Office Ladies - A Look Back on Heavy Competition
Episode Date: April 5, 2023It’s still spring break so let’s reminisce on the 100th episode of “Office Ladies”! The ladies break down “Heavy Competition”, where Michael tries to steal Dwight’s customers while runni...ng Michael Scott Paper Company. To celebrate, Angela pops some champagne and Jenna demonstrates the skill needed for that super fun cheeseball opening. So as you’re deciding whether “Pachelbel” is a better wedding song than “You Can Call Me Al”, enjoy this ep and thanks for being an “Office Ladies” fan! Listen to Creed Bratton’s song, “Breathe Easy”:https://music.apple.com/us/album/breathe-easy-single/1590302298 Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestionFollow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPodCheck out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies
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I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey.
We were on The Office together and we're best friends.
And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
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.
We're The Office, ladies.
Hey, kiddos.
It's Uncle Creed here.
Buckle up because The Office, ladies, just hit 100 episodes.
Amazing.
Yay!
100 episodes, baby.
I am already starting to cry.
This is amazing.
I brought champagne.
I'm going to open it up.
Look at this.
We're drinking again before 10 a.m.
We are because it's 100 episodes and we could not have done this without you guys.
We wish you were all here with us.
Oh, my gosh.
Okay, Jenna, don't be afraid.
I've opened champagne before.
I'm slightly scared.
Oh, you know what?
I shouldn't point it towards the glass.
Sam, I won't point it towards the glass.
I appreciate that.
Okay, here we go.
Woohoo!
Congratulations, Jenna.
Congratulations, Sam.
Cassie.
Cody.
Colin.
Marissa.
Eliana. Hanna. Ainsley.
Everybody that helps us make this show.
Oh, my gosh.
We're going to be celebrating with our team later after we record.
Yes, and we got some fun gifts.
Oh, we do.
Speaking of fun gifts, I promise you the bags are unrelated to the gifts, but under the table
there.
What?
Those are for you.
Happy 100.
Sam?
Oh, my God.
Oh, Sam.
It's a...
Domino's pizza bag?
I promise you the bag.
It's the only bag.
Did you get us pizza?
The bags are unrelated.
How do you have Domino's pizza bag?
Sam, get out.
Sam, you are the cutest person on the planet.
You guys.
Okay, how do we describe this?
It's one of those tornado bowls.
Oh, my gosh.
It's like Pam's Art School.
It's Pam's Art School Bowl.
Congratulations, guys.
Oh, my God.
Sam, and he has little bottles of alcohol and straws.
Sam, this is the cutest, most thoughtful thing.
You are so sweet.
Now, remember, the key to a punch is it's literally whatever you want.
Oh.
Oh, my gosh.
We can't have a volcano bowl.
Okay, we're going to have champagne today.
We'll save the volcano bowl for our company get together.
Sam, I love it.
That is so sweet.
Surprise gift under the table.
Under the table.
This is like Oprah when she's like, look under your chair.
You get a car.
You get a volcano bowl.
Sam, thank you.
And we have something for you guys.
I can't wait for you to see.
But we're going to give it to you all at the same time.
That's right.
Because Cassie's on Zoom today.
Hi, Cassie on Zoom.
Hi, guys.
You're missing champagne, Cassie.
I know.
Cheers, Jenna.
Cheers, lady.
I've got a glass of champagne and a cup of coffee.
Nice way to start the day.
Listen, today we will eventually be discussing heavy competition.
But we would like to dedicate our fast facts to office ladies today
to our 100th episode.
That's right.
So should we get into it?
I can't wait.
Fast fact number one, office ladies podcast debuted on October 16, 2019.
So here we are just a little over two years later, having released 100 episodes.
100.
And in December of this year, we will hit 200 million downloads.
What?
I'm getting on the table.
Oh, no.
200 million downloads.
I'm on the table.
This isn't from champagne.
This is excitement.
It's an audio program.
They cannot see it.
I'm on the table.
No, I don't know how to get down.
She's tangled.
Oh, geez.
Oh my gosh.
You're my mom.
It's Lucy.
Your glasses.
You're Lucy in our studio.
You just full on Tom Cruise that lady.
Oh, Tom Cruise did.
Oh, no.
The couch.
Oprah's couch.
I know.
You did it.
Listen, when we started this podcast, we never could have imagined that it would grow this
big.
I did not imagine it.
No.
Or that it would be as popular or that it would resonate with people or that we would
have this community that we have.
And it means so much to my life.
It means so much to me.
It has changed my life in all the ways that the office changed my life.
This has changed my life as well because it has brought me a job that brings me closer
to my family and closer to my best friend.
Oh, lady.
Don't make me cry.
Well, it's true.
I feel the same way.
I am just deeply grateful, truly grateful.
You guys were so thankful for you, for all of the comments and messages you leave us
every week, the things that you share with us.
It just means so much to us.
And we love doing this.
We love it.
I love it.
I have a really fun fast fact number two.
A fun fast fact.
I'm going to take a sip of champagne while you say that.
I love our mail.
I go through a lot of our mail with Ainsley.
Yes.
You go through a lot of our physical mail, Angela.
Yes.
If you write a letter to the ear wolf offices and send things, I go through that.
Jenna and Ainsley go through our digital mail.
Yes.
That's how we divide it up.
In our digital mail, we got a letter from Dr. Peter Tibidow.
Dr. Tibidow, I know a lot of Tibidows in Louisiana.
Here's what he said, Angela.
My wife, daughters, and I notice how much you both love saying two things on your podcast.
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
What?
Lady.
Oh.
And amazing.
Oh.
So, I tracked down just how many times that comes up in the podcast.
Oh, Dr. Tibidow.
Lady, he tracked it.
Was it amazing?
It was amazing.
He was only able to track up to our 92nd episode.
Okay.
But over the last 92 podcasts, we have said lady 636 times.
Oh.
And we have said amazing 786 times.
Wow.
But he broke it down with charts.
The charts are incredible.
On average, we say the word amazing 9 times per episode and we say lady 7 times per episode.
He said there was a stretch from episodes 31 through 47 where our use of both words
really went up.
We said amazing and lady a total of 34 times in the Cocktails episode.
What was up with us that day?
Well, I looked it up and episodes 31 through 47 ran from June of 2020 to September 2020.
Summer.
Summer vibes.
It was also right in the heart of the pandemic.
We were recording from home in our closets.
I think we were coping.
I think we were throwing out the ladies to cope.
I think amazing because we were in closets and we're like, this is amazing.
I think so.
Or, you know what I think?
What?
I think doing our podcast felt amazing and it was such a great healing thing for us through
the pandemic.
Really, and truly.
It was an escape for me.
It was an escape.
Like every time I walked into that closet, I was like, I get to hang out with Jenna today.
Yeah.
And we get to talk about really fun things.
And that's really when like Cody and Cassie and Sam and you like became my best friends
because you were the only people I ever saw.
Yeah.
On that Zoom.
100%.
Yeah.
We would start our podcast just sort of sharing.
Yeah.
Like in school, where you have circle time and you share.
Yeah.
That was the first part of every podcast Zoom.
I think that's why we thought they were so amazing.
I agree.
Well, our biggest lady episode was the coup.
We said it 19 times.
Made me snort laugh.
Our biggest amazing episode was traveling salesmen.
We said it 20 times.
But then this was my favorite thing.
Oh my gosh.
That Dr. Tibido wrote.
Dr. Tibido.
He said, sadly, there were a few times when the office ladies weren't feeling amazing.
And we only used it one time.
What?
Episode.
Diversity day, boys and girls, and take your daughter to work day.
Wow.
And then he says, and lady, there were four podcasts where there was no use.
Use of the word lady at all.
And those were sexual harassment, booze, cruise, Dwight speech and customer survey.
I find it hard to believe that we didn't say lady one time.
Yeah.
But Dr. Tibido has the stats.
Well we had to ask Dr. Tibido, why?
Why track it?
I mean, we love to track stuff, but what compelled him to track all of this?
And he said, I am a PhD scientist and I love tracking data of any kind.
Oh, Jenna, this is like your soulmate.
Am I a PhD scientist on the inside and I don't know it?
You love to track things, lady.
Maybe I'm a PhD scientist.
Maybe you are.
He said, for whatever reason, this is something that my family and I caught on about early
and I took this on just to see how it went.
And I will do this all the way to the end and I will never miss an episode.
Dr. Tibido, we have got to send you a lady sweatshirt.
Wait, we're going to send your whole family lady sweatshirt.
Yeah, everybody gets a lady sweatshirt.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Dr. Tibido.
That piece of mail, it made my day.
I want to see the bar graph chart.
I want to see it.
We got to put it.
We'll post it.
Oh, we'll put it in stories.
Let's do it.
And his daughter made some graphics to go along with the facts and we can put those
up as well.
I love this family.
Same.
Now, Angela, you said save me a fast fact.
So you are fast fact number three and I don't know what it is.
Yes, Jenna.
Fast fact number three and I want to give a huge shout out to our Office Ladies podcast
fan page over on Facebook and they submitted a song to celebrate our 100th episode.
We have to hear it.
Okay.
Now, have you heard this yet?
Because I have not heard this.
I have not heard it.
I wanted us to hear it together in real time for the first time.
All right.
So here we go.
Oh, we are back.
seconds are in the podcast we've all been listening every Wednesday in fast
facts and deep dives with guest doors and cantapedia new plants and
reception and heartbreak in the break room 584,800 seconds that's like watching
the office only two times you have a bunch of cats and one native bird you
helped us with our backpacks and showed us just what we're worth you've been
inspired us all 100th episode celebration celebrate celebrate from
your office ladies Facebook fan page you've inspired us so beautiful
I can't really just checking in we're all crying right that was so so kind my
goodness that was so great thank you so much I really want to give a big thank
you that was a group effort and I'm gonna read off who all was part of that
amazing song these are happy tears guys these are happy tears so Hannah Byers
had the idea for it Makayla and Zach Dodge who are husband and wife team
performed it and Natisse Saphoni and Makayla Dodge wrote the lyrics isn't
that wonderful and I also know a lot of you guys on the Facebook page are
sending in messages thank you so much Michelle Nikki and Brad are helping me
and we're gonna put all of your messages over the next few days into our
insta stories thank you so much office ladies Facebook fan page I'm still kind
of speechless I pretty much wept through that whole thing you really got me with
the cat eating the bird and and the backpack that's a reference to a bonus
episode that we did where I shared a little about my social anxiety and my
coping mechanisms and that was a really vulnerable thing when I shared that and
I questioned doing it and just it anyway that just meant a lot I know I know lady
I know and just when you had us crying you told us that basically if you've
listened to office ladies you've only watched the office twice I love that
okay well gosh I think we need a minute I think we need a minute let's take a
break and when we come back we will dedicate the rest of this episode to
breaking down have a competition
all right we are back we've had a laugh we've had a cry we've had a little
champagne it's really good thank you champagne it is brute classique well by
Francois I'm always classic baby you know what my eyesight so bad I can't read
it it's alright but it's very good it's Francois that's what we need to know by
the way during break both Sam and Jenna we're just making fun of me getting on
the table well because it's um you know it's a podcast I know it's a podcast we
appreciated it 200 million downloads that's a big deal I knew I had to do
something I was like I gotta do something what do I do I appreciated the
energy I did I appreciated it well you always show up with that thank you Sam
videoed it Cassie took photos it'll go in the pod stories should we break down
heavy competition do it this is season 5 episode 24 written by Ryan Coe and
directed by Ken Whittingham I'm gonna give you a summary do it Michael forces
Dwight to choose between either his loyalty to Charles Minor and Dunder
Mifflin or Michael and this results in the two of them going to war yeah and
Michael trying to steal Dwight's top clients it's gonna get ugly it's a
heavy competition yeah and still hurting from his breakup with Angela Andy
suspects that maybe Pam is being controlling of Jim maybe mistreating
him so he starts offering Jim a bunch of unsolicited advice which backfires when
Jim pranks him into confiding that things are terrible between him and Pam
it starts this whole runner yeah but this episode begins with a very famous
cold open the cheese puff cold I titled it the cheese puff I loved doing this
cold open I have so many questions for you I have so many questions should we
describe it describe it all right it's Pam Michael and Ryan tossing cheese puffs
into one another's mouths in various ways right it's like the things you see
on like YouTube of where the guy bounces the basketball off like the back of a
wall and it hits the other side of the wall and it goes in the hoop that's what
you guys are doing but you're doing it with cheese puffs and I love the call
back because remember this is what Michael took when he ran out of Dunder
Mifflin on that last day you have questions we got a fan mail flurry
about this so first we reached out to writer Ryan Coe to find out like what
was the inspiration this cold open his response was so funny it's so good I
actually spit out my coffee while listening to it yeah we gotta play it
hi Jenna hi Angela thanks for letting me talk about my episode Jenna you had
mentioned that you love shooting that cold open with the cheeseballs and you
were wondering where it came from I remember that it was most of all a
product of exhaustion I'll back up a bit yeah you know for the first draft of my
episode I had written a cold open about how Ryan thought Pam had a crush on him
and no one liked it so it was tossed out and we needed a new cold open and at
this point in the season all the writers were really exhausted in season 5 as you
recall we did 28 episodes and they were shot in a 10 consecutive weeks of
production then a break so Steve could do a movie and then 18 straight weeks of
production other shows I've been on I've told them that there was a stretch of
18 straight weeks of production and they do not believe we did that and sort of
sitcoms it's more common to do two or three weeks on of production and then one
week off so that the actors can recover and so the writers can catch up and
don't get totally burned out and so 18 straight weeks is a total death march and
I remember at that time a writer was gonna go down and check out what was
going down on set Paul or someone was like do not go down there the actors
are tired and are acting like huge ass so yeah I remember this was sort of rough
time and so for the last half of season 5 we were always behind and I feel like
we were working 11 or more hours pretty much every single day I remember Mindy
was really mad that it meant she had no social life and said something like I'm
gonna die alone because of this damn show so anyway we were all very spent
and we were trying to come up with a new cold open and it was either Aaron Schur
or Paul they were both the guys that were really good at making something out of
nothing one of them said I don't know they're throwing cheese balls at each
other and everyone's like great we don't have to write anything that's awesome
okay that's the cold open cheese balls all right next as far as anything else
about writing the episode it was a long time ago and I don't really remember
because I was a tired Ryan that made our day I mean I look at this amazing piece
of comedy that came out of just everyone being so tired fatigue yes you guys
might remember Ryan is our writer who wiped out while running past the speed
reader sign yes so Ryan thank you so much for sharing your memory with us of
the cheeseball cold open and now and sorry if we were asked that week I guess
we were all tired and grouchy I guess so lady you said you had some questions I
do I'm here to answer questions all right so I know from other episodes where
anytime we had to throw something you don't get it on the first take mm-hmm
but that shot of Steve throwing the cheese puff ball at you you caught it
you chomped it you looked right camera and I was like my girl look at her I was
so proud I was like okay Sydney Bristow on alias can you do that Jenna this is
like your moment all right I'm gonna tell you something okay when I was in
high school I did not have a vibrant social life so you threw cheese balls at
your face no what I watched a lot of movies okay and when I watched the movies
I would eat popcorn and I started throwing the popcorn up in the air and
catching it by yourself yeah okay listen it paid off later in my life sure
day so don't feel sorry for me I'm not feeling sorry I also saw tons of great
movies and I have a great mind for the cinema yes so I am really good at
catching food in my mouth I know also my sister and I would throw popcorn at
each other sure sure so when I read this cold open I was like I'm gonna nail
this ding ding ding yeah and then I got really scared that they were gonna want
to CGI it because you're like guys I got this it's not CGI no I know everyone to
know those are real cheese balls we had the best time shooting this it looks
like it I was just delighted by every moment of it Jenna I'm great at
catching food in my mouth as well but oh just because I have good hand-eye
coordination because I'm a little bit of a sport oh why have we never thrown food
at one another why what do we have in here can we throw something at each other
we have a little bit of granola bar we have granola bar and alcohol that's not
gonna work well next time we're bringing popcorn we can film that Sam's going to
the kitchen okay in a second it did take us a whole afternoon to shoot this
and the one that took the longest was the three-way where just phrase that
differently I'm gonna phrase it how I want okay okay okay the one that took the
longest was the three-way as you were saying continue you know the one where
yes I know we're each throwing a cheese ball into a different person's mouth
you had a time and oh oh my god ice Krispy treats Sam brought us rice Krispy
treats will these hurt our teeth are they free this is gonna hurt that's all
we have I mean don't throw them hard okay you got polo piece okay okay ready
yeah one two three oh it's a terrible what was that toss oh it's okay wait
wait okay ready yeah the problem is it sticks to your thumb as you're trying
to throw it okay okay here we go
she hit me in the eye wait these are so sticky that's when you try to throw it
you can't it won't leave your finger we might need something other than rice
Krispy treat bars okay we're gonna stop okay we got one you guys we got one okay
ribboning content well throwing rice Krispy treats is a little difficult you
were talking about the three-way oh yeah that was the hardest one you know that
reaction that you see at the end when we finally make it yes cuz you were
probably genuinely excited that was real I think you can see the look on my
face I knew I caught mine and then I had to look and see if they really caught
theirs and then we were genuinely excited that was the only time we ever got
that toss correct and they got it on camera they got it on camera but we
spent a whole afternoon on the cheese puff sequence we got a fan question from
Erin B at the end when the cheese ball lands in Pam's hair so perfectly was that
in the script or just pure luck that was pure luck it was just supposed to be
that each of those guys throw a cheese ball at me when I yawn right I didn't
even know it was stuck in my hair it's so perfect cuz you look directly at
camera thinking you brushed the other one off and your cheese ball free yes
and then one little dudes hanging in your hair ah without a doubt this was
one of my favorite sequences to shoot ever on the office and I feel like it
bonded me and Steven BJ I would think so in a real way yeah it was a very very
fun day at work well now the episode is gonna start Jim Pam and Andy are in the
break room I don't even know what to title this break room scene shopping
over misery I don't know so Andy is showing them photos of wedding cakes
he's playing them wedding music basically he's trying to sell off things he paid
for for his wedding to Angela yeah he's trying to get Pam and Jim to buy these
elements from his not failed wedding failed wedding yeah and one of the things
that he plays for them is a song that Pam could walk down the aisle to buy his
acapella group yes it's sort of a combination of
Pocobel that morphs into call me Al yes should we hear it I think we need to Randy
Cordray sent us in the whole song let's hear it
that's right Andy tells Pam she can walk down the aisle to this song for the
low price of $9,000 which Pam says seems like a lot for an acapella group from a
college that neither her or Jim attended yeah wait before we move on I just want
you guys to know I played that this morning in my kitchen and literally was
dancing and Ed's guitar acapella solo will never ever disappoint if you were
having a day where you're down in the dumps listen to Ed Helms as Andy go
but it's so good do you think anyone's ever actually walked down the aisle to
this oh I hope so me too I hope so if you walk down the aisle to this will you
tag office ladies pod please we got a fan question from harm Gen V did Ed Helms
do all the voices in this acapella song no no he did not he got together a group
of his friends to perform this piece he called John Michael Higgins who did the
arrangement and the solo voice in the first section you guys know him he's
from all of the Christopher Guest movies he was also in that movie the
breakup with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston where he's in an acapella group
called the tone rangers but he has also appeared or his voice has appeared on a
previous episode of the office that's right you guys he was in launch party he
and Ed saying take a chance on me to Angela in that episode over speaker
phone yes so he did the lead vocals on this Ed did that baseline they recorded
it in a studio at Universal Studios Randy told us that they did this in three
takes amazing amazing Dr. Tibido amazing well after this episode aired they
updated the Angela and Andy wedding website they posted the whole song along
with an advertisement for the acapella group for the wedding services for $9,000
just like Andy says in the scene that's incredible well next up we see Dwight in
a white long sleeve shirt this scene was so funny to me I thought Rain was so
funny the way he kept struggling in the long sleeve and saying how it was like
affecting his attack readiness he said it was like a straight jacket yeah he's
in the kitchen he's talking with Phyllis I guess this is Charles's new dress code
yeah I had something happen to me when I was watching this scene why I want to
apologize for it in advance because it became a little bit of an obsession as
I watched this episode what it didn't happen to me until my third time
watching the episode what happened I became obsessed with what I believe was
my observation that Dwight's sleeves are too short oh Lord they're too short I
think they're not long enough and I found an article that breaks down exactly
how long a man's dress shirt should fit it has illustrations okay so I created a
photo side-by-side you really did get obsessed I mean I spent way too long on
this here is their illustration Angela of just right too short and then rain's
arm oh now I know that photo is not super convincing I know that but I
tracked it through the whole episode and I have more evidence oh my gosh you and
Dr. Tibido well I actually it's so funny that you bring this up because I became
obsessed with Charles Miner's shirt oh if you look at his shoulders there's an
extra stitching across his shoulder and I think it's because his shoulders were
so broad I don't even understand why they would do that except that maybe
Idris had such broad shoulders they had to have an extra stitch I'm gonna have
to go look at that I'm gonna show it to you I will find it because once I saw it
I couldn't unsee it okay I have a picture of it Jenna please look at this
extra stitch and pleat on his shoulder what is that what is that see okay okay
we did get a fan question for this scene from Evan T. and Pearl C at two
minutes 49 seconds when Dwight says his shirt is a straight jacket and then he
bumps into some wooden sticks and coffee mugs was that scripted or did that
happen by accident because Phyllis's reaction is so genuine I looked at the
script it was scripted that he would knock over the mugs while struggling
mm-hmm when that happens that means there is a person off-camera to reset
all of those mugs they will take a picture of what that little credenza
looked like before the scene starts and then after he knocks it all to the
ground they will meticulously reset each item so that when they're in the
editing room they can use any part of the top of the scene that there's not
like a mug right on the far side that used to be on no bogies that's right
no random straw where it shouldn't be mm-hmm I loved Dwight's talking head
though when he said when Michael was in charge this place was like the Roman
Empire and the Wild West and war-torn Poland and Poland there was just a lot
going on so what you were to work was the least of anybody's worries and in
that chaos I soared in this talking head you can totally see his watch because
his sleeves are too short okay okay I just want you to know all right well
now Michael is gonna meet Dwight outside by the dumpster mm-hmm Dwight tells Mike
that Ed's Mike I don't know all right Dwight tells Michael that Ed's tires is
looking to make a change so Dwight is he's helping him out he's giving him
some intel inside info and Michael gives them six dollars for his trouble well
Dwight says he doesn't need compensation but he does remind Michael that he owes
him ten dollars from four years ago I know I loved that I had to know if that
was scripted because I thought Steve was so funny when he was like it's four
years ago why won't you let that go was it scripted it was I also want you to
know at three minutes and 30 seconds you can clearly see Michael's shirt
sleeves coming out of his suit jacket but you cannot see Dwight's Jenna you're
on something you're on to something listen Idris had broad shoulders and
Reigns shirt was it was too short too short you believe me I believe okay back
inside Andy is gonna tell Jim that he's worried you know Pam bosses him around
he's really worried that their relationship maybe isn't so healthy and
he says listen I know a few things about love horrible terrible awful things yeah
there's a lot to unpack here Andy is projecting his own hurt onto Jim because
Pam shot down this idea of using any of Andy's wedding stuff and he thinks Jim
was bulldozed right so he's turned this into a whole story yeah and Jim sees his
opportunity now for a day long of pranking yeah because I think Jim's
a little offended well it is ridiculous yeah he's making a lot of assumptions so
now Michael is going to take this info that he got from Dwight he's headed back
to Michael Scott paper company and he tells Pam to give Ed's tires a call yeah
here's what she needs to say she needs to say that Michael Scott paper company
has fewer clients so they can spend more time with each of them and also somehow
mentioned she distrusts women and he recommends she do it over Indian food
Pam's like I'm not gonna say that Reigns like I can get there that made me
laugh out loud this is a little foreshadowing for something that's gonna
come up later which is that Michael takes kind of meticulous detailed notes
about each client and he knows well he knows little details about each one I feel
like when I saw Michael's Rolodex Jenna it reminded me of my note cards oh because
I usually put a few words that mean something to me right now I put it all
in a document but if you look at my notes I give myself words that only mean
something to me look next to Jim's talking head what does it say boo
why does it say boo because I know what that means I don't like Jim in this
moment I think he's being mean to Andy so I wrote boo and then right here what
does that say trophy that means something to me we'll get to it but I was
like oh my gosh I'm Michael Scott I have like a few keywords well you know in my
early actor days when I would go to casting offices I would come home and I
had a little card file like a Rolodex where I'd write down little notes about
anything like that like loves chocolate chip cookies so that the next time I went
into that casting office I could have something that might spark yeah you're
like hi Tammy had any good chocolate chip cookies lately pretty much yes
casual yeah okay so back to the scene I have a little thing I spotted at five
minutes nine seconds there is a poster hanging in the background of the scene
it's over to the left of Michael's desk it says diversity so that poster was made
by Phil Shea using the hands of our hair and makeup crew yes that is their
hands and like I guess their arms right yes yeah so now Pam has a talking head
they've done their little chant their cheer their morning you ugly cheer yeah
yeah and she just said listen she's here she's part of this now that's right and
I had a little catch at five minutes and 16 seconds what's up background catch
queen this is a on my face catch oh did you notice in this episode that I have a
darker pigmented lip and eye shadow it's a much richer color no I did not oh my
gosh okay I noticed because this was a huge thing listen when you had dark nail
polish out of nowhere I noticed I know your lipstick I didn't quite notice we
usually alternated between two neutral lip shades but my makeup artist Laverne
she said I really think we could go a little bolder for Pam she made her first
sale last week yeah she's got her blazer yeah yeah so how can we continue to tell
the story of her growing confidence so we went with a bolder lip I like it thank
you our next scene is Charles and Dwight they're in Charles's office note his
shoulders please mm-hmm also please note that Reign's entire watch is exposed
because his sleeves are too short okay five minutes 39 seconds all right so
basically Charles wants to know if Dwight is happy at the company you know
and he invites him out to drinks mm-hmm so in the background of this scene you
can see Jim Jenna John has angled his computer because he's clearly like
surfing the internet or checking email or something so while I was watching the
scene the first time I just watched it just to watch it then I was like wait a
second John's doing email in the background in the way back this scene
also has a line I love when Charles says to Dwight you're so focused and Dwight
says like a wolf thank you well Reign was asked in an interview what he thought
drinks between Dwight and Charles might entail yeah and this was his answer he
said probably Charles getting really bored after about eight minutes and
making up an excuse to leave he was also asked about his decision to choose
Dunder Mifflin over Michael Scott paper company what do you say he said Dwight is
loyal to whoever values loyalty the most and in this case Dunder Mifflin honors
loyalty with an actual paycheck and that is why he chose Dunder Mifflin I
also want to point out in this scene that Charles is still drinking out of his
satacoist steel insulated coffee mug and I have to say I think it's a betrayal
you're out of the steel business Charles let it go get a Dunder Mifflin
insulated mug already yeah what is your attachment to your satacoist yeah you
know corporate gave him a mug but he's not using it why not that's what I'm
saying yeah I think Michael knows this guy he's a steel man at heart right this
next scene is amazing mm-hmm Michael calls Dwight to ask about Dunder
Mifflin's pricing for Ed's tires yeah wants to undercut them right and this is
when Dwight's internal conflict begins yeah he starts to waffle well because
Charles has invited him to drinks Michael never invited him to drinks I know so
he tells Michael something's come up mm-hmm and Michael's like oh my gosh is
it Moe's did you cover up the well what is that backstory I don't know has Moe's
fallen in the well of course he's probably fallen and been gone for like
two days and then they find him in the well I love comedy like that it just
throws away I use throw it away Michael's not getting it he's not Dwight
starts kind of talking in code he's kind of like things are changing fast and you
know there's a cool new guy and I don't think he'd like it if I helped even my
personal hero and Michael's like what are you talking about what are you talking
about so Pam and Ryan are like have to write on a notepad to help Michael
understand what Dwight is saying and then Steve is Michael reads the notepad all
the expressions that come over Steve's face as Michael figures this out mm-hmm
I was blown away I said give Steve all of the awards and that's why I drew a
trophy seriously though this is an amazing performance it's so subtle and
nuanced and Steve I loved every single thing you did as Michael being clueless
and then not believing the note they're holding up but then figuring it out and
then being like oh my god and then being betrayed like all of it it is really
hard to play realization as an actor yeah because you know the information you
had to memorize it you had to read the script you know where the scene is going
yes and so to play all of that it is like one of the hardest things to do as
an actor and then to do it comedically amazing amazing we got a fan question
about this scene from Kelton oh who said how is it that Pam and Ryan can hear
both sides of this phone call yeah they seem to hear Dwight so clearly through
the phone well this is very funny Kelton because rain was actually right off
camera yeah doing his side of the phone call we could totally hear him rain
actually had to come into work that day he did not have anything else to shoot
all he did was stand off camera and read his side of the phone call it's
actually a thing it's called doing off-camera work and that is often how
different sides of a phone call are done we did not have the capability to like
call in to that office right like we did upstairs because it was a closet and a
fakie phone yes I thought I could see how they were cheating it a little because
Michael is kind of holding the phone out so you would assume if he had the
volume pretty high up it's a tiny room that you guys could probably hear we
also had a fan catch from Maya R who said this Angela what this went right to
my heart she said I noticed a paper pro stapler on Pam and Ryan's table and my
mom actually works for the company that sells these staplers it originated in
Pennsylvania before merging with Bostich could this be why the stapler was
used in this episode I don't know Maya but I brought my paper pro stapler
today I gotta try it out all right I brought champagne Jenna brought a
stapler here it is now watch do I get to do it yes I am gonna do it with a
single finger wait wait here now I wish I brought a regular stapler I had meant
to bring a regular stapler I'm sure there is one okay ready watch this can you
hear the clicking make it listen to the air pressure I heard that it is amazing
try it okay I'm gonna try it staple something I'm a staple something it's
not a regular stapler where you get a good jump it's like okay that's very
hard you don't need you can do it with one finger okay ready oh yes I see what
you're talking about there's like a spring or something I say shut up I
bought you a paper pro stapler I have one for you oh my god Cassie I have one
for you oh my gosh thank you you need to have it here's the last thing I'll say
about the stapler I think I don't think you're done talking about it don't make
that promise sometimes when we do these acting jobs you acquire a new skill
maybe that you didn't have before when I did Blades of Glory I had to train with
a ice skating coach I learned how to be quite a good ice skater sure when I did
walk hard I took a little bit of horse riding lessons it's like a fun perk you
get these skills right sometimes you get introduced to an item I remember when I
did splitting up together there was just this amazing set of pajamas that I'd
never heard of before and after wearing them on the show I bought three pairs I
am now a lifelong fan of sass shoes exactly that is what this paper pro
stapler was for me and it was all thanks to Michael Scott paper company well
there you go before we go to break I have one more thing to point out about the
scene it's at six minutes 11 seconds it is a very good shot of our second gold
fish oh yeah our first goldfish was orange that goldfish is gone this week
it is a red orange white and black spotted fish and we got a letter from
Jess L who said I spent 10 years working in pet stores as an aquatic
specialist and pet industry employees have been wondering for years whether or
not the changing of the goldfish were a planned bit now we said last week it was
yeah but she goes on to say anyone who works in fish departments knows goldfish
deaths are common and a lot of us in the industry assume that the props people
chose to make a bit out of the situation and just so you know goldfish should
have about 10 gallons of water per fish and it requires filtration to truly
thrive in captivity she I think wanted us to know that because any of you out
there with goldfish trying to keep them alive that could really help I think
that's solid advice all right that's all I got well I have something delicious
coming up with Jim and Andy that I can't wait to share who it just brought me so
much joy and why don't we take a break and I'll come back with that I can't
wait
all right we are back I love this Jim and Andy scene Jim is gonna approach Andy
and he's he's gonna say hey Andy you know what I've been thinking about what
you said Andy's like noise and Jim's like I just don't know if I can do it
Andy's like that's interesting because I hear what you're saying is that you
want to do it which means you can do it believe me I broke up with Angela and
I'm like the happiest guy ever I mean I am so happy I am so happy like total
freedom you know and Jim says it's just that Pam gets me through the day like I
really rely on her I'm pretty emotionally needy and Andy says and you
know what I'm here for you let me be your traveling pants mm-hmm that was all
scripted and in the script it says that Jim and Andy do a little knuckles bump
yeah and they just simply say knuckles and that's the end of the scene okay well
in our version Jim goes to give the knuckles and Andy leans in and puts his
cheek in front of the knuckles and Jim just starts to laugh and he's like dude
you know I meant knuckles and he's like yeah knuckles all right so Ed just
improvised that that whole moment go to 8 minutes 26 seconds John is laughing at
Ed because he didn't know Ed was gonna lean his face into the knuckle bump and
it made it in and it just brought me joy because I just see these two guys and I
see their friendship at 8 minutes 26 seconds well when Andy said I'll be your
traveling pants that made me think of our director Ken Qopis who directed the
sisterhood of the traveling pants yes and you and I went together to go see it
I remember watching that movie because there was this really yes handsome it
made us want to go to Greece remember after that movie we're like we should go
to Greece we really should we should still go to Greece we should well now
we have another scene out by the dumpster Michael is gonna meet Dwight
again but guess what it's a setup oh yeah Charles is there mm-hmm and Charles is
gonna tell Michael to leave Dunder Mifflin alone and to stop pestering Dwight
for info I have two things to point out about this scene what are they the first
one is from the shooting draft script and it's something that did not make it
in the episode and I really wish it had Michael immediately notices Dwight's
shirt yeah yeah and he says why are you dressed like that and he turns to
Charles and goes are you making him wear that what about his attack readiness
you fool oh what a great callback I thought it was so sweet that Michael was
like oh yeah Dwight has to wear short sleeves so he can attack someone yes I
had asked James carry if he would send me the call sheets for this episode there
were a few things I wanted to investigate and I noticed that there was a note for
this scene that said we need to shoot this scene at 3 30 p.m. with three
exclamation points I asked Randy about this why yeah did Idris have to go
somewhere why 3 30 yeah he said it was the light ah that this section of the
alleyway was on the far side of stage two and it was kind of a deep canyon he
said yeah the stage and the hedges it was on the far side of the warehouse where
we film the warehouse scenes yes and he said it's really really difficult to
hide lights there so you have to use natural light and if you shoot it too
early or too late the Sun is blocked by the hedges or by the warehouse but I
guess at 3 30 the angle is just right so I guess at 3 30 is when we had our bird
funeral it must have been 3 30 in the alley I am thinking of how many scenes
I had in that alley that's where Angela and Dwight would meet and she gave him
Sprinkle's list of ointments and things like that and years later that's where I
say jazz is stupid so it's been at 3 30 30 in the alley you can set your watch
by it well Michael's gonna return to Michael Scott paper company and he's
gonna try to tell them what happened and basically he got a pee-filled water
balloon thrown in his face that's what he tells Pam and Ryan yes I mean they're
like clearly that actually happened right must have that's terrible well
they have to really decipher what that means mm-hmm so they can figure out what
the heck is happening well Michael's gonna call Dwight and he says I'm gonna
steal all your clients and I'm gonna kill them in front of you yeah I'm gonna
come at you and I'm gonna come at you hard and then both Dwight and Michael
try to call Dwight's biggest client the whale mr. show failed from Harper
Collins Harper Collins who is publishing our book Office BFF I know Jenna
when I rewatched this I was like oh my gosh this is synchronicity does this
mean our book is gonna be printed on Dunder Mifflin paper what that would be
amazing I mean that's they're a client right our book is being published like
on the East Coast it was really cool though because of all the book
publishers out there we're with Harper Collins and then Dwight says Harper
Collins and I was like oh my god I know should we give a book update by the way
I want everyone to know we made it through that crazy document I figured it
out Angela figured it out that's saying something listen she didn't think she was
gonna figure it out and I said you can do it I really had a moment you guys like
for real where I was like this isn't gonna happen and I'm sorry this is I
can't do it but then I did it you did it mm-hmm I made myself a little cheat
sheet mm-hmm that I kept by my computer oh yeah I mean listen I hope I did it I
know we haven't got any feedback on it yet maybe we're gonna get like a note
back that was like well way to go ladies you completely effed it up I know and
okay so we have two more rounds of that and then the book is like locked and it
goes to the printer oh lordy so yeah can't make any changes I know oh coming
up I showed it to my kids yeah I showed them the photo layout and they're like
oh my gosh cuz it's finally a book do you know what I mean yes it's not just like
you and I turning in all these pages yes and it looks like a book looks like
in a PDF I showed it to Lee uh-huh and I said oh do you want to see how the
photos kind of lay out and I thought he would look at it honestly I thought he
would just glance at it yeah then he'd be like oh my god it looks cool he went
through every single page like but like he was compelled to he was like this is
amazing oh he was like dr. Tibbeto Lee said amazing Lee said amazing he said
it's so personal it's wow he's like these pictures he already knew the stories
right and he just was like people are gonna love this that's what he said and
it meant so much to me cuz we you know yeah sometimes you make something in a
bubble and you don't know right we like it we love it so to me that oh that was
such a confidence boost oh yeah that's what I needed to try to figure out the
formatting document I needed that boost oh I needed a glass of wine well let's
get back to the episode Michael does finally get Mr. Schofield on the phone
by promising him a set of tickets to the penguins game the Wilkes-Berry penguins
game look what I'm wearing and Angela is wearing her very own personal Wilkes
Berry penguins hockey jersey with her name on the back yeah I'm number one
Kenzie so in 2007 I went to the office convention with Craig Robinson Kate
Flannery and Brian Baumgartner and we all went to a Wilkes-Berry penguins game
we got to go out on the ice oh we got to meet tux their mascot and we all got a
jersey I've kept it all these years and I wore it today for our 100th episode
that is so cool here's our picture Jenna I'll show you look at us on the ice oh
my gosh is that cool it was such a fun day were you nervous when you were
walking on the ice I just wear your regular shoes I was and I had these
little boots on and I was like dear Lord please don't let me bust my butt in
front of all these people did they have little carpets down or no beginning but
then we walked all the way to the center and there was no more carpet yes I got
to go to the All-Stars game in St. Louis oh so cool and I got to be like a
coach on the sideline it was really fun yes and then at the end I had to walk
out on the ice yeah and I was so nervous right that I was gonna fall and
David Pasternak from the Boston Bruins he came over and he like gave me his arm
and it was like a big fangirl moment for me well I held Kate Flannery's arm who
did the Penguins play that day oh they played the Albany River Rats oh yeah I
just love hockey I can't say it I have to say it was a really fun time well
Michael's thing with the tickets is gonna work because Dwight is gonna get a
call from mr. Schofield and he's gonna say he's leaning toward Michael Scott
paper company so Dwight calls Michael he's like I will agree to meet you 100
feet from our original meeting place they're not gonna meet at their same
location mix it up guys 100 feet away at high noon yes and Michael tells Dwight
to walk 100 feet toward the Sun but right above you it's not possible it's
clearly confused I have a whole thing about Dwight's undies oh yes we're
gonna see some green undies on Dwight of course of course we will not just
undies but a whole torso the whole shebang there is nothing rain Wilson
loves more than exposing his torso it's exposing Dwight's belly it's true I had
to know I took a screen grab I texted it to rain and I said rain are these your
green undies were they actually yours and this is what he wrote back and I
quote those were provided by wardrobe my love oh so I said oh my god rain you had
to have a wardrobe meeting about underwear and these were the pair that
were picked it's interesting because if you look there are a few other times on
the show where Dwight is in his underwear like when he's sleeping on the
couch yes we had a fan question from Joanna K Margaret F and Natalia L
during the scene where Dwight is buckling his pants after showing Michael
that he isn't wearing a wire do I hear a rooster crowing in the background yes
guys yes you do it's at 13 minutes 34 seconds there was a house yeah in our
vicinity and they had some chickens in a rooster and it was a challenge yeah
because you can't make a rooster not crow when it wants to crow also Jenna do
you remember the year that there was like a flock of parrots that like we're
living in that tree and they parrots are so loud you guys are like so I was like
when they're in a group they get a bolster of confidence they really do
they're super chatty I remember this because I was like Kenneth Paul who did
my makeup I was like there is a flock of parrots and he said Angela Faith because
he always called you by your first and middle name he said Angela Faith don't
you mean a pandemonium of parrots is that what a group of parrots is called I
guess so we also had a fan question from Charlotte M she's wondering where the
heck is Rainn Wilson's mic pack right yeah I'll tell you what there was no
mic pack they had to capture all of his sound on a boom microphone only yeah
they couldn't fit it under his paws so what has happened to you that's
champagne that's the champagne talking that crept up on us it did slowly
champagne sneaks up on you that's the problem with champagne champagne makes
me fun it does yeah what can I expect from this afternoon I had to stop
drinking it because I have to drive home lady we skipped something a while back
and I want to bring it up it's when Andy's in the kitchen and Jim enters
and he's doing like this whole melodrama of messing up a sales call he's
beating himself up and he it's like he's in a soap opera yes and then he like
drop kicks his lunch across the room steps on it yes we got some fan mail
people wanted to know if that lunch bit was an improv it was not in fact in the
script it said Jim drop kicks his lunch bag so I just want to say what that
means when there's that simple line in a script that says Jim drop kicks his
lunch bag when Phil Shea is going through a script mm-hmm and he sees that
sentence he's gonna highlight that right he's gonna go to production and he's
gonna say how many takes of this scene do you think we'll do how many lunch bags
do I need to make how many sandwiches do I need to make all of it he'll probably
also go to John and say what are the odds you improvised taking a bite of it
after you kick it what kind of sandwich do you want in there everything he would
be so meticulous and then he would have to make a bunch of identical lunch bags
and then like before we would have a crew member off-camera ready to fly in
that's the lingo fly in a new lunch bag and they would also probably have John
try to kick it into the same corner every time yes that is how that little
bitty sentence affected a bunch of people now lady it's time to go to
Alfredo's yeah Michael Pam and Ryan are gonna go to Alfredo's they're supposed
to be meeting Dwight there because they're supposed to be like reconciling
at Alfredo's Pizza Cafe Dwight is such a good liar because I feel like the
lying is in the details and he knew he was never gonna meet Michael for lunch
no he's actually putting a fish in their ceiling yes he's sabotaging them he
loves to sabotage he's stealing Michael's Rolodex right he knew he wasn't
gonna go and Michael said how about Cooper's and Dwight's like no I had fish
last week Alfredo's like this is really sneaky very much so yeah well Randy
told us that the vent or Dwight throws the fish was not real and it was
actually kind of difficult to construct that Michael Gallenberg had to
consult with our builder Tim James and they had to like drop the ceiling and
create this vent and they also had to build in sort of like a plastic receptacle
to catch that fish because the fish was real what it was a real fish it was not
a prop fish no it was a real dead fish I mean it was like a fish they bought at
the store right so it's a dead fish it was a dead fish yeah stinky dead fish
wait a second let me understand this correctly they had to build a fake
ceiling yeah with a fake drop down with a vent that could also hold dead fish
yeah it would have fallen through otherwise yeah I can't believe we
didn't use a fakie fish I was shocked yeah Randy said it was a real fish I
wasn't there you know later when we come in and discover it we're totally faking
that we smell it it was gone by then so wait a second at the end and that
montage you guys take the fish out of the ceiling did you have to touch a real
dead fish oh my gosh lady I first of all I did not remember that we did that scene
even though I watched this episode three times I was clearly so distracted by
Dwight's white sleeves that you didn't notice you touched a fish and I have no
memory of it but I mean I guess we did according to Randy I guess I did touch a
dead fish have you ever done a prank like that no no I don't like pranks okay
you know me I know you I in college I had a group of friends who got really into
pranking they were like next-level pranksters here's an example they took
a dead fish and they put it in the back of this guy Nick's toilet they lifted
the back of the toilet and they put that fish in the toilet water you know
that's in the back no one ever lifts that thing unless your toilet's not
flushing and you've got to jiggle that little thing no one lifts the back of
the toilet no no yeah that fish was there a long time it gets so stinky it
got so stinky we would go over to Nick he lived in a house with a group of guys
and we'd be like God Nick your house stinks he's like I know it's the plumbing
or something I've had three different guys out here couldn't figure out what
it was for like a month oh this is so disgusting it's so disgusting and then
there's a certain point where the smell really zeroes in on one area and he
finally lift the back thing and it was so foul it was like maggots and
disgustingness he wasn't noticing that like the water in his toilet was
affected tell you lady I don't know what to tell you did Nick find this
amusing oh it was on after that it really the pranking got really out of
control they got really into pranking here's my thing about pranking what for
me personally mm-hmm to like get through a day yeah just with my own thoughts in
my head and everything life is throwing at me yes you know what I don't need a
prank your prank yeah I don't need it yeah although I did do one Christmas
prank once what I'm one what it was like you know a group thing and you were
specifically supposed to do a joke gift right and I had to come up with like a
joke Christmas present so what I did was the roommate of the person's name who I
picked yeah I said over the course of one month will you slowly just sort of
steal things from your roommate like a single shoe like I gave him a list of
you're the slow play yeah I was just like have little things go missing mm-hmm
like maybe favorite coffee mug and then at the very end toothbrush and then at
the Christmas party I had wrapped up all of the missing items into a box and then
that was the gift oh that's kind of all your stuff that's gone missing for a
month yeah that was my joke gift I like that I am not much of a prankster I'm a
lame pranker well I'm glad you're a lame pranker lady because I don't want
pranks in my life and you're my bff and so I'm happy that I don't have a bff
that is like devoted to pranking yeah that would really suck wouldn't it it
really would I have a location breakdown for Alfredo's Pizza Cafe let's hear it
this was a restaurant in Woodland Hills California called Nicholas and it is
owned by a husband and wife that were friends with our set designer Michael
Gallenburg oh and Randy said that we did not have to do much redressing of this
restaurant at all we were able to pretty much just use it as it was that's great
Randy would also like you to know that Nicholas has the best chopped salad in
the Valley I looked it up it looks really good and it cost $16 I would love a
chopped salad right now I know that's what we should do after let's swing by
Nicholas or something have a chopped salad have a chopped salad well in order
to shoot this scene we had to get there at 6 30 in the morning and we had to
shoot at 7 30 because we had to do it before the restaurant was open but after
this BJ and I just got to go home that's all I had to do that day I remember
I was back home by like 10 a.m. my work day was done Steve and the rest the crew
did a whole day of locations but while I was looking at the call sheet I saw this
fascinating detail which was the van schedule oh do you remember these van
schedules when we would shoot on location lady no you don't oh see this is
the thing I used to love to do where I read every detail of a call sheet yes
you would I would show up and be like why is access Hollywood here and you be
like Angela it's on the call sheet and they sent put a memo in your trailer
probably last week I stepped right over that she really would there be a pile of
memos on her floor papers to the side all right so when you shoot on location
you park your car and they have the hair and makeup trailers in a big parking
lot and they call it base camp this is where the caterers will set up their
food tent it's where you eat lunch but a lot of times base camp is really far
away from the actual shooting location and that was the case here it was about
a 15 minute van ride to get from base camp to Nicholas restaurant so they had
to have a van schedule to shuttle all of these people to set and here's what it
said it said breakfast would be available as a 515 and then you could take
one of six vans to set they left at 542 a.m. 6 a.m. 6 12 a.m. and they
designated this van for our grip and electric crew 6 30 a.m. and then there
was one last van at 6 42 a.m. and in all caps it said this is the late van you
did not want to be on the don't do it no no no no there were also additional
shuttles for the cast and the background actors that were set to leave at 7 a.m.
so the idea was the crew would get there set up all the lights and then the
actors would land the hair and makeup folks would ride with the actors that's
the van schedule that was Randy's job to make that van schedule he did a
fantastic job mm-hmm so Dwight never makes it to the restaurant he calls and
says he hit a bear and Michael just believes it not just Michael I will
have you know that Pam and Ryan don't even raise an eyebrow they don't even
look up from their menu when Michael says Dwight hit a bear but he's on the
way how many bears has Dwight hit why is this so believable they get back to
Michael Scott paper company they discover they've been robbed Dwight calls
Michael is like we I don't have time to talk we've been robbed and once again
Pam and Ryan are like it was Dwight yeah this is when Dwight is gonna start
poaching the clients off the Rolodex and to get back at him Michael is gonna
eat his meatball parm that he brought back for him which is so funny because
Dwight says I knew you're gonna do that and that's why I made you order it
because it's the worst thing on their menu and then the way Steve is so
disgusted by it why is it so funny to watch Steve anything that he's
disgusting with food it's hilarious well in casual Friday he's gonna eat
everybody's lunch and it's very very funny I can't wait to get to that there's
some good bloopers from that too listen there was a deleted scene as Dwight is
poaching everyone's clients he really crosses the line with Ryan because
Ryan's uncle chooses Dwight over the Michael Scott paper company what yeah
and there's some really good Pam sass we got to hear it Dwight just got Howard
family dry cleaners uncle Dave jerk is undercutting us big time he is actually
taking a loss and paying the difference out of pocket that's my family when you
mess with my family I can't be responsible for my actions when are you
ever responsible for your actions get off my ass you hag hey hey hey something
about that seems inappropriate something about that seems inappropriate you can't
put his finger on it I love the Brian Pam like rivalry I just live for it I love
it too I mean I just loved working with these guys for this period of time I
bet it was so much fun well now we're gonna get into a pretty fun bit where
Michael is gonna walk in to Harper Collins with Dwight on the phone he's
like I'm gonna let you listen to me still your biggest client and Dwight's
like no and takes off and he gets in the car all the while listening that was
so funny rain in the car when he was like paper is the manure and on time
delivery is the soil I wrote down that quote too do I need that on a mug we
might need it on a mug paper is the manure we had a fan question from Sydney
s who said how did you guys film that scene of Dwight driving to mr. Schofield's
office was Steve really on the other end of the phone no Steve was not on the
other end of the phone and I talked with Randy about this rain is really driving
he's free driving he is not hooked up to anything it looked like it to me just
the way he pulled into the parking lot yeah the whole time so they had LAPD
officers on motorcycles so no one would sort of interfere with the shot or rain
driving yes correct and there's also a crew van following behind but here's how
they got that shot Matt so our camera operator was in the front seat oh filming
rain our sound engineer Ben Patrick was in the backseat recording sound and our
director Paul Feig was also in the backseat that was not a big backseat I
have been in that car that is tiny I know and Randy said we did not have a
two-way phone setup it was just too unreliable and so Randy's guess is that
Paul Feig was reading Steve's dialogue so that rain could react to it yeah
amazing I wish we had a picture of those four guys in the car can we talk about
what happens when Dwight arrives at mr. Schofield's office finally I lived for
this I had to know if this was scripted or improvised so Dwight is gonna run in
first of all he's changing into his mustard shirt I loved that detail love
that detail and then when he gets to the receptionist he does this crazy spin
move and then Dwight says spin move and I was like did rain improvise that I've
got to know Jenna it was a hundred percent in the script everything even the
spin move all of it I found an old interview with rain where he said that
one time he did a somersault and he said he thought that it would look extra
stealthy yeah when they watched it back it looked quote like a manatee doing
ballet at SeaWorld he also said they did about five takes I also have a little
guest star breakdown for mr. Schofield's receptionist she was played by Angela
Kampola Sanders who was our casting associate on the office since season four
this is her only acting credit but she played mr. Schofield's receptionist
pretty much everyone in our casting office made it into the episode at some
point I love that I do too Dwight is about to dig himself into a big old hole
because he doesn't understand Michael's Rolodex or Michael's color-coding
info Michael has a talking head where he says I color code all my info I wrote
gay son and green green means go so I know to go ahead and shut up about it
yes and orange means orange a glad you didn't bring it up most colors mean
don't say it yeah but Dwight doesn't know that yes so Dwight is basically
saying all the things that are color-coded to not be said right well
before we wrap up this heavy competition between Mike wait this Mike this
episode you know that's the champagne I know in the champagne you have a nickname
for everyone and your champagne brain Mike Mike Dwighty I think we should go
back and wrap up this Andy Jim storyline okay we both had to stop drinking
champagne by the way we did it just it's so interesting Scotch and Splendor was
like but champagne we're like I can't talk right now yeah I still really do
love the Scotch and Splendor me too I have to say it's a really good drink and
we got some letters from people who said it's basically an old-fashioned if we'd
added a few orange bitters and that's what it tasted like that's right because I
guess you would add like a sugar yeah a muddled kind of sugary syrup to the
Scotch and so that's what the Splendor is doing yeah but champagne just makes
us go what what are we talking about I know all right see I know I'm like what
am I talking about okay so Andy and Jim Andy is gonna tell the whole bullpen
that Jim is upset and Phyllis is gonna be like Andy I think Jim is just messing
with you and then there's that smug shot of Jim in the kitchen looking out
through the blinds with that grin on his face we had a fan question from Rea H
and Poonette B can we talk about how douchey Jim is being in this episode
Andy was being really supportive and genuinely cared for Jim and while Andy's
concern might have been misguided or nosy I think it came from a good place
we'd really like to get your take on this prank that Jim pulls on Andy because
we think the prank might have been a little mean spirited I didn't care for
it I didn't either I do think this is a mean spirited joke I mean we already
know I don't like pranks and I don't love especially pranks that at someone's
expense that play with their emotions right I think it was too big of a
reaction to Andy's kind of nosy meddling and he does have this nice speech Jim at
the end to Andy he's like listen I know Angela broke your heart but you're going
to find someone else you really will so I feel like that was the moment where the
writers were like you know Jim's not a bad guy maybe he was trying to show Andy
something but I just didn't like the prank me either yeah well I'm glad we
discussed that yeah we're with you so this episode ends with more cheese ball
fun Michael Ryan and Pam they're trying to see how many cheese puffs can they
fit in their mouth 32 that's the record yeah and then the phone rings and Michael
answers it and he's got a mouth full of cheese puffs and we're all laughing and
while this is happening you can hear a Michael talking head where he's saying
he wanted to start a company and not a war well this talking head was added
later this was not in the original script Steve shot this a couple weeks
after we shot the original episode and all of this footage of us doing this
cheese puffs bit yeah this was originally gonna be at the end of the
cold open so was all of that was gonna live at the top of the episode yes but
they thought it would be funnier to end the cold open on Pam getting the cheese
puffs while she's yawning mm-hmm and then they gave this episode this new tag
with the cheese ball bit this was not the original tag for the episode so
instead of this bookend of cheese puffs at the beginning and end there was a
tag and we did film it and I want to share it with you guys so Andy is in
the conference room and he is selling off his wedding stuff he's determined
still well you know he didn't get buyers from Jim and Pam so in the tag he's
selling it to the rest of the gang and they're all bidding on things Stanley
buys the rice bags and Creed decides to get it on the action too I thought we
had to hear a little bit of it why are you here Stanley me over the rice boom
sold 100 bags of rice Stanley Hudson Creed how would you like a crispy new
tuxedo for your funeral I'll take the bottom half I want to go out the same
way I came in shirtless and everyone else starts making bids to that asking
questions on things Angela is not in the scene but she walks by and had this
talking head it was in the shooting draft I don't know why I'm down I guess I
always thought that Andy would save the stuff from our wedding just in case now
it's stupid just in case I married someone else and he decided to throw us a
wedding I told you it was stupid I guess there were some things in there that
Angela liked yeah and maybe she hoped would make a comeback so there you have
it guys 100 episodes oh my gosh we got it in just before the holidays yeah I'm
glad because that's always like a very crazy time it is the Halloween to New
Year it's a sprint to the end I always say well listen we're gonna have a few
breaks coming up we do take a break at Thanksgiving we take a break at Christmas
and New Year's we will have some great reruns of episodes with fun little new
stuff at the top yeah be sure to listen to that stuff but listen and we got this
letter because you know I said I was going through the mail yeah from
Susanna G and I wanted to share it I really appreciated it okay let's hear
it Susanna says not sure you'll see this but I wanted to say something to you
both first you are my people you are silly loud honest organized Jenna me too
and she did put Angela in there for organize it's okay Susanna but more
importantly I noticed your value of mental health mainly depicted to me by
the breaks that you take sometimes between podcast episodes not all podcasts
do that and as a fan I always look forward to listening to next week's
episode so when I hear rerun content at times it's initially a bummer
however it's always followed by thoughts of well perhaps they needed more prep
time so that they didn't have to sacrifice family time or self-care and
as a hustling mom with a career of my own two small children and a law
enforcement hubby with crazy schedules demands and stresses my life is chaotic
to say the least but I'm learning more and more my stability and that of my
family comes from not sacrificing those two things so I commend you for staying
committed to your values and still getting to do what you love and with
your bestie what a blessing maybe I got all this wrong and that's not what's
going on at all but if I'm on the nose I simply want to offer encouragement to
keep it up your way I'll be waiting for next week's episode whenever you get to
it sending virtual hugs to you both that is so sweet Susanna you got it a
hundred percent right yeah I feel seen Susanna yes it really meant a lot to me
because I feel like Angela and I are two gals with a very strong work ethic we
love making this show but it is also important to us that we reserve holiday
time a little spring break time a little summer time just for our families yeah for
our mental health breaks and so we do take time off for that you know it also
means that our team here gets a break that's right everyone gets a break so
thank you Susanna I really appreciate it and just know that we will put some fun
stuff at the top of those rerun episodes so that we don't leave you hanging on
those breaks that's right and you guys I really want to say thank you so much to
Creed Bratton as well for doing that sweet little intro for us and you guys he
has a new single that just dropped it's called breathe easy it's available on
Apple music and I thought we could listen to a little bit of it as we say
goodbye happy 100th episode. Happy 100th.
Thank you for listening to office ladies office ladies is produced by
Earwolf Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey our show is executive produced by Cody
Fisher our producer is Cassie Jerkins our sound engineer is Sam Keifer and
our associate producer is Ainsley Bubicoe our theme song is rubber tree by
Creed Bratton for ad-free versions of office ladies go to Stitcher premium
dot-com for a free one-month trial of Stitcher premium use code office