Two Truths & a Lie with Joel McHale

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela are joined by their friend Joel McHale (Community, Animal Control, The Soup) for a very fun game of Two Truths and a Lie, or, as Joel plays it, two lies and a truth. Joel discusses behind-the-scenes moments from his shows and the risk and reward of performing his own stunts. Stick around to hear which role on The Office Joel auditioned for back in the day. So get ready for surprises, don’ t feed the animals… and enjoy!

• 0:04Speaker 00

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  We were on The Office together.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  And we're best friends.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  And now we're doing the ultimate Office lovers podcast just for you. Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  We're the Office Ladies 6.0.

• 0:26Speaker 00

  Hi there, lady.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Hey there. How's it going?

• 0:30Speaker 00

  It's going pretty good.

• 0:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:32Speaker 00

  Can't complain.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  No complaints here either. Before we hopped on today, I was just kind of doing the scroll on the old social media, and I saw the most fun thing. You want to hear it?

• 0:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  So, I know you love hockey, lady. We know you love hockey.

• 0:47Speaker 00

  Listen, I don't just love heated rivalry. I also love hockey. Period.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Okay, well, listen to this. This was really, really cool. And, gosh, it looked like it was a blast. And I want to share it. It's already happened, but I think it's so fun. Okay, the Flyers, which I guess are the hockey team in Philadelphia, Jenna, but you probably already knew that.

• 1:09Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 1:10Speaker 01

  They had their first ever themed night celebrating The Office.

• 1:15Speaker 00

  What?

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Yes. On March 14th, they were playing the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Flyers decided to pay tribute to what they said was one of the most iconic TV shows to celebrate the network's 100th anniversary on NBC. And they had all of these clips from the show. You know on the giant Jumbotron?

• 1:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:37Speaker 01

  They played clips from The Office. They had themed food and beverages. And they had giveaways. And it was all The Office theme. And there were surprise appearances by Leslie David Baker and Kate Flannery. They did that really fun thing where they go around the stadium, you know, and up on the Jumbotron, they played the look-alike game where they put a celebrity and then the person that looks like them in the stadium.

• 2:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:02Speaker 01

  And it was all characters of The Office. But when they got to Leslie and Kate, they panned actually to them, and the place went crazy.

• 2:09Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. Well, I love that. You know, when I was in St. Louis a few years ago, went to a Blues game with my family, and the folks at the Blues knew we were going. So they did an Office-themed one. And then when they flashed up a picture of Pam, then they would show me.

• 2:28Speaker 00

  And kind of reveal that I was there, but I said, you know, it would be kind of fun. What if you show my daughter first and then I'll sit next to her and then you can pan to me because she looks like, she probably looks more like Pam than I do now, really.

• 2:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, she's a mini you for sure.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  Yeah. And so it was really cute and it's a fun family memory.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  That's adorable. I was at a Broncos game and they panned to me one time and lady, I got so excited seeing myself on the Jumbotron. I lost all my cool. I was like dancing around.

• 3:00Speaker 00

  Have you ever seen Jeff Goldblum?

• 3:03Speaker 01

  Yes, I was like that.

• 3:04Speaker 00

  Yes. Seeing himself on the Jumbotron. It's so charming, but I knew I was gonna be on the Jumbotron, but it's an exciting thing. It just is.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  It's super exciting and they play like the office theme music and it's just really fun. But yeah, I thought that was cool. They had an all office theme night at the Flyers game.

• 3:24Speaker 00

  Very cool. Well, listen, everybody, we have a really fun episode today. We are going to be playing the game Two Truths and a Lie with Joel McHale. We love Joel.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  We love Joel. He's a good friend and I just can't wait because you never know what you're gonna get with Joel.

• 3:39Speaker 00

  Well, first though, we are gonna do our fan chit chat question of the week. This one is coming from Hannah P. in South Carolina.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  Hi, office ladies. Apa kabar? My name is Hannah and I have a get to know you question that's usually used in my friend group. When someone starts new at work, we ask, what's your garbage? This is usually something weird or gross or funny that you find totally normal, but other people are shocked by. For example, my favorite kind of popcorn is three days old or burnt. My mom's favorite snack or dessert is banana strawberry baby food. And a friend of mine would just clip her nails anywhere in her house and just clean them up next time she vacuumed. So it can be food or a habit or anything someone has said, that's crazy and you just don't agree. Also, I've lived in Indonesia and I'm moving back there soon.

• 4:32Speaker 02

  So I absolutely love hearing Angela speak Indonesian since I never get to hear it here in the States. Thanks for all you guys do.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Aw Hannah, kabar bike terima kasih. Thank you so much for writing in and I'm so excited to hear that you're going back to Indonesia. Such a wonderful place. That just gave me all the warm feelings Jenna. Just hearing her say apa kabar made my day.

• 4:55Speaker 00

  Well, I love that and I love Hannah's question. I love that the way they get to know each other is by leading with their garbage. I think that's very cute.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  I mean Hannah, I want this to be like one of the questions when you're at a fun like dinner party. What's your garbage? I am gonna make a mental note of that.

• 5:13Speaker 00

  So and what comes to mind for you?

• 5:15Speaker 01

  Well, you know Hannah gave the example of like three day old burnt popcorn. Here's something I like and I don't think it's that weird. I think there's gonna be people out there that do this as well. Let me know. But I love nothing more than like if we order pizza and everyone is done with their pizza. You know, our kids kind of eat the pizza, but then they don't eat the crust. And then they put it back in the pizza box. And so then I go to clean up and there's a pizza box full of a lot of crust. And I will go get some ranch dressing and I eat the pizza crust. I mean, I'm not gonna like eat after someone I don't know, no, but you know what I mean?

• 5:58Speaker 01

  I'm like, what? We're not wasting this pizza crust, are we? I have put pizza crust in a Ziploc bag and saved it for the next day. And heated it up in the microwave with some ranch dressing. Is that weird?

• 6:10Speaker 00

  So your garbage is that you can't let pizza crust go?

• 6:15Speaker 01

  I can't. I love the taste of it. I love pizza crust.

• 6:19Speaker 00

  I don't understand people who don't like the crust. I feel like it's all leading up to the crust. If it's a good crust, I get excited when I get to the crust. Do you ever go and take a piece of pizza crust off the pizza and then leave the pizza part? And just eat the crust?

• 6:36Speaker 01

  I haven't done that, but I will tell you, I can't wait for the pizza crust. Like I kind of get through the pizza. Like just get me through it.

• 6:44Speaker 00

  Just you're here for the crust.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  I'm here for the crust. And then I want you to know that I'm talking all crusts, deep dish crust, medium, thin crust, that's like crispy. And people are like, why do you want the thin crust? I'm like, give me the crust. I love the crust. So that's my garbage. What about you, lady? What's your garbage?

• 7:05Speaker 00

  Well, my garbage is something that I feel like maybe I've shared on the podcast before, but this is what came to mind. It's very Angela Martin of me. But sometimes I get foster kittens and I, I lick their heads.

• 7:22Speaker 01

  Like where?

• 7:24Speaker 00

  Between their eyes.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  Like their mama?

• 7:27Speaker 00

  Like their mama. Like when they first come in and they're like semi feral and the only way you can hold them is to wrap them up like a little burrito in a blanket. And then you snug them up real close on your chest. I always pet them right there. But sometimes if they're especially scared, I might give a little lick, just to try to, I don't know, create that bond.

• 7:56Speaker 01

  You are so much more Angela Martin in this moment.

• 8:00Speaker 00

  I know.

• 8:01Speaker 01

  I know. I guess my question is, when you lick that little part between their eyes, do you get hair on your tongue? Are you then like?

• 8:11Speaker 00

  No, you don't.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  No, you don't.

• 8:13Speaker 00

  You really don't.

• 8:13Speaker 01

  It doesn't come off.

• 8:14Speaker 00

  There's nothing there. I give it a couple little licks and then I give it a little smooth with the thumb.

• 8:19Speaker 01

  You are a very dedicated kitty foster parent.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  I hope by the time this podcast comes out, I have none of them in my house anymore.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  Because they've all been adopted.

• 8:29Speaker 00

  Because they've all gone to their forever homes. But I'll let you know, I've managed to do cat rescue for 20 years without a foster fail. So I'm hoping I can keep up my record.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  There's no way you're gonna end up adopting one of these. There's no way. Every single time you have a litter of kittens that you're fostering, you're like, okay, I'm gonna keep one of them. It's the odds are not in your favor here. You are going to end up keeping one of them.

• 8:51Speaker 00

  This is a terrible BFFing right now. You're supposed to be like, don't worry, the right person will find them.

• 8:58Speaker 01

  No, it's not about that.

• 8:59Speaker 00

  Don't give in to this temptation.

• 9:01Speaker 01

  No, it's not about that. Why is it a temptation if you make a connection with one of the kitties?

• 9:06Speaker 00

  Because you can't, then I can't foster another litter of kittens because I can't absorb a kitten every time. I'll be overrun.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  I'm just saying, just one time.

• 9:15Speaker 00

  This is, oh my gosh, you're, you're a rescuer's nightmare right now. This is not what I need.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  I'm sorry, lady. I'm so sorry. Okay. They're all gonna find wonderful homes. You're doing a great job. Way to go.

• 9:29Speaker 00

  So yeah, I guess that's my garbage is that I lick, I lick my kittens from time to time. Like Angela Martin maybe did with her garbage, her literal garbage cat.

• 9:42Speaker 01

  I mean, your garbage is coming from such a nurturing place and mine is coming just from like love of bread. Kind of lame. Matt, what about your garbage?

• 9:56Speaker 03

  I think I'm kind of like Angela where I just, it's the eating of other people's leftovers.

• 10:01Speaker 01

  No, now, hold up, Matt. I am not eating other people's leftovers. I just want your pizza crust. If you and I order a pizza and you're not gonna eat your crust, I'll take it.

• 10:10Speaker 03

  See, I'll take it a step further. And for me, it's like when my kids come home from school, I open their lunchbox, especially because it's like around that time of day. It's like the late afternoon. Like I'm kind of hungry. I just like, even while I'm still at like the school parking lot, I'll open their little My Little Pony lunchbox and grab some warm chicken nuggets and like food that's been warmed by the sun.

• 10:29Speaker 01

  It's like a parent's afternoon snack.

• 10:31Speaker 03

  Snack. My, yeah, I just, my blood sugar's a little low. I just need a little snack.

• 10:34Speaker 00

  I feel worried for you. I'm worried you're gonna get food poisoning.

• 10:38Speaker 03

  So far, so good.

• 10:39Speaker 00

  Okay, good.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  But come on, what's in a kid's lunchbox? I don't know. Some goldfish, some pretzels. So you're getting a soggy pretzel.

• 10:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Jenna, Matt and I are clearly kind of laid back about food, eating other people's food.

• 10:53Speaker 00

  Oh, well, thank you so much, Hannah. We had fun sharing our garbage and everyone, we're gonna take a break. We'll be back with Joel McHale.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  Hi Joel.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  That's our sting Joel. Are you so impressed?

• 11:16Speaker 04

  Can't believe you got Sting to do that whole sting. Wow. I'm off to a roaring start. I apologize.

• 11:23Speaker 01

  You stop it. Joel, how are you?

• 11:26Speaker 04

  Look at us, drinking, enjoy, wait, enjoying ourselves. Remember the last time I stumbled into your podcast?

• 11:34Speaker 01

  Yes, we do.

• 11:36Speaker 04

  That was pre pandemic, right?

• 11:37Speaker 01

  That was pre pandemic. That was that ear wolf. And that's when you could walk down a hallway and kind of look in the sort of sound booth windows and see who was recording and you walked by and saw us and you just came in. You're like, hey, guys.

• 11:50Speaker 04

  You're like, what, what, what are you guys doing?

• 11:52Speaker 01

  What's happening here? You guys making a podcast? Joel, I have to brag on you a little bit, which is you've got a wicked forehand, my friend. You've got a really good forehand.

• 12:02Speaker 04

  I'll take that. I had to work on it.

• 12:04Speaker 01

  You had to work hard on it, but you've got a really nice forehand. So if you guys ever find yourself in a tennis match with Joel, watch out for the forehand. How many times a week do you play, Joel?

• 12:16Speaker 04

  Every day, almost.

• 12:18Speaker 01

  Is that right? Do you get out there every day?

• 12:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, my son plays. He's 17 and on his high school team. So that really helps. And we have a tennis court. Yes, I've done well, everyone. I just want to let people know. That's what I spent my money on.

• 12:35Speaker 01

  I will say you share though, because I do not have a tennis court, but you're like, Ange, just come over. And then I come and I show up with like homemade granola. I just leave you guys granola. That's our trade.

• 12:47Speaker 04

  Sarah loves that homemade. I'm like, she won't stop talking about it. I'm like, how did they do it? It's toasty and it's flavorful. It's salty and sweet. It's just, see Jenna, you had this whole other world of old people hitting tennis balls and eating granola.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  Am I allowed to come over and just eat the

• 13:07Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 13:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. Is there a place for me?

• 13:10Speaker 04

  Yes, we have some benches you can watch from.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:13Speaker 04

  Watch out for the errant line drive.

• 13:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, and a lemon tree that is like the most lemons I've ever seen in my life, right by the tennis court. Like, it's kind of nuts.

• 13:24Speaker 04

  It is so weighed down, it doesn't look like it's gonna survive. But then all, yeah, there's a, it's a Meyer lemon tree too, so it's.

• 13:32Speaker 01

  Oh, those are the best lemons. I have a Meyer lemon tree. They're sweeter.

• 13:36Speaker 04

  They're so good. And they're, growing up in the Northwest, thank you, shout out to Rainn Wilson. I never dreamt if you lived in Southern California, you would just plant any, a fruit tree, and it's gonna grow and just start dumping oranges everywhere. Seems like Shangri-La when you think about it that way.

• 13:55Speaker 00

  Can I ask a question? Because I've wondered this. So in my neighborhood, like you said, like, living in Southern California, people have fruit trees. They just have them. There's pomegranate trees and persimmon trees and so many lemon and lime and orange trees. And you just go for a walk in the neighborhood and sometimes those trees are in people's front yards. And they're really full of fruit. Do you think it's okay to pick a piece of fruit off of someone else's tree? That's in their front yard.

• 14:31Speaker 01

  Are you trespassing? Are the branches leaning over the fence?

• 14:34Speaker 00

  There's no fence. It's just a sidewalk. And there's a tree there. And maybe you're passing by. And you are like, I'd love an orange. And there's so many of them. There's so many. So I'll just say, I never do it. But I feel like it should be okay, as long as you're not taking the last one. Or there's a dozen left. Like, how many oranges does one person need?

• 15:02Speaker 04

  I need them all.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  Do you not want anyone? You don't want anyone taking your lemons?

• 15:06Speaker 04

  Well, why do you think we have such a huge wall? Keeping everyone separated from our lemons?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  Well, I have neighbors, guys, and they are side by side, you know, like their driveways line up next to each other? And on one- That's how it is with my neighbor. Okay, so on one side, my neighbor has a lemon tree, it's loaded with lemons, and he has just a basket underneath it, and he's got a little sign that says, please take the lemons. You know, feel free. And then on the other driveway, just a few feet away, another lemon tree loaded with lemons, and they have a sign, do not pick the lemons. So it's like- That's not true. It is true! It is true! Oh my gosh! I promise you, and I'm like, what, these are, these two people have very different philosophies, they're letting the whole neighborhood know about it. Yeah. All right, well, on those good vibes, I think it's time.

• 15:54Speaker 04

  You trying to transition to this game, Angela?

• 15:58Speaker 01

  Trying. She is. Joel, I'm trying. You should know this about me, I'm horrible at transitions and segues. Like, if we're at a cocktail party, and I really want to talk to you, and you're talking to people, and like, you're standing, let's say, by a Christmas tree, I might walk up and be like, here's the thing about Christmas trees. It's like, the whole- the beep, brrr, the whole energy.

• 16:21Speaker 04

  That sounds like a segue into conversation, though.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:25Speaker 04

  I mean, if you were to launch into like, the Atlas Mountains are in Morocco! And I'm like, what?

• 16:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. No, I just look at something right in front of me, and comment. Okay. This is gonna be the best transition of your whole effin' life, are you ready?

• 16:41Speaker 04

  Now, there's a lot of pressure here.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  You know who's so much fun at a party, and who's great at playing games? It's our dear friend, Joel McHale, and we thought, who better than to play two truths and one lie with? We had Creed Bratton on, he played it, Joel. No pressure, he is amazing at two truths and a lie.

• 17:00Speaker 04

  At lying and telling the truth.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  Uh huh, because his truths and his lies are kinda blurry. And what we're gonna need from you, Jenna and I did not do a lot of Googling on you. We wanted to be surprised here. We don't want to know all your ins and outs, okay? All your business. So, we're gonna need you to tell us two truths and a lie, in any order, and then Jenna and I are gonna guess which one is the lie. And you folks listening out there can play along with us. So Joel, you're up. You have to tell us now, two truths and a lie.

• 17:36Speaker 04

  And it can be anything.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  It can be anything.

• 17:41Speaker 04

  So it could be like, I could tell a 25-minute story.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Sure, sure.

• 17:47Speaker 00

  Three 25-minute stories.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  But you are gonna have to take a break.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  And one of them's a lie.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  You will have to pause, because I'm gonna have to go pee, if you do three 25-minute stories.

• 17:57Speaker 04

  I will be offended, because these stories are real humdingers.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  Okay, two truths and a lie with Joel McHale. Here we go.

• 18:04Speaker 04

  Two truths and a lie. Here we go. I have been bitten by a bear. I have met Luciano Pavarotti, when he was alive, obviously. I didn't meet him after he died. And I quit drinking scotch.

• 18:26Speaker 01

  Okay. Two truths and a lie.

• 18:30Speaker 04

  Oh, is it two truths?

• 18:31Speaker 00

  Um, two truths and a lie. Did you just give us two lies and one truth? Did you really?

• 18:38Speaker 04

  No, just do that.

• 18:39Speaker 00

  Okay, we're now playing two lies and one truth.

• 18:42Speaker 04

  I like that.

• 18:43Speaker 00

  With Joel McHale. I just saw you at a holiday party, where I believe you were drinking scotch. And so I am asking myself, how recently did you stop drinking scotch? Were you not drinking scotch at that party? Were you not drinking an Old Fashioned?

• 19:03Speaker 04

  I was drinking sparkling wine.

• 19:05Speaker 01

  Sparkling wine?

• 19:06Speaker 04

  You know, it wasn't a champagne, it was a prosecco.

• 19:09Speaker 01

  It was prosecco. You were?

• 19:11Speaker 04

  I was definitely not drinking a, definitely not drinking an Old Fashioned.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 19:16Speaker 04

  I think in my entire lifetime, I have had maybe two Old Fashions.

• 19:23Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Jenna, you love an Old Fashioned.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  Maybe you were drinking the Old Fashioned.

• 19:30Speaker 01

  I was drinking an Old Fashioned and so was Lee and I thought so were you and so were the other fellows. I thought we were all toasting Old Fashions, but

• 19:43Speaker 04

  No.

• 19:43Speaker 01

  clearly not.

• 19:44Speaker 00

  Prosecco.

• 19:45Speaker 04

  Okay, I choose the sparkling wine because if I can drink a lot, but if I start drinking hard alcohol publicly, people are like, you go crazy? No, I will curl up.

• 19:55Speaker 01

  And go night night?

• 19:56Speaker 04

  Be like, I'm just gonna sleep in the pool. I don't care where, I'm just gonna lie down right here.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  Wait, so what was your other one? You got bit by a bear?

• 20:06Speaker 04

  Bit by a bear and met Luciana Pavarotti.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  When he was alive, obviously.

• 20:13Speaker 04

  Because you guys know where I was born, right?

• 20:16Speaker 01

  Pacific Northwest. There are bears.

• 20:17Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 20:18Speaker 01

  What? Where were you born?

• 20:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, now, now look up on Wikipedia where I was born.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Oh God, you're gonna make me Google it right now? Don't tell me.

• 20:26Speaker 04

  I was born in Italy, so that's.

• 20:29Speaker 01

  You were born in Italy?

• 20:30Speaker 00

  Do you have Italian citizenship as well? Do you have dual citizenship?

• 20:34Speaker 04

  I could have had it. I was born before America recognized dual citizenship.

• 20:41Speaker 01

  You were born in Rome?

• 20:43Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Oh, your dad was the dean of students.

• 20:47Speaker 04

  Yes, at Loyola University Rome Center. My mom was a student. Scandal!

• 20:53Speaker 00

  How long did you live in Rome?

• 20:55Speaker 04

  Not long, but enough to meet Luciana Pavarotti, who was in his prime.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  And you were born in 1971? Well, me too, me too. Yes, yes.

• 21:07Speaker 00

  So that's the truth. The lies are that you've never been bitten by a bear and you still drink Scotch, but not at public parties.

• 21:16Speaker 04

  Wait, how do we play this?

• 21:18Speaker 01

  Wait, we have to guess which is the truth.

• 21:20Speaker 04

  Oh, okay.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  Because you Because you flipped

• 21:24Speaker 00

  Two lies and the truth.

• 21:25Speaker 04

  I'm trying to think of which, I'm not even sure now.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  Okay, so, wait, you don't know which is your truth?

• 21:32Speaker 04

  No, I know what they are.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  Okay, so, he did grow up, though, in the Pacific Northwest. There could be bears, lady. Maybe he had a field trip and a bear bit him like when a monkey threw me on the ground in Indonesia.

• 21:44Speaker 04

  A monkey threw you on the ground?

• 21:47Speaker 01

  Yes, but we don't, we're not here to talk about that.

• 21:49Speaker 00

  Don't ask her about it. Don't ask her about it.

• 21:51Speaker 01

  But I'm just saying, you could have been on a field trip.

• 21:54Speaker 04

  Joel, don't. You do not.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  You know what?

• 21:58Speaker 04

  We will be here for so long.

• 22:00Speaker 01

  We will be here for a long time.

• 22:02Speaker 00

  Wait, but also, he is on a show called Animal Control with many animals.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 22:09Speaker 00

  And now I'm worried that perhaps you have been bitten, maybe by a bear. You're calling it a bear, but maybe it was a bear cub and maybe it was like a little love nibble, but, I mean, a bear cub.

• 22:21Speaker 04

  When's the last time you heard of somebody being love nibbled by a bear?

• 22:27Speaker 00

  A bear cub.

• 22:28Speaker 04

  Do bear cubs love nibble?

• 22:31Speaker 01

  Do they have like?

• 22:32Speaker 00

  I don't know.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  Wait, do they have like puppy teeth that are real sharp and hurt?

• 22:36Speaker 00

  That's what I'm wondering.

• 22:37Speaker 01

  Okay, well, I'm gonna go with, the truth is, you met Pavarotti and

• 22:47Speaker 01

  that

• 22:48Speaker 00

  That's it, there's only one truth.

• 22:49Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, so that's it. I forgot the game. I think that's the game. Now, I know you have a very vast wine collection.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  And I feel like you might have a Scotch every once in a while at home. Not in public, we know that, because you'll go, you know, sleep in someone's yard.

• 23:08Speaker 04

  Take their lemons.

• 23:11Speaker 00

  This is my guess as well, and so I think that's the truth.

• 23:14Speaker 01

  That's the truth.

• 23:14Speaker 00

  And I want to know if we're right, and then I want to hear the story.

• 23:17Speaker 04

  All right. I have not met Lucci on a Pavarotti.

• 23:21Speaker 01

  What? Oh no, now we have to pick between the other two. Wait, wait. Oh, he's not met, huh, okay.

• 23:30Speaker 04

  And notice how I walked you in. You would be like, oh, I'll tie.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  You really walked us into the, I was born in Italy.

• 23:37Speaker 00

  It was the time, 1971.

• 23:40Speaker 01

  Joel, methinks you've hosted game shows before.

• 23:44Speaker 04

  Ah, welcome to the 1% Club on Fox. That's me confusing Time's Kitchen on Fox.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  Joel, have you been bitten by a bear?

• 23:55Speaker 04

  I was bit by a bear.

• 23:56Speaker 01

  You were? You were? Please tell the whole story.

• 24:00Speaker 04

  And I did not quit drinking scotch.

• 24:02Speaker 01

  Well, yes, okay.

• 24:04Speaker 04

  But I did not have an old fashioned at that party.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  I stand corrected.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  Ironically, it was not on Animal Control. It was on the six-episode arc I had on The Office, which I don't know why you didn't bring that up.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  What? Joel, there was no six-episode arc where you fight a bear. But you know what? I really wish you and Dwight were in the woods, whatever your character was. Maybe you're one of his cousins and you had to fight a bear.

• 24:31Speaker 04

  Oh, I did audition for Dwight.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  You did?

• 24:35Speaker 04

  I did. Yeah. So I, it was the very, you know, going way back. And I was like, I probably should audition for, you know, Jim.

• 24:45Speaker 01

  Jim.

• 24:45Speaker 04

  And this is, you know, and then they were like, no, no, no, Dwight. And then I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I'm the right one for this one. And I didn't get past the, like, the initial read. And then when Rain got it, I was like, oh, yeah.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:01Speaker 04

  It couldn't be anybody else.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  Did you know Rain before?

• 25:05Speaker 04

  I knew, well, I knew of Rain. Rain was already on his way to being, he was already a well-established comic and a local Seattle legend. Cause he had done good. He had done good by then. So I didn't, what was that, 2000 and, did you guys start in 2006?

• 25:24Speaker 01

  Three or four? Yeah.

• 25:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, that was, if it was three or four, then that would have been right as the soup was starting. Anyway, going way back.

• 25:32Speaker 01

  The soup? God, I remember watching the soup. I remember watching you on the soup like all the time. And then when I met you, I was like, oh my God. Be cool. Don't make a weird awkward transition into the conversation.

• 25:46Speaker 04

  Do you have any lemons?

• 25:49Speaker 01

  Fancy finding you by some lemons.

• 25:52Speaker 04

  Angela Kinsey is trying to steal lemons from us.

• 25:55Speaker 00

  Are we ever gonna hear about this bear attack? Please. What do I need to do? I need to hear the story of the bear attack.

• 26:01Speaker 04

  It was for a show called The Great Indoors, which was on CBS for one season in 2016. It was me, the great Stephen Fry, Christmas Plasse, Christine Coe, Deborah Baker Jr. and Sean Brown. And Stephen Fry and I, he played my boss. Anyway, we did this scene with a bear cub. I had to hold the bear cub while I gave a speech. And they were like, okay, so the bear will probably become impatient. You got about 40 seconds because the bear doesn't really like to be held. And so you're holding the bear and the bear's cuddly. It's a bear cub. It weighs 50 pounds.

• 26:46Speaker 04

  And you're holding this bear and I start giving this speech as fast as I can. And then they were like, he'll just be annoyed and he might bite you just to test things out. So I was wearing like three layers and that thing bit me in the arm. And that thing, that beautiful thing. And so bears do not have sharp teeth. They have teeth that crush things.

• 27:09Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 27:10Speaker 04

  Not like a puppy at all. It just squeezes so hard because it's like they crush bones with them. So it didn't break skin, but it left this gigantic mouth shaped bruise on my arm. So then I dropped the bear out of pain.

• 27:27Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 27:27Speaker 04

  And the bear didn't, the guy was like, oh yeah, the bear falls out of trees all the time, like 30 feet. You can't, he was like, you know, this is nothing. He's never been happier. And then Stephen Fry had to pick him up and hold him and give a speech and this exact same thing happened. So anyway.

• 27:44Speaker 00

  Was it just the one take, though? They weren't like, can you go again?

• 27:47Speaker 04

  We did one take and they were, yeah, that was compared. They had river otters on set at one point. They wanted me to hold a river otter and that was about 20 times more terrifying because they are big and they move so fast and they were eating raw chicken and crushing the bones in their teeth. Just, just like it's popcorn. And I'm like, this, the bear was just mellow and cool. And the bear on the ground, just walking around was like a nice dog.

• 28:15Speaker 00

  You know, I actually have a bear story.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 28:18Speaker 00

  If you're interested.

• 28:19Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 28:20Speaker 00

  Okay, so I'm not sure if I've told this story on our podcast before, but early in the office shoot, I think maybe I've mentioned it, they asked me and John and Rain to do a photo shoot. I think it was for TV Guide and for a reason I don't know, it was the three of us and a fully grown bear, like a full bear. And the bear was coming through the window.

• 28:47Speaker 01

  What?

• 28:48Speaker 00

  And then the three of us were like, ah, and.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  I have no memory of this lady.

• 28:52Speaker 00

  You can Google it and I think you can find the image of us with this bear. And so they were kind of setting it up and we were getting ready to go. And then someone came in and said, you know what? We've decided we're going to do these separate. So you guys just react as if the bear is there and then we'll bring the bear out later and we'll get the shot of the bear and we'll put them together. And we were like, that sounds good. I kid you not, a couple of years later, I am pretty sure this is true. I don't want to disparage this bear if I'm wrong, but I think he killed his trainer.

• 29:31Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 29:33Speaker 04

  I mean.

• 29:33Speaker 00

  I think he killed someone.

• 29:35Speaker 04

  When you have a gigantic wild animal.

• 29:39Speaker 00

  Yeah. And so I'm so grateful that on the day they decided to shoot us separately. Because it turns out this bear, he had worked a long time and I think he was done. He was grumpy. He wasn't into it anymore. He didn't want to be a performing bear.

• 29:59Speaker 04

  That bear may not even had intended to kill his trainer.

• 30:04Speaker 00

  Right.

• 30:04Speaker 04

  Like it could have just been like, hey, and they just happened to have, you know, their arm is a thousand times more powerful than a human arm. So then

• 30:12Speaker 00

  Right.

• 30:13Speaker 04

  I did a shoot with some monkeys, some chimpanzees and I got there and it's for a magazine. And they were like, so don't look the monkeys in the eye.

• 30:25Speaker 00

  No, don't.

• 30:26Speaker 04

  And then I said, if that's the rule, then I, yeah, then I literally was like, you shoot those guys separately. Cause I, I'm not going to accidentally gaze at this thing and then it's going to come at me and kill me.

• 30:40Speaker 00

  Also now you've told me, don't look at the monkey in the eye. And that's all I'm going to do. So that's what's in my brain now. Got to look him in the eye. Got to see what happens. Julie, it seems like you've done a lot of television programs with animals because you are now in season four of Animal Control.

• 30:57Speaker 04

  I don't know how that worked out, but yeah, I've worked with a ton of animals and I don't know how it all happened. I do love them. I love them to death. Like I got to ride a camel this year down a residential street in Vancouver. And I was like, this is the greatest. Can't believe this has happened.

• 31:15Speaker 00

  I have a question for you. Season four, episode one, Animal Control. There's a horse. It's going down the road. You jump out of a moving car, a slow moving car. And you kind of roll and then you jog up to the horse and you mount it.

• 31:33Speaker 04

  Yes, that was not me.

• 31:36Speaker 00

  But did you fall out of the car? Because I believe you rolled out of the car, but I'm like, I think the guy mounting the horse was not you because it's on your back and then we go to the front of you and you are on the horse.

• 31:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 31:50Speaker 00

  But I just, what an opener, what a season opener.

• 31:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, we shut down a highway in Vancouver and we had like six hours total. So we ran out there and got everything all set up and, and got in and got out and it worked. So they would not let me fall out of the truck, even though I'm one of those guys that believes I can prove that I'm going to live forever through physical accomplishments. So they were like, that's exactly why we're not allowing you to roll out of the truck. So I had a bunch of pads on, so I did the last final roll.

• 32:21Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  The only thing scary about that is there was a team of trucks all driving and they all had to be at a certain speed. So they were like, make sure you get up fast or you're going to get hit by this truck.

• 32:31Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh.

• 32:32Speaker 04

  Great. And then the guy that did the horse thing, that ju- I mean, I could not have done that jump because he grabbed the pommel and then he just flipped his legs up and he, that dude is one of the greatest like horse trainers and performers on the planet.

• 32:48Speaker 00

  It was like an old timey mounting of a horse. It was like in ye olde west, how you might like run out into the field and just jump on the back of the horse. It was very cool.

• 32:59Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 33:00Speaker 00

  Is there anything that you can tease for this season? Because now the two animal control units have merged. Is that going to be the main crux of the season?

• 33:11Speaker 04

  That is the main crux of the season and everybody dies.

• 33:16Speaker 00

  Stop it. Wow. Stop it. What happens in season?

• 33:20Speaker 04

  I don't know if you've seen Hamlet or the movie Hamnet.

• 33:25Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 33:26Speaker 04

  But yeah, there's a duel at the end. One of us is poisoned and then accidentally poisons the other and.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  That's it?

• 33:33Speaker 04

  That's it. It's still, it's like Hamlet and Red Wedding all at once.

• 33:37Speaker 00

  Oh, the Red Wedding, which I want Jenna to watch. I don't know why I find this hard to believe, but I feel like Fox is not letting the show end that way this year.

• 33:47Speaker 04

  I mean, Tyler Pratt and Jerry D, who came onto the show and boy, just knocking it out of the park. Just so funny and. Just wonderful nemesis. Yeah, it's good times. It's airing now. I think we're almost to the season closer.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  And I do want to say this, you guys, that for folks that love The Office, some of my favorite scenes, Joel, are when y'all are just all in the office, just giving each other a bunch of crap, you know, like the animal control, actual offices with the desks and the whole sort of vibe reminded me a lot of us in the bullpen of The Office. So, Office fans, you want to check this show out?

• 34:28Speaker 04

  We literally said this should be like The Office. It's the interpersonal relationships that all these guys have. And just keep zipping around those and it, we should be okay.

• 34:38Speaker 01

  I'm gonna give you this. I think it's as if The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine had a baby.

• 34:43Speaker 04

  Now I feel like you're lying to me because I can't take a compliment and my imposter syndrome goes through the roof. And even be compared to those shows, it seems insane. So, I'll take that.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Well, it's a ton of fun and you guys are hilarious. And I love, like, just shooting the [__] with you, Joel. You're such a just good person.

• 35:07Speaker 04

  It's business. We're so lucky.

• 35:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. Joel, thank you so much. I just adore you and I appreciate you.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  Well, come back on over and play some more tennis. And you're welcome to come anytime.

• 35:19Speaker 01

  Thank you. I'll be there to eat the granola. And everyone else, we're gonna take a break and we're gonna be back with Around the Town and the Office Question of the Week.

• 35:28Speaker 04

  All right. All the things I told were lies.

• 35:30Speaker 01

  No. Joel, you stinker. All right, bud. I'll talk to you soon.

• 35:35Speaker 04

  See you guys. Thank you.

• 35:48Speaker 01

  Hello, we are back. We are back from playing Two Lies and a Truth with Joel McHale. I told you. I knew when I was like, you never know what you're gonna get. We had no idea he was gonna flip the script on us, but that was really fun. Well, could we get a little Around the Town?

• 36:09Speaker 00

  Our first news item comes from Dawn T. in Litton, British Columbia. Dawn says, "Hey Angela and Jenna, I live in a very small Canadian town along the Fraser River, and we have a little two-car ferry that I have to go on to get across the river to get to work. Lately, there have been a lot of large ice chunks floating down the river, and this caused the paddle to break, so the ferry shut down for a while. But it's back and running as usual now."

• 36:39Speaker 01

  Wow, that's so wild to me. Just seeing huge chunks of ice floating? That's so wild. All right, our next Around the Town is from Stephanie Z. in St. Louis, Jenna.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  Hi, Stephanie.

• 36:51Speaker 01

  Stephanie said, "This week for Valentine's Day, we're seeing something very dear to my heart. There's a great entertainer, Clownvis Presley, playing a set of love songs in his style at the City Museum. I've been seeing his live shows for over 10 years, and he's a local legend. The first time I visited this beautiful city was in 2021 to see one of his shows. The year after that, I traveled here solo for another one, met my partner at a show, and then I moved here in 2022. We now have a charming little house in South City and five adorable cats. Neither of us really celebrates this holiday too much, but it's become our cute slash weird little tradition. It's also really fun to explore the City Museum at night."

• 37:36Speaker 00

  Stephanie, this is so cool. The last time I was in St. Louis with my family, we went to City Museum. Angela, it's like no place I've ever been. It's like five stories and a roof. It is filled with caves and caverns and crawl spaces and a giant sculpture of a whale, and you just walk through all of it and climb through all of it. But then they also have this tank where you can put your hand in, and all the fish come over and like eat the dead skin off your hand.

• 38:07Speaker 01

  Oh my goodness.

• 38:09Speaker 00

  It's so cool and unique and I didn't think it could get more unique, but now I'm hearing that this past Valentine's Day, they had Cloud Vist Presley. I had no idea. This place is really cool.

• 38:21Speaker 01

  That is so cool. Well, our last Around the Town comes from Mandy L. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Mandy says, "I'm just bursting with pride for my niece. Miss Hayden A. has been cast as the role of Mrs. Heron in her school's rendition of Mean Girls Junior." The role was originated by Miss Anna Gasteyer and more recently played on the big screen by Miss Jenna Fisher, wishing many broken legs to Miss Hayden A.

• 38:48Speaker 00

  Oh Hayden, break a leg as Mrs. Heron. I loved playing that part. It's a good part.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Well, thank you so much for sending in your Around the Towns and now we're going to wrap things up with our office question of the week.

• 39:01Speaker 00

  This comes from Craig W. in Albany. Craig wants to know, "Who was the grown-up in the room when the cast lost it for too long? How was everyone brought back from contagious giggles?" Oh Craig, this is a good question.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Oh Craig, I can tell you what, it wasn't me.

• 39:21Speaker 00

  It wasn't me. Who brought us back to being serious? Um, I can definitely tell you all the people it wasn't. Um, it was not John Krasinski, it was not Angela, it was not me.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  It was not Mindy.

• 39:34Speaker 00

  It was definitely not Mindy.

• 39:36Speaker 01

  Definitely not Mindy.

• 39:37Speaker 00

  Maybe a director would step in and try to wrangle us?

• 39:43Speaker 01

  Every once in a while, I know over in accounting, when Brian and I would get the giggles, Oscar would be like, "Come on, guys, come on."

• 39:51Speaker 01

  So, sometimes Oscar, but yeah, it was hard. It was really difficult not to laugh and we often ruined many takes.

• 40:00Speaker 00

  But it was also the crew. I mean, sometimes you could just see Matt and Randall kind of like shaking with the camera on their shoulder, or especially if you had a writer like Jen Salata, she would ruin so many takes herself, just as the writer-producer off-camera.

• 40:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:19Speaker 00

  She, and Greg too, though, and Paul.

• 40:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:23Speaker 00

  I feel like in terms of people who were off-camera, who would break and then get us going, and then it's hard to come back from that, especially when you've made the off-camera people laugh too.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  Well, that's the biggest win, right? I remember one time watching our boom operator, Nick Carbone's handshake as he held the boom because he was laughing, his like shoulders were going and I was like, yes. But yeah, well, Craig, thank you so much for your question. It definitely brought a smile to my face remembering all of that. But I guess our answer is the directors usually had to rein us in and every once in a while, Oscar, under his breath, would be like, come on, guys.

• 41:02Speaker 00

  And maybe, maybe Kelly Cantley.

• 41:05Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, for sure, Kelly.

• 41:07Speaker 00

  Could get us to pull it together, right?

• 41:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, our A D, yeah.

• 41:09Speaker 00

  Maybe Kelly. I think so.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  She would, she would sometimes come in and be like, guys, do we want to make it to lunch? Let's make it.

• 41:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, bring up food and that could get us to become serious. Lady, do you remember early on before Nick Carbone joined us? And it might've even been someone who was just on set as like an extra set of hands. There was a boom operator and we were laughing and he got really annoyed with us. Do you remember that? It was in the kitchen. We were in the kitchen and I think I'm thinking of the episode, but I don't want to say what it is. And we were all busting up laughing and he got super annoyed and I thought, man, this is not the job for you. Like, this is part of it. Like, we're making comedy here.

• 41:59Speaker 00

  We're gonna break sometimes and that's part of the energy. And I think he didn't find the show as funny as the rest of us.

• 42:07Speaker 01

  I don't think he thought it was funny. Yeah, I do, I remember him, but yeah, our show wasn't for him.

• 42:13Speaker 00

  It was, he needed to be on a drama, something more serious.

• 42:16Speaker 01

  A procedural, yeah.

• 42:18Speaker 00

  He wasn't loving it. But listen, I mean, that comes with the territory on a comedy. I feel like that's something that I learned too, is that the atmosphere of making a comedy is comedic. And if you get too serious or you're just constantly looking at the clock and you're like wondering, when are we going to get this shot? Like, that's actually a hard role for our first A Ds, for Kelly and for Rusty, because they have to leave time. For the levity on set to keep the comedy ball in the air. But you also have to make sure you're getting the shot and that we're breaking in time for lunch and all that kind of stuff. And so we were really lucky with Kelly and Rusty because

• 42:59Speaker 00

  they let us have fun, but they were pretty good at like reining us in when they needed to as well.

• 43:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, they were like your fun aunt and uncle, you know, that let you like just let loose, but then was like, all right, guys, come on, let's go.

• 43:12Speaker 00

  Yeah. You can't stay up too late, can't eat too much candy before bed.

• 43:17Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 43:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:20Speaker 01

  Some of the times I laughed so hard too was just in the pauses. I don't know if you remember that Jenna, but there were so many times when we were in a conference room and Steve as Michael would start improvising. So we didn't know what he was about to say. We'd already gotten the scene scripted many times. And then there'd be one or two moments where Steve as Michael would have a list of things he had to say, and he would start improvising that list. And it was the pause before he said the next thing where I would come undone. The excitement of what he was gonna say was so thrilling to me. And then inevitably, whatever he said would be ridiculously funny, but it was the pause

• 44:03Speaker 01

  that got me, like his long like, uh, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm out, I'm out.

• 44:07Speaker 00

  All of this reminiscing about this is just, gosh, we laughed a lot. What a gift that our job was to go somewhere and be around funny people being funny. There's just nothing like it. Truly, we're really lucky.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. Oh, you guys, thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Big thank you to Joel McHale for spending the afternoon with us being silly. And thank you to everyone who sends in their chit chats and around the towns. We love hearing from you guys so much. We appreciate this community so very much.

• 44:43Speaker 00

  And just in case, these kittens are still in my house, everybody. Please go to kittenrescue.org and adopt my kittens.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Yes, adoption of sweet kittens. All right, you guys have a great week. We'll see you next time.

• 44:58Speaker 00

  See you then.

• 45:02Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

• 45:04Speaker 01

  Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

• 45:09Speaker 00

  Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Pfeifer.

• 45:14Speaker 01

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

• 45:17Speaker 00

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schulz.

• 45:20Speaker 01

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.