Office Ladies - Second Drink: Office Olympics with Paul Feig
Episode Date: January 6, 2025This week, Jenna is on a cleanse and Angela falls into an 'Amish In The City' hole, but that doesn't stop them from covering this week's episode, Office Olympics. The ladies discuss how the animated s...eries, King Of The Hill, inspired Office Olympics, and they take a call from this episodes director, Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks, Last Christmas). Paul chats about shooting in Micheal's condo, the most he's ever laughed on set, and the intricacies of picking the famed yogurt lid medals. Let the podcast games begin! Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Episode Transcript To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I am 50 years old and do you know what I don't want to do on my vacations anymore?
Oh probably a few things. I don't want to cram my family into the same one bedroom
room and bathroom. I don't want to. No. I don't want us all on top of each other. I
want my own bedroom separate from the children, which is why I prefer Airbnb.
Because we can all have our space,
and then it's like, makes the whole vacation more relaxing.
We can go to bed at different times.
You know, I can stay up and read,
or more likely these days,
I go to bed before everybody else.
You know what I love about Airbnb?
What? Snacks. You have what I love about Airbnb? What?
Snacks.
You have a fridge, you have a kitchen.
So I'm not calling up room service constantly
and having to pay that fee.
I'm just like, hey, we pack snacks,
they're in the fridge, go get them.
Well, everyone, consider Airbnb for your next adventure.
You won't regret making the switch from a traditional hotel.
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The McValue Meal.
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Hello everyone, and welcome to our second drink
of Office Olympics.
I really love this episode so much.
But my favorite stuff is the stuff in the condo with Michael and Dwight.
I ended up rewatching this whole episode.
And I think that I love that stuff because we weren't there.
And so when I watch them, I think I'm really seeing them as an audience member.
And those two are so funny.
There's just something so fun about seeing Michael and Dwight out of the office to me.
Just the way they interact with each other when they're out in the world is hilarious.
Yes.
I mean, it starts with them driving to the condo, and Dwight is like messing with Michael's
car.
And when we did our breakdown of this episode
people were quick to point out that I said this is the first time we see Michael's car but we
actually saw it in Hot Girl. Well and you got mail about it. I did. And Jenna you know what I love
is when we get to the condo well there's a scene we didn't talk about it much the first time. Let's
hear it. Michael this is Bill he's the head of the condo association.
Oh, hey, how are you?
Nice to meet you, Bill.
Bill, Mr. Bill.
Oh, no.
Mr. Bill.
SNL.
When they pull him apart, you would always get rolled over by something.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
This is smaller than your old place.
Yes, well, I'm buying it and I'm not renting it. You would always get rolled over by something. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. This is smaller than your old place.
Yes, well, I'm buying it and I'm not renting it.
So it's still an upgrade.
He doesn't know anything about property ownership.
Kind of an idiot.
It's just so great.
It's just so great.
And I wanna give a guest star shout out
to John Harrington Bland as Bill,
head of the condo association.
He is so funny.
The look on his face.
John had a recurring role as a reporter on Spin City, which is probably why he was on Alison Jones's radar,
since she also cast that show.
But he's a really talented actor.
He's been on so much, including recurring roles
on Boardwalk Empire and The Loudest Voice.
And now I've got a really fun catch from this episode
that I can't believe we missed the first time around, Angela.
What?
At eight minutes and 35 seconds in the scene
where Pam is hanging up her homemade banner in the kitchen and Jim is lighting the candle
and we talked about safety meeting lit candle.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, in that scene, you can see our camera operator,
Chris Workman over Oscar's shoulder.
Get out.
You can see him standing on an Apple box getting the shot.
No way. Oh, I have to go back and see that box getting the shot. No way.
Oh, I have to go back and see that.
I love Chris.
I know.
He made it in the show.
Well, something I wish I'd brought up the first time
was a deleted scene that we would have played
at the end of the episode.
It features Michael and Dwight having a conversation
with one of Michael's new neighbors.
And lady, it's so funny because it is Greg Daniels.
I know.
Let's hear it.
Hello?
Hello.
How are you?
I'm just about to close on 126 over there,
and I guess we're gonna be neighbors.
Very cool, very cool.
So what's the vibe?
What's the vibe of this place?
I don't know, it's pretty quiet.
Oh, that's going to change.
Why?
Because I love to party.
And I'm going to be partying my butt off at this place.
Okay, but there's an 11 o'clock noise curfew.
Hi, I'm Dwight Schrute, Mr. Scott's associate.
Who's Mr. Scott?
Him. I have a question about the property line. These two trees are pretty close together, but it looks to me like this one's more on
your side, this one might be more on his.
Yeah.
What are you doing home in the middle of the day?
I just came back for lunch.
What are you having?
I've got a hot pocket.
What line of business are you in?
I'm a salesman. Really? So am pocket. What line of business are you in? I'm a salesman.
Really? So am I. What?
I sell yarn.
You're a yarn salesman?
Yeah. I have a couple questions about the neighborhood.
Have you had any problems with prostitution, crack dealing, gang violence, etc.?
No.
Here's a question for you. I have a convertible.
Is it safe to park that in my driveway?
All right. See you soon. Good guy.
Okay. So the thing I love about it is that we have teased Greg for so long because a big portion of that was improvisation.
When they say, what do you do for a living? He says, I'm a salesman. They say, what do you sell? And he says yarn. We have teased him about being a yarn salesman.
And I think you can hear it in Steve's voice when Steve says, oh, you sell yarn? Also,
I love that he said he was eating a hot pocket. And the other thing too is if you go and watch
this, we both rewatched it.
When Dwight's like, I want to discuss a property line here, they are zero lot condos. So there's
no yard. Do you know what I mean? It's like your door is to the left and the other person's
door is to the right. And Greg's reactions were really funny.
Oh, well, everyone, that was your second drink of Office Olympics. Join us this Wednesday for Is Toby the Scranton Strangler?
Yep, and Jenna and I will discuss fan theories and debate if Toby really is the Scranton
Strangler, and Paul Lieberstein is going to join us to talk all about it.
I'm Jenna Fischer.
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 everybody.
Hi everyone. Welcome to season two, episode three Hi, everyone.
Welcome to season two, episode three, Office Olympics.
Guys, if I sound grouchy today, it's because I'm in hour four of a cleanse.
I've never done one before.
I think they're stupid.
I don't know why I'm doing it.
Angela, what are your thoughts on my cleanse?
It's a bad idea.
Why am I doing it?
I don't know. I don't know. Whatever. So what are your thoughts on my cleanse? It's a bad idea. Why am I doing it?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Whatever.
I don't want a bunch of people writing in like to us being like, you guys, cleanses
are good for you.
But you know what?
I just think they sound like a big pain in the ass.
Here's the thing.
I was running out of the house this morning.
I was late.
I didn't have time to make my usual breakfast of scrambled eggs and sliced strawberries.
I eat that every morning.
Oh man. I love it every morning. Oh man.
I love it.
Didn't have time.
But I remembered that about eight months ago,
I ordered this five day cleanse
at the advice of one of my friends.
Who's like healthy or something.
Super healthy, looks amazing, skin is amazing.
And I thought, well, maybe today's the day.
Maybe this is a sign.
So I just grabbed day one of the cleanse.
It's like a little pre-packaged, you know, I had a nut bar for breakfast.
She looks like she's going into outer space.
You guys, she has a little box.
You've got like, it looks like compressed food, compressed food in this little foil
packet.
I've already, I guess, cheated.
I hate that. I hate that I'm shaming myself over this thing already,. I've already, I guess cheated. I hate that.
I hate that I'm shaming myself over this thing already,
but I'm having coffee.
You're not supposed to have coffee on the cleanse.
You're supposed to have tea.
It's not even caffeinated tea.
What am I supposed to do with that?
What is wrong with these people?
That's what I'm saying.
I don't know.
And I already decided I think I'm gonna eat
a full meal for dinner.
I don't know.
Well, I won't tell you what I brought for lunch. What?
Pasta? I brought pasta. Oh my gosh. I have like freeze-dried soup to eat. I know. I know you're going into outer space.
You're eating your packets. Why am I even saying I'm doing a cleanse when I've already planned to eat dinner tonight?
I'm not doing I'm kind of doing a cleanse. I hate to break it to you. I'm not doing, I'm kind of doing a cleanse. What am I doing? I hate to break it to you.
You're not doing a cleanse.
You were rushing and you grabbed your NASA packets
because you bought them and you feel bad
that you bought them.
That is it.
And they've been sitting there.
Yes.
And also what I'm learning about you, Jenna,
like I already knew this about you,
but boy am I learning it now being your business partner
is that if your routine gets thrown,
you love routine, it sends you into this like spiral
where all of a sudden you're like,
like if you're like,
oh, I didn't get my scrambled eggs and my strawberries.
Do you know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna move to Arizona.
What?
Is so true.
I've so thrown that I start to make
really wack-a-doo decisions.
Yeah, you make some big swings.
Okay. All right. Well, you make some big swings. Okay.
All right, well, let's see how it goes today.
On that note.
This episode, as I said, is Office Olympics,
written by Mike Schurr and directed by Paul Fiegg.
Yay!
Let me give a summary.
In this episode, Michael has to leave the office for the day
to sign papers on his new condo.
He's becoming a homeowner, everyone.
Dwight goes with him, leaving Jim in charge, who decides to use the day to stage Office
Olympics with the employees.
Fast fact number one.
Office Olympics was inspired by the King of the Hill Office Olympics.
Yes.
The writers on Greg's show, King of the Hill,
created a real office Olympics
and that is what inspired our episode.
Actually, Jenna, it wasn't the writers
that invented the office Olympics for King of the Hill.
It was Tim Crosston, Greg's assistant.
Oh.
Tim Crosston was Greg Daniel's assistant.
Tim was also a long time friend of mine.
I've known him for years.
And Tim and two other
assistants are who set up the whole Office Olympics at King of the Hill. The writers,
yes, participated, Jenna. Okay. They participated, but Tim was the mastermind. He was the self-appointed
commissioner. Oh. Yes. And I- He was the gym. He was the gym. And I talked to him last night. We
traded text messages. And Tim, sorry if I woke you up at 11 o'clock at night in North
Carolina, but thank you for responding.
They had a whole opening ceremonies.
They had a torch.
They had shirts for different teams.
What?
Yeah, they marched through the hallways.
They had like a banner each team carried.
They had a full opening ceremonies.
And you know the doves that you see at the end for our closing ceremonies? Yes. They had that. They had doves that went across. They had several games that they had to play.
It took a day and a half, this office Olympics. What were they not doing during this day and a half?
I know. Well, Tim said that we wasted a full day and a half on this, and I won the award for wasting
the most office time. So he said, so overall,
I'm very proud of my time on King of the Hill.
He said some of the games they had were mini golf
through the office, Kerplunk,
which was like this game,
I guess where they had like sticks like in like a tube
and you drop marbles down and then you had to twist it.
I don't know.
And then it went Kerplunk.
Tim's favorite game that they had though
was Guess the Elevator. And that they had though was guess the elevator.
And that made it into our episode.
Yes.
So someone went down to the lobby and then came up
and you had to guess which elevator they came out.
So he said that was his personal favorite.
They also had a Twinkie eating contest
and Paul Lieberstein came in second.
Go Paul.
Cause Paul was working on King of the Hill
at the time as well.
But he said
they really got into it. They went all out and he said one of the things that blew him away was Chuck
Mangione. He is a famous musician, composer, Jenna. He actually played a recurring character on King
of the Hill as himself, as the celebrity spokesperson for the Megalomart. Yes. And he flew himself out
on his own dime to play.
He plays the flugelhorn and the trumpet to play at the opening ceremonies because he
in fact actually played at the Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
This is crazy.
How many years did they do this?
Do we know?
This was an annual thing, right?
I don't know that.
I don't know that.
I think, I mean, from what Tim texted me, they definitely went full out one year.
I don't know if they could sustain this
because I think they did waste a lot of time not working.
And here's a random piece of trivia for you.
I did a voice on King of the Hill.
I had like a one line in the mega low-mart where I said,
we don't sail super squatters no more
on account of they're dangerous.
So there's my connection there. Can you believe that? They
really went all out on King of the Hill for their office Olympics. And that was the inspiration for
office Olympics on the office. I love all of that information. That was amazing. Also, this episode
ended up inspiring offices around the country to do their own Office Olympics. I mean, this got even bigger than just our TV show.
Tim, you really started something.
Thank you for that legacy, and thank you
for letting me text you till almost midnight last night.
Your time.
Fast fact number two, writer Mike Schur
makes a cameo appearance in this episode.
Oh, yeah.
Appearing in a photograph as Dwight's Amish cousin, Moe's.
Moe's was actually based on a character in the UPN show Amish in the City. It came out July 2004.
Jenna, I went down the rabbit hole last night and I watched the pilot episode of Amish in the City
because I wanted to see what the character of Mo's, there is a guy named Mo's.
First of all, the premise for the show is crazy.
They take five Amish teens who are on their Rum Shringa,
you know, they can go and live in the world for a year.
And then they- In the non Amish world.
Right, and then they decide if they wanna actually take
the Amish way of life, right?
So they take five Amish teens and they put them in a house
in Los Angeles, like right off Ventura Boulevard,
overlooking the city,
and they put five mainstream American like teenagers.
And now I think just taking five Amish kids
to Los Angeles is enough.
You got to throw in, there's a guy from Boston
who's like, all I want to do was like,
get laid and potty, woohoo!
And you're going to put him with Moe's.
Moe's who like brought his wooden puzzles
that he made himself.
I mean, there's a whole scene where he's like,
do you like puzzles?
And the Boston guy's like, nah, I don't like them.
And he's like, oh, that's pretty much all I brought.
Oh my gosh.
This, okay, sorry.
Your explanation of Amish in the City is making me want to watch Amish in the City.
I'm very invested in Moe's.
I feel like I'm going to have to go back because I'm like, what happened to Moe's and his
puzzles?
How's he doing?
Well, I guess the writers were obsessed with Amish in the City as well.
And the entire first season of The Office, they would all talk about it.
And so finally, when we got a season two, they, that was their way of
honoring their love of Amish in the city, was this character of Moe's that Mike Schur, I think he
thought he was just appearing in a photograph. Little did he know he would go on to play this
character for nine years. For nine years, and then probably would have been in the spin-off,
The Farm, had it happened. True. He would still be playing Moe's. Of course. We also introduce another recurring
character in this episode. It is the realtor. Yes, Carole Stills. Carole Stills played by
Nancy Carell, Steve Carell's wife. Who is hilarious. Nancy is hilarious and we will talk
more about her scenes with Steve as we get into this episode.
Fast fact number three, this was our first time working
with director Paul Fiegg.
Yay!
Who is undoubtedly one of our favorite directors.
Paul is so brilliant and what I love is he's kind.
He's just a delightful person to be around.
We've talked a little bit about how he and his wife, Laurie,
would host our viewing parties.
But this was our first time working with him.
And I'll never forget when he walked on set,
because he was wearing a full suit and tie.
Oh, he is so dapper.
Which he wore every day.
Every day.
Every day he wore a suit.
A lot of them were like vintage suits.
So they were also super cool.
They weren't stuffy.
I mean, they were like super hip.
No, he and his wife Lori are like, they're like a smart looking couple.
Yeah.
They look like people who read The New Yorker, don't they?
Like, they're super smart.
They can read the long articles because those articles are super long.
There's really smart.
And their house, I remember, was like decorated like decorated like so lovely like they had art.
Yes, yes.
But they're not stuffy people. You know what I mean? They're incredibly approachable.
Not flashy.
Yeah, not flashy. They're just really nice people and Paul was one of my absolute favorite directors we ever had.
You are in love with his Instagram.
I am. His Instagram.
She is obsessed with his Instagram.
I love his Instagram. It makes me with his Instagram. I love his Instagram.
It makes me wanna travel and dress nice and have a cocktail.
Yes, yes, this is true.
Paul Feig before this had worked on Freaks and Geeks,
which I was a huge fan of.
And actually Freaks and Geeks is the very first
television show I ever auditioned for.
I wondered if you auditioned for that.
That seemed like right in your will house.
I did not audition for one of the regular characters.
The show had already happened,
but I went in for a guest appearance,
I think just three lines.
And this was because Alison Jones, who cast the office,
also cast Freaks and Geeks.
This started my relationship with Alison Jones.
I went in, I auditioned for Freaks and Geeks,
I did not get the role.
That's all right, lady.
That's all right.
It happens sometimes.
She called me back later for a TV show called Undeclared
that was produced by Judd Apatow,
and I did get that part, just one line.
And then, you know, five years later,
she called me to audition for the office.
Wow.
That was all Alison Jones.
But I almost worked with Paul Feig on Freaks and Geeks,
but it didn't happen.
But it was meant to be.
Our paths would cross.
Little did I know.
And they did.
But Paul also directed Bridesmaids, one
of my all-time favorite movies.
So funny.
I remember going to that premiere,
because we were so excited to support Paul
and to support Ellie.
And the whole cast was just phenomenal. and I was so happy for him and you know Paul is the type of
guy the minute he sees you this huge smile comes across his face and he gives you a big hug and
he's just he's just such a giving person of his self you know and I was so happy to support him
and so happy that it ended up being such a huge hit.
I want to call your attention to Paul Feig's many books that are amazing.
Okay, he wrote Kick Me, which is, I guess it's like his autobiography.
For the first chapter of his life.
Yeah, about his adolescence.
Yeah, I really feel like he could write a whole bunch more.
But he's so funny. The book is amazing.
And then he also wrote this book called Super Stud or How I Became a 24 Year Old Virgin.
It's also amazing.
So you guys really, if you want to dive deep on Paul Feig, I recommend these books.
Guess what we did?
We called Paul Feig for this episode.
Who is singing?
What has this cleanse done to me?
It's turned me into you.
It's turning you into me
and you're about to make some crazy life choices.
Should we go to a bar right now?
No, God no, we should not.
That's horrible, it's 11 a.m. also.
Probably defeats the purpose of your cleanse.
Guys, we called Paul Feig and we interviewed him about Office Olympics.
We even included some of your questions.
So after the break, we're going to talk to Paul Feig.
We're going to ask him some questions.
He's going to tell us about Office Olympics.
I can't wait.
All right.
Stay tuned.
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All right, we are back and we are going to be talking to Paul Feig.
Sam, dial him up.
Hello.
Hi, Paul.
Hey, Paul.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Are you somewhere fancy, Paul?
No, I'm in New York, actually.
Yeah, but are you somewhere fancy?
Well, my apartment is very fancy because I'm married.
Thank you so much for doing this, Paul.
It really means a lot.
Thank you.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so New York, actually. Yeah, but are you somewhere fancy? Well, my apartment's very fancy. Because I'm very fancy.
Thank you so much for doing this, Paul.
It really means a lot.
Oh, my God, I'm so excited.
I'm so happy that you guys are doing this.
And I wish I could be in the studio with you.
It would be so much even more fun.
Well, you're always welcome to come back.
We've got 200 episodes to talk about.
And you directed a great deal of them.
Oh, good. I'll talk on deal of them. Oh good, exactly.
I'll talk on all of mine. We'll hit you up for that.
We actually reached out to some fans to talk to you today
and there were people who had so many questions.
Yeah, so we're gonna include some of their questions
with our questions.
Very good, I'm excited.
Well, to get started, Paul,
how did you get involved with the office?
It was my great agent at the time, Renee Kurtz, who was steering me towards it.
I honestly, I was offered several years before the chance to develop the office,
you know, the British office, into a series.
And I was like, oh, forget it. There's no way you can do it.
It's too scary, you know, because it's such a great series.
So, you know, I just didn't even take the bait. But then when Greg did it, you know,
I was really, you know, amazed by that. And actually, the funny thing is I was making
a pilot at the same time that Greg did the pilot for the office. And I remember we were
she we were both working at like some studio and he was editing there. And I remember we were we were both working at like some studio and he was editing there and I remember him coming over to us
To Rodney Rothman and I whose pilot it was he's like hey come in here come in here
I gotta play you a couple of different options for the opening theme song for for this show that I just directed
Yes, so he played us a couple of different versions including the you know the one that the now infamous piano one
So I was I was definitely definitely there at the very beginning you know
what when the show got picked up my agent call me renee and she was like
you know they'd like you to direct an episode and and so i watched i watched
the first six that you guys had done and thought they were so hilarious you know
it's in the diversity day i was just like completely and i just thought it
was so great.
Yeah, I came to that first table read.
I don't know if you remember, they did kind of a bunch of episodes all at once.
I remember you guys were reading the Dundee's and all that, and then we read Office Olympics.
So I was in.
Did you get to pick Office Olympics from that table read or was it assigned to you?
Yeah, that was the one that was assigned to me because I remember having a moment going
like, oh, I want to do the Dundee's.
That seems really fun.
But then I just saw the potential of the Office Olympics was just going to be such a blast.
I mean, it was just such a fun thing to kind of put together.
I remember just what an interesting, I don't know,
what an interesting feeling it was on the set for that. Because I mean, if you remember that was
sort of, you know, aside from the Olympics part of it, that was the episode that kind of started
to turn everything because that's where, you know, Steve's character started to become slightly more
sympathetic. And I don't know if you remember or not, we really, that kinda got found on the set
because remember we were doing the whole thing where we were presenting, you guys
are presenting Michael with the, you know, with the metal
and Steve just made this decision to kinda start crying
you know, getting all choked up and I remember just going like, oh my god Steve that's so great
like keep going with that.
And that was, I think that was kind of the turning point
where his character took that left turn
from Ricky Gervais' character and became more sort of
the lovable misfit who's trying too hard
for everybody to like him.
But also Paul, I remember in that filming of that scene
that you directed all of us to be genuine and
You can see it on our faces that we are genuinely clapping for Michael. We're not mocking him
It was this collective moment with everyone in the office enjoying
Supporting one another it was really sweet. It makes me tear up every time I watch it
I cried when Steve did that, yeah.
No, it really gets me too.
Because I think, you know what it was?
It was just Steve's performance was so sincere that it felt, if we were kind of being snarky
or laughing at him, that it made you guys such villains to do that.
But it wasn't anybody's really instinct to do that.
So I just kind of encourage you to go along
with what you were already doing,
which is we were all really being affected by Steve.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it still gets me.
Well, we have a fan question for you.
Reed wrote in and said, I know, ooh,
Reed says, when filming a mockumentary,
do you storyboard or do you have a shot plan?
Neither.
What you do is you basically kind of go through the script
and I would walk around with Kelly, our AD,
the day before or whatever,
and we just basically kind of go,
okay, where would we put the cameras for this scene
so that we would be cross shooting it
and the cameras could avoid seeing each other,
but where the documentary crew would actually be.
And so you were always just kind of going,
okay, you know, for me it's like I always want to have depth behind us,
so I never wanted to shoot in the walls whenever I could avoid it.
And so just kind of go, okay, they would be, you know, one would be over here by this desk
and then on the opposite side, something, you know, Matt would be over there and Randall would be on the other side something you know with the uh... matter would be over there and randall
be on the other side
and really that was that was kind of it then you also go like okay is this
gonna be a spy shot where you guys don't know you're on camera
will be shooting through you know
the blinds are through a crack in the door
uh... and that was kind of it and then then we would just get there and just
play out the scene
for me this is it's the greatest way to do TV comedy because it just every time we shot the
scene we had the full scene and so it just allowed us to just play and go like
okay this time try this you know and you know it in just the fact that Greg and
everybody let us play around so much with these great scripts that we already
had and
then we had the confidence to keep that stuff in because I'd worked on other
shows where the cast was really brilliant at kind of improving or tagging
something or just kind of taking a little left turn in the middle of the
scene but the showrunners just wouldn't put it in because they were so in love
with their scripts so that they just wouldn't use it but you know I'm just
I mean the keep the shining example of that
was when we did the next episode, the Halloween episode,
where we had that thing where we found
what Rain was doing, playing the emperor
and talking to Michael and kind of goading him.
And we just found that funny angle
that looked like the emperor from Star Wars,
where you just gotta see his face.
And we just, you know, him just taunt, and that went on and on. But Greg, I think, jettisoned
some other kind of storyline, just so we could keep that scene long, because it was just
so funny. And, you know, that takes a lot of confidence in sort of, you know, well,
self-confidence, really, on the part of the showrunner to let those moments play out like
that.
I love that.
Me too.
I love hearing everything that went into
how it ended up on screen.
We were just acting, you did all this planning.
I know.
You put all this thought into it.
Without you, we are nothing.
Without you, we are nothing.
I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit
about picking the condo location in this episode because it's almost like
Another character it features so prominently. What was the criteria for picking the condo?
You wanted something that had enough
Flow to it and openness that you weren't going to be stuck in little rooms, you know
What just basically walls is your background. And so
what I really liked about it is they had that kitchen that went through to the back patio.
So you know, we were in the kitchen shooting Michael kind of having his breakdown, which
is still possibly the, I think the hardest, I think I've ever laughed on a set.
Yes.
When Steven was having that thing where he's having the breakdown, he kind of puts his
hand on the stove and picks up the thing and then goes outside. Is this supposed to come off? And he walks out with it.
Oh, I mean, that is like just, that's the genius of Steve. I literally thought I was going to die
when he was doing it. And every time we do a take, you do something different.
Did we use that same condo in dinner party? Did we manage to keep that same place?
It looked familiar. It looked very familiar to me, didn't it to you? in Dinner Party? Did we manage to keep that same place?
It looked familiar to me, didn't it to you? Like the kitchen.
I thought it was the condo.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well, what was fun about that is being able to go in
and turn it into Jan's place.
Yeah.
And that was, I mean, I don't want to jump episodes,
but I mean, for Dinner party, that was the most fun of like, how do we
see how Jan's woman's touch went in with kimonos on the wall? Oh, my gosh, Paul,
you have to come back, you have to come in. We will have so much fun with that.
I was talking to Mike Sure about this episode. He was the writer of this
episode. And he shared with us your choice of using
a wide-angle lens when filming Steve for this episode. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, it was just, you know, we really wanted him to feel lost in this thing because, you know,
it's so much about him being overwhelmed. Yeah, I had a very similar experience when I first
met Lori, my wife, and we were going to move in together
you know and she'd found this place
and i came over is under the guider just gonna like look at it and see what it's
about and little did i know she can have the realtor there and everything and it
like
i had to sign the papers
he did pull the trigger so suddenly i went from being like this
kind of
weird lonely bachelor did like
it committing to moving in in front of all these people and i just kind of
freaked out and i remember
that feeling of like
so we the house felt very like uh... abstract and
but you're in a horrible
you're having a panic attack
but i wanted to be big on that the field that being you know in that house of
like it's almost like, you know, forget there's an old movie, that obsession, but something where
this woman's going crazy in the house.
I just thought it'd be kind of funny to give it that feel.
Oh my gosh, I love that story.
Laurie, you go, Laurie.
I'm telling you, I know, look at that.
We just celebrated our 25 year anniversary, wedding anniversary, so it works.
Well we got a lot of questions also about the yogurt lids.
This was maybe the thing people are most curious about, these yogurt lids.
Oh my gosh, they went crazy about the yogurt lids, Paul.
Mel wanted to know how many metals were made.
Casey wants to know were any other items considered for metals before landing on yogurt lids?
Literally any information you can give us about these yogurt lids.
Anything about yogurt lids.
People want to know.
Wow, because I remember that so distinctly, just because I remember thinking it was not at all what I thought we were going to make the metal.
And I remember Phil, remember Phil Props coming up
with those and I remember him rigging that up
with the paper clips of the chain
and hanging that out there.
And I had moments of going like,
I don't know if it's substantial enough
cause they're so light, but then thinking,
but this is kind of brilliant too.
And so going with it, I have some weird memory, and I don't know if it's accurate or not,
of like a cottage cheese Liz.
Oh, it would be larger.
Which was a little more freaky-like and bigger.
Yes, but I think we might have said they were too big and also I think they didn't stay on the paper clip.
So, but that's just a kind of a hazy memory.
Steve Gordon asked, this is just kind of a fun question,
which one of the freaks and geeks could work in the office?
I think it'd have to be Lindsay.
I think only Lindsay could really pull it together
inappropriately and navigate that maelstrom.
I hear that.
I think that is the right choice.
I think that is correct.
And then, okay, Paul, we have to bring up because Jenna and I love this about you so much
that you wear a suit every day with a tie
and that our crew loved it so much.
On Friday, a lot of times on a set,
the crew will wear Hawaiian shirts, it's Friday,
but when you would work,
they would all wear a tie on Friday.
And so we were wondering when did your origin
of the daily suit start?
It was after Freaks and Geeks,
because I'll flash all the way back just briefly.
When I was a kid, I used to wear suits and ties all the time.
I loved that.
That was kind of like starting at like eight years old.
Aw.
Like I got my mom to buy me my first three piece suit.
And then I wore it.
Oh, my dad was so mad because he's mad because like you can grow out of it in
six months and he was right but over the six months i have
walking around with the suits
so it was always in the but then
when i got my twenties and i would be able to stand up comedian
i'd i'd used to be used to wear it as suits on stage and then i'd realize i
wanted to be more i don't know
relatable to the audience i started wearing like jeans and bowling shirts and that kind
of thing. And then when I did Freaks and Geeks, I, even though I didn't dress this
way in high school, I started dressing just like kind of t-shirts and jeans
because I was trying to get in the head of like the freaks and stuff and
so grew my hair really long. You can see pictures of me from then.
My hair was super long, like down to my shoulder, I think.
And so then it was after Freaks and Geeks was done
and I was going out and pitching new shows
and taking all these meetings that I was in the meetings
and all the executives would be in suits and ties.
And I was there in jeans and a t-shirt
and I just didn't like it.
I felt like really identifiable as sort of the prey, if you will, in that room. And so I
remember going like, well screw this, I'm gonna go back to what I used to do and
wear suits and ties. I kind of thought I was an idiot for doing it, but I just
remember going like, I like the power structure of this better, of me in a suit
like as an adult, and just decided from that point on, I was like I'm just gonna
wear a suit and tie all the time because I enjoy it and it makes me feel like an adult and also makes me feel in charge
and I look better in a suit than I do in jeans. So there you go.
Well, and Paul, without your suit, I wouldn't have my favorite hashtag you do,
which is drunk funkel on your Instagram. Thank you.
I live for it, Paul. I love your Instagram so much.
I want everyone to go follow Paul Feig.
And also, Paul, I'm so excited about last Christmas.
I am so excited to see it.
I can't wait.
Hey.
And you know, I loved Game of Thrones.
So of course, Jenna doesn't watch Game of Thrones.
It drives me crazy.
So Amelia Clarke's in it.
I'm still an Amelia Clarke fan.
Yes. Even though I didn't watch Game of Thrones. So this is very exciting to me. I'm still an Amelia Clarke fan. Yes.
Even though I didn't watch Game of Thrones.
So this is very exciting to me because I get to see her
and not Game of Thrones.
Yes, exactly.
And then of course, like Emma Thompson,
I cannot get enough of that woman.
I just live for her.
So and Henry Golding and all of it.
I can't wait to see it.
I love, love holiday movies so much.
So everybody go see Last Christmas. Yay. We love it. I love, love holiday movies so much. So everybody go see Last Christmas.
Oh, thank you. Yay! You'll love it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and it's one of the most
beautiful things I've ever shot. It's just absolutely gorgeous to look at.
Oh, I can't wait. I cannot wait to see it. Paul, thank you so much for taking the time
to do this. Thank you. Thank you, Paul.
Oh, thank you. It's so much fun. I'm so glad you guys are doing this because the show was so special to me.
I mean honestly, I just I have to pinch myself that I got to be involved in and be involved with so many
episodes and so many kind of the bigger ones too and it will just always be one of my proudest proudest moments and working with
with you guys was just just one of my great joys. You were just such a wonderful cast to work with. Every day was really fun to come in
and just every take was fun and different.
And I mean, I just couldn't have had a better time.
So thank you for that.
And I love you guys very, very much.
Oh, Paul.
Thank you, Paul.
["The Office Olympics Theme"]
Okay, guys, we're back. And now we are going to break down Office Olympics.
Yeah.
That was so nice talking to Paul.
That was so great.
All right, let's get into this episode scene by scene.
We start with Michael's talking head.
He explains that he has come in early and we learned that Ryan had to come in early
to bring Michael a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit.
Ryan is so pissed.
Angela, I noticed a little bit of Ryan's sass.
Yeah, Ryan had some sass.
Can I get Ryan's sass from you?
Yeah.
Do you have a card that says Ryan's sass?
I don't, because the only person that bumps me with sass is Pam.
I knew it was targeted.
I knew your sass was not universal.
I knew it was personal.
See, I
just proved it. I also remember that Steve had to eat all of those egg and
cheese biscuits and he had a bucket under his desk because he would spit them out
because remember he had just gotten in this amazing shape and I feel like season
one Steve might have enjoyed eating all of those but season two Steve was like
that I'm not doing that to my body anymore. Also though, I mean, listen, here's the thing.
When you have to eat that much food,
like the same food over and over,
maybe 30 takes of that food, it turns on you.
It does.
You don't need that sausage egg biscuit turning on you.
It's true.
I'd spit it out.
All right, so then there's another scene
that has the thing that I love so much,
which is when we start on Michael
Speaking to camera and we widen to reveal Dwight lurking over his shoulder
It is one of your favorite favorite talking heads and this is when Michael reveals he is buying a condo
Going to be a home. Yeah big day for him
And then we swoop into the main office and did you notice this Angela? The photo on Jim's desk?
I have two note cards about these opening shots in the bullpen.
At a minute 48 seconds.
Do you know what Jim's screensaver is?
What?
It's a deserted island in the middle of the ocean.
I think that's a little foreshadowing to the fire.
Which is coming next.
Coming next, that desert island.
At a minute 51, John's desk
right next to his computer. There's a photo of him holding a baby. Do you know who that
is? It's his nephew. It's his nephew. So when we had to personalize our desk, that's
one of the things John brought in. He was so proud to be an uncle. I know he's adorable.
He was so excited to put that picture on his desk. Then we go to the scene where Jim and Pam
are throwing things into Dwight's cup.
This is when Pam has to revive Jim
because sometimes he dies of boredom.
I remember shooting that.
That was really fun.
John and I got really into seeing
if we really could throw stuff in the cup.
Like sometimes that happens where it's in the scene,
but then in real life you actually really enjoy it.
That was a moment.
Well, I have a little something from that scene
at two minutes, four seconds, boom!
The boom drops in the scene.
Really? The boom operator.
Yeah, we got a little bit of boom and they left it in
because as you know, it was a mockumentary.
So when that happened, they let it stay.
They wouldn't let it ruin a take,
but there's a boom in that scene.
What about Dwight's Mozart, Butch Cassidy talking head?
This to me is such a sign of Mike Schur's writing.
I think if you go back and look at every amazing
Dwight talking head, most of them were written by Mike Schur.
Mike is brilliant.
He is brilliant and he's smart.
And I mean, I feel like I would wear a t-shirt
that says Mozart and Butch Cassidy.
You're gonna get a bullet in your head
thanks to Butch Cassidy if you mess with Mozart, everybody.
I'm not messing with Mozart.
No.
Again, Michael's list of magazines.
He lists off all his magazines.
He asked Pam if she has forwarded, cracked,
and American Way magazine to his new condo. I just want to point that out.
His magazines are Small Businessman, Maxim, American Way, Cracked, and then the Fine Arts
of Fish and Noddo Monthly.
Yeah, the one he made up. Yeah, the fake magazine.
We also get to see Michael's car in this episode for the first time.
Is it for the first time?
I think it is.
Well, I have a pretty big note card
before we get to the Sebring, I think.
Oh, well then go ahead.
At what minutes is the Sebring?
I don't write down minutes.
That's your thing.
It's weird.
I like a good list,
but you're really obsessed with these minutes.
You know what?
You and your cleanse can suck it, Fisher.
All right, my background people who love background stuff.
At four minutes, 52 seconds, Jim is talking to Oscar
and Oscar's desk faces the partition
that is between Angela and Kevin.
Okay. And on that partition is a between Angela and Kevin. Okay.
And on that partition is a post-it note.
It's a drawing that Oscar drew.
And after this episode, he gave it to me and I still have it.
And I, so here's the thing.
What is it?
Okay, so Oscar is a very good drawer.
He's very good and he would make these doodles
and I kept a lot of them.
And he often would draw Kevin, Angela, and Oscar,
our characters doing crazy things.
I have a drawing of one where we're on a moped.
Oh, I've seen that one.
That's so cute.
Okay, so this Post-It note is a drawing he did.
It's one of my personal favorites.
It is Angela as a dominatrix.
She is getting a shoulder ride from Kevin.
Okay.
She has a whip in her hand, like she's cracking the whip.
And on all fours, being drug behind them,
is Oscar by Elish.
Wow.
Yes, that is what's on the Post-It note on his partition.
And it cracks me up, like the detail that he drew,
our costumes, our dominatrix costumes.
He has like a spike collar on.
He definitely would do all these drawings
of the accounting department.
And my character was always invoking pain in some way.
But it is one of my favorite things I own
is this Post-it note that he drew.
And it's there on the partition at four minutes,
52 seconds, I about fell off my couch.
I was so excited.
But then after that, he gave it to you after this episode
and you would never see it again on the show.
It just lived there for this episode.
It lived there.
He drew it clearly that day and stuck it up there.
And I now have it.
Oh, I love that.
And then also at four minutes 52 seconds,
because we were allowed to personalize our desks, right?
There is a photo that Oscar brought in
of himself and his dog in a frame.
Oh.
Yeah, so there you go.
I wanna talk a little bit about Michael's car.
Okay.
He has the Sebring convertible.
I think this is the first time we really see the car.
It's certainly the first time we drive in the car.
It is, the first time it's featured.
And BJ told me that they picked this car very carefully. They felt
like it was the flashiest car Michael could afford on his salary. It's a convertible. Yes,
and he's very, very proud of it. And when Michael and Dwight leave the office and they're shooting
that scene, Randall Einhorn, our director of photography and also our main camera operator,
was shoved in the back seat in order to get those shots.
Randall is a big guy and that is not a big back seat.
No, he told me that his knees were up by his ears. He was contorted in this weird position.
I traded some messages with him and he said, though, that whenever they had to get in the most painful position, they usually got the best shot.
So he was like, you knew you were getting a great shot if you were hurting. And I also,
the back window of the Sebring broke in this episode. And Randall has been blamed for this
on the internet. Really? Yes, the internet says that Randall broke the window and it had to be
replaced. It costs almost $900 to replace.
I know because, you know, we rented these cars.
We didn't buy them.
I asked Randall about it and he said, actually, the window did break.
He said, this I thought was interesting.
He said he thinks it's because they left a camera battery pack on the back shelf.
And then when they put the convertible top down,
it crunched it.
But who's they, Randall?
Who is they?
Would that be film crew?
Would that be you?
Camera?
Camera?
So he said they, but yes, it did break in that scene
and we had to then replace it.
Okay, so I have a little story about the Sebring.
I have a time code.
Now we're jumping ahead, but since you're talking about it,
I'm gonna bring it up, Jenna.
Is that all right?
I'll allow it.
Oh Lord.
At 16 minutes, 39 seconds, there is proof
of what the actual outside temperature was
because there is a full on camera shot
of the dashboard and the Sebring.
It says that they are going east and that it is 91 degrees.
Yes, because we shot this in the middle of summer.
In the middle of summer, we had to have coats on
and pretend to be cold, but there you have it.
It was 91 degrees.
Okay, Angela, I have a question about hate ball.
Oh, I have a note card about hate ball.
All right, your hair.
Yes.
In hate ball.
Yes.
Will you please talk about the braid headband thing?
I have been wanting to.
Okay, so at five minutes, 42 seconds,
there is a great shot of me through the partition
because obviously I hate what they're doing.
So they say hate ball and they cut to me and I'm frowning.
You see the classic headband braid that was created
by our hairdresser, Kim Ferry. She did my hair
every day on the show. She actually is an amazing braider. She can do any kind of
braid and all of my intricate braids and hairstyles of Angela Martin were by Kim
Ferry. So she called this the headband braid and what she would have me do is
she would flat iron my hair straight. Okay. She would have me flip my head over
and then she would start at one side of my ear
and do this like inverted braid over the top of my head
ending at the other side of my ear,
leaving the back of my hair straight.
So it would only braid like, basically like a headband
that went over like the top of my head.
Did it hurt?
It did not hurt, but I did have to sit with my head
kind of contorted.
In order to get the style.
In order to get it, but it was like one of our favorite
things, Greg Daniels loved it.
The first time he saw it, he was like, oh my God, yes, yes,
this is Angela Martin.
And it went on to be featured in a lot of episodes.
We even did a behind the scenes for NBC.com
cause so many people asked if that was my real hair.
It was my real hair flipped upside down, inverted braid,
and it made it look like a headband.
The headband braid did not hurt.
You would far prefer this over a bun.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was just like having a part of your hair braided,
but it wasn't tight or pulling at the back of my head.
To me, that is classic Angela.
Yeah, the headband braid.
Yes.
Speaking of hair.
Yes.
At 6 minutes, 15 seconds, you go in the back of the office
because they're playing Dunderball.
Yes.
And you see that Kelly still has an updo.
Still an updo with Kelly.
But it's a little bit looser.
There's like a little piece kind of dangling in the back.
It's like a loose braid.
It's starting to come down, Jenna.
You know what? I think, and I'm going to predict, because we have not watched in the back. It's like a loose braid. It's starting to come down, Jenna. You know what?
I think, and I'm gonna predict,
because we have not watched all the episodes.
We really are watching them in order.
I think her hair comes down in Casino Night.
I think it's the first time her hair comes down.
I'm gonna predict it.
So let's see if I'm right as we continue to rewatch.
Cause I know her hair is down in Casino Night.
Well, I remember. The bun is getting looser. As we continue to rewatch. Cause I know her hair is down in casino night. Well. I remember.
The bun is getting looser.
We're heading there folks.
It's interesting, it's her hair comes down,
the closer Jim and Pam get to kissing, sort of.
I don't know.
What? That is, you know what?
Makes no sense.
You know what that correlation is?
What?
A cleanse correlation.
Oh no. That's cleanse logic for you guys.
That's cleanse logic.
Let us talk about Michael's condo, please.
Yes.
He gets to his condo and like we said in our Fast Facts, the realtor is played by Nancy
Carell.
So our casting director, Alison Jones, pitched Nancy for this role.
She thought Nancy would be perfect.
I emailed with Alison and she said that she had
always been a huge fan of Nancy's and she was looking from day one on our show to find a place
for her and she thought this was perfect. She loved being able to pit Nancy and Steve against
one another in this way. Mike Schur told me that Steve was positively giddy when Nancy was on set.
He was just giggly and delighted that they're so
cute together and we know they're so cute together. Yeah she is hilarious and
so smart but Steve you want to meet a man that loves you the way Steve loves
Nancy. For sure. Because he just he's just delighted by her. I love when Michael
starts to spiral out because he realizes you you know, and Dwight is not helping. Dwight's like, you know, you're gonna be 75.
You're basically buying a coffin.
Yeah, if I had a, if I bought a coffin,
I'd buy one where I couldn't hear the other dead people.
But Michael, as he's spiraling, has this line that I love
where he's like, I was promised hot people.
Where are all the hot people?
Like what, in this condo development,
you were promised hot people?
But Nancy's reaction to that is really what makes it.
Angela, you have a three-star card about the condo.
Well, it's at six minutes 58 seconds.
It's not so much about the condo,
but it's what information we find out at the condo,
which is that Dwight has a 60 acre beet farm.
Yes, this is the first mention of his beet farm.
Yes, and you mentioned that we see a photo of Moe's,
but this is when we learned that Dwight is a landowner.
He has a working beet farm.
Yes, and this brings up a fan question, Angela.
Stan wrote, in this episode, Dwight
says that his parents left him a 60-acre beet farm,
but in the farm in season nine, Aunt Sally leaves the farm to all three kids if they
move back into it.
Jenna, did this discrepancy happen because you stole the show Bible?
Stan, I have the show Bible right here.
I'm referring to page 31 of the show Bible. And it says that in Office Olympics, Dwight says he has a 60-acre working beet farm left
to him by his grandfather.
And also, Stan, if you want to go to 6 minutes 58 seconds, Dwight has a talking head to camera
where he says, my grandparents left me a 60-acre beet farm.
Yeah.
So, Stan, I do have to say this still does bring up
the question of why in season nine,
do we say that it's his aunt Sally who has the beet farm?
I don't know, I need to revisit season nine
because I know an aunt Shirley,
cause she slapped me and called me a kitchen witch.
Yeah.
But I don't know who aunt Sally is.
Well, he has a number of relatives.
Oh, I know. You guys, I do want to say that to find
this reference in the show Bible, I had to read something like five pages of facts about Dwight
Schrute. And I think that if they only published the Dwight Schrute section of the show Bible,
it would do very well. Every single one of these bullet points is gold.
Just pick one random one and read it to us. All right. From the show Bible, the chapter is Dwight.
Thinks wolves are a major threat to office workers. Thanks wolves are a major threat. Yeah, season three, episode 20. He says that he has a bomb shelter. It cost him $1,200.
He says that. He has a bomb shelter.
It cost him $1,200.
He performed his own circumcision.
No.
No.
He can sneeze with his eyes open.
These are amazing.
He thinks Triceratops is the lamest dinosaur.
I kind of want you to make it.
I mean, I could go on and on.
Uses deer penis as an aphrodisiac.
Oh, god. poor Angela Martin.
Appears to be a fan of wrestling.
Just fakes it.
Not sure. Just for appearances.
This one made me laugh out loud.
His farm is non-organic.
He uses pesticides?
I guess so.
In some episode, he must brag about the fact
that his farm is non-organic.
He has $30,000 buried very deeply and under someone, and he doesn't want to dig past them
to get it.
Guys, I really...
The Dwight...
We're going to do a whole episode where I just read you Dwight Schrute from the show
Bible.
That is amazing.
But yes, six minutes, 58 seconds, huge information,
which is that Dwight owns a 60 acre beet farm.
This is one of my favorite things that they came up with
for a character on our show,
because we are just going to continue to mine gold
from this fact forever.
Forever.
I have a little card here.
At eight minutes, 36 seconds,
there are the opening ceremony.
Yes.
There's a banner, there's the lighting of a candle.
I wanted to share a little behind the scenes story
for you guys.
So whenever we had a lit candle,
we had to by law have a safety meeting.
And I used to crack up,
because I would think about shows that had car chases
and explosives and things.
And on our show, you had a safety meeting
about a candle being lit. And our our show, you had a safety meeting about a candle being lit.
And our second AD, Kelly Cantley, would go,
safety meeting, we will have a lit candle.
Yes, that is real fire, everyone, on the set.
Please be aware of your sleeves and elbows
around the candle.
A lit candle, everyone.
Okay, safety meeting adjourned.
And it's funny because I would go on to do shows
or projects where we would have safety meetings
and they would be said with sort of that same bravado,
but they would really be like, everyone pay attention.
A car will be exploding at two o'clock.
Yeah.
So please keep your distance, do not go toward the car after it has exploded as it will be
hot.
But on our show it was-
We will have one candle.
It will be lit with a lighter.
A very long lighter too.
A very long lighter to protect John's hands. Safety meeting.
I wanna say in that same scene with the opening ceremonies,
I really drew the sign that says
Games of the first Dunder Mifflin Olympiad.
You drew that?
I drew it.
Did you color it in?
Yes.
You made the sign.
Yes.
What the hell, really?
I made it.
Those are my bubble letters. I drew it. I also
put together a lot of the yogurt lid things. I did it as part of... Your method acting?
No, it's not part of my method acting. They gave me some paper clips and yogurt lids and they had
some shots of me putting together the medals at my desk.
We never used it, but I did do it. And then I also made that sign myself.
Now, did they want you to make that sign?
I don't remember.
Or did you volunteer in your method acting ways?
You know, I feel like Phil Shea came up to me and said, do you want to make the sign
since Pam made it? And I said, sure, why not?
There were times where they would ask me, you know, Angela, your character is going to hand this piece of paper do you want to write out all the things
so it's in your handwriting and we always did we always would sort of do that kind of thing.
I liked that detail. Continuing our conversation about the Office Olympics we should talk about
the game Flonkerton. Yes we should. I got a lot of questions. People asked, was Flunkerton scripted or improved?
It was a written line, but I was told to deliver it like I was making it up on the spot.
Yes, that was scripted.
A lot of people also asked who came up with the term Flunkerton.
It was Mike Schur.
Well, Mike said it was either him or Greg Daniels, but he is personally obsessed with
the FL sound, the fluh. The fluh sound. He thinks it's very
funny. He said that is also how Toby got his last name Flunderson, that Mike was responsible for
that. So he's pretty sure he can claim having written Flonkerton. I remember Phyllis had so
much fun doing that scene. She had so much fun. Phyllis loves getting to play basketball, play
Flonkerton. To play games. She wants to be a participant. She
was very excited. I felt like Jenna, I have two note cards
here that I felt like we should outline a little bit of the
games. Let's do it. Okay. First of all, there are the games
that people played that weren't part of the office Olympics,
but were the inspiration for Jim when he was going around to
everyone's like sort's desk area.
So Pam, of course, threw things into Dwight's coffee cup.
There was hate ball and accounting.
There was Dunderball and human resources.
Stanley said he plays work hard
so his kids can go to college.
And then Angela Martin says she plays Pampong.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh.
That's some Angela sass.
That is some serious Angela sass.
I have a question for you about Pam Pong.
Okay.
Is this the first time that an office coworker has called out the Jim Pam crush?
Yes.
Right?
That's the first time someone's like, oh, I see what's happening.
You're not fooling anyone. Yes. Right? That's the first time someone's like, oh, I see what's happening. You're not fooling anyone.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, and Pam is super self-conscious about it
for the rest of the episode.
Yeah.
And then, of course, we have Angela at 16 minutes, 20
seconds.
She's keeping score.
She comes over.
That's the only game she's playing that day.
That's the only game she's playing.
But then the actual games that Jim makes up,
Jim and Pam, right? They
make these up. Our number one, Flunkerton, Phyllis being the winner of that. Number two,
how many M&Ms can you put in your mouth? Kevin was the only-
Only participant.
Only participant. Three, Guess the Elevator.
Inspired by the Real Office Olympics.
And Ryan won that. And then the final game that we see is this full coffee mug relay between Oscar and Toby.
And it disrupts when Michael and Dwight come in the office
and we never see the outcome of that.
Well, we kind of do.
I think Toby's coffee is spilling at the end.
So you're-
I'm giving it to Oscar.
You're giving it to Oscar?
Okay, okay.
But you have two medals hanging on your desk
at 17 minutes, 32 seconds.
You have a gold and a silver.
Yeah. So I wonder what Pam won for. I don't know. You're saying I don't deserve my medals, Angela?
No, Clint. I'm not. I'm just merely being a fan saying I wonder what other games we didn't get to
see. Yeah. Well, obviously something where Pam won a gold medal. Oh my God, sass. Just wanna say. Okay.
All right, Angela.
Maybe she won a gold medal at Pam Pong.
I, oh, I see.
I see what you've done there.
Thank you.
I do have a fan question.
Karen asked, did you get to take home the medals?
Yes, and I still have mine.
Aw.
I have a yogurt lid medal in my home office
and it is hanging on my dundee.
And from this episode, I have the drawing Oscar did
of Angela as a dominatrix pulling Kevin and Oscar around
in costume.
We kept all kinds of stuff from the show.
We did, we're a little bit of hoarders guys.
Someday we joke that we're gonna do a book
and put them all somewhere where we can share them.
I think we should.
I think we should too.
We should go through our bins and we should share all this memorabilia and our tons of
photos. I mean we have so many.
So many.
Can we finally get on that please, Angela? Can we do that?
Yes.
You guys would want that, right? You would want a book of this stuff. Do people want
that?
Like a scrapbook.
A scrapbook.
Like our sort of BFF
scrapbook. Yeah. Yeah. I think we should because I want to do it before I lose the stuff. Okay.
Because I'm worried. I'm worried about my shed. Lastly, guys, I cannot not talk about the scene
at 20 minutes, 53 seconds. It's the closing ceremonies. And we talked a little bit about
this with Paul. And I agree. Steve did such an amazing performance where as Michael, he tears up.
He's made this huge life choice to buy a condo.
He's feeling this love and support from his office family that he doesn't get from his family probably.
The office family is his family and he's absolutely emotional.
And when we filmed it, we did not know
that Steve was gonna make that choice to get emotional.
And so we're all looking at him and he started to tear up.
And I, as Angela Martin started, as myself,
started to tear up.
It was so moving, just sort of his honest portrayal
of this person.
And Steve is just amazing.
Yeah.
When that happened in the first take that that happened in, Paul then said to us, this
is the direction of this scene.
This is how we're going to do it.
So everyone just be proud of Michael.
Just play it real.
Play it real. It was hard for me because I feel like Angela Martin
did not want to participate in Office Olympics,
probably thought this was a waste of time.
Also probably doesn't have really a lot of warm feelings
towards Michael.
But for me as Angela Kinsey,
watching my friend Steve do this performance,
it was so hard not to get emotional
and sort of know the fine line that was me reacting
and Angela Martin, how she would react.
I teared up when we shot this.
I tear up every time I watch it.
I also watched this episode three times
in preparation for this podcast and I cried every time.
Yeah, Isabel, when she watched it with me,
she said, mommy, he's crying.
I said, I know, I know.
It was a big moment in his life.
These are the things I love about this show.
Same.
Guys, that's Office Olympics.
That is Office Olympics.
Join us next week for The Fire.
Yes.
You're gonna hear all about how Angela
was almost carried away by a giant bug.
And I might've hit John Krasinski.
You did hit John Krasinski.
All right, we'll see you next week.
Thank you for listening to Office Ladies' Second Drink. This episode was
initially created in collaboration with Earwulf. Office Ladies is a presentation
of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive
producer is Cassie Jerkins and our audio engineer and associate producer is Daniella Silva. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna
Weiss-Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris
Basil. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.