I didn't, but now I, yeah.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  He's also in a full suit and his shirt is like this blue, gray, green color. Very interesting.

• 23:15Speaker 00

  Because he's vying for the position.

• 23:18Speaker 01

  Perhaps.

• 23:19Speaker 00

  So he has to look serious.

• 23:21Speaker 01

  Another observation about this cold open actually comes from our writer-director, Jen Salata, and she talks a little bit about what it was like to shoot. Here's what she said.

• 23:32Speaker 05

  I always really respected the directors that would play by the two-camera doc rule that was established early on. Many did, but I really remember Jeff Blitz always sticking to that rule. There were so many good and beautiful episodes where you could feel the presence of more than two cameras, but I loved when directors would have to reach to get what they wanted using only the two. I tried hard to figure out a way to lose the third camera in that cold open when Dwight was running back and forth between Michael and Jim's office, but I never cracked it and it still kinda bugs me.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  It's so funny. I didn't even notice.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  I didn't either, but I, you know, I do remember Jeff Blitz really trying to stick to a traditional documentary. I remember that about him.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  Well, he was a documentarian.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  You know, so that makes sense to me. And I know that Jen worked really closely with him, so it also makes sense to me that she would want to adhere to it as well.

• 24:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  Well, I guess if you rewatch that cold open, you can look for the three camera angles instead of two, but I have to say, Jen, I didn't see it, so you tricked me.

• 24:36Speaker 00

  You got us.

• 24:38Speaker 01

  So now we're gonna get into this episode and Michael wants everyone to gather in the conference room. He wants to have a meeting and he suggests that everyone bring a snack, because this meeting might take a while.

• 24:48Speaker 00

  Oh, Lord.

• 24:50Speaker 01

  And Jim is like, Michael, can I speak to you in my office? And Michael is like, maybe you can come speak to me in my office.

• 24:57Speaker 00

  And then Stanley says, wait, can I be a boss too?

• 25:00Speaker 01

  Yes. And then Oscar has a talking head where he says, it doesn't take a genius to know that an organization thrives with two leaders. Lady, I looked up some organizations that have two CEOs.

• 25:15Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  And guess what?

• 25:18Speaker 00

  Not the popes, I'm guessing.

• 25:20Speaker 01

  No, not the popes.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  Who?

• 25:22Speaker 01

  Netflix.

• 25:23Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  Warby Parker.

• 25:26Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  Salesforce. There's a very successful meal delivery service called Fresh & Lean. And most notably, Ramble, our company.

• 25:39Speaker 00

  Woo-hoo.

• 25:40Speaker 01

  We are co-CEOs and by the way, our organization is thriving with two leaders.

• 25:47Speaker 00

  Oscar, you got it wrong.

• 25:49Speaker 01

  We are doing great.

• 25:51Speaker 00

  So this really starts a whole bunch of deleted scenes that Jen was talking about. One of them involves Kevin, just in the fact that he doesn't know how to relate to Jim anymore as a boss. Jim was his buddy, right? And it's really funny. He ends up oversharing a whole bunch of things he shouldn't be saying to a boss. We have to hear it.

• 26:11Speaker 06

  I just wanted to congratulate you on your promotion.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  Oh, thanks.

• 26:16Speaker 06

  Yeah. And also, I was wondering if you could forget what I said last week about the fact that I don't really do my job.

• 26:30Speaker 02

  Oh, sure. Is that why you've been avoiding me?

• 26:33Speaker 06

  Oh, no, I wouldn't do that. Oh, it was just that I was late today and I took a nap in the bathroom for a while.

• 26:42Speaker 02

  All right. I think you're gonna wanna stop telling me those things.

• 26:45Speaker 06

  Gotcha. I will stop telling you things.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  Oh, that kinda breaks my heart.

• 26:53Speaker 00

  I know. But also, how often is Kevin napping in the bathroom?

• 26:58Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 27:00Speaker 00

  So Jim ultimately decides, I guess, he will go into Michael's office, right? He won't make Michael come into his. And right when he sits down to talk to Michael, I caught a little background surf in the internet.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, me too. It's at 4 minutes 12 seconds.

• 27:18Speaker 00

  It's also at 3 minutes 34 seconds and it's Rainn Wilson.

• 27:22Speaker 01

  Oh, I caught myself scrolling the internet.

• 27:25Speaker 00

  Did you really? I caught Rainn and you caught, you guys are both surfing the internet during this whole scene.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  We really are.

• 27:32Speaker 00

  That's hilarious.

• 27:34Speaker 01

  This is the scene where Michael calls Jim Jim James Jimothy.

• 27:38Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. He's like, oh, that just sounds weird. Can I go back to Jim?

• 27:43Speaker 01

  So Jimothy is explaining that these conference room meetings are eating up like a large part of the day. They're very disruptive. And Michael's like, you know what else eats up a large part of the day? Napping.

• 27:54Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 27:55Speaker 01

  You fall asleep, you wake up and it's evening.

• 27:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 27:58Speaker 01

  So I'll tell you what, Angela, this is a delightful scene. It's very funny, but all I noticed in this scene was the blooming plant behind Jim.

• 28:07Speaker 00

  Yes, I did too.

• 28:11Speaker 01

  I had to Google it. I had to know what is this plant? You know what it is?

• 28:15Speaker 00

  Yes, I do.

• 28:16Speaker 01

  It is a peace lily, AKA the closet plant. I found out it is very popular in homes and offices because they don't need a ton of light or water. So when I realized I would be podcasting in my closet this week, I got myself a peace lily. That's my plant that you noticed.

• 28:39Speaker 00

  Oh, I did notice. No, it's not blooming, because if it's blooming, it's got, it's white with like a little yellow thing and that's how you can tell.

• 28:46Speaker 01

  Yes, it has not bloomed yet, but it's substantial in size. And I have to say, it's really making my closet experience better.

• 28:55Speaker 00

  I think it's beautiful. Give it a little bit of sunlight. It likes a little bit. I have one in my backyard and it just will bloom spontaneously. I just love it so much and it's blooming right now.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  You have it planted in the ground?

• 29:08Speaker 00

  No, no, no, I have it in a pot.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  But outside?

• 29:11Speaker 00

  I have it outside in a pot. It's in a sort of shady part of my backyard and I also have it near some hydrangeas.

• 29:18Speaker 01

  Well, let me tell you what, when I called my local nursery to ask them if they had a peace lily, because I wanted to buy one, they gave me a little sass.

• 29:29Speaker 00

  They did?

• 29:30Speaker 01

  Yes. First off, they said, oh, yes, we do. And I said, great. So when I get there, you know, this nursery is big. I said, where will I find it? Is it in the outdoor section? Because most of it is like an outdoor nursery. And they sassed me and said, no, it would be in the indoor section because it's an indoor plant.

• 29:52Speaker 00

  It is an indoor plant. They are not wrong. I would normally put a peace lily outside, guys, but I was given a gift of a pot full of a bunch of different plants and none of them had bloomed yet. And it wasn't doing so great in my kitchen window where I put things. So I set it outside in this little shady nook where my hydrangeas are happy. And voila, I have a peace lily outside. Wow, wow.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  Well, the next time I go to my nursery, I'm gonna tell them that story because the lady who ended up helping me when I got there was amazing. I mean, she knew everything about plants. I feel like she would want to know.

• 30:30Speaker 00

  I feel like she and I would be friends.

• 30:33Speaker 01

  Oh, lady. Actually, now that you mention it, I should bring you there because you and this woman would hit it off. I mean, maybe I shouldn't bring you there because I might lose a BFF. I mean, the two of you are total plant nerds. I love her. She's not the person who answered the phone, by the way. She did not sass me. She was wonderful.

• 30:51Speaker 00

  She wasn't a snarky phone person. Well, I want to meet her. I can't wait. It's a plant date.

• 30:57Speaker 01

  It's a plant date. All right. The next scene, Pam is eyeing a donut in the kitchen, and Phyllis enters, kind of asks her what she's doing.

• 31:09Speaker 00

  I loved this scene so much.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  It's so funny.

• 31:13Speaker 00

  I mean, what the heck? Phyllis has a cousin that makes romantic birdhouse mailboxes? What is a romantic birdhouse mailbox? Are the birds making out? Like, what are they doing? Why is it romantic?

• 31:28Speaker 01

  I don't know. Maybe they make a heart with their beaks or something.

• 31:31Speaker 00

  Maybe they kiss a heart.

• 31:33Speaker 01

  Maybe they do. I feel like you might have one of these. I could see you having a romantic birdhouse mailbox, lady.

• 31:40Speaker 00

  Let me tell you. The minute I read this, I had to know. And then I found mailboxes that look like birdhouses. And I actually need a new mailbox. And I was like, um, Josh? And he was like, no, no.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  I guess I'm a little confused, though. I mean, is it gonna confuse the birds? Like, are they gonna try to nest in your mailbox?

• 31:59Speaker 00

  Or will it confuse my mail carrier? And then I won't get mail?

• 32:02Speaker 01

  I don't know. I did want to point out at 4 minutes and 58 seconds, I am holding my favorite donut. Our craft services guys would have donuts out every morning, and they always had our favorites. That one was mine. It's a cake donut with icing and sprinkles. I'm kind of wishing I'd also gotten myself a donut for my closet.

• 32:22Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 32:23Speaker 01

  I didn't think of it till just now.

• 32:25Speaker 00

  Wait, I have to show you. I was listening to your donut selection, but I have to show you the picture of the birdhouse mailbox that I want, okay?

• 32:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 32:34Speaker 00

  It's like a three-story, like, birdhouse.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  It looks like a combo mailbox and birdhouse. If I were a bird, I would, I wouldn't want to move into that. It feels, I don't know. It feels like it's gonna be like living above a busy store.

• 32:51Speaker 00

  Also, though, will I just have, like, bird poop on my mail?

• 32:57Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 32:59Speaker 00

  I guess Jim walks out of his office and notices that there's a bunch of people missing.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  Where are they?

• 33:04Speaker 00

  I don't know. Maybe I'll go see what Michael's up to. And he's having a sneaky meeting.

• 33:11Speaker 01

  Yeah. He's got Oscar, Stanley, Creed, and Kelly, all sitting in chairs across his desk. Michael claims it's a product expansion focus group. They all want to go back to their desks.

• 33:25Speaker 00

  And Jim says, what kind of products? What happened in here? You know, what was the last thing that was said? And Stanley said, Michael said, if you don't smell this, you're fired.

• 33:38Speaker 00

  This leads to a Kelly talking head where she says she loves rivalries. Michael or Jim, Paris or Nicole, Heidi or LC, it's so fun. This was the beginning, Jenna, of people comparing Jim and Michael as bosses. There are a series of deleted talking heads. They are so fun. We have to hear them. Let's start with Toby's.

• 33:58Speaker 00

  Comparing Jim and Michael is like comparing apples and oranges. I like apples. I really, really don't like oranges. Oranges are annoying and hate me.

• 34:13Speaker 00

  Oranges are annoying and hate me.

• 34:16Speaker 01

  Hmm. Who's the orange?

• 34:18Speaker 00

  That made me laugh. Now for maybe my favorite Stanley talking head ever. And it wasn't in the episode, and I'm so sad. You have to hear it.

• 34:28Speaker 07

  When you ask Jim a question, he'll tell you an answer. When you ask Michael a question, he'll do an imitation of you for five minutes. Then he'll show you three YouTube videos. Then he'll try to tickle you. And if that's not enough, he'll ask you to repeat the question. Meanwhile, he's wandered off somewhere. He comes back, looks at the clock, and leaves for the rest of the day. But he also doesn't care if you come in late. So I prefer Michael.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  That is amazing.

• 35:00Speaker 00

  I love that he said first he'll do an impression of you, then he'll show you YouTube videos. He just cracked me up. Lastly, you have to hear Andy's comparison of Jim and Michael, because Andy is doing that thing, Jenna, that we do when a question makes us uncomfortable.

• 35:17Speaker 06

  Michael is like the fun dad, and Jim is like the serious mom. And little Andy is stuck in the middle, but he loves to both every bunch. But if he had to pick one, he would probably pick Jim, because Jim gives him his num nums on time. Num nums are, of course, my commission checks.

• 35:37Speaker 00

  Oh, oh, Andy. But we've talked about this, how sometimes you get asked a question that you're like, I don't want to, this might come across mean to someone. I'll do a little voice, or I'll sing it.

• 35:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. The lady at the nursery was real mean to me.

• 35:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, she told me peace lilies have to stay inside, and I didn't like it one bit.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  Well, now we're gonna get into the major conflict of this episode. David Wallace is gonna call and explain that Dunder Mifflin cannot give out cost of living raises this year. There's a finite amount of money, and it's up to these guys to figure out how to distribute the money amongst all the employees.

• 36:23Speaker 00

  And Michael and Jim start vying for this. They're like, I got it. No, I got it. And David's like, is there gonna be a problem? Also, Michael, are you texting me?

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. I guess in the end, David is like, you need to figure this out together. Terrible idea.

• 36:39Speaker 00

  It starts some really funny Jim and Michael scenes because at first, Michael's acting like that, sure, great, they can do this together. And then Jim is like, tell me how you really feel. And he goes, I hate the fact that we have to do this together. And then he's like, all I can see is your big and gross pores on your nose. Like, it gets so personal. Later, he points out his crusty eyes. Like, what? Michael, what happens to you when you get backed in a corner? You just get really mean.

• 37:07Speaker 01

  Lady, I literally made a list of all of Michael's jabs at Jim. He also calls him Skippy at one point.

• 37:16Speaker 00

  Big pores, crusty eyes, Skippy.

• 37:19Speaker 01

  That was as far as my list went.

• 37:21Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 37:24Speaker 00

  Also, we learn that Michael hates a pros and cons list. Oh, my gosh.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  Hates it. Absolutely hates it. And then he has that amazing quote where he says, sometimes the smartest people don't think at all. Well, lady, I had to know. I don't know why. I just, on the fly, decided to Google who invented the pros and cons list.

• 37:49Speaker 00

  Did you really?

• 37:51Speaker 01

  The answer is fascinating.

• 37:53Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, I want to hear it.

• 37:54Speaker 01

  There is an inventor of the pros and cons list, and it is Ben Franklin.

• 38:00Speaker 00

  What?

• 38:01Speaker 01

  Ben Franklin. All right. This is where everyone thinks the pros and cons list came from. He wrote a letter in 1772 to Joseph Priestley, where he described in great detail how he makes a decision. I'm gonna read it to you. Every word fascinated me. He said, quote, "My way," he capitalized way, by the way, his way.

• 38:27Speaker 00

  Okay. Frank Sinatra, we hear you.

• 38:31Speaker 01

  "is to divide a half sheet of paper by a line into two columns, writing over the one, pro, and over the other, con. Then, during three or four days of consideration, I put down under the different headings, different motives, that at different times occur to me for or against the measure. When I have thus got them all together in one view, I endeavor to estimate their respective weights. Where I find two, one on each side that seem equal, I strike them both out. If I find a reason, pro, that is equal to two reasons, con, I'll strike out all three."

• 39:15Speaker 01

  If I judge two reasons con equal to three reasons pro, I strike out all five and thus proceed until the balance lies. And if after a day or two of further consideration, nothing new of importance occurs on either side, I can come to a determination accordingly. Then he said, I have found great advantage from this kind of equation. And he said, I believe I have discovered what could be called moral or prudential algebra. He believes that he had found a mathematical equation for making a decision.

• 39:51Speaker 00

  Well, I can tell you right now, he would have driven Michael Scott crazy.

• 39:55Speaker 01

  Crazy.

• 39:56Speaker 00

  If he walked in and said, listen, it's going to take me three days.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:00Speaker 00

  With this pros and cons list to figure out what we're going to do. Michael would have been like, I'm out.

• 40:05Speaker 01

  Well, when I read this, I also realized I've been doing pros and cons lists wrong, I guess. I just make lists of pros and cons. And then I can see them all in one place. I didn't realize I was supposed to strike them out if I consider them to be of equal importance. I didn't realize there was a whole striking out process that Ben Franklin intended.

• 40:27Speaker 00

  Well, Jenna, I know you love a list. I have no doubt you've made many pro and con lists in your life.

• 40:32Speaker 01

  True, true. Well, I'll have you know, Angela.

• 40:36Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 40:36Speaker 01

  Next, Jim is going to make a pie chart of Michael's time.

• 40:40Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 40:40Speaker 01

  How Michael spends time.

• 40:42Speaker 00

  Yeah. It looks like he used crayon, by the way.

• 40:45Speaker 01

  I know. I also Googled who invented the pie chart.

• 40:49Speaker 00

  Did you really?

• 40:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:51Speaker 00

  Who did it?

• 40:52Speaker 01

  Oh, lady. Also fascinating. Who knew these Googles would be so interesting? The earliest known pie chart is generally credited to William Playfair in 1801. He was a businessman, engineer, and economics writer from Scotland.

• 41:10Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  But get this.

• 41:12Speaker 00

  What?

• 41:13Speaker 01

  Florence Nightingale is credited with adapting the pie chart and basically making it go viral.

• 41:20Speaker 00

  Did she use it for pain? Like, what's your threshold for pain?

• 41:24Speaker 01

  No, but it's interesting you ask that because I will remind people that Florence Nightingale is the woman who pioneered the field of nursing. She started a nursing school. She tended to wounded soldiers.

• 41:36Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 41:37Speaker 01

  During the Crimean War. But she was also a pioneer in the area of statistics and she made a pie chart that showed the impact of poor sanitary conditions on mortality rates. And some people believe that this is the first time that a pie chart was used to persuade people to change.

• 41:57Speaker 00

  Oh, wow.

• 41:58Speaker 01

  And it kind of went viral. So she's credited as, you know, making the pie chart accessible. There you go.

• 42:07Speaker 00

  There you go. Well, I looked at Jim's pie chart, took a picture of it. And you know what I thought?

• 42:13Speaker 01

  What?

• 42:14Speaker 00

  He was just procrastinating.

• 42:16Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 42:17Speaker 00

  I mean, really, how different would Jim's pie chart be from Michael's? The biggest part is in green is procrastinating. Then the other biggest part is yellow and it's distracting others. And then there's a tiny sliver of red for critical thinking. I mean, Jim's wouldn't be that different. He's always distracted. He's procrastinating. Come on.

• 42:38Speaker 01

  You're so right.

• 42:40Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  Jim just drew his own pie chart.

• 42:43Speaker 00

  Pretty much. While Jim's making pie charts, Pam is still trying to hustle up some money as wedding gifts and finally find someone who's going to write her a check.

• 42:54Speaker 01

  Kevin. He writes her a check for $40 and he says he's going to put to love's eternal glory in the subject line.

• 43:03Speaker 00

  But also, you know, can you wait until you cash it till Monday?

• 43:07Speaker 01

  Yes, but this is the moment that Pam sees the name Mrs. Pam Halpert for the first time.

• 43:15Speaker 00

  No.

• 43:16Speaker 01

  She gets all excited. And I have a question. Pam is doing her talking head out in the little, I don't know, what would you call that? The vestibule, the like inner lobby from right outside the door of Dunder Mifflin?

• 43:31Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, like the entryway.

• 43:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. That Dunder Mifflin sign that Pam is standing next to? Isn't that the one that John like took and you saw him putting it in his trunk?

• 43:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:43Speaker 01

  At the end.

• 43:44Speaker 00

  That's the one John stole when we wrapped.

• 43:46Speaker 01

  That's what I thought. I was like, oh, hey, John's got that at his house.

• 43:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  Well, listen, I think we should take a break because when we come back, Jim and Michael are going to try a lot of strategies to divide up this money. And pretty much none of them are going to go well.

• 44:04Speaker 00

  You mean, putting beans on people's faces isn't a great way to figure out if they get a raise? We'll talk about it after the break.

• 44:13Speaker 01

  We will.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  Jim and Michael are in the conference room and Jim proposes that they give the raises to the salespeople. He said, they're the ones who bring in the money and this will keep them happy. Well, Michael doesn't think that's going to go over very well.

• 44:39Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 44:40Speaker 01

  Well, these guys are going to kind of argue now. And I thought the scene was a little bit dramatic and even Jen Salata mentioned it. Here's what she had to say.

• 44:50Speaker 05

  When I was directing a scene with Steve and John in the conference room, I think it was the scene where Michael criticizes Jim's way of thinking and Jim tells Michael that he has weaknesses. I kind of popped out of the moment and looked at us and said, I think we're doing a drama right now. It occurred to me that I wrote it kind of dramatic and their instincts were dramatic as was fitting for the scene and I was steering it in an even more dramatic way. I remember trying to push things to their edges a bit more in the sixth season. Maybe as a reaction to having done so many episodes in a row, fifth season, that I was looking to shake things up a little and drama is definitely where some of those scenes went. Maybe with me writing and directing, there wasn't enough quality control. I think I even asked Paul, like, is this too dramatic? Did I make this into a drama? But then John and Steve and I paused and talked about the balance and landed in a really nice place, I think.

• 45:35Speaker 05

  I love what Steve and John did in that scene and throughout that episode. It was really fun getting to dig into their relationship in a deeper way.

• 45:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, I can feel that in the scene. I mean, Jim's like, you know what, Michael, here are your weaknesses. And Michael's like, oh yeah, you want to tell me my weaknesses? Like, it gets really personal, not to mention Michael goes there with the crusty eyes.

• 45:55Speaker 01

  Yes. I really like it when our show would dare to kind of let comedy go for a second. Sometimes it was in those romantic moments. Sometimes it was emotional with all this stuff about sprinkles, all this stuff about your heart getting broken, Angela. Like, I liked it when the show didn't need to be funny or ring that funny bell every three seconds, which is kind of your traditional comedy. So I really appreciated this scene.

• 46:23Speaker 00

  I did too. And of course they found like the moments of comedy. And one of the lines that made me laugh was at the very end when, you know, Jim is going to go out there, Michael's like, okay, Skippy, give it your best shot. Go tell them. And Jim leaves and then Michael turns to Cameron and says, this had better be terrible.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  He's rooting for him to fail. And when Jim does, just lay it out there. He's honest. He's going to shoot everyone straight and right away it doesn't go well.

• 46:51Speaker 01

  Well, he comes off condescending. He's talking about, I'm going to talk to you all like adults because you're very smart.

• 46:59Speaker 00

  Yes. And then Oscar says, thank you, Jim, for thinking that we're smart people. And then Angela sort of playing dumb goes, but I do not understand. If we're such smart adults, then why don't we get raises? And Oscar's like, excellent question, genius. Also, by the way, if you go back and rewatch this, tell me if you think I sound southern when I say, I do not understand because it's all I could hear was my accent. Anyway, so the scene starts to really get out of hand and it builds with this crescendo. You've got to hear it.

• 47:28Speaker 03

  We work just as hard as the salespeople. He deserved raises. Yes.

• 47:31Speaker 00

  Yes. They don't get them if we don't get them. My kid needs shoes. You want to tell him he doesn't get shoes?

• 47:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 47:38Speaker 00

  Our kid needs shoes, Jim. What the hell?

• 47:45Speaker 00

  I mean, Michael got his wish. That went terribly.

• 47:48Speaker 01

  Terribly. Jim is going to need to rewind out of that. He's going to do his best little rewind back into the conference room.

• 47:57Speaker 00

  And Pam's face where she's like, oh no, not rewind guy, not rewind guy.

• 48:03Speaker 01

  I went to the script and that reaction was in the script. It literally says Pam is embarrassed. For Jim.

• 48:11Speaker 00

  Jenna, I don't know if you remember one time when I did a rewind bit, but it killed. Do you remember?

• 48:18Speaker 01

  Yes, I do.

• 48:20Speaker 00

  We co-presented at the 57th American Cinema Editors Awards and Jenna and I announced the winner of the best edited one hour series for commercial television. I did my rewind bit. Jenna, come on.

• 48:35Speaker 01

  It was so good.

• 48:36Speaker 00

  It was so good. Want to hear it? First of all, we had great banter. I thought we were great co-presenters.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  I thought we should get asked to host a whole award show based on that one appearance. I really did. I was like, I was so pleased with us that I was like, I'm sorry. Give us a call, Emmys. We need to host the whole shebang.

• 48:57Speaker 00

  Or at least present one award.

• 48:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:00Speaker 00

  Here's my editors bit. Ready?

• 49:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:03Speaker 00

  So we did this bit, Jenna, remember you set up.

• 49:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was like, we are very close with our editors. We're always walking by their edit bay and here's what we hear.

• 49:12Speaker 00

  And then I jumped in and went. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

• 49:19Speaker 01

  It's so good.

• 49:21Speaker 00

  And it got a big laugh. We crushed it.

• 49:26Speaker 00

  And you folks listening out there, guess who won the award we presented? It was none other than the editors for Friday Night Lights.

• 49:35Speaker 01

  So cool.

• 49:36Speaker 00

  So cool. And it was a show Jenna and I both loved. We were so excited to meet them. That was a really fun night. I found fancy photos of us. Oh, I found fancy photos of us from that night. And then also Jenna, I meant to bring up your red carpet photos for the promotion. You were all about the over the shoulder.

• 49:54Speaker 01

  I was?

• 49:56Speaker 00

  You're like, tonight's the night. I am going to finally get the over the shoulder look. Wait, I have to show you.

• 50:02Speaker 01

  That's very funny. You know, we did from time to time, a red carpet would come up and we'd be like, listen, I'm gonna nail this new situation. I don't know what it would be. Be like, I'm gonna get the pout right tonight. Or I'm gonna nail an over the shoulder. I clearly decided to take on over the shoulder.

• 50:21Speaker 00

  The promotion was your night for it. I'll put it in stories, guys.

• 50:25Speaker 01

  I can't wait. Well, listen, in this whole scene, we did get a fan question from Heather B. and Victoria British Columbia, Canada, who noticed, when Oscar tells the office that Jim is only giving raises to his friends and the people he sleeps with, Pam turns around in her chair and mouths something in Oscar's direction. It's at 13 minutes, 18 seconds. Jenna, what were you saying? Oh my God, I saw it. I'm saying, Oscar, but they cut my audio. And I went to the script and it was not scripted. So clearly I improvised Oscar. And when they got in the editing room, they were like, we are not interested in this improvisation. We are cutting your audio. We're cutting you out.

• 51:10Speaker 01

  So anyway, after Jim rewinds back into the conference room, they still have to make this decision. Michael suggests maybe they do a merit based raise. And this is gonna lead them to putting the Boston baked beans on the photos of the employees. But first, we're gonna hear from the largest talking head in office history.

• 51:35Speaker 00

  Six people. It's at 14 minutes, 45 seconds. There is sort of a pyramid shape of office coworkers. Creed at the top. In the back row, Meredith, Kevin, and Angela. In the front row, Dwight and Oscar. And they are not happy. Meredith says, I am so pissed at this company.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:55Speaker 00

  And then Dwight goes, and Jim. And Meredith said, who says that? And Dwight says, I think it was Creed. Creed's like, yep, Creed hadn't spoken. What's happening Creed?

• 52:06Speaker 01

  I loved the big group talking head. I thought it was really fun.

• 52:10Speaker 00

  I did too. It was fun to shoot as well, because we each had a line and it was sort of like rapid fire and it was just a ton of fun.

• 52:16Speaker 01

  Well, listen, Dwight is gonna sneak into the conference room and he's gonna discover all these little beans on everybody's face and he's gonna blow their cover. I did a deep dive on Boston baked beans, because why not?

• 52:30Speaker 00

  As you do.

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Here's what I'm gonna let you know.

• 52:34Speaker 00

  Were they invented in the 14th century by?

• 52:38Speaker 01

  Well, first of all, I have to say, as I researched them, they sound delicious. I've never really been drawn to the Boston baked bean because the name baked bean, it doesn't like make me wanna eat it as a candy. So, I mean.

• 52:57Speaker 00

  Wait, they're candy?

• 52:59Speaker 01

  They're candy. See, right?

• 53:01Speaker 00

  Oh my God, I thought they were putting actual beans.

• 53:04Speaker 01

  No, Boston baked beans are a sugar coated peanut candy.

• 53:09Speaker 00

  Oh, yes. Okay.

• 53:12Speaker 01

  The name Boston baked bean is a generic name used throughout the whole candy industry to mean sugar coated peanut. But the Ferrara Pan Candy Company developed their line of the Boston baked beans in the early 1930s. Those are the ones in the red box that you see all the time.

• 53:31Speaker 00

  Right, right.

• 53:32Speaker 01

  They're made in this process called cold panned candy process. And the pans kinda like move in a circle or something, almost like a record. And you throw the peanuts in and then like the sugar kinda coats them slowly until you get them the right size. I don't know. They sound really good.

• 53:55Speaker 00

  Do you need some Boston baked beans, lady? Do I need to drop some off?

• 53:58Speaker 01

  Maybe I do. Why did I only get a plant? Why didn't I also get Boston baked beans and a donut? I don't know. I did find out a few fun facts about the Ferrera company that makes Boston baked beans that I thought was kinda cool, because they make a bunch of different candies.

• 54:15Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 54:16Speaker 01

  They make 800,000 Sweet Tart rolls every day. It's the size of 2,700 football fields a day.

• 54:26Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 54:28Speaker 01

  They run out of Chicago. They also make nerds.

• 54:32Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 54:32Speaker 01

  The candy nerds.

• 54:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 54:34Speaker 01

  And they make 135,000 pounds of nerds every day.

• 54:39Speaker 00

  Whoa.

• 54:40Speaker 01

  They also make trolly Sour Bright Worms.

• 54:44Speaker 00

  Don't know what that is.

• 54:45Speaker 01

  They're like, you know, sour worms.

• 54:48Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  They make 127 pounds every minute.

• 54:52Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  And they are the largest producer of candy canes. And most jelly beans that are consumed in the United States are made by this company.

• 55:03Speaker 00

  They're very busy.

• 55:04Speaker 01

  And now they are a licensed Girl Scout cookie baker.

• 55:10Speaker 00

  What Girl Scout cookie do they make?

• 55:12Speaker 01

  They make them all. They can bake them all. They're one of the licensed bakers.

• 55:16Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 55:17Speaker 01

  They have a person, Natalie Hagstrom, who is the general manager of cookies. That is her title, general manager of cookies. I kinda want that job.

• 55:28Speaker 00

  I want that on a business card.

• 55:29Speaker 01

  Me too, right?

• 55:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:32Speaker 01

  So that's everything I learned in my deep dive about the Boston baked bean.

• 55:37Speaker 00

  You never know, lady, what you're gonna find. You never know.

• 55:42Speaker 01

  You never know. I try to bring a lot of special facts to the podcast to make your dinner party conversations.

• 55:50Speaker 00

  Delightful.

• 55:50Speaker 01

  A little more interesting.

• 55:52Speaker 00

  That's right.

• 55:52Speaker 01

  Maybe so.

• 55:54Speaker 00

  Dwight is gonna lead everyone into the conference room to show them the beans on the photos. One of my favorite lines that he says, with such seriousness is, they determine our worth by putting beans upon our faces.

• 56:08Speaker 01

  I know.

• 56:09Speaker 00

  And then Kevin cannot stop saying, what does a bean mean? What does a bean mean? Oscar's like, will someone tell Kevin what a bean means?

• 56:21Speaker 00

  They are not happy with how they're shaking out with the beans on the faces.

• 56:27Speaker 01

  So after this experience in the conference room, they're back in the bullpen and Dwight is going to give a rousing speech. I mean, he is trying to form basically a mutiny against Jim in particular.

• 56:40Speaker 00

  Oh yeah. It's at 18 minutes, 18 seconds. He starts off with, are we idiots? What right does Jim have to claim authority? Hmm? Is he as good a salesman as I? Is he as matronly as Phyllis? There are moments where we can affect change for a few seconds every decade we exist. And these are those seconds. Let us storm his castle. Come on, tick. Let's get him. Tuck. Let's get Jim. Tick. And drag him out of his office. Tuck. Take his keys away from him. Tick. That's a clock. The time is getting very close. It's now or never. What say you? Does Dwight think he's in a Shakespearean play?

• 57:22Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 57:24Speaker 00

  Of course, the speech made me think of those famous battle cry speeches, Jenna. You know I love them.

• 57:30Speaker 01

  We know you love them, lady.

• 57:32Speaker 00

  So I just had to re-watch a whole bunch last night.

• 57:35Speaker 01

  You're just re-watching battle cry speeches?

• 57:38Speaker 00

  I re-watched the St. Christmas Day speech from Henry the Fifth. I re-watched the speech in Gladiator. Oh my God, so good. And then I forgot about the speech Kate Blanchett gives as Elizabeth the First. Amazing. At the Battle of Tilbury. I mean, come on, Bill Paxton in a Penn State. I had to watch a whole bunch of them. I love them. This brought me to this conclusion. I would like to do a podcast about battle speeches. Just, just one episode. One episode, please. We have to.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  I would love it. Lady, I just love this. It's so funny because I feel like this is like, this touches in you, the thing that watching like The Revenant or The Edge touches in me. I mean, it's very similar. It's just like people overcoming tough odds.

• 58:30Speaker 00

  I know. Everything is stacked against them.

• 58:33Speaker 01

  But they go anyway.

• 58:34Speaker 00

  Let's do it.

• 58:36Speaker 01

  I know. Well, I wanna point out that at 18 minutes, 40 seconds, as Dwight is giving this speech, Meredith, in the background, who is very mad that she's not getting a raise.

• 58:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:51Speaker 01

  Has FreeCell on her computer screen.

• 58:55Speaker 01

  I just have to say, Meredith, you're not making a great case for yourself.

• 59:00Speaker 00

  Kate Flannery, turn your screen off.

• 59:04Speaker 00

  During all of this rally cry, Michael sneaks into Jim's office. He brings two World's Best Boss mugs. And guess what's inside them?

• 59:15Speaker 01

  Gin.

• 59:16Speaker 00

  Gin!

• 59:17Speaker 01

  Does this mean Michael has been drinking gin out of his World's Best Boss mug more often than we know?

• 59:24Speaker 00

  Maybe so. But this made me think of Paul Feig. Our lovely Paul Feig has his own gin.

• 59:31Speaker 01

  Me too! He has two babies, as he calls them. He has Ardingstall Gin and he has a premixed Negroni Number One Cocktail. It's amazing. The bottles are beautiful.

• 59:46Speaker 00

  That's what I wrote. I wrote, not only are the bottles beautiful, but it's really good gin.

• 59:50Speaker 01

  We'll take a picture of ours and we'll put them in stories.

• 59:54Speaker 00

  Yes, and we'll put a swipe up so you can find Paul Feig's gin because it's delicious and we love Paul.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  He's been working on that for a long time. And you know that man loves a cocktail. He likes a fancy cocktail.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  He's a mixologist.

• 1:00:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, so you know it's gonna be good.

• 1:00:11Speaker 00

  Jim and Michael cheers their gin. There's a knock on the door. Then there's a pounding on the door. They look at each other and Michael says, just pretend we're not here.

• 1:00:21Speaker 01

  We had a fan question about that. It's from Rachel D. in Pennsylvania. She said, when Michael and Jim are hiding in Jim's office, someone is knocking at the door. Who knocked? Was it a cast member or a crew member? Well, I'll tell you. It was a crew member. Because the cast was not there. If you notice, all the blinds are shut, you know, on purpose. But we did not have to be in the background of that scene. We did not have to be out there, so...

• 1:00:48Speaker 00

  Maybe we were getting a snack.

• 1:00:50Speaker 01

  Who knows? Maybe we were done for the day. I just know that we were not on the schedule for that one. And so it was just those two guys and they had a crew member do the knocking.

• 1:01:00Speaker 00

  Well, Jen Salata shared with us that this was one of her favorite scenes. It's when Michael smiles at the end in Jim's office and Jim is struggling. And Michael finally has someone who has to go through the tough parts of being a boss with him. And Jen said that she just loved that they could hide in the boss's office together at the end of the episode.

• 1:01:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, I liked that moment, too.

• 1:01:23Speaker 00

  I did, too.

• 1:01:25Speaker 01

  Well, now we're gonna have this final tag at the end. Ryan's gonna come into the break room where Pam is dipping her pretzels in something. What am I dipping them in? I don't remember. I don't know why I made this choice.

• 1:01:39Speaker 00

  Do you think it was some actor-y method choice? Like, oh, I'm pregnant. I'm probably having odd cravings. I'll take pretzels and dip it in something weird.

• 1:01:47Speaker 01

  Yes, I think you're right. That sounds like me.

• 1:01:50Speaker 00

  It does.

• 1:01:51Speaker 01

  Because in real life, I don't dip my pretzels in anything. So I don't know what this was.

• 1:01:56Speaker 00

  I cannot believe that Pam falls for this Ryan crapola. I cannot believe she falls for it. He's like, would you rather have $100 today or $5,000 a year from now?

• 1:02:10Speaker 01

  Well, at first she says $100 today.

• 1:02:12Speaker 00

  No, I know. I know. Her first instincts are so right. But Ryan is such a con man and he wears her down.

• 1:02:19Speaker 01

  Well, listen, he has a guy that has an algorithm that can determine the winner of any given college basketball game.

• 1:02:26Speaker 00

  Why is Ryan still working as a temp then?

• 1:02:30Speaker 01

  So I did the math. Pam writes Ryan a check for $50. Kevin gave her $40 earlier. She has lost $10 today.

• 1:02:41Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:02:42Speaker 01

  It's not going great.

• 1:02:43Speaker 00

  Why can't Crate and Barrel just make a toaster full of cash?

• 1:02:47Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 1:02:48Speaker 00

  We'd all register for that.

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  We sure would.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  All right, that is the promotion.

• 1:02:55Speaker 00

  We hope you go out today and have a fantastic day full of love's eternal glory.

• 1:03:02Speaker 01

  We're sending you big hugs. Yeah, maybe get yourself a plant. I recommend it.

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  Maybe you need to go watch a battle cry speech. Get you going for the whole week.

• 1:03:13Speaker 01

  Make a pros/cons list and see how you feel in three days. Then decide. Have a great week, you guys. Bye.

• 1:03:20Speaker 00

  Bye.

• 1:03:26Speaker 01

  Thank you for listening to Office Lady's Second Drink.

• 1:03:28Speaker 00

  This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

• 1:03:32Speaker 01

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

• 1:03:40Speaker 00

  Our Second Drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 1:03:45Speaker 00

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

• 1:03:48Speaker 01

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 1:03:51Speaker 00

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.