Office Ladies - A Look Back on Michael’s Birthday

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

This week we take a look back on “Michael’s Birthday”. Michael is full of excitement and tantrums to celebrate his bday at the office. Angela talks skating, Jenna describes a wild present she re...ceived from her mom and we have some original PPC moments. Enjoy!  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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Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Jennifer 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 scene stories that only two people who are there can tell you. We're the office ladies. Happy birthday everybody. It is Michael's birthday.
Starting point is 00:00:28 Michael, it should be day. Oh my gosh. Oh, Angela, he would be so happy if anyone responded to his birthday like that. Yeah, this guy needs a party like nobody else. He needs the party. It's so true guys, it's season two episode 19. Michael's birthday written by Lee Eisenberg and Jean Stupnitzky directed by Ken Wittingham. Guys,
Starting point is 00:00:52 I'm in my closet right now. I am in my that's what she said this morning. My husband figured out how to try to sound proof at Sam. I don't know if we did it. We tried, but we got a shower curtain out of the guest room. And Josh put it across the shed and hung some blankets on it. We took, you know, the clamps that our kids have a fort building kit. Wow. And we took all of their clamps. So I hope the kids don't get to do a fort this week because mom is trying to podcast from home. The best part of seeing you right now on this video chat while we do this is that you are wearing a set of gamer headphones.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Yes, I am. I have a giant microphone, but I've pointed it up to the sky. Like an antenna coming out of your ear. Yeah, that's true. And we're gonna put a photo of this on the pod. Should I do a summary? Here it is. Do a summary, babe.
Starting point is 00:01:47 I don't know why I called you, babe. I don't know. I don't know either. Do a summary, babe. It's Michael's birthday, and he is desperate to be the center of attention. Meanwhile, we learn that Kevin is waiting for the results of a mole biopsy.
Starting point is 00:02:05 Yes. Kevin is very worried. He might have skin cancer. And this is causing a distraction to Michael's birthday that he is unhappy with. Oh my gosh. Michael's like, today is the day for celebration. And you guys are all worried about Kevin. And I am grumpy about it.
Starting point is 00:02:21 Yeah. That was my summary. I like it, babe. Babe, I like it. Yeah. That was my summary. I like it, babe. Babe, I like it. Babe. Okay, wait, are we just gonna jump right in? Should we jump right in? There's more summary.
Starting point is 00:02:32 And fast facts. You've forgotten everything. Wow. There's more summary. What is happening? Also, in this episode, Dwight and Angela really bicker over who exactly isn't charged of planning Michael's birthday party.
Starting point is 00:02:47 Is it Dwight as his right hand man or is it Angela head of the PPC? This is the first time we're going to see a little tension going on between Dwight and Angela. Yeah. Well, I mean, there was tension in season one over who was the security officer, you know, that was pre-them dating. So they have some issues about who gets to have control of what. They have that going into this relationship. And I have a note card, guys, that says, do Angela Sass!
Starting point is 00:03:19 Ooh, do Angela Sass! All through this episode, we're gonna track it. Also in this episode, Jim and Pam, they sneak out of the office together. And in the end, the entire office gang is going to go ice skating. Who saw that coming? I didn't see that coming. Well, the writers knew that we were gonna end up at an ice skating rink.
Starting point is 00:03:40 That leads me into Sam. Please play my special audio clip. Fast, fast. What is that? What is happening? We had a fan submit some little, they're called Stings, Angela. I love that so much. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Yeah, thank you. So more stings, please. More stings, guys. Send us your stings. I didn't even know that was a term.
Starting point is 00:04:06 We're learning so much. We're a hundred but thank you for making us stings. So fast fact number one is that Steve Carell is a very very good ice skater. He played hockey growing up, he played Pick-Up hockey every week as an adult. Fan question for Matt Loveless was the plot built around Steve's ability to ice skate. Yes, he's so good. He's really good. Yes, the writers had on one of their cards up on the wall. This fact about Steve being a good ice skater and they had been looking forever for a way to incorporate it. And you guys might remember that later when we filmed the threat level midnight, that again, that plot of threat level midnight, the movie, takes place in an ice skating
Starting point is 00:04:59 rink and that was just like another opportunity to feature Steve's ice skating ability. I was at the car wash one time waiting for my car to get washed, right? like another opportunity to feature Steve's ice skating ability. I was at the car wash one time, waiting for my car to get washed, right? You know, the one you kind of, you can drive through part of it and then you wait on the other side, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:14 So I'm at the car wash and this guy walks up to me and goes, I ice skate with Steve, just, you know, sometimes I ice skate with Steve. And I was like, oh, what? Oh, okay. Wait a go. You're probably very good because Steve is good. Have a nice day. Well, you know, Angela, my husband Lee ice skates. He's on several pickup hockey teams and my son as well is a hockey player. And
Starting point is 00:05:38 my husband now plays on the pickup team that Steve used to play on. I wonder if he plays with the guy from the car wash. Steve does not play pickup hockey anymore. He told me he kind of retired from that. But back when we shot this episode, he was really into it. He was really into it. And Jenna, you're like a hockey mom. I have been on the ice with you now
Starting point is 00:06:00 and I've met your hockey mom friends and I am into it. I don't have a kid that plays hockey, but they told me you can drink beer at like 10 a.m. hockey matches and I'm like, oh yeah, this is the crowd I should be in. I mean, I'm over at the soccer field. They got nothing at that concession stand, maybe some pretzels. I mean, we're at these hockey rinks. Sometimes it's seven in the morning or eight in the morning and they open up that concession stand and they go for it. I am not a beer drinker but I am amazed at people's ability to have a beer in the morning. Have a beer in the morning.
Starting point is 00:06:34 Like that would do me in. But yeah, oh God, I love the hockey community. It's a great it's a great great community. I'm I love being a part of it. Alright, fast fact number two. This is a fan question from Renata. She said, this episode has several external locations. Did it take longer to produce this episode because of that? So we usually would take five days to shoot an episode and we were still able to shoot this episode in five days,
Starting point is 00:07:04 even with our multiple locations. And guess what I did Angela? What? I got some scoop from Kentapedia about our locations. Kent Subornak, let's hear it. All right, so first up the store that Jim and Pam go to was a right aid at Woodman and Sherman Way. Do you remember that right aid Angela? I do. I do. I do pass by it every day on the way to work and I would chop there constantly. Yeah. I would always like pick up some milk on the way home. One time I bought some socks. I was low on socks. Oh yeah. I remember setting up my trailer, you know, we would sort of decorate.
Starting point is 00:07:42 And I got a few different little things. I got like a dormat. Yeah. At that right aid. Okay, so cute. You're at the right aid by us. He said that we shot there for a half a day, but we started very, very early. I think my hair and makeup started around 4am or 4.30am. I believe it. Because yeah, we had to start shooting on camera by six, and the right aid said we could only shoot there until 11 a.m. with the store closed. After 11 a.m., we could keep shooting, but they were gonna let customers in. And Kent said that we finished by 10 a.m. We finished an hour early
Starting point is 00:08:20 and that all the customers that you see in those scenes are hired background performers, none of them are real customers. All right. Good job team. Good job. You got in, you got out. That's the scoop on the right aid. So the ice skating, we shot that at Pickwick IceRink in Burbank. I know this rank well. And we had the whole place to ourselves for one full day. We were there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Again, we started our hair and makeup very early around 5 a.m. and we were all shooting by 7.
Starting point is 00:08:52 The other skaters in the background were background actors. We shut that place down. It was all ours. So Kent also told me that luckily both Randall Einhorn and Matt Sone, they were our camera operators that they could ice skate. And so they were skating around with cameras. Do you remember that, Angela? Because I did not remember that those guys were skating with us. I remember Randall on the ice. I do because I have a little funny backstory about there was a stunt ice skater Jenna. Do you remember the stunt ice skater? Oh, yeah, the guy who filled in for Oscar.
Starting point is 00:09:30 Yes, so you'll see later in the episode as we watch it that Oscar is like a very good ice skater He does like a kind of a pure like pure wit and spins around Well, that's because there was a stunt guy that looked like him that was a really great figure skater. And I have a little story about that. I don't know if you remember this, Jenna. But Randall was filming the stunt guy getting all of the moves, right? Yeah. And they wanted us skating in the background. And I sort of skated in the background. And I did a big circle, like I kind of opened my legs and did a big circle.
Starting point is 00:10:03 And the guy said to me in between text, he goes, hey, he said, can you skate? And I was like, well, I can roller skate. So I'm just trying to do what I do on roller skates. And he said, come here. And he spun me around. And then Randall was like, oh, wait, I'll get this. Just in case, maybe it'll be funny that Oscar spins
Starting point is 00:10:20 Angela or something, you know? Okay. And so the stunt ice skater started doing all these things with me, Jenna. He spun me. He picked me up and twirled me. He had me stick one leg out and one leg up. Like, and then spun me and set me down.
Starting point is 00:10:35 And we, like somewhere, there is footage of the stunt ice skater lifting me in the air and spinning me around. And it, we never, we never, is this footage. We never use the footage, but it really made me laugh to think that maybe there is a world where Angela and Oscar figure skate together. Okay, two things.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Number one, NBC release this footage immediately. Number two, Angela, do you know who that guy was? I love to talk. Tell me, tell me. Okay know who that guy was? I looked him up. Tell me, Tim. Okay, his name is Bert Jude Lankan. Okay. And he was a pair skater, a famous pair skater who won the silver medal at the 1982 United States
Starting point is 00:11:18 Figure Skating Championships, and then later placed sixth at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Wow! You were figure skating with an Olympic pairs figure skater. Where is this footage? That is amazing, that is so cool. Well, you know, I'm not very good, but he was very good, so.
Starting point is 00:11:40 Well, I'm gonna find the footage for you. I'm gonna surprise you with it at some milestone birthday in the future. You'll have to ask Randall Einhorn, say Randall. Did any of that like end up somewhere? Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, next up is FastFac number three, but I don't even know how to follow that because that was good stuff. Picture me an Oscar right now in your mind, guys. Close your eyes. Picture me an Oscar right now
Starting point is 00:12:10 as a figure skating couple on the ice. And go. Oscar makes all of our costumes. Well, Angela, that is a good segue for me into FastFact number three because you mentioned costumes. We got a fan question from Alyssa, and this is not specific to this episode,
Starting point is 00:12:30 but a general fan question, and I thought it was a good one, so I thought we would include it. Alyssa wants to know, what do you do with your clothes after you've been shooting in the same outfit for 12 to 15 hours at a time, she says, I imagine they would get stretched out and wrinkly and dirty. Do you have multiple sets of the same outfits for each day of shooting or just someone wash them for you? First of all,
Starting point is 00:12:57 I like where her head's at. Yeah, I like this person. I know. This person is a planner. She probably packs very well for a trip. I like it. I like your train of thought These are things I wonder about when I watch movies especially if I see a movie where like it's a flood or They're submerged in water somehow. I think oh my gosh. How many hours that day did they have to stand? Like waste deep in water, probably like 12 hours. So here's the thing, we often had, well we always had duplicates, they wanted to make sure that you had two of every outfit. So they could wash and have the next set ready the next day.
Starting point is 00:13:37 Also if you were to spill something on it or get a tear or whatever, they would have the duplicate ready to go. Yes, and if you did have to do some sort of a stunt or something in that particular outfit, then they might have even more than two. You know, they might have seven shirts if part of the scene involves you purposely dripping ketchup on your shirt or something. So yeah, they always had multiples. And part of the wardrobe department's job is to launder and prepare your outfit for the next day. So that's how that works.
Starting point is 00:14:15 I like the question though, I like the question. All right. That's the end of my fast facts. BELL RINGS Oh, I'm so sorry guys. What the f*** was that? Well, I think my bread is done. I have some bread in the oven.
Starting point is 00:14:31 I thought that was like an alert. They always say you can tell a little something about the person by which alarm they pick. And by day I mean me. This is my theory. So like your alarm is like, gang, gang, gang, like, me day, me day. And like my alarm is like, two banjos playing.
Starting point is 00:14:52 Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
Starting point is 00:15:01 ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding that true. Everybody, what is your alarm on your phone? And what does it say about you? Lee is telling me that the internal temperature of my bread is only 154 degrees. Do you mind if we take a break? I do want to take a break because my that's what she should is really cold and I turn my heater off when we podcast and I want to warm it back up. So you take care of your bread, you heat up your bread, I'm going to heat up my sheet shit.
Starting point is 00:15:26 And we'll be right back. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Well, I just oversaw the bread. We're still not at the right internal temperature. I had to leave it for Lee to make a judgment call I hope it turns out. I hope we can make some sandwiches today. Time will tell. Let's get back on track Jenna and let's jump into this episode. Yes, the cold open Michael is trying to sell the employees some calling cards.
Starting point is 00:16:00 Did you notice something about the scene Jenna? It's in the conference room, right? Yep. Yeah. Who all is in attendance? Who? It is Jim. Dwight. Jim Dwight, Toby Creed, Oscar, Ryan, and Stanley. Not a single woman. Hey. Hey. Now, do you think A, Michael thinks the women will say this is a load of crap? Hey, he thinks the guys will go along with it. Why are there any women? Hmm, hmm, hmm.
Starting point is 00:16:34 Jim convinces Michael that this is a pyramid scheme. Michael draws a chart and then Jim turns it into a literal pyramid. Do you remember in the fire episode when Michael said he lost all of his money in a pyramid scheme and that's why he couldn't go to business school? Yeah, Toby brings it up in this scene. Yeah, Toby's like, remember? Well, Toby brings up an email scam
Starting point is 00:16:55 that Michael also participated in. Yes, and Michael's like, hey, when the son of the deposed King of Nigeria emails you directly asking you for help. Okay? Is fatherland the freaking country? Okay? Yeah. Michael. Michael. Michael. All right. So that's our cold open and then when the episode begins that was one of those standalone cold opens that did not end up applying. I have one more question about the cold open. You might know the answer. Oh, go ahead.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Is a calling card the same as a business card? What, Angela? What's a calling card? Wait, I know what a card is. You're not asking this question. Do you not remember the 80s? Honey, I was in, oh, I just called you honey. I'm a baby.
Starting point is 00:17:40 Honey. Honey, I was in Jakarta, Indonesia till 1984. What happened? What's the calling card? Okay. Gosh, how do I describe it? You know how long-distance phone calls they would cost money like so much money per minute if you wanted to call someone and you would usually just use your home phone and then
Starting point is 00:18:02 I can't believe I'm describing this right now. Wait, so it was like a card with a number on it and you enter it or something and then you use the minutes. Yes, it's like a prepaid credit card that you could apply to the price of a phone call. Okay, I know what it is now. I got it. I remember that for whatever reason in my mind, I thought this whole scene was about business cards and I thought it was really funny. Oh, yeah That's funny. So anyway, and I was like, oh look they're making their own business cards. That's kind of cute. No No, you don't need fill in his corvette for that. Now this makes sense Yeah, okay. I hear the tone in your voice Jenna. I hear it. I don't know how to end this. I hear the tone in your voice, Jenna. I hear it. I hear it.
Starting point is 00:18:45 I hear it. I hear it. It's like you pity me, but you love me, but you're perplexed that a grown woman doesn't know what a calling card is. I hear it all. It's all there, but I love you. Okay. So they weren't business cards.
Starting point is 00:19:02 They were calling cards. All right. I love you, babe. I love you, babe. I love you, babe. I love you, honey. Go. That was the cold open. It was a standalone cold open, right? It doesn't apply to the rest of the episode because after the credits, we're going to learn the real platis episode when Michael enters and Pam, while handing him his messages for the day, says,
Starting point is 00:19:24 happy birthday, Michael. And when he enters, he's carrying like his own box of donuts for his birthday. Is he carrying the balloons that we're gonna see later in his office? Probably. I couldn't, I couldn't track where the balloons came from. But then Michael has a talking head
Starting point is 00:19:42 where he tells us that people go crazy for his birthday. They just go all out. They go all out. And it's just a boring shot of the office, just everyone doing work. Yeah. No one paying attention. And then, Junna, he says that he shares a birthday with Eva Lungoria.
Starting point is 00:20:02 And I looked up her birthday. It's March 15th. Jun Jenna years is March 7th. Yeah. That means you and Michael Scott are both Pisces! We're both Pisces. Which I also looked up. And this was what I found on the internet about Pisces. You, Jennifer, and Michael Scott, are you ready? I'm ready. In all matters of life, you bring intensity and passion. This explains why you will devote an endless amount of time and effort into anything that you feel is worthwhile, especially family and loved ones. Hey, I know. That sounds like a compliment. I think it is. You are giving me a compliment. I am giving you a compliment. Thank you. So now Jim has a talking head. Well wait, wait, wait, before we get to that,
Starting point is 00:20:47 I think something really important happens here, which is Kevin is late for work. Now we don't know why yet, but he's late. He seems a little preoccupied. And when he walks in, Michael's like, you're late, but you're forgiven because Doth that is my birthday. This has made me laugh.
Starting point is 00:21:05 Michael's such an idiot. I love him. But yes, Kevin is late. So, and then we go to Jim's talking head. Well, here's something I want to say about Jim's talking head. So the meat of the talking head is he's just kind of describing what Michael is like
Starting point is 00:21:19 on his birthday, but look at the winter backdrop behind him. So you know what we, that's, you know what we love this, you love this. You know I love our backdrops. Okay, so that's not a real window to the outside. That's just a window to a printed backdrop that we would change seasonally. And I just noticed that the backdrop is winter. It looks like it's maybe snowy
Starting point is 00:21:44 and I'm gonna bring this up later. So put a pin in that, but I just want to say winter backdrop behind Jim. I am riveted. I am riveted. I cannot wait. Oh, it's going to pay off later. I cannot wait for this pay off time of the winter backdrop. All right. So then we see Meredith and Kevin in the break room and she says, did you hear anything yet? And so we start to see like what's happening with Kevin, right? That he might have a skin cancer scare.
Starting point is 00:22:11 Yeah. And this storyline starts. And then we go to Dwight and Michael's office. There is no one more excited for Michael's birthday than Dwight. Really? I mean, it is such a special day for him. It is a huge day. If only everyone were reacting like Dwight, Michael would be happy. Michael reveals he's wearing a new suit.
Starting point is 00:22:34 He says it's from Italy. No, Bulgaria. Right. New suit. And Dwight said maybe he'll have to get one and Michael's like, good luck. It's pinstriped, I noticed. And the tie is insane.
Starting point is 00:22:46 It's a crazy tie as well. This is also the scene where Michael tells Dwight that he's not worried about his birthday because the PPC has been working 24, seven since yesterday. But also, it's in the scene that Dwight actually begs Michael if he can be in charge of Michael's birthday. So this is setting up like what's going to be a big source of tension between Angela and Dwight.
Starting point is 00:23:12 And I think Angela thinks that Michael's an idiot and thinks that Dwight is loyal to someone who doesn't deserve like his loyalty. And so she's just are ready. She already is like annoyed that it's Michael's birthday. And now on top of the fact her boyfriend wants to be the party planning committee chairman. Well, Angela must be very conflicted because as party planning committee head,
Starting point is 00:23:35 she is obligated to celebrate this birthday. Yes, yes. Even though she feels that Michael is kind of going a little bit over the top, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. Well, Ange, the next scene is the party planning committee scene. One more thing before we move on, there is a famous meme that came out of this Dwighten Michael scene. It is La Rue de Ruef.
Starting point is 00:23:59 Oh, the Rue de Ruef, yes. Yes. Yes. And in the super famous meme, it's even longer in the deleted scenes you guys So if you check out the deleted scenes, it's really funny because when Dwight starts to do it Michael's like no That's not how I taught you I should like like clearly they've practiced this move. Oh, I love that I love that there's an extra deleted scene of that raised the roof. Well next up is the party planning committee meeting lady It's the OG. it's the OG.
Starting point is 00:24:25 It's the OG. It is Phyllis, Angela, and Pam. That's it. Baby, I don't know what... Do you call me Baby? Oh, G is. I did. That's what it is today.
Starting point is 00:24:35 OG. Jenna. Okay, get on the internet, lady. What is it? You might know what a calling card is, but let me tell you what OG is. It means original gangster. Original gangster. It's original gangster, original gangster.
Starting point is 00:24:45 It's like you are the first person of this thing, whatever. I don't know. Look it up on Urban Dictionary. So it's the OG of the PPC. Of the PPC. Mm-hmm. Oh, I want a hoodie that says OG of the PPC. Nope.
Starting point is 00:25:01 That would be great. Oh, look at the coffee mug I'm using. I'm using the OG PPC. You're, look at the coffee mug I'm using. I'm using the OGPPC. Oh, you're using the OGPPC coffee mug today. Yay. That's apropos. That's another word, Angela, apropos. I know what that means.
Starting point is 00:25:13 It means appropriate. Yeah, I got it. Okay. All right, so they're having a riveting conversation in this meeting, they wanna know what time we should bring out the cake. One at one thirty. Pam Yons.
Starting point is 00:25:27 Oh wait, Pam Yons. Pam says one o'clock to which Angela immediately says one thirty, and then Pam Yons. Yeah, and then Angela sasses her. Yeah, she's like, oh, I'm sorry. Are we boring you? Well, you know, there's in a deleted scene, I improvised a line where I said not Phyllis. Yes. Do you remember that? I do. I do. And then we all laughed. We used to laugh a lot when we did these PPC scenes. Well, they would let us go. They would give us a few
Starting point is 00:25:58 lines and then they would just let us go. And we would improvise the most boring conversations on purpose. We'd be like, well, I don't know guys how I feel about paper plates. I mean, which size should we get? Should we get the large oval one? No one gets oval. Who gets an oval paper plate? No one. I think we get the square one, square paper plates.
Starting point is 00:26:24 We would do this for like so long. That's because Greg Daniels loved the PPC. I love. He loved our mundane banter so much. He loved the dynamic of it. And so he would let us just go on forever. I loved it. Yes, it was so fun.
Starting point is 00:26:42 Well then Dwight enters and he tells us that Michael wants trick candles for his cake. Yeah, he gives us a list, a list of surprises that Michael would like. And this is when Angela tells Dwight that this is a closed door meeting. Well, yeah, Michael wants trick candles. He wants a stripper, Graham. And Angela's like, no, no, it's a closed door meeting. And then there's this sort of odd like stare-off between Dwight and Angela, and Pam was like, what is happening?
Starting point is 00:27:09 Yes. I have a fan catch as well. What? This is a fan catch from sexually woke. This person wrote in to say, Phyllis is breaking at four minutes, 19 seconds, when you talk about the strip of Graham. I did not notice this the first time I watched it. And I
Starting point is 00:27:28 saw it. She gets a little smirk. And I think you could think it was Phyllis the character, but Angela, we know Phyllis. And I think this was a real Phyllis smile. I'm sure it was. We laughed a lot in those scenes. So I love that. I'm going to go back and look for that. That's so that. I'm going to go back and look for that. That's so cute. I also want to note that when rain comes in and out of the door, John is not at his desk in the background.
Starting point is 00:27:52 So he bailed on some background work. Way to go, John. Way to be sneaky and get out of that scene. I know. I guess what was he, he was probably playing Madden football in his trailer with Brian. Yes, there was nothing that they would do in their downtime when Brian. Yes, they were playing Madden football. They were playing Madden football. And they were down time when they had scenes.
Starting point is 00:28:07 And they would yell. They were so loud. Do you remember? They were so loud. They'd be like, get it. Get them. All right, so at four minutes, 35 seconds, we now have this phone call between Michael and Jan
Starting point is 00:28:19 and Michael's office. Yeah. And Jenna, did you catch who is in the room with Michael Ryan? Ryan is sitting there for the whole phone call and the call is so awkward. He's like, hey, I Called to wish you happy birthday and she's like, it's not my birthday And he's like, oh, I thought we had the same birthday and she's like no and then she's like happy birthday Michael And then she's like are we being filmed and he's like, nope not, Michael. And then she's like, are we being filmed? And he's like, nope, not at all. And then he says, Jan, just feel free to say whatever is in your heart.
Starting point is 00:28:50 And then doesn't she just like hang up? Click, dial tone. And the whole time Ryan is sitting here. And I have a little something to point out. If you go and watch the deleted scenes, there is a beginning to this scene. And that is that Ryan the temp has been given the task to tie those balloons in Michael's office.
Starting point is 00:29:11 And so- Oh, this is where the balloons come from. Yes. So him and Michael are in his office. Ryan is tying a balloon to like his chair. And then he's like, can I leave? And Michael's like, nope. Thank you so much for telling me this. because I was wondering where did those dang balloons
Starting point is 00:29:29 come from because Michael did not walk in with them. He must have somehow ordered Ryan the temp to get them. Yes. And then he makes him see as the proof. He makes some stay in for the phone call. Oh, God. That's so miserable. I feel so bad for Ryan in that scene. Well, the next scene is very miserable. I feel so bad for writing that scene. Well, the next scene is very cringy as well because Michael's in the kitchen and he is just hovering over this box of donuts waiting for someone. And then when Stanley comes in, he's like, Oh my gosh, somebody must have brought in donuts for my birthday. Michael,
Starting point is 00:30:03 we saw you carry that box in when you arrived. Michael. Somebody. Michael. Michael. Michael. Michael. I have something to point out here.
Starting point is 00:30:13 So you know in Boos Crews, you and Jim look at each other for 27 seconds of silence, right? Yeah. 27 seconds. Is that right? 27 seconds. That's right. Okay. I want you to know how long Michael stood
Starting point is 00:30:26 with his hand on that coffee pot, waiting for someone to come in. So he could act like he was putting himself a cup of coffee, act surprised, there were donuts for his birthday. He stood there for 10 seconds of pure silence. Wow. Now if you think about a TV show, you guys,
Starting point is 00:30:44 that's like a long time to leave a character just sitting there waiting for someone to notice him. That is so true. That's amazing. 10 seconds. 10 seconds, he stood there looking around, waiting for someone to walk in. And then later when Toby comes in, it's so sad. Toby sees the donuts and he finds out it's Michael's birthday and he gives
Starting point is 00:31:06 the most just upbeat genuine, genuine happy birthday Michael. Yeah. And then Michael is so mean. Michael's like, you didn't remember? Yeah, I guess I'm not going to remember to give you a donut. Yeah, I guess I'm not going to remember to give you a donut. I know. He's such a turd to Toby and Toby was being so nice to him. I know. So also happening in this episode is everyone kind of learning about the fact that Kevin's waiting for these skin test results. So like gyms and the in the break room and they're talking about it and Kelly over here. Yeah. Kelly, you mean Mindy. Mindy over here. That is a Mindy Kaling talking head. When she's like, oh my gosh, I never thought about death until Princess Diana's funeral, which was so sad. And then she pauses and she's like, that and my sisters, like, oh, it's such a dark,
Starting point is 00:32:03 it's such a dark talking head. It's so dark. I don't know how many got through that. She almost didn't. I want you to know Look at six minutes five seconds. Mindy is so about to laugh. She's barely holding it together Well, then the accounting department is discussing Kevin's possible skin cancer, Angela. And you are, I mean, Angela Martin is a real downer. She's a little bit of Debbie Downer. I mean, Oscar's like, you know what? I'm sure it's going to be fine. I'm like, don't give him false hope. You don't know that.
Starting point is 00:32:36 Is that pragmatic? I think she is, you know, I, yeah, she's pragmatic. She doesn't need to see the rosy picture. She's like just give me the stats Yeah, what are the stats on this the stats are you should be worried? Yeah That's what the stats say so next up Michael gets a delivery Oh, man, he thinks that the woman is his strip a gram. He's so excited. He's giddy He literally says here here we go.
Starting point is 00:33:05 And then he has a line that made me laugh so hard. He's like, oh, this chair has arms. Is that gonna be all right? I love that line. That made me laugh so hard. He's like, it'll be fine. I don't know. You'll work around it.
Starting point is 00:33:17 I think Steve improvised that. I feel like he improvised that. I don't know. I don't know. I bet you're right. I do. I wish I had the script for this one because I would look it up, but I feel like that feels like,
Starting point is 00:33:29 that feels like something you notice in the moment. Right, because they just pulled the chair side and it had arms and I think he saw it at the moment and he said it, that's what I, it feels very much like a Steve Improv moment. Well, I do wanna just give a shout out to this guest actor Susan Foley, who played the delivery woman I thought she was great.
Starting point is 00:33:46 She was fantastic. She played it super straight, super real, made it very, very funny. Her confusion was not overplayed. It was perfection. Yeah. Well done, Susan. And then we just find out some sad backstory of Michael's childhood. Jenna, his childhood breaks my heart.
Starting point is 00:34:04 It breaks my heart. So we have this birthday party when he was seven. He was so excited. He said they got a pony and a cart and the pony gave him a rash and his mom rubbed him on him for three hours. And then he missed the party. He said it was his worst birthday. Well, this is a runner and some of them got cut out,
Starting point is 00:34:22 but Michael had this runner throughout this episode of all of his worst birthdays, comparing it to this one. So this guy has had a lot of bad birthdays. Well, he's gonna get a pick me up from Dwight who's gonna play the recorder for him while he eats donuts. Dwight is playing Billy Joel,
Starting point is 00:34:40 which is a runner on our show. We're constantly going to the Billy Joel music library on the office. I don't know why that is. For the longest time. Ha. Of course, Dwight calls him William Joel. And then Michael is just sort of lamenting
Starting point is 00:34:58 how he's being treated in the office. And he says, I bet Luke Perry's friends don't treat him like this. Wait. And he references this poster that this is what the delivery woman was delivering. It is a poster of James Dean, not of Luke Perry, that his mom sent him for his birthday. That's what his mom sent him. Now, do you think that his mom meant to send him Luke Perry?
Starting point is 00:35:23 Or she meant to send him James Dean and Michael just mistook it for Luke Perry, which one is Michael a fan of? Or neither? Is it just Michael's mom was like, I don't know what to give him? I think Michael's probably a fan of Luke Perry, and that's who his mom thought it was.
Starting point is 00:35:41 That's what I think. I think. I like that story. I don't know, but I mean, I feel like that's something my mom would do. Or my sister. When you're at Christmas, my sister got me a green Bay Packers baseball hat.
Starting point is 00:35:54 Yeah. And I was like, I don't get it. And she was like, well, you went to Baylor, green and gold. Same colors. I was like, what? Same colors. Right.
Starting point is 00:36:04 Same colors. So I feel like that could be sort of a mom moment. Angela, one year for Christmas, my mom got me from, I guess, a local art fair in St. Louis, a drawing of a woman and her cat. Mm-hmm. She got it for me because she knows I love cats. I'm gonna post this on office lady's pod Instagram. Is she gonna get upset with you? Is she gonna say something? No, this is a running joke in our family now. It is Angela, it is a, it is a, I don't know how to describe it.
Starting point is 00:36:39 It is a drawing of a woman on all fours. What? In lingerie. No. With her touch on the air. She is the drawing of a woman on all fours. What? In lingerie. Nope. With her touch on the air. No. And the cat is rubbing seductively on the woman's tush. Hey, your mom missed all that.
Starting point is 00:36:53 She just thought it was a lady in her cat. Yes. So, Angela, imagine me on Christmas morning. She hands me, I'm in like college when she gives me this. I come home from college, I unwrap this box and I'm looking at like a semi-pornographic drawing of a woman in her cat. It's like, mom, what is this present?
Starting point is 00:37:20 She goes, what do you mean? It's a lady who looks her cat. She loves what she's saying so much. She's like, she loves, you love cats. And I'm like, Bob, I do love cats, but what is happening? And she still like, didn't see it. She's like, I don't get it. My sister died laughing.
Starting point is 00:37:43 I don't know if we've ever laughed so hard on Christmas ever in my family. So now, here's, I still have it. Where is it? I'll tell you, I keep it in a drawer, but every time my parents come to my house and stay in my guest room, I get it out and I put it on the nightstand.
Starting point is 00:38:02 And then there it is. And I'm like, mom, you're a gift gave me. And she knows that I do that. She knows that I don't keep it out all the time. But I like religiously, I put it out whenever they visit. I and I will post a picture of it. I will post a picture of it. I love that story so much. I love it so much. That is something that's 100% that my dad would do. I have a story I will say for another one that my dad bought a painting from a man on the side of the road.
Starting point is 00:38:34 I'm gonna save it. Oh, oh. It was a Valentine's gift. I'm gonna save it. Okay, where are we? Where are we? Dwight goes into the bullpen and he announces that it is 1123 AM the exact time of Michael's birth and he suggests that everyone lift him up in his chair. Yes,
Starting point is 00:38:56 it's a tradition. They're gonna hoist him up in the air. It's a tradition. Well, I caught something here. What? I want you to look at Phyllis in the background of this scene. At the very beginning of the scene, she is behind Dwight at her computer. And I think that they said action before she had a chance to clear her computer screen. Is it Gates? Because she looking at Gates? I don't know, because she did go on a long, deep dive where she would look for Gates for a long time, a gate for her driveway. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:39:34 I really tried to zoom in and see what it was, but what you have to see is that right at the top of the scene, she puts her hand up to cover up whatever is on her screen. And then at eight minutes, 53 seconds, when Michael comes out of his office, it's like a, it's a continuous shot when you come back to Phyllis,
Starting point is 00:39:55 the Dunder Mifflin screensaver is up. Oh, she was quick. She was quick. Yeah, she puts her hand up and with her left hand, she's like closing out of whatever she was doing. I have such a vivid memory of our camera guys, Randall or Matt saying, hey, Phyllis, we can see the gates on your screen.
Starting point is 00:40:13 Cause like for a year, she looked at gates for her driveway. Aw, that makes me laugh. Well, it's at this point that Pam and Jim are in the kitchen. They are not participating in the hoisting of Michael. And Pam suggests to Jim that they sneak out and buy something for Kevin. Yeah. At 10 minutes, 33 seconds, you guys. We learn who Dwight tips and who he doesn't.
Starting point is 00:40:38 And let me tell you, he tips his urologist. He can't pulverize his own kidney stones. And he only tips people who do jobs that he couldn't do himself. So when the sub delivery guy who was played by Justin Maloney, by the way, delivers a bunch of sub sandwiches, Dwight gives him exact change because he could have delivered his own subs. He could have.
Starting point is 00:41:03 He didn't, but he could have. And then in the break room, we find out that these sub sandwiches are baloney, tomato, and ketchup. Yes. That's it. There's no other options. It's baloney, tomato, and ketchup.
Starting point is 00:41:17 What is that? Angela, we have a fan question. This is a fan question from Old Man David. Okay, he wanted to know, did any of you guys actually eat any of that horrible subsanwich? I was at right aid. Do you remember, did anyone eat them
Starting point is 00:41:34 and were they actually baloney and ketchup? Old man David, whatever those sandwiches were, were maybe set out by craft services and people could maybe snack on them. But I don't remember the cast or crew eating them, but they never let things go to waste. If they had food that was in a scene that was edible, they would set it out over by where all the snacks were,
Starting point is 00:41:58 anything that wasn't used, or they would give them to crew members. So like, if we had a scene where we had a bunch of birthday cakes, if they didn't use those birthday cakes, they would give them to people to take home. That's true. Maybe we set them out and who knows what they really were. We don't know.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Yeah, maybe they were normal sandwiches, but my character, Kabash, is anyone eating because she's got a really crappy attitude about these sandwiches and she just makes Michael really mad and he packs them up and he's like, fine, choke on it and he walks right up and he's like, fine, choke on it and he walks right out. Well, then Angela, we have another one of Michael's sad birthday talking heads about his childhood.
Starting point is 00:42:31 This time he talks about being 16 years old and how he was supposed to go out on a date with a classmate named Julie, but she went out with a different Michael from his class instead because she didn't realize which Michael she was supposed to go out with. He just has had a whole, yeah. Here's an interesting catch, Angela, in this talking head, he says he had to hear all about it the next day at school. Well, you mentioned that his birthday was March 15th.
Starting point is 00:43:04 I have a Dunderpedia catch for you. Okay. They figured out that Michael's 16th birthday would have been March 15th, 1980. That was a Saturday. So the next day would have been Sunday and Michael wouldn't have been at school to hear all about it.
Starting point is 00:43:21 What the heck? What? That's a crazy catch. Get it together. Get it together, writers room. I feel like a kinship with whoever figured out this fact because of the 45 minutes I spent trying to find the Ames and Carbon Dail.
Starting point is 00:43:38 Oh yeah, you did. You looked for them for a long, long time. I did. Well, lady, you're a Pisces, you're intense, and you're passionate when the subject moves me. That's right. That's right. And carbon Dale.
Starting point is 00:43:53 Now we're at the right aid with Jim and Pam. Yeah. Extra flirty. You haven't really had an episode in a bit where you two got to be just like flirty, flirty. And so I feel like probably for fans, they were so excited to be like, oh, they're back at it again. They're in in Cahoots. Yes, they bought 69 cup of noodles for Kevin, some M&Ms and his favorite movie, American Pie 2.
Starting point is 00:44:16 Oh, man. And then Pam even teases Jim for buying some fabric softener. Oh, she's like, you use fabric softener. And I feel like her internal monologue is like, oh, it's so cute. He does his laundry and he makes sure his clothes are soft. He's going to be a great husband.
Starting point is 00:44:30 I love him. Oh, well, you know Roy isn't using any fabric softener. Roy's not doing laundry. Exactly. Well, now, next up, Angela is my favorite scene from this whole episode. No cookie. No cookie. Oh, you know, we talk about things that people will say to us when they meet us. I get saved
Starting point is 00:44:51 bandit and I get no cookie. Well, Dwight and Ryan are in the kitchen and Angela enters and tries to take the cake. The birthday cake from Dwight, but Dwight won't let go of it. But she's the head of the party planning committee. It's her job to bring out the cake. Yes, and they get in a little tiff about it, and then Dwight says, hey, is that meeting to discuss finances still on for later. And Angela's like, fine, fine, but don't expect any cookie. And Dwight says, but what if I'm hungry?
Starting point is 00:45:36 No, cookie. And then she leaves. And then Ryan's expression, Ryan LBJ, your look is so fantastic. I'm like, what the f did I just witness? What did happen? But then he has that silent talking head. All of that, whatever that minute and a half of television is from the time that scene starts
Starting point is 00:46:02 until the end of his talking head is just my favorite from this episode. I loved it. It's so good. BJ's so good. It, it like makes it. It makes it, you know. So now it's happy birthday to Michael.
Starting point is 00:46:17 The cake is out. The candles are lit. Michael is going to blow out his candles. And at the same time, Kevin gets his phone call. Is it, is it the phone call? No, it's Stacey. Stacey. He says it's Stacey.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Michael is pissed because his candles aren't trick candles. And this is when everyone's kind of hugging Kevin and Michael's like, you guys stop. What is going on? Angela says very pointedly. No one cares about your birthday, Michael. Yeah. Kevin's waiting to hear if you have skin cancer, Michael.
Starting point is 00:46:52 This is like, this is more important. She just like flattens it. She, I mean, she just destroys whatever good mood he was hoping to have. Well, lady, fan comments from Delaney and Kathy O'Dell, they both said, I feel like everyone was really hard on Michael. He didn't know about Kevin. And it was his birthday.
Starting point is 00:47:15 Is his reaction like really that out of line? Well, here's the thing. He's being a little bit of a baby, but I think if any of us really cared about him, the way we should, as his co-workers, someone should have pulled him aside early in the morning and said, hey, listen, Kevin had this biopsy. Here's what's going on. We just want you to know. We don't know if you know. Yeah, right? Right. So that in the moment, he wouldn't be such a jerk because someone would have let him in on it. Now, listen, he still would have been bummed. He still would have spent a ton of energy trying to make everyone somehow find a way to
Starting point is 00:47:51 be okay celebrating his birthday. Yeah. Which he's going to do later. Okay. Remember earlier, when I told you that behind Jim's talking head, there was a winter scene? Oh, is this the payoff? Give it to me. I want you to notice that in the background
Starting point is 00:48:09 of this birthday candle scene, my cardigan is draped on the back of my chair. It's a really nice detail because if you notice at the store, I'm not wearing it. I also want you to know that on the coat rack, in a little bit, you're gonna see Pam's giant puffy coat that you're gonna see her wearing later at the ice rink is hanging up,
Starting point is 00:48:37 and Jim's big heavy winter coat are on the coat rack. I see what's happening here. Why didn't they take their coats if it's snowing out? If it's so freaking cold that they wore their heavy coats to work that day, why is Pam leaving her cardigan behind and going shopping and just a button-down shirt? What's up? Is it cold out or not cold out? It's cold out. Which one?
Starting point is 00:49:01 Someone's slipping on the job there. I don't know. I don't know. It's cold out. Which one? Someone's slipping on the job there. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just saying. Okay. Well, I have a big thing to point out, everyone. What? Okay.
Starting point is 00:49:14 At 14 minutes, 44 seconds, Jim dares Pam to make an announcement over the store intercom. Because these two are like teenagers. They play jinx by me a coke. Now they're daring each other to do stupid things in public. Jim and Pam, what's going on? But guess what happens? What does Pam do? I know.
Starting point is 00:49:36 What does she do, Jenna? She, I know, Angela. She says, Luke, this is your father. Star Wars! She makes a Star Wars reference. Janet, did you know what you were doing when you did it? I did because I knew from just, you know,
Starting point is 00:49:59 pop culture knowledge that there was a movie from the Star Wars movies. Is it Empire Strikes Back? That? Yes, were they're fighting each other? Yes, and it is revealed that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. He says, I am your father and Luke's like, no, that's not true. I knew the reference, but I did get a fan question from K Slackish 1 who wanted to know if that bit
Starting point is 00:50:28 where I make the announcement was improvised, so the Luke line was scripted. However, I didn't improvise a little bit. So when I say I'm sorry into the mic, that was my fun idea and it was a little nod to the movie when Harry Metts Sally. So do you remember the scene in when Harry Metts Sally when Harry and Sally, they're singing karaoke in the store, they're singing Surrey with a friend on top, and Harry's ex-wife starts to walk up and he stops singing and Meg Ryan is like, oh my gosh, it's my voice.
Starting point is 00:51:04 I have the worst voice. And she's saying it all in the microphone. And Harry is like, no, I think I see Helen. And then really loudly into the microphone, Meg Ryan goes, Helen, and it like goes out over the store. I always thought that was such a funny bit. So I thought I'm gonna say, I'm sorry into the mic really loudly. And I don't know, it, I mean, probably no one would ever think about it, but you're inspiration for that moment. I love that.
Starting point is 00:51:36 I think that's so sweet. I also know how much you love when Harry met Sally. It's one of your favorite movies. Lady, when I was in college, I had a three and a half hour drive between St. Louis, which is where my parents still lived, and Kirk's Film Missouri, which is a little rural town in Missouri where I went to college at Truman State University. And what I did to pass the time was I recorded when Harry met Sally onto an audio tape and then I played the movie back for myself in my car on my drive. I have that
Starting point is 00:52:13 entire movie memorized from beginning to end. I love it. That is the sweetest thing. Yeah. I recorded on my tape recorder David Letterman's opening monologues and I would play them back and listen to his opening monologues. Oh my gosh! Well you said you wanted to work for a late-night talk show. I wanted to work in comedy. You love comedy late night. Yeah. Yeah. Ah lady Look, we were meant to be BFFs. We're both driving in our cars. We weren't to things we recorded off of our TVs because we're 100 on our tape decks. Lady, I just got a text from Lee. He sent me a photo of- Is this about your breath? Yeah. Can I go down and check it out? Can we take a break? He made sandwiches for the kids. I want to see if they like it.
Starting point is 00:53:05 Oh my god, he did it! Way to go Lee! But did they eat it? That's the question we'll find out. Alright, we'll be right back. We're back! Bread report for everyone who's curious. It's freaking delicious, I just ate a slice. Is it? It's good, I don't know if the kids are going to eat it. What does their deal? You know what, Angela?
Starting point is 00:53:34 They love all of my other breads. They love my sourdough bread, they love when I make rolls, they love when I make popovers. For whatever reason, I cannot get them to like my sandwich bread. They just want store-bought sandwich bread. I've tried three different recipes. Today will have been my third sandwich bread recipe. I don't know. Or they will like it the day it comes out of the oven, but the next day it's a no-go for them. They only want it warm out of the oven. I don't know. Shall we get back into this episode, Melody? I think we should. Where are we?
Starting point is 00:54:09 I believe that we are back in human resources. 15 minutes, 15 seconds. Kevin is talking to Toby about his skin cancer. Yeah, and this is a nice call back to season one's health care episode because Toby's like, can you get on your fiance's health care plan because honestly, arts is horrible. That's right. So to me, to me, it was a nice call back to the health care episode. Well, Michael comes over with a bunch of facts that are about why Kevin shouldn't be worried.
Starting point is 00:54:41 He's got some statistics. The subtext is why we can still celebrate Michael's birthday without any problem, but he's presenting it as why Kevin shouldn't be worried. Yeah. And then Toby's like, you know, kind of gives him some Toby sass. And Michael's like, why are you here? And Toby's like, I work here. Well, now Michael is going to announce that they're going somewhere and it's to make Kevin feel better. There's an outing for the whole office. But of course, if you remember in an earlier scene,
Starting point is 00:55:15 Michael asked Dwight if he's made all the plans for later. So this has been a matter. Oh, there's a big banner when we walk in. So that's how we birthday, Michael. Like this was planned for sure. Not by the party planning committee, by the way, Angela would not allocate funds to this. No. But Dwight had this, he had planned it. We had a fan question from Noelle, Angela, because we're about to go to the ice skating rink now. And that's the big surprise that he's
Starting point is 00:55:40 taking us all ice skating. And Noelle wanted to know, did you have a safety meeting about ice skating? Remember, safety meeting lit candle. I'm sure we did. I'm sure there was a safety meeting about we have heavy things being held on the ice. I'm sure there was all kinds of safety meetings. Well, I know we had a medic there, and the reason that I know this is because,
Starting point is 00:56:05 I don't know if you remember Angela, but Mindy fell while we were shooting. I don't remember that. And she hurt her knee. So you know there's that little bit of the ice skating rink where Kelly is helping Ryan. Yeah. Well, she fell and she heard her knee
Starting point is 00:56:18 and the medic had to give her some ice, but she was able to finish filming. Her knee was okay. I thought it was interesting when you saw the different couplings of people ice skating. In the beginning, you see Kelly and Ryan. You see Pam and Jim. I sort of just kind of go around solo.
Starting point is 00:56:34 Yeah. So this is right. We just kind of, we don't want anyone to know. We're seeing each other. So we skate alone. And then later, you see Ryan and Phyllis holding hands and ice skating. Yes, at 19 minutes. We had a fan catch by KP who said I love when you see Ryan and Phyllis at the skating rink holding hands so Ryan won't fall. It's such a random glimpse into their friendship.
Starting point is 00:56:58 I think Angela, they did that because Mindy was icing her knee. And what's really cute if you watch it is Phyllis is so tickled. She's so tickled. It's just really cute. It's very, very sweet. And I actually, I went back after I read that comment and I watched it and it's really very sweet to see the two of them skating together.
Starting point is 00:57:16 So that was an accident. I had another fan question from Live Long, California. Did you and John know how to ice skate? Or did you have to learn for this episode? So here's something interesting in this episode. Jim is kind of helping Pam on the ice. But right before we film this episode, I had actually been in some intense ice skating training
Starting point is 00:57:40 because I was filming a movie with Will Ferrell called Blades of Glory. And yeah, every Saturday morning for a few months, I had to go early in the morning and spend about three hours learning to ice skate and the crazy thing is my character didn't even ice skate in the movie. I am completely pretending to not know how to ice skate in this scene on the office because I had actually just... I mean, kind of learned how to ice skate quite well thanks on the office because I had actually just, I mean, kind of learned how to ice skate quite well thanks to this movie training. You're describing my fantasy, but all I ever wanted was to be cast
Starting point is 00:58:13 in something where they're like, listen, Angela, you're gonna have to learn kung fu. You're gonna go every Saturday, you're gonna become a kung fu master, or you're gonna have to learn how to throw an axe. You're going to get really good at throwing axes. Like, I wanted to learn something like that, but it's never happened.
Starting point is 00:58:33 Well speaking of skating, Michael is zipping around in his hockey gear. So in the background of Michael's talking head, it's around 17 minutes, 42 seconds. There's a really great shot of that professional ice skater, Bert Lankin, who stands in for Oscar. He's doing a bunch of twirls. It's just sort of fun. You realize nothing with you, though, Ange. I know nothing with me, but do you realize one of the office members who's not on the ice
Starting point is 00:58:59 is Creed? And it's because he's in the arcade playing a shoot him up game with a bunch of kids. Oh, yes, that's right. That's right. Well, there's also that scene where Michael checks Toby into the wall. Yeah. We had a fan question from Cardinals fan. Was Toby harmed in the making of that scene?
Starting point is 00:59:19 No. And if you watch closely, Steve's body never really touches Toby. Like he really, like Steve, I think because he's so good, he kind of slams into the wall and makes a noise with his arms. And then Paul just sort of falls to the ground himself. No, Steve had total control, but it's because he's such a good skater. And so he could definitely sort of show off a little bit and do all that stuff. Oh, this was for sure one of Steve's favorite film days, I think.
Starting point is 00:59:52 I need to be. He had to be. He had to be. He was having the best time. Yeah. And also, he had the best time because Nancy Carrell, his wife in real life, shows up in this episode again as Carol Stills, a real estate agent. She's on the ice rink. But Michael's so innocent. He's like,
Starting point is 01:00:11 oh, was this for sale? And she's like, no, Michael, like, I can go, I can go places that aren't for sale, you know, like, my kids are here to ice skate. And then he's so sweet with the kids. He's so sweet. And we sort of found that like Michael probably could have tried to play professional hockey, but he didn't think it was a great job to have if you want a family. And that's all he wants. So it's just this theme again that Michael just wants a family. That's what he wants. Well, you know, when he offers to pull the kids around the ice rink with his hockey stick, he's skating he wants. Well, you know when he offers to pull the kids around the ice rank with his hockey stick, he's skating backwards and he's pulling the kids, Lee does that all the time with our kids.
Starting point is 01:00:52 Aw. So when I saw that, I was like, oh, I think that's like a hockey guy thing to do. You pull your kids around as they hold onto the hockey stick. You just turned into like a 16 year old girl, googly eyes. You just thought about your husband. I know.
Starting point is 01:01:08 I wish you could have seen Jenna just now. She just literally did this weird thing with her shoulder and she kind of tossed her hair and she was like, I think it's a hockey guy thing. Like it was, what just happened to you? Clearly, when you saw your husband do that, you're like, yails, Yales, baby. I get real smitten with him sometimes especially when he does you know when he's on the ice.
Starting point is 01:01:33 Fathering. Yeah. Um, on the ice being a great dad. Okay. Now Kevin gets the phone call. Everyone skates around him. Jenna, I remember filming this because we had to time it out. And there were a bunch of us on the ice that skate up to where he is.
Starting point is 01:01:50 Do you remember this? Yes, and we have to all be able to stop. I didn't know how to stop. Yeah. That was my one problem. I didn't know how to stop. So I remember trying to like push really hard to slow myself down. So I didn't run into people,
Starting point is 01:02:05 but I was like stressed out. Well guess what? His results are negatives. Which is a good thing. You want your Michael to be negative. The likes to be negative. Doesn't understand that. No, Michael's like, Michael is gutted.
Starting point is 01:02:19 He's like, oh no, this is horrible. We're gonna beat this. And he has that amazing talking head where he's like, oh no, this is horrible. We're gonna beat this. And he has that amazing talking head where he's like, it turns out that in the medical field, negative is a good thing. Now, in the real world, negative means bad, but when it comes to test results, it was, it was one of those that you love, Angela,
Starting point is 01:02:43 where he's describing things to us that the rest of us all know. One of my favorite things is when Michael is like, I'm going to break this down for you. This is what it's like information we all know. This is probably coming as a surprise to you too. Yeah, I know. I'm going to tell you how. It turned out.
Starting point is 01:02:59 Yeah. Yes. Well, now we're opening gifts, lady. I know. I love this scene. We're opening gifts. I have actually I love this scene we're opening gifts I have actually been in the room where we filmed I'd been there before because I'd been to a kids birthday party And if you have a kids birthday party at this particular rank
Starting point is 01:03:15 Number one your birthday child gets to ride the Zamboni around the ice one time Oh, yes, and then you get to have all of your birthday cake and presents in this room where we were. So it kind of cracked me up that this is where Michael's birthday would be because he's so childlike. So we're sitting at this table. Kevin gets a card that says, get well soon or something like that. But it's got a lady in a bikini. This clearly made his day. He's going to save that. Maybe he'll put it with some of the things he keeps on his computer. Because he's a little pervy. He's very happy about this card.
Starting point is 01:03:49 He loves it. And then Michael gets a Wilkesbury penguins hockey jersey from Dwight. This is a real team. It actually, well, and it says from Dwight. From Dwight number one, I have been to their rank, me and Craig Robinson, Brian Bob Gardner, Kate Flannery for the first ever office convention we got to go. We got to go on the ice. We all got a jersey. I still have my jersey. That's amazing. Yeah. So they're the AHL team. So they're not the NHL team. They're the AHL team. And that's, yeah, real
Starting point is 01:04:23 hockey team. Real hockey team and their mascot is tux the penguin Everyone there was really really nice. That was that was super fun. Well then Pam gives Michael Night swept from everyone big says it's from everyone. Yes. Yeah Yes from everyone in the office we had a fan question from boss lady Is there really a cologne called Night Sweeped? Well, this.
Starting point is 01:04:48 There's not, but Jenna, did you know this is a callback? Did you catch this? Yes. So from Hot Girl. And they're cleaning out his car. Yes, in season one, episode six, Hot Girl, Ryan and Michael are cleaning out his car. And Michael says that's my
Starting point is 01:05:05 dracar nor, right? Is that how you say that? Yeah. And Ryan's like no, it's right a night swept and Michael's like, uh-uh, it's a perfect smell alike. I'm not paying for the label. So he's probably very excited. He likes night swept and he already is a buyer of night swept And here he gets a four pack. He got lotion, cologne, some kind of body spray maybe. Yes, that was all packaged and created by Phil Shea. That is a fictional cologne line. However, I just want to let you know that I did Google Night Sweat
Starting point is 01:05:45 and there is a Christian-based mystery novel by writer Marvin Reame called Night Sweat and it's available on Amazon. Okay. There you have it. For super fans out there who might wanna read a book called Night Sweat. It doesn't smell like anything from what I would assume
Starting point is 01:06:06 since it's a book and it's not a cologne. There you go. There you go. Where are we? It's the end of the episode. That's it. And it ends this episode with a talking head. She says it was a good day. Angela, because of what you said earlier, which is that, you know,
Starting point is 01:06:23 finally we get a little flirty flirt for her and Jim. They got to go shopping. She got to learn he uses fabrics off her. I mean, this was a good day for Pam. She got to pretend what it would be like maybe to be Jim's girlfriend for a day. And run an errand. Run errands together and she loved it.
Starting point is 01:06:43 She loved it. So it was a good day. And Michael had a great birthday. As it turns out, he got to ice skate. He got a present he liked. Kevin was going to be okay. So it all ended well. It did. But before we say goodbye to Michael's birthday, there is a deleted scene that I have to read. I'm not going to tell you anything about it. It's a Dwight talking head. I'm going to read it and then I'm going to just watch your reaction. Okay? All right. Okay. This is okay. Deleted scene of a Dwight talking head from Michael's birthday. Michael's birthday is hard for me because he gets very excited. But he's also under a lot of pressure, which builds up until he's ready
Starting point is 01:07:25 to explode. As his right hand man, it's my job to release that pressure so that he can enjoy himself, if only for a moment. Wow. That is brilliant. That is brilliant. That is a delightful, delightful talking head, written by Lee Eisenberg and Jean Stupnitzky. Right. That's right in their willhouse, but you know it probably was hard for rain to get through that. For sure. Guys, that's it. That's Michael's birthday. We celebrated Michael's birthday. Happy birthday, Michael. We hope you had a good time. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Next week, we're going to do some drug testing. Dwight, why is your urine green? We'll find out.
Starting point is 01:08:13 Oof! Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jennifer Scher, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassie Jirkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Keifer. Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. You

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