Office Ladies - Moving On, Pt 1
Episode Date: June 26, 2024This week we’re breaking down “Moving On, Pt 1”. Andy is grieving over his breakup with Erin, Pam has a job interview in Philly with a manager that is way too similar to Michael Scott, and Angel...a helps Dwight take care of his aunt. The ladies talk about what it was like to work with the director of this episode Jon Favreau, Angela shares Merriam-Webster's description of the “Aha” moment, Jenna shares some current fashion trends and the ladies talk about Mark Franks (Bob Odenkirk) and Simon Realty in Philly. So while you wonder what it would be like if Bob Dylan was your boss, enjoy this episode! Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladiesOffice Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestionFollow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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.
Hi there. Hey. We are about to start down a very exciting road.
We are moving on.
Part one.
And then.
Part two.
It's a big episode.
It really is.
And we'll tell you why.
Should we get into it?
We better.
We have a lot to cover.
It is season nine, episode 16, written by Graham Wagner and directed by Jon Favreau.
Yeah.
Here's your summary.
An already grieving Andy flips out when he learns about
Aaron and Pete's new relationship.
Pam has a job interview in Philly,
and the boss's personality is eerily familiar.
Meanwhile, Dwight enlists Angela for help bathing
his elderly ailing aunt.
You know, I know Dwight says that Aunt Shirley is ailing,
but she looked pretty sturdy.
Very hearty.
Very hearty to me.
Certainly her personality.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
All right, fast fact number one, John Favreau,
as our director, you guys know John Favreau, he is
a prolific actor, writer, and director.
He wrote and starred in the movie Swingers, which is where I was introduced to him.
Same.
Oh my gosh.
Our whole generation was.
You just wanted to be in that movie.
You were like, oh, I've been there and I've done that, but it didn't look half as cool.
I know.
They go to this swing club called The Derby, which
was a real place in Los Angeles.
And you know, I started going to The Derby
after I saw that movie.
I'd never been.
So many people did.
I know.
And I would swing dance, and it was so fun.
Oh my gosh.
I think it closed down, The Derby.
Yeah.
I know.
Anyway, Jon Favreau has also directed Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book, and he directed
and starred in one of my personal favorite movies that I've watched multiple times, Chef.
Have you seen this movie, Chef?
No.
Oh my God.
He plays a chef, and he's at a fancy restaurant, and he has a big meltdown. And so his only option is to then buy a food truck
and sell food out of the food truck.
This kind of sounds like that show, The Bear.
Chef at a fancy place, oh no,
like it has to go to a smaller place to cook.
I'm doing a horrible summary of it.
Yeah, I don't watch The Bear.
So I don't know,
but I watch Chef multiple times.
And I did not know this fact.
Did you know that he directed
the Will Ferrell Christmas movie Elf?
Really?
John Favreau directed Elf.
God, I love Elf.
Yeah.
I've seen that movie many times.
Well, I know another thing you've seen
that he is like the executive producer creator of,
which is The Mandalorian.
You betcha. Oh my gosh, The Mandalorian. You know, one of the coolest things for y'all that watch it,
don't you just love like the drawings of the scenes are so beautiful, how they do that in the
credits?
I wouldn't know.
Oh, Jenna. Okay. All right.
And we've got a couple of really fun
crossover connections. He was in the movie The Replacements with David Denman and Keanu Reeves.
Yeah. Office Lady's favorite. And he has appeared on Monk. I have a crossover with John Favreau.
You do. You have an acting crossover. You know, we talked a lot about what it was like to work with John during our interview with Jake Lacey, because this was very memorable for all of us.
It really was. You know, we were all so excited to work with him because we were all fans of his work. And he's a real, like, actor's actor. He's a director that, like, he gets in the scene with you and helps you figure it out, and we love that.
But he's also just really easy to talk to.
I have such fond memories of hanging out with him
when we were filming at Aunt Shirley's house.
We had to wait for it to get dark.
We had a little bit of downtime between scenes
because we did all of those scenes on one day.
And it has to end with that scene on the front porch
with Dwight and Angela, right?
Yeah. So we're sitting on the back porch of this house and he and I just ended up talking about
improv and our love of it and of being in the moment and then different improv shows we did.
We did that geeky thing that improv actors do where they talk about bits they did but no one
else can really get them because it happened in the moment.
You know, Angela, I loved hearing you talk about him because that was exactly my same experience of him.
And I find that a lot of times you have a director that's either like really good with actors
or maybe that's really good on the technical side.
And John is one of those people who shines in both spaces.
I asked Steve Burgess, how did we get him?
How did we get John Favreau?
Yeah.
And Steve said, we went out to a lot of what he called
journeyman directors, who we also knew to be fans of The Office.
And John Favreau was a fan and the dates worked out.
Steve said he's pretty much the busiest guy in showbiz and still is.
But Steve Burgess had worked with him before and just knew that he is always great to work with,
and that this was no exception.
I know that our crew loved John because I was trading emails with Dave Rogers,
who said that while Claire edited this episode,
everyone in post-production loved John.
They were so thrilled that he came to work on the show.
Dave said he got John Favreau
to sign his swingers script. Dave is such a fan of movie and film and that is so cute. I love that.
I know. Dave said that all of post-production had gone to see the first Avengers together in the theater. So this was very exciting to have John in their area.
I bet they were all so tickled. We were all so tickled.
Also tickled. And you know, Angela, we've shared this before,
but this episode of Moving On was originally supposed to be just one episode.
It was not going to be a two-parter, but Greg loved everything
that John turned in so much
that he went back to the network and asked them to make it two episodes so he could use all the footage.
All right. Are you ready for Fast Fact Number Two?
Yes, I am.
Well, we have two amazing guest stars in this episode.
Fast Fact Number Two is all about Bob Odenkirk as Mark.
I enjoyed these scenes so much.
Me too.
I actually rewatched them this morning before we came in
because I wanted to learn the song he sings.
You did?
Yeah.
That he sings to Pam?
Yes.
Okay, go on.
So, you know, in season nine,
when we were sort of discussing this storyline of Pam eventually trying to get a job in Philly,
Greg thought it would be really funny if the office that she
interviews at in Philly is like an alternate Dunder Mifflin
universe. So like while Jim's life and career in Philly is
like taking him to all new places.
Yeah, it's like sleek and shiny and there's a foosball table and fancy conference room.
This looks like a step back, right?
Yes.
Right back to the beginning of her time at Dunder Mifflin.
That is exactly what he was hoping for.
And then Greg said, wouldn't it be amazing
if the boss was exactly like Michael Scott?
So the job is the same and then like the people are even sort of a step back.
And that's when he was like,
we should have Bob Odenkirk play that role.
And I know I've told this story earlier on the podcast,
but you know Bob Odenkirk was one of the finalists for Michael Scott.
He tested for the role of Michael Scott.
And because his wife,
Naomi Odenkirk, is my longtime manager,
she suggested that Bob and I
prepare for our tests together. Mostly because a lot of the audition was going to be improvisation,
and I don't have that background, but Bob does. And he very generously got together with me and
did some sort of Michael Scott-Pam improv together to prepare. Oh my God, I was so starstruck.
But that's where the idea of Bob playing
alternate Michael Scott came from, in Greg's mind.
Well, that's the brilliant thing about Greg, too, is that nothing is ever wasted. Like,
the minute he sees something or thinks about it, he will just file that away in his brain
and years later bring it back.
That's right.
Well, you know, we were pretty excited because Bob came in the studio to talk with us about
his time on The Office.
Yes, he did.
It was such a fun interview.
We're going to wait to air it until after we break down moving on, part one and part
two, but everybody just know that is coming up.
Yes, Bob in the studio.
Okay, moving on to Fast Fact 3, another big guest star,
Mary Gillis as Aunt Shirley.
This woman is such a brilliant character actress.
She was just fantastic.
Fantastic.
Talk about someone who could command a room.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean, I remember her from her role in Midnight Run
because even in like just small roles,
she's one of those people who pop.
You guys might remember her.
She had a recurring role on Glee as Mrs. Hagberg.
She's done a ton of television.
Another one of my favorites is that she is
on the Everybody Loves Raymond episode
called Marie's Sculpture.
Do you know that one?
I've known, but now I'm curious.
Marie takes a sculpture class and at the end of this big class, they like unveil her sculpture
and it is just, it very much looks like a giant vagina. And nobody knows how to compliment
it. It's very funny. We got a fan question from Alison J. in West Haven, Connecticut,
who asked, Mary Gillis has always been one of my favorite guest stars on The Office. How did she
get her role? Well, I've got some hot trivia on this. Did you know that Mary Gillis was not the
first Aunt Shirley? No, she wasn't. Who was the first Aunt Shirley? Okay. The story has a lot of twists and turns.
Oh.
So here we go.
Okay.
So during this season nine,
NBC was exploring the idea of an office spinoff
starring Rainn Wilson.
This I know.
Called The Farm.
Yeah.
Paul Lieberstein was the show runner
and they shot an episode.
And the plot of that episode is that Dwight's Aunt Shirley has passed away
and has left him, I guess, the farm?
Yeah. Yeah. Well, they shot it.
Long before we shot this episode.
They shot it earlier in the year,
and they cast a woman as Aunt Shirley.
After it was finished, and they found out
that the show wasn't going to go forward,
they decided to make the farm an office episode. So they wrote moving on after they wrote the farm
as a way to precede the farm to explain who Aunt Shirley is. Exactly. This character of Aunt Shirley
was now like a big character. So they went out and they cast Mary Ellis and then they had to go back
and reshoot the scenes in the farm with Mary Gillis as Aunt Shirley. Did I explain that okay?
You really did. And I think it also explains something if you rewatch the show in order like
we're doing now and we have watched the farm. Yeah. I remember watching it and thinking,
why wasn't Angela invited to the funeral?
I know!
She bathed this woman and made her dinner
and spent a whole day with her.
Surely she would want to attend the funeral.
Of Aunt Shirley.
Of Aunt Shirley.
But we had filmed the farm months before this.
Yes.
Aha.
Yeah, I think when they were doing their reshoots
of the new Aunt Shirley,
they should have added Angela there.
To the funeral.
Yes.
Well, Angela, we have so many fan questions for you
about your scenes with Aunt Shirley.
I will save them until we get to them.
That's all I got for Fast Facts.
Well, I thought those were just fantastic.
I have just two call sheet tidbits for you.
Oh. And more that I'll sprinkle in later.
I love a sprinkle.
You love a sprinkle.
Here's some Toppa Show call sheet tidbits for you.
Day one of filming this episode was on January 14th, 2013.
I know you guys love a weather report.
It was sunny with a high of 58 degrees and the low was 37.
Ooh, that's kind of chilly.
Especially out at Aunt Shirley's.
Yeah. And it was a busy week for us as a cast. We had multiple visitors, including on Wednesday
of this week, the Television Critics Association. Yes, and I have a big story about that for later.
Oh, we also had a table read. And on the Friday of this week, an NBC EPK crew was on set doing
B-roll and cast and director interviews.
And I looked everywhere for their interviews with Jon Favreau and I couldn't find them.
Anywhere.
I really wanted to be able to play some of those audio clips today.
Well, someone at NBC listening to this that has archive footage, hit us up.
We have a lot that we want.
We do.
All right, why don't we take a break?
And when we come back, we will start breaking down
this episode with a cold open that I really enjoyed.
It tickled me.
I watched it several times.
I just love Ed in this episode.
I really did too.
He really goes for it.
All right, we'll be back in just a second.
Well, the episode starts with Andy getting yelled at by David Wallace in the conference room.
We kind of have that spy shot, you know, where we're looking from the bullpen in. David is furious with Andy.
He says to him, you lied to me.
You pretended to be in this office for three months, but you were off on your boat.
And Andy's like, wait, I never lied.
And he goes, oh, really?
And then he starts like pulling up receipts, right?
As the kids say, he reads an email, hey, David, all is good in Scranton, PA.
And then he says, Oscar says hi. And then David's like, come on.
And Andy's like, what?
Oscar says hi every day.
He always says hi.
And Andy goes, you know what?
You're a liar, David.
And he reads an email that says, hey Andy, all's well.
Been meaning to make it down there, but my wife's sick.
And he goes, well, what is it?
Is all well or is your wife sick?
Busted.
And David's like, my wife? And then you're like, okay.
Andy's like, retreat, retreat. And he said, look, things have just been really tough for me, you
know? Aaron dumped me and I can't remember any of the aha moments I had on the boat. And I really
missed my beard. And Andy's like, you know what? I'm not going to fire you. Just because of you,
I own the company. But we're even now.
Yeah. Well, during this whole exchange, you kind of keep cutting back to the bullpen to
get everybody's reactions. And I want people to know that that was not scripted. That was
all Jon Favreau. I just remember him so clearly caring about each of us reacting to this as
our characters. I just thought it was great.
At the end of the scene, Andy recites a poem by J.B. Jovi.
Yeah. I love that he's like, that's for you.
Like, it's his gift to give.
I know.
We had a fan question from Jessica N. in Rochester, New York,
who wanted to know,
does reciting just the words of a song still cost money?
Steve Burgess said that as long as Ed just spoke the words
without any nod at all to the melody,
we could do that and not have to pay for it.
Really? Mm-hmm.
So the minute you make it a tune, you gotta pay it.
That's right.
Oh, wow.
I have one other thing to say about this scene.
I absolutely loved Andy's jacket and tie.
Oh.
I really did.
The jacket is like this blue color
and it has like this very light, large
sort of checkerboard pinstripe.
And then the tie is brown with white polka dots.
And I thought it was real sharp.
I really liked this combo.
I don't know.
Noted.
Well, you know that moment where Andy says he can't recall any of his aha moments from the boat?
Mm-hmm. I loved that.
Me too. It got me so tickled.
And I looked up aha moment.
I was just sort of curious about the phrase, you know, where does it come from?
And oh my goodness, I found the most random thing.
What?
Google did not disappoint, lady.
You Googled aha moment?
Yes, I did.
Okay, I'm dying to know the results.
Okay, there is a video of Oprah Winfrey
that was posted by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
describing an aha moment.
So their description includes a visual reference.
From Oprah.
OK.
You need to hear it.
And then I'm going to share with you the article about it.
Aha moment.
A moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight,
recognition, or comprehension.
I always love those moments when I sit down to talk to somebody
and they say something that makes me look at life
or a situation in a completely different way.
And I say, aha, I get it.
Light bulb, bing, bing, bing, bing moment.
And the little hairs on your arms stand up.
That is an aha moment.
I mean, that is so perfectly described. Thank you, Oprah.
I know. And then, okay, here's what the article said, but I also like, I think it's the fanciest
way I've ever heard a word describe, aha! I love it!
So then I found this article.
Apparently, in August of 2012, Merriam-Webster released their annual list, game changer, sexting, and aha moment
that was popularized by Oprah on her talk show because she would reference these aha
moments quite a bit.
Oh my gosh, could you imagine coining a phrase that then became recognized by the dictionary?
I know.
That's like Oprah did that. Oprah really made it popular. phrase that then became recognized by the dictionary? I know.
That's like Oprah did that.
Oprah really made it popular.
She went on in an interview in 2017 on the Harry Connick Jr. talk show saying this, and I quote,
You think you've never thought of it that way before, but you can't have an aha unless you already knew it.
So the aha is the remembering of what you already knew,
articulated in a way to resonate with your own truth. So the aha isn't somebody teaching you
something. The aha is somebody helping you to remember. Oh, so it's the it's the bringing it
up out of you. According to Oprah. That makes sense to me because if you're just teaching me a fact that
isn't like sort of relevant inside of me, it's not an aha moment, right? Yeah, so here's something
that I found very interesting. Andy says he forgets all of his aha moments at the very top of the
scene, but then later in the kitchen he has an aha. When he sees the brown paper bag with the word Pete on it.
He does.
It's something he knew.
Yes.
That then was reminded of.
Do you know what this is making me wonder?
And I don't know why this is what has popped in my head.
Have we officially cemented Shack-It?
You know, the shirt jacket.
The Shack-It, it's all the rage in the fashion
world these last couple of years. A shacket.
I have never heard of a shacket.
Yes. It's like, it's the weight of a jacket, but it looks like a shirt. It's a shacket.
The weight of a jacket?
Yeah. Like, it's heavier than a shirt. This way you can put on a shirt that's like you're
wearing a jacket because it's hardy. It's heavy, but it looks like a shirt,
it doesn't look like a jacket, it's a shacket.
I've never heard of this, I've never seen one.
What?
What, is that, what?
Jordan, Cassie, have y'all heard of shackets?
I definitely have.
Thank you, Jordan.
Cassie?
I have not.
Thank you, Cassie.
Ha ha ha ha! Divided!
Jordan, you and I are just on the cusp of just the fashion world.
Clearly.
We're up with all the trends.
Who needs a t-shirt that's as heavy as a jacket?
That's ridiculous.
It's not a t-shirt, it's like the shirt you're wearing now.
It's a button-down shirt.
Oh.
But it is as heavy as a jacket.
It's a shacket oh okay so you don't
have to layer but you do layer shack it's don't you Jordan people do layer
them anyway oh yeah I have some pictures of you guys want to see would you like
to see a picture of a shack it yes and we'll include them in social media for
anyone else who isn't up on the shack it. Oh, Lord. All right, come on in with your laptop, Jordan.
I'm putting on my glasses.
It's basically just this outer jacket.
It just looks like a puffy flannel t-shirt.
Long sleeve.
Yeah.
Well, the way you described it,
I thought it was a t-shirt.
Oh, no.
A really thick, thick t-shirt.
I thought, why does anyone want to wear a thick, thick t-shirt?
No.
A short sleeve, thick padded t-shirt.
That's not a thing.
You sounded crazy.
It's not a thing yet, but who knows?
That would be a shirt shat-it.
That would be a shat-it. Can we do the Merriam-Webster meaning of it?
And can we do Oprah voice like,
and that is my shat it moment.
I think so.
Okay. Where are we? Holy moly.
We are at the opening credits.
Oh my Lord.
Okay. Well, let's talk about these credits,
because I bet there was a fan mail flurry.
There was, because they are extended.
Yep.
We've got work bus in there.
We've got fire drill. We've got chore wheel.
We've got that amazing scene of you guys at the copier.
Oh, my goodness. I reached out to Dave Rogers about this.
I was like, Dave, why now?
We're almost done with the show. Maybe that's this. I was like, Dave, why now?
We're almost done with the show.
Why are the credits so long?
Let's get it all in there.
Dave said, up to this point,
we would use either a 21 second main title sequence
or a six second.
You know, we either use a long ear or a quickie.
We made an extra long one.
This one is 32 seconds long. We needed it because
when Greg decided to turn this one episode into an hour-long episode, we didn't have quite enough
footage for an hour long. We had to pad it. We did. So yeah, we padded even the credit sequence with a
little extra so that we could hit our time.
The episode is now going to start. Andy's arriving to work and he tries to greet Aaron,
but he just starts to cry and he runs into his office.
And I know I haven't commented on the plants
at front reception in quite a while,
but there is a very healthy thriving,
what looks like to be an IV at two minutes and 23 seconds.
Oh, that's nice.
I like that.
Well, next Andy is going to start wailing from his office
and we cut to the bullpen and Stanley says,
I think David Wallace should have fired him
and put him out of his misery.
And Phyllis says she can't stand to be around sad people
because they make her sad.
Stanley says, well, I'm the same be around sad people because they make her sad.
Stanley says, well, I'm the same way around horny people.
Great.
Thanks.
Thanks for that tidbit, Stanley.
Kelsey A. from Canada had a Phyllis question.
Kelsey noted that Phyllis played the character Sadness in the Pixar movie Inside Out and
wanted to know if the way she acted sad in this scene when she says, I can't be around sad people, they make me sad.
Is that why she got picked for the role in the Pixar movie?
Because she thought she sounded just like sadness
when she said it.
Kelsey, I did too.
It was the first thing I thought of when I heard her say it.
Me too.
Well, guess what, everybody?
We found out how Phyllis got picked to be sadness
in the Pixar movie Inside Out during
our interview with her that just ran last week.
So if you missed it, definitely go back and check it out.
If you just want just to listen to someone and just feel like happiness in your heart,
listen to this interview because Phyllis is such a wonderful, loving person and it just
shines through. Mm-hmm. We've been talking to a lot of people lately.
We have. We've been super chatty.
Well, everybody became available at the same time all of a sudden.
Jake, Phyllis, Bob.
I know.
Pete now arrives to work and he and Erin kind of share a little smile.
And then Erin has a talking head that said that she and Pete have been seeing one another, but they're keeping it a secret out of consideration for Andy. Plus, it's also kind of hot to have that
little secret romance happening. And she says she saw Pete's butt and it's sick.
SONIA DARA We got a fan question from Allie M. in Salem, Oregon who said,
my question is when Erin says, I mean, I saw Pete's butt, it's sick. I guess Allie and her husband Paul have been
disagreeing about the meaning of this line for years.
What?
Allie is really hoping that we can help clear it up, either
using the script or giving our opinions. Allie's husband thinks
Erin is saying that seeing Pete's butt was gross, based on
her character being kind of childlike at times.
But Allie thinks that Erin was happy about seeing Pete's butt.
What are our thoughts?
She's clearly happy about seeing his butt.
Very clearly happy.
It's sick, meaning like sick, like sick is awesome.
Yeah, like rad.
Like rad.
Also in the table draft,
because I still had it in my digital clutter,
it had her say, I've seen his butt, it's nuts.
Oh.
And I don't know why it ended up being it's sick,
but this was clearly a compliment, Paul.
Ali, I hope we help settle that.
I know you guys don't have to argue about it anymore.
No.
Ali, you are right.
You are right, Erin liked what she saw. Pam is now over
at the copier. She quickly takes a piece of paper before Kevin can see it and we find out she has a
job interview in Philly. It's for a real estate company. Jim set it up for her and you know she's
kind of nervous. She feels like this is all moving a little faster than she expected. Plus, she holds up her resume and she says,
my resume could fit on a Post-it note.
Oh lady, this was a fan mail flurry.
I saw.
People have lots of thoughts about Pam's resume.
They really do.
So I looked it up on Dunderpedia.
They had the actual resume sort of laid out.
And all she lists for her work experience is being a
receptionist at Dunder Mifflin and being an office manager at Dunder Mifflin. For her education, she lists
high school and Pratt. And then she says her interests are my children, art and painting.
Children, art and painting. Children, art and painting. Let's break this down.
Taryn Gee from Camarillo, California said,
we need to talk about Pam's resume being only two lines
because she has actually been a receptionist,
a salesperson at two different companies
and an office manager.
She was an RA at Pratt.
She could absolutely be filling an entire page
with a description
of duties of each of these jobs, her mural work. And then David H. from Preston, Lankenshire,
England also would like to know why this resume does not include any of her sales experience.
And Leanne J. from Burnbury, British Columbia, Canada says in season eight, episode five,
Pan mentions that she worked at the Banshee Pub,
where she saw the man in black.
That's another job that could have helped bulk up
her resume a bit.
Yes.
I mean, I remembered that.
When I was watching this, I thought, wait,
remember Jim and Pam had this whole debate about ghosts
because she worked at a restaurant and she saw a ghost?
Yeah.
She also went to college, and that's not listed.
You know what?
I had a
theory from this posted resume is that does Pam even want this job? Doesn't
look like she put a lot of effort in this resume. Like from the beginning
she's kind of tanking it. I mean maybe she's not aware that she's doing that
it's like a subconscious thing. Well some people said maybe she doesn't want to
talk about her time at Michael Scott Paper Company because it kind of wasn't
really real. Maybe she doesn't want to talk about her time at Michael Scott Paper Company because it kind of wasn't really real. Maybe she doesn't want to talk about sales because she wasn't good at it and she
doesn't want that kind of job again. I don't know. But you put all the things on a resume.
You put all the things. Listen, as an aspiring actor, we know how to pad a resume. Going back.
Believe me, I'd had like two roles in some college shows, but it looked like I
toured the world performing. But you have to list like all of your skills in association with these
jobs. And Pam doesn't do any of that. Like she doesn't say like skills, managing people,
any takes initiative, any of the buzzwords.
She didn't put a lot of thought into it.
Well listen, that wasn't the only controversy about Pam's resume.
GGF from San Antonio, Texas said, I notice that Pam does not use the Oxford comma in
her resume.
What do you ladies have to say about this and what are your opinions of the Oxford comma?
Oh no, I feel so bad.
I don't know what it is.
I had no idea what it was.
I have to Google it.
I Googled it for us.
Okay.
When I Googled it,
here are some of the things that came up.
You know how it gives you like suggested questions?
Sure.
It says, is it necessary to use the Oxford comma?
Why is the Oxford comma controversial?
Why is it controversial?
Why don't people like the Oxford comma?
Wow.
Okay.
I started with what is an Oxford comma?
I think that we should know.
Gigi, I mean, I feel like we're about to have a real education here thanks to your question.
All right.
I had no idea what a hot button topic this was in the world of grammar experts.
But according to an article that I found on OxfordRoyale.com, they list the pros and cons
of the Oxford comma. The article starts with a quote by Lynn Truss, who is the author of
a book called Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, which is considered the punctuation Bible.
Oh.
Mm-hmm. And here's what she said about the Oxford comma, quote,
There are people who embrace the Oxford comma and people who don't, and I'll just say this,
never get between these people when a drink has been taken.
Oh my gosh. Wait, is the Oxford comma, does it look like a semicolon?
No, no, no, it's a comma.
So here's how it works.
If you're listing multiple things in a sentence,
do you put a comma after every single one,
even before and, or do you leave the comma out
when you get to the and?
So for example, this sentence,
her favorite foods were chocolate comma,
marshmallows comma, cake and chicken.
Or do you say with an Oxford comma, her favorite foods were chocolate,
comma, marshmallows, comma, cake, comma, and chicken?
I was taught to put a comma before and.
So there's a comma after each word listed even before the word and.
It's very American of you. Okay, I was as well
I didn't realize
that
You know that would be considered controversial
but I guess some people feel like if you put the comma before and that it's sort of like
overly pendantic and
You can sound pompous and hyper-correct because it is possible for people to know
what you mean without using the comma.
So you don't need to be all snooty about it.
And is it more common in America than in other countries?
It is. However, this article went through and even looked back at
like historical texts and here's what they found,
that it is generally more common
among American style guides than British ones.
The Times and The Economist, for instance,
are both against its use,
but many well-known American guides
such as the Chicago Manual of Style advocate it.
However, the Associated Presp style book
does not use the Oxford comma.
So the comma that comes before the and is known as the Oxford comma.
Correct.
I see now.
And so the controversy is whether to use it or not.
That's right.
But French, German, and Italian do not use the Oxford comma,
and there's no controversy about not using it.
The Italians don't use it?
Did I say Italians? That using it. The Italians don't use it? Did I say Italians?
That's right.
The Italians.
The Italians don't use it either.
Either.
What is happening?
I want to just real quickly give an argument for the Oxford
Kava, if I may, if it won't just tick people off.
So I gave you my sample sentence,
which is like her favorite foods were chocolate,
marshmallows, cake, and chicken. What if her favorite foods were chocolate, marshmallows,
chicken, and waffles? Without the comma, it sounds like her favorite foods were chocolate,
marshmallows, chicken, and waffles. Or her favorite foods were chocolate, marshmallows, chicken, and waffles. Or her favorite foods were chocolate,
marshmallows, chicken, and waffles. Not chicken and waffles. You really need the
comma so that we know what her favorite foods were. I support this argument. You
know what I'm saying? I do, sort of. To sum this up, I did look up should you use
the Oxford comma on a resume, and it said,
while it's not mandatory, using it on a resume can enhance clarity, especially when listing
multiple skills or job responsibilities.
So maybe Pam should have used it.
Well, Pam maybe should have just put more effort into this resume.
There's that too.
All right.
I hope you all enjoyed learning
about the Oxford comma.
I very much did.
I now know it and I'll never forget it.
Thank you, Gigi.
Well, let's take a break because when we come back,
I had the table draft for this episode in my email
and there was a phone call between Pam and Brian
and I think I need to share it with you.
What?
Yeah.
Oh boy, I don't remember this.
All right, we'll be right back.
We'll be right back,
and I'm gonna have a cheese stick,
some crackers,
and my iced tea.
Sounds good. All right, we're back. And, Ange, what would Pam have done after looking at her resume?
So in the table draft, right at the end of this Pam talking head about her resume, she
gets a phone call. It read like this. Pam's cell phone rings. Pam checks it. She shows it to the camera.
It reads, Brian. Pam sighs and says to the documentarian,
Sorry, I've got to take this. She gets up and walks out. The camera stays on the empty chair,
but we can hear Pam's audio through her mic pack. Oh.
Pam says, Hey, Brian, how are you guys holding up?
Oh, good.
And Alyssa agreed to go with you?
Well, that's it.
And that's all you hear.
Oh.
So Brian is calling her with updates.
On his relationship.
Mm-hmm.
Which is interesting to me,
because in this couple's friendship,
it's not Pam and Alyssa talking about
Brian and Alyssa's marriage,
it's Pam and Brian talking about it,
which is not liking it, I don't like that.
Well, Pam is Brian's confidant.
Which is not appropriate, in my opinion.
It was in the table draft.
It didn't even make it to the shooting draft and we never shot it.
That's right.
But I was curious, like, when I saw it, I was like, oh, I guess they did have a moment
where they were going to just give us a little tidbit about what was happening there.
Mm-hmm.
Well, instead, we have a scene with Dwight talking on the phone to Moe's.
And you think he's describing how Moe's should feed one of the animals on the farm,
but he's actually referring to their aunt Shirley.
Yeah.
Then, Dwight is going to surprise Angela in the break room.
He says you really need to take breaks more often because he's been waiting behind the
vending machine for like 45 minutes now. And this is when he's going to say, I need your help with my Aunt Shirley. They need
someone to clean her. The last nurse was maybe poisoned. Angela does not want to do this.
No.
But Dwight reminds her that, you know, she kind of owes him. We had a lot of fan questions about this scene, Angela.
It's very funny.
Dierin T. from Poland said,
was the description of Aunt Shirley's body parts scripted?
When Dwight talks about the prehensile wing,
you can see that Angela's trying to hide her smile.
We also got a fan question from Brittany M.
in Daytona Beach, Florida, who said, when Dwight asks Angela to help bathe his aunt and describes the wing,
it looks like you're both about to break.
Everybody would like to know how much of this was scripted, Angela.
Talk to us about this scene.
I loved this scene.
I mean, you know, first of all, when Dwight says, you owe me,
he's talking about the whole thing where his friend and the pipe.
Yes.
And the kneecapping of Oscar, right? So he thing where his friend and the pipe. Yes.
And the knee capping of Oscar, right?
So he's gonna play that card now.
Yeah.
And this is why Angela agrees to do it.
We had so much fun shooting these scenes.
I wanted to share with you guys
how it was described in the shooting draft.
It said, interior break room,
Angela goes to the snack machine,
Dwight is waiting behind the door.
Well, when we got to the scene and we started rehearsing it, it didn't work that Dwight was
behind the door. I guess the camera could see him. I remember it just didn't work. So we had this
idea in the moment that Dwight would hide behind the other vending machine in the corner.
So funny.
And when rain as Dwight popped around the corner when we were rehearsing, it did sort of startle me.
And so we just went with that. That reaction was not scripted where I was like,
Dwight, none of that was scripted. And then Rain started going off script when it got to the part
where he was describing the flap. Yeah.
Oh my gosh. So in the shooting draft, it was written simply like this. Dwight says,
this is an old woman, Angela. It's all hanging out. I don't even recognize some of the parts anymore.
There's one hanging out in particular, some sort of flap. And then Angela just says, okay, fine.
Yeah.
And Dwight says, I think I know what it was, but why is there only one? And Angela goes, Dwight! And leaves. Everything else you see was improvised.
Rain started really having some fun with this flap.
I could barely hold it together,
but I would have to improvise my reactions
to what he was improvising.
And John just let us play around and it was so much fun.
And you guys are absolutely right.
I had to look away.
I kind of bend over because I just started laughing.
I think it's so clear that the two of you
were having fun in this scene.
And we all love Dwight and Angela together.
And we haven't gotten to see as much of it
as I would have liked over these last couple of seasons.
So this whole episode, but this scene that kicks it off
is just so, so fun.
Thanks.
Well, we really, really had a good time.
And I know somewhere there was a blooper of me
because I could not keep it together.
Back in the main bullpen, Pam was gonna get her coat
and she's gonna leave.
And I'm calling this SAS exit number one.
Yep.
At six minutes and two seconds,
when Andy says, where are you going?
She replies, not on a three month boat trip.
SASS Exit.
Oh my gosh, she doesn't even break her stride.
No, then Dwight and Angela leave as well.
And Andy's like, what, so everybody can just leave
whenever they want now?
I love my snarky smile.
Six minutes, 15 seconds. SASS Exit number two. My snarky smile. Six minutes, 15 seconds. Sass exit number two.
My snarky smile was not scripted. I just wanted to do it. Well, at the end of this scene, at six
minutes and 23 seconds, right after Andy says, I'm still the boss, it cuts over to Erin at reception.
And I noticed this thing over her shoulder. I don't know how long it's been there.
It was the first time I noticed it.
It's like a stuffed animal, peanut or a basketball.
It has like this red hat and red shoes.
What is it?
How long has it been there?
I couldn't tell what it was.
I was like, is it an M&M?
Is it a peanut M&M?
Is it a peanut? It has a hat.
Yeah, and shoes. And shoes. And I think arms.
But I'm gonna keep looking for it. I'm gonna track it. Track the peanut. Track the peanut hat person.
I will. Well, Aaron is gonna bring Andy some messages from his clients and he says, you know what?
He doesn't want anything to do with work.
And she's like, well, all I want to do is work.
Yeah.
And he says, you can keep my blue sweater.
I know you loved it so much.
And she says, I donated it.
Yeah.
How do we feel about that?
Do we think it's like, okay that she donated it?
Why wouldn't she just give it back to him I
think she should have just packed up his things that she didn't want and given
it to him yeah yeah um at seven minutes and eight seconds I have a new desk item
catch again everybody maybe it's been there a while but I just noticed it
there is a bell on Andy's desk with an anchor attached to the top of it.
I saw it too.
Are these items new or are we just seeing them
for the first time?
I have not seen the bell.
Okay.
I feel like Peanut Man has been there before,
but I don't know.
All right.
Andy now goes to the annex.
He wants to vent, you know, with the guys.
He tells them, we're in the bro zone layer, okay?
Nard dog plop and Clark or Posey, AKA clockwork orange.
Here's the sitch.
Erin dumped me, natch.
But she got rid of my blue sweater, which is her favorite.
Is she moving on a little faster or am I being a total psycho?
Plop, you go first.
I loved everything about this dialogue.
Same.
I can only imagine how much fun it was to write for Andy Bernard.
She dumped me.
Natch.
I mean, who talks like that?
Also, there were alts for Clark Raposi and Clark Wark Orange.
What were they?
There was Zero Clark Thirty, Clark Wing, Clarkinson's Disease.
Okay.
During this Brozone layer meeting, you know, Clark is going to say, hey, why don't you
just enjoy this freedom?
And Andy says, last night I ordered a pizza and I ate it over the sink like a rat.
Yeah.
Well, we had a fan question about this scene from Jen S. in Morgan Hill, California.
She said, my absolute favorite line of this episode is after Andy leaves and Clark turns to Pete
and says, I'll give you $100 to wear
that sweater to work tomorrow.
Yeah, also.
Jen wanted to know if that was scripted.
It was not.
Well, Clark Duke improvised that.
He's hilarious.
Yeah.
I also loved Jake's reaction
because he had to improvise his reaction.
Yep.
Which is he just closes his eyes.
I know.
I know.
I am loving the Pete Clark energy in the office.
I really like them.
I love Clark knowing a secret about Pete and that dynamic.
All right.
So next up, Dwight and Angela are going to arrive to Aunt Shirley's house.
Angela, do you have a location breakdown for me? I do, Jenna. All right, so next up, Dwight and Angela are gonna arrive to Aunt Shirley's house.
Angela, do you have a location breakdown for me?
I do, Jenna.
So Aunt Shirley's house was actually called Allen House.
It's on the Warner Brothers Ranch.
And you guys, when you drive into the Warner Brothers Ranch,
there is the big fountain in the middle.
That's the beginning of the Friends episode.
Yes!
Yeah. So I was beginning of the Friends episode. Yes! Yeah.
Uh-huh.
So I was very excited to see that. And then this house, this big yellow house,
it really is a house. Of course, the inside they've made like a set, but from the exterior,
it's just a beautiful big yellow house. In the back, there was a grassy area with a big tree,
and there was a bench underneath the tree. And that's the day my daughter came to set,
and she got to play in that grassy field.
And I have a photo of her and I under the big tree.
So I have special memories whenever I watch this episode.
And it had a front porch that we filmed on,
and then it had a back porch where they sort of
kept all the camera gear and video village,
and that's where I hung out with Jon Favreau.
Now, did you shoot the outside of the house
and the inside of the house in the same location?
Yes, we filmed all the Warner Brothers ranch in one day.
So on the call sheet that day, it
was just me and Rain and Mary.
You had the day off.
It was Thursday.
I tried to go to my digital clutter
and see what I did that day.
And I just don't have digital clutter. You get rid of s**t. I tried to go to my digital clutter and see what I did that day and I just don't have
digital clutter. You get rid of s***. I do. I delete emails after I read them. I know you're good like
that. I also quickly have a fakie bag catch at 8 minutes and 30 seconds as you're walking in. Dwight
and Angela are each carrying two big brown paper
bags.
Those were the special bags that don't make a lot of sound,
so the sound department likes them.
And they have bought Shirley new clothes,
and they're going to clean her up.
They are.
But as soon as Aunt Shirley sees the mentor,
she calls Dwight Big City Dwight,
and she inquires, what is up with this little kitchen witch?
She's just a little kitchen witch.
We got a fan question
from Becca T. in Edmonton, Alberta, who said, I've been waiting for this episode because
there is a restaurant in Bellingham, Washington called the Little Kitchen Witch.
Oh, no way.
Yeah. Becca said, my husband and I have visited the town often and it always makes me think
of this episode. Becca wondered, is this a common phrase? Were there any candy bag alts for Aunt Shirley
to call Angela anything else? Well Becca now that restaurants on my list of
places I need to go to. It's closed. No. I looked it up it was only open for eight
months. Oh. But it was known for its falafel schnitzel and other traditional
Mediterranean dishes
and it had five stars on Yelp.
Well, dang it.
I know.
I wanted to go there with you and take a picture of you outside of it.
Yes.
I know.
Well, farts.
I guess we're just going to have to open like a little pub called the Little Kitchen Witch,
Jenna.
We really should.
Just put it on our list of things to do.
Okay.
Well, Becca, I went digging into the candy bag alts
and there weren't any.
It was scripted as Little Kitchen Witch
in the shooting draft and that's what she said.
I had not ever heard the phrase before.
And when I Googled it,
it is not part of the Merriam-Webster dictionary
list of common phrases.
Does Oprah doesn't break it down for us?
She has not.
Little kitchen witch.
No.
No.
Oh, hey, just since we're off topic for a second.
Oh.
During our break, I thought of another fashion thing
that I wanted to discuss besides the shack it.
Is it shorts?
No, it's about, oh my gosh,
that just got a cackle from Jordan.
It's not.
It is about socks.
Shocks, you want shocks?
No, I did not know this.
A jock and a sock?
This is a thing.
Is what's a jocks?
Like when you put your-
I just was making it up.
It's like a-
No, I was thinking, you know what jocks is,
is if you put your fella,
your little fella in a sock.
Yes, that's what I was saying.
Oh gosh, now I have two fashion things to talk about.
They have this underwear for men
and I got like served it by like an Instagram ad, I don't know how I got
in this algorithm, they put their balls in a pocket. Isn't that just tighty-whities? No, tighty-whities
don't have a speck. So when you put on this underwear, your balls go in a special pocket
and it's meant to sort of keep them off your thighs. It's called a shock? No, it's just called underwear.
Oh.
They missed an opportunity.
They really did.
But you put it in—
A shock-it.
What's a shock-it?
It's a sock pocket for your balls.
Oh.
Well, I don't know.
Talk to them about it.
But that's a thing.
You put them in their own little pocket.
Carrier.
Mm-hmm.
I got Leah a pair for Father's Day.
Oh, so you haven't given it to him yet.
I haven't, not at the time when we recorded this.
I'm not sure when this episode comes out.
You'll have to let us know.
Will I?
I'm barely sure how.
Actually, I don't know if I wanna know that information.
But I got so, listen, I'll buy anything.
I'm so bad.
I bought that dumb thing that's supposed to,
like, clean earwax out of your ear. I remember work
I've got so many dumb things. I'm so
Suggestible now. I've bought my husband a pair of underwear so he can put his balls in a pocket
What am I doing? But listen, this isn't even what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about socks
I wanted to talk about okay. It wanted to talk about- Okay, it's okay.
That there are all these videos now where they can tell if you are a millennial or a Gen Z or a Gen X by the socks you wear.
Are you on TikTok?
No, no.
Sounds like a TikTok video.
I know, but this is okay. So you see the socks I'm wearing right now, right? I'm wearing-
The no-shows. No one wears those anymore
No, kids don't wear them. They don't wear them. You have to it's ankle again. I know I have teenagers
I know the socks that are hip
I can't wrap my head around it by the way
It took me so long to accept these dumb no-show socks that always slip down my heel. I hate them
I refuse to wear them. Look at me. Oh, you have no socks
Lady, what does no socks mean?
I don't know any of it anymore.
Times are changing. We can't keep up.
Well, my last Instagram suggested ad
was special underwear for thigh chafing.
You know what? All of this is making me realize.
What?
We clearly need like a fashion blogger podcast together.
Oh, yeah.
Where we break it down for you guys.
But just, but just practical undergarments.
And jackets.
All right, Andy has a talking head.
He wants to know why isn't Erin sad?
Has she found someone new?
Is that why she's not that upset about this breakup? Oh, he says, you know, during a breakup,
your mind goes to some dark places.
Boy does it for Andy because he becomes a snoop.
He does.
Erin leaves front reception and leaves her phone.
Andy grabs it and starts scrolling on it.
Phyllis says, Andy, no good can come from snooping.
Andy says, I'm not snooping.
Oscar's like, you're clearly snooping. Everyone is very upset by this except for Meredith.
Creed's like, that's uncool. Meredith is like, tell us what it's on there. Like,
Meredith wants to know all the dish.
Well, guess what? He sees something. He sees that she has been texting with someone named
Pete. He charges into the annex where Daryl Clark, Kevin, and Toby are, for some reason that we don't know,
all gathered around Pete's desk and computer.
Pete is the only one who's seated.
Andy announces, my fears have been confirmed.
Erin is texting someone named Pete.
Do any of you know someone by that name?
Go to 10 minutes and 47 seconds seconds because the way Clark looks to camera
when Andy says Pete is perfection.
So good.
And then Brian as Kevin says, Pete what?
I know.
That was improvised.
It was, yes.
That was so good.
Pete has a talking head where he says,
oh my gosh, Andy's been calling me Plop for so long,
he forgot my real name is Pete.
This talking head was a bit extended in the shooting draft.
Pete would have had another line where he said,
I have probably about six minutes.
Before he figures it out.
Well, he's right.
Andy goes to the fridge and has his aha moment.
He sees that lunch bag labeled Pete and he
puts it all together.
Yep.
Pam is now going to arrive at Jim's office in Philly.
She looks so cute.
She's all dressed for her interview.
Jim is wearing his Bluetooth device and they sort of have this little joke about it.
He's like, I know I'm a douche, but look, I can do this with my hands.
And he tells her she's gonna crush it.
It's a sweet little moment.
It really is.
He's very excited for her.
At 11 minutes and 30 seconds,
I have a water bottle catch on Jim's desk.
Someone left their water bottle.
Oh, for real?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, that's so good.
Yeah.
It's like the Starbucks coffee on Game of Thrones.
Exactly.
We had a fan question from Jen H. in New York. Jen says,
I have a Justice for Pam comment.
Justice for Pam?
Jen says, I've been waiting so long to ask this. Jim offers Darryl a job at his new company.
Why on earth did he not ask Pam to join? Why couldn't she be the graphic designer
at Athlead? It's wild because both Ryan and Michael believed in her art talents more than
her own husband. Ryan asked her to make a logo in season four, episode two, and then in season four,
episode five, Michael asked her to make a logo for the local ad. I bet Pam would have been much more receptive
to moving to Philly if her dream job
was also waiting for her.
Well, Jen, I hear you, but I do have some thoughts.
I have some thoughts as well.
First of all, Jim's business is not really making
any money for this family,
and I had read another fan comment that said
they were really ticked off at Pam because she's not supporting Jim's, like, dream job.
Like, why didn't she just get a job in Philly?
Her husband's making so much money at this great job, but Jim is not making any money.
Remember, it's like this company has not had a profit.
So if they're both working there, then no one's really bringing home a significant paycheck. Also, I don't think graphic design is Pam's dream job. I don't
think she, she didn't love it. She dropped out because she didn't love it.
Yeah, she dropped out because it wasn't what she thought it was going to be. I would also
say this, if Jim and Pam are really hoping this business takes off, they can't move to a whole new city with
their children and invest in property or a big enough rental for all of them without
knowing it's going to be a success.
Right now, you would assume they don't really have a house payment and their kids are in
school there.
They have Pam's family, Jim's family nearby to help.
So moving the whole family there,
you're not gonna do that till you know
that this is really going to take off.
Yeah.
And I think there needs to be someone in this family
who has like a stable income.
But Jen, I appreciate you sticking up for Pam.
Yes, Jen, I appreciate justice for Pam.
I do see like down the road, there might be a job opportunity there for Pam. Yes, Jen, I appreciate justice for Pam. I do see, like, down the road there might be a job
opportunity there for sure.
Mm-hmm.
Aunt Shirley has had plenty of schnaps and has fallen
asleep on the couch.
Yeah, she hit the homemade schnaps really hard.
Dwight says, okay, let's get her out in the yard and
spray her down in a very tasteful, rustic, private shower.
This is setting us up for the beginning
of Moving On Part Two,
for which we got a lot of fan questions.
We'll get to it next week.
Meanwhile, Andy has called Pete into his office
and he tells Pete that he has contracted chlamydia.
Yeah.
From Erin. From Erin.
He's trying to get Pete's reaction and we talked about this with Jake Lacey.
We did.
He said that schlamydia was an improv by Ed.
It was because in the script it said,
Aaron gave me incurable syphilis.
Pretty lame, huh?
But then Ed improvised schlamydia.
He did.
And it made Jake laugh.
I found the blooper.
Let's hear it. I just got off the phone call. Ed improvised schlamydia. He did, and it made Jake laugh.
I found the blooper.
Let's hear it.
I just got off the phone with my doctor
and it turns out that I contracted schlamydia.
Come on, come on.
Schlamydia. Oh man. Come on, come on, Slovenia.
Oh man, well I guess they loved it so much,
they kept it in and then they had to do it again
and again so that Jake didn't laugh.
Yes, and Jake told us that his proudest performance moment
on the whole show was in this scene
because there's that long pause and Pete says,
you were gone.
And Jake improvised that.
And then in the moment, as Andy reacted and improvised,
I knew it!
And Jake just said it was the coolest thing.
Yeah, and then what's really cool is after that little
moment of improv from both of them,
they get back on script and finish the scene, which is, oh, just delicious.
The line that got them back on script was Pete saying,
and just so you know, there was no overlap.
Mm-hmm.
And then they were back as scripted.
However, this does end with another improv when Andy
starts to sing the song, Bad Day, with different lyrics.
We had a bad day.
Different lyrics. Do, do, Day, with different lyrics. We had a bad day. Different lyrics.
Do, do, do, do.
Yes.
From Steve Burgess, he said we had to get permission
to change the lyrics.
They were okay with using different lyrics
and it cost $20,000.
And he said, by the way, this wasn't scripted.
So after Ed did it in the scene,
they had to make sure they could get it cleared.
Oh my gosh.
After the scene, we see Andy and Toby, and Toby's like,
hey, you cannot fire Pete. You can't fire someone just because you have a grudge.
The same thing happened with Nellie. And Andy's like, no, no, no.
That was a professional grudge. This is a personal grudge.
Yes.
And then Toby shows Andy that Erin and Pete have disclosed their relationship.
You know, they fill out that form and human resources. Andy is furious and crumples it up. Toby's like, that's not the original. So,
you know, it's not a big deal. I just love that one detail. And then Andy walks away.
Toby uncrumples it and is like, it is the original.
Well, I looked this up in the script. As scripted, Andy was supposed to fold up the document and put it in his
pocket and then kick Toby's chair and walk out. And Toby's last line was, it's not
the original. But instead, Ed crumpled it up and threw it at him. And he was like, it's
not the original and kicked the trash can. And so Paul improvised.
Un-crumpling it.
Un-crumpling it and and saying it was the original.
That is great.
I love that.
So fun.
All right, are you ready for Pam to get to her interview?
I am, per the call sheets,
this was the very first scene of this entire episode
that was filmed.
Yep, Monday morning.
Monday morning, scene 24, first up on Monday.
It was described like this,
Interior Real Estate Company,
Pam meets the Michael Scott of Real Estate, Mark.
And I saw on the call sheet that you and Bob
had 6 a.m. call times,
but the rest of us got to come in at one.
Yep, this was a location.
We did not build these offices,
and I remembered that very clearly.
We got ready on set
and then we drove to this location in a series of
vans. So Bob and I got to share a van ride over to
the set. Listen, any time I got to share with Bob, I
was just so tickled. So I remember that car ride.
We got a lot of fan questions about what it was
like for me to get to work with Bob. One from Natalie L. in Baltimore, Maryland, who just said,
what was it like working with Bob Odenkirk?
I laughed all morning.
I only had him from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
But oh my goodness, and one of my favorite moments that I couldn't get over
and that I still can't get over when I watch it and made me break every time,
I don't know how we got a usable take,
was that dance that he does when he goes,
the funk and bonch.
Yeah.
And he like, this is like awkwardly is raising the roof.
I loved that moment so much.
The minute he's on camera, I just started laughing.
It starts with him in his office
and he's playing the guitar, and he's saying,
talking Chester Avenue, talking Triplex,
talking Converting, hey, is that her?
Yes.
And you just have to imagine,
this guy is making up these ridiculous songs all day.
He must drive everyone crazy.
Oh, yeah, Pam has a talking head,
where she says, oh, my God, he's Michael Scott.
And then he gives her a tour of the office.
He kind of walks her through the bullpen,
making all of the inappropriate jokes that Michael Scott would. And he says ridiculous things like
Michael Scott would, like this. This is not an office so much as it's a rec room with a bunch of computers in it.
Frankly, if I had my way, I'd toss the computers in the garbage.
But unfortunately, we use them for practically everything we do.
So, that ain't gonna happen.
You might have noticed that only one person speaks back to him.
Everybody in this bullpen were background performers, but they were
very specifically chosen to try to paint the picture of an alternate
Dunder Mifflin universe. For example, please note the snarling woman dressed in a turtleneck and
pearls at 17 minutes and eight seconds. That is your doppelganger, Angela. There are people playing
solitaire on their computers. I like Meredith. I noticed that. Mm-hmm. At 17 minutes and 24 seconds, Aunt Joan was their Phyllis.
She's wearing a purple shirt under her blazer.
And then, as Mark comes around the corner, he's going to speak to someone and he's
going to say, he didn't hear me.
And that person says, I heard you.
That was guest star Michael Weston. He was a very big shot actor at this time when he did this
very short little cameo. He had been on House for two years and people noticed. We got a lot of fan
mail asking, how did you get Michael Weston to do like this one little pop on your show, this little cameo. It's because Michael Weston was one of the actors who tested
for Jim.
Oh, that's so cool that Greg did that.
Yes. So he placed him as the man closest to reception because he would have been the Jim
to their Pam. And Michael was so up for it. You know, Greg called and was like, Hey, do
you want to come be in our alternate universe?
Right. Very, very cool. Like you said, Greg, he files everything away. He does. Back at the Dunder Mifflin
bullpen, Andy has waited for Aaron to leave and then he just lets the room have it. He's like, thanks a lot,
you know, for letting Plop steal my girlfriend. And he's really hurt and he's getting upset and Darrell's like,
Andy, you have a booger bubble forming?
And Andy's like, sorry, my whole life is a booger bubble.
Y'all, this was on the call sheet.
On Monday, they had a, and I quote,
we will test the booger bubble at 10 a.m.
Okay, I saw that as well, Angela.
I love that they did a booger bubble test,
but I never saw a booger bubble.
Do you think that the test didn't happen
and so they just were like,
he'll just indicate booger bubble
because did you see one?
I didn't see one.
I didn't see one.
I have to imagine that camera didn't really catch it.
You know, when they did the camera test, they were like, oh, it doesn't really read.
I zoomed in, I took a picture of Ed's nose,
and I'm sorry.
I saw no big booger bubble.
So I think they tested it and it didn't work.
I want to say that when they tested things like this,
they would often grab our stand-in, Steven Sox,
and they would have put a booger bubble on him at 10 a.m.,
and then he would have walked into the bullpen,
and they would have put the camera up.
And then they would have said, no, it doesn't work.
Yes. He did so many things like that.
I really feel like at some point we need to get Stephen
and his wife, Lori.
They were our two stand-ins,
because I want to hear stories of these crazy things that they
were always having to do. I would love that. I would love to just say you guys list off 10 of
the most crazy things you had to do behind the scenes. Agree. Okay, put that on the list.
All right, now Pam's interview has moved into Mark's office. Before we step into his office,
there was a line that cracked me up. I thought
our writers did a brilliant job of bringing Michael Scott into this moment in the way
that Michael Scott would do a comedy bit, but some part of it would be wrong. Okay.
So Mark says, step this way for the Spanish Inquisition. And then he goes, kids in the
hall. Yes. It's not kids in the hall. It's Monty Python. It's that hilarious Monty Python sketch.
But I just love that little nod.
It reminded me so much of Michael Scott.
You know, Mark really likes her tiny resume.
Yeah, you know what it says to him?
She sticks around.
She gets in one place and doesn't really go anywhere.
Kind of stings when Pam hears it like that.
Well, yeah.
Angela, do we need to talk about some of the things on Mark's desk? There's so many
good things. There's the clacky teeth. And clacky balls. And clacky balls. Clacky
teeth of course made me think of Michael Scott. He has one of those magic eight
balls but it's the yellow one that looks like an emoji. Well Michael had a green
one that had like a dollar symbol on it. Remember? We looked it up.
Yep. And of course, he's got a jumbo set of clacky balls. And he also has like a,
it looks like a version of some kind of bobblehead, but I can't see who it is.
Could you make out who it was?
I couldn't make out who it was.
If anyone knows who that is, will you let us know?
There's something that Mark is going to do that Michael never did. And that is, will you let us know? There's something that Mark is gonna do that Michael never did,
and that is play his guitar for her.
Yeah.
He's going to make up a song about her
while reading her resume.
I thought we should hear it.
Oh, please.
What if Bob Dylan was your boss?
I'm gonna do Dylan.
I'm gonna do Dylan. Pam Halpert is my name. I've been at Dunder Mifflin for seven years, eight years, eight years man.
Got the Dunder Mifflin blues, got the Pam Halpert blues, got a prayer with the Bread Institute.
You have children? Two children, yes. And you have art and painting?
Kind of the same thing, kind of the same thing.
Sometimes I repeat myself, but that's just being Pam.
Well, I'm kind of cute and I'm, but I'm married, so.
Leave that be.
But I'm married so leave that be. Angela, that whole thing was improvised.
That was a nod to David Brent.
When Bob and I met to practice our audition together,
he did that.
Then when we went in to do the test audition,
he brought his guitar and we did that bit
as part of the test process because David Brent.
In the original GBC version.
That's right.
He would play the guitar.
And so Bob did that.
And I remember when we were talking about bringing Bob on to play Mark, I said, Greg,
he's got to bring his guitar.
That was like one of my favorite audition moments
was getting to sit there and just react to Bob singing to me.
It's so funny.
And he finds so many hills and valleys in the moment.
I love when he was like, that's just B and Pam.
Yeah.
But then he's like, she's pretty cute, but she's married.
And then to himself, he's like, leave it be.
Yes. Yes. It's so good. But then he's like, she's pretty cute, but she's married. And then to himself, he's like, leave it be.
Yes, yes.
It's so good.
Everybody, we spoke to Bob Odenkirk all about these scenes.
His interview is going to run after we finish breaking down
moving on part two.
Please, please give it a listen.
It's so fun.
It's so fun.
And he's so smart and interesting.
We really hung on his every word.
We pretty much did.
It's such a great interview.
Well, this episode's gonna end with something
we've never seen before, to be continued, dot, dot, dot.
Once again, a huge thank you to Steve Burgess
for those call sheets and behind the scenes details
and to you all for writing in your questions and comments.
They always give us such inspiration.
I really had a fun time rewatching this.
I did too.
Everyone join us next week for Moving On, part two.
See you then.
Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Office Ladies is produced by Earwulf,
Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.
Our senior producer is Cassie Jerkins.
Our audio engineer is Jordan Duffy and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Our theme song is
Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.