Office Ladies - Lotto with Mark Proksch
Episode Date: May 24, 2023This week we’re breaking down “Lotto” and the ladies are joined by Mark Proksch (“What We Do in the Shadows”, “Better Call Saul”) who played Nate on “The Office”! When the warehouse ...employees win the lottery, they all quit, forcing Andy to hire new warehouse employees and Darryl to grapple with how he missed out on this lucrative opportunity because he moved upstairs to be warehouse manager. Mark Proksch shares how he yo-yo’d his way onto “The Office”, Angela has a “Sass Tracker” and Jenna points out a dream she has in common with Pam. Also FYI, we don’t technically have a hearing problem but sometimes if there’s a lot of noises occurring at the same time, we can only hear and enjoy “Office Ladies”. Check out Barak Hardley’s website: www.barakhardley.com 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
Transcript
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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.
Hello. Hi. Welcome, everyone, to a breakdown of Lotto. Yes. Are you guys ready to get
lucky? It's season eight, episode three. It was written by Charlie Grandy, directed
by John Krasinski, and was an episode that received a solid B rating from reviewer Miles
McNutt. Way to go. Would you like a summary? You know I would. When the warehouse crew
win the lottery and quit their jobs, the upstairs employees are left to pick up the slack until
a new crew can be hired. Aaron, Jim, Dwight, and Kevin can't seem to figure out how to
load boxes of paper into a delivery truck. It takes them all day. And then they don't
even finish. All day. And not just all day, but they become like Wiley E. Coyote trying
to build some kind of device to load them. It's just, it's bonkers. In the meantime,
a very depressed Daryl issues an ultimatum to Andy. He says, fire me or make me manager.
Yeah. And then the rest of the gang fantasize about what they would do if they had win the
lottery, which causes a little friction between Pam and Jim. They have dueling fantasies.
Yeah, they don't get along in their fantasy lives. They don't. Which normally you would
think that your marriage is even better and stronger in your fantasy life, but not so.
Or in your fantasy life, is it more clear because you have options? Oh, oh, that's a
very like therapisty thing to say, Angela. I like that. I love that thought. Journal
on that, everybody. Well, listen, we don't have any fast facts today because instead
we have an amazing interview with Mark Brooks, who plays Nate, who is featured in this episode,
but who also appears in 19 episodes of the office spanning three seasons. We can't be
more excited for you to hear this interview. He's an absolute delight of a person. Yes,
we have wanted to talk to him for a while. And this is not the last time we're talking
to him because we have more, more to ask Mark about as the seasons progress. And I know
that we always say that everybody is so nice and amazing. But I think you're going to hear
in this interview that Mark is like at the top. Yeah, he's the best. He's 100% real
deal. And here you go. Here's our conversation with Mark. Mark, hello. Welcome to Office
Ladies. Thank you guys for having me. I really appreciate it. Well, we are so excited to
talk to you. We are really enjoying Nate and Nate has some real fun stuff coming up.
And we just know the fans can't wait to hear from you. Well, that's exciting. I've been
waiting a long time to get my chance to talk on Office Ladies. So Mark, when your character
was introduced, we told a little bit of your origin story, but I just want you to tell
it again in your own words from the beginning. This is our favorite question to ask our guests.
How did you get your job on the office? I quite honestly backed into it. I was unemployed
living in Wisconsin in Milwaukee. And I had this idea to make my friends laugh, which
was go on morning news shows as a character and a character that would be in nept and
clumsy. But the main thing was that the anchors and the the news station had no idea I was
in character. Now, I had never taken acting classes or anything like that. I just thought
it would be funny. And so I would go on these morning shows as this yo-yo master, which
case case, the yo-yo master who was not a master of the yo-yo. No, because I can't yo-yo.
I'm not even a big fan of yo-yoing. And so I would get on and start rambling about my
chaotic personal life. And finally, they would ask me to do a demonstration, and that would
go horribly wrong. The idea was to do 10 or 11 or 12 of these. And if you watch them all
in a row, you would get this kind of strange story arc about this guy's life, all told
through two minute, one minute segments on morning shows.
Now, I have to stop you because you're saying you never took any acting classes. Did you
take like improv or sketch comedy? No?
No, I never did any of that.
What about like a writing class? Because there is a real story arc there.
Yeah, it's no, you know, all that was just myself wanting to do this.
I'm so fascinated by this. I always have been, I've made you tell me this story so many times
because every time it just blows my mind. Okay, so I'll let you go on.
Okay, so I did these appearances. And like I said, the idea was to do 10, 11, 12 and
to get a story arc. And what I didn't expect was for people to start posting them on YouTube.
And this was back in 2010. And so there were still videos that could really catch fire
and become viral. And the K-Stress morning show appearances became viral. And I at first
I was really annoyed because I was like, well, they've ruined my opportunity here to tell
like this story arc I want to tell. Because I had no idea of, you know, coming to LA coming
to Hollywood. And oddly enough, a friend of mine got a text message from one of the writers
on the show. And she figured out who I was through computer sleuthing and what have you.
And she asked if I, you know, would I want to talk to Paul Lieberstein and who was running
the show. And I was like, yeah, of course I would. A few minutes later, Paul calls
me. Oh my gosh. And all of a sudden I'm talking to Toby from the office. And a month later,
they flew me out. I met with the writers. And a month after that, I was on the show.
I mean, wow, that's crazy. The real crazy thing here. Yeah. The writer that reached
out was my now wife, Amelie Gillette, who had just started writing on the show a couple
weeks before all this blew up. So you got an arc on the office and a wife out of this
the yo-yo idea that was just meant to entertain your friends. It's an incredible story.
You know, it's you don't hear too many stories like this anymore. You know, it's it's usually
oh, I was working for 12, 15 years. Yeah. You know, I'd started in commercials and what
have you. And I feel kind of guilty because it was kind of overnight almost. But I I I'm
so grateful that it all happened. I got so much out of just making a jackass of myself
on morning news. So you had seen the office before you got cast. Obviously. Oh yeah. What
was it like to walk on to the set? You know, the first person I met from the cast was rain
and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what that was like. Now you guys can say that
because he is the sweetest, nicest, most genuine person. He's a good, good soul. Exactly.
And so, you know, it could have gone to one of two ways. And after now, I've been acting
for, you know, quite a few years now. And I've as a guest star have gone on many shows.
The cast is either welcoming or they can be a little cold and a little distance because
here comes a new face and that's time away from you as an actor and your character. Or
you can just, you know, a high tide lifts all boats type scenario where they're happy
that there's fresh people coming in. And you guys were so nice and welcoming to me. I really
got spoiled coming into the show because of that, because you guys were so nice and welcoming.
And what a first show to cut your teeth on as an actor. I mean, everyone was so generous
and encouraging from the top down. I looked back on it and I was so lucky, so very, very
fortunate.
Well, you know, this episode we're breaking down is the Lotto, but we all felt like we
won the lottery ticket, you know, the minute we were cast. Yeah. So I love hearing that
because that's how we felt on set. We were just really happy to be there and counted
ourselves lucky every day. But Mark, we wanted to ask you if you have any favorite memories
or behind the scene moment or anything you would want to share from your time on the
show.
Gosh, there are so many, you know, anytime I could get one of you guys to break. I was
a feather in my cap, especially as a, you know, a person just starting out and acting.
I felt like, you know, there was a scene I remember with Jenna where I'm, she's grilling
me. And I think it was in season nine, vandalism. We're down in the warehouse. Yeah. It's one
of my strongest memories of breaking.
And we just had so much fun. And it's such a fun memory for me that that moment. You
know, the first day on the show or my first time ever in front of a set in front of a
crew filming, I had to knock down a beehive that was in front of the office. And that
was the first time I had ever acted in my life professionally or in front of a crew.
And all of a sudden you're, you're in front of 35 people, 40 people, all looking at you.
And I just remember thinking to myself, well, either you can do this or you can't, but
there's no real going back. So you might as well give it your all. And I had, it's one
of those moments where you're both terrified, but having so much fun. And it just felt right.
And I had never had a moment like that in my, in my life.
Wow.
Well, I just remember all of us being very enamored with you in scenes. You were this
character and you had this way about you that was so unique and so deeply funny. It
was so deeply funny to me, Mark, the way you did Nate.
It was so earnest.
Yes.
So earnest. And you had.
And real.
And yes, you, you would do this thing that Steve did. That was really hard for me. You
have a look that comes across your face. I can't really explain it, but Steve has it
as well. And if I catch your eye when you kind of do this, it's this expression of like,
huh, I'm a goner. I am a goner.
And so there were a few actors on set that I couldn't make eye contact with really directly.
And you and Steve are like top two.
Well, good Lord, that's high praise. Yeah, I, you know, it may just be my dumb face,
but I'll take the compliment. Thank you.
It just, I believed everything you were saying. That's what it is.
In rewatching the show, another scene that I remember that was just insane that I got
to be in with you as well was the, the toilet paper machine scenes where you had to unply
and reply the toilet paper. Do you remember that thing?
Oh, absolutely. That was, that's one of the most reference scenes I get when people come
up to me. But yeah, that, I just remember being shown the contraption and how to work
it. And I just thought, wow, this is, this is a lot of work for a quick joke. And that's
why I loved the office is that a lot of times there would, there would be a lot of, of groundwork
ahead of the joke, especially for these physical jokes, like the replying and, and unplying
of the toilet paper machine. Yeah, that honestly, it's, it's the most referenced scene that
I get.
I believe it. We have people like wrote in that asked us how it was built. Like they're
just fascinated by all of it and Phil Shea in the props department.
Yeah. You know, it's one of those things that I look back on. And I, again, I think, gosh,
what a show to just come in on that everyone's loving what they're doing. Every department
was in love with the show. And you don't realize how rare that is until you start working on
other stuff. And they didn't look at it as just a nine to five. They really loved everyone
involved and loved what they were doing. And it's, it shows on the screen, I think, today.
When people ask you about your time on the office, what are some of the most frequently
asked questions? Like, what do people want to know?
People would often ask, did you guys break all the time? Was it always really fun to
be on set? And I also get a lot of, you know, are the characters like that in real life?
Are the actors like their characters? Which is still fascinating today that we get these
types of questions because, you know, you hear stories of people writing into I love
Lucy being mad at Ricky and first reading his wife that way. And you're like, gosh,
that was such a quaint naive time. But it still happens. People are like, you know, is Angela
really uptight? And it's like, no, not really at all. You know, and, you know, is Mindy really
like that? No, Mindy's not really like that.
Maybe a little.
Maybe a little. Is Brian dumb? It's like, no, Brian's a very smart guy.
That's usually what I get asked.
Do you still get recognized as Nate?
I do, which is crazy to me because I'm, you know, 10 years heavier and doughier than I
was back then. The really surprising thing is the age. And I'm sure you guys are getting
this as well, probably far more than I am. Younger people that come up to me, teenagers,
and people in their early 20s who love the show. We were in Italy just last week and
I went into a wine shop there and it was a young guy behind the counter. And he knew
me as Nate from the office and that blew my mind because, you know, I've I've done stuff
since then, but the office still is so relevant to this day. What luck and what a blessing
that we got to be on that show. It's just amazing.
Well, you have some fun episodes coming up. So we are going to keep pestering you because
there's one or two, I don't want to give it away, but Dwight Angela wedding moments
that I want to ask you about. I guess I did just give it away if you're watching it for
the first time. Yeah, some of those episodes.
Nate, I thank you so much for coming on Office Ladies and sharing your story with us. You
know, in my book that I wrote, which is The Actor's Life, a survival guide, it's like
advice for aspiring actors. You were kind enough to let me share your story in that
book as well. Because I think like there's a lot of people who are anywhere in the world
and they have these artistic things inside of them that they want to express. And I think
you're such a great example of just doing it, just expressing it for no even known goal.
Just because the world needs laughter and artists and creativity, and then it completely
transformed your life. But I just love your story so much. I think it's so inspiring.
Oh, thank you. I really appreciate that. I truly, truly believe that if you do good work,
if you have a point of view, and you're truly interested and passionate about your take
on comedy or drama or anything or enacting, I wholeheartedly believe that the cream rides
us to the top. And that people will take notice. Especially nowadays, there's so many different
ways to show your talent out there and show your creativity. Don't get disheartened by
all the flocksom and jutsom that is out there. Just keep doing what you find to be interesting
and unique and hopefully others will find that to be the case.
Yeah, I so agree. I so agree. It's not just the idea, but it's a call to action if you
have it to try it, you know, and put it out there.
Absolutely.
Mark, is there anything that you're working on now that we could share with our listeners
where they could see you doing more stuff?
Yeah, I'm currently on a show called What We Do In The Shadows. We're going into our
fifth, well, the fifth season is about to drop on FX, and we're going to be filming
the sixth season in the fall. So that's what I've been working on.
Well, Mark, we just absolutely adore you. We definitely want you back on Office Ladies.
And if there's ever anything we can give a shout out to our uplift, we're here for you.
Well, I really appreciate you guys having me on. This has been fun to reminisce, but
also just has been so great to get to see you too.
Yeah.
Will you tell Amelie we said hello as well?
Yeah, absolutely. She was excited. I was doing this, so.
Yay!
Yay!
We are back. Let's jump right in. It looks like everybody has gone to get coffee, not
at Dwight's caffeine corner. Where did they go? Where are they coming back from? I have
questions. Why isn't Dwight annoyed that people shop somewhere other than the caffeine corner?
Huh?
Angela, I love how they're walking up with these drinks as if there is some business around
the corner where they purchase these items. When we know that the only thing around that
hedge is a junkyard.
Yeah, and a train track.
Yes, but you're right. They have come back with these, I guess, blended drinks and they're
going to come upon Oscar who has noticed that there is a dog inside of a car and he is outraged.
He is ready to just go off. I mean, what classic snowboarder move? Leave your dog in the car
with the windows up.
Yeah, probably didn't leave his weed in the car.
Nope.
Well, Oscar ends up smashing the window, but then not letting the dog out and then taping
up the window. Oh, he's also smashed the tail light of the car for good measure. Let's just
pump the brakes for one second. Dwight pours his milkshake through the sunroof. This means
the sunroof is open. This means, you know, not great that the dog's in the car, but there's
an open sunroof. The dog is not, in fact, enclosed with no air. Oscar did not need to
bash out a window. There's an open sunroof.
We got a fan mail flurry about that, Angela.
Well, good.
Also, the sunroof is clearly letting in more air than Oscar's cardboard window with holes
in it.
Yeah.
You know, Jenna, I had an alternate pitch for the title of this episode.
Oh, what is it?
So much sass.
So much sass?
Yeah.
It starts with Oscar. It's going to continue, and I'm going to point out the sass the whole
way through.
I will look forward to that.
So in addition to the fan mail flurry about the sunroof being open, we got a lot of fan
questions about this cold open, and I'm happy to say that Steve Burgess gave us all the
answers.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Go Steve.
Our first question comes from Maddie in College Station, Texas, who wanted to know how hot
was it on the day that the dog was in the car, and how was the stunt done to ensure that
the dog did not get overheated in real life?
Steve told me that the weather that day was a sunny 88 degrees.
However, we shot first thing in the morning, so it was a bit cooler.
Oh, yeah. It probably would have been like in the 60s.
Yes.
That's how the days go here in LA. They start out cool jacket weather, then it shorts and
t-shirt, and then by evening you're putting that jacket back on again.
Steve said that the dog was only in the car for the shots that we see him, that he actually
did not spend very much time in the car at all.
Same thing goes for Brian, who gets in his own car.
Yeah, as Kevin.
He wasn't sure if we had pointed this out on a previous podcast, but Kevin's car was
Veda's car in real life.
Oh, really?
Our script supervisor.
Yes.
Steve also said that we used, of course, Bob Dunn's animal trainers for this stunt.
The trainers were Rick and Benita, and the dog's real name was Tango.
Tango.
Mm-hmm.
Now, next fan question, Cameron C. from California wanted to know, how messy did the car get
from Dwight pouring his slushie in, and also wanted to know whose car was it?
Well, this car was not a crew member's car.
This was a rented car.
Thank goodness.
Right?
I know.
Could you imagine?
No.
This was a rented car from Cinema Vehicles.
Steve said the car did get pretty messy.
They had to clean it up.
They also had a glass guy who was standing by to put new glass windows in, but they were
the fake glass windows.
He said, we were able to do the glass breaking in only two takes, and if you look really
closely, you will see that when Oscar breaks the window, there is no dog in the car.
Like, he's not in the car anywhere.
I think they were hoping you'd think maybe he jumped in the front seat or maybe into
the back.
Scooched over to the other side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But at one minute, two seconds, it's very clear that there is no dog in there.
And then, you know, even though it was tempered glass that didn't have any sharp edges, they
cleaned all that out and then put the dog back into the car for the rest of the scene.
And that's how we did it.
There you go.
Ultimately, you know, no one wants to adopt the dog, so they do leave the dog in the car
with an open sunroof and the cardboard, whole, punchy things.
And I just want to know whose car was that and who walked back to that car.
Wouldn't you come in the building and complain or file a police report?
Yeah.
I mean, it's not going to be that difficult to figure out who vandalized this car.
No.
The first thing I would do is be like, well, first of all, I would go into the, you know,
the building and say, Hank, whose car is that?
There's a dog in it.
That's what I would do.
Yeah.
First of all.
No.
Not our office crew.
I would smash the window open with a tire iron, Angela.
No, no, I'd find who it was and then shame them.
That would, that would have worked well for your episode so much sass.
I know.
So much shame could be another episode.
So much shame.
Back in the bullpen, we're going to find out that the warehouse has won the lottery.
I mean, they won $950,000.
It's about $100,000 a person and they all quit.
Well, $100,000 before taxes.
Well, that's true.
That's true.
But they quit.
They're like, we're out of here.
I mean, they come up and celebrate.
There's dancing.
Someone moons everybody.
Yeah.
We got a fan question from Eli and Avery W from Lake County, BC.
At the very beginning when the warehouse people win the lottery, they pick up Meredith.
Was that scripted?
You know what?
It was scripted.
Here is what it said in the shooting draft.
D-roll.
The warehouse guys burst into the office cheering and hugging.
One of them moons Andy.
Meredith jumps on Glen.
Oh.
Yeah.
He didn't pick her up.
Meredith just wanted to join in the party.
Well, Daryl's ex, Justine, is going to call him and congratulate him on his lotto win.
But Daryl has to explain he wasn't part of the lottery pool anymore because of his promotion.
He doesn't participate.
So now she would like Glen's number.
He's like, oh, I have it right here, click.
This starts Daryl down a dark road.
This is where he explains that they won playing his birthday.
Yeah.
Could you even imagine?
No.
That would sting.
That would sting a little bit.
You know, this cracked me up, Jenna, because there's been time to time that, you know,
people go and get a lottery ticket, you know, like it hits a big number and the kids are
like, this is kind of fun and we just get one.
And we always play our birthdays or anniversary.
It's so common.
It's very common.
We never win.
And I was really curious.
Do most people play birthdays and anniversaries and special numbers?
And I started Googling and, oh my goodness.
What?
Lady, just the world of lottery and the numbers.
It is fascinating.
It is fascinating.
You could do a whole podcast called Lottery, really.
It's just so cool.
I found out that there are websites that track the lottery numbers that are pulled the most
and you got to hear this.
According to an article written by Emily DeNuzo for Reader's Digest Magazine in February
of this year, this article talked about lotteries that you can play anywhere in the U.S., you
know, because there's also state lotteries.
That's the whole other thing.
But according to USA Mega, here are the numbers most commonly drawn in the Mega Million.
Ready?
Wait, these are the most common winning numbers that are drawn?
Yeah.
Not necessarily all together, but these are the numbers that hit the most.
Ready?
I'm going to get a pen and some paper.
I'm going to write these down.
Look, I wrote them down for us and after this podcast today, I'm going to go get us a lottery
ticket.
This is awesome.
Okay.
Ready?
Yes.
22, 11, 9, 10, 4, and 19, 22 was drawn 26 times and 11 was drawn 24 times.
Now this is a survey over an extended period of time, over a few years, right?
Okay.
Several other of the most common Mega Million numbers were drawn 18 times.
These numbers are 13, 14, 17, 18, 24, and 25.
13, 17, and 24 are numbers I always play in the Mega Million.
Those were like my favorite numbers.
Remember them for the Mega.
Meanwhile, stay clear of 21, 45, 55, and 51 when choosing your first five numbers.
Why?
Because they never get picked.
They're not as popular.
This is so weird because it's obviously totally random.
Every number has an equal opportunity to pop up.
So it is fascinating to me that there are certain numbers that pop up so much more than
others.
Yes.
And listen, most people that win, 70% of people that win the lottery did where the computer
picks for you.
Do you know what I mean?
Really?
Yes.
70% of winners didn't even pick their own numbers.
So it is incredibly random, but this is what some data is showing, and I'm sharing it.
This is fascinating to me.
It's making me think that there's something in the balls.
There's maybe a little, the way the balls were made, the 69 ball.
I don't know that there's a conspiracy, but...
I'm not saying anybody planned it.
I'm just saying maybe it happened.
Maybe they're slightly just ever so like a millimeter smaller or something.
I don't know.
Or bigger.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Has anyone measured them?
I don't know.
Jenna, have you ever known anyone that's won the lottery?
Like really won?
Not like just like $2 or something?
No.
Okay.
Are you ready for this?
Do you?
I know that I bring up 1-800-DENYST a lot.
I know.
But guess what?
A lot happened there, and after I left being an operator, one of the operators that was
still there that I knew won the lottery.
How much?
$120 million.
What?
What?
What?
$120 million?
Yes.
Yes, Jenna.
She was an inspiring actress working at 1-800-DENYST like so many of us because they had good
hours if you wanted to audition.
She played the lottery, and her and another person who she didn't know won.
So they split it, they each got $60 million, which I guess after taxes is $30 million,
but oh my gosh.
And I saw her a few years ago.
We have mutual friends from our time working as operators, and they had a Halloween party.
I was at their Halloween party, and there she was.
And I was like, oh my gosh, how are you doing?
She's doing great.
She bought a farm.
She has like a, you know, I think she grows avocados or avocado oil.
Yeah.
Can you imagine?
No.
I wouldn't want to win that amount of money.
I don't want that responsibility.
Yeah.
Well, you know we have an office crossover to the lottery kind of, which is Jeff Blitz,
our director who we love, did a documentary about lotto winners.
It's so good.
It's called Lucky.
It came out in 2010.
I started rewatching it.
You can find it on Amazon Prime.
It is so fascinating.
It follows different people, winners of the lottery, losers of the lottery, people that
play numbers all the time.
It's very good.
It is an amazing, amazing documentary.
Yeah.
But kind of like what you were saying, there's some people that are like the pressure of
winning that, you know, it completely can derail their life.
Some people know, but it's just very fascinating, all of it.
Well, here's the thing.
I did a whole deep dive on the lottery as well.
I hate to bog everybody down with more lottery facts, but in this next scene, everybody starts
discussing kind of what they would do if they won the lottery.
Everybody's fantasizing about it.
Everybody wishes it was them.
Yeah.
I called this the scene of sass and belly itching.
Please explain.
Well, at three minutes and 21 seconds, I'm standing behind Dwight and I just am scratching
that fake precker belly because it was so itchy and I am futzing with it through the
whole scene.
Well, we had a fan catch from Kaylee in Indianapolis who had a wardrobe catch for this scene.
Everyone is in purple.
Phyllis, Angela, Kelly, Oscar, Erin and Meredith are all wearing purple in this scene.
So you can add purple to your sass belly scratch observation.
Okay.
Well, the sass starts with Pam.
She says to Jim, you know, he's explaining what he would do.
He would, you know, live in Maine and bike or kayak to work or work at a bike shop and
kayak.
Anyway, lots of biking and kayaking.
And Pam says, and then on the weekends, would you hacky sack back to reality and spend time
with your wife and kids?
Mm-hmm.
Ding.
Second sass.
Next sass.
Jim sass.
He says, whoa, saucy.
And then we have some good old Ryan sass because Pam says she wants to live in a townhouse
in Soho.
And Ryan says, Soho's mostly lofts, but okay.
I loved that line.
I also noticed how it's Pam's dream to one day live in New York and it's my dream too.
I wrote that down.
I wrote that down.
I said, Jenna, this is you and Pam are aligned in this moment, although Pam brings back her
dream of having a terrace.
She does.
She needs to have like a balcony off of her townhouse slash loft apartment in New York.
Yeah.
I remember in Boys and Girls, she wanted the terrace.
Yes.
Well, what's really funny about this is that I did not have the dream of retiring in New
York when we shot this episode.
So I have only later in life had this in common with Pam.
Yeah.
Well, there's still more sass to come because now Meredith is going to say, good, a divorce.
Good, a divorce.
Yes.
Well, here's the thing I got curious about.
And it was a little bit because I remembered that documentary that you mentioned that Jeff
Blitz did is winning the lottery really a good thing for your life.
Hmm.
Yeah.
And according to an article on moneymarshmallow.com titled, Why do lottery winners go broke?
Winning the lottery does not sound great.
It's been reported that 70% of lottery winners lose all of their money, all of their money,
their winnings plus all the money they already had within five years of winning.
Wow.
So many of them go bankrupt and they believe it's for the following reasons, one, lack
of money management skills, two, treating your lottery winnings as quote, free money.
And so rather than spend it on things like paying off your debt or other bills, you do
sort of like lavish, spontaneous spending like vacations, car.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Also, and the warehouse workers should listen to this one.
The most common reason people go broke in five years after winning the lottery is because
they quit their job without a new plan.
Also making bad investments and not properly accounting for taxes.
Taxes that's a big one.
Yeah.
All right.
That's it.
That's what I learned about the lottery.
And also can I give a shout out to my son who helped me deep dive the lottery and he
typed it all into my document for me because of my broken shoulder and because I can't
type.
He was so supportive.
It was so sweet.
He sat at my computer.
How adorable.
I know.
How adorable is that?
Andy is really getting frustrated because no one is working.
They can't focus because of this warehouse crew winning the lottery and Daryl is totally
checked out.
He hasn't hired any new warehouse workers and Phyllis get ready for some Phyllis sass
in a little bit of St. Louis.
Yes.
It's about to hit you.
Go to five minutes, 13 seconds to five minutes, 16 seconds because Phyllis is going to say
Arder.
Angela, we had a fan catch from Miranda B in Florida who said the same thing.
Yes, Miranda.
She says, Andy, this is a seriously big Arder.
Yes.
So strong.
Well Phyllis says, Daryl, I sent you an email about it and he says, I haven't read it four
hour work week.
Do you know what that is?
That is a reference to a real book by Tim Ferriss called The Four Hour Work Week.
Were you only work four hours for a whole entire week?
Yes.
How?
All right.
I'll tell you.
I read it.
I read this book, Angela, when we were daydreaming about reinventing our lives and creating new
careers for ourselves where we worked the hours we wanted when we wanted.
So here is a one sentence summary of the book.
This is from an online review, quote, The Four Hour Work Week is the step-by-step blueprint
to free yourself from the shackles of a corporate job, create a business to fund the lifestyle
of your dreams and live like a millionaire without actually having to be one.
So in the book, he encourages you to first think about the life you want, not the job
you want.
What life do you want?
Do you want to be a person who can travel all the time?
Do you want to be a person who lives in a little town in Italy?
And then once you figure out what you want your life to look like, then he says, here's
how you fund your life by doing as little work as possible so that life is first and
then job is second.
Interesting.
That's sort of his come from.
Okay.
I really enjoyed the book, but one of the things that he has in the book is that you
only answer your emails for like a scheduled period of time.
You don't check your email all day.
It's like a little minutia thing.
And that is why Daryl has not read his email from Phyllis is because he's following the
advice in this book.
Well, however, Daryl would have quit his job first.
Like you can't do his concepts in a corporate job because obviously they're going to need
you to work more than four hours a week.
I recommend the book.
I really liked it.
You know, he also has a podcast and he did an interview with Jerry Seinfeld.
That is one of my favorite Jerry Seinfeld interviews I've ever listened to.
Really?
Yeah.
If you're looking to kind of reinvent your life or even just muse on the idea of reinventing
your life, it's a good place to start.
Okay.
What's your favorite one?
New York Times bestseller.
I'm going to check it out.
I'm not done with my sass tracker.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I didn't mean to get us off on that.
Yeah, please, please don't interrupt my important sass tracker.
You know, Andy says we're going to need a crew in the warehouse because Phyllis has got
to fill her ardor and Aaron volunteers.
No one else is volunteering, but Andy volunteers Kevin and we're going to have some Kevin sass.
Kevin says, good old Kevin.
He'll do anything.
He'll do what I will not do a good job.
So that's who's headed down to the warehouse, along with Dwight and Jim.
And then we've got some classic Angela sass and maybe, maybe top 10 biggest smiles Angela's
had in the whole series.
You mean when she goes up to Pam at reception with the old clipboard, uh-huh.
She's pranking Pam, you know, her big prigs, little prigs prank.
Pam's like, oh, come on, this is a lottery pool.
This isn't about guessing my baby's weight.
And Angela just walks away and goes, again, I'm sorry, it's my mistake.
So much Angela sass.
Yes.
Angela had written down on the lottery pool that she thought Pam was going to have a 14
pound baby.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
You know what?
In real life, my son, who was inside my belly for this scene when he was born, he was
almost 10 pounds.
He was two ounces shy of 10 pounds.
Mm-hmm.
He did not fit into newborn clothing.
I know.
The nurses brought him in and they were like, is this a three month old or a newborn?
I was like, I don't know why he's so large.
One of my favorite pictures is a picture of your son as a baby next to my daughter as
a toddler and he's her size.
I know.
It's so cute.
We put that in our book.
I know.
I love it.
Well, next up, Andy's going to go into Darrell's office and Darrell is very despondent.
He has a monologue about tacos, how his basement still smells like tacos and you can't get
taco smell out of the air in a basement.
It's a very heavy smell.
I probably should not have wanted a taco during this speech.
It makes them not sound very, I don't know, appetizing, but after this speech, I just
wanted a taco.
That's all I wanted.
Did you get one?
No.
No.
And I've been thinking about it and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a taco today.
Well, I know it's such a random thing, all I can think about was tacos.
Well, don't eat it in an enclosed space because noted.
I don't want you to have a taco smell that lingers.
Okay.
But Andy is going to say, why don't we look at some applicants?
I mean, we need a warehouse crew.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I don't know, Darrell is just despondent.
Yeah.
He's not being Darrell.
Well, speaking of warehouse crew, our new warehouse crew of Jim and Dwight and Aaron
and Kevin is going to get off to a real start, I guess, a jolt, a jolt.
I have to call bulls*** on this scene.
I'm calling bulls***.
I'm playing the card.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
What is, why such strong feelings?
Because I think Dwight, who owns a farm and probably has multiple tractors and other
kind of big farm machinery would know how to drive a forklift and wouldn't drive it straight
into a wall.
So there you go.
I don't play it very often, but I'm playing my bulls*** card.
We got a lot of fan mail about this scene.
Did anyone else call bulls***?
No one else called bulls***.
And I have to say, Angela, I accept your bulls*** card.
Thank you.
I have no retort.
I played it fairly.
You did.
I played it well.
What was the fan mail flurry about?
Well, first of all, Stephen M from Ann Arbor, Michigan, noticed that Dwight fastened his
seatbelt on the forklift and said, why would a forklift need a seatbelt?
How fast do forklifts go?
Well guess what, Stephen?
Forklifts always come equipped with seatbelts because they are considered a vehicle.
Now while forklifts tend to only go 10 miles an hour or less and many businesses actually
set their forklifts at five miles an hour, many injuries and fatalities occur when forklift
operators get crushed between the vehicle and the ground.
If it falls over because they try to jump out, like the forklift is falling over and
they try to jump out and then they get crushed.
So if you're wearing a seatbelt, the idea is that it makes it harder for you to jump
out of the forklift and therefore it keeps you safer in the event that it should tip
over.
So if it tips over, you're strapped in.
Yes.
You might be awkwardly on your side, but then you can unstrap and crawl out once it's done
crashing.
Moral of the story, if you're ever in a forklift that's tipping over, don't try to jump out.
Like your chance of injury is much higher.
But that is why they have seatbelts.
And then we had a couple of questions.
These are some folks that write in almost every week, HarmGenV from the Netherlands wanted
to know, in order to drive the forklift, did Rainn Wilson have to get certified first or
was it a stunt driver?
Well Steve Burgess said, Rainn and all of the warehouse worker actors who drove the forklift
had to be certified to drive it.
People was very safety conscious and they would not allow anyone to drive the forklift
who had not taken and passed a certification class.
And also that is not a stunt driver, Rainn actually drove the forklift into the door.
Fakey door is a fakey door.
Well now you're leading me perfectly into a fan question from Cameron C in California
who we hear from a lot.
Hi Cameron.
Hi.
Cameron would like to know, how did the forklift go through the door so easily?
Can I guess what it was made of?
Yes.
Like a type of styrofoam?
It was balsa wood.
Steve Burgess said that Rainn really drove the forklift into the door and just the bottom
part had been replaced with balsa wood.
That way the top part would still like clang like a heavy door.
We were prepared to do two takes but we only needed to do one.
There you go.
Dwight gets off the machine after he crashes it into the door and just calmly walks over
and starts carrying the boxes by hand.
Yes.
I was very curious about what a box of ten reams of paper weighs which is about the size
boxes that look like to me, the standard box you see you know.
And I looked up a box of ten reams of paper and it says it weighs 20 pounds.
So picking up a 20 pound box is the thing that they've been avoiding this whole episode.
They're sliding across the floor 20 pound boxes.
I mean I could see how after carrying several of those it gets trying and none of them are
wearing those belts that the warehouse crew usually wears.
Yeah, yeah, the lift, the belt, the thing that helps your back.
Protects your back.
Yeah.
Well lady, Andy and Darryl are going to meet with a group of potential new warehouse workers
but maybe we should take a break because I have some really fun finds about all these
people we're about to meet.
Oh good.
Let's take a break and when we come back, let's meet the applicants.
Well you guys, before we meet everyone interviewing for this new warehouse, I needed to show you
and share with you a text exchange I had with Oscar Nunez.
Okay.
So you guys know to sort of commemorate the release of John Wick 4, Jenna, you and I both
posted the Zoom video of you and I podcasting from our closets where I told you I had watched
the John Wick movies and you said what are you talking about?
Even though you had told me to watch them, we're not going to rehash it.
We won't.
We won't.
But yes.
And I called on Sam to be my backup.
Anyway, Oscar saw our Instagram post.
You know, he's rarely on social media.
He saw our Instagram post.
He got so tickled by it that it led to this text exchange.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Good morning, Angela.
On Instagram, you and Jenna did a funny bit about watching John Wick.
I want to comment on it but I can't find it now.
How do I find it?
So I texted him back and I said, you just go to Instagram and type in Angela Kinsey
and you'll find it.
And then he wrote back, okay.
So then I gave it a few minutes and I went to see what he posted.
Okay.
This is what he commented on our John Wick video.
Ready?
Angela Kinsey, hashtag flashback Friday to Ms. Jenna Fisher.
It is his pitch for John Wick 5.
John Wick 5, Healing and Forgiveness, written and directed by Jenna Fisher.
The movie takes place on Nantucket, where John Wick is a proprietor of a small shop
that sells porcelain coffee mugs and towels.
It's called Drink and Dry.
John Wick changes the dressing on his many wounds, visiting the doctor to make sure his
stitches are removed properly and scarring is at a minimal.
He learns to write in beautiful cursive old English.
He mails poems and coffee related items to the Russian mafia.
They open his quiet thoughtful gifts in their loud, garish raves and toss them in the garbage.
Pearls to swine.
One time John Wick stumbles on a stair but quickly catches himself.
Oh thank goodness.
He walks along the beach and meets a woman wrapped in a cardigan with long white hair.
She doesn't dye it because she doesn't play games.
They kiss ever so gingerly.
He pulls back because his lip is still a little busted up.
They laugh quietly as they cradle piping mugs of coffee, the end.
Keanu Reeves stunt double is Angela Kinsey.
I got so tickled so then I texted him and I said oh my gosh Oscar your comments are hilarious.
And he said well you ladies made me laugh so much I just ran with it.
I need that movie.
After seeing John Wick 4 I need a whole two hours where he just heals and sips warm coffee.
I love it.
And falls in love.
Yes.
I love this idea.
Thank you Oscar.
All right.
Should we get back to this episode?
Yes.
Let's meet the warehouse interviewees.
Well they're in the conference room and immediately Daryl tells everybody in the room that the
last warehouse workers won the lottery and quit.
Yeah.
He's not pitching working at Dundramiflin like at all.
Like he's like you know what think long and hard about it because you know you're going
to get here then you're going to get stuck then you're going to you know your life is
over and what what do you have to show for it.
Well we got some fan questions.
Allie from Topeka Kansas wrote in to say during the conference room interview at eight
minutes and 30 seconds Mike E. Winfield is in the scene.
He is now a stand up comedian and my fiance and I saw a couple of his shows on a cruise
last January.
He is so funny and I am curious if the office was one of his first gigs.
I would really love a mom detective's deep dive on him.
Well yes Allie that is Mike E. Winfield.
He has been a stand up comedian for over 20 years or so and he became really famous because
he was a finalist on America's Got Talent in 2022 but he did not win and he was super
crushed but then he got to go on to be an all star finalist in 2023.
I went to his website.
He's so funny so charming and according to his IMDB page he had done one project before
the office.
It was the Bobby Lee project which I believe was a pilot and that was a few years before
he got his role in the office and guess what?
He's going to be back.
He does another episode coming up.
That's a good deep dive.
I thought it was pretty good.
Thanks.
Well you know who else is in that room.
Amina.
Yes.
Amina Kaplan.
She's the one woman in the conference room and you do not realize it from this episode
but Amina is going to have quite the arc coming up in season eight.
She's going to appear in 14 episodes.
Yep.
As Val.
Spoiler alert.
We have to have Amina on.
We do because their romance is brewing.
I know.
She was the loveliest.
So sweet.
Yeah.
Well as her storyline develops we'll get her on the pod.
I have such fond memories of being on set with her.
Well Daryl doesn't know that romance is in his future.
He's still very much down in the dumps and he has a talking head where he says he's never
been lucky and he doesn't just mean the lottery.
He developed a soy allergy at 35.
Yes.
Why is soy in everything?
Yeah.
I looked it up.
You looked up why soy is in everything?
Yeah.
It's in everything because it helps keep food moist.
Oh.
Yeah.
It's like a moist.
Moist catalyst.
We had a fan question from Teresa M. in London, Ontario, Canada who said, I am curious.
Is there a story behind this soy allergy at the age of 35?
As someone who developed a soy allergy at 25 it has always made me laugh.
I was curious too.
I was really curious.
I was like, did one of the writers develop a soy allergy?
Did you find this out Jenna?
Well I reached out to Charlie Grandy who wrote this episode and he said it's not based on
his personal experience.
In fact he's pretty sure that it was Paul who pitched that joke.
Does Paul have a soy allergy?
I didn't get a chance to reach out to him.
Well I have some more sass for you.
Oh yeah?
Yeah.
We're at reception.
Pam is behind the desk and Ryan says, nice.
Right back where I like you.
Ryan.
So much sass.
He might win the sassiest of the episode.
Well Pam's going to give him some sass back.
She's not going to take that.
No.
Ryan notices that Pam is trying to maybe buy a lottery ticket online and he's like oh yeah
everyone wants to be rich without working for it.
And that's when Pam sasses and reminds him that he got to work at 10.30 this morning.
And he drops it.
He's like retreat, retreat.
I personally loved getting to sit behind the reception desk again.
It was so fun.
Oh I didn't even think about that.
Be back at my old haunt.
Did you feel like you were back home a little bit?
A little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The desk still hit my knees in an awkward way.
Yeah.
Just how you liked it.
It was an awkward height, that desk.
Well back in the conference room, Andy is now in charge doing the interview process with
the warehouse people because Darrell bailed and it's a hot mess.
He wants to know if they have a degree or in warehouse sciences possibly and Val is like
are you serious?
Listen, speaking of a hot mess down in the warehouse, these guys cannot move paper.
I mean it's really ridiculous.
But Kevin's going to come up with this idea.
He remembered how his sisters used to butter him up and slide him across the floor.
Yeah, the linoleum.
Yes.
But Jim and Dwight kind of shoot this idea down and then Erin.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
So funny.
She laughed so hard when she grabs him by the arm and says, drop it.
Drop it.
They don't like it.
I like it.
But they don't like it.
So drop it.
So funny.
Where did that come from?
I don't know.
She's so funny in this episode though.
I know.
Well, you know, all of those potential warehouse workers upstairs, they have left.
So now Andy has to find a whole new crew of applicants.
He's going to start by asking Oscar, who is the strongest person in Scranton?
And Oscar immediately says Bruce Kenwood works out at Planet Fitness.
Well, I like that his first thing is bulk or definition.
Yes.
Like what's true?
What do you want?
I looked up to see if there was a Planet Fitness in Scranton and there is.
Yes.
But there is not a Gold's Gym.
There was, but it's closed.
Oh, okay.
There you go.
So Andy is going to find three new fellas to interview.
And one of them is Nate, one of them is Gideon, and one is Bruce Kenwood, the buff guy.
Yes.
We start with Gideon.
Gideon was played by Barrick Hardley.
He's a comedic actor.
He's been in a ton of stuff studied at UCB.
He has a website called BarrickHardley.com.
I spent so much time on this website, Angela.
Really?
In addition to being a performer, he is also an artist, and he makes and sells these handmade
vintage light boxes.
So like a little wooden box, and then it has a little button and a light turns on it.
It'll say like on air, or it'll say like meeting and progress.
You can get them custom made.
They'll say anything you want.
We need one.
We need one that says awesome ladies.
I know.
I want to order one.
Oh my gosh.
His work is beautiful.
He also has like amazing sculpted art.
He's so talented.
He also wrote a movie that he stars in called Spell.
I watched a trailer for it.
The lead character that he plays goes to Iceland, and Lady, Lady.
What?
He goes to the Icelandic Penis Museum.
No.
You see it.
Yes.
No.
He must have shot at the Penis Museum.
I mean, you know, I imagine them being accommodating.
They sound very friendly on their website.
Well, Barak, we are going to be placing an order for an office ladies handmade light
box.
But seriously, guys, check out this website.
I'm so like inspired and pressed and charmed by it.
Barak, it's B-A-R-A-K, last name hardly, H-A-R-D-L-E-Y dot com.
I'll put it in our stories too.
Great.
Barak, also hear me out here.
Maybe you could come on and tell us all about the Penis Museum.
Right?
Yes.
I mean, you went all the way to Iceland.
We want to hear about it.
All right.
So the other person in the room who isn't Nate is Bruce Kenward.
He is the guy in the tank top.
We got a fan question from Dotty D in San Francisco, California, who wants to know what does the
guy's shirt say in the group interview?
It's been driving me crazy for years.
Yes.
He's wearing a shirt and it's like pixelated.
Yeah.
He made it, you guys.
He made it himself.
Yeah.
Steve Burgess said it was scripted.
And we made that shirt for him to wear and it was always from the very beginning intended
to be blurred.
So I believe you pulled the character description from the script, which includes the notation
for the t-shirt.
Yes.
This is exactly how it was written in the script.
Andy interviews his new candidates, Nate, a bearded hipster, Gideon, and Bruce Kenward,
a buff built beautiful man wearing a tank top and flip flops.
His tank top is pixelated on the front.
It reads, my balls have biceps and my biceps have balls.
There you go, Dotty.
This isn't the only time we're going to talk about balls in this episode.
I thought about naming it Sass and Balls, but I went with so much sass.
We talk about balls again in this episode?
Yes, we do.
I will wait for it.
That's my ball tracker.
I have a sass tracker and a ball tracker.
It was a busy episode for me.
What is your life?
What is your life?
What is my life?
Well, Bruce Kenward was played by Jason Walsh, and according to his IMDB, he was born in
Missouri.
Oh, and this is his only on-camera credit.
He is a trainer and he has trained some very big name actors for very big name movie roles.
He has worked with Matt Damon several times, for example, on the Jason Bourne movie as well
as The Great Wall, but he was also a trainer for Brie Larson on Captain Marvel and was
one of Bradley Cooper's trainers for American Sniper.
Bradley Cooper had more than one trainer.
Okay, this is a total tangent, but since you brought up The Great Wall that Matt Damon
was in.
Yes.
I just saw him interviewed and he was saying his teenage daughter likes to kind of mess
with him.
She doesn't want to watch Ineva's movies that are considered really, really great fine movies.
She only wants to watch The Stinkers.
I saw the Stinkers.
He was talking about the wall and saying that she had seen the wall and he says, it's The
Great Wall.
And she was like, no, dad, dad, there's nothing great about that movie.
I just, as someone who has teenagers now, the teen sass, I really appreciated it.
That story cracked me up.
Well, listen, the final person in the room is Nate and he is going to explain to us
that while he does not technically have a hearing problem, he does have trouble with
people understanding certain sounds in certain situations.
And we got a lot of mail about this.
Is this a real thing?
Yes, it is.
Well, as you know, my sister is hearing impaired.
She wears hearing aids in both ears.
And one of the issues that she has is in deciphering and understanding individual words in large
group situations or like at restaurants.
So if she's sitting at a big table in a restaurant and there's a lot of background noise, it's
really hard for her to focus on the speaker.
Now if she's in your house and she's sitting at a table for dinner, it's a lot easier because
the problem with hearing aids is that they amplify all sound at once.
They don't just amplify a speaker, they amplify everything.
And so it just becomes a big bunch of noise.
Right.
Now that is not what we think Nate has a problem with, but we did get some mail from Dr. Jack
Hitchens in Dalton, Georgia, who says, I'm an audiologist and every time I see this episode,
I try to diagnose Nate's hearing problem.
He said, I believe Nate might have an auditory processing disorder.
It is a condition where someone can detect sounds normally on a basic hearing test but
have difficulty combining and making sense out of certain sounds at the level of the
brain.
He said, Nate might also have hearing loss without knowing it.
And that would sort of kind of lump into what I was saying about my sister.
But we got another letter from Carol P and Denver, Colorado, who said, I believe what
Nate is describing is a disorder called auditory processing disorder, which I have.
It's not commonly known, which made me so surprised to see it represented in a TV show.
And I actually have a friend whose daughter has this same disorder.
Yeah.
So listen, people out there.
If you are ever in these situations where you're having this problem that Nate is describing,
go get checked out.
And it's not just your hearing, because you can take a hearing test and pass the hearing
test.
But you might still have this auditory processing disorder, which makes it hard for your brain
to process what it is hearing.
And there's exercises you can do to improve this and make life a lot easier for yourself,
throwing it out there.
I find this all very interesting and something I wouldn't have thought about until you've
started sharing it.
Well, I really appreciated all the mail we got from people.
And I always like it when people see themselves represented.
Yeah.
This is a real disorder.
And so I thought it would be cool to bring it up.
Yeah.
I'm so glad you did.
Back in the warehouse, they have finally decided to go with Kevin's plan, I guess.
They're going to grease the floor and slide boxes to the truck.
There was a deleted scene where Jim says, I can't believe in all the years the warehouse
was here.
They simply backed the truck up into the warehouse.
And then you could just easily load it.
So he's like, let's do this.
And he has Dwight back it up.
But what you realize really quickly is the truck is too big, the driveway is too narrow
to turn in.
Yeah.
You can't make the turn.
Dwight clips the side of the warehouse building and gets the truck stuck.
And then that's what leads Jim and Dwight to be like, okay, let's try the slide method.
And that's why in the shots, you can see now the truck is closer.
It's kind of wedged into the warehouse.
I did notice that.
Yeah.
Well, Steve Burgess had mentioned in his breakdown that deleted scene you just mentioned.
Rain really did drive the truck into the wall.
Rain did all his own stunts for this episode.
It's a big truck.
He was very Keanu in this episode.
Yes, he was.
Well Angela, in this scene at around 16 minutes, a bunch of boxes look like they careen into
the camera operator.
Yeah.
I clocked it at 16 minutes 43 seconds.
Looks like it takes out the camera guy.
Well Ali G from Topeka, Kansas would like to know if this was scripted or just an actual
accident.
Well, Ali, I was very curious as well.
I went to the shooting draft.
Here's what it said.
We roll, Jim and Dwight place a box of paper on a garbage can lid and slide it on a finished
track, which stops well short of the mark.
They slingshot a box with a rope and it goes flying out the door.
They slingshot another box toward a truck tire, which ricochets off and knocks over a camera
man.
Hey.
Amazing.
It was scripted.
Well Steve Burgess said that he seems to remember that no matter what we did, they could not
get the boxes to really slide very well.
He said it was really, really hard.
They did use like a kind of silicon grease on the ground, but like there was the friction
was too much.
The boxes would not slide.
They had to cheat this so much.
You know, if you really watch carefully, whenever they try to slide them, they don't go very
far.
I know.
I know.
Clearly in the script, they imagine that these boxes could just go like flying all the way
out the door.
Yeah.
No.
They were never going to travel that far.
Jim and Dwight are going to have a joint talking head where they say they have to move
these boxes.
So sadly, this has become the best idea.
I mean, clearly they can't believe they're following Kevin's idea, but while they're talking
about this, Kevin slips on grease behind them and falls down really hard.
Yeah, Steve Burgess said that the stunt coordinators put a big old mattress back there and that
Brian really did do that fall himself.
Good job, Brian.
It looks so painful, but he fell on a soft cushy mattress.
Well, now we're going to find out some new information about Daryl, which is he has decided
he would like to be fired.
Yeah.
Andy's trying to introduce him to the new warehouse crew down there in Hank's corner.
What's it called?
Hank's corner.
Yes.
Owned by Dwight.
Right.
Daryl's like, I don't want to meet these people.
In fact, I just want to be fired.
And Andy kind of pushes back and I guess like re-inspires Daryl to love his job again.
Yeah.
Well, Daryl gives him an ultimatum.
He says, fire me or make me the manager.
I earned it.
And Andy pushes back and says, no, this is my job.
I earned it.
You had a chance for it.
And there are a few things they noted.
I looked in your file.
You hired your friend to replace you who wasn't qualified.
They clocked that.
He goes on to list a few things.
And then he says, and what happened to, you know, business school at night?
And he says, well, D'Angelo died and he goes, he didn't die.
His brain died.
And he said, but I'm manager now.
I would approve you to go to night school, but you haven't asked.
So you know, what do you want here?
Do you want a job?
Do you want to improve at this company?
What do you want?
And Andy actually inspires someone finally.
Well, listen, can I get out my bullsh** card for a second?
Can I play my bullsh** card?
Yeah.
I call bullsh** on this.
Andy, I could give you the same speech you're giving Daryl.
You are no more qualified for this job than Daryl is.
You are a hot mess.
I mean, you are just the epitome of failing upwards, frankly.
And so I guess they're just two people who felt entitled to this job and one of them
got it.
And the truth is that neither of them were maybe the best fit for the job.
But I call bullsh** on Andy claiming that he was like the superior candidate.
I call bullsh**.
I accept your bullsh** card.
I can get as well played.
Thank you.
Next up, we have a ball tracker.
Please, what is it?
Daryl has a talking head where he says, you know what?
My future won't be determined by seven little white balls.
It will be determined by two big black balls because I control my destiny.
You're right.
Ball tracker.
Ball tracker.
Daryl and Andy are going to walk to the warehouse and they're going to see this greased pathway.
Erin is going to get loaded on some sort of a, what is it, a slippery disc holding
a box of paper and she has a helmet on and they're going to slingshot Erin.
Yeah.
Why Erin?
Why does Erin need to be on it?
Well, you know, when they were doing it just paper, it was flying everywhere.
So maybe they felt like they needed a driver.
They wanted to steer the paper down the path.
Well, I texted Ellie about this.
I wanted to know, what was it like to slide on the grease?
Was it crazy?
Did you fall over?
How was it?
And she texted back, Jenna, is there something wrong with me?
I have no memory of doing that scene.
What?
She's like, I don't remember a thing about it.
She's like, I don't even know basically what you're talking about.
Oh my gosh.
She's completely blocked it out.
Well, I asked Steve Burgess and he said there's a good reason for that.
It's because it wasn't her.
It's a stunt person wearing that helmet.
Oh, anyone who she doesn't.
Yeah.
It's a really good double for her.
So she never had to do it.
Please tell me you texted her back so she doesn't think she's losing it.
I did.
I texted her back and I told her that and she said, oh, thank goodness.
I was really concerned.
I was worried.
Yeah.
You'd think you'd remember something like that.
Yeah.
This episode is going to end with a series of talking heads where everyone says what
they would do if they won the lottery.
My favorite was Toby's talking head because he said he would spend his free time making
his true crime podcast, The Flindersen Viles.
Mm-hmm.
I would listen to that.
You would?
Yes.
To go to sleep.
So crazy.
Because I just imagined Toby's cadence.
Oh, that would put you to sleep.
You're right.
Right?
I get it now.
Yes.
The long pauses where he breaks down what happened.
Yeah.
The episode ends with a Pam and Jim talking head.
They have come to an agreement on their fantasy of what their life will be after they win
the lottery and I need to point out my hair in this talking head.
Oh.
I think I remember this.
If you look at it, it looks like I have those kind of curls, kind of like Nelly Olson from
Little House on the Prairie.
They're like big barrel curls.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Around my head.
Yeah.
I am pretty sure what we would do in the mornings for my hair is we would curl it like that,
but then we would leave it.
To let it set.
Yes.
And we would go on and we would rehearse and then right before we got ready to shoot, then
Kim Ferry, she would kind of like lightly kind of brush out the curl with her fingertips
or something.
It would be like her or Debbie would do it.
I think we forgot.
And we shot this talking head and we had not brushed out the curls.
And I have a memory of this happening once on the show and I think this was it.
And afterwards we said something.
We said, oh my gosh, we forgot to brush out the curls and they were like, we don't care.
We got it.
We don't care.
But now here it is.
All these years later, I'm watching this talking head and oh, yep, there it is.
That's the day.
We forgot.
We didn't brush out the curls.
Yeah.
Check it out.
Well, Jim and Pam, I guess their fantasies are finally meeting up though if they're going
to have a like a New York type of brownstone, but it's going to be on top of a mountain.
But yet it'll also be a short walk to like bookstores.
It's a short subway stop at the top of the mountain from the best museums.
Some can fish from Pam's pottery studio window, you know, but the schools are terrible.
Not good schools.
But what are you going to do?
What are you going to do?
Yeah.
Well, you know, maybe in their fantasy life, they've got to really force it to find common
ground.
Here you are again.
Here you are again.
Therapist Angela.
Well, guys, that was Lotto, a big thank you to Steve Burgess for all of his awesome behind
the scenes info and also to Charlie Grandy and Ellie Kemper and to Mark for helping us
kick off this episode and talking to us about playing Nate.
How much fun.
We had such a great time today.
We hope you enjoyed listening and we will see you next week.
See you then.
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 Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubba Co.
Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
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